International Schools

When I first left my hometown of Houston (go Rockets!), I did it for the adventure. While researching how to come and live in Asia I found out I could come and teach here without being certified. This was not only shocking for me, but it was also a very good thing for me personally. I could come to Asia, get an "easy" job, and then travel! Perfect.

Then something happened, I fell in love with teaching! Seeing my students' faces when they learn something new, or when they overcome a previous difficult task, it is one of the best "bonuses" of being an educator. However, as mentioned before, I was not a certified teacher back in the US. So, after making the decision to continue this career (of teaching) for the rest of my life, I started to look into getting certified (check!) and where to work. This, somewhat long introduction, now leads us into our post for today. During my research I came to the realization that the best place to work, for me, is at an international school. Now, that I have my certificate, I can go to one and done. Blog over...

Or so I thought! I really thought international schools were a simple concept that one could easily explain to people, but boy was I... right... wrong?

So what are international schools? First, I will give the definition I had in my head BEFORE my research. Then I will give some more professional definitions. Let's us begin with my pre-research definition:

An international school is a school in a non-Western country with a Western curriculum and schedule. It is mostly aimed at expats living abroad. The local population can attend as well, however, it is not the majority of the student population.

(Eliseo Rodriguez Jr, 2018.)

After my research, I found out my definition was... well... not wrong, but also, not right. It was a simplified definition that covers some schools, but not others. So then, what "is" an international school? This is where we have to slow down for a bit. For you see, there is no one straight forward definition of it. Therefore, I will start out with some definitions that are similar to mine and then, we will work our way to a deeper understanding of international schools.

Our first professional definition comes from the International School Consultancy (ISC) (they provide data on almost 10,000 international schools and 5 million students). They state an international school,

"Delivers a curriculum to any combination of preschool, primary, or secondary students, wholly or partly in English outside an English-speaking country."

To me, that is very similar to my own definition! But let's look at one more definition:

"Some are essentially national schools catering for children away from their home country."

(Hayden & Thompson, 1995)

Again, similar to my own.

Then, where does my definition, somewhat,"falter." I did not know this, but after my research, I realized my definition lacked one very important criteria: international education!

Just having expat students learning in English in a non-English country might cover some international schools, but it does not cover them all. For there are many schools who do not have the aforementioned criteria, however, they are still international schools because their curriculum is international. Here too, though, we need to slow down. For just as there is no one definition to international schools, there isn't one either for international education. So for this blog, I will simplify it for the reader. However, do keep in mind, this is my own simplified definition of it. There are deeper layers to its definition which deserve their own blog entry. Anyway: 

International education is to help students cooperate across borders in order to help people (and our planet) in an increasingly interdependent world.

(Eliseo Rodriguez Jr, 2018.)

In other words, international education is to prepare students for the 21st century world we live in. With an international education, it is hoped that students develop "a sense of responsibility towards others and towards future generations," an ideology based on the goal of, "international cooperation and harmony" (Hayden & Thompson, 1995).

For many schools, the best way to exemplify international education is by offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (see below for a very brief history on it). With this program, schools feel like they can truly help students, "appreciate their own diversity so they can... create a better world" (Hayden & Thompson, 1995). That last quote, actually, is the philosophy for the school we are about to talk about next, the International School of Geneva.

A Brief

But where and when did international schools start? Many consider the International School of Geneva, founded in 1924, to be the first ever international school (Hayden & Thompson, 1995). In fact, this school is the one that created the International Baccalaureate (IB), back in the 1960's.
In 1964, according to the Yearbook of Education, there were approximately 50 international schools, a number that increased greatly to about 1,000 by the year 1995 (Hayden & Thompson, 1995). If you recall above, ISC alone provides data on almost 10,000 international schools these days! In less than a hundred years, the number of international schools has increased dramatically!

Growth

According to ISC, even just twenty years ago, it was still not common to find many international schools, but today, "some leading cities have 100 or more" (ISC). According to their data, in the year 2000, there were 2,584 English-medium international schools educating fewer than a million students. Today, the number is closer to 9,000 international schools teaching over 4.85 million students. The biggest change, however, is the fact that now, approximately 80% of the enrollments are children from the local population attending an international school in their native country.

