The Changing World of Education: Kony 2012

by | Mar 11, 2012 | Blog, Teacher's Corner, Video

I’m beginning to see that we are living at the edge of a very unusual time in education.  My students helped me discover this today by introducing me to a documentary on Joseph Kony the Ugandan warlord. By now you may have heard of the Kony 2012 campaign designed by the US based non-profit Invisible Children (If not I’ll post the documentary at the bottom).  Since the videos initial release, just earlier this week, over 60 million people have viewed it. Suddenly students who were never interested in Central African war atrocities want to discuss and learn more about the topic.  No doubt this is partly due to the nature of the story but it’s also a testimony to the effectiveness of clever branding and brilliant marketing.  Over the last few years there has been a steady increase of viral marketing and attempts to raise awareness through social media, but none have seemed as layered and effective as the Kony 2012 campaign. So how does this relate to education?  As I watched the inspiration rise in my students as we discussed this topic I see an opportunity to capitalize on their motivation.  In fact it seems more and more normal for my students to be keen marketing commentators.  I’d like to follow their motivation and see where we end up, but there’s one big problem, this is IB history and May exams are right around the corner.  So instead of harnessing my student’s ambition and seeing where it takes us I have to get my students ready to be assessed.  Anyone who teaches 12th graders in the spring knows...

5 Ways to Deal with a Red Light/Green Light Leader

by | Mar 3, 2012 | Blog, Education, Teacher's Corner

For most educators it’s hard to not have at least one working experience with a typical Red Light/Green Light administrator.  It usually starts with a stroke of inspiration while relaxing with coworkers on Friday night or if you work in Asia in the middle of a foot massage.  You’ve just discovered the solution to a nagging school problem.  On Monday, after the morning rush has passed, you walk into the “gate keepers” office (principal, headmaster, department head, etc) to lay out your sweeping vision for the school.  Oddly enough, they don’t seem as excited about it as you were when you first thought about it. So what’s wrong?  Well it could be a number of things.  Maybe your idea just isn’t that good.  Or maybe something else needs to take priority right now.  Or maybe you’re working with a Red Light/Green Light leader; a leader who instead of encouraging colleagues to be creative, take risks and solve problems, demands “veto power” on all potential projects.** Don’t be discouraged. Here are 5 ways to deal with a Red Light/Green Light Leader: 1.  Experiment Within Your Sphere of Influence If you’re like me you feel surrounded by problems that are begging for a solution.  Here in the Philippines I see intense poverty, pollution and wasted resources outside of school, and in school there’s a whole different set of of problems. Whether working with Red Light/Green Light leaders or not one should first ask whether the issue is within my sphere of influence.  aAsking this question will focus your time and energy on projects that you hold some sway or authority over.  It’s...

Bridging The ESL Divide

by | Feb 16, 2012 | Blog, Education, Teacher's Corner

Like many international schools in Asia the classroom’s in my school seem to be swarming with English language learners.  We have an ESL department that works hard to bring students up to mainstream requirements, yet I find myself constantly battling a divide in my classes between strong English speakers and English language learners… By the way, what’s the deal with all the different terminology, ESL, ELL TEFL, LEP, etc.  It seems like every school has their own phraseology for this population.  Maybe I should create my own new term and see if anyone can tell the difference.  How about IPLLSP for In-Progress-Language-Learning-Student-Population?  Sounds good to me. Here are list of strategies I recommend to improve your IPLLSPs? Divide and Conquer–Avoid placing similar level IPLLSPs in the same grouping.  Hopefully they’ll be challenged to work with others who can raise their language ability. Keep Talking–Too often we allow these students to fall back on their written ability.  We need to ask questions and expect responses. Discussion-Based Teaching–This year I’ve started a discussion-based model in many of my classes from Philips Exeter Academy in the US.  Known as the Harkness Method it emphasizes community-learning and the Socratic Method.  Everyone is expected to speak and if done correctly it creates an environment were all levels of IPLLSPs can participate.  Philips Exeter does a training seminar over the summer for teachers who are interested in learning more. Translation–Allow for monitored translation time in discussions so everyone can catch up and reset. Slow Down–I know this sound a little contradictory to the idea that the students should be mainstream.  But sometimes we speak too...

