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# TIE BLOG : Teaching Your Way Around the World
Sharing stories, expertise, and experiences from international educators around the world. In the spirit of amplifying diverse voices. TIE's blog space is not subject to editorial oversight. TIE bloggers have a long history in various aspects of international education and share their thoughts and insights based on personal experiences.
## Sitemaps
- [XML Sitemap](https://blog.tieonline.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.
## Posts
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-84/) - Great board books, picture books and early-read novels can turn a child into a lifelong reader. Here's a smathering of fun, enticing stories to share with young readers. Cat Shapes by Aidan Cassie is a fun romp through a day of a cat and all the shapes it can take on: from a square in
- [AI Going Rogue, Freefalling OECD Scores: Cutting Through the AI Noise with Affirmation](https://blog.tieonline.com/ai-going-rogue-freefalling-oecd-scores-cutting-through-the-ai-noise-with-affirmation/) - Lately I’ve been thinking more about AI than usual, as I suspect most educators have. A swarm of OpenAI’s agents left the sandbox and went rogue, operating off an extreme teleological code, not far from Asimov’s I, Robot dystopia. At the same time, the OECD published record-low mathematics and reading results, showing negative correlations between
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #25](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-25/) - What happens when you shift international education from transactional "check-the-box" projects to deep systems thinking and agency? We are thrilled to release Episode 25 of the Blue Skies Leadership Podcast!In this episode, hosts Daniel Mendes and I sit down with Laurence Myers, Educational Consultant and Co-Founder of Edvolution Services. Laurence brings over 15 years of
- [Pulling, not pushing](https://blog.tieonline.com/pulling-not-pushing/) - The opportunity to start an alternative program for high school students, with a steady green light from the top administration, doesn’t present itself all that often. In my own education career, about thirty-five years worth, I can think of one summer camp, one public parks program, and one school that gave the space and time
- [More Looking Up in a Digital World](https://blog.tieonline.com/more-looking-up-in-a-digital-world/) - Ai generated image
- [Back to School 2026 Toolkit](https://blog.tieonline.com/back-to-school-2026-toolkit/) - What Belongs in Our Learning Toolkit in the Age of AI As students and teachers return to classrooms for the 2026–27 school year, the usual back-to-school toolkit looks a little different. Alongside iPads, laptops, lesson plans and freshly sharpened pencils sits something far more powerful and far more complicated: artificial intelligence (AI). AI is no
- [When worlds collide](https://blog.tieonline.com/when-worlds-collide/) - Sometimes the juxtaposition of two ways of thinking makes you sit up really straight or feel that you’ve skipped a heartbeat or two. The feeling of worlds colliding, and in my case this past week, bouncing off each other. Some of the LinkedIn posts I’m seeing are messing with me. Really! We’ve been working hard
- [Game Face](https://blog.tieonline.com/game-face/) - Summer 2002, at an IBM training facility north of Milan, Italy. We’re running an English immersion summer camp for kids of IBM employees, mostly Italians. My colleague Jeff and I had created a curriculum that simulates a town, giving radical agency to students. We set some initial conditions and turned them loose. Once the program
- [Hopes and Fears at the Start of the School Year](https://blog.tieonline.com/hopes-and-fears-at-the-start-of-the-school-year/) - The start of the school year brings several thousand children back onto our Campuses over an exciting few days, with many hundreds of them arriving for the first time. It's hard not to feel the energy - new students and their families meeting teachers, everyone seeking out friends, all of them exploring what's ahead. Mostly
- [What impact do we want to make?](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-impact-do-we-want-to-make/) - This coming academic year I’m focused on creating the best possible progressive high school program I can, collaborating with the students and my colleagues at Eastwood Montreux. I’ve had some successes with progressive programs in the past – and some failures – and am painfully aware that the deck is stacked against us. It’s a
- [Be Who You Needed](https://blog.tieonline.com/be-who-you-needed/) - So we’re about to start the new school year with kids and it feels great. The first couple of weeks sets the tone for the year in so many ways, and getting off to a positive start is so important when framing the attitude and experience of both teachers and students as the weeks begin
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #23](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-23/) - Are your school's hiring policies unintentionally filtering out your next rising star? When international schools hunt for new educators or leaders, it is incredibly easy to fall into a hyper-myopic trap. We obsess over specific resumes, exact curricular checkmarks, or even preferred accents. But in Episode 23 of the Blue Skies Leadership Podcast, Dr. Tim
- [What the World Cup Taught Us About Assessment](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-the-world-cup-taught-us-about-assessment/) - The contrast between the World Cup third-place playoff and the final was stark. In the former, England and France scored 10 goals in a palpitating, fluid game that kept spectators on the edge of their seats. Some of the goals were spectacular, there was a hat-trick, and at the end, a group of French and
- [What the heatwaves are teaching us about education](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-the-heatwaves-are-teaching-us-about-education/) - Europe is warming at a rate that is twice the global average. According to the European Commission’s Climate Action statistics, there were over 60,000 heat-related deaths in 2022 and over 47,000 in 2023 in Europe alone. Recent summer heatwaves have exceeded 40°C (104°F) in the UK, France, and Spain, causing widespread drought and devastating wildfires.
- [Helping Teachers Flourish: The Heart of School Leadership](https://blog.tieonline.com/helping-teachers-flourish-the-heart-of-school-leadership/) - This summer, I had the privilege of teaching and learning alongside almost a hundred teachers and school leaders through two back-to-back courses on instructional supervision and evaluation. They represented different schools, systems, countries, and stages of leadership. Yet despite their diverse contexts, I was struck by how quickly our conversations converged. The questions they asked
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-83/) - Usually I review and recommend children's books in this monthly column. However, during the summer months I like to also throw in some favourite titles for adult reading. And since you likely work at an International School and enjoy traveling (like me!) you might enjoy these books I recently discovered and loved. On The Hippie
- [Dear September](https://blog.tieonline.com/dear-september/) - Some thoughts and reflections from a year of learning, sharing, and leading workshops, keynotes, and coaching for school leaders and educators, and, more importantly, teaching children ages 3 to 11. This year that thinking became a letter, written to September. Dear September, I was thinking of you as an opportunity to begin, even though it’s
- [If AI Can Pass the Exam, the Exam Is the Problem](https://blog.tieonline.com/if-ai-can-pass-the-exam-the-exam-is-the-problem/) - Recent meta-analyses and research have shown that reasoning-focused models (OpenAI's o1 and GPT-4) outperform medical students on examinations, clearly and systematically beating the median score and, in most cases, the highest-performing humans' scores too. The assessments in question were multiple-choice tests, the ultimate symbol of mass assessment. Last year, the Stanford Human-Centered AI Index tracking
- [The Earth Rebounds. So Do Teachers.](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-earth-rebounds-so-do-teachers/) - Teachers carry enormous weight. Summer is not simply time away from school; it is the season when we regain equilibrium. My yoga teacher regularly invites me to slow down and hold a pose professing, “it is only injury which is likely to happen when you move too fast.” Any glint or murmuring to slow down
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-82/) - Fake news, war, food production... they are all current topics in the adult world. These brand new books give a child information on these current issues. The Quiet Hunt, written by Jean E. Pendziwol and illustrated by Risa Hugo is an absolutely lovely picture book that reminds us where food comes from. Before supermarkets and
- [The Flower Outside The Bouquet](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-flower-outside-the-bouquet/) - In today's world full of conflict and war, it seems an estimated of 13 million children to be out of school in conflict-affected areas, this is as per UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics and the Global Education Monitoring Report. Additionally, conflict, the climate emergency, and the hunger crisis have pushed education systems to the brink. Combined, this means
- [Colonizer, Colonized, and the Question of What Comes Next?](https://blog.tieonline.com/colonizer-colonized-and-the-question-of-what-comes-next/) - At a recent conference on flourishing in the Anthropocene, I found myself sitting with two feelings that are not always easy to hold together: intellectual curiosity as well as deep discomfort. The conference brought together urgent and necessary questions. What does it mean to flourish in an age where human activity has become a geological
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #24](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-24/) - Did you know that over 80% of international school headships end prematurely? Leadership instability isn't rare, it’s a systemic epidemic across our sector. Episode 24 of the Blue Skies Leadership Podcast is officially LIVE! In this episode, hosts Dan Mendes and I sit down with Kevin Baker, Director of the American International School of Guangzhou
- [The Sky Is Falling. Again. But What If It Is? (1 of 6)](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-sky-is-falling-again-but-what-if-it-is-1-of-6/) - (Part 1 here) (Part 2 here) (Part 3 here) (Part 4 here) (Part 5 here) (Part 6 here) I remember the public information films of the 1970s and 80s, when nuclear annihilation was treated as a practical household problem. We were told Stay indoors. Close your curtains. Place yourself under a table. The assumption that after a thermonuclear exchange, you’d want to
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-81/) - Diversity, how others live, choices you may have to make... These are the themes that tie these books together. From a picturebook about heritage to a teen novel about different viewpoints. Happy reading and sharing with students! Grandma, Cho Cho and Me, written by Morgan Christie, illustrated by Paulica Santos is a lovely picturebook that
- [Parenting: The Difficult Art of Letting Go](https://blog.tieonline.com/parenting-the-difficult-art-of-letting-go/) - The other day, a parent described himself to me as a "Train Schedule Dad", a term I was not familiar with. This is someone who manages family trips and daily life with the precision of a railway conductor. This can be added to the different descriptions of parenting in the 21st century that we have
- [What did a year of Scandinavian studies teach me?](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-did-a-year-of-scandinavian-studies-teach-me/) - I finished up my final report this morning, in which I describe the eleven courses I created for myself this past school year, all in the pursuit of learning more about Scandinavia. I proofed it quickly and then wrote at the bottom: This final report is formally submitted, to myself, on May 21, 2026. That’s
- [Real professional growth: “No joke, it's been life changing for me”](https://blog.tieonline.com/real-professional-growth-no-joke-its-been-life-changing-for-me/) - Experimental archeology with Travis Finneran We’d like to think that the professional development we spend time and money on garners this enthusiastic a response much of the time: “No joke, it's been life changing for me.” The fact that it doesn’t is a real problem. The fact that we are often stuck in patterns of
- [When Work Lost Its Meaning](https://blog.tieonline.com/when-work-lost-its-meaning/) - When did "work" get a bad name? As summer in the northern hemisphere approaches, I’ve found myself in a number of conversations with parents of teenagers, particularly those who are recent high school graduates or home from college. A few phrases surface again and again: “He doesn’t listen to me anymore,” and “I wish she
- [From Screen Time to Mindful Time: Reimagining Tech in the Classroom ](https://blog.tieonline.com/from-screen-time-to-mindful-time-reimagining-tech-in-the-classroom/) - The EdTech revolution that swept over classrooms some 20 years ago was a wave of uncritical implementation: whiteboards, cloud-based learning platforms, and 1:1 computing programmes unfurled in a tidal wave of widespread technology adoption with each school following the next eagerly. There were always those anecdotes that threw up questions: was it true that the
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #21](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-21/) - Connection before content. It’s a simple phrase that changes everything about how we lead. Episode 21 of the Blue Skies Leadership Podcast is LIVE! 🎙️ Today, Daniel Mendes and I sit down with international school teacher and change expert Nick Haywood to discuss why the most effective leaders prioritize relationships over results to actually get
- [Lessons from the Redwoods](https://blog.tieonline.com/lessons-from-the-redwoods/) - In the Reggio Emilia approach, we say that the classroom is the third teacher, which is why we spend the time we do curating an aesthetic, pedagogical and ergonomic space for learning. To me, nature is by far the greatest classroom as it has an immediately pleasant and welcoming effect on the senses. I have
- [Against Empathy](https://blog.tieonline.com/against-empathy/) - I have been very much struck by one of the most powerful and counter-intuitive but compelling books that I have come across in a long time. Paul Bloom’s Against Empathy seems to suggest a ridiculous idea; how can empathy be a bad thing? But the sub-title The Case for Rational Compassion raises the nuance of emotional response, and I
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #22](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-22/) - Leadership isn't about having a perfect plan; it’s about having the courage to make the next best decision when the ground is shifting beneath you. Eight weeks ago, Daniel Mendes was evacuated with his family from Doha while trying to support teachers and students during an escalating international conflict. In our latest episode of the
- [Creating your own MSelf or SelfCert](https://blog.tieonline.com/creating-your-own-mself-or-selfcert/) - I’m smiling as I write this because I’ve now written these two recent additions to my vocabulary enough times that they feel sort of real. It’s sort of cool how you can create new stuff if you just, well, create it. And I think that’s going to be the basic message here for how to
- [Humanizing Learning with Warm Data and Deep Reflections](https://blog.tieonline.com/warm-data-and-the-human-story-of-learning-through-deep-reflections/) - A few weeks ago, I participated in a workshop with the International Bateson Institute that offered more than a conceptual framework; it invited a shift in how we perceive data itself, through a deeply humanising lens. Rather than viewing data as a static collection of numbers, facts, or isolated data points, warm data encourages us
- [We Talk About Peace - But What Does It Actually Look Like in Classrooms?](https://blog.tieonline.com/we-talk-about-peace-but-what-does-it-actually-look-like-in-classrooms/) - Article Series: Education, Identity, and Peace in Kazakhstan What does it actually mean for education to contribute to peace? Not peace as an abstract idea or something we reference in mission statements—but as something lived in the everyday interactions between students, teachers, and communities. We are living in a time where uncertainty feels constant. Across
- [The Unravelling of a Seamless Educaiton](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-unravelling-of-a-seamless-educaiton/) - Every May, I watch them leave. They cross the stage, collect their diplomas and walk out carrying everything they have learnt – and earnt – with us: the confidence, the university places, the carefully cultivated ability to read a room, assess what’s needed and deliver it. They are, by any measure we use, well prepared.
- [Are we teaching our children to exploit themselves?](https://blog.tieonline.com/are-we-teaching-our-children-to-exploit-themselves/) - I have said to my own children many times: don’t put yourself under so much pressure. They invariably point back at me and my habits, and also their friends’ habits, and the competitive systems we all swim in. It’s a sharp response — and a perceptive one. What looks like a personal struggle, they seem to
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-80/) - Global books for global kids - the following brand new titles allow readers to read a variety of viewpoints about people in different cultures. InA Single Dreadlock, written by Xaiver Michael Campbell, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes, Lovie was always the same as the other kids in Jamaica. But now that he lives in Newfoundland, he
- [Smile Hunting](https://blog.tieonline.com/smile-hunting/) - So I just finished reading Shift, by Etahn Kross the other day, and honestly, it was just what I needed. You see, there is a lot going on in the world these days, and if we aren’t careful it’s very easy to let the state of the world, and all of the emotions that come
- [Does EdTech Coaching Work?](https://blog.tieonline.com/does-edtech-coaching-work/) - Is instructional tech coaching actually working in K-12, or are we mainly treating symptoms of a broken system? I was invited on the EDU Coach Collective podcast to discuss my research @ "tech coaching" and it's troubling relationship with value delivery in K-12 schools. Pod: https://ow.ly/6Q5850YyBFXTranscript: t.ly/-TJqs TRANSCRIPT: TLDR Summary: Reclaiming Brain Cycles for All
- [Perspective shifting: perhaps the most powerful 21st Century competency](https://blog.tieonline.com/perspective-shifting-perhaps-the-most-powerful-21st-century-competency/) - Recently I found myself at the Broad museum in LA, dwarfed by massive household objects as part of an exhibition by the late Robert Therrien. As I wandered under giant tables, stooped under colossal chairs and looked up at 10-foot-high stacks of plates, two thoughts occurred. First, how the defamiliarisation of an object forces one
- [Parenting for a VUCA World](https://blog.tieonline.com/parenting-for-a-vuca-world/) - In a world increasingly described as VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous), the question many parents ask is not simply What will my child learn? How will my child learn to navigate the world they inherit? A world they will inherit after decades of war with a lot of orphaned population; something that has become
- [A Student Told Me She Hated Nature](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-student-told-me-she-hated-nature/) - "Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” Rather wise words attributed to Einstein, someone who identified more with humility and curiosity than wisdom. Yet, I thought of this quote recently when a student surprised me by adamantly declaring, “I hate nature!” I could not stop thinking about it. In the moment,
- [Blue Skies Leadership - Episode #20](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-episode-20/) - Stop trying to be the best in the world. Start being the best for the world. We are thrilled to celebrate a major milestone—Episode #20 of the Blue Skies Leadership Podcast! To mark the occasion, we sat down with a true titan of international education, Tim Carr. Tim doesn't just talk about leadership; he lives
- [Finding the pulse of life in the valley of death](https://blog.tieonline.com/finding-the-pulse-of-life-in-the-valley-of-death/) - Death Valley is no ordinary place. In 1913, the air temperature was recorded at 56.7°C, the hottest in the world ever. Furnace Creek lies 282 feet below sea level. The perpetual micro sand avalanches of the Mesquite dunes cause them to sing a low frequency hum, like the Om of ancient Vedic texts. The Devils
- [Action research snippets](https://blog.tieonline.com/action-research-snippets/) - A colleague asked me for some examples of action research, or “teacher experimentation.” She used the word “snippet,” which is a fantastic word. snippet (n.) - “small piece snipped off,” 1660s, from snip (n.) + diminutive suffix -et.* So here are eight snippety examples of real teacher projects illustrating what I consider the Most Needed
- [Save our Brainforests!](https://blog.tieonline.com/save-the-brainforests/) - Sustainable growth comes from user centred digital ecosystem design that removes friction. (Originally published at The Fix.) More than any other theme, sustainable development dominates K-12 classrooms. We teach students about collaboration, conservation and protecting finite resources. At the same time, has there ever been greater pressure on school departments to meet relentless “growth goals”?
- [Breaking the Habit of Excuse](https://blog.tieonline.com/breaking-the-habit-of-excuse/) - I awoke this morning to an email from one of my online students. It began: “Certainly not an email I want to be sending to you, but it’s best to be transparent and let you know what’s going on. My grandfather committed suicide in the house we own just down the road.” My most heartfelt
- [Why an MSelf? What even is an MSelf?!](https://blog.tieonline.com/why-an-mself-what-even-is-an-mself/) - Paul is joined by Irina Lupu, both as author of this blog and future autodidact! We all make an effort to learn new things, particularly stuff we are interested in, all the time. Sometimes we set ourselves goals and a timeframe. Less often, perhaps, do we formalize a chunk of learning into something parallel to
- [Risk management: the frog and the bat](https://blog.tieonline.com/risk-management-the-frog-and-the-bat/) - There’s no shortage of metaphors for leadership, often using sports, which is not always helpful since running an organisation is not playing a game. Nonetheless, using a metaphor for elements of leadership can help distill values, concepts and skills. Managing risk is a core part of leadership, in particular in schools since the stakes are
- [Staying Human in the Age of Infinite Minds](https://blog.tieonline.com/staying-human-in-the-age-of-infinite-minds/) - Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, used a phrase recently that stayed with me longer than I expected. He spoke about a future where our work is not simply to manage systems or organisations, but to learn how to manage infinite minds. Minds extended by AI. Minds with access, speed, and reach far beyond
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #19](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-19/) - "You’re wired to have this sense of belonging." Dr. Derrick Gay is back on the Blue Skies Leadership Podcast for Episode 19, and he’s bringing the science. One of the most powerful takeaways from this conversation is the reminder that belonging isn't a "soft" initiative or a political stance—it’s a biological requirement. As Dr. Gay
- [Celebrating Rejections](https://blog.tieonline.com/celebrating-rejections/) - First, let me say it: recently I applied for a few positions and did not get selected. Rejection stings! But why? Trying is an act of courage. And courage deserves airtime. So why don't we celebrate them? Why don't we post about our failures or rejections? The Bravest Truth We Don’t Post on LinkedIn We
- [The pedagogy of music and song](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-pedagogy-of-music-and-song/) - One of the most effective ways of communicating a message is through song and music. It breaks down barriers held by language, can evoke strong emotions and internal reflection, and also opens avenues for collaboration. For Arthur Schopenhauer, music is the highest art form because of the ineffable and pure form of its expression. Unlike
- [How to Design for Failure?](https://blog.tieonline.com/how-to-design-for-failure/) - Curriculum designers often talk about “designing for success.” But if we are serious about deep learning, we also need to design for failure, not the crushing, high-stakes kind that shuts learners down, but the productive kind that builds understanding, skill, and confidence over time. Because the truth is that in real-life learning, the first attempt
- [What to Read in 2026!](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-to-read-in-2026/) - So it’s that time of the year again when I get to order books for my birthday, which is my favorite gift ever because it keeps on giving for months and months and months. The deal is that I have to finish reading all of last year’s books before I get to order new ones,
- [“Bomb” on Campus](https://blog.tieonline.com/bomb-on-campus/) - My colleague and I walked a divergent path to class, stepping through the forest and talking about traditions. We spoke about their value, potential drawbacks, and what it means to be reverent. At first, I simplified reverence to authority, something tied to patriotism, religion, and unquestioning respect. Rigid traditions that can hold us back. Yet,
- [Just wondering about the power of authentic purpose and routines.](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-about-the-power-of-authentic-purpose-and-routines/) - At Rabat American School, we collaboratively developed our definition of High Quality Learning (HQL) and identified key HQL look-fors, which we have recently updated. And I have the privilege of visiting elementary and secondary learning spaces several times a week to highlight and celebrate HQL in action. This week, as I entered the High School
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-79/) - Poetry, philosophy, wisdom, a chance to learn from various cultures as well as science... That's what these deceivingly simple picturebooks do. Use them with young readers or much older ones to foster a love of language and a sense of wonder! A Pond, A Poet and Three Pests by Caroline Adderson, with art by Lauren
- [2026: New Year Resolutions and Absolutions](https://blog.tieonline.com/2026-new-year-resolutions-and-absolutions/) - I read somewhere that New Years Resolutions should really be called New Year’s Absolutions – where we forgive ourselves for all our previous weaknesses and start afresh. I love the idea of absolution (that’ll be the ex-Catholic in me emerging) but there seem to me to be some questionable assumptions in there. The idea, I
- [Beyond Servant Leadership](https://blog.tieonline.com/beyond-servant-leadership/) - In the 1970s, the American businessman Robert Greenleaf coined the term “servant leadership” meaning that leaders should be at the service of those they lead. On the surface, this seems like a good idea, counteracting the paradigm of the domineering, micromanaging, and self-centered leader who crushes others and takes all the credit. But let's deconstruct
- [A Better Way to Do IT in 2026: Synergistically](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-better-way-to-do-it-in-2026-synergistically/) - For 2026, I propose a radical change for EdTech provision in K-12 Schools— actual, sustained collaboration between IT, Admin, Teacher and Integration teams. Even more outlandish? The work has nothing to do with “thought leadership”, “growth, now!” or “coaching/fixing” people. The space I’m working to change is the shadowy side of things where the “tech
- [Marriage (of Change) in the Workplace](https://blog.tieonline.com/marriage-of-change-in-the-workplace/) - Change is the great constant. Without it, schools stop learning; people stop growing. But I think the goal isn’t about starting something new. It’s about the “marriage-ment” of it all: successfully linking initiatives to the traditions that already exist. How does one lead change that actually ‘sticks’ given the revolving door that exists in international Leading change takes courage and humility and, well… discomfort. Trying to understand the past, yet pushing to stay grounded in the now, while etching towards the future and potential, is the balancing of creating schools that are built to last.
- [Hope for 2026: A Quietly Radical Inspiration](https://blog.tieonline.com/hope-for-2026-a-quietly-radical-inspiration/) - There is a rare permission in those early years to imagine freely, adjust boldly, and build together while everything is still becoming.
- [Education Still Has Time to Choose Humanity in an Age of AI](https://blog.tieonline.com/education-still-has-time-to-choose-humanity-in-an-age-of-ai/) - Surely I am not the only educator who is tired of watching lipstick being put on pig after pig. Apparent improvements on the surface without really addressing what is required. Intentions and measures taken to raise test scores, create policies around AI usage, and nail down portraits of graduates. Each might appear successful but ignores
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-78/) - All of the people featured in these titles, have made a difference in the lives of others. Books to inspire and to lead to classroom discussions! Malala, My Story of Standing Up for Girls’ Rights, written by Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick. This is a wonderful nonfiction chapter book, helping young readers to understand the
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-76/) - Fabulous (new) titles that will help stimulate your students' curiosity and their quest for knowledge. These books are fascinating for readers of all ages - from migration miracles to human immigrations around the world. Circle by Jeannie Baker is a great book to discuss migrations, global travels and wildlife. Baker uses her amazing art and
- [The Human Cost of a Broken Education System](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-human-cost-of-a-broken-education-system/) - When Education Forgets Humanity There is something profoundly wrong when education teaches young people how to compete, consume, and survive, but forgets to teach them how to be human. And the cost of that loss is devastating: young children picking up the gun; a world unsafe for the very people it was designed to sustain;
- [Early years teachers: the unsung heroes of education?](https://blog.tieonline.com/early-years-teachers-the-unsung-heroes-of-education/) - The other day I was walking the school at one of our campuses and enjoying some early years teaching. Observing some of our master teachers, three points came to mind: 1. Malleability and Foundational Development Although the preconception that neuroplasticity stops in adults has been debunked to show that neuroplasticity is far more dynamic and
- [A Perspective Check](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-perspective-check/) - So it’s a busy time of the year as we speed toward the holiday break, and it can seem a little overwhelming at times I know. With comment writing and reports, holiday concerts and performances, final summative assessments and feedback, end of semester parent meetings, recruiting conversations, and all the rest, it’s sometimes hard to
- [RSVP](https://blog.tieonline.com/rsvp/) - We are at the precipice of a new age.Amidst a fast-changing technological and social era. An age measured not in millennia, like geological time, but in mere decades. In many readers’ lifetimes, we have already transitioned from the Space Age to the AI Age, with the Information and Social Media Ages in between. Author Arundhati
- [Supporting Pracademics ](https://blog.tieonline.com/supporting-pracademics/) - A conversation about teacher-researchers with Gülendam Akgül, Sevda Kır Çelik, and Paul Magnuson You are going to need a little bit of context here. Gülendam and Paul have traded visiting scholar experiences, first Gülendam at Leysin American School in Switzerland and then Paul at Ankara University in Türkiye. Paul’s role at Leysin American School straddles
- [Why Is Your K-12 Learning Community Tech Rich But Systems Poor?](https://blog.tieonline.com/why-is-your-k-12-learning-community-tech-rich-but-systems-poor/) - You Can't Name It? You Can't Tame It. Schools invest millions in learning management systems, collaboration platforms, and digital tools, yet many teachers avoid technology, IT departments still field the same support tickets, and administrators struggle to measure real impact. The problem is that we’re trying to solve 21st-century collaboration challenges with 20th-century change management
- [My Scandinavian Studies: Nearing the End of the First Semester](https://blog.tieonline.com/my-scandinavian-studies-nearing-the-end-of-the-first-semester/) - I stopped at the IKEA restaurant because I was in nearby Fully, picking up dog food. Gilligan the Dog is along for the ride, which means he is out in the car so this will have to be a quick update. The fourth of December in Riddes, Switzerland is not so warm. But there’s enough
- [Popular Kids and Likeable Adults](https://blog.tieonline.com/popular-kids-and-likeable-adults/) - Better to be popular or liked? They are not the same thing.
- [The Hidden Iceberg of “Fancy Diplomas”](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-hidden-iceberg-of-fancy-diplomas/) - In recent years, a troubling trend has begun to surface across international education: schools and private institutions creating their own “alternative diplomas,” “innovative pathways,” and “future-ready certifications” that are not validated, recognised, or externally quality-assured by any legitimate educational body. These programmes are often marketed as flexible, student-friendly, wellbeing-driven, or “more modern than traditional curricula,”
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-75/) - All of these fun, new titles deal with animals. And all of them were created with lots of imagination, stories that kids will love. Have fun sharing these tales with your students! Kiss Me! (I’m a Prince) by Heather McLeod, illustrated by Brooke Kerrigan, is a fun twist on the story of the frog prince.
- [Effects of the Red Pen on Professional Learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/effects-of-the-red-pen-on-professional-learning/) - A friend, Barb, sent me an article from our alma mater, the University of Minnesota. From the German department, specifically, where I taught for a year during the long haul to a doctorate degree in curriculum and instruction. It’s called “Effects of the Red Pen.” The research is from 1984. Harriet Semke orchestrated four types
- [Safeguarding Voice: Who Gets Heard, and Who Gets Silenced?](https://blog.tieonline.com/safeguarding-voice-whose-voice-is-safe-in-your-school/) - I’ve been thinking a lot about this third and last piece in my safeguarding series — what to bring into the light, what to hold space for, and what has become so normalized that it deserves attention. And the more I sat with it, the more I realized that this next part of the safeguarding
- [Why I Stopped “EdTech Coaching”](https://blog.tieonline.com/why-i-stopped-edtech-coaching/) - A moment of obligation is when you see something so fundamentally wrong that you can't unsee it. Eighteen years ago, on my first day as an international school computer lab teacher for elementary students, I watched an eight-year-old try to log on to a lab computer. Before she could open the browser and start class,
- [Puzzled by the Paradox of School Attendance](https://blog.tieonline.com/puzzled-by-the-paradox-of-school-attendance/) - Sometimes I feel trapped inside Catch-22s, seeing both sides but not clearly aligned with either. Catch-22s are seemingly ubiquitous, prevalent in many ways within our education system. The term Catch-22 dates back to 1961 and Joseph Heller’s satirical novel, where U.S. Army bombardier Captain John Yossarian attempts to avoid flying more combat missions in World
- [The Hidden Risk in Every Interview Room and How to Stop It](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-hidden-risk-in-every-interview-room-and-how-to-stop-it/) - Safeguarding Series #2: This article is the second in my ongoing Safeguarding in Recruitment series—written for anyone navigating the critical decisions of hiring season. In Part 1, I explored how safeguarding must be the heart of the reference check—not the afterthought. In this follow-up, I dive deeper into the quiet risks we often miss during
- [Leadership as a complex adaptive system](https://blog.tieonline.com/leadership-as-a-complex-adaptive-system/) - I don’t typically write about leadership, but I’m having trouble getting last night’s zoom discussion out of my head. I’ll get it down here, to have some place to put it, to be able to look at it in words on the screen, to see if the Aha! I felt yesterday has turned into an
- [The Importance of Decision-Making in Leadership](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-importance-of-decision-making-in-leadership/) - In leadership, few skills are as undervalued yet as essential as the ability to make quick, sound decisions. While strategic thinking, consultation, and data-informed planning are vital, there are moments when time itself becomes the deciding factor. The ability to act decisively, guided by intuition, experience, and a clear purpose, often determines whether a leader
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #18](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-18/) - "The world feels like it's at a point where young people can't just wait until after school or after university to make a difference." That powerful reflection comes directly from one of our guests—and for the first time, we welcome students to the Blue Skies Leadership Podcast! In this episode, we hear from Maddie and
- [Pursuing Excellence Through Reflection and Effort](https://blog.tieonline.com/pursuing-excellence-through-reflection-and-effort/) - I love the end of October. In the tropics, we may not see autumn colors, yet transition is definitely in the air. This is the season of harvest and renewal. Makahiki, as it is known in Hawaiian, refers to a full yearly cycle and is marked by the stars, moon phases, and agricultural rhythms. I
- [Educational Lessons from the Getty Villa](https://blog.tieonline.com/educational-lessons-from-the-getty-villa/) - The oil merchant tycoon J. Paul Getty was an avid art collector and took his passion to extraordinary heights with the building of the Getty Villa. Off the Malibu coast in the dry Californian hills, he commissioned the building of a palace modelled on that of a Roman patrician’s palace in Herculaneum. Not only is
- [Hiring Is the First Act of Safeguarding](https://blog.tieonline.com/hiring-is-the-first-act-of-safeguarding/) - Safeguarding Series #1: A Perspective on Safer Recruitment in International Schools from My Role as a DSL When people ask me about safeguarding, they often expect to hear about policies, disclosures, or risk assessments. As a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), I’ve come to understand that safeguarding doesn’t begin with a form. It begins with a person.
- [Fresh Hope: School Startups](https://blog.tieonline.com/fresh-hope-school-startups/) - I’ve worked in summer camps for over 20 years. Around about Summer 15 we were trying to have evening campfires with singing and s’mores in a beautiful outdoor location in the woods. Standard stuff, you’d think it would go well. It wasn’t going well at all. It was rowdy, we staff weren’t kumbaya’ing, we were
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #17](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-17/) - "Community engagement is a two-way street that benefits both sides."Is your school's service program truly reciprocal? In our latest Blue Skies Leadership episode, Dr. Dan Long argues that sustainable community outreach is the lifeblood of a thriving international school. It's not about what we give, but what we share and what we learn. Tune in
- ["My Scandinavian Studies" needs a new name](https://blog.tieonline.com/my-scandinavian-studies-needs-a-new-name/) - In 2020 the American football team called the Washington Redskins finally ditched their name, yet they didn’t settle on their current name, the Washington Commanders, until 2022. In the interim they called themselves the Washington Football Team. Factual, if not very exciting. In 1980, St. Olaf College opened a new dorm. Some of my sister’s
- [My Scandinavian Studies: Five weeks in already](https://blog.tieonline.com/my-scandinavian-studies-five-weeks-in-already/) - Tiden flyger, as they might say in Sweden - time flies - but I know better than to be confident of my translation until I’ve checked with a true blue (and yellow) Swede. I’ve translated “time flies” alone and online and because it is an idiom, well, you have to be careful. The official start
- [Everyone Needs a Fresh Start](https://blog.tieonline.com/everyone-needs-a-fresh-start/) - There comes a time in everyone's life when the only way forward is to start again; to shed the old skin of comfort, pain, and certainty, and step into the unknown. I have lived through two such transformations. One came after my mother’s passing, and the other in the quiet aftermath of the pandemic, when
- [High School: Where the fallen angel meets the rising ape](https://blog.tieonline.com/high-school-where-the-fallen-angel-meets-the-rising-ape/) - I was recently at an under 9s boys football tournament, supporting one of our teams. These are high energy events, as you can imagine, with hundreds of small boys charging around in semi-controlled fashion; a triumph of enthusiasm and innocence. Our long-suffering Coach never flags during the four matches that each team plays, and constantly
- [The Price of Privilege (that is paid by our students and children)](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-price-of-privilege-that-is-paid-by-our-students-and-children/) - It’s not often that I read a book and question it, but still want to recommend it widely, and indeed to re-read it immediately. Dr. Madeline Levine’s The Price of Privilege is one such book. Though based largely on her clinical experience in California – and hence arguably very culturally specific – the anecdotes resonate with my
- [Teaching to be an Upstander: Education and Bullying](https://blog.tieonline.com/teaching-to-be-an-upstander-education-and-bullying/) - Many of the competencies and values we aim to develop through education are cognitive and technical: conceptual understanding, skills, knowledge and the transfer of knowledge, innovation and creativity, criticality, and reflection. The radical transformation of the generation and distribution of knowledge by artificial intelligence is reshaping the importance and form of some of these facets
- [Tick Tock: The O.G. Decision](https://blog.tieonline.com/tick-tock-the-o-g-decision/) - (ChatGPT generation with prompt: person looking window at Big Ben) I wish I had time to humor you with the series of creative prompts that led to this masterpiece, but this is the best I could to on a Sunday afternoon. Not that any international educators are looking out their apartments with a view of
- [What’s Really Holding Your Team Back? The Confidence–Competence Gap No One Talks About](https://blog.tieonline.com/whats-really-holding-your-team-back-the-confidence-competence-gap-no-one-talks-about/) - There’s a look I’ve seen often — that pause after I introduce a new task. Not resistance. Not laziness. Just a subtle pause. Sometimes it’s a look of “Are you sure I can do this?” Other times it’s a confident “Yep!” — followed by an outcome that quietly says… maybe not. It took me years
- [Warm Sunny Days](https://blog.tieonline.com/warm-sunny-days/) - So there’s this student that I know at our school who might just be the happiest person that I have ever met. I fortunately get to see her every morning, and her contagious warmth, smile, and attitude brightens my mood without fail, and sets the tone for my day. She’s like the weather for me,
- [IB Dad](https://blog.tieonline.com/ib-dad/) - John Locke, one of the characters in one of the first bingeable television series (Lost) in the 1990s, said famously, "Don't tell me what I can't do." Unfortunately, that's exactly how I've felt as an IB/DP parent. When as a parent you think back on all of the educational experiences of your child, encouraging them
- [Swiss National Day](https://blog.tieonline.com/swiss-national-day/) - This is my sixth and last post from my summer visit to Concordia Language Villages in Minnesota. So I received Swiss citizenship a few years back, after living in Switzerland more than 12 years. It’s been 17 now, and counting. Way before moving to Switzerland I taught German at these summer immersion programs in Minnesota,
- [Epistemic Disobedience for Reclaiming Curriculum](https://blog.tieonline.com/epistemic-disobedience-for-reclaiming-curriculum/) - The term epistemic disobedience, popularized by Walter Mignolo, refers to the refusal to conform to dominant systems of knowledge that have historically silenced or unapproved diverse ways of knowing. It is the act of resisting epistemic dominance, the monopoly of Western, colonial, or elite discourses, and reclaiming intellectual freedom. In the Indian context, epistemic disobedience
- [Humanizing the Curriculum for Flourishing](https://blog.tieonline.com/humanizing-the-curriculum-for-flourishing/) - For too long, education has been shaped by Euro-American theories that overlooked the wisdom of Asian, African, and Indigenous traditions. Humanizing the curriculum means placing local knowledge, cultural identity, and collective values at the center of learning. In doing so, we not only make education more relevant, we initiate the deeper work of decolonizing it
- [Yak Shaving: The Hidden Costs of Shadow Work in Schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/yak-shaving-the-hidden-costs-of-shadow-work-in-schools/) - The question isn't whether you can afford to fix these problems; it's whether you can afford not to. Schools waste hundreds of hours of instructional prep time per year through poorly designed systems that offload administrative work onto teachers. Unnecessary screen time breeds serious staff wellness problems as well as productivity losses. What Does Yak
- [Goethe rides on](https://blog.tieonline.com/goethe-rides-on/) - This is the fifth of six observations from last summer's language immersion programs in Minnesota, at Concordia Language Villages. I’m met at the German building called the Bahnhof (though there are no trains) by the leader of the high school program. We decide to go to the learning group that is listening to and creating
- [Demystification](https://blog.tieonline.com/demystification/) - This is the fourth of six observations at Concordia Language Villages, summer language immersion programs in Russian and thirteen other languages. There’s nothing quite like participating in a language lesson when you don’t speak the language beyond “good day,” “thanks,” and “goodbye.” To be fair, I can also say with confidence, in Russian, “There’s the
- [From Performance to Presence: Reframing the Trap of Performative Leadership](https://blog.tieonline.com/from-performance-to-presence-reframing-the-trap-of-performative-leadership/) - There’s a TikTok trend going around called “the performative man”—a satirical take on guys who do the bare minimum but make it look like maximum effort. He’s flipping a pancake like it’s a CrossFit workout. He answers one email and immediately announces it’s time for a break. He slams cabinet doors with dramatic flair, sighs
- [First Day of School](https://blog.tieonline.com/first-day-of-school/) - My mom took pictures of my sister and me on the first day of school, standing on the back step of our suburban house. All cleaned up and smiling proudly, maybe a little nervously, we stood there together before cutting across the backyards on the way to school. It’s a tradition with a lot of
- [Modern Day Book Burning](https://blog.tieonline.com/modern-day-book-burning/) - In an age where knowledge is more accessible than ever, the world is paradoxically witnessing a surge in restrictions, censorship, and curriculum manipulation. Today’s “book burning” does not always involve flames or ashes; it is far more subtle, often dressed in the language of reform, nationalism, or modernization. But the dangers remain the same: a
- [How can AI make teachers more human in the classroom?](https://blog.tieonline.com/how-can-ai-make-teachers-more-human-in-the-classroom/) - Everywhere I go lately, there’s a whisper in the background of education: Will AI replace teachers? I hear it in staff rooms, at conferences, and even in conversations with parents. It’s a question that holds both fear and fascination. But each time, I find myself coming back to a different angle. Because maybe the real
- [Teaching your passion](https://blog.tieonline.com/teaching-your-passion/) - Isaac took a good chunk of time to talk with me after lunch during the afternoon break, getting me ready for the four simultaneous afternoon classes called Materias Elegidas. Students who are taking the four-week summer course for a year of high school credit attend these electives - an hour a day. I might not
- [Two Paths, One Purpose: Online and In-Person Learning at the PTC](https://blog.tieonline.com/two-paths-one-purpose-online-and-in-person-learning-at-the-ptc/) - When I started facilitating PTC courses 17 years ago, they were only offered in person and only during the June/July school break. For me, it was one of the highlights of the year. To have a room filled with aspiring and current school leaders, excited to be learning together, and sharing their own wisdom and
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-77/) - Recycling, reading, educating - all these things make the world a better place. Loop de Loop, Circular Solutions for a Waste-Free World, by Andrea Curtis with art by Roozeboos is a picture book guide to a better world through reducing, reusing and recycling. It shows young readers how things in nature work through circles: the
- [Hunger, by Knut Hamsun](https://blog.tieonline.com/hunger-by-knut-hamsun/) - I've started the literature course of my self-constructed program in Scandinavian Studies. I began my literature course with the book Hunger (Sult in the original Norwegian), by Knut Hamsun. I selected it because a few sites I surfed referred to this particular book as instrumental in introducing modern literature, with a long list of well-known
- [What can Teachers, Tech Coaches, IT Support, and Administrators Learn About “Collective Teacher Efficacy” From F1 Racing Pit Crews?](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-can-teachers-tech-coaches-it-support-and-administrators-learn-about-collective-teacher-efficacy-from-f1-racing-pit-crews/) - Formula 1 is a dynamic, ever-evolving sport with constantly changing technology and regulations (like school). The relentless pursuit of improvement and innovation is ingrained in the DNA of Formula 1 (maybe not so much like school). In the 1950s, the typical pit crew team consisted of four engineers— today there are as many as twenty
- [Just wondering about Professional Growth and Evaluation](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-about-professional-growth-and-evaluation/) - Two years ago, when I first started at Rabat American School, one of the first big tasks we took on was to revamp the school’s Professional Growth and Evaluation (PGE) model. What I am sharing here are our steps and my reflections since we enter the second year of this process and continue to make
- [A New Dawn Beyond University](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-new-dawn-beyond-university/) - What if I say: "do not go to university for the next two years", how would you react? Let me explain. In a world rattled by wars, economic instability, political polarization, and technological disruption, the once-stable institution of higher education is on shaky ground. For students considering entering university soon, this may be the moment
- [Simulación del Congreso Nacional de Chile](https://blog.tieonline.com/simulacion-del-congreso-nacional-de-chile/) - So after years, decades, I’ve returned to the location of my first teaching job, when I was 22 years old. Concordia Language Villages. Think summer camp, but in one of several different world languages. Here is a reflection from the back of the class at El Lago del Bosque, the Spanish Village. There’s class at 12:00
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-74/) - Celebrate differences in cultures, countries and people by using great picturebooks with all grade levels. Sundays Are For Feasts, written by Leila Boukarim and illustrated by Ruaida Mannaa, is the story of Yasmine whose other home is across the ocean and where she spends her summers. The highlights of those summers are food and family.