But why are the numbers growing so much these days? Well, ISC puts it best when they said,

"When economies improve and incomes rise, so more families aspire to better education standards for their children. This includes gaining a place at a reputable university, most of which are located in western countries and deliver their learning in the language of English. This is considered by many families to be a 'passport' to global career opportunities and prosperity."

I personally see this myself on a daily basis here in South Korea. Just 40 years ago, South Korea's economy was not very well. Then the, "Miracle on the Han River," happened, and its economy expanded exponentially. Korea went from a "developing" country to a "developed" country. And just as the above quote said, Korean families started to invest more in their children's education, especially in a Western education. Again, as the quote above says, these families see an English or Western education as their children's ticket (or "passport") for better job opportunities in the future.

For a great article about some trends in international schools, please click here.

KurtHahn

I would like to end this blog with some words from, and about, a very important figure in education, Kurt Hahn. I hope that just by looking at the quote above, the reader can tell what kind of man Kurt Hahn was. Now, I am not here to say how perfect he was, of course he wasn't, or to write an autobiography on him, no. I will just discuss a little about his views on education, and why they are important.

As the quote above says, Kurt Hahn believe in his students. He believe that they were capable of more than they thought of themselves. According to a website dedicated to him, his philosophy was,

"That each of us has more courage, more strength, and more compassion than we would ever have fathomed. Kurt Hahn's calling in life was to help people around the world realize this truth about themselves."

                                                                                                                                 (KurtHahn.org)

This optimistic view on education mirrors my own. I truly believe that my students have the potential for anything. I encourage my students to go into the world and learn about, and, from it. The more they know about the world the better they will be for it. This kind of thinking then ties back into international education. As mentioned before, international education is more than just about learning in a classroom. It's about learning beyond frontiers; it's about learning about our fellow man and about our world. Kurt put it brilliantly when he said,

"The boy growing up in brotherhood with foreigners, cannot help but learn to care about the rights and the happiness of at least one other nation." 

                                                                                                                             (Hahn, 1936)

I think, especially in today's political climate, these kinds of words (and mentality) is more of what the world needs. And for many who are in the international school and international education fields, this is what they are trying to do.

For an infographic of a small sample of international schools, please click here.

Sources
ISC Research about the international schools market. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.iscresearch.com/about-us/the-market

Hahn, K. (1936). Education and Peace: The Foundations of Modern Society. Kurthahn.org. Retrieved from

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwgYlY1O2AV2VERSQVVpZFNVOFE/view

Hayden, M. C., & Thompson, J. J. (1995). International Schools and International Education: A relationship reviewed. Oxford Review of Education, 21(3), 327-345. Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwgYlY1O2AV2dFNNOERaMl9lQUk/view

KurtHahn.org / Devoted to the Education Philosophy of Kurt Hahn. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.kurthahn.org/

Teacher Evaluations

Teaching Evaluations
I have been at my current school for almost six years (I hit that mark next month!). In all these years, I have only been observed in the classroom three or four times. And that was in the first two years that I was here. Like most people, I was worried. What if I make a big mistake? What if I am not good enough? Even though I was nervous, I was also very excited. Why? Well, you see, I love teaching! I love it! So, I want to grow and become a better teacher, educator, whatever word you want to use. And one way to grow is by being observed and have my "skills" evaluated.

After my observations, I realized that I was worried over nothing. I love my school, however, the observation and evaluation process is not very thorough. I felt like I did not really learn that much about myself and my teaching abilities.

For my latest homework assignment with Teach Now, I saw a video about teacher observations and (one of) the evaluation process(es) that is involve. You can find the video here. I had a similar experience to it, but also a very different one. (That will be a post for another day.)

While working on this homework assignment, not only did I watch that video, I also learned a lot about some of the different approaches to teacher evaluation there are out there. I would like to briefly talk about two of them for now. Maybe in a future post I can go into more details about some other approaches that are used.

One of the best approaches I have seen is the system used by The New Teacher Program (TNTP): Teacher Evaluation 2.0. (Link here.) After reading it, I felt like this is (more or less) what I am looking for for me. Some of its main highlights are:

• Annual Process
• Clear, Rigorous Expectations
• Multiple Ratings
• Regular Feedback

I think every single one of these points is very important in a teacher evaluation!

