by andrew@learnedleadership.org | May 31, 2012 | The Leadership Project
As I’ve had the opportunity to meet with peers at other international schools, it seems that so many international educators come from either Washington, or Minnesota, my home state. Although I’m sure the world of international ED benefits from all the high-IQ WA expats, Minnesota and the Midwest continue to export good-ole fashion kindness. Where I’m from we actually call it “Minnesota-nice.” Although Dr. Kerry Jacobson, Superintendent at Shanghai American School, originally comes from Wisconsin, he spent a large chunk of his career in Minnesota before moving overseas, and it seems some of the state’s niceties have “rubbed off.” Despite a demanding schedule overseeing a school population above 3000, Dr. Jacobson was not only nice enough to meet with me in the busy month of May, but also put-up with a weak Skype connection—and he did it all with a big smile. As we talked Kerry spoke of the importance of bridging the complex differences between stakeholders at our schools. He went on to explain that although it’s important to be focused in our execution of purpose, so much of what we do relies on our ability to connect, empathies and be nice with others. As a proud Midwesterner, I’d like to think his success as a leader might be traced back to his time in Minnesota. You’ve spent most of your career in US public Schools, what has been the most drastic difference between leading a public school and an international school like SAS? First off, I have to say that I am a big advocate for American public education “[in fact] I think American public education is...
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by andrew@learnedleadership.org | May 30, 2012 | Leadership News, Summer Reading List
Why is it that the longest month of the year also happens to be the last month of the school year? Of course there are a number of months with 31 days (7 to be exact), but August is the only month without any major school holidays. Now don’t get all pious as you read this and say you don’t need a break. After all if you’re like most teachers or administrators I know (at least the good ones), you’ve been working 50-60 hr work weeks all year anyway. So now that summer is finally upon us, it’s time to reflect on the year and learn something new. Sounds like a nice vague summer goal to me. So in an attempt to keep myself accountable and not let the summer drip through my fingers like a quickly melting ice cream cone on the 4th of July (I am from the US after all), I’m going to use the following weeks to review a few books for the Learn[ed]Leadership Summer Reading List. Similar to the book reviews in TIME Magazine, I’ll make a quick a cutting judgement of the book; either READ, SKIM, or SKIP. The first book for the Learn[ed]Leadership Summer Reading List is Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School. Yes, I know it has little to do with leadership, but it was written by a fellow international teacher, Andrew Hallam, an English teacher at Singapore American School. Learn more about his book and how to download a copy here. Watch for the review in the coming...
by andrew@learnedleadership.org | May 27, 2012 | The Leadership Project
If you pay any attention to the status of international education in Southeast Asia, you know of the tremendous growth that has taken place. Despite this growth, areas like Hong Kong continue to see demand outpace supply. Some schools see this as an opportunity to expand. Hong Kong Academy, currently located on Hong Kong Island, is not that kind of school. It’s true that HKA will increase its enrollment from 470 to 600 students when they move to their new location in Sai Kung in 2013, but this is by no means a mega-school; and that’s exactly the point. I had the pleasure of speaking with HKA Head of School Steve Dare, and what struck me most in our conversation is how he has helped shape a clear mission and vision that drives the school. At the core of this vision is a focus on building an intentionally diverse community, which from what I could tell aligns well with Mr. Dare’s values as a leader. Describe your leadership style? “It’s hard to say one has a style, [instead] I try to be aware of what my strengths are and the challenges I have…[I believe] I have the capacity to bring people into the leadership conversation.” I realize building a school isn’t just about my ideas as a leader, but it’s a conversation between stakeholders. “[One of my greatest roles] is as an ambassador for the school and because I have a clear vision and sense of direction for the school, I want to bring as many people in as I can who share that vision.” In this process...
by andrew@learnedleadership.org | May 19, 2012 | The Leadership Project, TLP EARCOS
It says something interesting about Tim Carr’s personality that he describes his arrival at Jakarta International School as a homecoming. What’s interesting is Mr. Carr has never lived in Jakarta, Indonesia, or SE Asia before accepting the role of Head of School at JIS. The homecoming that he’s referring to is less tangible, but more of spirit and connection with the developing world that was lacking at his last position at ASIJ in Tokyo. It’s clear that the energy and vibrancy of Indonesian culture has connected with Mr. Carr as he sets out on his journey, which has already included the creation of a new and exciting school wide vision that connects to this spirit. (If not specifically quoted, Mr. Carr’s responses to these questions have been paraphrased) You’re relatively young for your position, what convinced you to go into leadership at a young age? My father was in education so I think some of my interests in schools and students come from there. “I was often drawn towards how schools worked, and I’ve always been fascinated with schools as an organism.” Early in our careers, my wife and I decided to take the step into international teaching, and “I decided at a relatively young age to walk through doors [to leadership] that were opened, even if I wasn’t qualified to do it.” In fact a lot of my opportunities have come from people who trusted me to do things I didn’t know how to do, but was willing to try. What or who has been most fundamental in your development? “Learning…that’s the main thing…I can’t imagine conjuring a...
by andrew@learnedleadership.org | May 18, 2012 | Blog, Video
A few weeks back I wrote a blog about my frustration as a 12th grade IB teacher. Like many of my fellow 12th grade teachers can attest to, student effectiveness drops of a cliff in second semester. So when my students suddenly came to class excited and inspired by the Kony 2012 campaign (a global movement to arrest the Ugandan warlord and war criminal Joseph Kony), we were all disappointed when after a quick discussion we had to return to the IB curriculum. Now, by no means am suggesting that the IB curriculum is inadequate or too restrictive, but I think as educators we should challenge ourselves to continually look for ways to harness our students’ enthusiasm to increase learning. The other day a colleague of mine, who I had discussed this idea with, passed along this Tedx talk by Zoe Weil. In it she discusses the idea of teaching our students in a way that gets them to not only learn about and identify problems, but create solutions. She goes on to introduce the idea of Solutionary Teams, groups of students who compete with each other to create solutions to identified problems. Take a look: Now whether you agree or disagree with her views on Humane Education, I think the idea of empowering students to choose their own focus/curriculum in a class is very powerful. Obviously it’s easier said then done, but definitely worth pondering and worth an experiment. As a social studies teacher I see many practical applications and horizontal collaboration opportunities, but see some big school wide opportunities too. For example, many school organizations (NHS, CAS, StuCo) vie...
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