Secondary Newsletter No. 25 – February 22, 2019
Dear Parents,
We have had a busy week with our students and teachers being filmed in action. This opportunity really highlighted what wonderful opportunities our students have to participate in such a range of rewarding and holistic learning activities each week. I look forward to seeing the final promotional videos which I anticipate will be a great showcase of what BIS has to offer.
Student Planners (G6-8)
Please remember to check and sign your child’s planner at least once each week. This is a great opportunity to begin a discussion about how your child is doing at school. Your support in your child developing self-management skills and meeting deadlines is much appreciated.
House Shirts
If you would like to order a House Shirt please fill in the form and pay to Ibu Indira in Reception. Students are encouraged to wear these on Friday each week.
Ross Ferris (Secondary Principal)
MYP Corner
Making Thinking Visible in the MYP
The Grade 10 Individuals and Societies class are currently completing a depth study on USA in the 1920s. One of the sub-topics of our depth study is prohibition, gangsters and corruption. In previous years students have been required to write an essay plan which they could use to complete an in-class timed written response. The traditional essay plans focus on PEEL [Point-Evidence-Explanation-Link] paragraphs and are usually text centered. This year students attempted to create a visual essay plan to help them demonstrate their thinking in a manner that made sense to them. Part of the Harvard Project Zero Visible Thinking programme is the use of thinking routines that help with the active processing of information. This “encourages students to actively engagewith a topic…by taking stock of prior knowledge, probing the certainty of their ideas and visibly connecting new knowledge to old.” (Tishman & Palmer, 2) Visible thinking can also provide an opportunity for students who find planning and writing essays difficult with a strategy to collate their thoughts and demonstrate a better understanding of the topic. The posters that the students created were peer assessed by the whole class against MYP Individuals & Societies criteria C [Communication] and D [Critical Thinking]. Below are the posters the class felt were the best. Congratulations to Raihan, Anastasia, Gung Ale and Noa.
Tishman, S. and Palmer, P. (July 2005). Visible Thinking. Leadership Compass
Matt Wood – Year 10 I&S
DP Corner
That huge sigh you heard at 12:00 on Friday, February 15 was one of relief as the Grade 12s finished their final mock exam. Maths was the last exam in case you were wondering. The students will receive their graded exams back with teacher comments within one week of the date they took the exam. Classes will be dedicated to reviewing the exams and students will reflect on their performance in their reflection sheets. The students will also be writing their own mock exam comments based on the feedback they received both on the exam and in class. The Mock Exam reports will be sent home Friday March 1 and will replace the Term 3 report.
Having reflected in earnest on their exam performance and highlighted both their areas of strength and areas for improvement the students will have roughly nine weeks to prepare for their final exams. The first exam being Business Management on Friday May 3. Throughout this period the students, with the help of their teachers will continue to hone their revision skills and tweak the revision schedules they created for their mock exams. This will place the students in a good position to improve on the grades they received for their Mock Exams.
Matt Wood – DPC
Arts Corner
The final preparations are underway for Applause for a Cause – a collaborative performance showcasing over 40 students and some guest appearances by staff too, the night promises to be an exciting and meaningful event on the school calendar. With lots more staff, parents and students supporting the event in providing the refreshments, front of house and the prize draw the night is one to really celebrate our sense of community!
Tickets are selling fast so please make sure to buy yours before it is too late!
If anyone has a prize they can organise or donate for the prize draw then please contact Samantha Walther-Jones or Sarah Alborn asap! Let’s raise as much as we can for the children of Lombok.
Thank you!
Sarah Alborn
Counselor’s Corner
Parent Info Session: College Applications, Timeline, and Scholarships
Save the Date: On March 4th we will hold two Parent Info Sessions on the College Application process, one from 8-9AM and one from 2-3PM so that all secondary parents are able to attend. This session is geared specifically toward grade 11 parents as their sons and daughters are currently beginning their college application process, however all secondary parents are welcome and encouraged to attend. We will look at the timeline for preparing applications; we will view BridgeU (our college and career search platform) lessons that begin in grade 9 to help students start thinking about what they want to study and identify strengths, and we we discuss scholarship opportunities available to our students. Parents of grade 11 students are required to attend one of the sessions. Please sign up here to let us know which one you will attend. Other secondary parents can drop in to either session.