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-73/) - Interesting, and perhaps slightly scary books for Halloween and beyond! Broom For Two by Jennifer Maruno, with art by Scot Ritchie, is a funny story about a Little Witch has is learning how to fly her broomstick. She always flies in circles and lands with a bump. The other witches laugh at her because her
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-72/) - Welcome to a new school year. Start it off right by sharing books in the classroom! Bounce! by Robert Munsch with art by Michael Martchenko is yet another wild story by Munsch - a much welcome romp in a hospital bed. Two sisters scrape a knee and get hauled off in an ambulance. But when
- [Why Schools Need a Shared Understanding of High-Quality Learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/why-schools-need-a-shared-understanding-of-high-quality-learning/) - It’s the start of the school year. Pencils are sharpened, classrooms prepped, staff meetings underway. You might have even rehearsed your Day 1 welcome talk in the mirror. But under the energy of a fresh start is a question many educators carry quietly: “What exactly are we building toward this year—together?” Not in the abstract
- [My Favorite Place in Town](https://blog.tieonline.com/my-favorite-place-in-town/) - So when you walk by my office window this week you’ll notice a message on my whiteboard that reads, “school is my favorite time of the year!”, and I think I’ll keep it there for at least the rest of the month. I don’t know about you but I couldn’t wait for the school year
- [Language placement tests](https://blog.tieonline.com/language-placement-tests/) - This year I'm hacking learning by creating my own "degree" in Scandinavian Studies. This summer I'm getting ready for the language classes ... If you'd like to join me in creating your own program in an area of interest for you, it would be nice to support each other. Let me know. ___________________________________ Before the
- [¡Actividades!](https://blog.tieonline.com/actividades/) - So after years, decades, I’ve returned to the location of my first teaching job, when I was 22 years old. Concordia Language Villages. Think summer camp, but in one of several different world languages. I’m at El Lago del Bosque, the Spanish Village. They just announced the morning activities and I chose to tag along
- [Toxicity in the Workplace](https://blog.tieonline.com/toxicity-in-the-workplace/) - The metaphor “toxic” to describe work culture came about in the late 1980s in a leadership guide characterising toxic workplaces as ridden with conflict, “obscure goals and values, aggressive communication and scenarios in which staff are used like material resources.” (Christian, 2023) Since then, the term has gained currency and is used frequently to describe
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #16](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-16/) - "You should measure what you value. Don't value what you can measure." This thought-provoking quote from our conversation with Jennie Magiera is a call to action for every school leader. In this episode, we challenge the notion that grades and test scores are the ultimate measure of student success. Jennie shares her vision for a
- [Not a ladder, but waves on the beach](https://blog.tieonline.com/not-a-ladder-but-waves-on-the-beach/) - We all know that examination times can be fraught. Even when they are not public ‘high stakes’ exams, everyone wants to do well, and so things can feel pressured. When they have not done as well as they would have liked, students can sometimes feel, that they are not making the progress they want, or
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-71/) - In his book The Butterfly Lion, Michael Morgurpo writes, 'I met the best friends I ever had in books.’ Books can be your best friends and best friends in school are important to all children. Here are some great books about books ánd friendships. A good way to start off a new school year! Welcome
- [Start With Intention: 5 Traps Educators Fall Into At the Start of the Year (and How to Reframe Them)](https://blog.tieonline.com/start-with-intention-5-traps-educators-fall-into-at-the-start-of-the-year-and-how-to-reframe-them/) - Whether you’re new or returning, this is your back-to-school reset. There’s something universally similar about the first days of school—no matter where you’re teaching, what title you hold, or how many years you’ve been doing this. It begins with that jarring moment of realization: Summer is over. The to-do lists you wrote in June—back when
- [The Hidden Reality of EdTech Work](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-hidden-reality-of-edtech-work/) - What becomes possible when you start designing learning as infrastructure rather than intervention? As I look ahead to the new year, I'm stepping back from traditional "edtech coaching" goals toward something that feels more authentic to the work I actually do, and what's most needed in my schools: building collaborative infrastructure/capacity. I think many of
- [This is Learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/this-is-learning/) - To learn is not to watch. To learn is to do. To fail and try again. To feel the cold water and the burning sun. To fish and not catch. To pitch a tent, use the fly as a ground tarp and to be “swimming” in your sleeping bag. This is learning. I wrote this
- [Reframing Value for Educators Coming from Small and Mid-Sized Schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/reframing-value-for-educators-coming-from-small-and-mid-sized-schools/) - Over the past few weeks, I’ve caught up with former colleagues who’ve recently transitioned from small or mid-sized international schools into some of the biggest, most established legacy institutions in our field. These were heartening, honest conversations. And one theme kept surfacing: the quiet, uncomfortable feeling of not being enough. It starts early. Sometimes even
- [From the (Virtual) Room: Instructional Supervision Trends We Can’t Ignore](https://blog.tieonline.com/from-the-virtual-room-instructional-supervision-trends-we-cant-ignore/) - While most educators were taking a well-earned summer pause, a cohort of school leaders and instructional coaches from across the globe chose something different: to sit in a virtual room, for seven days, to confront the messy, emotional, and often misunderstood world of instructional supervision and evaluation. I had the privilege of co-facilitating the Instructional
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-70/) - Summer is the time when educators might be lucky enough to curl up with a good book that is not work related. So here are some of my favourite books I recently read. Most will have something of interest to people who travel and work in different countries. Happy reading! Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where
- ["Eklo Chalo Re" The Lonely Path of Visionary Leadership](https://blog.tieonline.com/eklo-chalo-re-the-lonely-path-of-visionary-leadership/) - Rabindranath Tagore wrote the words "Ekla Chalo Re," which translates to "Walk Alone" or "Go Your Own Way." In his song, written in Bengali (my mother tongue), the complete sentence translates to "If no one responds to your call, then go your own way alone." It has provided a sense of confidence and courage in
- [Not Quite Home: The Summer Pause We Don’t Talk About (But Should)](https://blog.tieonline.com/not-quite-home-the-summer-pause-we-dont-talk-about-but-should/) - There’s a moment every June in international schools that feels like a collective exhale. Suitcases roll down apartment hallways. Farewell potlucks blur into airport selfies. Someone’s always off to Phuket or Bali or Southern Italy. Someone else is crying over a storage unit key. And somewhere in the middle of all that chaos—there’s you. Maybe
- [Digital Citizenship](https://blog.tieonline.com/digital-citizenship/) - The great 20th Century philosopher Hannah Arendt argued that it is not really possible to be a global citizen, as citizenship is necessarily tied to a nation-state. Of course, she was right: claiming one is a global citizen as a philosophical position is all very well, but our actions and their repercussions tend to resonate
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #15](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-15/) - Are your recruitment strategies truly attracting the best talent, or just the available talent, for your international school? In our new Blue Skies Leadership episode, Daniel Mendes and I engage with Pauline O'Brien a global expert in education recruitment and strategy from International Schools Services. Pauline delves into the nuances of building robust teams, shaping
- [Unfreezing the Moment: A Tribute to Growth, Gratitude, and the Gift of Stillness](https://blog.tieonline.com/unfreezing-the-moment-a-tribute-to-growth-gratitude-and-the-gift-of-stillness/) - There’s a moment—just a few seconds long—when the air is filled with weightless caps and wide smiles. Cameras are raised. Parents are leaning forward. Graduates stand still, arms mid-toss, their faces lit with joy. Time holds its breath. And in that stillness, I find myself wishing I could stay. Just a little longer. That moment—captured
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-69/) - From Africa to Asia and around the world, these picturebooks are perfect for all ages. One is even published in two languages: English and French on the same page - great to use in an international classroom. Have fun reading books and exploring other cultures! Shake The Mango Tree/Secouez Le Manguier. This bilingual story is
- [Pruning, Not Cutting: Leading with Care in a New School Culture](https://blog.tieonline.com/pruning-not-cutting-leading-with-care-in-a-new-school-culture/) - I’ve been thinking a lot about my late grandmother-in-law. She was a master bonsai artist. Her garden was a sanctuary of delicate trees—each one shaped over years with steady hands and quiet devotion. I remember watching her prune with care: never rushing, never cutting too deep. She once told me, “You have to understand the A personal reflection on leading in a new school without erasing its roots.
- [Is It Ever Too Early to Learn?](https://blog.tieonline.com/is-it-ever-too-early-to-learn/) - “She is always there. She never says no. She always has a nice voice.”A Year 3 student, when asked why she likes her home voice assistant This moment in the classroom, with students sharing what they liked about their home voice assistants, highlighted for me why it’s never too early to start teaching digital and
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #14](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-14/) - When crisis hits, what's the first thing you prioritize as a leader? Devin Pratt Ed. D., AAIE Superintendent of the Year 2025, shares invaluable lessons from leading through conflict. What's your top crisis management tip? https://lnkd.in/gznQP38j In our latest Blue Skies Leadership episode, Daniel Mendes and I discuss navigating crisis with Dr. Devin Pratt. He
- [Who’s Gonna Carry the Boats? A Classroom Without Walls](https://blog.tieonline.com/whos-gonna-carry-the-boats-a-classroom-without-walls/) - Millions look idly on, as the man builds a shelter. He cuts the wood. He ties the knots. He lights the fire with one strike of the steel. His sons are with him. The Alaskan river runs cold and clear. As a family, they will fish. Eat. Sleep on the dirt. All the while, millions
- [9 Schools, 1 Journey: Belonging in the In-Between](https://blog.tieonline.com/9-schools-1-journey-belonging-in-the-in-between/) - I studied in nine different schools growing up. Nine uniforms. Nine first day butterflies. Nine different ways to wonder: Who am I in this place? Nine goodbyes I didn’t always know how to say. But this isn’t just a story about adaptability or grit—it’s a story about identity and finding belonging in unfamiliar places. About
- [Comfort Zones Closed for the Summer](https://blog.tieonline.com/comfort-zones-closed-for-the-summer/) - As school winds down, are you tempted to wind down too? What if instead of settling into comfort, this summer became your launchpad for growth? Summer is the perfect time to intentionally get uncomfortable. There is a great deal of truth in the saying, “If comfort is your compass, you'll never discover what you're truly
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #13](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-13/) - Is 'cautious trust' the right approach to AI in education? Rita Bateson FRSA from Eblana Learning joins the Blue Skies Leadership Podcast to discuss ethical AI implementation. What are your biggest hopes and concerns about AI's role in schools? Comment below! https://lnkd.in/gXK7-gsz Dan Kerr and Daniel Mendes explore the future of AI in education with
- [Putting Peace First](https://blog.tieonline.com/putting-peace-first/) - A class of ESL students has been reading a book by Eric Dawson, Putting Peace First. He connects with them online, the teacher has done her work to make this book real. Eric, with only a short stint at Burger King on his resume, started Peace First at age eighteen. Goodness. What was I doing
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-68/) - Readers can also be writers. And all writers should be readers. Here are some wonderful books about books or writing. Yours in Books, by Julie Falatko, lovely illustrated by Gabriel Alboroza, is the perfect picturebook for all booklovers - both in text and art. Grumpy Owl lives alone and wants peace and quiet to read
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #12](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-12/) - About to invest big in your school's future? Don't let jargon derail your plans! Our latest Blue Skies Leadership Podcast with Ewan McIntosh explores how to create a clear vision and design learning spaces that truly work. Dan Kerr and Daniel Mendes talk with Ewan McIntosh of NoTosh about the critical need for a shared
- [Rebalancing curriculum means rebalancing assessment](https://blog.tieonline.com/rebalancing-curriculum-means-rebalancing-assessment/) - The 2021 Futures of Education report is a white paper on the major themes that educational providers should be focussing on as we head into the second quarter of the 21st Century. What are they? In the 1990s, the Delors report pointed to four broad global areas in which education needed to develop: learning to know, learning to learn,
- [Rebalancing assessment to rebalance education](https://blog.tieonline.com/rebalancing-assessment-to-rebalance-education/) - The 2021 Futures of Education report is a white paper on the major themes that educational providers should be focussing on as we head into the second quarter of the 21st Century. What are they? In the 1990s, the Delors report pointed to four broad global areas in which education needed to develop: learning to
- [Alternatives to default models of teaching and learning ](https://blog.tieonline.com/alternatives-to-default-models-of-teaching-and-learning/) - Alternatives to default models of teaching and learning Few would seriously argue that students learn at the same pace and in the same way, at least not in any way other than a very general sense. Yet most would agree that our school systems are heavily biased toward standardization that assumes exactly that. Students are
- [From Rigid to Ready: The Shift Toward Flexible, Skill-Based Learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/from-rigid-to-ready-the-shift-toward-flexible-skill-based-learning/) - The conversation no longer should be about the world our students will enter. Rather, it needs to be about the new world we awake to each day. The telephone, radio, airplane all impacted the world. The ability to connect in new ways. Next was the internet. Now, not only connection but the quickened pace and
- [Will Artificial Intelligence Really Replace Teachers?](https://blog.tieonline.com/will-artificial-intelligence-really-replace-teachers/) - Bill Gates recently claimed that humans won’t be needed for teaching within a decade. What makes him say that, and how true is it? Like most people looking at AI, Gates is almost definitely referring to the substantive forecasts that are increasingly widespread on the exponential growth of AI power, complexity, and reach between now
- [The Perils of Partial Data and The Need for a Principled Approach](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-perils-of-partial-data-and-the-need-for-a-principled-approach/) - At a recent conference, I listened as the keynote presenter passionately and powerfully analyzed data on youth well-being, closely linking it to national education systems. While the presentation was compelling on the surface, it made me uncomfortable as I noticed that a major flaw existed: the complete absence of data from China and India, two
- [GOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/gobal-book-recommendations/) - These new titles are not just great reads. They also focus on the importance of friendship and helping each other, making valuable tools for any classroom. The Lion and The Bird by Marianne Dubuc is a tender, touching story. This akmost wordless picturebook works on many levels and for many ages. Lion is satified, working
- [I'm no poet but ... a drama class makes me want to try](https://blog.tieonline.com/im-no-poet-but-a-drama-class-makes-me-want-to-try/) - A drama class at Wellington College, England. I haven’t been briefed, I don’t know what they’re rehearsing, but I grab some phrases attributed to Shakespeare and give myself permission to just be the poet / non-poet that I am. Hopefully teacher Nick will forgive me for indulging myself, it’s an experiment, for sure. So is
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #11](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-11/) - What kind of humans are we graduating? That question drives Gavin McCormack's 'Blue Sky' vision of education. Tune in to the Blue Skies Leadership Podcast for a thought-provoking discussion on transforming schools! Daniel Mendes and I sit down with Gavin to discuss his innovative ideas for the future of education. Gavin, founder of Upschool.co and
- [Wondering in Wellington College's Green Room](https://blog.tieonline.com/wondering-in-wellington-colleges-green-room/) - Apparently Blackfriars Theatre in London had a green room for actors, going back to 1599. I can’t vouch for that, but you can find it on the web. There isn’t any information for why it was green, but I was always told (when I played the cello modestly well) that green is a calming color.
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #10](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-10/) - It's time to move beyond just talking about change...it's time to take action! Bambi Betts joins us on the Blue Skies Leadership Podcast to discuss how we can transform learning environments, prioritize quality teaching, and ensure our schools are truly serving students. Are you prepared to be inspired and challenged? I look forward to hearing
- [Computational Thinking](https://blog.tieonline.com/computational-thinking/) - Math class for 5 and 6 year olds. “Are you ready for the story problem?” The children, seated on the floor, look at the screen. “Chloe has 12 heart stickers, says the teacher, “she gave 7 of them to her friends. How many stickers does Chloe have left?” He reads it a second time. A
- [Humans flourishing in the age of AI](https://blog.tieonline.com/humans-flourishing-in-the-age-of-ai/) - The morning of the second day of the ECIS conference here in Stuttgart, Germany. Kathleen Naglee takes the stage. I think we’re all wondering when Kat bot will take the stage as well, there are actually two speakers listed for the session. Kat bot provided her own bio, written by her (they? it?). Here it
- [Permission to feel](https://blog.tieonline.com/permission-to-feel/) - Marc Brackett is the founding director at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. He’s got 45 minutes in front of an audience of international school directors and administrators at the International School of Stuttgart. He’s engaging. He’s got the crowd on his side right off the bat. We start by looking at a grid titled
- [Getting online, safe and engaged](https://blog.tieonline.com/getting-online-safe-and-engaged/) - Millie greets each student as they arrive in her virtual classroom for the first time. Farah checks in first, then Rodrigo. Rodrigo teaches in Shanghai but is on holiday in Manila. He shares that it is 10:00 p.m. It’s not so unusual for adult teachers in online classes to schedule themselves at unusual times. Their
- [A CRAVE NEW WORLD](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-crave-new-world/) - Last week, I made a conscious decision to break up with my phone. If you’re so inclined, you might consider doing the same. My attention had been gradually siphoned away by the countless interruptions—messages that seemed urgent and a nearly instinctive compulsion to check my phone. All of this culminated in a realization that I
- [Future Fitness](https://blog.tieonline.com/future-fitness/) - As cycles of disruption to the economy, the environment as well as technological and political spheres are increasingly intense and rapid, developing those competences which will help us thrive in such a set of present and future circumstances has become particularly necessary. The uncertainty of the future and the high chance that it will be
- [Free Build!](https://blog.tieonline.com/free-build/) - Holli gives me a quick briefing before the first graders arrive. 35 years of teaching, The Orchard School, project based learning, taught all grades, a ton of experience. Today the kids are going to be making whatever they’d like to make. She let’s them in. “Can we use these?” “The scales? Yes.” “Can we use
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #9](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-9/) - What if we could unlock the true potential of every student and educator? ✨ In Episode 9 of the Blue Skies Leadership Podcast, we sit down with Richard Boerner, Superintendent of Graded - The American School of São Paulo, to discuss how international schools can genuinely innovate and adapt. Richard shares his insights on: -The
- [Shifting Currents: Reflections of Change in School Cultures](https://blog.tieonline.com/shifting-currents-reflections-of-change-in-school-cultures/) - The constant is change. This is certain. If we can reflect on that truth — both broadly and within our roles in education — we may find ourselves connecting this 'truth' to feelings of angst, expectation, disappointment, or even opportunity. At times, we may even feel ‘lost’ or ‘out of the loop’. This evolving dynamic
- [Acting Out](https://blog.tieonline.com/acting-out/) - It’s my last classroom visit in California, the third day on campus at the UC Berkeley. I’ve been a tourist here just long enough that I’m wearing the t-shirt. And I’ve got a new baseball cap. I always feel so centered, so right, on a university campus. Four tables of teachers, program coordinators, and middle
- [Blue Skies Leadership podcast - Episode #8](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-8/) - Is 'Unprecedented' the New Normal in Education? In Episode 8 of the Blue Skies Leadership Podcast, we delve into the future of international education with Angela Meikle, EdD, Head of IB World Schools at the International Baccalaureate. We explore how the IB is evolving to meet the challenges of our rapidly changing world and what
- [Looseness](https://blog.tieonline.com/looseness/) - Class after lunch, there’s lots of energy. Plus these folks are seniors, they have a certain swagger and assurance that comes with being in your final semester of high school. John finds me a seat next to a workbench, shoving chisels and tools and papers and a computer far enough out of the way to
- [Ruby Bridges, Building Bridges](https://blog.tieonline.com/ruby-bridges-building-bridges/) - Teacher Ricardo is comfortably seated in front of a poster of all 12 months in large, colorful, laminated strips. He’s wearing an LA Dodgers baseball hat and has a large ring of keys hanging from a belt loop of his jeans. Black and white checkered Vans, colorful socks. He’s totally at ease. He shows pictures
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #7](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-7/) - What does a truly comprehensive school counseling program look like? In honor of International School Counselors Week, we're thrilled to welcome Brooke Fezler, Co-founder and Director of the International School Counselor Association (ISCA), to the Blue Skies Leadership Podcast. Brooke's dedication to advancing the field of school counseling is genuinely inspiring, and her insights are
- [Systemic Functional Linguistics](https://blog.tieonline.com/systemic-functional-linguistics/) - Ruslana, an educational consultant, is visiting Mari’s class of students learning English, here at the boarding school. The two of them are collaborating to develop the student’s academic writing skills, based on Systemic Functional Linguistics. As Ruslana says, sometimes simply teaching alongside a teacher colleague is the best way to demonstrate a method, an activity.
- [Blue Sky Thinking for Measuring Learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-sky-thinking-for-measuring-learning/) - In curriculum design, one consideration is to design with principles that facilitate authentic learning and assessment of skills and competencies. Traditional assessment models have emphasized knowledge acquisition, often measured through standardized tests. However, as the demands of a dynamic and diverse world evolve, there is a growing consensus that assessment should reflect broader competencies, including problem-solving,
- [Discussion Leader, Scribe, Equity Commentator, Tallier](https://blog.tieonline.com/discussion-leader-scribe-equity-commentator-tallier/) - Okay, so here is something really interesting. I’m sitting in the back of the room and the wall on my left is a 15 wide by 5 high grid of classic clipboards, each hanging from a nail. The bottom three rows have papers under their clamp, some sort of tracking for each individual student. Above
- [The importance of strong multilateral institutions](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-importance-of-strong-multilateral-institutions/) - After the ravages of WWII, a nihilistic depression descended on Europe and much of the world. Philosophies of existentialism and the absurd proliferated, and everything seemed to be put into question. What exactly is human nature and humanity? If we are capable of such unspeakable atrocities, what is there left to believe in? How do
- [Teachers of Color](https://blog.tieonline.com/teachers-of-color/) - University of California, Berkeley, California on a rainy Thursday. The bells in the iconic campanile are ringing, it’s noon. The class is focused on teachers of color, as a topic, and as I look around the room, future teachers of color who have registered for this class. Ten undergraduate students sit in a circle with
- [Leading With Agility](https://blog.tieonline.com/leading-with-agility/) - So last April our students stepped into our brand new, purpose-built state-of-the-art Middle School facility, and it was truly an epic celebration. The fever-pitch anticipation was finally over after years of planning and construction. Now, after several months of settling in, it’s fair to say that this transition, although not without challenges at the time,
- [Understanding international in international schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/understanding-international-in-international-schools/) - A recent assignment in the Masters of Education program with Moreland University asked students to define three interrelated terms, each term trying to get closer to what it really means to be international and what the goals of an international school really might be. It isn’t all that easy! Here are excerpts from Natasha Howard’s
- [Calm Assurance](https://blog.tieonline.com/calm-assurance/) - Like many people, I was introduced to High Tech High a decade ago by the film Most Likely to Succeed. In fact, I watched a webinar last week with some of the key people involved in making and financing the movie talking about it all came together, their experience at the Sundance Film Festival, the
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast Episode #6](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-6/) - Leading into the Future with Fearless Inquiry: The Big Questions Institute In our latest episode, we have a thought-provoking conversation with Homa Tavangar, Founder & Executive Director of the Big Questions Institute. Homa challenges traditional education models and advocates for a more inquiry-based approach that ignites a passion for lifelong learning. We explore the Big Questions
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast #2](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast/) - So I want to introduce a new podcast for international school educators, which features conversations with International School and organizational leaders about the future of education. Leaders sharing specific strategies and change initiatives from around the world that will help to navigate the journey for all of us. We are two episodes in with many
- [Friday morning observations](https://blog.tieonline.com/friday-morning-observations/) - Friday morning! Bright sun through the window, it’s actually cracked open behind me, even in January. Fresh, cool air drifting into the social studies classroom. Seems like everything is right with the world. But. But the class starts with CNN 10, a quick summary of world news, and since Donald Trump is once again in
- [Thursday morning observations](https://blog.tieonline.com/thursday-morning-observations/) - I have a visitor at my school this morning, a visitor and a dear friend. She’s a professor and researcher and requested some visits to classes on our grade 11 and 12 campus. We'll make short stops in several classes. It’s a little intellectually frenetic, as an observer, going from one thing to the next.
- [Hope and Flourish](https://blog.tieonline.com/hope-and-flourish/) - Over the past 8 weeks in my new role at the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), I have been collecting listening data to help me understand the organization and its mission. In my conversations with key members of the organization and my team, two words emerged repeatedly: hope and flourish. In my first 90 days at
- [Project Sandcastle: A focus on the ‘share’ element of ‘think-pair-share’](https://blog.tieonline.com/project-sandcastle-a-focus-on-the-share-element-of-think-pair-share/) - Sandcastle is an initiative of many colleagues across the world, who come together online to share about personal passion projects in their classrooms and school settings. The group welcomes any educator trying things out and looking for thought partners. See MagnusonEdStudio.org - Sandcastle. Nicola Edger, Leipzig International School, Germany, wrote this reflection about her action
- [a letter to AI](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-letter-to-ai/) - Unmasking Racial & Gender Bias in AI Educational Platforms https://www.aiforeducation.io/blog/ai-racial-bias-uncovered AI automated discrimination. Here’s how to spot it. https://www.vox.com/technology/23738987/racism-ai-automated-bias-discrimination-algorithm Deep fake Lab: Unraveling the mystery around deepfakes. https://deepfakelab.theglassroom.org/#! Nine companies are steering the future of artificial intelligence How School Leaders Can Pave the Way for Productive Use of AI https://www.edutopia.org/article/setting-school-policies-ai-use Generative AI: A whole school
- [Judgy](https://blog.tieonline.com/judgy/) - Three five minute presentations, each with ten minutes of Q & A. We’ve been invited, six of us adults, to create a panel of judges. Other faculty members have been joining other classes, or giving input online. We are seated in the front row, on two couches that make a V, the round red carpet
- [Why the truth is necessary and important in an education](https://blog.tieonline.com/why-the-truth-is-necessary-and-important-in-an-education/) - Mark Zuckerberg’s recent announcement to get rid of fact checkers working for Meta is worrying. Meta owns Instagram and Instagram is very popular with younger users. This follows the trajectory of Twitter to X whereby Elon Musk disbanded Twitter's Trust and Safety Council, which advised on content moderation and misinformation. Like Zuckerberg, he also laid
- [What to Read in 2025!](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-to-read-in-2025/) - So it’s that time of the year again when I get to order books for my birthday, which is my favorite gift ever because it keeps on giving for months and months and months. The deal is that I have to finish reading all of last year’s books before I get to order new ones,
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #5](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-5/) - In this episode, Dan Kerr and Daniel Mendes are delighted to welcome Jane Larsson, Executive Director of the Council of International Schools (CIS). CIS is a global powerhouse that empowers schools and universities worldwide. In this episode, you'll discover:-CIS's vision of socially responsible leadership-New tools, resources, and initiatives will put CIS schools in the holiday
- [Being a bit more you by playing someone else](https://blog.tieonline.com/being-a-bit-more-you-by-playing-someone-else/) - I hear excited voices and laughing from the theater. I almost walk by without poking my head in, but someone hits the music and a girl’s voice belts out the first lines of a song. Who is that?! What? Wow. I’ve got to take a look. I take a seat in the back of the
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-67/) - What is life like for other people in different places? How was life in different times? We can find facts online but the best way to create empathy and understanding is through books and good stories. The Moon’s Journey by Beryl Young, illustrated by Sean Huang, is based on the true story of an Irish
- [Schoolishness: Reflections on a podcast with Susan Blum](https://blog.tieonline.com/schoolishness-reflections-on-a-podcast-with-susan-blum/) - For the past fifteen years, I’ve focused on supporting teacher and student agency. For teachers, our motto is “Continually becoming the professionals we already are.” I’m realizing that for students we don’t have a particular motto. Help us out! What might be a good student agency motto? Tim Logan, the host of the Future Learning
- [Ethical leadership is built on examples, not words ](https://blog.tieonline.com/ethical-leadership-and-ethical-education-are-built-on-examples-not-words/) - "Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it" said the Ancient Roman Stoic Epictetus. Born into enslavement in 50 AD, he eventually gained freedom and lived as a teacher in Rome until he was exiled and died some 85 years later in the Greek city of Nicopolis. Stoicism is a powerful philosophy based on self control and
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-66/) - Today I would like to share great books about nature: trees, animals, water and also a book for children on taking action for causes like animal rights. When Nature Calls is a nonfiction picture book about the ‘Unusual Bathroom Habits of the World’s Creatures’, written by Maria Birmingham and illustrated by Dave Whamond. The illustrations
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-65/) - Here are some wonderful, new novels for young readers to curl up with - at home or in school. The Party Diaries by Mitali Banerjee Ruths, illustrated by Aaliya Jaleel, is a fun series of early read chapter books. Fairy Tale Puppy Picnic, the newest installment, is the story of Priya who runs a successful
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast Episode #4](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-4/) - Get ready for an inspiring episode of the Blue Skies Leadership Podcast! Join Daniel Mendes and I as we sit down with Nancy Lhoest-Squicciarini, Head of the Middle Level Certificate program for ECIS, to discuss the vital role of middle level leadership in creating thriving school cultures.In this episode, Nancy, drawing on her extensive 35+
- [Could the Student League of Nations change the P5 veto rights in the UN Security Council?](https://blog.tieonline.com/could-the-veto-rights-of-the-p5-in-the-un-security-council-be-influenced-by-what-we-do-in-schools/) - The Student League of Nations was created in 1953 at Ecolint. Today hundreds of thousands of students engage in the Model United Nations system worldwide. The early architects of the Student League of Nations, which was originally called the Student United Nations, wanted students to experience international diplomacy in order to better understand the world
- [Sorting out the messy](https://blog.tieonline.com/sorting-out-the-messy/) - The art room, I notice, is a lot like the physics room. Full of stuff. Down in the science wing it’s weights and machines and gears and stuff. Here it’s SLR cameras, collections of pens, sheets of cardboard and paper and paint and half finished sculptures and paintings on easels and in piles, pictures taped
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-64/) - ’t Is the season to make wish lists, to wrap gifts for colleagues, and to curl up with a good book during the winter break. What do teachers read for fun? In this column I have shared almost 600 books with you over the years. In the New Year I will be posting reviews once
- [Fashion](https://blog.tieonline.com/fashion/) - “We’re making a change, we just don’t have enough time to present in 3D, we’ll do a digital presentation.” The students greeted this announcement with a sigh of relief, I think, but they caught themselves as Can continued. “You’ll still do the vector work and the summative assessment is updated in Google classroom. We will
- [Blue Skies Leadership Podcast - Episode #3](https://blog.tieonline.com/blue-skies-leadership-podcast-episode-3/) - Episode #3 - Join me and Daniel Mendes for an insightful episode of the Blue Skies Leadership Podcast featuring Dr. Derrick Gay, a renowned Belonging and Intercultural Strategist! Dr. Gay has dedicated his career to fostering cultures of dignity and respect in over 800 organizations worldwide. In this episode, Dr. Gay helps us understand:-The critical
- [Give them space ... and be patient](https://blog.tieonline.com/give-them-space-and-be-patient/) - I follow some eighth and ninth graders into the gym. I ask one of them where his class meets and he says downstairs, so I follow him and a few other boys to the basement, then to the end of the hall, and they disappear into the locker room. Oops! I backtrack to the gym,
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-63/) - Getting the right book into the hands of a child can have a lifelong impact. Many kids can get hooked on reading through these great new stories about animals. Some are funny and fictional, others have fascinating facts that can encourage research. What Does Little Crocodile Say? by Eva Montanari is a lovely illustrated picturebook.
- [May it come easy to you](https://blog.tieonline.com/may-it-come-easy-to-you/) - It’s the first day of real snow, the car slipped and slid around the corners driving up to the campus where Martin is teaching grade 11 mathematics this afternoon. I’m in a spot next to a window (and a heater!) opposite the large screen. There are four tables, each with four chairs, and together they
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-62/) - Stories bring the world home. The following brand new books are great stories to share with children that will expand their world and understanding of others. Playdate Surprise by Karen Autio, with illustrations by Laura Watson, is the story of two friends, Kayla and Piper. Kayla is excited to have her new best friend come
- [Forget to be Rembrandt or Picasso](https://blog.tieonline.com/forget-to-be-rembrandt-or-picasso/) - A guest speaker today in class. You never know if students are going to be interested, but just the change in the regular flow of class is usually welcomed by students. And by teachers, too. It’s a bit of time when teachers don’t have to be holding quite so many things in their mind as
- [How are Micro-Credentials Transforming Higher Education?](https://blog.tieonline.com/how-are-micro-credentials-transforming-higher-education/) - Post-pandemic in the international schools' diaspora, micro-credentials have emerged as a major trend with the potential to reshape learning paradigms in higher education and international school environments. As schools, universities, and learners adapt to an increasingly digital and flexible world, micro-credentials offer a personalized, competency-based approach that promises to align more closely with the needs
- [Make a little room for language awareness](https://blog.tieonline.com/make-a-little-room-for-language-awareness/) - I’ve got photos of student work open on my computer. The first photo is two pages of words the student made up, the second photo is a poem using those words, presumably with a bit of newly created grammar to stitch the words together, and the third photo is a poem written in the invented
- [Language is a complex adaptive system - so is teaching](https://blog.tieonline.com/language-is-a-complex-adaptive-system-so-is-teaching/) - The sound of Spanish is so nice. Uxua is from Pamplona, a super interesting region of the world linguistically. Spanish and Basque, but that’s too simple, of course. She speaks types of Spanish and Basque, the recipe of sounds from her specific region, colored by her personal background. The result is musical as she goes
- [Global Book Recommendations](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-61/) - Here are some good seasonal stories to share! Haunted Canada by Joel A. Sutherland, illustrated by different artists, is the perfect, scary graphic novel for Halloween. Four terrifying tales from across Canada, that many or may not be true, are are deliciously horrid. They deal with a vengeful corpse of a woman killed some 300
- [War and Unrest](https://blog.tieonline.com/war-and-unrest/) - And I, I took the road less traveled by / and that has made all the difference. That from a book in the back of an English literature class. I pulled the book from the shelf because the first half hour of the class is independent silent reading and I feel I should join in.,
- [Where ideas come from](https://blog.tieonline.com/where-ideas-come-from/) - David Ray has been invited to present his work to high school students. On the screen is an example of his work: a troop of terracotta warriors like none other I’ve seen. An army of ceramic figures in white with painted flowers everywhere on their bodies, bright colors, with bright blue masks that could make
- [Teaching about the host country’s culture and history in an international school](https://blog.tieonline.com/teaching-about-the-host-countrys-culture-and-history-in-an-international-school/) - For those of us working in international schools, we are all too aware of the challenge of teaching about national identity given our international student body. Whose history should be taught and why? It’s not logistically possible to teach every child about the history of every country represented unless it's through student-led projects which are
- [Current Trends and Insights in Higher Education](https://blog.tieonline.com/current-trends-and-insights-in-higher-education/) - As I guide educators through the CTC Counsellors course, I am continually struck by the evolving trends shaping higher education. These trends reflect the complex, interconnected world we live in and highlight the importance of adapting to meet diverse student needs. Here, I present five key trends through relatable scenarios that highlight the significance of
- [Science classrooms are just so good](https://blog.tieonline.com/science-classrooms-are-just-so-good/) - Science classrooms are just so good. Human skeletons and muscle systems and sinks and some sort of heater (cooler?) to do who knows what. An eye wash station, models of kidneys, some antlers the teacher probably found up on the mountain. Earlier I was in an English class with a good dose of current events
- [Sending English language learners out to the hall and into the world](https://blog.tieonline.com/sending-english-language-learners-out-to-the-hall-and-into-the-world/) - Friday morning. Whew, another week. They feel slow and fast both. There are five blonde wood tables in the room, new purchases, it’s the beginning of a school year. No graffiti, no scratches, no loose legs, with matching blonde wood chairs and a card with a student name on each table. The large screen is
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-60/) - Inside Scouts Help the Brave Giraffe, written by Mitali Banerjee Ruths, with art by Francesca Mahaney, is a first graphic novel for young readers. Pages have attractive art with speech bubbles. Two children, the Inside Scouts, set off to help giraffe whose bowels are blocked. In the same vein as The Magic School Bus, the
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-59/) - This time I'd like to share with you some wonderful multi cultural picturebooks for all ages. These inside glances at different customs and beliefs will enrich any classroom or school library. Awe-Samosas! is written by Marzieh Abbas and illustrated by Bhagya Madanasinghe. The Pakistani author shares her knowledge of making samosas in this colourful celebration
- [Just wondering about "rocks".](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-about-rocks/) - A few professional lives ago, in a different school, I witnessed something that has stayed with me throughout my career. The Secondary Principal got up on stage during assembly and demonstrated what is often referred to as the rocks, pebbles and sand analogy. It was inspiring and visually convincing. When I became Principal myself, I
- [Closer To The Heart](https://blog.tieonline.com/closer-to-the-heart/) - So I was contacted the other day by a former student of mine, who took some classes with me a few years ago through Endicott College’s International Education Master’s Degree Program. During one of those classes there was an activity that we all engaged in together, where we had to choose a song that connected
- [Watch how your spark and your love magnifies](https://blog.tieonline.com/watch-how-your-spark-and-your-love-magnifies/) - Briza Bohne, Service-Learning Coordinator at Ljubljana International School, joins Paul on reflections about classroom observations, summer programming, confidence, and how to lead with love and uplift. How does one invite a person - in this case a teacher - to say YES on their own accord? When what lies ahead looks challenging, it’s the relationships,
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-58/) - Fact or Fantasy? Sometimes it’s even hard to see which is which. Good books for children seamlessly give information, whether it is through fiction or nonfiction. Who doesn’t know Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar? Now there is a new companion story called The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats Breakfast, A Counting Book! Complete with holes
- [Youssou N'Dour and education: learning through the performing arts](https://blog.tieonline.com/7780-2/) - The arts are typically underrepresented in school curricula. Studies show that there is a decline in arts enrolment in Australia and the UK, in the United States there aren’t enough art teachers and despite numerous initiatives to develop the arts on the African continent, most schools and teachers are not sufficiently resourced to develop an
- [I have something you might be interested in (Observation #6)](https://blog.tieonline.com/i-have-something-you-might-be-interested-in-observation-6/) - “Who do you appreciate, everyone? Think of someone you really appreciate.” Brian has started his training as the Rwandan teachers in this summer program are still filing into the room. He asks for a couple of examples as a warm up, then has everyone stand up and move in front of their desks. He leads
- [I have something you might be interested in (Observation #5)](https://blog.tieonline.com/i-have-something-you-might-be-interested-in-observation-5/) - The next class of teachers comes into the room as the previous class departs. These are teachers completing two weeks of training at the end of the Rwandan summer, before school starts up again in September. Emilee gets them started right away. “We’ll be doing a Parent Teacher Conference Scenario today,” she says, pointing at
- [I have something you might be interested in (Observation #4)](https://blog.tieonline.com/i-have-something-you-might-be-interested-in-observation-4/) - The immersion program we ran in Rwanda is over, though we hope to go back and do it again, bigger and better, next summer. The songs we taught - from Bob Marley to “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” to ones written by the teachers we trained, still echo in my head. Here are thoughts while
- [I have something you might be interested in (Observation 3)](https://blog.tieonline.com/i-have-something-you-might-be-interested-in-observation-3/) - I’m continuing my series of posts written while observing Rwandan elementary teachers and their trainers in our recently completed summer program. I had asked to observe this half hour lesson. In bad form, I came in late. I don’t like that, that is no way to start. I’m on my heels, I’m having to type
- [I have something you might be interested in (Observation #2)](https://blog.tieonline.com/i-have-something-you-might-be-interested-in-observation-2/) - I’m on a bit of a high from the two-week training we just completed in Rwanda. Here is the second of six classroom observations. Barack and Steve introduce their lesson by writing on the blackboard, in all capital letters: PRONUNCIATION Their goal is to help the participants in this program, Rwandan elementary teachers, move a
- [The epistemology of misinformation in a digital age: educational responses](https://blog.tieonline.com/critical-thinking-in-an-age-of-digital-citizenship-has-never-been-so-important/) - The turmoil that has swept across the UK has its seeds in disinformation. The Southport stabbings of children by a 17 year old boy sparked outrage and strong emotions. As the identity of the boy could not be publicly disclosed for legal reasons, speculation quickly led to Islamophobic and xenophobic hypotheses, claiming he was Muslim
- ["I have something you might be interested in"](https://blog.tieonline.com/i-have-something-you-might-be-interested-in/) - We are winding up our two-weeks of English training for elementary teachers in Rwanda. What a whirlwind, these past two weeks. Amazing people, amazing experiences. Months ago, more than half a year ago, Eric contacted me. He owns a language school in Madrid. He thought I might be interested in putting together a program with
- [Listening to Learn with a Bold New Commitment to Clarity](https://blog.tieonline.com/listening-to-learn-with-a-bold-new-commitment-to-clarity/) - “Uncle Matt? Hi! Can you talk?” Teaching runs deep in my family. My mom and aunt were teachers, and when I followed in their footsteps, they couldn't have been prouder. So, when my niece recently joined the ranks, it filled me with satisfaction. Just the other day, she shared a video of her classroom. Newer
- [What a Life We've Chosen :)](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-a-life-weve-chosen/) - So I went for a long run the other day through a park close to where I live. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and hot, and while I was in the park it felt like the entire neighborhood was out enjoying the sunshine. I saw families having picnics, people looking for frogs in the
- [The Quest for Authentic School Identity](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-quest-for-authentic-school-identity/) - This year our school marks 75 years, and at our first meeting, we began with something simple but powerful. After ample opportunity to swap summer stories, we slowed ourselves enough to come to a complete pause. In the silence, the true identity of our community came into focus. The activity, one of strategic planning, struck
- [Educational lessons from the Olympics: the Japanese basketball team](https://blog.tieonline.com/educational-lessons-from-the-olympics-the-japanese-basketball-team/) - In a world injured by war, polarisation, aggressive neoliberal globalisation, opportunities to bring populations together in a rejoicing spirit are much needed. This has always been the beauty of the Olympic games, although sometimes marred by controversy and politics, the games are overwhelmingly a moment of celebration and admiration of human gifts across a spectrum
- [Reflecting on Job Interviews](https://blog.tieonline.com/reflecting-on-job-interviews/) - Job interviews are more than an opportunity for potential employment; they can also be learning experiences that can shape and refine one’s professional approach. Reflecting on my interviews in the past two years for a leadership role in international education, I gathered key insights into the strengths necessary to convince interviewers of my leadership style.
