Resilience
March 4, 2022
Today our faculty attended our annual ISY Compassion Conference. This conference was an opportunity for our faculty to reflect on our compassionate Mission and Vision and our definition of compassion:
The will and understanding to respect and value the identity, culture, perspective, and experience of others in acting to make a positive difference to their lives.
In addition to hearing from speakers on inclusion, culture and diversity, and service learning (three of our strategic themes), our keynote speaker spoke to us about developing resilience in young people.
Resilience can be taught and our speaker introduced to us a 4 ‘S’ Model to describe how we can all help young people develop resilience in difficult times. This is how I interpreted what he said:
- We can help young people streamline or lessen what they are worried about. Young people can worry a lot as they do not have the experience to put their worries into perspective. We can share our own childhood worries and experiences to help young people put their worries into perspective and prevent ‘small stuff’ becoming ‘big stuff.’ Experience builds resilience (so we should share ours!).
- We can help young people slow down. We all have dreams and long term plans but when things are difficult, we can remind young people to take pride in completing small tasks every day. Pride builds resilience.
- We can help young people salvage something positive from any difficult situation. This might take some compassion and creativity but if young people can identify something positive coming from a difficult situation, they are more likely to work through that difficult situation. Positivity builds resilience.
- We can help young people choose to stand alongside others during difficult times. We are stronger when we have support. We can help young people recognize who they can rely on to support them when they are challenged – that could be us or someone else. Support builds resilience.
This week, we have seen even more students move from our online program to our in-person program. This is very positive news as less students online and more in the classroom benefits students in both programs.
Our online program is for students who will need to learn online for an extended period of time because they are unable to come to campus but are well enough to study. If your child is sick, we ask that they rest as they normally would instead of joining online classes.
Thank you for keeping us informed if your family’s needs change and you need to switch back to our online learning program. The earlier we get this information the more effective we can be in adapting to meet every student’s needs. Please email the Elementary School Office (elementaryoffice@isyedu.org) as soon as you know that your child will need to learn online.
Donations can be made at
https://isyedu.org/life-at-isy/online-ordering/
COUNSELOR’S CORNER with Ms. Patty:
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
-Nelson Mandela
Education is a proven method for breaking the poverty cycle and yet 1 in 6 children worldwide are not in school. We know that education empowers communities and promotes a fairer, more equitable world but not all children have access to education. This connection between education and poverty is why ISY partners with United World Schools to support the Myanmar Village of Wan Kaung.
For the last several years, I have supported ISY students as they have developed their service learning skills to support the Wan Kaung school through event development, fundraising and collaborative programming. One key component of the programming is the Sponsor the Students of Wan Kaung Program. This fundraising program allows individuals to sponsor the children of Wan Kaung, allowing them to access the education that can help them overcome poverty. Donations supply the children with the tools, teachers and programming they need to build a brighter future. Please consider supporting the students of Wan Kaung by making a donation at ISY Pay Now, indicating it is a UWS donation. Your help is greatly appreciated and will help provide a positive impact.
Warmly, Ms. Patty
Ms. Patty is available to support all ISY families. If you have any questions or concerns please contact her at escounselor@isyedu.org.
Patty Amundson-Geisel
Pre-K to Grade 6 Counselor
Used Book Donations
Elementary School Blog – June 10th, 2020
The last day of the school year is here, it certainly has been an interesting few months. I would like to thank you all for your support during virtual learning.
Elementary School Blog – June 5th, 2020
I hope the students enjoyed the assembly this week, it was a lot of fun. It was great to still be able to farewell our teachers and leaving students.
Elementary School Blog – May 29th, 2020
Next week will be our last full week of school. There will be slides up until Thursday. On Friday the 5th of June there will be no slides, the teams will have conferencing type activities planned, they will communicate these to you. Report cards will go home on Thursday the 4th of June.
Elementary School Blog – May 22nd, 2020
Thank you to all those who attended the parent meeting last night hosted by Dr Hedger. There is a lot of planning going on at the moment and as mentioned later in June you will be able to view more information on what the new school year might look like.
ISY Elementary School Blog – 15th May – 2020
Another week of virtual learning fun and experiences is over. We love keeping the learning connections with our students. Our teachers are working very hard to ensure that your children have access to the best learning virtually that we can possibly give them.
ISY Elementary School Blog – 8th May – 2020
Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey this week. The feedback you provide is so important to us. An email will be sent out soon that will summarize the feedback given.
The International School Yangon
20 Shwe Taungyar Street
Bahan Township
Yangon, Myanmar
+95 (0) 9 880 441 040