A second system I looked at was the Texas Teacher Evaluation & Support System (T-TESS). Texas being my home state (go Houston!), I was curious about what it does in regards to this topic. With T-TESS, I not only like it because it is from my home state, I also like it because it meets what I said I was looking for in the above system. It has things like:

• Clear, Rigorous Expectations: I should add, very detailed as well!
• Multiple Ratings: 5 to be precise, from improvement needed to distinguised

A copy of their rubric can be found here. (The Texas Education Agency uses this system.)

Teach-Now Clinicals

I am not going to lie, there are, what seem like, a million criteria in most rubrics. However, for me personally and my clinical practice with Teach Now, the main areas I will be concerned with will be:

• Is there a nice atmosphere in the class? Is the environment good for learning? Does the teacher have a good rapport with the students?
• Are students engaged in the class? All? Most? Some? A few?
• What are my strengths? What are my weaknesses?

In other words, I want useful feedback. Going back to the beginning of this post. The problems I had with my observations/evaluations at my current school, is that I felt like I did not receive useful feedback. After leaving the meeting, I did not feel like I learned something new about myself or my teaching style. I did not learn what areas I am doing well in or what areas need improvement. My school employs a very common rating system that is used throughout many schools: satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

I can honestly say that I am NOT a fan of this style of evaluation. I need a system that can help me know what my strengths and weaknesses are. What areas am I strong at, so that I can continue to do those things; what areas am I weak at, so that I can improve them. So, it seems to me, that I am looking for a system similar to the one used by T-TESS. After my clinicals, the thing I will look for the most will be if I was able to grow thanks to the feedback my mentor and teacher give me. I am greatly looking forward to the process!

Using Pre-Assessment for Differentiated Instruction

Even though my students are young, they are kindergartners after all, it still follows that they are just like their older peers when it comes to having knowledge on a particular subject. Just like in any other grade, there are some students who for some reason or another have already mastered the subject the teacher is about to go over (in my case, they already know the alphabet). Then there are students who know a great deal about the subject (the alphabet) but have not mastered it yet. And then, there are the students who are learning about this subject (the alphabet) for the first time (more or less).

As mentioned above, my current unit for my Korean Kindergarten class is covering the alphabet, from A to Z. Surprisingly, some of my students have already mastered it! They not only know the whole alphabet, they know all the differences between uppercase and lowercase letters. The second group, knows the alphabet song and most of the letters, but there is still some room for improvement. The third group, either have no idea what "alien" writing they are looking at; or, they know a few letters here and there. As you can see, there is a vast gap between the groups.

But how did I come to these results? By using pre-assessment! As the word itself states, it is an assessment that is done before (thus the "pre" in the word) the subject is taught. There are many different ways to do pre-assessments. This particular time, I chose to use the Kahoot website to create a quiz (sample quiz in the link). (See references at the bottom for a link that provides 27 different ways to pre-assess your students.)

With a pre-assessment, I as a teacher, can see what is already known about the alphabet, how ready my students are for the new instruction they are about to receive, and more importantly, helps me to present the subject at appropriate levels for all my students. In other words, I am not trying to make sure my students are all on the "same page." Instead, I am trying to make sure I know what "page" THEY are on.

After the pre-assessment, as mentioned above, most students fall into one of three categories. For the sake of simplicity, I will label them: Advance, Intermediate, and Beginner. After going through their results, I will separate their scores into those three groups. I can then beginning my second step in preparing lessons for them. For this part I can use a mind map, such as this one (which I prepared specifically for this alphabet unit). This mind map can guide me in making my instruction.

"Ok, these students are advanced, then they can do this and that. This group is beginners, ok, then I will be more involved with them, and they will do this and that."

Thanks to pre-assessments, I am able to not only help my students learn the alphabet, but I am better able to do it in a way that meets their needs.


References
5. Pre-assessment Ideas - Differentiation & LR Information for SAS Teachers. (2018). Sites.google.com. Retrieved 21 January 2018, from https://sites.google.com/site/lrtsas/differentiation/5-preassessment-ideas

27 Ways To Assess Background Knowledge. (2018). TeachThought. Retrieved 21 January 2018, from https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/27-ways-assess-background-knowledge/