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-57/) - The beginning of a new school year is a good time to share books about school, making new friends and adapting to new circumstances. These (brand new) titles are great to read aloud and help students to settle into a new school year, a new class or even a new country. See You Later, Alligator
- [Should schools publish examination results?](https://blog.tieonline.com/should-schools-publish-examination-results/) - Over the past few days there have been a few pieces on social media from school principals on whether results should be published or not. On the one hand of the spectrum is the craze to publish the number of perfect scores, on the other hand those that refuse to publish anything. The IB continues
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-56/) - Summer! As an educator hopefully you can enjoy travels and reading during your summer break from school. In the past I have used summer to share some of my favourite books for adults rather than review books for younger readers in this regular column. I shared The Library Tree by Deborah Cowley with you, as
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book/) - Books can be so much fun to share with students! Here are some frolicking good romps through stories. Not only does reading aloud help speakers of any language to become familiar with covers, pages, rhythm, rhyme and format of stories. It also helps to discover multi layered tales and double meanings. But most of all,
- [The difference between a debate and a discussion](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-difference-between-a-debate-and-a-discussion/) - The concept of the debate is central to critical thinking and democracy. The etymology of the word is from the Latin battere, meaning to fight. The ancient Indian ritual of the Shastrartha , where religious ideas would be debated, or the Graeco-Roman tradition of debating ideas in the Agora (marketplace) and, later, in the senate,
- [The power of alumni](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-power-of-alumni/) - Every school and university is someone’s alma mater and alumni networks are more or less well managed, ranging from highly curated and tentacular Ivy League-styled operations run by a development army with polished and frequent communications, to semi-formal and ad-hoc arrangements by individuals organising parties and get togethers. Educational institutions tends to view alumni as
- [Jump in and do! Making accreditation as real as possible](https://blog.tieonline.com/jump-in-and-do-making-accreditation-as-real-as-possible/) - Steps we can handle, iterations, aspirations ... a staircase in the Katholische Pfarrkirche Herz Jesu, Goldau, Switzerland. Schools are accredited from time to time sort of like finances of businesses are verified in an audit: An outside agency takes a look at things, identifies lots of good practices and notes some things that could use
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-55/) - Books about the environment, stories about animals.. Sometimes they are fiction, sometimes they can be nonfiction. And sometimes… you’re just not sure. Here are some fascinating and some funny picturebooks about nature that will be fun to share in the classroom. Who Am I?, written by Gervase Phinn and illustrated by Tony Ross, is a
- [Taking Pride in Change](https://blog.tieonline.com/taking-pride-in-change/) - Be the Change… The world of international education is diverse, bringing together colleagues from various cultural, ethnic, and professional backgrounds. This diversity while enriching can also present unique challenges, especially when it comes to implementing change. As a women leader of color I have always been reminded of Mahatma Gandhi's mantra: "Be the change you
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-54/) - Nonfiction, but also some fictional, books are a great resource for those of us who are curious and want to learn more. Why do some cultures have certain traditions? How can you find a job you love? What makes people tick? And even… what if dinosaurs really existed? These books can provide answers to many
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-53/) - Wildlife in the city… From trees turning colour, to growing gardens and zoos, there is much of nature to be found in cities. These books celebrate the magic of growing your own vegetables, watching nature in an urban environment and, as a bonus, the magic of reading! Bunny Loves Beans by Jane Whittingham is a
- [Mentor is a Gift Word](https://blog.tieonline.com/mentor-is-a-gift-word/) - So late last week I was given the gift of reconnecting with one of the most important mentors that I have had in my life, and as much as it was just a brief encounter, it left me smiling from ear to ear. It reminded me of a great conversation that I had as a
- [A mighty fine language learner](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-might-fine-language-learner/) - Eric working with clay with Rwandan students. He claimed his bowl was one big mistake. His interactions with the students was anything but. A year ago I did not know the name of the language in Rwanda, nor in fact whether there were multiple languages spoken there, nor anything about language policy, schools, teacher training,
- [Cultural celebrations](https://blog.tieonline.com/cultural-celebrations/) - In a competence-based educational programme, one of the most fundamentally important constructs to develop is intercultural competence. This means being able to appreciate other cultures, having enough background knowledge about other people’s cultures to know who’s in the room and having the interest, respect and humility to want to learn more about different cultures and,
- [Peeling Back the Layers of Teacher Appreciation](https://blog.tieonline.com/peeling-back-the-layers-of-teacher-appreciation/) - Are educators really appreciated? Tomorrow, May 10, marks the end of Teacher Appreciation Week. In the early years, appreciation can be quite pervasive, little ones sharing handwritten notes with big hearts and occasionally there is the parent who shares a thank you note. Oftentimes for just a day, or sometimes for a week, schools recognize
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-52/) - GRANDPARENTS - they are full of stories, experiences and wisdom. What can grandparents share with their grandchildren and how can we learn from their stories? These (picture) books all share the love and memories children have of their elders and the stories they can tell. The past leads to the future... Sometimes you come across
- [Approaching the “Finish Line”: Lessons from Reflectors, Savings, and Hawaii](https://blog.tieonline.com/approaching-the-finish-line-lessons-from-reflectors-savings-and-hawaii/) - What might I share that will be worth your time to read? For many teachers (and students!) energies and attention right now are being funneled into the finish of yet another academic year. Though there is so much still to be wrapped up, the end will likely come quickly. In an effort to finish the year strong, let us look more
- [Recalibration of Truth](https://blog.tieonline.com/recalibration-of-truth/) - In our rapidly changing digital age, the idea of truth is undergoing a significant change. In the past, truth was often taken from shared experiences and clear agreements. Today, truth often is manipulated by social media, algorithmic biases, polarization, organizations, companies, and in more instances governments, fueling the algorithms that influence what we see, hear,
- [Moving away from the industrial paradigm of performance review](https://blog.tieonline.com/moving-away-from-the-industrial-paradigm-of-performance-review/) - Performance reviews are thoroughly embedded in the psychology of industrialisation. Some of the earliest traced instances of the idea of annual performance evaluation go back to the 19th Century textile industry (which was driven by the slave trade): managers were judged against the productivity of their annual output, the rewards would be compensatory and consequences
- [A MATH TEACHER EXPERIMENTS WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-math-teacher-experiments-with-artificial-intelligence/) - The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in teaching and learning has the potential to simplify complex concepts in mathematics. AI also has the potential to enhance the teaching and learning of mathematics. In my experience as the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme (DP), Higher Level (HL) Mathematics teacher I have spent hours breaking down abstract
- [Visiting schools in Rwanda](https://blog.tieonline.com/visiting-schools-in-rwanda/) - A painting on the wall of a school in Nyamata. Three different schools in three days, in three different provinces of Rwanda. I observed nine or ten classes, with a small group of visitors. Lots of school uniforms, the boys in shorts, the girls in skirts. I suppose that’s because we were only in elementary
- [Fit for Purpose](https://blog.tieonline.com/fit-for-purpose/) - It’s a big room, the opening session of the ECIS conference near Windsor, England. Hilary Cremin, from the University of Cambridge, takes the stage after the other welcomes, awards, and thank yous have been taken care of. She is going to talk about education and peace. She recently became a grandmother. She starts with the
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-51/) - Sometimes a story can be more powerful than therapy. Picturebooks can help readers of all ages to realize they are not the only ones struggling with a problem or dealing with a difficult issue. Meeting a book character can shed new light on how to solve a problem. These books all are good examples of
- [Taking The Time To Celebrate](https://blog.tieonline.com/taking-the-time-to-celebrate/) - So this week I want to talk about the importance of giving thanks, sharing gratitude, and taking the time to slow down once in a while in our pursuit of progress to simply embrace and celebrate where we are as a school, and to recognize what we have accomplished as a collective community. We work
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-50/) - Books are much like moccasins - they allow you to walk a mile in someone else’s footsteps; to experience life from someone else’s viewpoint. Books share stories from other cultures and countries. Here are some beautiful new titles to enrich any (classroom) library. Waci! Dance! is an indigenous celebration of dance and life. Written by
- [The difficulty of reintegrating into the world as you once knew it after an international education](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-difficulty-of-reintegrating-into-the-world-as-you-once-knew-it-after-an-international-education/) - I have often heard this argument: graduates of international schools struggle to adapt to non-international environments, including their own. After years in a type of international bubble, the transition to a local reality can be difficult. The thought that stands out to me is the whole idea of adaptation to life after school. In fact
- [Rose-colored glasses - and beige and magenta ...](https://blog.tieonline.com/rose-colored-glasses-and-beige-and-magenta/) - I have been posting a series of classroom observations in a style I haven't seen - a stream of consciousness reflection of what I think as I watch class unfold. Let me know if you've run across this type of observation before. Waiting for students to arrive at class. The teacher plays an orchestral version
- [Mr. Slope Guy](https://blog.tieonline.com/mr-slope-guy/) - Classrooms are different now. I mean, similar, too. Desks, a display at the front, the teachers explaining, the students taking notes. But the teacher in this math classroom stands in the back, writing on his iPad, the results visible at the front of the room on a screen, and the students are mostly taking notes
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-49/) - Walking… it might be as beneficial as reading! So here are some wonderful reads about walking: walking people, walking animals, even walking trees. They include brand-new as well as long-loved titles. There are other wonderful books about the importance of walking, some of which I reviewed for this TIE column before, including A Long Walk
- [Finding Success](https://blog.tieonline.com/finding-success/) - So recently I have been incredibly inspired by our students, across all of our divisions, and it has left me smiling from ear to ear. You see, over the past few weeks I have watched our students compete on the soccer field, in the pool, on the volleyball and badminton courts, on stage in the
- [De structura renum](https://blog.tieonline.com/de-structura-renum/) - Adam Bradford, IB Biology Two students come into biology class. No, that sounds like the start of a joke. I’ll start over. I’m sitting in the back of the biology class, next to a sink and a counter with some stains from a previous experiment. One of the two students who arrived early sees that
- [What does an instructional coach do?](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-does-an-instructional-coach-do/) - Source: https://alplearn.com/story/six-reasons-why-you-need-an-instructional-coach/ A colleague of mine was hired by an international school in Spain to be an instructional coach. Sounds interesting, I told her. I realized I was probably making up in my own head, however, what the term instructional coach actually meant. So I asked if we could do a short interview. I am
- [AI-written or human-authored?](https://blog.tieonline.com/ai-written-or-human-authored/) - As the Editor of TIE, I have recently been reading a lot of submissions that were written, and/or co-authored by AI. I am extremely thankful to those authors who cite the AI-created work and make it easier for the readers including me to understand the narrative and the context. I find it challenging to determine
- [In the Rhythm of Nature: Embracing Patience in Everyday Life](https://blog.tieonline.com/in-the-rhythm-of-nature-embracing-patience-in-everyday-life/) - “Place-based education? We have it all,” a colleague recently quipped. Though I agree, I am not so declarative. Instead, I seemingly find myself routinely in quiet appreciative contemplation of the place I live. Fittingly, this past week a friend shared an invitation to attend a storytelling event titled, “Where I Live.” Several eloquent stories were
- [PD for Online Pedagogy](https://blog.tieonline.com/pd-for-online-pedagogy/) - From https://www.21kschool.com/in/blog/12-advantages-of-learning-online/ We’re in the last conference session of the day. As usual, some participants have left early, or perhaps are getting an early start on the apero. Let’s call it networking. Catriona, from King’s InterHigh, introduces herself and the topic. I’ve chosen this session because I teach in a completely online university program. How
- [Linguistic diversity at the heart of everything you do](https://blog.tieonline.com/linguistic-diversity-at-the-heart-of-everything-you-do/) - I met this language teacher a few years back. Duo has no problem using one's native language - or a language one is learning - as a springboard to another new language. I tuck myself into a seat near the window. SGIS Conference, Lausanne, Switzerland. The fresh Swiss air blows in. One of my favorite
- [The Science of Motivation with Peps Mccrea](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-science-of-motivation-with-peps-mccrea/) - I'm at the annual conference of the Swiss Group of International Schools today. This is from the opening session. “No, you can’t take coffee into the auditorium. Yes, enter there on your left. They’ve already started.” And so they have. We have to side step to seats in the middle, toward the back. A speaker
- [Language is a puzzle](https://blog.tieonline.com/language-is-a-puzzle/) - The last class on a sunny Friday afternoon. I remember the feeling, back in high school. A buzz in the air, maybe a date that night, sometimes a football game, plans with friends. After class I would leave the building slow, walk home slow, feel like I had conquered something, I guess. Made it through
- [Beauty and Kindness](https://blog.tieonline.com/beauty-and-kindness/) - So I just got back last weekend from an inspiring education conference in India, which was fantastic by the way, and that ran the total number of countries that I have visited over the past year or so to an even dozen. I have interacted with hundreds of people from all walks of life over
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-48/) - If you manage to put the right book into the hands of a young reader, fiction can get them hooked on reading. Below are some wonderful new novels that really draw the reader into a new world. Whether it is fantasy or realistic fiction, these books will be valuable additions to any (classroom) library. Out
- [Save the Cat!](https://blog.tieonline.com/save-the-cat/) - A visitor in a high school English class, an author. He’s working on his nineteenth book. He gives a little autobiographical info, begins talking about how stories are constructed. The students are cautiously interested. They stay cool. They are teenagers. On the screen there’s a projection of the 3-act story structure. After the first fourth
- [The juggernaut of the email part 1: incessance](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-juggernaut-of-the-e-mail-part-1-incessance/) - Email was invented in the early 1970s as a means of accelerating communications through electronics. It only started to really hit the mainstream more than 20 years later. Of all the major technological developments in the last 50 years, email is without a doubt among those that have reshaped the nature of communications and work
- [The juggernaut of the email part 2: weaponisation](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-juggernaut-of-the-email-part-2-weaponisation/) - We live in the age of communication, the knowledge economy we are told. Whereas the pre- email individual was buried behind closed doors, letters that had to be sent and layers of complex sociological networks that had to be penetrated to reach other people, today, anyone can get behind a keyboard and, either through email
- [A lesson on electrophilic addition reactions](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-lesson-on-electrophilic-addition-reactions/) - In the TV series The Big Bang Theory, an atomic model of the helical structure of DNA, a structure of hundreds of plastic balls, stands in the background of the main set for several seasons until it finally, predictably, falls apart in a cascade of colorful balls that pour across the hardwood floor. The models
- [Reimagining Your Story @ Digital Learning: Three Questions](https://blog.tieonline.com/reimagining-your-story-digital-learning-three-questions/) - You stand at the water's edge, looking out at the vast ocean of possibilities that technology holds for your school community in 2023/2024. The first of the big Chat GPT waves from last year have receded, leaving behind a relative sense of calm — a moment of introspection. You look toward the horizon and see
- [Spectroscopes and What We See](https://blog.tieonline.com/spectroscopes-and-what-we-see/) - I’ve arrived to the physics class late. I was talking with a biology teacher who offered me a cup of tea, one of those nice moments in a hectic school day. The students are standing, looking through a prism or something to do with spectra, I missed the introduction. Whatever they are doing, it involves
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-47/) - In this column I feature books that I recommend. Books specifically suited to use as read-alouds or to support the curriculum. These books often reflect a global lifestyle. But books also need to be plain funny and entertaining, demonstrating the power of imagination and encouraging children to become readers. Today's books are great examples of
- [We all went through it](https://blog.tieonline.com/we-all-went-through-it/) - I recently responded to a couple of my online students - early career teachers - about classroom management. Instead of focusing on tips, I thought I'd focus on the relative confusion I felt in those first years. Dear Teacher, I once taught German to native English speakers at a private school. The students were grades
- [Triumphs and Trials: A Teacher-Mother's Journey with an International School Student](https://blog.tieonline.com/triumphs-and-trials-a-teacher-mothers-journey-with-an-international-school-student/) - The moment was heart-stopping: my son, the captain of his school's varsity football team, leaped to save a critical goal in the tournament final, only to land with a head injury. The impact was severe, a head injury just four days before his final International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma exams. As a mother and his teacher
- [Good to GREAT](https://blog.tieonline.com/7324-2/) - Picture this: When it comes to learning, what makes a student ‘good’ at it? Now….What makes them ‘great’? From another lens, when you think about what makes a student well and how they cope, what makes a student ‘okay’? Now....What makes them ‘well-balanced’? I pose these questions to get us thinking about the difference between
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-46/) - From elephants to sea turtles, from caterpillars to owls, here are some fabulous (new) books for children - and nature lovers of all ages - to learn more about the natural environment. I have included fictional and nonfiction texts, both picturebooks and novels. The Smallest Owlet, written and illustrated by Georgia Graham, is my new favourite nonfiction
- [An education for human flourishing](https://blog.tieonline.com/beyond-human-capital-theory-and-signalling/) - Anyone who studies the sociology of education knows that for hundreds of years it has been considered part of an economic vision of human behaviour. Consider the language used to describe assessment: “value added”, “rates”, “distinction”, “grade averages”, “results”, “promotion” and so on. This is because the structure of assessment, largely derived from 19th century
- [Go!](https://blog.tieonline.com/go/) - Go! I read a social media post that implored us not to give up on direct instruction, that it, too, is useful. I agree. And I saw a science teacher last week masterfully weave direct instruction and quick moments of student group work together. My reservation, though, is that we depend on direct instruction, in
- [I Love Your Smile](https://blog.tieonline.com/i-love-your-smile/) - So a good friend of mine, and an outstanding teacher leader at our school, Nick Haywood, started our 2nd semester full faculty meeting a couple of weeks ago with a reminder about the power and importance of “connection before content” in our daily interactions with kids. It was a beautiful message and It resonated deeply
- [I'm treated like I'm an adult](https://blog.tieonline.com/im-treated-like-im-an-adult/) - Image by upklyak on Freepik In an email exchange with a friend, I ask about his kids, his new job, the usual catching up. His response appears in my inbox. I begin reading and catch my breath on one short paragraph. It’s about his new job, the first time in decades he isn’t in a
- [What to Read in 2024!](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-to-read-in-2024/) - So it’s that time of the year again when I get to order books for my birthday, which is my favorite gift ever because it keeps on giving for months and months and months. The deal is that I have to finish reading all of last year’s books before I get to order new ones,
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-45/) - Books can help children understand the world around them. Nonfiction information or fictional stories can help a reader make sense of his own or others’ situations. Books can be tools to deal with life. These new titles are good examples of stories as tools. All Our Love by Kari-Lynn Winters is a beautiful picturebook about
- [Student Voices: Talking Education in the Swiss Alps](https://blog.tieonline.com/student-voices-talking-education-in-the-swiss-alps/) - A sleepy morning starts another day of school in the Swiss Alps. Nine students in their final semester of high school, the teacher, a visitor to the school, and me, seated around tables that make a rectangle in the room. The teacher invited us, the visitor and me, because he knows we’re interested in how
- [Visual Arts and Education: understanding history and context](https://blog.tieonline.com/visual-arts-and-education-understanding-history-and-context/) - A recent trip to Venice was an immersive experience in some of the works of the great Italian Renaissance artists, notably Tintoretto and Bellini, whose extraordinary paintings adorn several churches throughout the city. Seeing their works in churches is an authentic experience that links one to the historical continuity of the initial inception of the
- [Simulating to get real](https://blog.tieonline.com/simulating-to-get-real/) - Ceci n’est pas une pipe. I’ve been working with a teacher for two or maybe even three years now. He invites me to his class when he is running simulations. We’ve done some joint planning, some joint debriefing. This school year he is getting financial support from the school to further his work. He has
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-44/) - A new year! Time for new books! And maybe some wonderful older ones... Wishing you a good year and hope every teacher's resolution is to read more books in the classroom! Miss Malarkey Leaves No Reader Behind, Judy Finchler and Kevin O’Malley. This picture book is the story of a kid who does not like
- [2024 Resolutions](https://blog.tieonline.com/2024-resolutions/) - For those who follow the Gregorian calendar, we move to 2024. The New Year brings with it a chance for each of us to commit to personal and professional resolutions. What are yours? For me, there are three (I tend to relate to the power of three as a trinity of purpose, cadenced by a
- [An End to Gatekeeping as We Soar into 2024](https://blog.tieonline.com/an-end-to-gatekeeping-as-we-soar-into-2024/) - My final article of last year was a contemplation of the need for a radical shift in education, advocating for a departure from traditional structures. One focused on responsibility and an optimistic mindset. Without focused intention, I seemingly then followed up by writing about the underpinning importance of spirit and the value of authenticity. At
- [History through Cinema](https://blog.tieonline.com/history-through-cinema/) - Most history teachers would rightly wince at the idea of learning history through films. Similarly, few good literature teachers will ever accept a film as a proxy for a novel or play. The condensation, vulgarisation, artistic licence all oversimplify the facts and frequently misguide audiences into understandings of history that are wholly inaccurate and sometimes
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-43/) - Wishing you happy Holidays. I hope that, if you receive gifts this time of year, it will be lots of wonderful books. Here are some global stories about hope, love and peace that we can use around the world. A Kwanzaa Miracle by Sharon Shayers Gayle with art by Frank Norfleet is a heartwarming story
- [Perception](https://blog.tieonline.com/perception/) - Holland Hall, St. Olaf College, where I tried to be a philosopher. Long hair and going barefoot to class weren't enough. But I loved this building. Who wouldn't? I haven’t been in a philosophy course since my undergraduate university, where I did the minimum to get the degree. It feels a little funny to admit
- ["Urgent" COP28 and Education: Between Illusion and Imperative](https://blog.tieonline.com/urgent-cop28-and-education-between-illusion-and-imperative/) - Just yesterday I was asked by a student’s parent, “If you could wave a magic wand at anything in education, what would it be?” Being in a continual state of reflection of all-things-education, I did not hesitate to answer on a more global scale. What tops the “in need of a magic wand” list for
- [Tracking and Monitoring: Reflections on an Interview with Devorah Heitner](https://blog.tieonline.com/tracking-and-monitoring-reflections-on-an-interview-with-devorah-heitner/) - The EdSurge podcast is one of my favorites. In the episode Can Kids Grow Up If They're Constantly Tracked and Monitored? host Jeff Young talks with Devorah Heitner about the degree to which we track and monitor kids. My biggest takeaway? The way we track and monitor matters … a lot. Like the Hippocratic Oath
- [Students, you give us hope](https://blog.tieonline.com/students-you-give-us-hope/) - Another classroom observation, allowing myself to observe while I reflect, personally, about teaching and learning. This is my second full day as a visitor here. I’m greeted by a student as we reach the school’s main entrance together, then I have a chuckle with two faculty members who are trying to squeeze through the security
- [The Hats We Wear](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-hats-we-wear/) - So we just recently returned from our annual Week Without Walls trips as a Middle School division, and as always it was an incredible learning experience for our students. We saw them struggle, grow, change, and thrive as they were constantly pushed just a little bit out of their comfort zones, and I know that
- [Lead by the rules ... but kindly](https://blog.tieonline.com/play-by-the-rules-but-kindly/) - Rules and regulations are essential guardrails to prevent abuse and malpractice. Rules guarantee consistency, fairness and objectivity. But is it through the rules alone that we will create a humane culture? Morally corrupt rules There are two problems to consider: first, what if the rules are morally wrong? What was disturbing about the Eichmann trial in Israel,
- [Students on Stage](https://blog.tieonline.com/students-on-stage/) - Image from https://assignmentpoint.com/invite-student-or-participants-on-stage-for-speech/. We’re in the school auditorium. Before class starts a few boys come in to get a table. They leave with it. Then their teacher comes in to ask the drama teacher if he could have his real table back, not the table the boys found, but the table in the center of
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-42/) - Everyone has different abilities. Some people speak many languages, some can make sushi while others can create paintings. And some people need devices to help them along - devices like a wheelchair or a hearing aid. Here are some picture books that will be wonderful additions to any school or classroom library, allowing discussion on
- [The Platonic Academy is Alive and Well](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-platonic-academy-is-alive-and-well/) - I love when seemingly separate strands wind together like Wittgenstein's rope. Here are reflections while observing the first of several classes at Akademeia High School in Warsaw. I'm posting this while two visiting scholars from Akademeia are at my school, in their first class observation here. AND a third visiting scholar, here with her family,
- [Psychological Safety and Education](https://blog.tieonline.com/psychological-safety-and-education/) - In the 1950s, the educational psychologist Carl Rogers coined the term psychological safety. By this, he meant an environment in which people can explore their creative potential, take risks, not be afraid of failure, express themselves freely and essentially feel secure in that safe space that allows them to be themselves. The concept might go
- [The neurocircuitry of prejudice](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-neurocircuitry-of-prejudice/) - I wrote my EdD some years ago on prejudice and the different ways that we might consider mitigating it through pedagogic strategies. It was a fascinating journey into the labyrinth of social psychology and neuroscience (here’s the publication if you'd like to go deeper). As my research deepened, it became clear to me that prejudice
- [Observations in a math class](https://blog.tieonline.com/y-ax2-bx-c/) - After the midpoint break in the first block of classes, I join a grade 12 math class. They are looking at inequalities. The graphs look familiar, they bring back to me the smell of the dusty math classroom at Cooper High School, they make me think of my friend who never brought his math text
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-41/) - Are you already getting into Christmas or year end activities? In previous years I have recommended books to celebrate Hannukah, Kwanzaa and others. Here are some good titles to share in the classroom (or use as gifts) during December. An Aboriginal Carol by David Bouchard. With Christmas just around the corner, this aboriginal Christmas tale
- [The making and teaching of history](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-making-and-teaching-of-history/) - Blogging while observing class - here is another post in the series. The photo is a doorway in Stare Miasto, the old town in Warsaw. Not much remained from 1666 when this house was rebuilt in 1953. The students are on break, one student mentions the long wait at the border over the weekend, coming
- [The Intersection of Nepotism, AI, and Human Intelligence: No Shortcuts](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-intersection-of-nepotism-ai-and-human-intelligence-no-shortcuts/) - Face it, we live in a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA). Even here in Hawaii, a place where much of the world thinks of as paradise. There is an increasing necessity to not only look at the facts but to apply our HI. No, not HI as in the abbreviated form of
- [Next Level](https://blog.tieonline.com/next-level/) - Supporting Neuro-diverse Learners through Engagement Use of positive psychology in teaching practices can take you to that next level of supporting all learners. Cooperative learning, often linked to Positive Psychology and building collaborative skills within the classroom is a tool that supports all learners, especially students coined as “neuro-diverse". Cooperative learning supports student engagement, avoiding
- [Bonjour !](https://blog.tieonline.com/bonjour/) - Je suis toujours un peu nerveux, quand j’observe un cours de français. C’est normal que le prof me demande quelque chose pendant l’heure et je sais que mon niveau de la langue n’est pas très bon pour les quinze ans que j’habite en Suisse romande. Mais voilà, c’est comme ça. “On commence,” says the teacher,
- [All The Facts](https://blog.tieonline.com/all-the-facts/) - So recently, after attending the regional EARCOS Leadership Conference, I felt compelled to re-read one of my all time favorite books, and to be honest, I came away feeling even more inspired than I did the first time around. The book is titled, Factfulness, by Hans Rosling, and even though it was released in the
- [The child has precedence in this relationship](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-child-has-precedence-in-this-relationship/) - Thoughts while observing a Year 13 English class. Very little preamble here! The teacher, his beard and ruffled hair absolutely fitting for a professor of English literature, as fitting as his soft English accent, jumps right in. Wordsworth. A student reads the three lines that form the epigraph to an ode: The Child is Father
- [Trabeation, Fenestration, and Useful Changes to our Minds](https://blog.tieonline.com/trabeation-fenestration-and-useful-changes-to-our-minds/) - This fall I spent a wonderful week at Akademeia High School in Warsaw, Poland. I met new friends and colleagues ... and discovered a new way to observe classes. Maybe you'd like to try it, too. I set myself the challenge of writing a blog during one half of the class. 40 minutes from start
- [The Springbok Rugby Team: Three Educational Lessons](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-springbok-rugby-team-three-educational-lessons/) - “Rugby is a hooligans sport played by gentleman” the saying goes (as opposed to football, which is the opposite). Hyperbole aside, there is something remarkable about the camaraderie one finds between rugby fans: there are never crowd incidents and a deontological code of respect transcends not only the discipline players have in accepting the referees’
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-40/) - Usually, in this space, I post recommendations for a variety of good books - books that will appeal to kids, parents and educators at international schools, with wide global appeal. This time, I would like to share just one book - a very special, impressive book which will be meaningful to many booklovers. Years ago,
- [MASTERING FIRE WITH WATER: A Lesson in Creating Educational Sparks](https://blog.tieonline.com/mastering-fire-with-water-a-lesson-in-creating-educational-sparks/) - Many outdoorsy types, including boy and girl scouts, dream of successfully mastering the age-old art of igniting fire with nothing more than a magnifying glass. What if I told you I started a fire with water? Nurturing Trust and Agency: The Cornerstones of Inclusive Education As educators, we invest copious amounts of time into planning
- [How might international schools position themselves in times of armed conflict?](https://blog.tieonline.com/how-do-we-position-ourselves-as-international-schools-in-times-of-armed-conflict/) - For those of us who have the privilege to live away from the shadow of terrible human suffering that we see in the world, what position should we take when it comes to armed conflicts? This is not a simple question, and one that many would probably rather avoid altogether, but we cannot because the
- [How to Rekindle the Runner's Spirit: From Last Place to a Fresh Start](https://blog.tieonline.com/how-to-rekindle-the-runners-spirit-from-last-place-to-a-fresh-start/) - Life’s rhythm these past few months has resembled more staccato than flow. However, after more than three decades, I find myself on the familiar yet uncharted path of rediscovering my love for running. In turn, I notice an improved sense of joy, creativity, and legato-like feel to life. Smooth and steady. This fits with education
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-39/) - Picturebooks are the perfect tool to learn and talk about different cultures, about emotions that you and others might feel, and to share experiences. Using picturebooks in the classroom can help create compassion and respect for different cultures. Here are some brand new releases that will add value to reading in the global classroom. Zander
- [The Blink Of An Eye](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-blink-of-an-eye/) - So over the past couple of weeks I have been thinking a lot about how quickly life speeds along, almost invisibly at times, and how important it is to be purposeful about finding ways to slow down and live in the present. I’m usually pretty good at that honestly, but recently I’ve had a couple
- [Artificial Intelligence for Educators: Essential Podcasts](https://blog.tieonline.com/artificial-intelligence-for-educators-essential-podcasts/) - Understanding and navigating the complex layers of the rapid changes AI introduces can be overwhelming. These accelerated changes, brought on by AI, impact numerous aspects of our lives: from our professional and social spheres to culture, politics, technology, and ethics. For educators, staying updated and engaged with this topic, amid our many other responsibilities and
- [An education for human rights: working from the ground up ](https://blog.tieonline.com/an-education-for-human-rights-working-from-the-ground-up/) - Tracing back the origins of some sort of declaration of human rights is not that simple. Some situate it at least 2600 years ago in the Akkadian Cyrus Cylinder, declaring racial equality, others the Edicts of Ashoka in the 2500 BCE Maurya Empire, which sets out a deontological code. The late 1700s French Déclaration des
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-38/) - Usually I post new book recommendations here every two weeks. This time, I'm traveling and unable to share reviews of new books. So I'd like to share a list of my favourite books about many countries around the world. This list includes books for young people, and anyone else. Most are paired with travels to
- [Lead With Love](https://blog.tieonline.com/lead-with-love/) - So last summer I was having dinner with a great friend of mine, John Stephens, who also just happens to be one of the best educators that I know, and we got speaking about (for fun and from our own unique perspectives) what the top priorities should be for teachers as they look to inspire
- [From Yesterday to Tomorrow: Embracing Education's Changing Landscape](https://blog.tieonline.com/from-yesterday-to-tomorrow-embracing-educations-changing-landscape/) - The emergence of innovative teaching methodologies continues to reshape the way we prepare the leaders of tomorrow. Though numerous events and ways of learning are unfolding, a sound seemingly rings out. One that is ubiquitous, a symphonic and synchronous echo full of hope, reminding me of the value of holding fast to what it might
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-37/) - Special places, special times, special people... Books can show you these and help you to understand things better than anything else. These wonderful books do just that. Use them for quiet reading or for classroom discussions. The Little Green Envelope, written by Gillian Sze and illustrated by Claudine Crangle, is a wonderful story about a
- [What I Know to be True](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-i-know-to-be-true/) - So at the end of last school year I helped to facilitate a leadership team activity that asked each of us in the room to think about one simple thing that we, as career educators, know to be true about ALL kids. We spent a few minutes organizing our thoughts and then we went around
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-36/) - Do you live in a city? Have you ever moved to a different city? Books can shed light on the places we live but also on the reasons why we live there and how our surroundings influence our lives. The following books can serve as starting point for classroom discussions as well as inspiration in
- [Inconvenient Truth - Uncomfortable Reality](https://blog.tieonline.com/inconvenient-truth-uncomfortable-reality/) - As we come back to another school year, I’m sure that more than a few international schools have strengthened their commitment to teaching about the climate crisis. For those schools that have not, please consider doing so. We are in the midst of an existential crisis, there is no getting around that. The last thing
- [Life as the Change Process](https://blog.tieonline.com/life-as-the-change-process/) - So a couple of weeks ago I moved to Vietnam to start a new adventure at an incredible school, Saigon South International School, and so far it’s been a dream. We love the people, the food, the school’s mission and vision and we’ve already begun to settle in. We are definitely in the honeymoon stage, where
- [The problem of not reading](https://blog.tieonline.com/lack-of-reading-leads-to-distorted-claims/) - Critical thinking is widely considered to be a core educational goal and is rightly appreciated for its central educational importance. There are different ways of viewing criticality, from a narrow reckoning of it as logical, syllogistic thinking to a more inclusive appreciation of academic and intellectual honesty, deep listening and reflection rather than immediate hard-nosed
- [Adventures in Ungrading - an Overthrowing Education Podcast](https://blog.tieonline.com/adventures-in-ungrading-an-overthrowing-education-podcast/) - On May 30, 2023, Batsheva Frankel, the host of the Overthrowing Education podcast, reached a milestone by uploading her 100th episode. I’m a little late, but I’d like to honor Batsheva and all those involved with the podcast with a short blog. The episode highlights the efforts of Canadian teacher Stacie Oliver and some of
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-35/) - Memories - stories are often made of memories. Memories can enhance childhood and help form important family bonds. Here are some new books for children all focused on memories. Malaika, Carnival Queen by Nadia L. Hohn, illustrated by Irene Luxbacher, is a lovely story of a dream and shards of memory. Told in the lilting
- [Forward Reflections: The Essence of Belonging in the Journey Ahead](https://blog.tieonline.com/forward-reflections-the-essence-of-belonging-in-the-journey-ahead/) - Sometimes I am guilty of stating the obvious. To steer clear of this, I instead wish to provoke the reader with a few questions. As summer comes to an end and a new academic year looms on the horizon, how might summer’s final quiet moments of deep reflection result in action? Further, are you taking
- [“Your job is to facilitate peer learning” - Reflections on an interview with Justin Reich](https://blog.tieonline.com/your-job-is-to-facilitate-peer-learning-reflections-on-an-interview-with-justin-reich/) - For the past decade, my colleagues and I at Leysin American School have focused on supporting teacher agency. In the early years, our motto was “Continually becoming the professionals we already are.” We’ve supported teacher agency with the belief that innovation and substantive change in the way we do school will come directly from educators
- [Confidence](https://blog.tieonline.com/confidence/) - My daughter once told me about a teacher who gave her back an assignment with a grade that she was not happy with. The teacher could see the dissatisfaction in her eyes and went to the trouble to keep her back after class. The teacher looked my daughter in the eyes and told her that
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-34/) - A stormy sea can lead to many different adventures, real, fictional or figurative. The following nautical novels, and a picturebook, have a shared focus, yet the authors present us with vastly different tales of the sea, adventure and exploration in different eras. Stowaway by Karen Hesse Newbery award winning author Karen Hesse (Out of the
- [Prompting Strategies for Educators Using ChatGPT and LLMs](https://blog.tieonline.com/prompting-strategies-for-educators-using-chatgpt-and-llms/) - As more educators and students begin to use Large Language Models (LLMs) such as, ChatGPT, Bard, Claude, and others, one of the key challenges is understanding how to use prompts effectively to refine and build upon responses. A prompt refers to a question, statement, query, or task that is entered into the text box of
- [SUMMER READING](https://blog.tieonline.com/summer-reading/) - Are you an educator looking for a good summer read? Throughout the school year I post recommendations for children’s books that I love and that will fit the curriculum or get kids excited about reading. But with summer upon us, it’s time to share some of my very favourite reads for grown-ups! (although these books
- [Simplicity Revived: Embracing the Power of Action for Transformative Results](https://blog.tieonline.com/simplicity-revived-embracing-the-power-of-action-for-transformative-results/) - Separated by more than five thousand miles and living a thousand years apart, Confucius and Shakespeare envisioned living and learning with uncanny similarity. Each attested to the importance of doing. “Speak less than thou knowest, lend less than thou owest, ride more than thou goest, learn more than thou trowest, set less than thou throwest.”
- [Terms Definitions: Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing Models](https://blog.tieonline.com/terms-definitions-artificial-intelligence-and-natural-language-processing-models/) - In recent years, there has been a remarkable surge of attention and resources focused on artificial intelligence (AI). This topic has been further amplified by the sudden appearance of ChatGPT and the development of Large Language Models (LLMs) models. While these changes hold immense promise, the constantly evolving terminology, acronyms, nouns, and labels associated with
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-33/) - Books in all shapes and sizes allows the reader a close look at animals in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes these books don’t need to be nonfiction. Fictional animal stories are as old as the ages. Animal stories can help people to take a closer look at our own thoughts and feelings. I’ll Be A
- [Curriculum relevance](https://blog.tieonline.com/curriculum-relevance/) - One of the major challenges facing society today is the irrelevance of the educational model that is being used in classrooms across the world. At a recent conference on curriculum relevance, hosted by the International School of Geneva, Yao Ydo, the Director of UNESCO's International Bureau of Education, spoke of an encounter he had with
- [The Soundtrack of Our Lives](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-soundtrack-of-our-lives/) - So this week, for my final post of the school year, I want to talk about one of my favorite things about school...maybe my most, most favorite thing of all the things that I love about coming to work each and every day. I’ve written about this before, but this past week the following sentiment
- [Air Pollution: What Should Schools Be Doing? ](https://blog.tieonline.com/air-pollution-what-should-schools-be-doing/) - Follow Me on Twitter @emilymeadowsorg or Linkedin @emilymeadows.org When I lived in the Middle East, we had ‘rain days’, when it poured enough to render the roads unsafe for students to venture out, and school was cancelled. In Colorado, we had snow days. In Hong Kong, we’ve got typhoon days. We also have days when
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-32/) - Newly released alphabet books and a novel to curl up with this summer - life is good with books. It’s been a long time since I saw a newly published alphabet book. Imaginary Alphabet by Sylvie Daigneault brings back memories of Wallace Edwards’ Alphabeasts. From a clumsy camel to velvety vampire bats and many in
- [BRAKING UPHILL IS NOT SENSICAL](https://blog.tieonline.com/braking-uphill-is-not-sensical/) - Kevin O’Leary of the hit TV show Shark Tank purports how compliance is the fastest-growing cost in American business. A close friend of mine recently was blindsided when his small business was threatened with a lawsuit. His website was not accessible to the blind. When he first told me this, I honestly wondered if I
- [The beauty of a good speech](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-beauty-of-a-good-speech/) - The other day I was lucky enough to attend the graduation ceremony at La Chataigneraie, one of the three campuses of the International School of Geneva. It was a special graduation: 50 years of the IB at the campus with a guest star appearance of the first IB Diploma coordinator, Anthony Peiris, who spoke touchingly
- [Teacher Passion Projects as Professional Development](https://blog.tieonline.com/teacher-passion-projects-as-professional-development/) - For the ninth year in a row, Leysin American School Educational Research (LASER) has accepted a number of teacher passion projects as professional learning. These projects are reimbursed with a stipend and, for those who present their work at a conference, travel expenses. The projects are essentially action research cycles as professional development. We value
- [Lesson Planning With Chat GPT Large Language models (LLMs)](https://blog.tieonline.com/lesson-planning-with-chat-gpt-large-language-models-llms/) - There is understandably a level of apprehension around the sudden arrival of AI and Large Language Models like ChatGPT, Bard, and Claude in the education space. The various narratives often highlight the issues of plagiarism, students using these models to answer exam questions, and conducting research with AI, completing lesson tasks with AI. These situations,
- [Leveraging Your Learning Community](https://blog.tieonline.com/leveraging-your-learning-community/) - So this past week we held our faculty and staff Festival of Learning, which is our annual culminating event showcasing and highlighting the work, learning, and passion that we have all given to our Professional Learning Communities initiative throughout the school year…and it was awesome! I was a part of an incredible group of educators
- [From Far Away…](https://blog.tieonline.com/from-far-away/) - Or perhaps from not so far away... These books showcase stories from a variety of cultures and countries that all show how similar we really are. Whether you need courage in Pakistan or a friend in Afghanistan, we all share similar feelings and needs. Through books, we can learn from each other. Malala Speaks Out
- [My Life as a Pracademic](https://blog.tieonline.com/my-life-as-a-pracademic/) - I’m not sure if English needs another portmanteau. After brunch and spork all others fall a bit short. But the term pracademic struck a chord with me when Ruth Kane, University of Ottawa, shared the dissertation of Trista Hollweck (now also a faculty member at the same university) that explores what it is to be
- [AI Deep Fakes Media Literacy](https://blog.tieonline.com/ai-deep-fakes-media-literacy/) - In today's digital landscape, we are constantly bombarded with an overwhelming amount of information and media through various channels, such as smartphones, laptops, and social media. While this has certainly transformed the way we consume news and information, it has also raised concerns about the authenticity of the content we encounter. The advent of deep
- [A Return to Authenticity](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-return-to-authenticity/) - I don’t remember anyone ever using the word “authentic” back in the 1990s. Now, we hear about being authentic in how we lead, traveling to experience the authentic, and even how to cook authentic pasta. The push towards greater automation and artificial intelligence possibly propels us further toward falsity and maybe has us yearning for
- [Professional Learning Showcase](https://blog.tieonline.com/professional-learning-showcase/) - For several years, teachers at Leysin American School (LAS) have formed their own professional learning groups on topics of interest to them. In the final weeks of the school year, the research department brings the faculty together so the groups can easily share their learning with each other. We start with a shout out for
- [The power of sports: two lessons](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-power-of-sports-two-lessons/) - A few years ago my son’s basketball team won the Swiss national championship. There was much celebration, social media posts, pride and joy. How much does victory teach us though? The next season was a different affair: the team got to the semi-finals and the match was a palpitating affair, hanging on a knife edge
- [Novels - about Life and Death](https://blog.tieonline.com/novels-about-life-and-death/) - Books - what better way to learn about life and death situations? Whether real or fictional, historic or futuristic, these books can help readers reflect on feelings, emotions and learn about life situations. Cleaning Up, Leanne Lieberman. This was a YA novel I really enjoyed. The writing is great and brought the characters and settings
- [Earth Day Books](https://blog.tieonline.com/earth-day-books/) - Earth Day was celebrated recently around the globe. What better way to celebrate than with books that create a lasting impression and support readers of all ages. For young students and budding gardeners, here’s a perfect picture book to celebrate the abundance of gardens. Garden Wonders, A Guidebook for Little Green Thumbs by Sarah Grindler
- [Sustainability and Education](https://blog.tieonline.com/sustainability-and-education/) - Planet earth has been in existence for 4.5 billion years. In the last seven to five million years of that period, human beings appeared and evolved to their homo sapiens form - essentially the way we look today- in the last 300 000 years. However, it has really only been in the last 60 years
- [Laugh Like the Whole World is Watching](https://blog.tieonline.com/laugh-like-the-whole-world-is-watching/) - Might May 11 mark a new path forward? For the past several years society has seemingly carried the Sisyphean rock, Covid. The date marks the official close of “Emergency Declarations” in the United States. In effect, this is the end of both the COVID-19 national emergency and the COVID-19 public health emergency. Emergency, emergency, emergency.
