ISY Elementary Blog
A proud and humble school
Mike Simpson, Elementary School Principal
2 October 2020
Next week, we have a committee from WASC working with us online. WASC stands for The Western Association of Schools and Colleges. It is an organization that works with many top international schools as part of their continuous improvement efforts.
We have spent the last two years involved in a very detailed self-study that focused on all parts of our school – from curriculum to traffic control, from ASAs to the business office. The WASC committee is working with us next week to help us to reflect on what we have studied and to confirm our action plan for the future. Students, families, staff, and faculty all played a role in our self-study. Our new ISY Learner Outcomes and Attributes is one product of our collaborative efforts as outlined below.
As I have prepared documents, schedules, and meetings in preparation for this online visit, I could not help but reflect on how we have evolved as a school since we adopted our compassionate Mission and Vision. I am not sure I have worked (or ever will work) in a school and for a community that lives its Mission and Vision as much as ISY does. This commitment to our Mission and Vision really shines through in our self-study.
As a community, we are positive and proud of what we do for our students and what they in turn are able to achieve. But we also know we can improve. It is this humility that will always enable us to keep improving for the sake of our students and the world which is crying out for compassionate global citizens, lifelong learners, and agents for positive change.
In keeping with our continuous improvement efforts, today you will receive an email with a link to our fortnightly survey in relation to online learning. Thank you for taking the time to provide us with feedback. You can also contact me directly at msimpson@isyedu.org.
Kind regards,
Mike
AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO LEARNING: What should students learn for the 21st century?
This video is from Curriculum Redesign, an organization that inspired some of our self-study work around the ISY Learner Attributes. It is definitely worth a watch if you are interested in why we continue to develop an interdisciplinary approach to learning at ISY. A detailed explanation of Interdisciplinary Learning at ISY can be read here.
VIRTUAL RECESS WITH MS. PATTY!
Virtual Recess will be offered again this week from 1:00-1:30 PM. Students should use the All Grade Specialist Link to join on their assigned day. All activities will be student driven but will include fun and games.
ONLINE LEARNING TIP: How was school today?
It can be difficult at the best of times to get our children to talk about their school day. But it is important to understand how they are experiencing learning online so we can support and motivate them. Each Friday for the next few weeks, we will post five different questions that might help your child open up about their experience online. Here are this week’s questions:
- What was the best thing that happened today?
- Did you help anyone today?
- Did you say “thank you” to anyone?
- What made you laugh?
- Did you learn something you didn’t understand?
ISY LEARNER OUTCOMES & ATTRIBUTES
ISY purposefully waited until our Mission and Vision had taken root in our school before reviewing and confirming what we have termed the ISY Learner Outcomes. In line with our community’s understanding and awareness of the school’s Mission and Vision, we want every ISY student to develop into:
- Compassionate Global Citizens
- Lifelong Learners
- Agents for Positive Change
You will recognize the language of the Mission and Vision in these ISY Learner Outcomes. It is important that there is direct alignment between ISY’s Mission, Vision, and Lifelong Learner Outcomes.
The review and confirmation of the ISY Learner Outcomes began back in November as part of our WASC Focus on Learning Accreditation Self-Study. We asked our ourselves these questions:
- What does it mean to be educated?
- What are the current and future learning needs of our students?
From that initial session and after a series of dialogues, we settled on the following attributes as being key to our students being able to fulfil their potential and realize ISY’s Vision for them :
- Compassion
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Courage
- Creativity
- Critical Thinking
- Reflection
Click here for a more detailed explanation of what these ISY Learner Attributes mean and how we settled upon them.
Previous Elementary School Posts
Elementary School Blog – September 11, 2020
At the end of our second week of the academic year, we feel that our students are getting into the swing of things online.
Elementary School Blog – September 4, 2020
It feels good to have finished our first week online. There is a real positive energy around campus. That energy comes through online from our students and our teachers are building on that as they implement our planning and adapt it to meet our students needs and keep them engaged.
Elementary School Blog – August 28, 2020
In our compassionate community, children, parents and teachers are able to receive and provide feedback and advice from each other knowing that the feedback and advice is given with the positive intention of helping each other.
Elementary School Blog – August 21, 2020
Mr. Simpson asks the questions; ‘What do we need to do? Why do we need to do it? How can we do it?
Elementary School Blog – August 14th, 2020
Read about the new Elementary School Principal, Mr. Simpson’s philosophy of education.
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.
The International School Yangon
20 Shwe Taungyar Street
Bahan Township
Yangon, Myanmar
+95 (0) 9 880 441 040