SAS Educational Programs

Ivan Doig writes in the first line of his book The Whistling Season, “When I visit the back corners of my life again after so long a time, littlest of things jump out first.”
The line strikes me now much as it did when I first picked up the book about a year ago. It makes me realize that the little things we do for our students in our classrooms are really what is going to matter most in their lives, years from now. 

I think back to my grade 4 classroom, which in retrospect was my best year in elementary school.

I could probably blame that school year and my amazing teacher on my passion some 20 years ago to be “the best fourth grade teacher that I could ever be” — that is what I told the principal sitting across a huge desk from me giving me courtesy interview.  He hired me on that line, and I worked as hard as I could to recreate that feeling I had as a fourth grader in West Park Elementary School in Hermiston, Oregon.  Mrs. Mullay was my teacher and she was a master at creating a wonderful sense of community and with a feeling of safety inside that classroom space. 

That year was a tough one for me both educationally and health-wise. It was about this time of year, in 1974, that I ended up requiring surgery, which I am sure scared my poor mother to death. I lived in a hospital bed in the shadow of my elementary school for what seemed like eternity. My teacher visited me a couple times, dropping off schoolwork and a copy of Black Beauty, the book she was reading aloud to us at the time.  After Black Beauty was Old Yeller; we even got to watch the Disney version of the film after we finished the book. 

The school probably had one film projector, and I am sure that my teacher had to fight to reserve it for the three or four days it took to complete the 4-reels of the film. 
Even back then, teachers struggled with access to technology tools, but that did not stop Mrs. Mullay from using the tools as often as she could and focusing on creating a strong classroom community. In fact she used the tools to reinforce the idea of community, while using these to broaden our horizons and show us there was a bigger world than what was the small attendance area we called home. 

Much like today as our teachers at SAS fully exploit the tools that they share through the school; technology tools that make a difference to each and every student in our school. 

Technology tools in classrooms: Computers and the Internet

Computing in the classroom setting has been around for approximately 30 years.

In those thirty years we have seen a variety of computing companies come and go (remember Radio Shack computers?). We have see a variety of resources be developed.  Did you know that the Internet is just a little over 5,000 days old? 

We have seen an expansion of tools that are useful for sharing information. We have seen a development of tools that allow for collaboration both locally and globally.  We are beginning to see a change in the way our instruction for our children is being delivered and being assessed using the tools now available to us via the internet.

This growth and constant change has produced considerable consternation among teachers, administrators and parents about where to go next, what do first and what are the skills and concepts that students should truly be learning in order to successfully compete for admissions into the best colleges and universities around the world. 
To me though, the bottom line is the classroom community. 

Look no further than the homeroom students whom we serve day-in and day-out through an academic year. In giving them the tools to be effective, competitive, and skilled learners, we will not miss the mark for excellence by far.

Because of this I have, with the technology leaders and administrators at our school, developed what we feel is a list of classroom based tools that will translate well in our current environment as well as in the environment we are building for our future classroom environment. 

Some of you may have heard me speak in past weeks about moving our school’s technology programs forward by placing into the hands of our students web-based learning tools. Over a backbone of dynamic data networks, I believe we can lead our students to first engage in learning with the classroom peers and then build an audience with their peers world-wide.

Community versus audience

As we step forward with technology planning at SAS, we must keep in mind that there is a certain priority to our work.

I believe the number one priority must be to establish a strong community locally. With the tremendous tools that allow for global collaboration, it is easy to jump to the audience level without considering the classmate across the room or down the hall.

Web-based tools like blogs and Wikis allow our students to create, share, collaborate and expand their knowledge. Without the face-to-face follow-up our children miss out on the key reason we send them to school in the first place — to learn in a dynamic environment lead by qualified instructors.

It is after the local work is completed that the “audience” can be expanded; further sharing, exploration and even collaboration can be exploited from the Web — thus the importance of having a solid, classroom-based set of resources.

Resources for the classroom

As simple as it sounds, the classroom must have a basic set of tools.

For a start, projector that can show an image of a computer screen (LCD projector) is a basic tool for all classrooms today. As I enter my daughter’s classroom in kindergarten, I see her teacher using an LCD projector to create learning opportunities in the same way I see IB science teachers doing their work.

Second, a classroom needs the tools for sharing multimedia projects.  Multimedia in its current format will include movies with sound and, possibly, animation. The LCD projector takes care of part of this equation and the inclusion of a simple sound system will accomplish the rest. 

Finally, a basic tool for classrooms that is also a tool to share, collaborate and demonstrate is a document camera which allows a teacher to share with the classroom a book, a drawing, a microscope, and even their own two hands.  The more dynamic part of this is the fact that it serves as a recorder of lessons and demonstrations as well, allowing for the lessons to be reviewed and shared within and outside the classroom community.

Classroom environments are keys in the future of learning

Classroom Environments are key in the future of learning at SAS.

It is because of this focus that we move the idea of Technology 2012: The Future of Learning at SAS. The technology team has worked hard to solidify the concepts of technology use in the classrooms of our elementary schools, middle schools and high schools, based on building learning communities and giving them powerful tools to the students for the future.

It is our hope that when our students visit the back corners of their memories of their school experience at SAS, they can tell the story of a  school that took bold steps to give them  the tools to learn, collaborate and share both locally and globally.