- [300 Posts - A Reflection](https://blog.tieonline.com/300-posts-a-reflection/) - So this week is my 300th blog post, which is a bit staggering for me to think about honestly. I broke that number down the other day and realized that this number represents an average of 25 posts a school year for the past 14 years straight. I am left feeling super grateful that I
- [Purpose of Education Index](https://blog.tieonline.com/purpose-of-education-index/) - Image source Well, to learn stuff, I always think to myself, when the conversation turns to the purpose of education. But fair enough, what stuff? One American think tank has some data, data it claims: “ … represents the first of its kind private opinion study of the American people’s priorities for the future of
- [Two approaches to research centers at the high school level](https://blog.tieonline.com/two-approaches-to-research-centers-at-the-high-school-level/) - Paul Magnuson with Timothy Scott Timothy Scott joins Paul to compare notes during a week spent discussing and dreaming about research centers embedded in schools. Meeting a colleague traveling a similar path is always a good opportunity for reflection. So it is with pleasure that I reflect together with Tim, Research Fellow at the Barker
- [Books Change Everything](https://blog.tieonline.com/books-change-everything/) - Books have changed the world. They can also change a person. Books allow you to live inside someone else's head and see the world from a different perspective. Books help us to recognize ourselves but also show us what could be. Here are several picturebooks that can help readers to expand their world. From The
- [Awestruck](https://blog.tieonline.com/awestruck/) - So I just finished reading a book that I have been dying to get my hands on, and honestly, it was better than I had hoped for. It connected so magically to our lives as educators, and to the opportunity that we have every single day to be astonished, mesmerized, and left in an authentic
- [Spring Into Books](https://blog.tieonline.com/spring-into-books/) - These books not only are appropriate to the season, they shine a light on different aspects of Spring. A Flower Is A Friend by Frieda Wishinsky, art by Karen Patkau is a lovely celebration of flowers. Flowers help many friends, like bees and butterflies. They dance in the wind and can shelter insects. The lyrical
- [Trans Athletes Are Not Stealing Anybody’s Athletic Trophies](https://blog.tieonline.com/trans-athletes-are-not-stealing-anybodys-athletic-trophies/) - www.emilymeadows.org @emilymeadows.org The conversation around transgender athletes has been roused again of late, given the Biden administration’s recent guidance on gender inclusion in schools. Those against inclusion usually push the angle that girls’ sports are at risk of being overrun by trans athletes who will snap up all of the titles, leaving cis girls with
- [Happiness and Education](https://blog.tieonline.com/happiness-and-education/) - Today is the International Day of Happiness, a celebration that was first ritualised by the United Nations 10 years ago. This evokes philosophical questions about what it means to be happy and to what extent education can create happiness. Different philosophers have had different approaches to what happiness is. For ancient philosophers such as Confucius
- [Mining For Gold](https://blog.tieonline.com/mining-for-gold/) - So over the past couple of weeks I have been dealing with, working through, and supporting people with some really difficult issues, both personally and professionally, and the heaviness of these recent issues inevitably started to send my mood into a downward spiral. Finally, late last week this downward mood change forced me to stop,
- [Balance and Rigor, Not a Paradox](https://blog.tieonline.com/balance-and-rigor-not-a-paradox/) - “Eighty-five percent of all performance problems are not people problems, they are process problems.” I heard this two decades ago from the most competent person I ever worked with. He spoke from experience but had borrowed this teaching from William Deming, one of the acclaimed Founding Fathers of Total Quality Management. It is fitting to
- [Stories and Information in Picturebooks](https://blog.tieonline.com/stories-and-information-in-picturebooks/) - I’m a firm believer in using picture books with readers of all ages. Picture books can seem simple and be aimed at young readers, but many stories are perfect for older learners as well. Picture books allow you to share interesting stories on many topics, they can be used to discuss the format of imparting
- [Translating theory into practice in schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/translating-theory-into-practice-in-schools/) - There are a number of imperatives in education that it would be difficult to argue against: any good school should be looking into them. Central ones would have to include: Assessment (the art of pedagogic feedback, scaffolding and strategies for effective learning) Student wellbeing (resilience, mindfulness, character education, health) Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (at
- [Women's Day or Not?](https://blog.tieonline.com/womens-day-or-not/) - Every 8th March is marked as international women’s day. We see a lot of enthusiasm in organizations across the world promising change, equity, respect, and breaking gender bias. What we really need to do is measure the impact of our actions, is there a change in the status quo of women? A few examples will
- [You Matter](https://blog.tieonline.com/you-matter/) - This is a short note to every teacher out there. You matter. More than 40 years ago a teacher let me take the floor for a bit when the curriculum took us back to the discovery of the early hominid, Lucy, near Addis Ababa. You see, that summer I had read Donald Johanson’s book about
- [There is a Downside To “Hearing All Voices”](https://blog.tieonline.com/there-is-a-downside-to-hearing-all-voices/) - www.emilymeadows.org Twitter & LinkedIn: @emilymeadowsorg In high school, I took a course called, simply, Debate. We were instructed to analyze an issue, formulate an argument, and convincingly convey a position. A feature of this course that stuck with me was that we were routinely assigned our positions on a given issue by the teacher, rather
- [Big L and little l Language](https://blog.tieonline.com/big-l-and-little-l-language/) - This week I attended Outstanding Schools Europe, a two-day conference in London. Lorna Caputo-Greenall led two dozen of us in a discussion about multilingual learners. I focus here on the concept of Language (big L) as a broader linguistic system made up of individual languages (e.g. Hawaiian, Vietnamese, Welsh … ). Lorna (Exploring Multilingualism) starts
- [Slack: Or Just a Bit Less Hand Holding](https://blog.tieonline.com/slack-or-just-a-bit-less-hand-holding/) - This week I’m attending Outstanding Schools Europe, a two-day conference in London. I’m part of a panel this afternoon. Just in case I’m not as coherent as I’d like to be in real time, here is my reflection in advance of the session. I’ve offered to share some thoughts on slack, a concept I’ve written
- [Totally Inclusive School Cultures](https://blog.tieonline.com/totally-inclusive-school-cultures/) - This week I’m attending Outstanding Schools Europe, a two-day conference in London. Keynoter Angeline Aow shared the carrot metaphor below in her morning keynote. Metaphors can be worth their weight in gold. For example this one. “Picture a carrot,” Angeline Aow says to us, and we all picture, I am fairly sure, the same thing.
- [Pause > Reset > Play](https://blog.tieonline.com/pause-reset-play/) - This week I’m attending Outstanding Schools Europe, a two-day conference in London. Ger Graus gave the opening keynote with the full title: Pause > Reset > Play: Reimagining Education 2023: Views Through a Different Lens About 150 educators from England and Europe convene in a rectangular conference room in a building across the Thames from
- [KNOW THY SCHOOL, DESIGN FOR EXCELLENCE](https://blog.tieonline.com/know-thy-school-design-for-excellence/) - “People are status-seeking monkeys,” purports Eugen Wei, former product leader at Amazon, Hulu, and Oculus. This status-seeking links with an understanding that identity is a fundamental aspect of our very human nature. An evolution of identity all around that begets a moment of preponderance for those in the world of education. How well do schools
- [Gifted Education](https://blog.tieonline.com/gifted-education/) - You know those stories about revelations: threshold concepts that change the way you see the world, like the day you were on your way to work and you realised that it’s not about what you teach, it’s about what the students learn? I had one of those powerful shifts in perception and belief some 10
- [A Year of Resilience](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-year-of-resilience/) - 24th February 2023 marked a year since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It has been a year of extreme resilience for the people of Ukraine and their leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In the words of Zelenskyy, “We have become one family …” this should become the definition of global citizenship in international education. Exactly a year ago
- [Our Greatest Teachers](https://blog.tieonline.com/our-greatest-teachers/)
- [WHOLESOMENESS IN REDUCTION](https://blog.tieonline.com/wholesomeness-in-reduction/) - Before biting into a protein bar the other day, I contemplated how the very thing I was about to eat was analogous to schools. The front of the wrapper was not the image of an athlete. Nor full of color or fancy font. Rather it was simple. A list. The ingredients I was about to
- [The histories that we learn](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-histories-that-we-learn/) - Moving house When I was about 17, in my final years of schooling in Eswatini, during the summer holidays, given that we were moving house from one part of Johannesburg to the other, and I had to throw piles of school documentation that I had been hoarding out of my bedroom, I found myself rummaging
- [What to Read in 2023](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-to-read-in-2023/)
- [A New Year's Mindset](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-new-years-mindset/)
- [Artificial intelligence and education](https://blog.tieonline.com/artificial-intelligence-and-education/) - The hype around ChatGPT is palpable: schools are racing to have staff meetings on it, share resources, and react quickly. After decades of being steadily and collectively formatted by a technology-driven economy and the resultant positivist ideology, peppered with our schizoid relationship with artificial intelligence (the pendulum swings from the feeling that we have to
- [A New Era of "Reading"](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-new-era-of-reading/) - How fast does a person think? Read? More than a decade before President John F. Kennedy was touted to read the entire New York Times newspaper in 10 minutes flat, a school teacher named Evelyn Wood would develop speed reading techniques to improve the lives of troubled girls. Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics Speed Reading courses
- [Learning From Giants](https://blog.tieonline.com/learning-from-giants/) - Learning From Giants I’ve had four very successful international school headships over the past two decades. I’m fortunate to be able to say I hold the longest serving tenure as a school head at two of those schools, while I provided successful leadership during political, economic, and labor crises, a sexual abuse crisis, a natural
- [What's New This Year?](https://blog.tieonline.com/whats-new-this-year/) - Happy New Year 2023! Did you make your resolutions for 2023? Did you consider changes that are on the horizon? Are you prepared for what the year has to offer? Especially in international education? Do you know What's New This Year? The 2023 Buzz in International Education ChatGPT: The AI revolution happening in academia creates
- [Chatbots](https://blog.tieonline.com/chatbots/) - As educators, we are always looking for ways to improve the learning experience for our students. One potential solution that has garnered a lot of attention in recent years is the use of chatbots, and more specifically, chatbots powered by the GPT (Generative Pre-training Transformer) model. The GPT model is a type of artificial intelligence
- [Realizing the Powers of Optimism and Responsibility in 2023](https://blog.tieonline.com/realizing-the-powers-of-optimism-and-responsibility-in-2023/) - A handful of years have passed since I set ablaze an effigy. Tis’ the season of Año Viejo in Ecuador, a cremation ceremony meant to signify purification and a goodbye to the past. An opportunity to allow for regeneration in the coming year. Though undetermined exactly when this tradition began, the origins are likely a
- [Surfing and Education: Three Lessons](https://blog.tieonline.com/surfing-and-education-three-lessons/) - The sky is a pale blue and my daughter and I are bobbing peacefully on the lull of the Atlantic. A dozen metres away, a large silver fish thrashes out of the water, arching its back into the sea. We spot a set of beautifully stacked waves in the distance. The set approaches us calmly
- [Why to Listen Like a Bird Watcher](https://blog.tieonline.com/why-to-listen-like-a-bird-watcher/) - What if we approached each day like a bird watcher? Poised, observant, and listening attentively. Such a sagacious approach might translate into a clear differentiation between a “digitally” connected world and what it means to truly be connected. Amidst the increasing prevalence of decomposing communities and growing isolation, it might do humanity well, or even
- [Un Petit Cadeau](https://blog.tieonline.com/un-petit-cadeau/)
- [Teach Mathematics for a Sustainable Future](https://blog.tieonline.com/teach-mathematics-for-a-sustainable-future/) - Recently while discussing the solutions for the International Baccalaureate Year 10 e-assessment online exams with my extended mathematics students I was impressed with their competencies. Along with mathematical skills and competencies, they were able to predict trends, identify patterns, and propose solutions for a sustainable future. This made me think about how important it is
- [From Hard Conversations to Opportunity Talks](https://blog.tieonline.com/from-hard-conversations-to-opportunity-talks/)
- [A Structure for Student Voice](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-structure-for-student-voice/)
- [What's In A Name?](https://blog.tieonline.com/whats-in-a-name/)
- [Human Rights and the Students’ League of Nations](https://blog.tieonline.com/human-rights-and-the-students-league-of-nations/) - Today at the International School of Geneva we begin the first of two days of the Students’ League of Nations (SLN) at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. This was first invented by the International School of Geneva in 1953 as a simulation of the United Nations and has since become a world-wide phenomenon in
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-31/) - An Aboriginal Carol by David Bouchard, with art by Moses Beaver and music by Susan Aglukark is a gorgeous, unusual picture book for all ages. This beautiful text is the story of the birth of Jesus as told for over 400 years by Canada’s aboriginal people. Based on traditional First Nations knowledge and belief, this
- [What is Important is Seldom Urgent](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-is-important-is-seldom-urgent/) - Important Not Urgent: Develop a new class schedule before March 20th Create a new html template for PowerSchool effort reports by March 18th Review email branding process before April 15th Notice all of the above have due dates that fall within a 7-30 day period. I have had them in the list for awhile. The deadline
- [What We Can Learn from a Wiliwili](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-we-can-learn-from-a-wiliwili/) - ~A Difference Between Knowledge and Wisdom We seem to drown in distractions, our phones the greatest culprit of all. At this moment, the palm of my hand remains empty as I sit and listen to a well-respected speaker. Yet my attention is clearly diverted, my eyes on the horizon as the sun dips into the
- [We Can Heal](https://blog.tieonline.com/we-can-heal/) - A lot of harm, a lot of hurt, A lot of anger, and a lot of sadness, Alas! not a lot of healing. Healing after harm, healing after hurt, Healing from anger, healing from sadness, Alas! not a lot of healing. We cannot heal if we let the harm take over, We get more hurt
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-30/) - I am often asked about my favourite books of poetry. I love rhyming picture books. Sharing poetry aloud with young children is a powerful, important tool to help them develop their sense of language with repetition, rhyme and alliteration. But perhaps my favourite genre is free verse poetry: novels written in poetic format without using
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-29/) - Nonfiction and Fiction: here are great new books for middle school readers. Both novels and information books are full of interesting stories and are all page turners! The Late, Great Endlings, Stories of the Last Survivors by Deborah Kerbel with art by Aimée van Drimmelen is an unusual nonfiction picturebook. Written in rhyme but complemented
- [With Wisdom We Invite Hybrid Life and Learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/with-wisdom-we-invite-hybrid-life-and-learning/) - It is absolutely legitimate how a student might gripe about feeling locked up or locked down by school schedules and returning to bells and desks. Especially when considering how some students may have experienced success with balancing work and school. Yet, now with school “back in session” and “normal” working hours, this may mean forgoing
- [School Admissions, What's Wrong?](https://blog.tieonline.com/school-admissions-whats-wrong/) - Technology developed to solve the wrong problem creates a universe of problems. If it gets popular, everyone uses it and has no idea why they are using it. People eventually feel like they have to have something because everyone else has it.
- [Translanguaging in Practice: Part C](https://blog.tieonline.com/translanguaging-in-practice-part-c/) - This is the third of a series of three blogs (although we may have to wrap it up with a fourth!) on the real world implementation of a mindset and practice. Paul and Patrice met as instructor and student at Moreland University. During the 2022-2023 school year, Patrice, fourth grade homeroom teacher and team lead
- [The Hidden Curriculum: Revealing and Resisting Institutionalized Inequality](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-hidden-curriculum-revealing-and-resisting-institutionalized-inequality/) - Follow Me on Twitter @EmilyMeadowsorg Formal Curriculum How does a school decide what to teach? International schools often have the choice of splitting, at least in part, from the local or national curriculum of their host country, and may select from a variety of alternatives and supplements. Generally, schools will adopt a program from the
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-28/) - A brand new picture book is always a joy to discover. Share these titles out loud with your class or use them to encourage readers to discover new favourites about interesting topics. Sun in My Tummy, Laura Alary, illustrated by Andrea Blinick. This is a picture book that looks at the magic of an ordinary
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-27/) - Books are always better when they are shared. Whether it's a parent reading a bedtime story like While You Sleep; a librarian laughing with the students about The Library Dragon or a classroom teacher reading The Coconut Crab aloud: Dinos Driving, written by Lynn Leitch with illustrations by Scot Ritchie, is a wild ride that
- [The Legacy of a Queen](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-legacy-of-a-queen/) - The death of Queen Elizabeth II did not come as a surprise to many students in my school! When I got to school on the 9th of September it was business as usual for students while teachers discussed the tragic loss and mourned her death. When discussing with students I got a few blank expressions
- [VEIL OR NO VEIL?](https://blog.tieonline.com/veil-or-no-veil/) - Veil or no Veil? A question that women have pondered for centuries. Do we have an answer? Yes, we do-veil if others demand of us and no veil if others permit us. This demanding and permitting has not changed even though the types of veils have. Women need to wear a veil in traditional Christian
- [Translanguaging in Practice: Part B](https://blog.tieonline.com/translanguaging-in-practice-part-b/) - Patrice Thompson joins Paul in the second of a series of three blogs on the real world implementation of a mindset and practice. Paul and Patrice met as instructor and student at Moreland University. During the 2022-2023 school year, Patrice, fourth grade homeroom teacher and team lead at Shekou International School in Shenzhen, China, is
- [A Beautiful Balance](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-beautiful-balance/) - So not that long ago I gave an assignment to a group of educators who I teach as part of their international education and leadership master's degree program. The class is titled, Innovative Practices, and the overarching theme for that particular week revolved around the idea of a blue sky vision for schools. The assignment
- [School Uniform: Time to Change](https://blog.tieonline.com/school-uniform-time-to-change/) - I started the year as assistant head of secondary; my role requires me to oversee pedagogy as well as the student life of the secondary students. Of all the concerns and challenges and issues the one thing that bothers me every day is the school uniform. I have complete control and knowledge of pedagogy, in
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-26/) - Why do we call it 'nonfiction'? 'Information Books' might be a more direct label. These titles are all full of information. Information books help kids to learn and recognize facts about the world - whatever the topic may be. And you're never too young (or old) to learn. I learned much from these newly released
- [This Morning at School](https://blog.tieonline.com/this-morning-at-school/) - 7.00 a.m., Thursday morning, on the train, making my way to school. In my role supporting professional learning, I’ve promised the faculty to visit classes today and to write about all the good teaching and learning. I’ve promised them anonymity. Is that even possible in a school that has several classes of just a few
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-25/) - I don’t usually devote an entire column to one author, but the release of One More Mountain by Deborah Ellis prompts me to celebrate a special writer of books for young people. Books about war torn countries are not easy reading. And they certainly are difficult to write. But these books can serve as a
- [Joy Begets Joy](https://blog.tieonline.com/joy-begets-joy/) - So we have this new little kid at our school, who only arrived in Paris just a few short weeks ago, and honestly, there is just something about him that draws me in. Lately I find myself seeking him out at least a couple of times a day because his smile and energy and enthusiasm
- [The Business of School Classrooms](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-business-of-school-classrooms/) - with Vanessa Carvalho and her IB Business students Covid really did a number (not just 19!) on efforts to make classrooms feel more human, be more like home. For safety’s sake we went back to rows, more widely spaced and rigidly adhered to than ever before, sometimes quasi-encasing students with plastic protection. Good measures against
- [Perseverance](https://blog.tieonline.com/perseverance/) - “We should name it Perseverance,” said my daughter. I totally agree. But is that always laudable, our perseverance? Can it also be laughable? We walked home together yesterday afternoon. Suspended across the entrance to our covered parking space was a spider, centered in her beautiful web, patiently waiting for dinner. The frame threads led to
- [The Arrival Gate](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-arrival-gate/) - So I used to think that the happiest place on Earth was the arrival gate at any international airport, kind of like the introductory scene suggests in the classic movie Love Actually. You see, ever since I was a kid I have been taken by the smiles and the hugs and the pure joy that
- [Translanguaging in Practice: Part A](https://blog.tieonline.com/translanguaging-in-practice-part-a/) - Patrice Thompson joins Paul in the first of a series of three blogs on the real world implementation of a mindset and practice. Paul and Patrice met as instructor and student at Moreland University. During the 2022-2023 school year, Patrice, fourth grade homeroom teacher and team lead at Shekou International School in Shenzhen, China, is
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-24/) - It’s always exciting to read newly released books. We’re comfortable with classics and stories we know well. But discovering a brand new title can be like meeting a new friend. Here are some recently released books for all ages that just might become old friends. Rainy Days by Deborah Kerbel, illustrated by Miki Sato is
- [Orienting to the North](https://blog.tieonline.com/orienting-to-the-north/) - It is the beginning of the year for many schools around the world. Even though we have different start dates, we all have one thing in common-Orientation! Orientation for staff and for students, we all need to find our north in the first few weeks of the academic year. So here is to orienting to
- [What Did We Miss?](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-did-we-miss/) - It is almost three years since the pandemic hit and we are still grappling with the reality of what teaching and learning looks and feels like in the current context. As we are picking up the remains of an education system we knew, we are slowly coming to terms with what we missed in the
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-23/) - Books to welcome a new school year Here is a selection of my favourite books about school. Hook students with humour and fascinating information about schools around the world. Some of these titles are brand new, others have proven books that they remain interesting, no matter how often you read them. This Is A School
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-22/) - Summer Reading for Educators/Booklovers If you still have some time off, this summer, before starting school again, you might want to treat yourself to curling up with a good book. I recently discovered what has become my all-time favourite series of amazing books: The Seven Sisters. I don't know why it took me so long
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-21/) - Fiction or nonfiction? Realistic fiction can help readers understand real information. Picturebooks can serve as a bridge to respect and acceptance of those who are different and of situations we may encounter. These beautiful new releases are all stories that readers may recognize themselves in or will help them to better understand others. Mama and
- [Let it stay-the gun](https://blog.tieonline.com/let-it-stay-the-gun/) - At the tip of a gun Is the story of many The bullet that is nested in its womb Does not want to see the day Let it stay. For once delivered it will never return Never bring back all that it snatches Lives, memories, trust, innocence, love, peace, sanity, soul, family When you have
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-20/) - Summer is a good time to curl up with a novel. These newly released, as well as slightly less new, novels are great reads for all ages. Berani by Michelle Kadarusman is a perfect book for international schools. This is a novel takes place in Indonesia and is told in 3 voices. One is a
- [Bake a Difference](https://blog.tieonline.com/bake-a-difference/) - Cosmic Cookie Class Recipe: 2 ½ cups community creation 3 teaspoons all purpose empathy into action 2 sticks of “story” 12 ounces choice Directions: Preheat classroom with reflection and intentionality. In a large mixing bowl, add community creation. Combine empathy and action into community creation. Beat sticks of “story” in medium mixer bowl until creamy.
- [Language Validates Our Lived Experiences: Recognize Cisnormativity](https://blog.tieonline.com/language-validates-our-lived-experiences-recognize-cisnormativity/) - Follow Me on Twitter @emilymeadowsorg International educators may be particularly aware of the importance of language, seeing as so many of us toggle between multiple languages in our everyday lives, and teach children who do the same. We’re privy to the delight of discovering a useful word with no translation to our first language/s. I
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-19/) - Travel, memories, family visits, nature... These books are great for summer reading. Mommy’s Hometown by Hope Lim, with illustrations by Jaime Kim, is a warm story about a little boy who loves listening to his mother’s stories of her childhood. He can just imagine the village where she grew up, the river where she splashed
- [Find a Critical Friend](https://blog.tieonline.com/find-a-critical-friend/) - Finding a friend is easy but a critical friend can be a lifelong quest! A critical friend is someone who asks you critical questions about your work. Yes, a critical friend is a colleague who you can trust to discuss the success or outcome of your work without inhibitions. The critical friend will have your
- [Hallway Therapy](https://blog.tieonline.com/hallway-therapy/) - So over the past week or so, I've had a few difficult and emotionally draining conversations with adults, which when combined together started to fuel a slow and downward trend in my energy level and spirit. After the most recent one I decided to take a long and dedicated walk around the Lower School to
- [Low Stakes, Easy Entry, Effective PD](https://blog.tieonline.com/6126-2/) - with Jennifer Carlson, Hamline University Recently a group of colleagues and the two of us, Jennifer and Paul, experimented with what might have been the easiest PD experience we ever set up. A half dozen of us, from Minnesota to Malaysia, agreed to meet on Zoom over a month’s time: three Saturday afternoons, every other with Jennifer Carlson, Hamline University Recently a group of colleagues and the two of us, Jennifer and Paul, experimented with what might have been the easiest PD experience we ever set up. A half dozen of us, from Minnesota to Malaysia, agreed to meet on Zoom over a month’s time: three Saturday afternoons, every other with Jennifer Carlson, Hamline University Recently a group of colleagues and the two of us, Jennifer and Paul, experimented with what might have been the easiest PD experience we ever set up. A half dozen of us, from Minnesota to Malaysia, agreed to meet on Zoom over a month’s time: three Saturday afternoons, every other
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-18/) - Here are some wonderful new releases that all feature animals. Some focus on movement, others on the animals' special features. Some are fiction, most are nonfiction. But all of them are great to share with students and young readers! Looking for a fun book to share with preschool or kindergarten? Animals Move by Jane Whittingham
- [What Slowing Down Might Teach Us](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-slowing-down-might-teach-us/) - Iroquois Chiefs from the Six Nations Reserve reading Wampum belts in Brantford, Ontario
- [School Shooters Are Male (and This Isn’t Just an American Problem)](https://blog.tieonline.com/school-shooters-are-male-this-isnt-just-an-american-problem/) - “The hegemonic definition of manhood is a man in power, a man with power, and a man of power”[1]. Masculinity has been studied by social scientists, and broken down into core dimensions that many of us recognize. Masculinity means[2]: Femininity Avoidance & Homophobia Status & Achievement Dominance/Power/Control Toughness & Aggression Restricted Emotionality Toxic masculinity is
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-17/) - There’s a fine line between reading picture books aloud to children and children being able/wanting to read by themselves. Even if their interest level is high, sentence structure can be difficult to master. Here are chapter books and graphic novels to help encourage reading. Graphic novels can help beginning readers to master a whole book.
- [What is your single story?](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-is-your-single-story/) - Recently I was showing my senior students Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED talk The Danger of a Single Story. This led to an interesting discussion on ‘Single Stories’. As per Adichie, a single story is a one-sided perspective of something or someone. Single stories have the power to create false interpretations of the actual story. She coins
- [Career Day Magic](https://blog.tieonline.com/career-day-magic/) - So just before the April holiday our Middle School division hosted their annual Career Day for students, and it was inspiring to see so many professionals sharing their life passions and purpose with our kids. I overheard one student say, “I didn’t know that job even existed”, and another one said, “Wow, everyone sure loves
- [A Message That Still Rings True](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-message-that-still-rings-true/) - So it was 10 years ago this month that a very close friend of mine, and a fantastic Middle School teacher with me at the time, died very unexpectedly and very quickly from an aggressive form of throat cancer. One day it was a sore throat and a difficult time swallowing, which we thought nothing
- [Big Ideas](https://blog.tieonline.com/big-ideas/) - Once a week in their Culture and Communication classes, our students in Grades 2 to 5 read a chapter of The Odyssey – the Ancient Greek tale of hero Odysseus and his men trying to get home after the Trojan War. The story itself is very entertaining but the students are also asked to use
- [Step back. step up. step in](https://blog.tieonline.com/step-back-step-up-step-in/) - The International School of Yangon is the first school I have worked in that has a performance culture in which everyone is focused on getting better than they are now. Given that I have only ever worked in good schools, that statement might rub a few ex-colleagues up the wrong way. But the reality is that for everyone to
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-12/) - Nonfiction picture books can be a great teaching tool when talking about the environment. These new titles can be used with students of all ages to discuss science as well as art and writing. One Well, written by Rochelle Strauss, illustrated by Rosemary Woods. This impressive nonfiction picture book about the environment should be in
- [Mother’s Day not Mothers’ Day!](https://blog.tieonline.com/mothers-day-not-mothers-day/) - The world celebrated Mother’s Day today to honour motherhood. I saw posts and messages like-"to all mothers out there", " for all aunts, sisters and grandmothers", and " for the wonderful women who are our mothers"...And the greatest irony-it is celebrated only once a year! Why not once a month, once a week or every
- [International Teachers-A Rare Breed in China](https://blog.tieonline.com/international-teachers-a-rare-breed-in-china/) - With Covid resurging in China, a new challenge has snowballed towards international schools in China-Teacher Retention. International teachers are leaving the countries due to two main reasons-the uncertainty of seeing their family members/crossing borders, and the uncertainty of the dynamic Covid situation. The recent lockdown in Shanghai and Beijing has been the last straw to
- [Abandoning Ordinary Pursuits](https://blog.tieonline.com/abandoning-ordinary-pursuits/) - In a world increasingly topsy turvy by politics, hypothetical iterations of the Internet, climatic dystopianism and more, wisdom and laughter are of critical importance. Now is no time to revert to passivity or to remain idle and uncreative. Nor can we be as amenable school age children tethered to a desk, inside four walls, disempowered
- [“We hope to be half as good as the world thinks we are”](https://blog.tieonline.com/we-hope-to-be-half-as-good-as-the-world-thinks-we-are/) - In 2015, in the first year of our progressive middle school, we screened the film Most Likely to Succeed at the movie theater in our Swiss village. I remember being delighted with the positive reception of the film’s ideas by many of my colleagues. The film critiques the current state of K-12 education: the type
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-16/) - Books About Big Dreams The Girl Who Loved Giraffes, written by Kathy Stinson, illustrated by François Thisdale is a beautifully executed, nonfiction picturebook that works on several levels. First and foremost it is the biography of a remarkable young woman who knew what she wanted. Anne Innis Dagg was a child who saw her first
- [ABOVE AND BELOW](https://blog.tieonline.com/above-and-below/) - Say the name Theodor Geisel and few know who you are talking about. Then, mention the name Dr. Seuss and it isn’t just the educators who nod their heads in recognition. Yet, the two are the same man. Growing up in Springfield, Massachusetts the delicious smells which wafted from Geisel’s grandparents’ bakery were at odds
- [How Critical is Critical Race Theory?](https://blog.tieonline.com/how-critical-is-critical-race-theory/) - Critical race theory or CRT has been in the debate recently with many places in the United States banning the introduction of CRT in schools. For example, Florida banned teaching CRT in schools in 2021. Why is it critical to ban teaching it? How critical is CRT? What is CRT? CRT is explained as a
- [Community Celebrations](https://blog.tieonline.com/community-celebrations/) - So we had our student-led celebration of learning conferences last week in the Lower School, and what a celebration it was! Not only was the day itself a true celebration for our entire community, the lead up to it was magical as well, as teachers, students and parents worked collaboratively together to prepare for this
- [The Invisible Knapsack of Privilege Part I: Racial Privilege](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-invisible-knapsack-of-privilege-part-i-ethnic-privilege/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets Almost three decades ago, Peggy McIntosh published her now-legendary piece on White Privilege[1]. McIntosh likened white privilege to an invisible knapsack of advantages that white people carry with them, revealing a selection of everyday rights withheld from people of colour. For example: #34) I can worry about racism without being seen
- [The Invisible Knapsack of Privilege Part II: Heterosexual & Cisgender Privilege](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-invisible-knapsack-of-privilege-part-ii-heterosexual-cisgender-privilege/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets Almost three decades ago, Peggy McIntosh published her now-legendary piece on White Privilege[1]. McIntosh likened white privilege to an invisible knapsack of advantages that white people carry with them, listing a selection from the abundance of everyday rights withheld from people of colour. This post is the second of two parts,
- [Trapped in Echo Chambers?](https://blog.tieonline.com/trapped-in-echo-chambers/) - Image created by Shwetangna Chakrabarty on canva.com Purpose of education as quoted by John Dewey, “The aim of education is growth; the aim of growth is more growth.” This is an inspirational quote as it talks about intellectual growth and echos the purpose of education as growth and further growth. But in the current context,
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-15/) - Great (Picture) Books for older readers I’m a firm believer in picturebooks as being everybody-books. In fact, some picturebooks are not for little readers but lend themselves perfectly for older students, especially to illustrate classroom discussions or for new language learners. Here are some picturebooks as well as novels for older students. Mary Who Wrote
- [Hope for Peace; Cope with War](https://blog.tieonline.com/hope-for-peace-cope-with-war/) - In the past weeks, I have had many conversations with my students from many parts of the world about War. In many classrooms across the world, the Ukraine crisis has opened up many wounds that are difficult to heal. Being in a diverse international environment allows us educators the opportunity to listen to multiple perspectives;
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-14/) - Picture Books about Friends and Family Everyone needs a friend. Family and friendships can differ but enrich our lives. The following picture books reflect families, relationships and friends in which you can, perhaps, recognize yourself. Many of these books can lead to enriching classroom discussions. A Stopwatch from Grampa by Loretta Garbutt, illustrated by Carmen
- [A Smile Has Never Burned So Bright](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-smile-has-never-burned-so-bright/) - So two Mondays ago, the French government dropped the mandatory mask wearing for students and teachers inside and outside of the school buildings. I have to admit that when I first heard this news I was both relieved and excited, and I could hardly sleep at all on the Sunday night before, thinking about seeing
- [OF FIRE AND ICE~A Tale of Sunken Ships and Education](https://blog.tieonline.com/of-fire-and-icea-tale-of-sunken-ships-and-education/) - There is good reason why Newton’s third law did not state, “What goes down must come up.” Two sunken ships more than 6000 km apart, are case in point. Both will remain on the ocean’s floors, a distant 3,000 meters down but for very different reasons. The first, protected and memorialized for its historical importance
- [Will We Ever See The End of War?](https://blog.tieonline.com/will-we-ever-see-the-end-of-war/) - The battle in Ukraine makes one wonder, will we ever see the end of War? I have always prayed for the war to end since childhood, I prayed for the war to end as my dad was in the armed forces. He had a long career in the Indian army as a doctor and commanding
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-13/) - Wordless Picture books Most picture books tell stories in very few words. Often the illustrations add to the story. And in some picture books, the art tells the entire story. Wordless picture books offer an opportunity to make up your own story, to add words that change with each reading. In fact, wordless picture books
- [Schools, Russia, Education: What to do?](https://blog.tieonline.com/schools-russia-education-what-to-do/) - The world is reacting to the war in Ukraine in an unprecedented manner. Moral condemnation, political outrage and commercial isolation of Russia is overwhelming (though not yet unanimous; and there are disturbing questions to ask about why this conflict is being treated differently to, say, the conflicts in Yemen, South Sudan, Ethiopia, South Sudan or
- [Restorative Justice](https://blog.tieonline.com/restorative-justice/) - Have you ever discussed Restorative Justice? Have you tried to implement Restorative Justice? Do you know the meaning of Restorative Justice? I should have started by defining it first as to my surprise not many know anything about it and yet we wish for a peaceful world! Restorative justice is the process of restoring harmony
- [Maps, monsters and the Importance of Redesign](https://blog.tieonline.com/maps-monsters-and-the-importance-of-redesign/) - “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.” - Friedrich Nietzsche How might two Icelandic maps, drawn hundreds of years apart, connect perfectly to the changing landscape of education? The first is a modern day 5-minute scribble by a tourist. Whereas legendary Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius
- [The Stuff Dreams are made of...](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-stuff-dreams-are-made-of/) - Canoeing the Mississippi River! This is the stuff dreams are made of. At least my dreams. I grew up in South Minneapolis. For those not familiar with Minneapolis, it is in the state of Minnesota, home of the Mississippi headwaters, and is a city built upon the banks of the mighty river. When I
- [Comfortably numb](https://blog.tieonline.com/comfortably-numb/) - What I see around me as we start sticking our (vaccinated) heads above the ground again, hoping to return to life as it was, is a gigantic missed opportunity.
- [Where are you from?](https://blog.tieonline.com/where-are-you-from/) - Have you ever been asked, “Where are you from?” If you have never been asked this question I really envy you. Well, to the infinite times I have been asked this question, I have not come up with the right answer or even the same answer! It is actually a combat mechanism to deal with
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-11/) - War, refugees… these are not easy topics to write about for children. But books are powerful tools to share stories of war and to show what it is like to live as refugee. These capable authors and illustrators convey the stories, creating tools for parents and educators to use to show what life can be
- [An Essential Reset](https://blog.tieonline.com/an-essential-reset/) - So I was speaking to a friend and colleague of mine the other day, about some of the difficulties that we have been collectively facing as a global society over the last two years, and our conversation eventually started to revolve around the themes of isolation and community. Knowing that we’ve gone through almost 24
- [constellations of care](https://blog.tieonline.com/constellations-of-care/) - Learning to teach can be a scary business. Parents will know the difficulties with one or two children, so the first time you face 30 or so, all of whom can sense your beginner's nerves... well, you can imagine. I vividly remember one of my teaching practices. I had been with one specific class for
- [#BreakTheBias](https://blog.tieonline.com/breakthebias/) - Imagine a gender-equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women's equality. Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias. Source: IWD 2022 Why is this conversation urgent? According to the World Economic Forum survey here
- [Nothing micro about microaggressions](https://blog.tieonline.com/nothing-micro-about-microaggressions/) - Microaggression is an attitude of silent aggression, apathy, hate, discrimination towards minority or lesser represented communities. These silent acts are mostly non-verbal; talking in a different language to exclude people of a certain minority; ridiculing people with an accent; never acknowledging the success of people of colour. It is also verbal in the form of
- [Sailing the Indian Ocean … in Room 26](https://blog.tieonline.com/sailing-the-indian-ocean-in-room-26/) - Ah, simulations. They can be such good learning experiences. But they require creative thinking, repackaging content, pre-planning, finding materials, perhaps a lot of cutting and sorting materials into envelopes. They make you have to think like someone developing a new board game. They make you have to guess what will happen, what the learning might
- [Global book recommendations](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-10/) - Students in International Schools often speak several languages. Supporting their language development, and love of reading in any language, through books is important. Many books are available in different languages but finding books printed in two languages is harder. Here are some of my favourites. I became aware of the power of bilingual books when
- [Care . Noun or verb?](https://blog.tieonline.com/care-noun-or-verb/) - Speaking with some prospective parents, I was asked what is your school's pastoral care like? As I began to describe the systems and structures we have - mentors, counselors, wellbeing centres, personal and social education curriculum, clinics, safeguarding protocols and so on - I could see their eyes glaze over and I realised I had fallen into
- [Teaching - how hard can it be?](https://blog.tieonline.com/teaching-how-hard-can-it-be/) - When I was a student I used to trampoline a bit. When I got to the stage of twisting somersaults, I used to get a bit lost up there in the air, and land in rather distressing ways (to both me and anyone watching). Our guru, the wonderfully elegant and controlled Pete (also an o-so
- [Words to Class of 2018 in final assembly](https://blog.tieonline.com/words-to-class-of-2018-in-final-assembly/) - When I was 21, I spent a year backpacking around China. It was thirty years ago, and I don’t remember everything, but there was a moment among the many that I often think about. I was on a long train ride - and when I say long I mean 36 hours; trains were slower then.