Career Interest Inventory
If you would like an in-depth assessment of your son’s or daughter’s aptitudes and career interests, please review this information about Interquest and complete and return the registration form to the Counseling Center.
Summer Programs
Dear Parents, Please continue to check the Opportunities for Students to view the college visits calendar and learn about upcoming college fairs, summer opportunities for all ages, internships, and scholarships for BIS students. This document is updated daily as new opportunities are sent to us.
University Visits
A representative from University of Birmingham, UK, Dr. Stephen Minchin will be visiting BIS on Tuesday, March 5th during snack time from 9:40 – 10:00 AM in the College Counseling Center (next to the staff room).
If your son/daughter is interested, please have them sign up here for the University of Birmingham, UK Visit
The student who asks the best question to the rep will win a prize! Sign up now! Think of a good question to ask!
Here are the Top 4 Things you should know about University of Birmingham, UK
- Research led Russell Group University offering a wide range of programmes
- Stunning campus university close to a vibrant multicultural city
- Award Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)
- One of the best careers services in a UK university with excellent graduate employability
University Visits
A representative from Future Paths, Thailand, Pawsansoe Bree will be visiting BIS on Monday, March 4th during lunch time from 12:30 – 1:10 PM in the College Counseling Center (next to the staff room).
If your son/daughter is interested, please have them sign up here for the Future Paths.
The student who asks the best question to the rep will win a prize! Sign up now! Think of a good question to ask!
Here are the Top 3 Things you should know about The Future Paths:
- USA based Pre-College Program for International Students
- Future Paths helps university-bound students in Asia chart a course for higher education through strategic planing, practical preparation and real -life experience on campus
- Summer programs in 3 different U.S. regions: East Coast – Washington D.C. & New York, Mid West – Ohio & Illinois, and West Coast – California. The 2 sessions, session 1 from June 20th – July 4th, 2019 and July 11th – July 25th, 2019.
CAS Corner
Mariia Matrosova(Cooking Club)
At the beginning of the year I decided to create cooking club, in grade 10 we also had one, but I decided that I want to have my own club where I can have my own rules and use my own ideas. Each of us had at least prepared their own food, be it ordinary scrambled eggs or cereal with milk, or even more serious recipes, like pasta, soup, meat and more. For our club you don’t even need to be able to cook, all you need is to have the desire to learn something new. During this activity, I will try to share my cooking skills and help advance student’s knowledge about cooking. Also, we will not just simply cook, every week we will have different cuisines. All recipes that we will prepare will be chosen by us with Malaika, we are choosing them according to the theme of the week, price of the ingredients and products that students are allowed to eat. Throughout the course we were trying to cook something that my students will be able to handle.
Learning Outcomes:
1. Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
Throughout the terms our main problem was our time management, but we still had a lot of improvements. However, we still need to work on our collaboration between students, because some of them were just sitting on their laptops, while everyone else actually worked.
2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
We were learning/improving our basic cutting and frying rules, my student found out how to cut it better and not actually cut yourself. Also some students were developing their skills in fraying stuff, the main task was actually checking the dish to make sure it is not burnt or etc.
3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
To plan this lesson me and Malaika actually were struggling with finding easy, cheap quick recipes, because a lot of recipes are quite difficult and take a lot of time. Furthermore, we had to be sure that we are able to buy all the ingredients that needed.
4. Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
During this time we had a lot of moments where you actually have to collaborate with a team. First of all, they had to collaborate with their partner, furthermore, during frying, they were really collaborative and were switching places to do everything.
5. Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions
Throughout the class, me and Malaika had to actually think twice before making actions or talking, because students could understand everything differently and it might cause some problems or misunderstanding. So, we had to be very careful, especially me because I got used to cook alone and be as a head of everything and it was pretty difficult for me not to yell or correct them in a strict way. Furthermore, to be more ethical we had to think about ingredients that we are using because some students have allergies, so we had to consider that factor also.
