My Amazing Teachers

by | Mar 25, 2012 | Teacher's Corner

Clearly there is a big difference between a bad teacher and an amazing teacher and most of us don’t fall into either camp.  I believe Dr. Jurgensen’s article is a good reminder for both teachers and administrators.  For teachers, it’s a reminder of the multi-layered and comprehensive style that great teaching requires today.  For administrators, it’s a reminder to not only search for teachers like this when hiring, but to also to empower your current teachers to think like this, as well as give them the resources and time to become Amazing Teachers. My Amazing Teachers By Dr. Christiana Jurgensen Each year, as recruiting season gets under way, I am asked to write recommendation letters for teachers who have decided to try their luck in the international teaching world.  Some are easy to write, making it hard to fit the words on the preferred page size.  Other are a struggle, and I think have to reflect over the year to think of noteworthy things to include in an otherwise form-like letter.  What makes the difference between a fine teacher and an amazing teacher?  Here are some of the trends I have noticed in my experience over the years. When I walk into the classroom of an outstanding teacher, the kids are not seated quietly at their desks.  Instead they are working in groups, reading on a pillow, asking the teacher a question, or taking it upon themselves to find the resources they need to complete the task at hand.  To take that a step further, in the very amazing classes, most students are not even working on the same...

Building Schools For 2030

by | Mar 19, 2012 | Blog, Education, Teacher's Corner

Last week during my interview with Dr. Dick Krajczar he stated that school leaders need to envision what classrooms and schools will be like in 2030.  I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, but still have few answers about what my 8 month old daughter’s classes should look like in 18 years.  As I think about it from the perspective of a teacher I think how depressing it would be if 18 years from now I was doing the same things in my classes. This is not to say that innovation requires us to throw out everything we’re doing now for some flashy new techno-classroom of the future.  In fact I often hear a lot being said about schools integrating technology into the classroom.  Often evidence of this is that the school has LCD projectors in every classroom.  How is this much different from the modern day equivalent of the overhead projector?  I know what you’re going to say, “overhead projectors can’t show clips from youtube.”  Valid point, but an iPhone in the hands of my 83 year old grandma is pretty much just a phone and although we talk-up the use of technology at our campuses, its frequency of use is often generational. So toss out the old teachers, right?  The other day I pulled out much of my hair trying to explain to some “older” teachers how to use googledocs and was amazed to find out that one of  our teachers was unaware that if you double-click on a file it will open automatically, which she remarked is much faster than highlighting and selecting open from...

The Leadership Project: Dr. Dick Krajczar

by | Mar 16, 2012 | The Leadership Project

In the first installment of The Leadership Project I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Dick Krajczar, the Executive Director of the East Asia Regional Council of Schools, better known as EARCOS.  Dr. Krajczar generously discussed a number of topics regarding international education for over an hour, and not surprisingly had much to say about this quickly growing field. After over 40 years in international education which included assignments in Afghanistan, Syria, Jordan and Malaysia, it’s obvious that Dr. K has seen international Ed change in many way. “[When] many people started in these schools they generally would come for maybe two or three years…then they’d go home…because it wasn’t as easy to make international education a professional career opportunity.”  Certainly the rise in professionalism amongst teachers and administrators has led to a flip in relations between international schools and schools in the states and other developed nations. “[As international] schools get more sophisticated and more refined…many of us [school leaders] feel that we are working in the best schools and we would be a big help to a lot of the schools back in the US or other countries.” Where as budget crises and low student performance has been common in the states, international schools, especially in Asia, are performing at high levels and continue to spring up all over the region.  When asked whether this was a bubble, Dr. K explained, “many schools will survive because…[only] 12 years ago in China there were only 20 international schools and today there are over 200.  With the economy booming in China and with so many international companies doing business...

For Effective Leadership, New Job Descriptions

by | Mar 15, 2012 | Leadership News

I especially like her comment about the “black hole” of vetted educational ideas.  It’s funny, or ironic, that often as educators we talk about empowering our students to take control of their learning, take risks or any number of tasks.  Yet as ed leaders we often find ourselves “knee-deep” in tradition or routine to affect change in our communities.  Is the answer as simple as demanding that job descriptions be a source of empowerment rather than a school’s (and a dictionary’s) definition for the job?   On the other hand do your teachers and other faculty  want the authority to create change, or is the culture of school such that it’s dangerous to make suggestions and work towards improvement?  Then what? For Effective Leadership, New Job Descriptions By Bambi Betts Just a few weeks ago at a high profile international school, a group of middle school heads of grade and department leaders gathered for some professional development. They were asked one question: What decisions is your team empowered and required to make? The answers, or lack thereof, were telling: no one really knew. If you work in a school, you have been there. An idea about learning bubbles up. It is on the agenda at meetings, at every level. Teachers discuss it; department and grade level leaders discuss it; principals discuss it; and everyone reads about it. Input pours in: opinions, reactions, embellishments. Our investigation confirms it is a valuable practice, adding value to learning. And a year goes by… What happened to that good idea we invested so much time in? Right into the “black hole,” the resting place...

Introducing The Leadership Project

by | Mar 13, 2012 | The Leadership Project

Over the last few weeks I’ve been scratching my head a lot, thinking about characteristics of leadership and educational change.  So far I’m excited to see that there are others out there that are interested in this topic and have been checking in.  However, my original goal in starting Learn[ed]Leadership wasn’t just to examine the traits of leadership–and why bother, there are thousands of books out there already on the topic.  My goal has been to learn specifically about what great leaders are doing in international education.  I also hope in doing this I can find out what educational leaders are doing in common to advance schools and develop talent. So with this in mind I want to introduce The Leadership Project.  An industry specific forum to examine and interview leaders in international education.  In most job interviews the prospective employer often asks “what questions do you have for me?”  Unfortunately, especially in international education, it’s not common to have a lot of time to ask questions about what’s shaped that person’s leadership philosophy.  My hope is that by “flipping the tables” on school leaders we can learn from their experiences what motivates, inspires and challenges them to be relevant in a changing educational world and also see what our industry is doing well, poorly or just not doing. Dr. Dick Krajczar, the Executive Director of the East Asia Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS) agreed to be my first interviewee and I will post his responses to my questions within the coming days.  He already mentioned a number of school leaders he thinks I should interview next, but I...