- [Is It Friday Yet?](https://blog.tieonline.com/is-it-friday-yet/) - So I have to admit that the year 2021 was indeed a difficult one, for all of us, and this year has sadly started in an eerily similar fashion. It’s crazy to think that we have been living in this dystopian existence for almost two years now, and yes, it’s been deflating and demoralizing in
- [High Expectations, Student Conformity or Clipping Wings?](https://blog.tieonline.com/high-expectations-student-conformity-or-clipping-wings/) - Stories can be wonderful pedagogical tools; their openness and ambiguity can draw students into deep and rich conversation; and an appreciation of the ideas of others. I recently came across a tale that has stayed with me, and that now hovers in the back of mind when I interpret a situation. I'm going to share
- [What To Read in 2022](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-to-read-in-2022/) - So it’s that time of the year again when I get to order books for my birthday, which is my favorite gift ever because it keeps on giving for months and months and months. The deal is, as most of you know, that I have to finish reading all of last year’s books before I
- [Why It CAN BE better to take the oblique Approach](https://blog.tieonline.com/why-it-can-be-better-to-take-the-oblique-approach/) - Economist John Kay tells the story of arriving at Paddington train station, London to visit friends whose nearest underground (subway) station was Lancaster Gate. Kay followed the standard London Underground map, taking two stops on the Circle line, changing lines at Notting Hill Gate, and two further stops on the Central Line, as you canNicholas Alchin
- [Global book recommendations](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-9/) - As an adult I love reading teen and YA novels. There’s nothing better than curling up with Because of Winn-Dixie or The Library of Ever. But which new novels are coming out now? And what are they about? Here are some reviews to help educators put books in the hands of readers. Happy Reading! Making
- [Student Agency - Reflections on a TEDx with speaker Conrad Hughes](https://blog.tieonline.com/student-agency-reflections-on-a-tedx-with-speaker-conrad-hughes/) - Conrad Hughes is a principal at Ecolint in Geneva, Switzerland. In Fall 2020 he founded the Coalition to Honour All Learning, a group of school leaders representing about 50 schools across the world, all interested in rethinking the high school transcript (and assessment in general). Here is a reflection on his TEDx talk, The Problem
- [Virus Variants](https://blog.tieonline.com/virus-variants/) - The virus mutates into many variants just to survive. Infact, viruses mutate constantly, at least that is what I learnt in high school Biology. Their genetic code is prone to changes called mutations that can change how the virus looks or attacks its hosts. The interesting thing is that viruses mutate depending on their host
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-8/) - Stories reflect our history and show us who we are. Stories help us to understand others and share our own cultures. Here are voices from other places, stories worth sharing from around the world in picturebooks, in poetry and in nonfiction. Thao by Thao Lam is an autobiographical story by an illustrator. Her name was
- [I Am Not a Moth and My Keys are Not Missing](https://blog.tieonline.com/i-am-not-a-moth-and-my-keys-are-not-missing/) - Over thirty thousand people evacuated and a thousand homes ablaze in Colorado at the end of December? Difficult as it may be to believe, such impacts of climate change are predicted to be increasingly felt, unless we as a species move out of the heaving blackness and entrapment of the Anthropocene. That worldview which is
- [Teacher Agency: Reflections on an Interview with A J Juliani](https://blog.tieonline.com/teacher-agency-reflections-on-an-interview-with-a-j-juliani/) - For the past decade, I’ve focused on supporting teacher and student agency at my school. For teachers, our motto is “Continually becoming the professionals we already are.” I’m realizing that for students we don’t have a particular motto. Help me out! What is a good student agency motto for a school? Tim Logan, the host
- [Student Agency: Reflections on Liam Printer's Podcast “The Motivated Classroom”](https://blog.tieonline.com/student-agency-reflections-on-liam-printers-podcast-the-motivated-classroom/) - For the past decade, I’ve focused on supporting teacher and student agency at my school. For a few years I had the pleasure of working with Liam Printer. His independent drive to be the best teacher and colleague possible was inspiring. Liam continues to inspire at the International School of Lausanne, where he is a
- [Agency: Reflections on an Interview with Matt Barnes](https://blog.tieonline.com/agency-reflections-on-an-interview-with-matt-barnes/) - For the past decade, I’ve focused on supporting teacher and student agency at my school. Matt Barnes recently shared some of the thinking that led him to start the Global Education Movement, a bottom up organization with no less a goal than implementing a radically different vision of education. If you are a reformer at
- [What if … ? Student voices at the NEASC annual conference](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-if-student-voices-at-the-neasc-annual-conference/) - I listened with interest to students who spoke at the beginning of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges annual conference on December 8, 2021. The moderator asked a simple question, one that NEASC had undoubtedly shared with the student panelists ahead of time: If you could redesign your education, what would it look
- [Spread Some holiday cheer](https://blog.tieonline.com/spread-some-holiday-cheer/) - This term too ended with a bittersweet feeling; since the last year and a half, every holiday has been the same: no travel plans, no duty-free shopping, no family dinners, no tight hugs, no gift exchanges, and no adventures with friends. On the last day of this semester, I had my students discuss holiday plans
- [Ice cream, Astronomy and Leadership](https://blog.tieonline.com/ice-cream-astronomy-and-leadership/) - I was watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with my friend's daughter, Alegra. We were immersed in the magical land of sweet possibilities, having one of my favorite types of conversations that you can have with a child…the conversation of ”What ifs…” What if rivers were really made of chocolate? What if flowers were made
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-7/) - Toward the end of the year we all look for books to share, read and give. Some of these titles are brand new, others are older. Some deal with holidays, others with winter. Happy reading! Ramadan, The Holy Month of Fasting by Ausma Zahanat Khan is a beautifully illustrated photo essay, a nonfiction picture book
- [Vaudeville](https://blog.tieonline.com/vaudeville/) - "In the United States vaudeville acts performed variety shows, using music, comedy, dance, acrobatics, magic, puppets, and even trained animals." (vaudeville/Encyclopedia.com). I loved this definition. It captured everything that our teachers do every day, multiple times a day. And it's a key reason why we can't evolve. A good friend of mine and former teacher
- [Teaching teachers](https://blog.tieonline.com/teaching-teachers/) - Teaching teachers is one of the hardest jobs in my profession, due to the sole reason that teachers have been hardwired to teach and not learn. With the paradigm shift in education, teachers have to be lifelong learners rather than lifelong teachers. This is possible through peer collaboration; teachers may initially resist collaboration but will
- [Returning the Joy to Mudville](https://blog.tieonline.com/returning-the-joy-to-mudville/) - “Yes, please order a pair of gloves for my daughter,” the email response read from a parent of one of our middle school softball players. Her confusion in not knowing only one glove was needed to play the sport was similar to the memorable and mildly entertaining scene the first day of practice. Our equipment
- [Possibility. Purpose. Action.](https://blog.tieonline.com/possibility-purpose-action/) - I am not an old man. “Hello, I am cool” would cycle down the screen. Early days of coding with BASIC in my later elementary years on an Apple 2E. In high school my relationship with the phone was a bit adversarial and yet I dreamed of a day when I would see on a
- [What I'm Thankful For](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-im-thankful-for/) - So here we are heading into the final three weeks of school before the winter holiday, and I feel compelled to re-share a post from a couple of years ago. As you all know, the month of December is right around the corner, and now is a good time I think to reflect on the
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-6/) - Language - perhaps your students speak several different languages. What is it like to learn a new one? And how does language influence what you do each day? Books and stories help develop proficiency in any language. These books, fiction and nonfiction, all take a closer look at different aspects of language. Dee and the
- [Assistive technology for inclusive pedagogy](https://blog.tieonline.com/assistive-technology-for-inclusive-pedagogy/) - What is Assistive Technology? Assistive technology includes a wide range of strategies from assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices and other resources used to compensate for the lack of certain abilities. In an inclusive classroom, there are needs that have to be met with specific resources, for example, for students having specific learning disabilities educational software
- [Connection Seeking](https://blog.tieonline.com/connection-seeking/) - So a couple of weeks ago at a child study meeting we began speaking about a beautiful little kid who has been struggling recently with his behavior, both inside and outside of the classroom. We were trying to figure out the root of his attention seeking behavior when all of a sudden it came to
- [Safety first](https://blog.tieonline.com/safety-first/) - We feel, therefore we learn; learning is an emotional journey. But what if all we feel is, threatened, angry, scared, sad and unwanted, then what do we learn? The first thing to consider for education organisations is safety! If safety is compromised, learning is compromised. Safety is everything, a child and even an adult learn
- [I’ve Always Kind of Thought Greek History Didn’t Seem Real](https://blog.tieonline.com/ive-always-kind-of-thought-greek-history-didnt-seem-real/) - Could there be a better time for students to understand the importance of evaluating the sources where they get information? Not only a common core standard but a valued life skill. One creative hook is to introduce students to an article from “”America’s Finest News Source,” the Onion. Any satirical source for that matter would
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-5/) - The sounds of science - these are all brand new picture books that deal with science: the science of sound and light. Share these books during science but also during social studies or just before music lessons. Sounds All Around, the Science of How Sound Works by Susan Hughes, illustrated by Ellen Rooney. From natural
- [Mississippi River Challenge](https://blog.tieonline.com/mississippi-river-challenge/) - This coming summer, my son Max (Class of 2026) and I are going to attempt to canoe down the entire length of the Mississippi River (2,400 miles)! In doing this we are going to be raising money for two of the service organizations that ISY supports. One is United World Schools which our school, ISY
- [A Little Bit of Magic](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-little-bit-of-magic/) - So I was walking by the early childhood outdoor learning space the other day, when I stopped to chat with a couple of kids playing in the hedges beside the mud kitchen. They were very animated and very interested in some leaves that had fallen from the adjacent tree, and I asked them what they
- [Future of Assessments: AUTHENTIC Performance-Based](https://blog.tieonline.com/future-of-assessments-authentic-performance-based/) - The Future of Assessments Performance-based assessment requires students to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and strategies by creating a product or process; it requires students to perform the task instead of writing about it or answering questions about it. For example, an authentic performance task in sciences requires a student to conduct research on the impacts
- [global book recommendations](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-4/) - November 11, May 5 or any other date - many countries set aside one day a year to remember those who gave their lives for their country during a war. In the Common Wealth people often wear a poppy on their coat during November. Why? These beautiful picture books will help explain the stories of
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-3/) - With Halloween and Día de los Muertos coming up, I can't resist sharing some wonderful appropriate reads with you! These books are a treat, not a trick! Brand new this Fall is a book that I immediately fell in love with: The Strangest Thing in the Sea by Rachel Poliquin, with art by Byron Eggenschwiler
- [global book recommendations](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations-2/) - Books for athletes... Do reading and sports go together? When I conduct writing workshops in schools, I always love being able to involve the PE teacher in the reading and writing process. Here are new and long loved titles about sports! The Thing Lenny Loves Most about Baseball by Andrew Larsen, art by Milan Pavlovic,
- [Talent is a pursued interest](https://blog.tieonline.com/talent-is-a-pursued-interest/) - Like everyone in this pandemic, my social life is mostly driven by Netflix. For some reason, the Bob Ross documentary was recommended to me. Maybe the internet algorhythm discovered I am nostalgic, maybe it aligned my approximate birthdate with his life. Who knows. What I do know is that his shows made me not only
- [Gender Disparity in STEM](https://blog.tieonline.com/gender-disparity-in-stem/) - Women are considered to be less interested in STEM subjects and careers. While much research has been done to attain a better understanding of the gender disparity in STEM, one reason comes up again and again and it is the bias and stereotypes associated with genders. A recent study found that both men and women
- [Presuming Positive Intent](https://blog.tieonline.com/presuming-positive-intent/) - So recently as a school we have been digging deep into two wonderful professional development opportunities...Adaptive Schools and Cognitive Coaching. Learning about ways that we can better interact and collaborate with each other, both individually and in teams, is a huge opportunity for us to strengthen our relationships, and to build trust and vulnerability, which
- [Life on the Wire](https://blog.tieonline.com/life-on-the-wire/) - “Life is on the wire, the rest is just waiting.” ~Papa Wallenda The next several months of recruiting season are exciting for many teachers and administrators. Having resigned, lives are once again lived on the “wire.” As a teacher of inquiry there seems to be a valuable ordering to the questions which might propel the
- [GLOBAL BOOKS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-books-3/) - The global Covid-19 pandemic has already led to new books to help children get a grasp of the unusual situation. These books may help educate but also help to realize they we are not alone in trying to cope in a difficult situation. We Wear Masks by Marla Lesage is a picture book for very
- [technology vs teachers-an International teacher's day debate](https://blog.tieonline.com/technology-vs-teachers-an-international-teachers-day-debate/) - Technology is a game-changer, it has helped teachers to create active learning environments, increase assess to content, differentiate for varied student needs and very recently even teach remotely. Throughout the history of technical innovations, technology has aided the art of teaching but not yet replaced the artist, in this case, the teacher. On the occasion of
- [GLOBAL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-recommendations/) - What is home? Home means something different to each person - real readers but also to fictional characters in books. Through books about home, students can recognize themselves or come to appreciate what 'home' means for others. Happy Banned Book week! Roger and Matthew by Michel Thériault This is a lovely, quiet story of two
- [Knowing Your Community](https://blog.tieonline.com/knowing-your-community/) - So an interesting thing happened to me at the end of last year, which really opened up my eyes to how critical it is to spend the time getting to know your community…deeply. Not just the students and parents and faculty, but everyone who works so hard to ensure that our kids have their best possible experience
- [TEACH FOR PEACE: international day of peace](https://blog.tieonline.com/teach-for-peace-international-day-of-peace/) - 21st September is celebrated as the International Day of Peace. The United Nations (UN) General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire. Peace is the key to surviving the next decade. With pandemics, wars, natural disasters, conflicts, political power play
- [A Quest to Serve All Learners, Everywhere, Anytime](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-quest-to-serve-all-learners-everywhere-anytime/) - A hybrid is something made by combining two different elements. My earliest understanding was that of the mule, the result of crossing a horse and a donkey. In the field of education, hybrid learning is best defined as some students participate in person, whereas others are online. Educators teaching virtual and in-person learners at the
- [Global Books](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-books-2/) - In this column I share my favourite books to read aloud, curl up with and put into the hands of young readers. This week, a look at books about libraries and books. The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians is perhaps my all-time favorite book about libraries. I can’t decide what I like more -
- [Duolingo teaches language - and perhaps a bit more](https://blog.tieonline.com/duolingo-teaches-language-and-perhaps-a-bit-more/) - In January 2013 I started my first language course on Duolingo. Little did I know just how many hours I would spend over the next eight years! Right up to this morning, in fact, during my walk with Gilligan, our koiru … chien … Hund … cachorro … perro ... Along the way I’ve used
- [Breaking Boundaries](https://blog.tieonline.com/breaking-boundaries/) - This September, it will be one and half years since I crossed any international border. Being an international school teacher, one of the much-awaited times of the year is the summer or winter holidays, when expats like me cross many boundaries to reach our destinations. I remember a time when I took 14 flights in
- [To Be A Kid](https://blog.tieonline.com/to-be-a-kid/) - So I have been spending a lot of time this week trying to get to know the names of our new students, which incidentally might just be the most critical aspect of my job as we begin the new school year. I have been eating lunch with them and hanging out with them at recess,
- [The Notion of a Growth Heartset](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-notion-of-a-growth-heartset/) - So last week at our new family orientation event, I ran into a joyfully bright eyed and eager second grade girl who could not have been more excited about starting her new school life at ASP. She was mostly excited about the idea of making new friends, and she went on to tell me at
- [You Belong Here](https://blog.tieonline.com/you-belong-here/) - @emilymeadowsorg www.EmilyMeadows.org Safe Space signs are used to signal that the room they adorn is, well, a “safe space” for all people, particularly including LGBTQ+ folks. These signals are important because, while many organizations and institutions claim to welcome everyone, this too often means that they welcome everyone except openly LGBTQ+ people. A Safe Space
- [Are You a Reflective Practitioner?](https://blog.tieonline.com/are-you-a-reflective-practitioner/) - What does it mean to be a reflective practitioner? A reflective practitioner reflects on practice in order to improve their performance. A teacher who develops a habit of reflection to get more knowledge and experience and apply it to classroom planning and instruction is a reflective practitioner. This includes critically reflecting upon their teaching practice
- [GLOBAL BOOKS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-books/) - Books About School Children’s books, including picture books and novels, are not just for little ones. Some children’s books should be called ‘everybody books’. And some can be especially good for educators to read. Here are some that will work particularly well at the beginning of a new school year to share as read-alouds by
- [Embracing Wonder and Grace](https://blog.tieonline.com/embracing-wonder-and-grace/) - “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” ~Epicurus It was the first day of a new school year. At lunchtime a message appeared in my inbox with the subject line, “Where will you be
- [GLOBAL BOOK REVIEWS](https://blog.tieonline.com/gobal-book-reviews/) - When teaching writing to children, we often talk about the importance of voice. Who is telling the story? Is it a narrator or a character? The following picture books and novels all use a unique voice to tell their story. If Only… by Mies van Hout is a colourful picture book for the youngest readers,
- [School Leadership: Predictive or Reactive](https://blog.tieonline.com/school-leadership-predictive-or-reactive/) - In a recent senior leadership meeting, we were evaluating our leadership strategies amidst the Covid pandemic. It was interesting to note the complexities in leadership approaches especially considering the shift in perspectives due to Covid. This got me thinking about the current leadership decisions I have had to make and how it is very different
- [United in Emotion, Immersed in Humanity](https://blog.tieonline.com/united-in-emotion-immersed-in-humanity/) - Barshim Biles Hubbard Tamberi Tsimanouskaya. Names to remember but moreover examples for our students to follow. Qatar, United States, New Zealand, Italy, and Belarus. The athletes represent five different countries and five different events. Each individually could be envisaged as one of five olympic rings. Their stories, like the rings, intertwined and embodying hope.
- [Podium](https://blog.tieonline.com/podium/) - The number one reason I'm thrilled that the Olympics are being held now is that it's the perfect distraction from writing about whether or not we should mandate masks in August. (And of course provides an easy opportunity to chat about winning and losing). I'm a sucker for the highlights of the ecstatic athletes like
- [GLOBAL BOOK REVIEWS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-21/) - These global picture books and novels are placed in different countries. Reading stories from around the world will help students of all ages to both appreciate other cultures as well as recognize their own cultural backgrounds. My Heart in Kenya by Ruth Beardsley. This is a true story, in picture book format with photos, of
- [The 3-2-1 of middle school Transition](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-3-2-1-of-middle-school-transition/) - I will be taking on the role of IB Middle Years Programme (for 11 to 16 years) Coordinator starting this academic term. I have been the IB Diploma Programme (for 16 to 19 years) Coordinator for a long time now, so this is a big transition for me. Taking about transition, my first goal is
- [An Alluring Cryptic Future](https://blog.tieonline.com/an-alluring-cryptic-future/) - Technologies continue to outpace us. As a society we are often unable to keep up. Take for example the task of explaining the differences between cryptocurrency, blockchain, and a ledger? We may have heard of each but do we understand them well enough to teach? Or, on an even deeper level, are we able
- [GLOBAL BOOK REVIEWS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-20/) - There is an expression that says ‘Walk a mile in my shoes’ - meaning that you cannot understand someone else’s struggles and problems until you have tried to see things from their side. The following books let you ‘walk a mile in someone else’s shoes’ - and see what it is like to be confined
- [Results 2021: What It Takes to Get THE Perfect Score](https://blog.tieonline.com/results-2021-what-it-takes-to-get-the-perfect-score/) - Earlier this week the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (grade 12) results were published. Our school students made us proud with amazing results, the highest was the perfect score of 45/45 (100%). Amidst all the celebrations I reflected on the students who got the perfect scores. There are a few common behavioural characteristics and approaches to
- [What Was That All About?](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-was-that-all-about/) - ~The Valuable Role of Reflection As the world attempts to reinstate “normalcy,” there are clearly different baselines or targets amongst countries. For the United States, Costco in the news provides but one example. Just before the start of summer, their plans included “beginning a phased return to full sampling,” after 14 long months without offering
- [GLOBAL BOOK REVIEWS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-19/) - What difference can one person make? Have you discussed global warming, Black Lives Matter and gender equality in class? These books about activism are shining examples of how you cán change the world, one issue at a time. I Have The Right to Save My Planet, Alain Serres and Aurélia Fronty is chock full of
- [The highschool hangover](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-highschool-hangover/) - We all know what a hangover is, and we all (almost) know how to get over one. But there is one hangover that stays forever, I believe it is the high school hangover. You suffer from the high school hangover if you have the following symptoms: Tendency to keep comparing current education trends with personal
- [Books & the environment](https://blog.tieonline.com/books-the-environment/) - From simple concepts to complicated science; from preschool to high school, (picture)books can serve to discuss and discover information about the environment, including climate change and endangered wildlife. These books can lead to hands-on projects such as adopting a whale or planting trees. The books can also serve as examples to write your own classroom
- [GLOBAL BOOK REVIEWS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-18/) - Friendship. What better topic to discuss in the international classroom? And what better tool to use than great books. Here are some of my favourite titles: I Got You A Present! by Mike Erskine-Kellie and Susan McLennan, illustrated by Cale Atkinson. Poor duck is having a hard time coming up with a surprise birthday gift
- [Coaching & Mentoring: Need of the New Normal](https://blog.tieonline.com/coaching-mentoring-need-of-the-new-normal/) - Recently our school had to close for two days due to the resurgence of COVID cases. This caused panic attacks and PTSD across the staff and student population. Even though the past year taught us well to mask our fear and anxiety, literally and metamorphically, the stress and anxiety reached new levels. This new normal
- [Heroes Down the Home Stretch](https://blog.tieonline.com/heroes-down-the-home-stretch/) - So here we are, finally staring down the last few weeks of school, and as I think back over the last ten months or so, the only thought that I can come up with is, wow, that was quite a year. I guess what I really want to share this week with all of you
- [Communities of Belonging](https://blog.tieonline.com/communities-of-belonging/) - Teaching internationally sometimes is like being inside a cocoon. School days typically in English. The comforts, routines, and rhythms in our new “homes” are similar; often little difference whether in Cairo, Shanghai, or Rio de Janeiro. Of course architecturally they may differ, yet our lives therein, not so changed. In most cases, it would be
- [GLOBAL BOOK REVIEWS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-17/) - Books don’t always have to be issue driven or full of information. Sometimes a just plain funny book can hook a reluctant reader into wanting to read more. It can offer an escape to a young reader who just needs a laugh. And when a child wants to read, he or she will tackle more
- [Service for Wellbeing: The Strategies for Navigating the New Normal.](https://blog.tieonline.com/service-for-wellbeing-the-strategies-for-navigating-the-new-normal/) - I had the opportunity to present at the IB Asia-Pacific conference in April 2021. My topic was Service for Wellbeing: The Strategies for Navigating the New Normal. The new normal is the paradigm shift in education. The need for wellbeing is the topmost priority for me and for a lot of other colleagues who are
- [ACCREDITATION IS ALL ABOUT BEING BETTER](https://blog.tieonline.com/accreditation-is-all-about-being-better/) - Being fully immersed in another school for five days is like no other professional development. And it is available to us all. “Creditum” in Latin means, "a thing entrusted to another." Fast forward from Roman days and to the United States at the end of the 19th century, where there was a push for “accreditation.”
- [Ubuntu: "I am because we are" ](https://blog.tieonline.com/ubuntu-i-am-because-we-are/) - The Covid19 pandemic has been a turning point in the history of education, industry and technology. It has also ushered the best and worst in humanity. The worst being, instead of looking for a solution to conquer the fierce enemy-the Coronavirus, countries are engaged in finding a scapegoat for their own lack of combatting this
- [Global Book reviews](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-16/) - Poetry is a universal language. These books, both new and old, invite readers to explore the world. Gifts by Jo Ellen Bogart, illustrated by Barbara Reid, is one of my all-time favourite picture books. Whenever I visit international schools, I try to bring this book as a gift. The illustrations are fantastic, made of plasticine,
- [Unpacking Our Trauma, Celebrating Our Growth](https://blog.tieonline.com/unpacking-our-trauma-celebrating-our-growth/) - So last week I had a long, and as it turns out, a much needed conversation with a great friend and colleague of mine. We talked about the past year and a half, and how incredibly hard it has been for everyone, and for our world, and you know what, that conversation for me was
- [STUCK CONTAINER SHIP: A METAPHOR FOR THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM?](https://blog.tieonline.com/stuck-container-ship-a-metaphor-for-the-educational-system/) - What could be harder to turn around than a 220,000 ton ship measuring nearly a quarter of a mile long? The education system. The Evergreen however served as a fantastic metaphor. For six days, the colossal three year-old was stuck. In a stretch of water narrower (985 feet) than the length of the boat (1,312
- [Agency: Reflections on an Interview with Sugata Mitra](https://blog.tieonline.com/agency-reflections-on-an-interview-with-sugata-mitra/) - For the past decade, I’ve focused on supporting teacher agency at my school. In the early years, our motto was “Continually becoming the professionals we already are.” Tim Logan, the host of the Future Learning Design podcast, recently interviewed Sugata Mitra, Professor Emeritus at NIIT University. Mitra has advocated for much less teaching in favor
- [Knowing What You Don't Know](https://blog.tieonline.com/knowing-what-you-dont-know/) - So I’ve read a number of great books so far this year, and one of them has resonated so profoundly with me that I feel compelled to talk about it this week in the hopes that you decide to pick it up for yourselves...you won’t be disappointed. The book is called, Think Again, written by
- [2020-21 A Punctuated School Year](https://blog.tieonline.com/2020-21-a-punctuated-school-year/) - You can sum up this school year in a variety of ways. However, please don’t use the word “unprecedented.” The challenge isn’t what to say about the past 7 or 8 months - the challenge is how will we end it. Punctuation marks might be the best way to frame this finish. . Over and
- [GLOBAL BOOK REVIEWS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-15/) - Books truly can be a window to the world. While reading, you can live in another country, learn what life is like in a different culture while discovering both the world and yourself. The following books shed light on a variety of settings and situations and help to create awareness. 111 Trees, How One Village
- [As If A Pandemic Wasn't Enough...](https://blog.tieonline.com/as-if-a-pandemic-wasnt-enough/) - We were feeling pretty good about things the last weekend in January. Enrollment had gradually increased through the fall. Though it was still not at pre-COVID levels, it was not as bad as we had feared. This was partially due to a successful effort back in August to get faculty back into Myanmar before that
- [LGBTQ+ Intent vs impact in schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/lgbtq-intent-vs-impact-in-schools/) - EMILY (she/her): Creating the Anti-Racism Impact Vs. Intent deck together helped to organize our thoughts on common mistakes that White educators (like myself) make when attempting to be inclusive and equitable, but then how we miss the mark because we are centering ourselves rather than POC. In my practice as an LGBTQ+ consultant for international
- [Agency: Reflections on an Interview with Jennifer Groff](https://blog.tieonline.com/agency-reflections-on-an-interview-with-jennifer-groff/) - For the past decade, I’ve focused on supporting teacher agency at my school. In the early years, our motto was “Continually becoming the professionals we already are.” Tim Logan, the host of the Future Learning Design podcast, recently interviewed Jennifer Groff, Innovation Fellow at WISE (QATAR Foundation). She advocates for both teacher and student agency,
- [BOOKS FOR EARTH DAY](https://blog.tieonline.com/books-for-earth-day/) - April 21 is Earth Day. It will be celebrated around the world by planting seeds, picking garbage, starting a recycle program or in many other ways of being kind to the earth. In addition to projects, you can also celebrate Earth Day through those wonderful books. My Ocean is Blue by Darren Leboeuf, illustrated by
- [Agency: Reflections on an Interview with Andreas Schleicher](https://blog.tieonline.com/agency-reflections-on-an-interview-with-andreas-schleicher/) - Agency: Reflections on an Interview with Andreas Schleicher For the past decade, I’ve focused on supporting teacher agency at my school. In the early years, our motto was “Continually becoming the professionals we already are.” While we originally focused on teachers, lately we’ve been able to directly impact students, from supporting individual passion projects to
- [An Unwillingness to Hand Over Curiosity to Google](https://blog.tieonline.com/an-unwillingness-to-hand-over-curiosity-to-google/) - "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." ~Albert Einstein At the beginning stages of a project on innovation, I conference with students. My conversation with Anthony was staccato, more detached than cut short. “Great, you want to see how gaming consoles have changed throughout time. As you begin
- [Lupus in fabula](https://blog.tieonline.com/lupus-in-fabula/) - They courageously took their masks off, one by one, breathing in the fresh, clean air of an early Spring day. It had been months in the making, this sojourn of artists to a neighboring museum, an appropriate stage for the products of a two year journey. The relief was palpable. They sipped bubbly water,
- [GLOBAL BOOK REVIEWS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-14/) - Books can help create awareness of traditional and cultural holidays around the world. There are many wonderful stories, including fiction and nonfiction, about seasonal celebrations like Passover, Easter, Eid and Mimouna, often including unique traditional foods. Why not enhance reading by sampling matzos or painting eggs in the classroom. Easter Morning, Easter Sun by Rosanna
- [Iterate to Innovate: Design Thinking in hybrid classrooms](https://blog.tieonline.com/iterate-to-innovate-design-thinking-in-hybrid-classrooms/) - The COVID19 pandemic has ushered a paradigm shift in pedagogy and technology; educators need to change strategies to cope with the demands of this paradigm shift. Unlocking this paradigm shift will compel educators across the world to reevaluate curriculum design to cater to a world where problem-solving and critical reasoning will be highly required skills.
- [Digging Deep](https://blog.tieonline.com/digging-deep/) - So just last week as I was greeting the kids off of the buses, a student who was new to the school at the beginning of this year said to me, “Mr. Kerr, it always looks like you are smiling under your mask but I’ve never actually seen your face”. So I stepped back several
- [Invaluable Intangibles](https://blog.tieonline.com/invaluable-intangibles/) - As of late I find myself swirling, if not drowning, in acronyms. First SPACS and now most remarkable of all, NFTs. Non-fungible tokens. Never one to be a laggard I took a deeper dive.. And to simply know what NTF stands for is not enough. More than “all the rage,” NFTs likey are the future.
- [School leader voices tell the real story of pandemic stress](https://blog.tieonline.com/school-leader-voices-tell-the-real-story-of-pandemic-stress/) - In my recent study into school leader wellbeing during the COVID 19 crisis 70% of the 721 school leaders who took part say they have come close to breaking point at some time during 2020. Even allowing for a response bias, that figure is worryingly high and is worthy of closer examination. You can read
- [Identity Texts: A Pedagogy for Self-Discovery](https://blog.tieonline.com/identity-texts-a-pedagogy-for-self-discovery/) - In a world that is becoming more and more globalised, there is an emerging tension clearly visible in the definition of identity. While we have managed to travel around the globe, experience diverse cultures, food and fashion, we also seem to have developed an identity crisis. By ‘we’, I mean all people who identify themselves
- [GLOBAL BOOK REVIEWS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-13/) - Picture Books About Science Here are some fabulous new, and not so new, titles to use as tools in the classroom with students while studying science. When Elephants Listen With Their Feet by Emmanuelle Grundmann is a brand new title that looks at animals’ senses. A 40 page picture book, it has attractive art and
- [As Education Evolves, We Must Continue to Integrate Parents](https://blog.tieonline.com/as-education-evolves-we-must-continue-to-integrate-parents/) - Schooling and learning have changed. From passivity to authenticity. Transferability the clear goal. An analogy that might help better understand this evolution is the user experience of shopping and how it has morphed, almost into an unrecognizable state. The advent of shopping catalogs can be traced back further back in history than one might assume,
- [Just choose one...](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-choose-one/) - So we have been surveying teachers and principals across international schools to get a monthly read on how they are managing learning as the pandemic progresses. Essentially, there are still all three arrangements, of which all our readers are no doubt acutely aware of and about which there are ENDLESS blogs and articles: all virtual,
- [#ChoosetoChallenge GENDER GAP: Don't just mind the gap, Mend the Gap.](https://blog.tieonline.com/choosetochallenge-gender-gap-dont-mind-the-gap-mend-the-gap/) - 8th March is celebrated as International Women's Day. It was first observed in the United States as a remembrance of the 1908 strike of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. This has evolved through the years into a plea for equal rights. In 1949 the People's Republic of China declared March 8 an official holiday (scmp.com); in 1977
- [Credibility vs Visibility](https://blog.tieonline.com/credibility-vs-visibility/) - Lady Gaga has 83.2 million followers on Twitter. The Dalai Lama has approximately 20 million. Cap'n Crunch, the iconic sugary cereal mascot of my youth, has 790. The Weather Channel, 3.8m. Our 'truths' seem to be measured in likes, views, followers and retweets. Visibility, casting itself as the gatekeeper of what we want to believe.
- [The Voice Inside Your Head](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-voice-inside-your-head/) - So I just recently finished reading a fascinating new book by Ethan Kross titled, Chatter. It’s all about that little voice that we have inside our heads, and the power that it has, when not harnessed properly, to lead us down a rabbit hole of negative self talk and endless rumination. This little voice can
- [Identity Role Models Needed: How Teachers' Identities Affirm Diverse Students’ Futures](https://blog.tieonline.com/identity-role-models-needed-how-teachers-identities-affirm-diverse-students-futures/) - This article was originally published on WISEducation. I’m a half-Asian, half-White straight cisgender American male without disabilities of Korean-Japanese and Russian-American Jewish ancestry who speaks English, Spanish, Korean, and Japanese. I’m writing this because it matters to my students. My identity matters for how effectively I can reach, support, and affirm each of them. I
- [GLOBAL BOOK REVIEWS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-12/) - Making Math Fun with Picture Books Picture Books are more than entertainment. They can be great tools to teach concepts such as math. This works for children of all ages and also for second language learners. Here are some of my favourite math picture books: A fun counting book for the very youngest readers, is
- [Deserving Permission](https://blog.tieonline.com/deserving-permission/) - Two bits recently grab my attention as I grapple to better understand each. The first is simply a matter of syntax but the words I hear and choose to use clearly have an impact. The second is of much larger context and regards the commodification of education. “The self-talk you use regularly creates your reality
- [Global Book Reviews](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-11/) - Using Poetry in the Classroom What thousands of teachers have been trying for many years, was recently accomplished by one young poet: Amanda Gorman reawakened the world to the power of poetry. Teaching reading, writing and use of poetry in the classroom can be a powerful tool to help students of all ages realize their
- [The Changing Face of Feedback: Tools, tips and tricks.](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-changing-face-of-feedback-tools-tips-and-tricks/) - Learning is an emotional experience and feedback is an integral aspect of the learning experience. It is a tool for knowledge construction and for making the emotional connection to learning. The hybrid learning model is changing the way we give and receive feedback, teachers need to learn to innovate feedback with the help of technology.
- [Antiracism: Intent vs. Impact](https://blog.tieonline.com/antiracism-intent-vs-impact/) - EMILY: I was giving a training series on privilege and marginalization for a large international organization this summer. During one of the sessions, a Black man shared about a time when, as a student at a prestigious American university, he was studying in the library, when a White man about his age approached and asked if
- [Bridging The Worlds of Teachers and Students](https://blog.tieonline.com/bridging-the-worlds-of-teachers-and-students/) - “Put your hands up if you can name a YouTuber.”“Two Youtubers?”“Keep your hand up if you know three YouTubers.”18.Then, 11.And finally, seven hands remain in the air. “Hands down. Now, raise your hand if you know what is going on in neighboring Myanmar.”Two hands hesitatingly raise up. This fantastical visual served as a reflection of
- [What to Read in 2021](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-to-read-in-2021/) - So it’s that time of the year again when I get to order books for my birthday, which is my favorite gift ever because it keeps on giving for months and months and months. The deal is that I have to finish reading all of last year’s books before I get to order new ones,
- [Teachers burn out as they are burning alone](https://blog.tieonline.com/teachers-burn-out-as-they-are-burning-alone/) - Image created by Shwetangna Chakrabarty on Canva.com Teacher burnout rate has always been a concern. Teachers burn out as they carry the burden of the education system, policies, national ideologies, global perspectives, parental demands, societal pressures while doing their day-to-day job. Burnout is definite and drastic! Teachers burn out as they are burning alone, all
- [What if we taught gender equality?](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-if-we-taught-gender-equality/) - Recently I was asked by students to audition for the TEDxYouth event they are putting together under the theme of ‘What if...’After critically reasoning, I decided to pick a topic close to my heart, gender equality. I framed my question ‘What if we taught gender equality?’ By teaching about gender equality we can aim to
- [GLOBAL BOOK Reviews](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-10/) - Eric Walters is the author of over 100 books. His work includes picture books, early read novels and novels for teens and young adults. Many of these books are ‘everybody’ books and are often realistic fiction based on true stories. He was instrumental in building an orphanage in Kenya, which I was able to visit
- [Leading as Opposed to Managing](https://blog.tieonline.com/leading-as-opposed-to-managing/) - Nearly four centuries ago samurai turned poet Matsuo Manefusa, or Bashō, gave us the gift of Haiku (The inspiration for the Haiku I created above). Similar to Haiku’s time-tested refined distillation of 17 syllables, Twitter constrained users to but 140 characters. More practical than artistic, Twitter was initially designed as an SMS-based platform and 140
- [A Lingering Hug](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-lingering-hug/) - So if you know me really well, or even if you know me just a little bit, you know that I’m a hugger, and the most difficult thing about this pandemic for me is that I can’t hug anyone! Yes, it’s difficult wearing a mask, and I’m not loving the lockdown or the many Covid
- [GLOBAL BOOK REVIEWS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-9/) - Discovering a 'new' favourite author can be a great classroom tool. Their books can be part of a series or they can be very different from each other. Today I'd like you to meet Wendy Orr. Born in Canada, she lives in Australia and writes award winning books. Nim’s Island is a heartwarming tale of
- [COVID HAS MADE OUR PURPOSE COMPELLING](https://blog.tieonline.com/covid-has-made-our-purpose-compelling/) - Recently, at the end of a comprehensive WASC reaccreditation and self-study process, our school was commended by WASC for engaging in long term relationships with outside providers that can support and sustain the work in development, implementation, and continual revision of desired initiatives. This commendation referred to our work with experts who believe in our compassionate
- [A Thread of Silver](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-thread-of-silver/) - So I was walking home from the store the other day through some back alley sidestreets when I stumbled upon a dried up and sad looking Christmas tree lying right in the middle of the lane. It had been blown there by the wind I guess, or maybe just carelessly dumped there by someone who
- [MASTERY MATTERS](https://blog.tieonline.com/mastery-matters/) - “At our faculty meeting yesterday we spent too much time talking about how to give final exams so kids who are home don’t cheat.” So began a Whatsapp message from a friend months ago, her frustration shared by many. COVID-19 caused more than a disruption to education. However, it may be the catalyst that was
- [Summer Camp: Learning without Grades](https://blog.tieonline.com/summer-camp-learning-without-grades/) - With Keri Porter, Director of LAS Summer, Leysin American School. The two of us have a lot of experience with summer camp. Combined, we count over 35 summers as a student, as a counselor or teacher, or as a program administrator. We’ve also spent many academic years learning about schooling - more than we are
- [GLOBAL BOOK REVIEWS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-8/) - Not all people are the same. Recognizing yourself in a story can be a powerful experience. The right book can be a tool to reach out and help a child. Here are some books that show how people can experience different feelings, emotions and conditions. Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox is a beautifully
- [Transgender School Policy: What’s Yours?](https://blog.tieonline.com/transgender-school-policy-whats-yours/) - Follow Me on Twitter @EmilyMeadowsOrg Unless you are a novice educator, you have taught transgender students. You may not have realized it at the time, but I assure you that you have. Increasingly, educators are becoming aware that they have transgender kids in their classrooms, which can sometimes catch us off-guard. Most of us do
- [Happy New Year: Resolutions for Education 2021](https://blog.tieonline.com/happy-new-year-resolutions-for-education-2021/) - The much-awaited and anticipated start to a new year full of new hopes is here! As we step into 2021, we all will look back at 2020 as a year of the education revolution. Prior to COVID19, educators had been contemplating a change in pedagogy; discussing the skills required for a near future; training young
- [CULTURE MAPS, NOT GAPS](https://blog.tieonline.com/culture-maps-not-gaps/) - Atop my wish list for 2021 is a post pandemic world. As it pertains to the field of education, I also hanker for increasing adroitness and understanding. Dexterity if you will, amongst people and cultures. Understanding ourselves and our identities as individuals and collective societies is preliminary. Then, fittingly as international educators, we reflect how
- [Surviving The Worst Case of the Mondays...ever](https://blog.tieonline.com/surviving-the-worst-case-of-the-mondays-ever/) - 2020 may go down in recent history as the worst case of the Mondays....EVER! I don't know about you, but I experienced long stretches of time that felt like Monday was repeating itself day after day and each of those days presented new and unexpected challenges. It seemed like just when things couldn't get worse...they
- [GLOBAL BOOK REVIEWS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-7/) - If you work at an international school, chances are that you like to travel. If you like to read and travel, here are some of my favourite books to curl up with over the holidays. Driving Over Lemons by Chris Stewart, ISBN 978-0375709159 The author and his wife lived in England when, many years ago,
- [Getting Out of Students’ Way](https://blog.tieonline.com/getting-out-of-students-way/) - Education often is steeped in compliance as a result of control. How nourishing the experience can be, when instead of control, context is the driver. In October two students asked if I might be willing to sponsor a club called, “Green Oceans.” The name was intriguing, as were the stickers already affixed to the computers
- [GLOBAL BOOK REVIEWS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-6/) - In this column I review books with special appeal to people around the world. Today I'll share with you books about kindness and honesty - one is a classic, others are brand-new titles. Don't forget to share picture books with older students, too! The Empty Pot by Demi is a beautifullly illustrated picture book for
- [Hierarchy of Needs: the Student Version](https://blog.tieonline.com/hierarchy-of-needs-the-student-version/) - In the time I have been in education, which is almost 15 years now, there has been a constant focus towards addressing student needs. To date it seems we have not met these needs, as they keep increasing and are becoming more and more demanding. Hence there needs to be a structured framework to address
- [Global book reviews](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-5/) - In today’s column I would like to share with you books of wintery tales and seasonal information. These books can all spark discussions about seasons and traditions as well as lead to classroom crafts and activities. Snow Days by Deborah Kerbel is illustrated in collage by Miki Sato. This is a wonderful picture book to
- [Lessons from Watching Online Language Instruction](https://blog.tieonline.com/lessons-from-watching-online-language-instruction/) - My 10-year old was a student in a five-day online language program. Overall she loved it. She learned some German and she learned, more importantly, that learning language is interesting. As a language teacher and language learning enthusiast, I recommend an online language course to the parents of any motivated child. Personally, I learned a
- [Hope springs eternal](https://blog.tieonline.com/hope-springs-eternal/) - So I was having a conversation with a friend of mine the other day about how difficult this past year has been, and he spoke to me about how nervous he is for the upcoming winter months that lie ahead. Just as we were finishing our chat I mentioned to him that deep down I
- [Have you eaten?](https://blog.tieonline.com/have-you-eaten/) - Does the perfunctory “How are you doing?” really cut it anymore? Traditionally, the Chinese inquired, “chī le ma?” Or, “chī fàn le ma?” Literally translated as, “have you eaten?” One origin story points to the significance of the salutation being attached to people’s emotions through food. Closer to home, here in Thailand, people in passing
- [Snow Day](https://blog.tieonline.com/snow-day/) - In 2018 I stood next to a man at a bus stop in Singapore. He was wearing a tee shirt that read, "There's no day like a snow day." I laughed so hard I had to take a picture (to which he obliged). I asked him if he had any idea what it meant, and
- [Global book Reviews](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-4/) - Books truly are ‘windows to the world’. Picture books can be a powerful tool to show kids that they are not the only ones dealing with a problem or coping with feelings. A Quiet Girl by Peter Carnavas is the story of Mary who comes from a loud family. With hairdryers and lawn mowers going,
- [Teachers the Change-Makers: Three lessons from Mahatma Gandhi](https://blog.tieonline.com/teachers-the-change-makers-three-lessons-from-mahatma-gandhi/) - In the recent AIELOC (Association of International Educators and Leaders of Colour) conference I had the opportunity to discuss an issue that requires immediate attention. The teacher diversity ratio in international schools has never been a priority until recently when the Black Lives Matte’ global movement took momentum; there has been an intentional and significant
- [Books About refugees](https://blog.tieonline.com/books-about-refugees/) - BOOKS ABOUT REFUGEES - The recent article in TIE Blog by Matthew Piercy titled The Challenges and Promises of Migration about a virtual refugee experience for his students, inspired me to share these books about refugees with you. Having written my own book about refugees, Stepping Stones, A Refugee Family’s Journey (Orca Books, ISBN 978-1-4598-1490-5)
- [The challenges and promises of migration](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-challenges-and-promises-of-migration/) - How many have slipped on an Oculus or Odyssey headset and experienced virtual reality? Recently a colleague and I intentionally introduced seventh grade students to a unit on migration by seeing firsthand what life is like in a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan. Za’atari is home to more than 80,000, with over half the refugees
- [Whatever Brings You Joy](https://blog.tieonline.com/whatever-brings-you-joy/) - So last week I overheard two friends of mine having a spirited debate over when the correct time was to get out the holiday decorations and to put up their tree. One friend firmly believes that as soon as Halloween is over it’s time to start singing the carols, and the other one absolutely believes
- [Are Students Working or Sleeping?](https://blog.tieonline.com/are-students-working-or-sleeping/) - ARE STUDENTS WORKING OR SLEEPING? Use data to find out!
- [Reform: affordances and hindrances … and crowdsourced success](https://blog.tieonline.com/reform-affordances-and-hindrances-and-crowdsourced-success/) - I suppose there are lots of teachers who are fine leaving schools as they are. Traditional schools have educated a whole lot of people, after all, and the world is working fine. (Or is it? Over 70 million people recently used their vote to endorse Trump’s unpresidential behavior.) But there are also a lot of
- [GLOBAL BOOK REVIEWS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-3/) - Two novels about censorship for elementary/middle school One of my favourite books ever deals with the topic of censorship. Alan Gratz handles it in a smart way in Ban This Book. I read it in two evenings and loved it. This is a brilliant, funny story based on a very real concern, that of banning books
- [A Clear Focus](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-clear-focus/) - So I’ve been taking advantage of the absolute gift of being on campus with students so far this year, by spending a considerable amount of time in classrooms, and it has been a truly joyful experience for me. There are so many things that have impressed me about our teachers lately that I’ve been able
- [G-Suite Enterprise for EDu, Are You ready?](https://blog.tieonline.com/g-suite-enterprise-for-edu-are-you-ready/) - We have fully implemented the new G-Suite Enterprise for Edu.
- [Record All Online Meetings with Apple OS X](https://blog.tieonline.com/record-all-online-meetings-with-apple-os-x/) - This video will show you how to record all audio, video, etc while in online meetings on your Apple OS X machine. Private Recording | Good Audio | Totally Free Tony DePrato | Follow Me on LinkedIn
- [The Scab Faerie](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-scab-faerie/) - If that title doesn’t get your attention, I’m not sure what would. The Scab Faerie is a whimsical children’s book about the many fairies that visit our homes at night. It’s not just teeth they are looking for! I had the pleasure of putting this book together with Sonia, a sophomore at my alma mater,
- [Global book reviews](https://blog.tieonline.com/biographies-strong-voices/) - This Week: BIOGRAPHIES, STRONG VOICES - Picture books for all ages to read and discuss in the classroom. The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota’s Garden by Heather Smith is a perfect picture book to discuss natural disasters with young readers. Based on a true story, this tale is based on the 2010 tsunami in Japan.
- [An Open Letter to Those Who Voted for Trump](https://blog.tieonline.com/an-open-letter-to-those-who-voted-for-trump/) - 8th November 2020 will go down in history as the day that defined the future of the world; a day that restored our faith in humanity; a day that gave hope to millions of people who aspire to make a change and a day that disappointed millions who voted for Trump. Hence, I am writing
- [TOp Ten Teacher Interview Questions for 2020](https://blog.tieonline.com/top-ten-teacher-interview-questions-for-2020/) - Describe your dream house and where it would be, etc. What will be the reason you quit this job if you ever do? What do you need from our school in order for you to be a success? What would you be doing if you were not a teacher? Paint a picture for me of
- [HOW CAN WE PERSUADE BOARDS OF GOVERNORS OR TRUSTEES TO TAKE SCHOOL LEADER WELLBEING SERIOUSLY?](https://blog.tieonline.com/how-can-we-persuade-boards-of-governors-or-trustees-to-take-school-leader-wellbeing-seriously/) - On Thursday I led a Zoom town hall discussion with a large group of Montessori school leaders from across the USA who had reached out to ask for my support. The first question was “how can I make the board of governors/trustees listen and take my wellbeing seriously? The principal asking this question told the
- [How Can School Leaders Manage Increased Community Anxiety During the Second European Lockdown?](https://blog.tieonline.com/how-can-school-leaders-manage-increased-community-anxiety-during-the-second-european-lockdown/) - As Germany, France and the UK move into new national lockdowns this week, the decision has been taken to keep schools open. Anxiety among teaching staff and parents has been climbing since the start of the school year, when the second wave of COVID began to build. As COVID deaths increase to levels not seen
- [BOOKS for booklovers](https://blog.tieonline.com/books-for-booklovers/) - As an avid reader and writer, I love books about books and libraries. Here are some outstanding ones. Every once in a while you pick up a book that makes its way straight to your heart: Alphamaniacs, Builders of 26 Wonders of the Word, written by Paul Fleischman and illustrated by Melissa Sweet is such a
- [The Pygmalion effect: the power of high expectations](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-pygmalion-effect-the-power-of-high-expectations/) - To raise the bar or not to raise the bar? To have high expectations or not to have high expectations? This has been a constant discussion topic in many schools. Many believe in order to be inclusive one should lower the expectations to suit the student’s ability while others strongly disagree. Some even confuse it
- [An Autumn State of Mind](https://blog.tieonline.com/an-autumn-state-of-mind/) - So we’ve reached November and Autumn in France is in full swing. There is so much beauty that goes hand in hand with this time of the school year, and last week was a great example of that as we finished off spirit week in the lower school with the Trunk or Treat event, which
- [GLOBAL BOOK REVIEWS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews-2/) - A Look at our Environment in picture books and novels. Here are some brand-new titles for readers of all ages, dealing with our environment and even with our current global pandemic. This Is My Daddy! by Mies van Hout is a lovely board book for very young readers. Each colourful image shows an animal baby
- [Questions that matter](https://blog.tieonline.com/questions-that-matter/) - Ten years ago my colleagues and I developed a classroom observation tool. Among other data, it tracked how often teachers asked a question to which they did not know the answer. You can probably guess how often this part of the tool was used. If the answer isn’t obvious to you, you might be in
- [Mostly Ghostly Books](https://blog.tieonline.com/mostly-ghostly-books/) - These not-so-obvious scary books are a treat to share around Halloween In this column I share books with you that have global appeal. I hope to help you, in a quick and easy manner, to find the most fabulous books to share with your students. Of course, nothing is better than a read-a-loud - regardless
- [The ipad is a person in your classroom](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-ipad-is-a-person-in-your-classroom/) - Creative and innovative iPad solution for engaging students in the classroom and at home.
- [Diversity Quotient (DQ)](https://blog.tieonline.com/diversity-quotient-dq/) - Having travelled to many countries, taught students from many countries, lived in some countries and worked in a few countries, I realized that there is a common thread amongst international educators, we have a high DQ or Diversity Quotient. We as international educators understand the nuances of living in a multicultural, diverse and pluralistic domain.