Edge for Excellence . . .
Supporting technology in SAS classrooms

Our first annual fund campaign, Edge for Excellence aims to bolster a plan, written by the SAS technology committee, to give our students a technological edge in guiding their learning. It will accelerate implementation of that plan and move quickly to integrate emerging technologies into classrooms across the K-12 curriculum on both campuses such as those discussed in this week’s edition of Inside SAS. You might say this year’s Edge for Excellence campaign aims to ensure that the use of rapidly-emerging techologies and the acquisition of related skills will be integral parts of every student’s learning at SAS.

Reposted from ParentTalkonline

By Andrew Torris, Deputy Superintendent

Technorati Tags: annual fund, technology school in classrooms, SAS, Shanghai American School

The week of October 12-16 was an intense week of conversations and observations for the 16 members of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Visiting Committee that were assigned to visit and review the work of the Focus on Learning Self Study for Shanghai American School.

Self Study visiting team members were:

• Tim Carr, Headmaster of the American School in Japan (Chairman)
• Dr. Ron Carruth, Superintendent, Whittier City Schools, Whittier California (co-chairman)
• Richard Bisset, Mathematics Teacher, Singapore American School
• Diane Bohm, Consultant, ESF Schools, Hong Kong
• Natalie Broderick,Director of Student Services, HKIS, Hong Kong
• Jon Hill, Technology Teacher, Seoul Foriegn School
• Mark Jenkins, Direction of Curriculum and Professional Learning, Jakarta International School
• Stephen Lehman, IT Director, International School of Bangkok, Bangkok
• Joseph Levno, Vice Principal, Brent International School, Manila
• Carole Mondin, Librarian, American School of Guangzhou,Guangzhou, PRC
• Karen Moreau, Director of Curriculum and Staff Development, Taipei American School
• Michael Powell, Mathematics Teacher, International School of Kuala Lumpur
• Isabel Searson, Principal, Taejon Christian School, Daejon, South Korea
• Dr. Deborah Taylor, Deputy Director, Kaohsiung American School
• Ruth Auty, Humanities Teacher, International Christian School, Hong Kong
• James Gerhard, Assistant Principal, Ruamrudee International School, Bangkok

The team spend the days on the two campuses speaking with self study focus committee members, students, PTSA board members and members of the school administration. They also spent one evening speaking with Rick Wang, School Board Chairman and school board members Cindy Qui, William McGrath, and Caroline Yun.  All in all, they were able to meet a broad spectrum of school community members from both campuses and confirm that the self study was accurate and comprehensive.

On Thursday afternoon, the visiting committee members split up to both campuses and completed a simulcast presentation of their findings. The major findings were that the school is to be commended for the following:

• An impressive, thorough, and honest self study which involved all key stakeholders in the school community.
• Establishment and pursuit of an inspirational vision, core values, and long-range planning which has provided guidance, focus and direction for the SAS community during a time of rapid growth.
• Recruitment of a talented, passionate, and committed faculty and staff despite rapid growth and an increasingly competitive global hiring environment
• In response to significant numbers of new faculty the administration has redesigned the orientation process to support professional development and promote ownership of the vision, mission, core values, and the EAGLES.
• Planning and development of excellent purpose-built facilities and resources on two campuses which are clearly designed to enhance student learning and sustain the commitment of “one school-two campuses” to serve two communities in distinctly separate locales of Shanghai.
• Significant progress on curriculum articulation and mapping, which has brought coherence and clarity to the learning program.
• Multiple opportunities and modalities for rich professional learning.
• Effective collaborative structures and communication protocols among community members.
• Ample opportunities for parents to contribute to the learning environment and supportively engage with the school.
• Initiation of an advancement model which has enhanced communication, marketing, admissions, and fundraising potential.
• Profound improvement in the admissions office services, closely articulated with academic personnel, which have increased the recruitment and retention of families.
• A strategic financial plan which is designed to facilitate long-term financial stability.
• Effective and principled management of extremely rapid growth which enabled uninterrupted, quality educational opportunities throughout the time of construction.

The areas that the visiting committee directed for follow up were outlined in order to sustain healthy progress towards SAS’s vision for 2012. The visiting team noted that the school must consider its personnel, priorities, and pace in order to effectively address the following areas:

• The administration and faculty develop and implement the technology infrastructure in a manner consistent with the SAS vision that will support and increase the integration of the technology to enhance student learning within the classrooms and for communication throughout the school.
• The administration and faculty continue to promote the implementation of a learning community that utilizes a range of collaborative processes that support an ongoing focus on improving student learning.
• The administration and faculty set in place a consistent, comprehensive school-wide assessment program that measures student learning and aligns with the learning outcomes.
• Further attention should be given to the intentional integration of the vision for learning and the EAGLES into the academic curriculum, co-curricular activities and classroom instruction.
• The administration and faculty should devise ways to track the efficacy of professional development and link it to student achievement, performance evaluation and goal setting.
• In order to realize its vision of 2012, the Board of Directors, the SAS finance department and the divisional administration should continue to identify ways to streamline budgeting in execution of its multi-year strategic financial plan.

A formal finding of the report has been forwarded to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Commission on Accreditation for review and confirmation. A formal notification of the accreditation term and requirements is expected in the spring of 2009.

The SAS community wishes to thank the visiting for their voluntary effort on behalf of our students and our community.  Their work was of the highest quality and will benefit SAS for years to come.

The self study team slide show used at the presentation of findings is below.