Thank you to all of the parents who were able to attend our first Coffee Morning in the Learning Hub! We had a great turnout with a fantastic discussion!
For those of you that were not able to attend, or those who would like to review some of the topics we discussed, we will always post a “recap” of the session here on the Connect 2.0 blog. Please feel free to add your comments and questions so we can keep the sessions relevant to you.
The goal of these sessions is to continue to strengthen the home-school connection, to help educate parents about the exciting changes that technology brings to our world, and to provide an open forum for dialog about how to learn with these new tools.
This week’s session was a great overview and introduction to the changes happening in our society today. We sparked some excellent discussion with this version of the Did You Know? video originally posted by Karl Fish in August 2006:
We want to hear from you! Please feel free to ask questions, share resources, post links or just give us your feedback in the comments section.
Next Meeting Info: These Coffee Morning sessions will take place on the first Wednesday of every month in Project Zone of the Learning Hub. Our next meeting will be Wednesday, October 1st at 7:30 am and we will be discussing online safety and appropriate online behavior. We hope to see you there!
We would like to take a moment to explain the rationale behind the pass system being piloted in the ES Learning Hub.
Firstly, it is our sincere wish that all students, teachers and parents feel welcome in the Hub. Our main goal is to provide a dynamic space in which a number of classes can hold various learning activities related to literacy, technology and the classroom curriculum.
An ideal library is one that is filled with warmth and one that fosters a passion for reading. Watching students give recommendations to each other, guiding students in discovering books that inspire them, and helping teachers enhance their curriculum with great literature are all highlights of any student’s library experience. This is how we envision our Learning Hub to be used by all community members on a regular basis – as a home for reading and active learning.
On average, there were about 60 students per recess time, and, due to the elementary schedule, the staggered recess times span from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., which is a large portion of the school day. At the same time as recess is happening, there are scheduled classes, and the disruptions were frequent and numerous.
In order to create a more manageable learning environment in the Hub without closing the space several days per week, we developed a pass system in collaboration with our administrative team, as well as gathering input from teachers. The pass system is intended to be a compromise, allowing us to keep the Hub open everyday and yet also allowing us to hold classes effectively. The purpose is to ensure that the Learning Hub is an optimal learning environment throughout the day – including our recess periods which run from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm.
In addition to the new pass system, students continue to have multiple opportunities each day to access the Hub for reading and relaxing, or just to check out books:
Grades Pre-K to 2 have a weekly lesson and checkout with the librarian.
Grades 3-5 now have a fixed checkout time once a rotation where they come to the Hub for checkout and a reading time.
The Hub is open to all with no need for passes from 6:30-7:30 a.m. and again from 2:00-3:30 p.m. We have also let classroom teachers know that we will always make an exception for students with special circumstances.
The pass system is being tested for 30 days. At the end of 30 days, our plan is to solicit formal feedback from teachers, students and parents and make changes accordingly. In the meantime, we have been asking students and teachers informally how they feel about the new changes to the Hub.
Here is what we have seen and heard so far since implementing the pass program:
Immediately, the Hub changed into a learning space with scheduled classes being held without disruption.
There are far fewer students than we anticipated using the passes. When we questioned a number of teachers about why this is happening, many teachers responded that students aren’t fighting for the passes as we predicted they would. Generally speaking, the same students want the library passes everyday, although some specific classes have told us they need more passes. This tells us that these are the students who truly want to use the space for reading during recess times.
Students have told us that they want to come to the Hub with a group of friends, not in pairs. This tells us that we may need to increase the number of passes per class at the end of our trial period.
A number of teachers have commented that they did not bring their classes to the Hub last year because the numbers and noise were so great that they could not have a class lesson. Those same teachers have commented that they are happy with the change because they have been bringing their classes into the Hub for learning activities without recess disruption.
Again, we would like to stress that our goal is to create an optimal learning space for all elementary students, not to make them feel unwelcome. All change is difficult, and we realize this is a big change to past practice. But just as we are constantly reevaluating our teaching practices and goals, we are reevaluating the use of the Hub and moving forward with changes to make it the best environment for all students’ learning at all times of the day.
Please feel free to contact us, Tara Ethridge or Kim Cofino if you would like to further talk about the rationale for these changes.
We’re just about one month away from the fabulous, the exciting, the thrilling, Starbooks@YourLibrary!
Please mark your calendars: on Thursday, September 25th from 6:30 – 7:30 pm, the Learning Hub will host the first (of two) Starbooks evenings this year.