- [Gigworker](https://blog.tieonline.com/gigworker/) - Croatians are apparently the tallest people in the world next to the Dutch, or something like that. So, when an Uber driver picked me up with his feet wrapped around the steering wheel of a VW Up! like it was a toy, I wasn't shocked. What caught my attention was that he was also a
- [The Future of Education: What is Future-ready Learning and Why Do Schools Need It?](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-future-of-education-what-is-future-ready-learning-and-why-do-schools-need-it/) - I have been thinking a lot about the longer term impact of COVID on schools. I see a trend of prioritising foundational skills over 21st century skills, in the face of parental and other pressures. I am developing an article on this but I want to set the scene by sharing three articles from the
- [iPads and Ergonomics the ultimate hybrid streaming solution](https://blog.tieonline.com/ipads-and-ergonomics-the-ultimate-hybrid-streaming-solution/) - I’ve developed a very flexible solution with iPads and some ergonomic tools/devices. The main goal was to have tech that was useful all the time, not just during quarantine, and tech that didn’t strain the network with video standards that can’t be handled by personal home networks. The investment would be useful for 3-7 years,
- [GLOBAL BOOK REVIEWS](https://blog.tieonline.com/novels/) - Novels for Teens The Flooded Earth Trilogy by Mardi McConnochie The Flooded Earth, The Castle in the Sea and The Skeleton Coast are three dystopian page turners for middle school. While The Hunger Games was for older readers, these books have the feel of Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass: deliciously scary. The Flooded Earth books
- [Choosing the Right Words](https://blog.tieonline.com/choosing-the-right-words/) - So I had an experience this past week that made me reflect on how much power there is in the language that we use with others, and how important it is to choose our words wisely. You see, our language, both body and verbal, can instantly affect another person’s mood, or the mindset of a
- [7:25 a.m is Not Too Early to Remember](https://blog.tieonline.com/725-a-m-is-not-too-early-to-remember/) - ~Understanding Our Own Emotions is Imperative to Building Relationships It is 7:25 a.m and Mr. Davidson stands at the “threshold,” carefully accounting for how he feels as he encounters each student. Greeting each child by name as they enter class first took root as a habit, after reading Doug Lemov’s #1 New York Times Best
- [Maybe Google isn't the issue](https://blog.tieonline.com/maybe-google-isnt-the-issue/) - I highly recommend checking out the podcasts at Modern Learners. Often a single podcast spins off a number of ideas in multiple directions, under the general theme of teaching and learning more fitting for our current times. For example, at the end of a podcast with futurist Brian Alexander (August 11, 2019), a single comment
- [#LEARNINGNEVERSTOPS (International Teacher’s Day)](https://blog.tieonline.com/learningneverstops-international-teachers-day/) - International Teacher’s Day or World Teachers' Day is celebrated on 5th October to recognize the rights and responsibilities of teachers. The commemoration of this day was initiated by ILO/UNESCO to come up with recommendations about the status of teachers. This year, the theme for celebrating International Teachers' Day 2020, is “Teachers: Leading in crisis, reimagining
- [GLOBAL BOOK REVIEWS](https://blog.tieonline.com/global-book-reviews/) - Picture books about friends, compassion, and nature The Word For Friend, by Aidan Cassie is the perfect picture book for international schools. Kemala moves to a new home and will attend a new school. But her classmates speak a different language. How can she play with them if she can’t understand them? This book cleverly
- [Leading Through a Pandemic: How Can We Support Middle Leader Wellbeing?](https://blog.tieonline.com/leading-through-a-pandemic-how-can-we-support-middle-leader-wellbeing/) - In my post Are Schools Asking Too Much of Middle Leaders? I examined how the current COVID crisis is leaving many middle leaders exhausted and disillusioned with some close to burnout. Since the article was published last week, I have been contacted by middle leaders from around the world who relate to the issues raised in my
- [Taipei American School’s Policy for Transgender Students](https://blog.tieonline.com/taipei-american-schools-policy-for-transgender-students/) - www.emilymeadows.org @emilymeadowsorg A couple of years ago, I published a post encouraging international schools to adopt a school-wide policy for transgender students. Taipei American School has done just that, leading the way in supporting gender diverse students. I interviewed Adam Nelson, a member of the committee that implemented the policy. Adam Nelson is the Interim
- [A Shot of Courage](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-shot-of-courage/) - So I’ve been thinking a lot about courage these days, and how a simple courageous act can not only change your life, but the lives of others as well. This past week I was privileged enough to witness two incredible acts of courage by people in my life, who not only faced down their fears
- [Ken and Covid: Two disruptive forces that changed my life](https://blog.tieonline.com/ken-and-covid-two-disruptive-forces-that-changed-my-life/) - When I saw Ken Robinson's cleverly animated video about how schools kill creativity in 2007 , I knew that my teaching career would never be the same. It was the tail end of the No Child Left Behind epoch when schools had become barren deserts of accountability and pedantic threats about performance. When Covid hit
- [Leading Through a Pandemic: Are Schools Asking Too Much of Middle Leaders?](https://blog.tieonline.com/leading-through-a-pandemic-are-schools-asking-too-much-of-middle-leaders/) - The COVID crisis has brought new and unexpected demands for already overburdened middle leaders in schools around the world. Middle leaders are the linchpins holding our schools together but a significant number are struggling to cope with unprecedented challenges of the current situation, leaving them feeling trapped between the expectations of their principals and the
- [Meeting Learners Wherever They May Be](https://blog.tieonline.com/meeting-learners-wherever-they-may-be/) - “Aim for the middle of the square,” I encourage an 8-year old boy on my basketball team. The power of geometry on full display. Meanwhile, another player kicks the ball against the gymnasium wall, seemingly confusing basketball for soccer. Two others chase each other in a game of tag. Out of the corner of my
- [Leading Through the pandemic: Is school leader loneliness increasing under covid?](https://blog.tieonline.com/leading-through-the-pandemic-is-school-leader-loneliness-increasing-under-covid/) - My article The Loneliness of the International School Leader from 2018, is by far my most read and commented upon post, striking a chord with school leaders around the world. Since the publication of Is an Epidemic of COVID Burnout Awaiting our School Leaders?, I have been contacted by many wanting to share their own current experiences of
- [Pivot](https://blog.tieonline.com/pivot/) - Schools have adapted very well to the logistics of the current pandemic. Congratulations. Masks, hallway directions, temp checks, social distancing. New timetables. Now for the hard part. What are we going to promise about the learning? Continued excellence in the IB and AP? Reading and writing above grade level? Ivy leagues? I, for one, do
- [Setting the Tone](https://blog.tieonline.com/setting-the-tone/) - So last Thursday we had our virtual Open House event in the Lower School, and with that last puzzle piece we successfully opened up the new school year. It’s surreal to think that we’ve been in school for almost a month, and in many ways it’s been a whirlwind of uncertainty, patience and flexibility. Mixed
- [On the Basis of Sex: A Tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg](https://blog.tieonline.com/on-the-basis-of-sex-a-tribute-to-ruth-bader-ginsburg/) - The death of Ruth Bader comes as a shock to me, of course, because the world lost yet another powerful, inspiring, courageous and independent women. But it also comes as a shock because of the shenanigans about her death. Don’t read this wrong! What I mean is, I am grateful and thankful that Ruth Bader
- [Leading Through the Pandemic: Is an Epidemic of COVID Burnout Awaiting our School Leaders?](https://blog.tieonline.com/leading-through-the-pandemic-is-an-epidemic-of-covid-burnout-awaiting-our-school-leaders/) - A year ago, at the start of the 2019-20 school year, I took the decision to retire from work at the end of the year, at the age of 56. I feel no shame in admitting that 15 years as a senior leader in international schools has taken its toll on me. In May 2019,
- [Slacker or Hacker?](https://blog.tieonline.com/slacker-or-hacker/) - I’ve always thought of myself as a non-conformist, even though I have a strong inkling that others view me very much as a conformist. Perhaps this is why I feel so at home in Switzerland - I’m a non-conformist committed to following the rules. I’m willing to put up with a fair number of constraints
- [Time for Action: Reaching Unity in Diversity](https://blog.tieonline.com/time-for-action-reaching-unity-in-diversity/) - I am sitting in a room surrounded by fellow teachers and administrators, mindful of our physical distance. A grin on my face, not because we just successfully concluded our fifth week of classes. Rather, I am tickled by the irony. Distanced, we discuss “togetherness.” More specifically, intercultural competencies was to be the focus of our
- [A Focus on Identity](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-focus-on-identity/) - “We felt heard, we felt understood, we felt visible.”—Sara K. Ahmed, Being The Change As educators, it’s easy to get tied up in what we’re teaching: which standards, content, units, skills. How we teach (our craft) and why we teach (our purpose) also attract plenty of our attention. With the reality of covid-19 distance learning,
- [Aboutitis to Applytitis](https://blog.tieonline.com/aboutitis-to-applytitis/) - The word aboutitis was quoted by Professor David Perkins (1998), one of the founders of Harvard’s Project Zero. Let me explain, aboutitis is a disease that plagues education where the learner knows a lot ‘about’ the subject and knows about everything. Another way of describing aboutitis is that the learner has a lot of knowledge
- [You Can't Put a Mask On Love](https://blog.tieonline.com/you-cant-put-a-mask-on-love/) - So last week I wrote about how educators from all around the world are rising up, staring down and accepting the many challenges that this new school year is presenting...in it’s many different forms. From the ever changing government restrictions and school protocols, to the updated and implemented plans for distance learning and online education,
- [Tapping into Feedback](https://blog.tieonline.com/tapping-into-feedback/) - “Is this summative or formative?” A question as contriving as common. Often latent in the query is the presupposition that summatives are the end all, be all. Possibly implicit in the question is a credo, “Well, if it is just formative it is practice, so it really does not count.” Count? Everything "counting," the teacher
- [Fun in the Times of Hybrid Learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/fun-in-the-times-of-hybrid-learning/) - The dictionary meaning of hybrid is “the offspring of two animals or plants of different breeds, varieties, species, or genera, especially as produced through human manipulation for specific genetic characteristics”, and if you search for the meaning of 'Hybrid Learning' you will encounter various definitions that sugarcoat the awkward marriage of online and onsite teaching
- [Self-Compassion: Putting on your own mask first](https://blog.tieonline.com/self-compassion-putting-on-your-own-mask-first/) - The International School Yangon is a community of compassionate global citizens: We aim to develop lifelong learners who will be a force for positive change in the world. In the face of a global pandemic, our teachers have personified our Mission and Vision through their commitment to our students and a willingness to professionally and
- [Make it Stick: Learning to teach and teaching to learn](https://blog.tieonline.com/make-it-stick-learning-to-teach-and-teaching-to-learn/) - In his book, The Barcelona Way, Professor Damian Hughes promotes The Mad Men Method (named after the show of the same name) as a way to improve our working lives. The basic premise is to stop and think about what we are doing (or not doing) now that our grandchildren will find ridiculous fifty years from now. This
- [Challenge Accepted](https://blog.tieonline.com/challenge-accepted/) - So we’ve been back to school with students on campus for three days now, with strict restrictions and protocols in place, and I’m feeling very, very grateful. It’s been a lot of work and a lot of planning to get ready for the opening of the school year, and even though the ground may shift
- [3-D Teaching](https://blog.tieonline.com/3-d-teaching/) - The start of a new school year resulted in my taking a bit of a hiatus in blogging. No doubt, being in three places at the same time has provided some challenge. Three places? Live with five classes of twenty-something pre-teens wiggling before me in the classroom. Getting to know students and putting faces with
- [E-volution: Post COVID Darwinism](https://blog.tieonline.com/e-volution-post-covid-darwinism/) - Technology is shaping how we evolve as human beings, we are actually witnessing Darwinism. I would like to explain it this way, we are evolving into a new race due to technology. The way we think, we learn, we synthesise and we process is changing this very moment that I am typing my thoughts. Post Covid19,
- [From classroom to learning space](https://blog.tieonline.com/from-classroom-to-learning-space/) - Sometimes a little avocation creeps into your life that you might not notice until someone else points it out for you. Maybe there’s something that you have to get done so you take care of it, and that leads to another something or other that needs getting done, and pretty soon you know a little
- [Understanding the Cultural Context in Education](https://blog.tieonline.com/understanding-the-cultural-context-in-education/) - I started teaching in China in 2019; even though I was recruited to teach the international curriculum to a diverse population of students, I found myself learning a lot about the educational philosophy and the cultural context in China. I discovered the underlying principles of education in China deep-rooted to the Confucianism philosophy. Teaching an
- [Re-Design, Don't Reopen](https://blog.tieonline.com/re-design-dont-reopen/) - I read a post recently that said re-opening is going to be like playing three dimensional chess in a hurricane on one leg. Ok, maybe in New York public schools. Besides that, it's really not that dramatic. Use common sense. Social distance. Wash your hands. Wear a mask. It's not rocket science. We didn't have
- [School leadership during Covid-19 - what does it actually mean?](https://blog.tieonline.com/school-leadership-during-covid-19-what-does-it-actually-mean/) - I am always fascinated by the interpretation of this role across the world, and what different school boards identify as priority when they are recruiting a new head. I say this because I have experienced serving with several school heads who were totally different in role and personality and influenced the school in diverse ways.
- [TEACHER WELLBEING IN THE NEW NORMAL](https://blog.tieonline.com/teacher-wellbeing-in-the-new-normal/) - Schools are soon going to reopen next month after the summer holidays; teachers, staff and students will be stepping into a new normal in the midst of a raging worldwide pandemic. Schools will be either online, onsite or blended, depending on their geographical region. A common factor in the new normal is that everyone wants
- [Schools of the Future](https://blog.tieonline.com/schools-of-the-future/) - Recently I went back to the Schools of the Future report by the World Economic Forum (WEF). It’s dated January 2020. If you haven’t had a chance to take a look at their recommendations and the exemplary programs they chose to highlight, you probably should take a minute to do that now. I won’t be
- [2020 Results Rollercoaster](https://blog.tieonline.com/2020-results-rollercoaster/) - Last week the International Baccalaureate(IB) results were declared and since then I have heard many complaints from students and teachers alike about how unfair the results have been. Surprisingly only a handful of stakeholders in education have truly understood how the final grades were calculated. I will not be discussing how these grades were generated
- [Tired: Celebrating Diversity / Wired: Antiracist Education](https://blog.tieonline.com/tired-celebrating-diversity-wired-antiracist-education/) - www.emilymeadows.org @msmeadowstweets Talking about racism can be awfully uncomfortable, particularly for white people since we so rarely have to think about race in our daily lives, and we certainly do not consider ourselves part of the problem. Racist people use nasty slurs, they dress up in blackface/white hoods/swastikas, they refuse to be friends with people
- [A semantic difficulty for school reform](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-semantic-difficulty-for-school-reform/) - Paul is working with ScrumAlliance on the first agile certification specifically for educators: the Agile Certified Educator. For the better part of a year I’ve been working with a small group on a new approach to teaching and learning. At least, we believe it is new. But sometimes we question ourselves. Here’s the issue. As
- [Summer of 2020: Once in a Century Opportunity](https://blog.tieonline.com/summer-of-2020-once-in-a-century-opportunity/) - This summer holiday is an exception, it is once in a century that schools are closed and there are no travel plans! No frantic last-minute packing, no reminders set for online check-in, no travel maps downloaded and no one waiting for you on the other side of the globe. The 'Summer of 2020' is ushering
- [“You don’t understand, Dad, your skin is white!”](https://blog.tieonline.com/you-dont-understand-dad-your-skin-is-white/) - Like many international school educators, I have found myself confined to a distant country during this period of the COVID-19 pandemic. In my case, Myanmar, where borders have closed, flights into the country have ceased to exist, and departures are limited to relief flights organized by embassies and INGOs for people not anticipating a return
- [Juneteenth & the June Issue](https://blog.tieonline.com/juneteenth-the-june-issue/) - How's your neck today? Me, I'm feeling the whiplash. As editor of The International Educator newspaper, it's my job to stay abreast of events that impact our sector so I can help to keep all of you informed in turn. Hence the neck problem. I've got to be honest: in the midst of the massive
- [Plato’s Allegory of the Cave: The Sacrifice of George Floyd!](https://blog.tieonline.com/platos-allegory-of-the-cave-the-sacrifice-of-george-floyd/) - The George Floyd incident has sparked a worldwide debate on racism forcing people across the world to take action against unprecedented acts of discrimination, violence and irrationalism. Infact a closer look into the depth of this behaviour will reveal an insecure, irrational, inhuman face of the so-called 'humans'. And interestingly there is another behaviour- that
- [Racism alive in 2020- As school leaders what are the lessons we are teaching our international school communities?](https://blog.tieonline.com/racism-alive-in-2020-as-school-leaders-what-are-the-lessons-we-are-teaching-our-international-school-communities/) - As the sun goes down in beautiful Surrey tonight, tensions are high in my multi cultural household of 3 people. A caucasiian husband, african black mother and a biracial child who identifies strongly with both cultures, and is comfortable with who she is. We are all processing the events of the past week from our
- [Leaders of Color Launch “I Am Not a Virus” Campaign](https://blog.tieonline.com/leaders-of-color-launch-i-am-not-a-virus-campaign/) - The Association of International Educators and Leaders of Color decries anti-black discrimination in China prompted by the coronavirus pandemic and insists that schools respond. By Meadow Dibble TIE Editor Medical experts understand the importance of properly naming what ails us. That is why the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses went to the trouble
- [Life of ‘The International Educator’-the story of never leaving school.](https://blog.tieonline.com/life-of-the-international-educator-the-story-of-never-leaving-school/) - A profession that inspires you to climb the highest peak in a continent; to dive into the depths of the ocean and swim along with the whale sharks; a workplace that lets you collaborate with people from all over the world; a classroom that exposes you to multiple languages and cultures; a cafeteria that has
- [Feet, You Had Feet?](https://blog.tieonline.com/feet-you-had-feet/) - Love In The Time of Corona and Other Musings... When I was younger in the U.S., there was an old Roy Rogers commercial playing with two men arguing about who had it harder growing up. They started talking about walking to school long distances, not having shoes, then socks, ending up with the punch line
- [Whilst on Lockdown - praise to the educators!](https://blog.tieonline.com/whilst-on-lockdown-praise-to-the-educators/) - Whilst on lockdown.. Hail and praise be to all Educators! No one would have ever believed that in 2020 we would be globally fighting an invisible enemy that would bring schools as we know them to a standstill and would force us to come together and really bring 21st century thinking skills to life. As
- [Riding the Wave: A Disruption Epiphany](https://blog.tieonline.com/riding-the-wave-a-disruption-epiphany/) - There comes a point in surfing where you either commit to where that force of nature is going to bring you or you duck under and hope for another day. It feels like we've been ducking under for a long time, let's say since 1999 clicked to 2000. Has that been long enough waiting for
- [Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, What Big Disasters Tell Us All.](https://blog.tieonline.com/mirror-mirror-on-the-wall-what-big-disasters-tell-us-all/) - A small gathering of people, heads bowed, sit on makeshift benches in the open air of a small town in the American West, surrounded by the rubble of what used to be their church. A powerful nation, wounded by a brazen and public act of violence that crumbles two symbols of its economy, impulsively reacts
- [Home schooling, virtual learning, blended learning... what are we actually doing?](https://blog.tieonline.com/home-schooling-virtual-learning-blended-learning-what-are-we-actually-doing/) - The reality of the past few months is that we were all propelled into a new world and forced to react and act all at the same time. Governments made decisions about schools and schooling with assumptions that many schools were already operating in the 21st century, so would be ready for what we have
- [Uplift: Contextual Exploration and Building Student Confidence](https://blog.tieonline.com/uplift-contextual-exploration-and-building-student-confidence/) - This is the third in a series of four posts based on ongoing conversations with Bill Tihen. On a recent Sunday morning I was playing badminton with my nine-year old daughter. Our rallies were extraordinarily long, we had really gotten the hang of it. Then she said, “Let’s count how many we do!” She served
- [Why Kanban?](https://blog.tieonline.com/why-kanban/) - In the previous post I mentioned that my daughter Emma’s Kanban board was demonstrating three basic Kanban principles. These are making work visual, limiting the amount of work you are doing at one time, and managing workflow. Making work visual I’m chuckling as I write this because it seems like putting all the work you
- [Are we helping students get comfortable with change? Part 2](https://blog.tieonline.com/are-we-helping-students-get-comfortable-with-change-part-2/) - with Bill Tihen, Software Developer at Garaio, Bern, and former teacher and IT director at LAS See Part 1 with this same title, in which Bill and I point out the irony that our busy academic schedules, created and driven by our push to cover lots of material efficiently, squeeze out exploration and making mistakes.
- [I Miss the Kids Like Crazy](https://blog.tieonline.com/i-miss-the-kids-like-crazy/) - So as we inch closer to our third month of distance learning, and continue to find creative ways to engage students from home each and every day, I have to admit something...I miss the kids like crazy. There is so much about this new normal that is challenging, and sustaining the emotional energy can be
- [Are we helping students get comfortable with change? Part 1](https://blog.tieonline.com/are-we-helping-students-get-comfortable-with-change-part-1/) - with Bill Tihen, Software Developer at Garaio, Bern, and former teacher and IT director at LAS We want - or we should want - to give our students safe experiences to deal with change, whether it is changing their approach, changing the way they perceive things, or changing themselves. Because if there is one thing
- [Bouncing Back!](https://blog.tieonline.com/bouncing-back/) - Schools in China are back in business! With the Covid19 curve flattening in China almost all schoolsincluding international schools have reopened. What does it look like on the ground? Let us take a brief tour of how staff and students are trying to bounce back on their feet after the pandemic. Stage one: reopening(suddenly) The
- [Lockdown Learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/lockdown-learning/) - So I was on a Zoom call with some old friends the other day, all of us in very different lines of work, and someone asked what was the most significant "new" learning that we have each experienced since the lockdown began. At the time we all answered flippantly and had a few laughs at
- [Unschool](https://blog.tieonline.com/unschool/) - Like so many parents across the world, I’ve been watching, and occasionally helping, my 9-year old navigate online learning. I have it pretty easy, with all of the resources one needs, a fourth grade curriculum that isn’t too demanding, a spouse that is doing a greater share of the work than me, and a wonderful,
- [Reaching Out](https://blog.tieonline.com/reaching-out/) - So just about a week ago I woke up to the news of the mass shooting in my home province of Nova Scotia, Canada. With each new tragic update and gutting confirmation that what had happened was actually real, my heart shrunk and my mind went numb. That first day was dark indeed, and my
- [A CHANGED WORLD: UNIVERSITY 2020](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-changed-world-university-2020/) - It’s been 10 weeks since I started teaching online. While the world is learning to deal with this colossal change in approaches to teaching and learning, being an international school teacher in China I am already feeling the fatigue and anxiety that comes with teaching remotely. My peers will agree that not a single training
- [Cybersecurity Part 5: Where Did You Put Your Resources](https://blog.tieonline.com/cybersecurity-part-5-where-did-you-put-your-resources/) - This is a video. Enjoy.
- [Just wondering about why we do not need empathy, thank you very much.](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-about-why-we-do-not-need-empathy-thank-you-very-much/) - According the Oxford dictionary, we can define empathy as « the ability to understand another person’s feelings, experience, etc ». In the same dictionary, sympathy is defined as « the feeling of being sorry for somebody; showing that you understand and care about somebody’s problems ». This already sounds more like what we need right now. And finally, the
- [Kanban](https://blog.tieonline.com/kanban/) - For several years now we’ve been talking about agility at Leysin American School. There is just something so compelling about managing your work, either alone or with a team, in an easy, visible way. A simple Kanban board (or scrum board) is a great place to start. The simplest version has columns for tasks you
- [The Time is Now](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-time-is-now/) - There is a moment in the morning when everything feels right. The sun peaks through the trees making the world outside a beautiful shade of gold. There is stillness. That feeling of calm fades when I start up my laptop. First, I check the school closure facebook groups to see what questions people are struggling
- [Does Changing Assessment Improve Instruction?](https://blog.tieonline.com/does-changing-assessment-improve-instruction/) - In 2015-2016 we planned a new middle school, with a minimalistic standards based grading system. In the same year, a math teacher piloted standards based grading in one of her grade 10 classes. The success of these two experiences led to whole school work on assessment in 2017-2018, culminating with an inservice by Ken O’Connor,
- [A Virtual Hug](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-virtual-hug/) - So just like thousands of schools around the world these days, we have been thrust into the reality of distance learning. We managed to successfully navigate through the first four days with our community just last week, and for the most part it went really well. We had plenty of success stories and celebrations, and
- [Will Covid-19 Kill Homework?](https://blog.tieonline.com/will-covid-19-kill-homework/) - After our first full virtual learning day, I looked to my daughter finishing her dinner and said, smiling, "So, do you have any homework?" We both broke out laughing hysterically (as one can do in these dystopian times) and then fell quiet. "No, actually, I don't," she said with confidence. "And there's nothing you can
- [Splashes of Yellow](https://blog.tieonline.com/splashes-of-yellow/) - So sometimes the road leading out of winter and into spring can be long, and in countries like France, it means clouds and rain and a constant chill in the air. You can find yourself longing for a burst of sunshine and if you’re not careful it can start to negatively affect your energy and
- [Visiting Scholars](https://blog.tieonline.com/visiting-scholars/) - Our school has been hosting visiting scholars for the past six years. To date nearly fifty graduate students, business people, teachers, and professors have lived and worked with our faculty on curriculum, research, and other projects. As I write, one scholar, now on her third visit, is taking the train to visit a student in
- [What to Read in 2020](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-to-read-in-2020/) - So it’s that time again and I’m super excited...new books for a new year! I just finished my final couple of books from 2019 over the February break, and I’ve spent the last week or so compiling my list for 2020…I’ve looked at book reviews and online articles, I’ve combed through book stores, and I’ve
- [Cybersecurity Part 4: Surviving Ransomware](https://blog.tieonline.com/cybersecurity-part-4-surviving-ransomware/) - Ransomware, in its most basic form, is self-explanatory. Data is captured, encrypted, and held for ransom until a fee is paid. The two most common forms of ransomware delivery are through email and websites.
- [Demos and feedback: Students learning from each other](https://blog.tieonline.com/demos-and-feedback-students-learning-from-each-other/) - This the fourth and final blog post in a series of reflections with Bill Tihen. I am pleased that, just as we finish processing Bill’s notes from his November visit with LAS visiting scholar Bret Thayer, Bill has scheduled a new visit to attend the ECIS STEAM conference we are hosting March 6-7. Students must learn
- [Turning Conversation Into Action](https://blog.tieonline.com/turning-conversation-into-action/) - So I just returned home from the AAIE 2020 conference and frankly, I'm inspired. Actually, more than inspiration I'm feeling empowered and profoundly called to action as a result of the conversations that we all engaged in throughout the three days in New York. The themes that we deeply dove into revolved around diversity, inclusion, equity, and social justice, and
- [The Educational Advance of the Decade Will Be Gender & Sexual Diversity Inclusion](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-educational-advance-of-the-decade-will-be-gender-sexual-diversity-inclusion/) - If we consider the conservative end of the bracket, and posit that only 5% of people in the world are gender or sexually diverse today, this constitutes about 400 million individuals. If that was the population of a country, it would be the third largest nation on earth.
- [Fata 'Magana'](https://blog.tieonline.com/post-sonny-speaks/) - A reflection after hearing Sonny Magana speak about his book...
- [Not So Hot for Teacher?](https://blog.tieonline.com/not-so-hot-for-teacher/) - To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection. Jules Henri Poincaré (1854 – 1912)
- [A sad little metaphor](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-sad-little-metaphor/) - This past semester, visiting scholar Bilge Kalkavan and I chuckled over a metaphor of school as an amusement park. We hypothesized different booths, like those where you get to knock down clowns with a ball or toss rings around bottle necks, but organized like school instead of an amusement park. Would it work? And what
- [Every Day is a Lesson](https://blog.tieonline.com/every-day-is-a-lesson/) - So I turned 50 years old this past week and honestly, it feels pretty good. I was fabulously spoiled by my family and my friends, and by my students and colleagues, and it was such a great day that I think I'll find a way to turn 50 again next year as well :) The
- [Pull vs. Push](https://blog.tieonline.com/pull-vs-push/) - This is the second in a series of four posts based on ongoing conversations with Bill Tihen. Bill doesn’t hesitate to make a big claim now and again. I think it’s because he’s had a long history with schools, but is not working in one now. Perspective comes with distance, and so does the freedom
- [Been There Done That: leadership of a smaller school](https://blog.tieonline.com/been-there-done-that-leadership-of-a-smaller-school/) - Been There Done That: leadership of a smaller school The 2003 – 04 school year found me finishing up a four-year stint as head of a small start up school in Grand Cayman. Having gone from 90 students to 300 during that period, I found myself wanting to make the leap from the challenges that
- [Research Centers in School](https://blog.tieonline.com/research-centers-in-school/) - Over the last decade, we have built a research and professional development center at our school. We call it LASER, as in Leysin American School (LAS) Educational Research. This past week I stepped back to notice how far we’ve come and how closely our center resembles research centers at the university. Here’s a quick synopsis
- [Getting agile at school](https://blog.tieonline.com/getting-agile-at-school/) - Almost 20 years ago, a group of software engineers published what they called the Agile Manifesto. In it they outlined how they envisioned working. They focused squarely on people, collaborating with each other and the customer, delivering pieces of the final product in short, regular intervals. They imagined that working this way would be more
- [School Perspective on Reporting School Exam Grades](https://blog.tieonline.com/school-perspective-on-reporting-school-exam-grades/) - Every year we put some substantial effort into looking at our IB and IGCSE exam results - understanding patterns, seeing trends and considering where we can make improvements. Each department does an analysis, and we triangulate against our predictions, historic data and other schools. It’s a lot of work behind the scenes, and each year
- [Roots of Agile for Education](https://blog.tieonline.com/roots-of-agile-for-education/) - Not insignificantly, agility affected my personal framing of work and my thinking about how to get work done. My colleague Bill pointed this out to me one day. “You can’t go back, you know,” is what he said. So I started asking others working with agility if they had experienced something similar. They had, ranging
- [The importance of context, challenge, and exploration so students find and build on their own strengths](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-importance-of-context-challenge-and-exploration-so-students-find-and-build-on-their-own-strengths/) - For several years, I had the opportunity to regularly put ideas into practice during the day and debrief them after dinner with my good friend, Bill Tihen. It turns out Bill is, as I jokingly yet seriously remind him from time to time, one of the greatest curriculum theorists I’ve ever met. Bill is unique
- [Does Anyone Have Data That Supports Technology As Having a Net Positive Effect on Student Achievement?](https://blog.tieonline.com/does-anyone-have-any-data-that-supports-technology-as-having-a-net-positive-effect-on-student-achievement/) - As I work my way through the first months of changes in my life from “not working in a school” for the first time in a decade and a half, I am the first to feel ruffled feathers by this question as I most recently left a position of "Director of Digital Learning." Shouldn't I
- [Digital Citizenship to Digital Fluency](https://blog.tieonline.com/digital-citizenship-to-digital-fluency/) - 2020 is an opportunity for schools to re-explore their relationship to digital citizenship. The growing erosion of our privacy as well as our amplified cohabitation with Artificial Intelligence (AI) present us with new challenges. We are tracked 24/7 with digital ecosystem grids which have become seamless and frictionless parts of our daily routines. In (The
- [Something in the Air](https://blog.tieonline.com/something-in-the-air/) - So here we are at the very beginning of a brand new year, and even more exciting than that for me, the start of a brand new decade. I’m a little bit more inspired than usual honestly because there seems to be something in the air, a significant shift or tipping point that has finally
- [CyberSecurity Part 3: Simple Penetration Testing for K12 Schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/cybersecurity-part-3-simple-penetration-testing-for-k12-schools/) - Doing as much due diligence as possible before contracting someone will not only save time and money, but it will also help to further educate the community.
- [Just wondering about concluding my hiring journey.](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-about-concluding-my-hiring-journey/) - As I am about to embark on my last semester full of opportunities and exciting challenges here at Academia Cotopaxi, and since I went through an intense and rich process to look for a new position, I am now taking a step back to reflect on what I have learned from the fantastic educators, faculty,
- [10 Feet Tall and Bulletproof](https://blog.tieonline.com/10-feet-tall-and-bulletproof/) - So this week I had several students sent to my office to be celebrated. It is literally my favorite part of the day when a student arrives at my door, with a teacher by their side, holding a book or a piece of writing or simply just standing there empty handed excited to share something
- [Goodbye, Columbus](https://blog.tieonline.com/goodbye-columbus/) - I write this farewell missive from the traditional homeland of the Wabanaki, or “People of the Dawnland,” a collective name for the indigenous populations that for the past 13,000 years have occupied the territory we now refer to as northern New England, the Canadian Maritimes, and Quebec. That, right there, is a land acknowledgement, by
- [CyberSecurity Part 1: Social Engineering](https://blog.tieonline.com/cybersecurity-part-1-social-engineering/) - I have noticed an uptick recently in schools moving resources, money and time, to address cybersecurity concerns. The motivation for addressing security issues is genuine, but the approach and implementations I am reading about are less than effective.
- [Do I Have a Choice?](https://blog.tieonline.com/do-i-have-a-choice/) - So when I was a kid I didn't have much choice in what I learned in school. I remember clearly as a whole class having to read the same books and to write about the same things, and having to do the same math worksheets, and having to research the same topics in Social Studies,
- [Giving Thanks](https://blog.tieonline.com/giving-thanks/) - So with American Thanksgiving coming up this Thursday, I want to post an updated and reworked list of some of the things that I am genuinely thankful for as an educator. I'm writing this from a hotel room, as the sun rises over sleepy Luxembourg, ready to head off for day 2 of an Inquiry-Based
- [Routine: The Boring Lifeblood of International Schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/routine-the-boring-lifeblood-of-international-schools/) - "Who wants meatloaf? Does anyone want meatloaf? Katia, do you want meatloaf?" "No, I want salad," she says, looking disinterested. "Last chance for meatloaf," the veteran social studies teacher of 27 years repeats. She sighs, typing in the last two names. "Okay," she says, "the meatloaf is really good. The rest of you are going
- [Unintended Consequences](https://blog.tieonline.com/unintended-consequences/) - So I just finished reading a truly fascinating book titled, Loonshots, by Safi Bahcall, which I highly recommend by the way, and that book coupled with a few recent experiences at school and in my personal life have got me thinking deeply about the law of unintended consequences. You hear people all the time saying things
- [Connecting with Students as a Technology Leader](https://blog.tieonline.com/connecting-with-students-as-a-technology-leader/) - By Tony DePrato | Follow Me on LinkedIn Often in leadership, it is difficult to keep those important connections that once motivated us to work in education. Meetings, software, cloud platforms, and numerous other tasks can easily overwhelm a schedule and make it difficult to connect with students in a meaningful way. Here are some
- [A Sense of Wonder](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-sense-of-wonder/) - In 1974, a young boy named Harold Whittles is about to experience his world in a new and astounding way. For the first five years of his life preceding this moment, Harold has not heard the sounds around him as he has been deaf since birth. This is about to change as technological advances have
- [The Absolute Best Accessory for Your Apple Laptop](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-absolute-best-accessory-for-your-apple-laptop/) - By Tony DePrato | Follow Me on LinkedIn I am not one to recommend products. However, lately I have come to realize that since Apple removed all the useful ports on their laptops, I am reliant on a single $2.00 piece of hardware: a USB C-Port Adapter. This little piece of plastic magic makes my
- [Civic Responsibilities](https://blog.tieonline.com/civic-responsibilities/) - One of the many things I appreciate and admire about Switzerland is the collective commitment to civic responsibility. The pragmatic Swiss approach to the establishment of community norms in combination with both an individual and societal belief in supporting and adhering to these agreements have resulted in a country that runs incredibly well. ISZL's commitment
- [What's Your WHY?](https://blog.tieonline.com/whats-your-why/) - So for the past several years I've been working as an adjunct professor for Endicott College, teaching Master's Degree classes on change management and innovation in education. It's something that I truly enjoy for a number of reasons, but mostly because it provides me the opportunity to learn with educators from all around the world. With
- [Performance: A poor proxy for future success](https://blog.tieonline.com/performance-a-poor-proxy-for-future-success/) - https://mikesimpson.blog I have just finished reading Professor Damian Hughes’ The Barcelona Way. I believe that many parallels can be drawn between sport and education. This certainly rang true as I read this entertaining and insightful analysis of the winning culture of one of the world’s most successful football teams. FC Barcelona takes great pride in
- [“That Would Never Work Here”: Overcoming Context Paralysis on Behalf of Gender & Sexual Minorities Worldwide](https://blog.tieonline.com/that-would-never-work-here-overcoming-context-paralysis-on-behalf-of-gender-sexual-minorities-worldwide/) - www.emilymeadows.org @msmeadowstweets The title of this blog is the same as the that of a book chapter I wrote, published last month in the Annual Review of Comparative & International Education 2018. In it, I coin the term context paralysis, a reluctance to engage with issues when the cultural context may make doing so difficult.
- [Transformative Competencies](https://blog.tieonline.com/transformative-competencies/) - The Future of Education and Skills 2030, published by the OECD, identifies three “transformative competencies” that students need to contribute to and thrive in our world. The first competency is about creating new value and our commitment to innovate and “think outside the box” to shape better lives. This focus integrates a sense of purpose with
- [Never Odd or Even](https://blog.tieonline.com/never-odd-or-even/) - “Never odd or even.” Why not start a blog post celebrating the beauty and oddities of language with an intriguingly perplexing phrase that is also a palindrome – a word or a sentence that reads the same backwards? First, my apologies in advance to anyone who suffers from a fear of palindromes, or what the
- [Strength in Numbers](https://blog.tieonline.com/strength-in-numbers/) - So I was walking down the hallway this past Thursday on the way back to my office when I passed by a group of students working together outside of the library. I stopped, turned around, and went over to hear what they were discussing, and as I was sitting down, one of the students said,
- [Just wondering about the concept of citizenship in our world of international education](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-about-the-concept-of-citizenship-in-our-world-of-international-education/) - We just had Juramento a la bandera, our annual ceremony where students of our Senior class pledge allegiance or pay respect to the Ecuadorian flag. This is a major event for Ecuador, for our school, for our Seniors and their families. It has the formality and flavour of graduation. To prepare for my speech for
- [The honking of the horn: a tale of cultural differences](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-honking-of-the-horn-a-tale-of-cultural-differences/) - The honking of the horn: a tale of cultural differences I had an interesting experience this past summer while home in Minnesota. I was parked at a Caribou Coffee – the northern Midwest’s attempt to ward off the cultural dominance of Starbucks. I happened to look in my rearview mirror and noticed another car quickly
- [Partnering for the Win!](https://blog.tieonline.com/partnering-for-the-win/) - So last Thursday evening we had our Lower School back to school Open House event for parents. It was inspiring for me to watch this partnership so beautifully on display, and honestly it was a little emotional for me too. There is something truly magical about watching teachers and parents partnering together in the educational experience
- [The Happiness Advantage](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-happiness-advantage/) - So I managed to read a number of truly inspiring and thought provoking books over the summer, which I will talk about in future posts, but none of them resonated with me as much as The Happiness Advantage, by Shawn Achor. I had read it before, about 7 or 8 years ago after watching his popular TED Talk, but
- ["Exciting" Expat](https://blog.tieonline.com/exciting-expat/) - Musings on the illusion of the "exciting" part of living abroad.
- [Pets Abroad: Why we finally got a dog](https://blog.tieonline.com/pets-abroad-why-we-finally-got-a-dog/) - After 15 years of living overseas, we got a puppy. Why now?
- [School is My favorite Time of the Year](https://blog.tieonline.com/school-is-my-favorite-time-of-the-year/) - So when you enter the front gate of our school this year you'll notice a large photo of a beautiful little boy in our early childhood program. His smile is wide and he's bursting with joy and the caption below is a quote of his from last year when he had just turned four...it reads, "school is
- [Just wondering about Turning the Tide](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-about-turning-the-tide/) - Unlike many of my colleagues, I discovered the US college admissions process as an educator and not as a student. As a French native, the process to go to university was painless back in the 90’s. You had to obtain your baccalaureate and you could go to pretty much any university, except maybe some elite
- [being 'home'](https://blog.tieonline.com/being-home/) - so what is it like to move back to the States after 6 years of living and teaching abroad? it’s basically wonderful. but that may be because i moved ‘back’ to the greatest city on Earth. for me, this is the first time i’ve lived alone (no significant other, no roommates) in the US. it’s
- [Plagiarism When TurnItIn Cannot Help](https://blog.tieonline.com/plagiarism-when-turnitin-cannot-help/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on LinkedIn Plagiarism is serious issue for most high schools. It is rare to find a school without a detailed plagiarism policy. Most of these policies have a few tiers, because it is common for students to commit plagiarism more than once in their academic career. Unfortunately, the tools
- [Your Brain on a New Job](https://blog.tieonline.com/your-brain-on-a-new-job/) - www.emilymeadows.org @msmeadowstweets This post is for those starting a first international school gig, or those in a new position/country who could use a reminder about beginning again. Share this with your colleagues who may fall into those categories. Arrival: Your brain as a large sieve You are holding onto only the basics, and letting the
- [Reframing The Lens](https://blog.tieonline.com/reframing-the-lens/) - Reframing the Lens We go home to Minnesota every summer. We have a cabin on a lake. Really, in Minnesota, who doesn’t have a cabin on the lake, after all, it is the land of 10,000 lakes. You can’t drive for ten minutes without running into another lake. In our case, our cabin is in
- [A Positive Start Matters](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-positive-start-matters/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on LinkedIn Stress at the start of the school year is normal. I firmly believe that a positive start leads to a positive year. Here are some suggestions I like to give to people at the start of the year. What do you need to start the school year?