Leadership Myth #5: CEOs Need To Be Great Leaders

by | Jan 30, 2012 | Blog, Education

I came across an interesting article this week that lists 5 common myths of leadership.  Number 5 reads: The Position Myth- “This is truly the greatest misunderstanding of what leadership is. Think about it, if you are a top CEO, a president of a company or a manager, are you really a great leader? Some people might naturally be great leaders at these positions and that is how they earned them but NO, just being at a top position does not all of a sudden make you a leader.” [Read The Rest Here] Can this be true?  When I think about the “people at the top” I’ve always assumed they must be “highly effective” leaders that have gone from “good to great.”  Too heavy on the leadership puns? So is it really necessary for the leadership in a school to be highly effective?  It makes sense that you’d expect leaders at the top to be the best at leading an organization.  Before I began pursuing leadership in schools I would have thought the same thing, but recently my opinion is beginning to change.  Instead of great leadership at the top maybe all that’s needed is a manger who can pick leaders. Obviously it might seem like a sensitive topic to talk about our superintendents and I’m not going to be the first to throw mine under any buses, but when you look at your school’s superintendent, headmaster or CEO do you see a great leader?  If so, in what ways?  If not, what’s wrong?  Be anonymous if you prefer or offer public...

So Where Can I Find Great Leaders?

by | Jan 24, 2012 | Blog, Education

Every year around September a wave of excitement and anticipation fills the living rooms and faculty lounges of international schools as schools around the world begin to post their recruitment needs for the following year.  To any experienced international teacher or administrator it’s an accepted lifestyle choice that you’ll see your closest friends come and go as they move onto new and hopefully better jobs. This last year my wife and I “tested the waters” to see if this was the year to leave and we were sucked into the black hole of resumes and recruitment fairs.  I found myself immersed in conversations with other teachers discussing what schools had posted their job listings.  What I found interesting is how in the midst of these conversations, myself and others would make a snap judgement of the quality of a school.  For example “Did you see blank school is looking for a new blank teacher?”  “Oh that’s a great school–they pay their teachers really well.”  Or  “that’s a great school because they are building a brand new campus.”  Of course the judgement cuts the other way too as I’ve heard people say “it seems like a good school, but…well their 1:1 program is PC based…so that’s a problem.” The truth, it seems, that except for the most competitive teaching candidates many of us are attracted to a school because they either are interested in us, pay well or have a nice website (come on you know you’ve done it).  What does this say about the current recruitment climate when teachers sign contracts at schools not because there is a great match,...

How Important Is Great Leadership?

by | Jan 20, 2012 | Blog, Education

The other day I was in my principal’s office discussing this year’s PSAT results with the school counselor. In the middle of the discussion I noticed a slip of paper that was taped to side of a bookcase. The bookcase was no where near the principal’s desk, so I assume this note must have been a remnant of the last occupant of this office. The slip of paper posed the question “Just How Important Is leadership?”. A timely question as I’ve been scratching my head a lot lately wondering what to write about in this blog. On the surface this question seems simple and a bit silly as we’ve all been taught that great leadership is the key to success. Yet as I look at the world around me, especially in education, it seems no matter good or bad leadership at the top, schools manage to pump out students that live productive and meaningful lives. Even in schools where there is great leadership it’s hard to argue that the lives of each of students who walked the halls of the school are measurably better from that one person. Outside of education it seems evident that life continues to progress despite great leaders. In 2008 when Obama won the White House I thought that his obvious leadership skills would somehow cut through the bipartisan bickering in Washington, but exactly three years since he took the job things continue to seem as bad as ever, if not worse. The note went onto say “A highly effective leader is good for a roughly 30% increase in achievement for the lowest performing teachers’...