These events are a fabulous celebration of reading with a variety of activities run by teachers and parents. Last year both Starbooks evenings were a huge hit! We hope to see such an amazing turnout again this year!
More info to follow in next week’s Panther Paws and here on the Connect 2.0 blog!
Wondering what your child is doing at school with technology? Feeling like they are on technology fast forward and wondering how to catch up? Looking for a place to discuss these issues and learn more about the exciting new tools your children are using in school?
Then please join your ES Technology and Literacy Team in the Learning Hub Technology Zone for our Technology Coffee Mornings! The sessions will run on the first Wednesday of each month at 7:30 (as listed in the school calendar) and our first session is Wed, September 3rd!
Our first session will be a brief overview/introduction of our technology and literacy team and our approach to technology education at ISB, as well as an introduction to some of the new technologies that are changing the face of education around the world. Get ready for an exciting introduction to the world of Web 2.0!
What: An introductory session to technology and literacy at ISB, as well as the world at large! When: Wednesday, September 3rd at 7:30 am Where: The Learning Hub Technology Zone
Now that a new year has begun, we are working hard to ensure that our Learning Hub is used as a learning space, much like a classroom. We love having students, teachers and parents read and check-out books, but it is important to remember that we also have classes scheduled in our space every day, almost all day.
Classes that come to the Learning Hub are either doing a project with their classroom teacher, working with Ms. Tara or Ms. Cofino, or enjoying a good book as part of their fixed check-out/quiet reading session (one session every 6 days for all grade levels).
Along with all of these great classes using our space for learning, we also have students that would like to come into the Hub during recess. However, as you may already know, recess and lunch recess in the ES begins at 9:00 am and continues throughout the day, switching between grade levels, until 1:00 pm. This means that recess essentially lasts the entire school day.
Over the past school year we have consistently had over 60 students in the Learning Hub during each recess time, in addition to all of the scheduled classes (sometimes as many as 4 classes at a time, which would be around 100 students) for a total of 160 students at one time. Unfortunately, this has made it extremely difficult to teach and learn in our space. The constant flow of students running into the Hub on their recess break unfortunately disrupts classes all day.
After much thought and consideration with our administration team, all classroom teachers, many students and several parents, we have decided to pilot a “pass system” only for students during recess times. The system functions like this:
Each classroom teacher has 2 Hub passes to use during the school day. These passes can be used over and over again throughout the day, but only 2 students from each class can be in the Hub at one time.
Each Hub pass has the classroom teacher’s name written on the front and the Hub Expectations written on the back. Each pass is color-coded for each grade level.
Any student using the Hub during the school day (unless they are with a class) must wear a Hub pass. One Hub pass is required for each student.
Any students causing a disturbance will be sent outside to recess and the teacher will be informed via e-mail.
We are planning to trial this process for the next month to ensure that all students that wish to use the Learning Hub during recess (to read, not to play) have the opportunity.
As with any pilot program, we are actively seeking feedback from all stakeholders. If you have any ideas about how to run this system better, or suggestions for maintaining the Learning Hub as a learning zone, please feel free to contact Ms. Tara or Ms. Cofino.
Please note that all students and parents are always welcome in the Hub from 6:30 – 7:30 am and 2:00 – 3:30 pm every day without a pass, as long as they are following the Hub Expectations.
We appreciate your support at home to clarify to your children that the Hub is a zone for learning and reading!
We are thrilled to see so many students and parents enjoying our fabulous Learning Hub! Over the course of the school year we will keep you updated about exciting events, news and information related to the Hub via Panther Paws parent e-newsletter as this blog.
To start off the year we have a few important announcements:
Date Change: Starbooks: Our first evening event in the Hub, Starbooks, will now take place on Thursday, 25 September at 18:30 due to a scheduling conflict. Our apologies for the change.
Parent Tech Coffee Mornings: On the first Wednesday of every month we will host an informal coffee morning for parents to share new and exciting developments in the world of technology that we will implement here at school. Recaps of each session will be posted here on the Connect 2.0 blog and in the Panther Paws. Our first session will be Wednesday, September 3 at 7:30 am in the Project Zone. All are welcome to stop by and join the discussion!
Hub Expectations:Creating a Culture of Learning in the Hub: We know that the Hub is a popular place after school, and we love to see students and parents reading and learning together. We kindly request that all parents, drivers, nannies and mae bans model appropriate behavior in this space. It is important that students do not see adults “napping” or “chatting” or just “hanging out” in this space, so that the focus on learning is modeled at all times. If adults need to wait for children after school, we kindly request that you please use the benches outside the Elementary Office.