- [If you are going to be anything, be compassionate](https://blog.tieonline.com/if-you-are-going-to-be-anything-be-compassionate/) - Yesterday will go down as one of New Zealand’s darkest days. My mother back in Christchurch messaged me to check the news. I had a hundred and one things to do at school that day, most of which remain on my to-do list. I was shocked and saddened by what had just happened in my hometown
- [Yes but... Syndrome](https://blog.tieonline.com/yes-but-syndrome/) - I like this cartoon. It dispels a myth and confirms a truth. The myth is that good ideas are born that way. The truth is that imagination generates new ideas and judgement determines whether they are good or not. To ignore these two steps is to ignore the laws of thinking. The best way to
- [What’s the hurry? What I’ve come to believe about change](https://blog.tieonline.com/whats-the-hurry-what-ive-come-to-believe-about-change/) - What’s the hurry? What I’ve come to believe about change I consider myself to be an agent of change. I’m in my forth headship in 17 years. In each of these positions, I’ve approached them with the firm belief and personal understanding my role is to advocate and initiate change. This is partially due
- [Just wondering about my Graduation speech to wrap up the year.](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-about-my-graduation-speech-to-wrap-up-the-year/) - As we are finishing up with our academic year, that we have students, teachers, colleagues and friends moving on to different countries, that some of us are ready to jump on a flight to go back home for some time, I have mixed feelings. But the strongest one I have is gratefulness for an awesome year. So I
- [Heroes](https://blog.tieonline.com/heroes/) - This post was born at a point in an after-school run where I was just clicking over from thinking about work to getting a song stuck in my head. I was thinking about the school that we are fundraising to build in partnership with United World Schools (UWS). Our partnership with UWS was confirmed in August and
- [If you are going to be anything, be compassionate](https://blog.tieonline.com/if-you-are-going-to-be-anything-be-compassionate-2/) - This post was written on March 16. Yesterday will go down as one of New Zealand’s darkest days. My mother back in Christchurch messaged me to check the news. I had a hundred and one things to do at school that day, most of which remain on my to-do list. I was shocked and saddened by
- [Reflections on the Future of Learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/reflections-on-the-future-of-learning/) - Consider the future for our current kindergarten students and what the world will be like when they graduate in the year 2031. Given the technological advances we are witnessing today, any description of our near future that does not resemble something out of a science fiction story may likely represent an underestimation of the changes
- [Bursts of Inspiration](https://blog.tieonline.com/bursts-of-inspiration/) - So roughly seven years ago my big brother Tim had a full blown brain hemorrhage and stroke, and his road to recovery has been not only challenging for him and his family, but ridiculously inspiring as well. When the stroke happened he was already in the midst of recovering from a terrible military accident, which crushed his hip and
- [Research Shows an Empty Backpack Is as Good as a Parachute](https://blog.tieonline.com/research-shows-an-empty-backpack-is-as-good-as-a-parachute/) - www.emilymeadows.org @msmeadowstweets A study published in BMJ last year showed that parachutes are no more protective against death and injury than a standard, empty backpack[1]. BJM (previously the British Medical Journal) is a peer-reviewed publication, the study design was a randomized controlled trial, and the researchers were professors affiliated with Harvard Medical School and the
- [Why School Leaders Need to Put Their Own Wellbeing First](https://blog.tieonline.com/why-school-leaders-need-to-put-their-own-wellbeing-first/) - I led a workshop last week for 25, mostly senior, leaders from schools around Hong Kong on school leader wellbeing. I welcomed each participant as they arrived and almost without exception they spoke of what they were hoping to get out of the workshop to take back to their school to support the wellbeing of
- [Reframing Regret](https://blog.tieonline.com/reframing-regret/) - So this past week I was contacted by a former student of mine, as well as by a long time friend who I have know since I was a kid, both struggling with the same thing and wanting to chat. Even though they have grown up generations apart, and under very different circumstances, they are similarly
- [The Fortunate Few](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-fortunate-few/) - The Fortunate Few There are many reasons my wife, Kirstin, and I decided to make international education a career following the initial two-year experience we had in 1992 when we took a leave of absence from our teaching positions in the US. USA Today recently ran an article (May 6, 2019) describing the many benefits
- [What Do I Do When a Student Comes Out to Me?](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-do-i-do-when-a-student-comes-out-to-me/) - www.emilymeadows.org @msmeadowstweets This blog is part of a two-part series on coming out. I am pleased to share with you a piece that my friend and colleague, Jeremy Shain (he/him), wrote on the question of what to do when a student comes out to you as LGBTQ+. Jeremy is a licensed professional counselor and certified
- [What Are You Willing to Confront?](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-are-you-willing-to-confront/) - So I had a fantastic conversation the other day with a Lower School Director colleague of mine while I was on a quick PD visit to another European International School. We were talking about the importance of school culture, and he asked my opinion about what the most important thing teachers and leaders can do
- [The Solution to No Solution](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-solution-to-no-solution/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on LinkedIn Not every problem has a solution. Maybe a better way to express that idea is not every problem has a solution within its current construct. Sometimes, the rules, the structure, and/or the environment are opposed to the solution. Trying and trying again will be an endless cycle;
- [Intersex Students](https://blog.tieonline.com/intersex-students/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets “Alright, boys and girls!” It’s a common enough call by international educators to their charges. But it makes me cringe. This cry crystalizes a gender binary, implying that there are two categories that all children must fit into. Not only is the male/female dichotomy false from a gender identity perspective, it
- [The difference between winning and succeeding](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-difference-between-winning-and-succeeding/) - This week I have been thinking and reading a lot about competition and whether or not it has a place in education. In 1986, Alfie Kohn wrote No Contest: The Case Against Competition. Kohn needs no introduction as an American academic who studies and writes extensively on human behavior, education, and parenting. He believes that competition, which
- [What's Your Outlet?](https://blog.tieonline.com/whats-your-outlet/) - So I'm constantly amazed and inspired by how hard educators work each and every day for the students and for the school and for the community. I'm not just talking about the school day though, where we teach, plan, collaborate, assess, attend meetings and all the rest, but also about the time that we spend at
- [deeper knowledge](https://blog.tieonline.com/deeper-knowledge/) - I think too many teachers treat knowledge as a pool when actually, it’s an ocean. They set themselves up as the be-all and end-all, the source of knowledge in the classroom, and expect and desire students to show them that they, the students have absorbed all the knowledge they, the teachers provide, and reflect it
- [I wonder how to begin](https://blog.tieonline.com/i-wonder-how-to-begin/) - I write this from China. From one of the many elite private schools that offer the “best of east and west” in education. The school has a clear mission: to get Chinese nationals into top universities abroad. It takes nearly all the hours of a Chinese student’s life to achieve this goal. Their parents place
- [Saying Sorry](https://blog.tieonline.com/saying-sorry/) - So this past week I was reminded on several occasions, by both children and adults, about the healing powers of saying you're sorry for a mistake that you've made, and of course, how difficult it can be for all of us to say these two magic words...I'm sorry. A sincere apology as we all know
- [Out Yourself](https://blog.tieonline.com/out-yourself/) - www.emilymeadows.org @msmeadowstweets This post is the first of a two-part series on coming out. I presented at the International School Counselor Association 2019 Annual Conference in Brussels earlier this month. The enthusiastic encouragement of my research on inclusive schools for gender and sexual minority students (sometimes called LGBTQ) astonished me. It was within recent memory
- [A Collection of Tales from the Road: #4 Austria](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-collection-of-tales-from-the-road-4-austria/) - Austria was the second country of nine cycled across in six days during the world record attempt called ‘9in9’. Here's a newspaper article about it. I remember whizzing down sunny mountain valleys from a high lake at the border with Italy, north and then west to Liechtenstein. I was joined by two teaching colleagues and a friend. It was the
- [School Visits - Great PD](https://blog.tieonline.com/school-visits-great-pd/) - So this week we are hosting a Middle School MUN event with over 250 students from around the world, and I managed to have lunch with a couple of teacher chaperones from Panama yesterday on campus. We started talking about the amazing and powerful learning opportunities that these trips can provide for kids, but then
- [STEAM/STEM Core Skills](https://blog.tieonline.com/steam-stem-core-skills/) - Developing STEM and STEAM programs (Science Technology Engineering/Art Mathematics) is very exciting, but I have noticed recently there is a lack of cohesive standards to measure progress.
- [Just wondering about PD booster shots](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-about-pd-booster-shots/) - As we are planning for professional development opportunities for next year, here is one of my big take-aways. Sorry if it is too basic, but I am a firm believer that sometimes simple solutions can bring some meaningful changes. Schools spend lots of money on professional development and we constantly think of what are the
- [Connected, But Alone?](https://blog.tieonline.com/connected-but-alone/) - As we expect more from technology, do we expect less from each other? This is the question clinical psychologist Sherry Turkle asks in her book, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age, which is based on 30 years of her work studying the psychology of people’s relationships with technology. While she is not
- [Leveraging the Community](https://blog.tieonline.com/leveraging-the-community/) - So as part of our strategic planning conversations recently, we've been talking and thinking a lot about how we can give our students more "real-life" opportunities as part of their school experience. Things like community based and regionally based service learning trips, experiential field trips, and internships, where kids can get out into the world as young people to
- [A Collection of Tales from the Road: #3 Argentina](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-collection-of-tales-from-the-road-3-argentina/) - During a whistle-stop tour of South America I had the good fortune of meeting a guy with a bike in El Calafate, a town on the southern edge of the Patagonian Icefield. Although brief, the day ride out and back from the edge of the town into tundra like flatlands, certainly gave me a taste
- [The Quality of Things Unseen: A Generational Divide.](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-quality-of-things-unseen-a-generational-divide/) - Steve Jobs' adopted father taught him the importance of building the back of wooden cabinets with as much care and attention as the front. This lesson on detail and care for the whole product stuck with Jobs throughout his career. On the High Tech High (USA) web site, Dr. Kaleb Rashad states, "Young people long
- [A Collection of Tales from the Road: #2 Armenia](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-collection-of-tales-from-the-road-2-armenia/) - The birthplace of wine and the first country to adopt Christianity as a state religion is Armenia. An intriguing place that I almost didn't visit. But as I pedalled south from Tblisi at short notice, I felt that, although hurried, I had recently discovered just enough about it to have a desire to see some of it. I’m pleased I
- [when students don’t consider themselves thinkers](https://blog.tieonline.com/when-students-dont-consider-themselves-thinkers/) - I almost walked out on my class the other day. They weren’t doing anything terrible, just talking over me and over each other a bit, and a few hadn’t done their homework, but several moments had just happened consecutively that together made me upset with the realization that they didn’t think of themselves as thinkers.
- [The Magic of a Great Mentor](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-magic-of-a-great-mentor/) - So a couple of weeks ago I managed to reconnect with one of my favorite people on the planet, a retired international school leader named Tony Simone. Tony was my first Principal at Jakarta International School back in 2003 when I was a young, green, and wide-eyed third grade classroom teacher, and it's fair to
- [A Collection of Tales from the Road: #1 Albania](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-collection-of-tales-from-the-road-1-albania/) - See previous post for introduction and context. #1 Albania Entering from the south western corner at the coastal border with Montenegro, Niamh and I pedalled inland through dried earth, drained by olives and grapes. We passed a house ablaze with more whipping flames then I'd ever seen, but then came the mind altering sounds of the fire
- [The Baby and the Bathwater](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-baby-and-the-bathwater/) - So this year we've embarked on a really exciting strategic planning initiative, which will guide our journey as a school over the next several years. In my opinion, we've had a wonderful start in many ways, and we've managed to engage all stakeholders in the process. We've purposely worked really hard to engage our entire
- [Just wondering about a life-changing encounter.](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-about-a-life-changing-encounter/) - As I am flying out to a recruitment fair, I would like to share a story that happened to me thirteen years ago, when I attended my first job fair as candidate in London. I have been sitting on this story for a while and I feel that it is a good moment to share
- [What to Read in 2019](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-to-read-in-2019/) - So last week I turned 49...nice! I had a great birthday and I was spoiled rotten by friends and family, and the best gift that I received (the same gift that I get every year) came from my beautiful wife...money for books! You see, we have this deal that I've written about before, whereby I
- [sweet to be home](https://blog.tieonline.com/sweet-to-be-home/) - Five months ago, my mother died, and I broke off my engagement with my fiancé. About a month later, I decided to quit international teaching and move back to the US. At the time, my Head of School asked me, ‘Do you really want to do this? ’ He cited some famous psych study that
- [A New Year's Carry Over](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-new-years-carry-over/) - So I cannot believe that it's already the year 2019. Wasn't it just yesterday that we were all stressing about the roll over to the new millennium, and wondering what the year 2000 would bring to the world? In some ways, those two decades since seem to have blurred all together, like time tends to
- [Over Developing Ideas](https://blog.tieonline.com/over-developing-ideas/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato Questions are the important thing, answers are less important. Learning to ask a good question is the heart of intelligence. Learning the answer-well, answers are for students. Questions are for thinkers. ~Roger Schank Elevators are interesting. I use elevators as a model on the first day
- [The Story You Don't Know](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-story-you-dont-know/) - So I had a really interesting experience the other day that I wanted to share. This experience inspired me to make a point of reaching out to people, and connecting with others, even people that I don't necessarily know that well, so that I can share in their joy or be a source of comfort
- [Just wondering how we went from Thankshaving to Thanksgiving.](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-how-we-went-from-thankshaving-to-thanksgiving/) - For me Thanksgiving has little meaning. Being French, Thanksgiving is not something that I have grown up with. While I studied it at school, from a civilisation point of view, it really is not something that resonates with me. However, what we experienced as a community a few weeks ago and for the second year
- [Somebody's Son, Somebody's Daughter](https://blog.tieonline.com/somebodys-son-somebodys-daughter/) - So over the last several weeks as a family, we've been joining other parents, students and teachers in the heart of Paris to give out food, clothing and toiletries to the homeless. It's an initiative that was started by an inspiring 6th grade boy, who wanted to make a difference in the lives of others
- [Lesbian teens have higher rates of pregnancy than straight teens (and why we need to include everyone in sex education)](https://blog.tieonline.com/lesbian-teens-have-higher-rates-of-pregnancy-than-straight-teens-and-why-we-need-to-include-everyone-in-sex-education/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets It’s true: lesbian teens have higher rates of pregnancy than those who identify as straight. Also, gay males are more likely to be responsible for a pregnancy during their teen years than straight males. It may sound counter-intuitive, but research backs these numbers up[1] [2]. Earlier this year, I published an
- [Why Theatre Should Be Core Education](https://blog.tieonline.com/why-theatre-should-be-core-education/) - A version of this article was published in the Spring, 2018 print edition of The International Educator. Why Theatre Should Be Core Education By Kassi Cowles More than ever I feel that arts, and theatre in particular, should be part of the core curriculum for high school students. Even in the more holistic programs, like
- [Sex Ed and World Peace](https://blog.tieonline.com/3490-2/) - A version of this article was published in the Fall, 2018 print edition of The International Educator. Sex Ed and World Peace “Sex and gender equality is so basic and essential to peace and security.”
- [Child Safeguarding](https://blog.tieonline.com/child-safeguarding/) - So last weekend we hosted an international child safeguarding conference here at ASP, with over 150 participants representing 24 countries from all around the world, and you know what...it was really, really heavy. It was run by the committed and inspiring leaders of CIS (Council of International Schools), who hit us all very hard over the four days with the "why" behind this non-negotiable reality...that we need to make child safeguarding
- [Stop the Downturn: Data for Student Support](https://blog.tieonline.com/stop-the-downturn-data-for-student-support/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato For many years I have been involved in student support planning. As an EdTech professional, I am heavily involved in managing and using student data. Student assessment data is normally used to make lists of students that need support. The ideal scenario, is that students get
- [Confronting fascism in the classroom](https://blog.tieonline.com/confronting-fascism-in-the-classroom/) - What do we do when confronted with a student who says he admires the ideology of Mussolini? Or when a student asks, “Aren’t Jews generally more rich?” These and other interactions have been happening in my classroom recently as I teach authoritarianism (first Mussolini, now Hitler, later, Stalin and Castro) in IB History. A few
- [Tis the Season, A 2019 Job Seeking Primer](https://blog.tieonline.com/tis-the-season-a-2019-job-seeking-primer/) - Sorry I haven't written in awhile. Been super busy transitioning to a new amazing team of educators in a very special country. No matter how much I write about the unique experience of seeking a job in international schools, I always learn something new that has helped me and hopefully will help you as you
- [Bring Me To Tears](https://blog.tieonline.com/bring-me-to-tears/) - So a couple of weeks ago, as part of my usual classroom walk through routine, I stopped by a K1 (4 year old) class and sat down to watch. The kids were all seated on the rug and counting out loud the number of days that we had been in school so far this year,
- [We Went Viral!: Celebrating Teachers Makes Good TV](https://blog.tieonline.com/we-went-viral-celebrating-teachers-makes-good-tv/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets Choir kids will relate: our beloved music teacher from high school is battling cancer, and we wanted to show our support. She wasn’t up for lots of visits, so we pulled together to create a video of us singing one of her favourite songs: “Seasons of Love” from Rent. It
- [I Love My Phone](https://blog.tieonline.com/i-love-my-phone/) - So as much as I try to deny it, and for as much as I try to justify it, there's just no getting around it anymore...I'm addicted to my iPhone. I guess I really started to think deeply about it a couple of weeks ago when I was planning a parent workshop on the dangers of screen time
- [Moving is Hard](https://blog.tieonline.com/moving-is-hard/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets Moving is hard. The lists. The logistics. The farewells. I woke up at 3am every morning the week leading up to our last day in Hong Kong. If someone had peeked into our flat while I was organizing and sorting and packing and planning, they may have grown concerned. I’m
- [There Are No Good Guys, and Other Teachable Moments from the Kavanaugh Hearing](https://blog.tieonline.com/there-are-no-good-guys-and-other-teachable-moments-from-the-kavanaugh-hearing/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets Brett Kavanaugh, now United States Supreme Court justice, is the latest in a string of men publicly demonstrating that there are no good guys. Hang onto your #notallmen comebacks. There are no good guys - and there are no bad guys. This type of binary thinking (good vs. bad) is problematic.
- [Trust Me](https://blog.tieonline.com/trust-me/) - So I've been writing a lot about the importance of positive relationships and school culture these days, and one day I'm sure I'll change my focus to something else, but today is not that day. Today I want to briefly talk about what's at the core of both of these things, and the one thing that drives
- [A Collection of Tales from the Road - Introduction](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-collection-of-tales-from-the-road-introduction/) - In this series of blog posts, I will record and share some stories of a rather long bicycle ride of 40,100 kilometres through 60 countries. This post is a shortish introduction detailing some facts and figures and how I have structured the large task of compiling so many stories. Some of the accounts you can read in this series are of things that were meant to
- [The Sound of Your Own Voice](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-sound-of-your-own-voice/) - So I stumbled upon this book over the summer while I was teaching a class in Prague, and it really got me thinking about (and reflecting on) how important the skill of active listening can be to effective communication. It sounds funny and ridiculously obvious to even say that listening is a key component to communicating well but honestly, listening, really
- [Scheduling , Why Wait?](https://blog.tieonline.com/scheduling-why-wait/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato If your phone battery is not at 100%, would you still use it? Or, would you sit and wait for it to charge? If your water bottle is 50% empty, would you continue to use it, or would you immediately go refill it? If a schedule
- [Culture & Global Citizenship](https://blog.tieonline.com/culture-global-citizenship/) - An important focus area associated with this year’s review of ISZL’s mission, vision, values, and learning principles is that of our school and community’s culture and how it relates to global citizenship. With our staff and students representing 34 and 60 different nationalities respectively, in addition to the school’s offering of 25 language courses, ISZL
- [Just wondering about the end of the honeymoon.](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-about-the-end-of-the-honeymoon/) - The beginning of the school year has a lot to do with the end of the year. It’s mad. But the difference is that there is a certain level of excitement due to the fact that lots of things are different: new schedules, new courses, new teachers, new students, new families, new facilities. Moreover, at
- [Life is a Lower School Playground](https://blog.tieonline.com/life-is-a-lower-school-playground/) - So one of my favorite things to do during the school day is to get outside and watch our kids interact with each other on the lower school playground. Actually, if I really think about it, it's probably my most favorite thing. Throughout my career it has always been such a joyful and fascinating experience for me to stand back and watch life unfold
- [Finding SSO: Complexity for IT, Simplicity for You](https://blog.tieonline.com/finding-sso-complexity-for-it-simplicity-for-you/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato SSO, or Single Sign On, is something I often discuss with school leadership, teachers, parents, and students. SSO refers to the ability for users to have one login and password that gives them access to all, or the majority of, the services they use. I have
- [The Compassionate School](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-compassionate-school/) - The Compassionate School I felt a sense of incredible pride when The International School Yangon (ISY) opened its doors to students for the 2018-19 school year on 15 August. Last year, ISY worked closely with consultant John Littleford at redefining who we are as a school. I have to be honest and say I fully
- [All the Little Things](https://blog.tieonline.com/all-the-little-things/) - So over the summer I spent some time in a little town called Port Hawkesbury, and every morning I'd get up and begin my day with a long run along the water. The road that I'd run was lined with businesses and beautiful family homes, all with a view of the sea and of the boats that sailed up
- [Just wondering about attending a recruitment fair…as a recruiter.](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-about-attending-a-recruitment-fairas-a-recruiter/) - As a candidate, I attended several recruitment fairs, organised by several agencies in London and Bangkok. I know that it is not usual, but I love them. Going from interviews to interviews, talking to great school leaders, starting imagining a new life in a new country-this buzz is hard to describe but I really enjoy
- [Just wondering about this sixteenth year](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-about-this-sixteenth-year/) - Alright, this is September 2002 and I am starting teaching French at Cheam High School, Surrey, London, UK. I am green, eager and feel not ready, I come back home very late but I keep trying new things every day. Young, creative and overwhelmed. Sixteen years later, a few schools and job descriptions later, I
- [Homecoming](https://blog.tieonline.com/homecoming/) - Nick's Roast Beef in North Beverly was closed for vacation during my brief annual stay in America. "Are you kidding me?" I yelled, pounding the steering wheel of my rented Honda Pilot. "Are you &^&%$ kidding me!" I yelled again over the background noise of SportsHub 98.5 arguing in thick Boston accents why the Red
- [Pedalgogy in the USA](https://blog.tieonline.com/pedalgogy-in-the-usa/) - Hello from the US of A! Couldn't have asked for a better start to the North American leg of our ride around the world. Hosted by our friend (and fellow international teacher) Mark in Chicago who helped us to get our bikes up and running, showed us the sights, introduced us to deep dish pizza
- [Summer Maintenance Project](https://blog.tieonline.com/summer-maintenance-project/) - So at this time of the year schools often begin finalizing their summer maintenance projects, looking for ways to improve the facilities for the kids and for the teachers, and for us this year is no exception. It's an exciting process to go through for sure, knowing that we will arrive back after the holiday
- [Parts Unknown](https://blog.tieonline.com/parts-unknown/) - My family thinks I'm odd. When we went to Hanoi, Vietnam in 2016, I was obsessed with going to the hole in the wall restuarant that Anthony Bourdain and President Obama ate at together. Their visit was still fresh so there were huge pictures on the wall of them and a buzz around the place.
- [The Accidental BYOD Solution](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-accidental-byod-solution/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato In 2008, I would have said Apple is the best BYOD solution for any school or family that could afford the platform. Then Apple started to change. I think it could be argued, they quietly have abandoned the education market. Event the recent iPad and classroom management software
- [We’re Moving, and Leaving Our Baby in Hong Kong](https://blog.tieonline.com/were-moving-and-leaving-our-baby-in-hong-kong/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets Here’s something I wasn’t prepared for. I grew up as a child in international schools, so I’ve done it. I’ve said good-bye to so many people, so many times. I’ve made my career in international education. More farewells. The process isn’t necessarily easy, but I am accustomed to it. When my
- [Flip the Script](https://blog.tieonline.com/flip-the-script/) - So I just finished reading a really, really interesting book titled, The Power of Moments, by Chip and Dan Heath, and I strongly recommend it as a summer read for everyone. Even though it isn't specifically written for educators, there were parts throughout that resonated deeply with me, and got me thinking about how I approach my day to day life in
- [Beautiful Places and Moments: One Year on the Road](https://blog.tieonline.com/beautiful-places-and-moments-one-year-on-the-road/) - We are now half way through our ride around the world. Since leaving our teaching jobs at Tashkent International School, we have cycled over 12,000 kilometres through 11 countries. Uzbekistan: Kyrgyzstan: Kazakhstan: China: Laos: Cambodia: Vietnam: Thailand: Myanmar: Malaysia: Indonesia: Not the entire 12 months have been spent actually on our bicycles, it is just not that simple. Over a month
- [Do we live here, or are we vacationing?](https://blog.tieonline.com/do-we-live-here-or-are-we-vacationing/) - The reality of being an expat is that your family and friends back home usually assume you live some kind of art-film existence in which you travel constantly, never work, have poetic interactions in another language with strangers, and stay up late every night. The reality is that even while living abroad, we still have
- [The Good People We Meet](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-good-people-we-meet/) - A commonly used adage is "The less one has to give, the more generous they are’". This may presume that material possessions are a gauge of how much one has. Or that giving is a sign of ones kindness. I prefer to think that generosity in the form of helping strangers does not require any form
- [Just wondering about this "end of year madness".](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-about-this-end-of-year-madness/) - When the IB exam season kicks in, every year I think about this term coined by Joe Lumsden, Secondary Principal at Istanbul International Community School and previous colleague of mine. End of year madness. It is hard not feel it: modified schedules, exams, final report cards and transcripts, finishing the master schedule and calendar for
- [Got Culture?](https://blog.tieonline.com/got-culture/) - So last week I wrote a little bit about the importance of culture in schools, and how it is inside each and every one of us to be a culture leader for our community. I've been thinking more and more about this, and after reflecting on the kinds of things that we tend to prioritize in schools, and the time
- [Human Rights Trump Cultural Tradition](https://blog.tieonline.com/human-rights-trump-cultural-tradition/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets Inclusive education is, “not limited to the inclusion of those children or young people with disabilities. Inclusion is inclusion of all regardless of race, ethnicity, disability, gender, sexual orientation, language, socio-economic status, and any other aspect of an individual’s identity that might be perceived as different” [1]. As educators, how do
- [Lighthouse Leadership](https://blog.tieonline.com/lighthouse-leadership/) - So with only six weeks to go, I've been spending a lot of time reflecting on this past year, and also a lot of time thinking critically about the best goals and divisional imperatives to set for next year. One of this year's imperatives that absolutely must continue in my opinion, revolves around our commitment to building stronger trust and relationships with
- [Access Denied: Controlling What Students Can Access](https://blog.tieonline.com/access-denied-controlling-what-students-can-access/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato Recently I have been discussing multiple new security measures for academic networks. From these discussions with other schools, engineers, and suppliers, I have created set of goals to help keep the development of network security on track and within budget. Physical Access Physical access can be
- [Teacher Appreciation: Smiles, Trust, and Cookies](https://blog.tieonline.com/teacher-appreciation-smiles-trust-and-cookies/) - Beginning in 1984, the National PTA of the United States has annually set aside one week in May as “Teacher Appreciation Week”. During this week, teachers are honored, supported, and recognized for the work that they do with students day in and day out, all year long. Internationally, this week may fall at a different
- [Biking Stuff: Ride Diary - Sumatra, Indonesia](https://blog.tieonline.com/biking-stuff-ride-diary-sumatra-indonesia/) - Click here for an interactive map of our route in Sumatra. Ride Diary Week 2: Bukittinggi to Bengkulu A bit more than a week (10 days) but no point in doing a week 3 blog post for only 3 days. We ended up flying out of Bengkulu to extend our visas in Yogyakarta and carried on cycling from
- [Education Project: Surprise School Visits in Sumatra](https://blog.tieonline.com/education-project-surprise-school-visits-in-sumatra/) - It has now been 10 months since Matthew and I left our teaching jobs and although I love the freedom that this career break brings, I sometimes miss the classroom. Sumatra has been quite challenging in some ways but we were delighted to visit two different schools during our time there. Both visits were the
- [activism abroad](https://blog.tieonline.com/activism-abroad/) - 1- A few days ago, I stopped to yell at some guys on the street. I had been running, and ahead of me on the sidewalk I saw a woman with long hair in a ponytail, a sports bra, and running tights. She jogged towards me and passed me, as I watched 3 local men
- [The Tao of Escalators: A Culture Story](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-tao-of-escalators-a-culture-story/) - Two things fascinate me about the institution of schooling: 1) How the environment around the school impacts the culture of the school and 2) The structure of the school management and how it makes decisions. I went out for an alumni dinner from my alma mater last week and had some fascinating conversations with people
- [Cyclothon](https://blog.tieonline.com/cyclothon/) - This post was first published on www.pedalgogy.net in May 2017. . . The 3rd annual Tashkent International Cyclothon will take place on 14th April 2018. We will also we challenging ourselves to ride as many kms as possible on that day with our fully loaded bikes here in Indonesia. We will add our sponsorship to
- [Who is the Conference For Anyway?](https://blog.tieonline.com/who-is-the-conference-for-anyway/) - So here we are, with only a couple of days left until our student led conferences, and I couldn't be more excited to watch our students celebrate their learning. One of our divisional imperatives this year in the lower school is to empower students to take more ownership of their learning, and to put mechanisms
- [We’re Moving: What About the Kids? {Part II}](https://blog.tieonline.com/were-moving-what-about-the-kids-part-ii/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets This is the second of a two-part post on easing the transition of an international move with children, and is adapted from an excerpt I wrote for the book Teaching Overseas, by Kent Blakeney. It can be tempting to put off telling children about a move, as it will undoubtedly induce
- [Tech Support Problems, Apathy, & Solutions](https://blog.tieonline.com/tech-support-problems-apathy-solutions/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato Recently I was reading a Technology Directors' forum, and noticed that a few very well established schools were explicitly looking for people to assist them in improving their technology support system (Help Desk, Help Tickets, etc.) Reflecting on how I design and implement such systems, I
- [Tales from the Road: Sumatra - An Intense Introduction to Indonesia](https://blog.tieonline.com/tales-from-the-road-sumatra-an-intense-introduction-to-indonesia/) - Be warned, Indonesia is a full on assault on all the senses for sure - which was a real surprise. We had prepared ourselves mentally for China, but Indonesia is up there with it in terms of being hectic, polluted in parts and in us standing out like a sore thumb. In summary, bike touring is
- [A Spring in Our Step](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-spring-in-our-step/) - So yesterday might just have been the most inspiring day of the year so far...for me at least. Not only did I go out for a long run in the sun, wearing shorts for the first time in months, I was also incredibly moved to see the March for Our Lives event unfold all over the
- [A Framework for Education](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-framework-for-education/) - In a recent conversation with an International School of Zug and Luzern (ISZL) parent, he commented on how much he values ISZL’s approach to education and the school’s learning process. When pressed for specifics, he highlighted an appreciation of the achievements associated with academic success, such as impressive IB test scores, but, even more importantly,
- [Biking Stuff: Cycling Thailand - A Beginner's Perspective](https://blog.tieonline.com/biking-stuff-cycling-thailand-a-beginners-perspective/) - I only started cycling about 3 years ago and still consider myself a beginner, despite having cycled over 10,000 km so far. Thailand is a great place for bicycle touring for many reasons but it I found myself commenting often during our month there on how perfect it would be as a person's first bike
- [We’re Moving: What About the Kids? {Part I}](https://blog.tieonline.com/were-moving-what-about-the-kids-part-i/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets With the flurry of recruiting season beginning to diminish, many international teachers are now standing, new contract in hand, preparing to pack up and start a new chapter someplace else in a few short months Aside from the logistics of moving, there is also the emotional management of bidding farewell. These
- [Biking Stuff: Kyrgyzstan](https://blog.tieonline.com/biking-stuff-kyrgyzstan/) - Kyrgyzstan is a paradise for bike tourers. Although most people haven't heard of this Central Asian country, we met more fellow cyclists here than anywhere else we have been. Challenging climbs and rough terrain are rewarded with pristine views along with warm hospitality. There are a thousand reasons to cycle in this country but here are my
- [Keeping Your Campus Safe: Who Can Do What](https://blog.tieonline.com/keeping-your-campus-safe-who-can-do-what/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato When a school network is designed, various levels of access have to be created to manage content access. The easiest way to approach this is to place students, teachers, staff, and others into groups. The group is then managed. If an individual becomes untrusted, they become
- [Teach the Child - Part 3](https://blog.tieonline.com/teach-the-child-part-3/) - So over the last few weeks I've been writing a bit, and thinking a lot about our primary role as educators in the world in which we live, and honestly, I believe that a profound shift needs to occur. If I boil it down to one core takeaway and approach for all of us moving forward, it would
- [An Economist's Take: Budgeting and Adventure Part 2](https://blog.tieonline.com/an-economists-take-budgeting-and-adventure-part-2/) - Budgeting for a bike tour. Reflecting on the last 6 months and thinking ahead. This post was first published on www.pedalgogy.net in January 2018. If you are thinking of having a break of any form to go and wander, I suggest that you: 1.) Work out how long you want to go for, and divide your
- [Biking Stuff: Rest Days in Saigon](https://blog.tieonline.com/bike-stuff-rest-days-in-saigon/) - Follow our bicycle journey around the world at www.pedalgogy.net or on Facebook. Our route only took us through a small section of Vietnam. We cycled from the Xa Mat border with Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh to catch a flight home for Christmas and then rode back into Cambodia at the Ha Tien border. We arrived in Ho
- [Biking Stuff: Three Most Memorable Experiences in Cambodia](https://blog.tieonline.com/bike-stuff-three-most-memorable-experiences-in-cambodia/) - Follow our bicycle journey around the world at www.pedalgogy.net or on Facebook. Cambodia is a relatively small country with surprising variety - from the unpopulated, rural northeast to the more touristy beaches of the south coast. Our bicycle touring journey took us from Stung Treng at the northern border with Laos, south-east to Ho-Chi Minh in Vietnam and then west to Cambodia
- [Beautiful Places and Moments: Myanmar](https://blog.tieonline.com/beautiful-places-and-moments-myanmar/) - Mergui Archipelago, Southern Myanmar When cycling the world, visa duration is a serious consideration. Upon entering Thailand we were issued a 28 day stamp, as no actual visa is required for many nationalities. While this certainly saved us some money, it didn't ease the slight tension that goes with pedalling with a time restriction. Nevertheless
- [Your School’s GSA May Be Saving Lives](https://blog.tieonline.com/your-schools-gsa-may-be-saving-lives/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets Before school-shooting survivor, Emma Gonzáles, burst into the public spotlight for her role in pressing U.S. legislators to tighten up gun control, she was contributing to a life-saving cause of another sort. Emma Gonzales is the president of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s gay-straight alliance (GSA). GSAs are clubs to provide
- [Education Project: Back to School - Briefly](https://blog.tieonline.com/back-to-school-briefly/) - Follow our bicycle journey around the world at www.pedalgogy.net or on Facebook. One of our aims while cycling around the world is to visit schools along the way and to engage students in workshops in order to develop our educational project: www.tedweb.org. We had the pleasure of visiting Tara Pattana International School in Pattaya, Thailand, a couple of weeks
- [Teach the Child - Part 2 (Inclusion)](https://blog.tieonline.com/teach-the-child-part-2-inclusion/) - So a couple of weeks ago we hosted a regional conference as part of our journey towards inclusion initiative. We were treated to an incredibly inspiring weekend by our friends at Next Frontier Inclusion, who helped us to imagine a future where as international schools, we open our doors to ALL children. NFI didn't just help
- [Carpool Karaoke](https://blog.tieonline.com/carpool-karaoke/) - You ever watch Carpool Karaoke with James Corden? If you haven't you're missing a real treat. If you've ever driven a car, you have certainly sung along with your favorite tunes on the radio. It's fun, it's liberating, and you don't care what you sound like. Imagine if class was like that? Now, I'm not
- [Keeping Your Campus Safe: Access Levels and Groups](https://blog.tieonline.com/keeping-your-campus-safe-access-levels-and-groups/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato I spend much of my time thinking like a cyber attacker. I read about how various threat vectors are introduced into systems. I imagine the scenario with regard to my school and network. I simulate those threat vectors, and test the boundaries inside and outside of
- [Teach the Child - Part 1](https://blog.tieonline.com/teach-the-child-part-1/) - So today I'm going to share the first part of a three part post that will revolve around the ideas of inclusion, student agency, and what I'm going to call empathy based learning. I have been fortunate enough over the past several weeks to have gone through some incredible professional learning sessions, which included both
- [Selected Ramblings: Change in the World](https://blog.tieonline.com/selected-ramblings-change-in-the-world/) - Follow our bicycle journey around the world at www.pedalgogy.net or on Facebook. Click here for our Vietnam and Cambodia route maps. The world has changed a lot since the year 2000. Touring the world in this day and age has been remarkably smooth in terms of freedom of movement, crossing borders with electronic visas and booking excursions and flights with
- [Which Tier Next Year?](https://blog.tieonline.com/which-tier-next-year/) - Professional networks are buzzing at this time of year. It is prime recruiting season, after all. Educators worldwide are reaching out to one another via social media, seeking information and insight into schools, open positions, and hiring strategies. One question frequently being asked is about the “tier” of a certain school, or what the “tier
- [An Economist's Take: Budgeting and Adventure](https://blog.tieonline.com/an-economists-take-budgeting-and-adventure/) - Follow our bicycle journey around the world at www.pedalgogy.net or on Facebook. This post is not just for any would-be bike tourer. It considers an issue we could all think about. We have seen all sorts on this trip so far, literally from feast to famine. The extreme wealth of the flashy supercar-driving Chinese high-fliers,
- [What to Read in 2018](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-to-read-in-2018/) - So yesterday I turned the beautiful age of 48, and with that came my yearly gift from my incredible wife...money for books! You see, we have this deal that I've written about before, whereby I get to order books each year on my birthday, and if I finish them all before my next birthday then
- [What is Pedalgogy?](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-is-pedalgogy/) - Hello! We are Matthew and Niamh, two new bloggers for TIE. Working hard in international schools definitely has its rewards. We are spending our savings on a life-long dream of combining a bicycle ride around the world with an education project. We are enjoying the daily physical challenge of pedalling across all kinds of terrain
- [Clean Slates](https://blog.tieonline.com/clean-slates/) - So we're already two weeks into 2018 and I have to say, it's really fun to be back with the kids. The holiday break was fantastic for sure, and like many of you I feel rested and ready to tackle the second semester, with the palpable excitement of building on the first half of the year. I love this time
- [Mobile Phone Shutdown](https://blog.tieonline.com/mobile-phone-shutdown/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato During the first few weeks before my new campus opened, many people wanted to know what the mobile phone policy would be for students, especially those students living on-campus. A decision was made to allow teachers to set their classroom norms, and to give the students
- [5 Concrete Ways to Address #metoo and #timesup in International Schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/5-concrete-ways-to-address-metoo-and-timesup-in-international-schools/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets Everybody’s talking about it. #metoo and #timesup are trending hashtags and campaigns that represent an age-old issue: sexual harassment. This is a global phenomenon, and certainly – unfortunately– present in international schools. Whether you’re inspired by Oprah’s Golden Globes speech, or moved by the flood of #metoo’s on your social media
- [2018](https://blog.tieonline.com/2018-2/) - As the first days of 2018 arrive, any reflections on last year seem to contain an uncomfortable rawness because of the events continuously populating our devices - the immediacy, brutality and complexity of a world fueled by- "FakeNews?", each one of us trying to construct a context in the "Filter Bubble" choreographed by algorithms from
- [Just wondering about open reference letters.](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-about-open-reference-letters/) - With the new year upon us, and the recruiting season that is kicking off again after the December break, I feel the need to touch upon the topic of reference letters, which can be delicate. All of us have asked our Heads of Schools and Principals to write open reference letters. Also, as school leaders,
- [Congrats! But...](https://blog.tieonline.com/congrats-but/) - When international educators are seeking a new position, most will reach out to their professional networks in search of advice and information about schools. What do you know about this school? Has anyone worked with this administrator? What are the working conditions in xyz country? It is fitting that in a community as closely-knit as
- [I'm Not In Love...Your Job Search Survival Guide](https://blog.tieonline.com/im-not-in-love-your-job-search-survival-guide/) - This is a difficult and glorious time of year. And I'm not talking about going home and dealing with the family you haven't seen since summer or gift shopping in Dhaka. I'm talking about those of you looking for work in the next phase of your international adventure. It's hard. It's really hard. Especially as
- [Science as a Political Statement](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-politics-of-science/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets I had the honour of meeting with a group of scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this summer, and I can tell you that it’s no secret within the organization that using the term ‘transgender’ in your budget proposal this year doesn’t fare well for funding
- [A Lesson in Perspective (Happy Holidays)](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-lesson-in-perspective-happy-holidays/) - So it's a busy time of the year as we speed toward the holiday break, and it can seem a little overwhelming at times I know. With comment writing and reports, holiday concerts and performances, final summative assessments and feedback, end of semester parent and student meetings, recruiting conversations, and all the rest...it's sometimes hard
- [Lessons from Starting a New School](https://blog.tieonline.com/lessons-from-starting-a-new-school/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato Since the summer of 2017 I have been working with some very committed administrators, staff, and of course teachers to start a new school in Jeju, South Korea. Going through this process has been challenging, frustrating, disappointing, and at times confusing. The professional development is illimitable, and
- [What a Beautiful Noise](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-a-beautiful-noise/) - So this week I want to talk about one of my favorite things about school...maybe my most, most favorite thing of all the things that I love about coming to work each and every day. It's something that many of us fail to pay regular attention to I think, or even embrace, and maybe something that may be
- [What is that Reggio thing?](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-is-that-reggio-thing/) - What is that Reggio thing? The receding tide laps gently at our feet, while wet sand is left behind to caress with a coolness that contrasts sharply with the heat of the piercing sun reflecting off the Bay of Bengal. My ten year old son, Max, kneels beside a tidal pool formed next to a
- [Just wondering about our conference and workshops with Kristen Pelletier](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-about-our-conference-and-workshops-with-kristen-pelletier/) - I started writing this post a long time ago, but after this week it feels right to finalize it. At Academia Cotopaxi, we are an inclusive learning community and we accept children with a variety of learning needs. Last week, we hosted a two-day conference called Journey Toward Inclusion for schools in the region and
- [An Autumn Re-Set](https://blog.tieonline.com/an-autumn-re-set/) - So I got home this past Friday evening feeling a little more tired than usual. I wasn't physically sick or anything, it was just that my mental energy was dragging a bit and I wasn't sure why. I poured a glass of wine, turned on the barbecue and some music, and as I was reflecting
- [Please Don't...](https://blog.tieonline.com/please-dont/) - In one of my finer moments as an educational leader, I stood in front of an assembly of 400 students and stuck a microphone in front of a 10th grader, asking him to tell us what the mission statement meant to him (cue the mic squeaking). His eyes widened as his friends leaned back away
- [Your Brain on Childhood](https://blog.tieonline.com/your-brain-on-childhood/) - So I just finished reading a ridiculously good book titled, Your Brain on Childhood, by Gabrielle Principe, and it has my head spinning with ideas, questions, concerns and wonderings about the kinds of experiences that we regularly give to our kids in school and at home. I find it super interesting to read books like this, which through research address
- [aesthetics and ethics](https://blog.tieonline.com/aesthetics-and-ethics/) - One of my colleagues and I have been having a long-running conversation about ethics and aesthetics. Her assertion is that aesthetics = ethics-- not necessarily that this is the way it should be, but that it is how most people operate: people have strong aesthetic preferences and they express them as (and often believe them
- [does living abroad accentuate or obliterate class? yes to both.](https://blog.tieonline.com/does-living-abroad-accentuate-or-obliterate-class-yes-to-both/) - In recent years, I've found myself in a position that sometimes seems to transcend class and yet is so much an explicit embodiment of it. In Jordan, I had the experience of being assumed to be rich. This makes sense, because how would you get to Jordan (and how would you choose to come) if
- [Unchained from the Desk: How I Went Completely Wireless](https://blog.tieonline.com/unchained-from-the-desk-how-i-went-completely-wireless/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato Disclaimer: Normally I do not like to specifically discuss products, but in this case I will be required to do so. I am not recommending any products, I am only explaining how I used a combination of two products to achieve my goals. Other products on
- [Reflections on Progress](https://blog.tieonline.com/reflections-on-progress/) - Reflections on Progress Last week I had an opportunity to join our seventh grade class on a Week Without Walls (WWW) experience to Hpa-An, an area several ours drive to the east of Yangon. Before going any further with this blog, I want to comment on the overall experience I had. Our faculty was wonderful!