E-mail and Computer Access for Parents: We understand that technological connections are essential for all families, especially those that are new to ISB and Bangkok. Stephen Lehmann, our IT Director, has implemented a wireless laptop zone dedicated to parent use in the Cafeteria and Main Library. Please bring your laptop to the EdTech Office for access. Computers are also available for parent use in the Main Library. We are asking that the computers in the ES Learning Hub be used by students and teachers only.
Please help us continue to focus the culture of our space by reminding students that the Learning Hub is a place for learning – not a playground. We look forward to seeing you here, learning!
We are pleased to announce that the Learning Hub will be open for check-out, and to support Summer School, during the summer holidays.
The opening hours are:
Monday – Friday 7:00 – 13:00
Please note that the Technology Zone will be undergoing some renovations during the summer and will be closed from July 4 – 14. During this time, the Learning Hub may be quite noisy and you may find restricted or reduced access to other areas as well.
We hope you enjoy this time to catch up on some fantastic books!
This morning we hosted our final Parent Coffee Morning of the year. We shared a brief overview of the 21st century tools that we’ve been using here in the ES all year, along with an introduction to some of these exciting tools.
The first tool we discussed is blogging:
We love blogging as a tool to extend classroom conversations beyond school time, to engage students in authentic writing for a real audience, to develop communication skills, and to document reading and writing development. There are quite a large number of class, student and administrator blogs here in the ES – check out all the links on the sidebar at right to read them!
Next we talked about wikis:
We love wikis for collaborative knowledge building and working together on a focused task with partners around the world. We talked about the benefits of being able to view the entire history (every edit of every wiki page) of all wikis to track student growth, the ease of using the discussion feature to communicate with others beyond our classroom about our learning, and the many different ways to track changes on a wiki through e-mail updates or RSS.
Then we covered RSS:
We love RSS for bringing all the information we want directly to us! We talked about using RSS to track any work your children do with web 2.0 tools at school by setting up a Google Reader account, you can actually follow along with any blog posts, wiki pages, or podcasts that your children create, as soon as they create them. This is a great way to change the typical after school conversation starter from “What did you do at school today?” to “I saw that you added a new blog post at school today, why did you choose to post about that topic?” The possibilities for staying connected with their learning are endless!
Finally, we discussed podcasting:
We love podcasting for the ability to build oral language skills, increase depth of understanding about oral communication, and the ease with which you can take podcasts with you wherever you go. Podcasting has made a huge impact on the language development of our ESL learners here at ISB and is an easy way to have students reflect on their learning in a format that is exciting, engaging and comfortable to them.
As you can see, there’s a lot going on at the ES! You can keep track of all these exciting learning experiences here on the Connect 2.0 blog.
Get ready for more Parent Coffee Mornings on the first Wednesday of (almost) every month next school year! These events will be formally noted in the official school calendar to make it easier for you to plan ahead. We hope you come back from your summer holidays rested, refreshed and ready to learn even more about 21st century literacy here at ISB!
As with every year, we are ending this school year in the Learning Hub with a full inventory of all materials.
Our inventory process will begin on May 26th, which means that all items borrowed from the Hub (books, audio books, everything) must be returned no later than May 16th.
In addition, we will stop checking out books on May 16th. This means that there will be no check-out from May 16th until June 9th (at the latest).
Please ensure that you return all Learning Hub materials by this important deadline.
The LH Team thanks you in advance for your support!
After another successful Parent Coffee Morning (a recap of last week’s session due to popular demand), we are ready for our final Coffee Morning of the year!
Our final discussion will take place on Wednesday, May 21st at 7:30 am in the Learning Hub Project Zone. Thanks to the creative participants in our session this week, we have decided our theme for the final session will be “a year in review.” We will cover some of the most important topics of the year, share some of the most important tools that are being used in our ES classrooms, and highlight some fantastic student work that utilizes these tools.
Even if you haven’t come to a Coffee Morning yet this year (or if you’ve been at every one!) you definitely don’t want to miss this session! Please join us on Wednesday, May 21st at 7:30 am in the Learning Hub Project Zone!
As with any pilot program, we are actively seeking feedback from all stakeholders. If you have any ideas about how to run this system better, or suggestions for maintaining the Learning Hub as a learning zone, please feel free to contact Ms. Tara or Ms. Cofino.
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