- [Thank You Monsieur Monet!](https://blog.tieonline.com/thank-you-monsieur-monet/) - So a couple of weeks ago I took a trip with our Grade 4 students to Claude Monet's Garden in Giverny, and it was easily one of the most inspiring experiences that I've had in quite some time. Not just because it was ridiculously surreal to be standing on the Japanese Bridge looking at the waterlilies, but because of the way
- [We Are All Diplomats: The Politics of Being an Expat](https://blog.tieonline.com/we-are-all-diplomats-the-politics-of-being-an-expat/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets Growing up American in the Soviet Union, I was highly aware of my nationality. When we moved to Moscow, I was only six years old, and not quite sure what being American meant – but I knew I was one, and lots of people around me weren’t. When the first McDonalds
- [Just wondering about our recent Week Without Walls programme.](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-about-our-recent-week-without-walls-programme/) - A few weeks ago, we had our Week Without Walls programme that we call Discover Ecuador at our school. The 9th graders went to the jungle, the 10th graders went to the sierra (mountain/volcano area) and the 11th graders went to the coast. Our High School Principal, Garth Wyncoll, made tremendous changes to our Discover
- [A Tribute to Two Hundred](https://blog.tieonline.com/a-tribute-to-two-hundred/) - Regular readers of the TIE blog will no doubt recognize Dan Kerr’s name. He has been sharing his thoughts and reflections about life and education for seven years, and just wrote his 200th post this week. That is quite an accomplishment for anyone, let alone someone also balancing a job as principal and roles as
- [Alternative Facts: Is Your Practice Really Data-Based?](https://blog.tieonline.com/alternative-facts-is-your-practice-really-data-based/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets So, I’ll start this piece with ‘so’, in a light-hearted tribute to Daniel Kerr’s signature blog-commencing line, and in honour of his 200th post for The International Educator. Student Preparedness It is expected that educators train students to use data or research to inform their decisions and viewpoints. Many international schools’
- [Linear Progression](https://blog.tieonline.com/linear-progression/) - This story is dedicated to Dan Kerr, a master blogger, friend, and educator. I was at a baby shower recently in the East Coast section of Singapore for an Indian friend of mine. It was a pleasant evening, and the event took place in an old colonial house built by a British mercantile family in
- [200 Down, A Lifetime to Go!](https://blog.tieonline.com/200-down-a-lifetime-to-go/) - So this week I'm celebrating a bit of a milestone of sorts, as this is my 200th Monday Musings post. This blogging journey began over 7 years ago, and has followed me through three schools, in five different countries, across four continents, and it has literally changed my personal and professional life in immeasurable ways. Honestly, the decision
- [Kids: All Joy and No Fun](https://blog.tieonline.com/kids-all-joy-and-no-fun/) - The title of this book is too good not to borrow for this blog post. All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenting, by Jennifer Senior, is firstly a social history of parenting, secondly an examination of the effects of children on parents (we usually think about the reverse), and thirdly a prompt to
- [Inverse Relationships: Project Based Subjects and Class Size](https://blog.tieonline.com/inverse-relationships-project-based-subjects-and-class-size/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato A classroom containing 18–24 students appears to be the ideal number. Anything less and you lose the unique excitement that comes from a critical mass of engaged students. ~A Commentary and Review of Malcom Gladwell's research on small class sizes; David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art
- [Just wondering about my first two weeks as Associate Principal](https://blog.tieonline.com/just-wondering-about-my-first-two-weeks-as-associate-principal/) - As I am starting to reflect upon my first two weeks as High School Associate Principal at Academia Cotopaxi, my thoughts are going in all sorts of directions. So, I feel that it is important for me to pause, shut my emails down and really think about what has already changed for me. Change. This
- [Words of Wisdom about Change](https://blog.tieonline.com/words-of-wisdom-about-change/) - “Stay the course.” “Is this the hill you want to die on?” “Culture eats strategy for lunch.” Three quotes, from three leaders, who I was fortunate to work with during my 28-year career as an educator to-date. Three quotes that have guided my actions, and become my mantras during challenging times leading and supporting change
- [The Everyday Challenge of Being an Expat](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-everyday-challenge-of-being-an-expat/) - Being an expat, especially long-term—for years at a time, instead of months or weeks—requires a fortitude and resilience that I think people who don’t engage in this lifestyle sometimes don’t easily recognize. Obviously, most people understand living abroad means you are not always comfortable, and everyone acknowledges the “language barrier,” as well as cultural difficulties
- [Seeking to Understand](https://blog.tieonline.com/seeking-to-understand/) - So it's been almost a month since we began the new school year, and for all of us I'm sure it's felt exciting and incredibly busy and challenging and in many ways, super rewarding. We've had a great start as a team, and honestly I'm thrilled with how we've set ourselves up for success moving forward. For me personally however,
- [Meanderings on Attachment](https://blog.tieonline.com/meanderings-on-attachment/) - Meanderings on Attachment “There are two seasons in Minnesota – winter and road construction.” I reminisce on this old phrase as I sit in traffic on 35W between Minneapolis and our home base in Duluth. This is a segment of highway that should be flying along at 70 mph, with nothing more than a possible
- [Tell Me a Story](https://blog.tieonline.com/tell-me-a-story/) - So I spent some time last week pushing into a few classrooms to tell stories to our kids, and it was easily the best part of my week. I love telling stories and I love listening to stories (who doesn't), and I've come to believe that engaging students through storytelling can be a powerful strategy that
- [Negative Effects of App Attachment](https://blog.tieonline.com/negative-effects-of-app-attachment/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato I was speaking to a friend recently about an argument he had with a teacher. The teacher was adamant that if they could not use one particular app, their classes would come to a halt, and learning would immediately be suspended until further notice. Obviously, I
- [First Things First](https://blog.tieonline.com/first-things-first/) - So we made it through the first three days of school, and what a first week it was! For me, there's nothing more exciting and heart warming than watching our kids spill off of the buses on the first few days of school. They are excited, and nervous, and full of hopes and dreams for the
- [Start the School Year : What is our 'why'? ](https://blog.tieonline.com/start-the-school-year-what-is-our-why/) - Last week we spoke with students and parents new to our school, many of whom were new to Singapore. We started with the why - our school’s Mission: The UWC movement makes education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future. For those who were understandably wondering about new classes, friends,
- [Everything to Win](https://blog.tieonline.com/everything-to-win/) - So an educator friend of mine spent the better part of last year traveling around the world visiting schools, in the hopes of identifying the innovations, the pedagogical approaches, and the educational strategies that are truly engaging students and driving student learning forward in today's ever changing world. As you can imagine, he was inspired by much of what
- [Transgender Children Deserve a Warm Welcome Back: Here's How (and why this benefits all students)](https://blog.tieonline.com/transgender-children-deserve-a-warm-welcome-back-heres-how-and-why-this-benefits-all-students/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets The roster says they’re a she, but… they look like a he. What do I call them? I’ve met numerous educators who express annoyance at not getting a heads-up from administrators that they have a transgender (or gender variant or gender creative or gender nonconforming) child in their class. And, understandably
- [Redefine PD with the 80/20 Principle](https://blog.tieonline.com/redefine-pd-with-the-8020-principle/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato A very significant part of Educational Technology Leadership is devoted to professional development, new systems implementation, and the long term planning of support. Every year as the semester starts-up, administrators around the world are planning for professional development (PD). There is pressure during those initial weeks
- [Take What the Mountain Gives You](https://blog.tieonline.com/take-what-the-mountain-gives-you/) - Nireki Mountain Adventures Satish Man Pati makes me feel like a thimble of a man. Not because he's full of great quotes like the title of this essay. Not because he climbed Mt. Everest like I decide to canoe across a lake. Not because he just looks like more of a man than I do.
- [International Schools as Community Hubs](https://blog.tieonline.com/international-schools-as-community-hubs/) - There is an old cautionary Chinese fable about a rather witless soldier who while crossing a river in a small boat, loses his sword over the side. He scrambles to grab it, but acting too late…he watches in horror as it sinks out of reach to the bottom of the river. In the hopes of
- [Technology Surveys for New Hires](https://blog.tieonline.com/technology-surveys-for-new-hires/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato Since 2008, I have been working with groups of new hires. There is much stress and confusion when people are relocating to another country. I always try and provide the information new hires need to understand the technology culture at the school, and within the country.
- [Changing tack... slightly](https://blog.tieonline.com/changing-tack-slightly/) - Hello all, Greetings from Poland and Lithuania… I am sure that most of you are relaxing - hopefully with family and friends, perhaps on a beach, climbing a mountain, cycling or sitting with a book near a pool. I hope you are getting a chance to read all those books that were piled
- [What kind of experience do we want for our children?](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-kind-of-experience-do-we-want-for-our-children/) - I have been absent from blogging for almost a year. This has been due to a sudden and unexpected change in our family status. My wife and I have three daughters. The oldest is out of college, the second just completed her second year of college, and the third is a senior in high school
- [Closing off, not closing down](https://blog.tieonline.com/closing-off-not-closing-down/) - We are approaching the long vacation and I have been giving thought to the rhythm of the school year. Especially in today's 'disrupted' world, there are probably few institutions that have the same annual cycle that schools have, and I see the luxury of predictable cycles as one to cherish, not to take for granted, and
- [Understanding The End of Year Process: Tech in the Spring Determines Tech in the Fall](https://blog.tieonline.com/understanding-the-end-of-year-process-tech-in-the-spring-determines-tech-in-the-fall/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato In August or September, the first week of a new school year, do you find that your campus seems to have problems that are unexpected and out of line with the status quo from the spring term? If so, then there is probably one or many
- [You’re So Lucky to Have Summers Off](https://blog.tieonline.com/youre-so-lucky-to-have-summers-off/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets No educator I know actually takes a full summer off. Many, justifiably, use part of the break to recover from a demanding school year, but most of us continue to hone our craft from June to August. My husband and I are both educators, and I cannot remember ever using the
- [It's Real](https://blog.tieonline.com/its-real/) - “I’m struggling.” I’ve said these two words more times than I can count in the past week. On one hand, it’s a relief to openly express my feelings and frustrations, and on the other, I feel guilty for complaining about something so wonderful. With just over a week remaining until the end of the school
- [Middle School - The Beautiful Struggle](https://blog.tieonline.com/middle-school-the-beautiful-struggle/) - So I'm down to the last two weeks of being a Middle School Principal, and as it draws to an end I find myself getting really, really sad...and feeling very, very grateful. It's been an amazing seven year run for me, across two very different schools and communities, in two different countries and in two
- [You Don’t Have to Kiss Auntie Katie: Teaching Consent in International Families](https://blog.tieonline.com/you-dont-have-to-kiss-auntie-katie-teaching-consent-in-international-families/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets My son will undoubtedly be thrilled to see my sister this month. Whenever he hears the FaceTime ring, he shrieks her name in anticipation of their chat. However, if it takes him a while to warm up to Auntie Katie since our last visit, that’s understandable. Katie also has children and
- [Let's Celebrate!](https://blog.tieonline.com/lets-celebrate/) - So here we are with only three weeks left of school, and I have to say that it's easily one of my favorite times of the year. Not because summer is right around the corner and because the holiday season is in sight, but because it's the time of the year when we get to celebrate all that we've
- [Graduation Address to the Class of 2017](https://blog.tieonline.com/graduation-address-to-the-class-of-2017/) - What follows is a section from my Graduation Speech to the class of 2017. ....we have so many, many things we could say: but collectively they can all be summed up: thank you for your leadership, kindness, company and for the privilege of seeing you grow over the years….. whether you joined in grade 4,
- [You Can't Call Your Child That: International Naming Laws](https://blog.tieonline.com/you-cant-call-your-child-that/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets I am beginning preparations for our multi-legged journey of summer. Traveling with a toddler is certainly different than traveling as a couple. Forget about watching full-length films, and my liquids and gels zip-lock baggie is crammed with regulation-sized baby food pouches, instead of toiletries for myself. Plus, we plan on spending
- [Understanding Ransomeware](https://blog.tieonline.com/understanding-ransomeware/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato On Friday, 12 May 2017, a large cyber-attack using it was launched, infecting more than 230,000 computers in 150 countries, demanding ransom payments in the cryptocurrency bitcoin in 28 languages. This type of malicious attack is
- [Leaving Well](https://blog.tieonline.com/leaving-well/) - So I was going through the end of the year event calendar this morning over coffee, and I honestly can't believe that we're so close to the finish...how did the school year speed by so fast? I also can't believe how much we still have left to do before we send the kids off to their summer holiday. The
- [Best of Saudi... Six years later](https://blog.tieonline.com/best-of-saudi-six-years-later/) - Back in 2011, we had just completed our first year living and working in Saudi Arabia. We published a blog post on the Top 10 Best Things about Living in Saudi Arabia to our personal blog which was later published to TIE Online Blog. Now, six years later, we are finishing our 7th year in
- [Appreciating Teachers](https://blog.tieonline.com/appreciating-teachers/) - “[Kids] don’t remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are.” ― Jim Henson, It’s Not Easy Being Green: And Other Things to Consider To all of the teachers at the American School of Brasilia and around the world: Happy Teachers’ Week! Your work, dedication, and commitment to the development of others
- [Breastfeeding at School](https://blog.tieonline.com/2673-2/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets Shortly after I told my principal that I was pregnant, she let me know that she supports breastfeeding parents, and would make accommodations if I decided to go that route[1]. This was meaningful in two ways: 1) A supportive principal makes life easier and, 2) She didn’t leave it up to
- [Thanks for the Compliment](https://blog.tieonline.com/thanks-for-the-compliment/) - So a couple of days ago I was welcoming the kids off of the school buses, like I always do to start the day, when a little girl walked up to me and gave me a beautiful and heartfelt compliment. She wasn't fishing for one herself, and she wanted absolutely nothing in return, it was just an authentic gesture
- [The Pleasures & the Pitfalls of Raising (and Teaching) children in your own international school](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-pleasures-the-pitfalls-of-raising-and-teaching-children-in-your-own-international-school/) - Blog 5 I have so often heard the comments, “I could never take my children overseas; I couldn’t do that to them,” or “ my partner/spouse and I want to start a family so we are leaving the international school to return ‘home’”. Well, all I can say is, ‘what a pity!’ What a pity
- [The Maker Portfolio and University Admissions](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-maker-portfolio-and-university-admission/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato I am always focused on the end-game. The end-game for students is the next level after they leave K-12. Preparing students to compete and succeed is difficult. There is always a huge debate over where time should be allocated, what subjects are more important, and what
- [Three Questions](https://blog.tieonline.com/three-questions/) - “All grown-ups were once children… but only a few of them remember it” ~The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry I was recently listening to a series of interviews with Joseph Campbell and his reflections on the essential themes that have emerged from sixty years of his life’s work. He emphasized the interconnectedness of our
- [Developing Entrepreneurs](https://blog.tieonline.com/developing-entrepreneurs/) - So this past Friday afternoon I felt honored to be one of the 5 judges in our own Middle School version of Shark Tank. This episode showcased many of our 7th grade students presenting their sustainable entrepreneurial projects to their classmates, as the culminating assessment for their most recent social studies/economics unit...and it was truly inspiring for all of us.
- [Like, get over it!](https://blog.tieonline.com/like-get-over-it/) - In 1680, the English King James told architect Christopher Wren that the newly-completed St Paul’s cathedral was "awful, artificial and amusing”. In 1680 ‘awful’ meant ‘awe-inspiring’; ‘artificial’ meant ‘artistically made’ and ‘amusing’ meant ‘amazing’. The two graphics here illustrate a very similar point - and I am sure many of us have had similar experience,
- [Students Leading Us to a Future that Still Values Expertise](https://blog.tieonline.com/students-leading-us-to-a-future-that-still-values-expertise/) - Let’s play a game, akin to the old Sesame Street song “One of these things is not like the others.” Try to guess which one of the following teachers’ workshops would have occurred 15 years ago, versus the others you may have seen on a conference schedule as recent as 2017: Assessments for the Whole
- [Puppets on a String](https://blog.tieonline.com/puppets-on-a-string/) - CC0 License: https://www.pexels.com/photo/bag-electronics-girl-hands-359757/ The post is inspired by a L2talk I did at the Learning2 Europe conference in Warsaw. “Every storyteller has a bias – and so does every platform”- Andrew Postman “My Dad Predicted Trump in 1985 – It’s Not Orwell, He Warned, It’s Brave New World.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 02
- [Dial 911 (or 999 or 112 or 15…): Emergency Services Worldwide](https://blog.tieonline.com/dial-911-or-999-or-112-or-15-emergency-services-worldwide/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets My Facebook feed right now is a stream of photographic evidence that my friends are enjoying spring break - Petra, Bali, Prague, Kenya. Of late, I have wondered: what happens if you have an emergency in, say, Petra? This dreary thought began recently after I witnessed someone having a seizure in
- [The ‘Muslim Ban’ Will Depreciate the Value of American Schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-muslim-ban-will-depreciate-american-schools/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets Between 1950 and 2009, internationally-mobile students increased from 107,000 to 3.4 million annually[1]. That’s almost 3.5 million students making a decision each year to leave their home to study, and more of them choose the U.S. than any other destination. When I was a college counselor at an American school in
- [Transitions](https://blog.tieonline.com/transitions/) - “Light precedes every transition. Whether at the end of a tunnel, through a crack in the door or the flash of an idea, it is always there, heralding a new beginning.” — Teresa Tsalaky I have been thinking a lot about transitions lately. We recently hosted the incoming Head of School for a one-week transition
- [Parent Partnerships](https://blog.tieonline.com/parent-partnerships/) - An effective educational program requires full and shared participation from students, parents, and the school. Similar to a tripod in which all three legs are needed to provide support, a student’s development and realization of potential will not be fully achieved if even one of the legs – students, parents, and school – is not
- [School Accreditation](https://blog.tieonline.com/school-accreditation/) - So after a long, long journey as a school, and a lot of hard work, the day is finally here...the visiting accreditation team arrived on Friday night! This is my third time through the accreditation process, with three different schools and in three different countries, and I have to say that with each time it feels really good to
- [There is No App for That](https://blog.tieonline.com/there-is-no-app-for-that/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato "Read every line item until you get it." ~Michael Burry During the last four weeks I have been reading literature, academic studies, and news articles on finance. I have studied graphs, looked through numerous sets of data, watched Youtube videos, and read two full books on
- [Wired for Play](https://blog.tieonline.com/wired-for-play/) - So I'm currently reading this amazing book titled, The Importance of Being Little, by Erika Christakis, and I literally cannot put it down. An outstanding educator, leader and friend of mine, Paola Pereira lent it to me after I saw her carrying it around last week, and it's one of those books that makes you sad as you get closer
- [Where Has Groucho Marx Gone? Teaching Social Satire in a Time of Tyrants](https://blog.tieonline.com/where-has-groucho-marxs-gone-teaching-social-satire-in-a-time-of-tyrants/) - With the miasma of crackdowns, collusions, and demonization that has become a weekly occurrence here in the United States, I wonder, where have all our Groucho Marxs’ gone. All those wry, witty, double entendre, in-your-face comic geniuses who makeup the American landscape of satirists and comics. They who make us squirm or double over in
- [Students At The Helm](https://blog.tieonline.com/students-at-the-helm/) - So we have been spending a lot of time and energy of late finding ways to inspire our students to lead their own learning. It's been a true passion of ours as a school over the past few years honestly, to break out of the traditional model of education, and to come up with programs, units, assessments, structures
- [Trending Upward to Exhaustion](https://blog.tieonline.com/trending-upward-to-exhaustion/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato I have written before about measurement and time management. These two concepts are essential for anyone in a leadership position to understand and practice well. However, as leaders, do you ever ask yourself how much is too much? Or, how much time is enough time? When does
- [Bathroom Laws and International Schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/bathroom-laws-and-international-schools/) - Follow Me on Twitter @msmeadowstweets United States President from 2009-2017, Barak Obama, issued a statement last year reminding schools of their responsibility to protect the rights of all students, regardless of gender[1]. Specifically, his guidelines clarified the right of transgender students to use the bathroom and locker room consistent with their gender identity. The directive sparked
- [The Thin Line Between A Successful (and unsuccessful) Job Search](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-thin-line-between-a-successful-and-unsuccessful-job-search/) - Hi Again; I'm inspired every day by the teachers I work with. They are consummate professionals and bring their "A" game every day. It's a competitive world out there and as you know, it all starts with putting your best foot forward in the job hunt process. (By the way, this film on the "job
- [How do we think about our children?](https://blog.tieonline.com/how-do-we-think-about-our-children/) - The Carpenter and the Gardener: Metaphor matters All parents know that having kids changes us in many ways; not just in the obvious things, but also in the profound assumptions we have of the world, and indeed of ourselves. About the world, psychologist Alison Gopnick captures parental worries well when she writes The day before
- [Taking your children on your international school journey has many BENEFITS for all members of the family!](https://blog.tieonline.com/taking-your-children-on-your-international-school-journey-has-many-benefits-for-all-members-of-the-family/) - Blog 4 For those of you who are already experienced international school educators, you probably have mental lists of your observations. Maybe your observations focus on your own children, and maybe they focus on the children of your colleagues and friends inside your schools. For those readers who might be wondering, might be concerned, might
- [How Do We Spend Our Time?](https://blog.tieonline.com/how-do-we-spend-our-time/) - So over the last seven years, almost all of my posts have been directed specifically toward educators about topics related to education. This week however, I'm going to widen the scope a little bit and direct this message toward anyone with a beating pulse. You see, over the past few weeks, three separate things have happened that have brought me
- [Confused? I hope so.](https://blog.tieonline.com/confused-i-hope-so/) - I’ve been spending a fair bit of time in lessons this week - just dropping in and out of classes for a few minutes. It’s good to see what’s happening in the various areas, to talk to students about how they are finding things and take the pulse of learning in High School. But it’s
- [Stronger Together](https://blog.tieonline.com/stronger-together/) - “We are stronger not despite our differences, but because of them.” ~Prime Minister Trudeau The recent horrific and tragic attack at the mosque in Quebec and the subsequent categorical response from Canadians and concerned citizens around the world is a poignant reminder of one of our primary purposes as educators. As learning institutions, we must model and live by
- [BYOD and Network Anonymity](https://blog.tieonline.com/byod-and-network-anonymity/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato Many countries have begun to create or enforce new rules concerning online anonymity. Here are some examples of anonymity rules: South Korea , China, The United Kingdom These rules are manifested in places like coffee shops that require a phone number to be verified via SMS. It is not optional
- [Death of a Genius](https://blog.tieonline.com/death-of-a-genius/) - When I was recruiting for the fifth most expensive boarding school on the planet several years ago, I leaned over to my boss at one of those zany ballroom signup sessions and told him that the prototype hire for us was a public school educated teacher working in a large city. He nearly choked on
- [Kids and Sport](https://blog.tieonline.com/kids-and-sport/) - So last night was the closing ceremony of the CAISSA boys basketball and girls soccer championships hosted by Academia Cotopaxi. It was a wonderful event, and a true celebration of our student athletes from all across the region. The tournament began on Thursday morning, and I have to say that watching
- [The Professional Art of Conversation](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-professional-art-of-conversation/) - With all the many great events that go on in schools - obviously lessons; also sports fixtures, music performances, drama productions, service trip, adventurous expeditions etc - it’s easy to get caught up in the tasks we all have to get through - the assignments to complete, the marking, the logistics, the children to drop
- [This Is What Democracy Looks Like](https://blog.tieonline.com/this-is-what-democracy-looks-like/) - Something very special happened this past Friday. And I am not referring to the inauguration of our 45th President. I rediscovered my dormant activist in the company of 5-12 year olds. ‘Black Friday’ instead of a day for indignation or despair, turned into a day of healing and hope. I was part of a march
- [Best Practice in Teaching](https://blog.tieonline.com/best-practice-in-teaching/) - Educators are, in my experience, always looking to improve themselves, and often seeking to live up to, or implement ‘best practice.’ But that’s a surprisingly complex idea, and it may even be that there is actually no such single thing. Maybe ‘best practice’ is a phrase that means different things in different contexts. For example,
- [What to Read in 2017](https://blog.tieonline.com/what-to-read-in-2017/) - So last year around this time I shared a post titled, "Let's Read", which talked about the importance of carving out some time in our busy lives to settle into a good book...not just a fiction novel, but an inspiring non-fiction piece that would hopefully help us move forward as professionals, educators, leaders
- [On information overload](https://blog.tieonline.com/on-information-overload/) - Should you care what I am wearing as I write this? Read on, gentle reader... Making sure that the education we offer is meeting student needs is an ongoing priority for us; and part of that has to be equipping students to use technology well. The modern age is different from what has gone previously;
- [Online Reports - Slim Budgets and Happy Trees](https://blog.tieonline.com/online-reports-slim-budgets-and-happy-trees/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato All things being equal, everyone agrees that publishing online is better for consumable budgets and the environment. However, when put to the test, many schools still opt to print reports and report cards (the latter referring to nicely formatted documents potentially with a cute photo). Two
- [Raising your own children in the international school in which you work – What’s so great about it?](https://blog.tieonline.com/raising-your-own-children-in-the-international-school-in-which-you-work-whats-so-great-about-it/) - Well, as I promised, we are going to delve into the nitty-gritty of the research outcomes. What are the great advantages, or benefits, of having your kids with you at school? When I asked this question at dozens of workshops, seminars, lectures, research surveys or Graduate courses, – both with my own staff or with
- [The Year Ahead](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-year-ahead/) - So we're back to school after our holiday break, and we're a week into a brand new year, and I've been thinking a lot over the past couple of days about an experience that I had during our vacation that has hit me like a fist to the jaw...an experience that
- [An essential quality of a great teacher.](https://blog.tieonline.com/an-essential-quality-of-a-great-teacher/) - I came across a story about three stonemasons giving accounts of their work. The first said I am cutting stone; the second I am building a cathedral; the third I am serving God. It is not hard to imagine which mason is likely to find his work rewarding and valuable, and I had thought about
- [Where Do We Go From Here](https://blog.tieonline.com/where-do-we-go-from-here/) - Now that the fog has lifted, the smoke has diffused and the reality of our choices have been exposed: Now what? Or as Dr King posed, in the title of his final book: Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? The beauty and safety of life in the international school world is the
- [Summer Reads](https://blog.tieonline.com/summer-reads/) - Summer Reading/Viewing/Listening 2015 Not in the spirit of disconnect or the hammock, but out of the urge/need to replenish and invigorate, I offer the following eclectic selection (very) as a kind of kindling wood to spark the fire. Sonia Nieto: Nice Is Not Enough: Defining Caring for Students of Color Parker Palmer: A New Professional:
- [Leadership Styles](https://blog.tieonline.com/leadership-styles/) - There is the leadership of a Jack Welch and the leadership of a Joe Torre. Some operate with big sticks while others mindfully listen. There is the leadership of the missionary and the leadership of the visionary. Some are managers who administer and evaluate. And others are learners, who inspire and provoke. In the realm
- [“EdKids” in the international school community: Who cares?](https://blog.tieonline.com/edkids-in-the-international-school-community-who-cares/) - For your holiday reading pleasure… How cool to be the author of a new moniker, describing a unique group in our international school community - “EdKids.” An “EdKid” is a child of an educator who works in the same school as their child attends. While there are similarities with kids who are educated in their
- [Unplug for the Holidays!](https://blog.tieonline.com/unplug-for-the-holidays/) - So the holiday break is agonizingly close, and I know that we are all excited about the opportunity to rest, relax, recharge, and to reflect on the last 4 and a half months of school. It's been a long run to this point for sure, but thinking back I'm really proud of how much we've
- [Around the World in 34 Years: Life in International & Charter Schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/around-the-world-in-34-years-life-in-international-charter-schools/) - I set off for my first international job in 1978, right out of Bard College, to become an ESL teacher in Bogotá, Columbia and have been indelibly bitten since. Culture has been my elixir. I’ve been educated by the world and acquired cultural fluency by relinquishing the familiar and embracing the diverse. Over three decades,
- [People are Beautiful](https://blog.tieonline.com/people-are-beautiful/) - So I have spent the last six weeks or so traveling around the world interviewing at amazing schools, trying hard to find that perfect long term fit for my family and career. It's been an inspiring, exhausting, and exhilarating experience, and probably the best professional development that I've had in a very
- [The Must Haves](https://blog.tieonline.com/the-must-haves/) - As educators, we have an awesome responsibility. We are charged with preparing our students for the future. No matter what they may end up doing in the future – whether they are business people, authors, political leaders, or engaged in a trade, we have the responsibility to make sure they have the skills they need
- [Tech Integration: Are you mapping it?](https://blog.tieonline.com/tech-integration-are-you-mapping-it/) - By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato A few weeks ago I was on a campus, but not my campus. I was speaking with some technology teachers. They would prefer to be called tech-integrators. After a short and very succinct speech about their beliefs in the technology integration model, I ask them two
- [Should I raise my own children internationally… or settle down?](https://blog.tieonline.com/should-i-raise-my-own-children-internationally-or-settle-down/) - Title: Should I raise my own children internationally… or settle down? I have heard this question stated in many forms by both veteran international school educators and those who never worked overseas as educators. Educators seek out positions overseas for a variety of reasons* (more on the catalysts for this move in a later blog)
## Categories
- [Forrest Broman](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/forrest-broman/) - Thoughts on getting and securing a job in an international school. Forrest Broman has been in international education for 30 years. He has interviewed thousands of candidates, written a guide for international recruiters, and is the founder and President of The International Educator (TIE).
- [Eric & Jamie](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/eric-and-jamie/) - International teaching blog from long time international school teachers. Hear stories on travel, lifestyle, moving, and life in general as an international school teacher.
- [Daniel Kerr](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/daniel-kerr/)
- [Stephen Dexter](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/stephen-dexter/)
- [Barry Mernin](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/barry-mernin/)
- [Bambi Betts](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/bambi-betts/)
- [Kailie Nagrath](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/kailie-nagrath/)
- [Victoria Leith](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/victoria-leith/) - Victoria is a first time international school teacher from the UK who has just arrived in China! She teaches Pre-K and has made the decision to teach internationally with her non-teaching spouse and 6 year old daughter.
- [Jen Munnerlyn](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/jen-munnerlyn/)
- [David Penberg](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/david-penberg/)
- [Kassi Cowles](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/kassi-cowles/) - Kassi Cowles is an IB English and TOK teacher currently based in Shanghai. She has worked in international education for the last 8 years in Canada, Togo and China. Her writing explores issues of educational reform and how to create authentic and creative learning communities.
- [Barry Déquanne](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/barry-dequanne/)
- [Shannon Fehse](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/shannon-fehse/)
- [Gregory Hedger](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/gregory-hedger/) - Dr. Gregory Hedger has been the Director of the International School Yangon, in Myanmar, since 2016. A native of Minnesota, Greg has served in education for over 25 years, including 13 years in the role of School Director at Cayman International School, Qatar Academy, and most recently as Superintendent at Escuela Campo Alegre in Venezuela. Greg promotes international education through his past and/or present service on the boards of AAIE, AASSA, and his work with the International Task Force for Child Protection, his contributions to various periodicals, and his work to promote the next generation of leaders through workshops and teaching. Greg’s family includes his wife Kirstin, daughters Kaija, Sadie, and Anna, and son Max.
- [Ettie Zilber](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/ettie-zilber/)
- [Tony DePrato](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/tony-deprato/) - Tony DePrato has a Master’s Degree in Educational Technology from Pepperdine University and has been working as a Director of Educational Technology since 2009. He has worked in the United Arab Emirates and China where he has consulted with schools in both regions on various technology topics. In 2013, Tony DePrato released The BYOD Playbook a free guide for schools looking to discuss or plan a Bring Your Own Device program. Tony is originally from the US, and worked in multimedia, website development, and freelance video production. Tony is married to Kendra Perkins, who is a librarian.
- [Nicholas Alchin](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/nicholas-alchin/)
- [Emily Meadows](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/emily-meadows/) - EMILY MEADOWS, PhD is an alumni of international schools and has worked as a professional educator and counselor across the world, serving children and families in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. She researches inclusive policy and practice for LGBTQ+ students, and holds master’s degrees in the fields of Counseling and Sexual Health. Emily teaches for the George Washington University’s graduate program in LGBT Health Policy & Practice, and is a consultant on gender and sexual diversity and inclusion in international schools: www.emilymeadows.org
- [John Mikton](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/john-mikton/)
- [Trae Holland](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/trae-holland/) - Trae Holland is the Director of Academia Cotopaxi’s The ONE Institute, has been a leader in both the non-profit and business sectors, and has 19 years experience teaching both in the US and in international schools, with a specialization in learning differentiation. You can reach his website at www.traeholland.com.
- [Frederic Bordaguibel-Labayle](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/frederic-bordaguibel-labayle/)
- [Allison Poirot](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/allison-poirot/)
- [Sue Easton](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/sue-easton/)
- [Matthew and Niamh](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/matthew-and-niamh/) - Matthew Good and Niamh Conway are international school teachers who met while working at the British School of Lome, in Togo, West Africa. They later moved to Uzbekistan, where they spent four years at Tashkent International School, each summer exploring another slice of the world by bike. Now the pair is on a bicycle world tour for two years. Niamh is an elementary school teacher originally from Limerick, Ireland who got her start in an Irish National School. Matthew is an Economics & Business Teacher from Watford, England who began his career at a comprehensive school near London. The Pedalgogy website features a blog and a photo gallery, while providing advice and maps for those interested in planning bike tours. As the touring teachers travel the world, they have been creating an online learning resource called Tedweb. By running workshops in schools, they now have a growing collection of stories from children around the world, allowing them to develop an awareness as global citizens. They have also been fundraising for the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association U.K.
- [Lindsay Lyon](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/lindsay-lyon/) - Lindsay Lyon is a seasoned English and Theory of Knowledge teacher currently working at JIS. She and her husband have taught abroad as a teaching team for fifteen years in Venezuela, Thailand, China, Saudi Arabia, and now Indonesia. They write about expat life with a focus on money and savings in their blog The Haggard Lyon. Here you will find some of the same, and other musings from Lindsay on life overseas with kids, teaching, technology, and staying balanced in a busy world.
- [Mike Simpson](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/mike-simpson/) - MIKE SIMPSON is the Director of Curriculum and Learning at The International School Yangon. Originally a lawyer from New Zealand, Mike has also worked in schools in Qatar, Venezuela, and Lesotho. Mike has a particular interest in the development of collaborative and innovative learning communities. He hopes that his blog might be of interest to other teachers and school leaders as they nurture these communities in their own schools.
- [Helen Kelly](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/helen-kelly/) - Helen Kelly has taught in and led schools in Africa, Europe and Asia over the last twenty years. She has led educational technology teams in three schools. Helen is currently the Lower School Principal at Canadian International School of Hong Kong, where she leads Project Innovate, a Pre-K-12 initiative to bring future-ready learning to the school. Helen completed her Ed.D in 2017 on the emotional challenges that school leaders face in the course of their role. She leads workshops on improving the wellbeing of leaders and educators in international schools.
- [Meadow Dibble](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/meadow-dibble/)
- [Paul Magnuson](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/paul-magnuson/) - A decade ago, Paul Magnuson founded a research center at the high school level in collaboration with colleagues at Leysin American School. The center supports professional learning through a variety of programs, including year-long action research projects by faculty who receive competitive scholarships. In addition, the center works with schools and universities around the world, hosting up to 20 visiting scholars annually, and consulting and presenting internationally. Paul has created a number of tools and programs, including classroom observation schemes, language immersion summer camps, and programs supporting greater student agency. Paul is also an instructor at Moreland University for teacher licensure and international education.
- [Matt Brady](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/matt-brady/) - Matt Brady has been creating digital ecosystems that organize, inform and inspire for two decades. He writes as a curatorial journalist- connecting related stories across disciplines often beyond “Education”- to examine and understand educational leadership in a more adaptive and predictive way. Currently, he leads and supports schools through techno-social transformations and is constructing an autodidactic launchpad for his four year old daughter.
- [Kristen MacConnell](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/kristen-macconnell/) - Kristen MacConnell has a diverse educational background that includes teaching children with learning difficulties, school counseling, school psychology, university teaching, and school leadership. Kristen spent 8 years as an educator in the US before moving overseas to Chile in 2010. She worked at Nido de Aguilas in Santiago, Chile as a School Counselor, a Literacy Specialist, Assistant Director of Teaching and Learning in the Early Years School and finally as the PK-12 Director of Curriculum and Professional Development. Kristen is passionate about empowering children to be curious, solve authentic problems, and learn deeply about the world in which they live. She also loves collaborating with colleagues about teaching practices and engaging in meaningful learning experiences. Currently, Kristen serves as the Director of the Teacher Training center Programs at the PTC . Kristen has presented at international conferences in Latin America, Europe and Asia. She has published for Ed Weekly’s Deeper Learning Blog, The International Educator (TIE), has her research published in the Phi Delta Kappa Journal, and has written book chapters on curriculum based assessment and teacher leadership. Kristen holds advanced degrees in School Leadership (M.Ed.) from the High Tech High Graduate School of Education, Special Education (Ph.D.) from the University of Oregon, and School Psychology (M.S.) also from the University of Oregon.
- [Proserpina Dhlamini-Fisher](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/proserpina-dhlamini-fisher/)
- [Shwetangna Chakrabarty](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/shwetangna-chakrabarty/)
- [Daniel Wickner](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/daniel-wickner/) - Daniel Wickner is an Upper Primary classroom teacher at Hong Kong International School and has taught internationally for ten years. Being multiracial, multicultural, and multilingual, he strongly identifies with the complex cultural intersectionality of international school communities and is passionate about supporting students’ healthy identity development.
- [Matthew Piercy](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/matthew-piercy/) - MATTHEW PIERCY is a middle school social studies teacher at International School Bangkok. His experiences in the classroom include every grade from 3rd to 11th. He also enjoyed a stint as an instructional coach. Prior to living in Thailand, Matthew worked in international and boarding schools for over twenty years. Tunisia, Ecuador, Hungary, Hawaii, along with the states of Colorado and Georgia all at some point were called “home.” Matthew also enjoys leading summer expeditions for National Geographic, to destinations like Iceland and Cambodia. A diverse pathway in life has led to Matthew’s passion for global mindedness and he constantly is searching for ways to enhance learning, meaning, and transference. His blog explores interconnection and purpose.
- [Margriet Ruurs](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/margriet-ruurs/)
- [Conrad Hughes](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/conrad-hughes/)
- [Kenya Washington](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/kenya-washington/)
- [Lianne Dominguez](https://blog.tieonline.com/category/lianne-dominguez/)
## Tags
- [recruitment fairs](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/recruitment-fairs/)
- [international schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international-schools/)
- [international teaching](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international-teaching/)
- [teaching abroad](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teaching-abroad/)
- [teaching overseas](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teaching-overseas/)
- [international school jobs](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international-school-jobs/)
- [finding a job](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/finding-a-job/)
- [education](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/education/)
- [education administration](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/education-administration/)
- [teaching in Saudi Arabia](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teaching-in-saudi-arabia/)
- [teachers](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teachers/)
- [teaching and travelling](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teaching-and-travelling/)
- [teaching and traveling](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teaching-and-traveling/)
- [Kenya](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/kenya/)
- [Golf in Saudi Arabia](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/golf-in-saudi-arabia/)
- [play](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/play/)
- [interviews](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/interviews/)
- [recruiting fairs 2013](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/recruiting-fairs-2013/)
- [teaching jobs](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teaching-jobs/)
- [teach abroad](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teach-abroad/)
- [job tips](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/job-tips/)
- [Boston Marathon](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/boston-marathon/)
- [Boston tragedy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/boston-tragedy/)
- [kennedy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/kennedy/)
- [school mission](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/school-mission/)
- [Apple](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/apple/)
- [certification](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/certification/)
- [international school qualifications](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international-school-qualifications/)
- [teacher certification](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teacher-certification/)
- [harper high school](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/harper-high-school/)
- [chicago](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/chicago/)
- [leonetta sanders](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/leonetta-sanders/)
- [this american life](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/this-american-life/)
- [last lecture](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/last-lecture/)
- [speech writing](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/speech-writing/)
- [stephen barkley](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/stephen-barkley/)
- [anne frank](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/anne-frank/)
- [amsterdam](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/amsterdam/)
- [plagiarism](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/plagiarism/)
- [willy wonka](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/willy-wonka/)
- [leapfrogging](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/leapfrogging/)
- [technology and learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/technology-and-learning/)
- [africa](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/africa/)
- [resistance](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/resistance/)
- [learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/learning/)
- [irrelevance](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/irrelevance/)
- [valedictorian](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/valedictorian/)
- [south medford high school](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/south-medford-high-school/)
- [GPA](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gpa/)
- [ropes course](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ropes-course/)
- [risk](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/risk/)
- [parc aventure](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/parc-aventure/)
- [Nik Wallenda](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/nik-wallenda/)
- [learning communities](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/learning-communities/)
- [back to school](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/back-to-school/)
- [Shawn Achor](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/shawn-achor/)
- [international school](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international-school/)
- [teaching internships](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teaching-internships/)
- [teach overseas](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teach-overseas/)
- [leysin american school](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/leysin-american-school/)
- [Swiss schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/swiss-schools/)
- [Mission Statements](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/mission-statements/)
- [School Culture](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/school-culture/)
- [life long learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/life-long-learning/)
- [first time overseas](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/first-time-overseas/)
- [international teacher](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international-teacher/)
- [teaching in china](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teaching-in-china/)
- [relocating](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/relocating/)
- [transitions](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/transitions/)
- [good teaching](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/good-teaching/)
- [regional fairs](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/regional-fairs/)
- [21st C teaching/learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/21st-c-teachinglearning/)
- [connected educators](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/connected-educators/)
- [Philippines](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/philippines/)
- [Manila](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/manila/)
- [Typhoon Yolanda](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/typhoon-yolanda/)
- [Philippines Typhoon](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/philippines-typhoon/)
- [Philippines Storm](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/philippines-storm/)
- [Philippines Disaster](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/philippines-disaster/)
- [Typhoon Haiyan](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/typhoon-haiyan/)
- [Typhoon Relief Efforts](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/typhoon-relief-efforts/)
- [international school mission statements](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international-school-mission-statements/)
- [school head](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/school-head/)
- [international teaching jobs](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international-teaching-jobs/)
- [strategy for international school jobs](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/strategy-for-international-school-jobs/)
- [teaching](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teaching/)
- [k-12 education](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/k-12-education/)
- [schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/schools/)
- [21st century learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/21st-century-learning/)
- [discipline](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/discipline/)
- [classroom culture](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/classroom-culture/)
- [technology](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/technology/)
- [PISA test](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/pisa-test/)
- [GEM testing](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gem-testing/)
- [Yong Zhao](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/yong-zhao/)
- [dan pink](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/dan-pink/)
- [steve jobs](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/steve-jobs/)
- [state testing](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/state-testing/)
- [no child left behind](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/no-child-left-behind/)
- [interntional schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/interntional-schools/)
- [average](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/average/)
- [grades](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/grades/)
- [international teacher jobs](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international-teacher-jobs/)
- [2013 in review](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/2013-in-review/)
- [innovation and education](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/innovation-and-education/)
- [professional development](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/professional-development/)
- [regional conferences](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/regional-conferences/)
- [purposeful planning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/purposeful-planning/)
- [Barbara Sanderson](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/barbara-sanderson/)
- [triangle culture](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/triangle-culture/)
- [Peter Drucker](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/peter-drucker/)
- [Rob Evans](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/rob-evans/)
- [curriculum](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/curriculum/)
- [leading](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/leading/)
- [teacher training](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teacher-training/)
- [ferris bueller](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ferris-bueller/)
- [new faculty](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/new-faculty/)
- [the logical song](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/the-logical-song/)
- [classroom managment](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/classroom-managment/)
- [teaching with technology](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teaching-with-technology/)
- [Teacher evaluation](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teacher-evaluation/)
- [accountability](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/accountability/)
- [psychology of grading](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/psychology-of-grading/)
- [assessment](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/assessment/)
- [Samsung](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/samsung/)
- [digital literacy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/digital-literacy/)
- [AHA](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/aha/)
- [grading](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/grading/)
- [creativity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/creativity/)
- [vienna](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/vienna/)
- [personalized learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/personalized-learning/)
- [education innovation](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/education-innovation/)
- [cancer](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/cancer/)
- [project based learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/project-based-learning/)
- [nepal](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/nepal/)
- [Everest](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/everest/)
- [formative assessment](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/formative-assessment/)
- [john harlin](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/john-harlin/)
- [mark jenkins](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/mark-jenkins/)
- [slowing down school](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/slowing-down-school/)
- [future school](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/future-school/)
- [21st century schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/21st-century-schools/)
- [arts education](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/arts-education/)
- [international education](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international-education/)
- [spring break](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/spring-break/)
- [international educator](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international-educator/)
- [building better schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/building-better-schools/)
- [planning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/planning/)
- [birth abroad](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/birth-abroad/)
- [having children overseas](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/having-children-overseas/)
- [refugees](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/refugees/)
- [UNHCR](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/unhcr/)
- [school change](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/school-change/)
- [jive talkin](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/jive-talkin/)
- [leadership](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/leadership/)
- [new school](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/new-school/)
- [communications](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/communications/)
- [technology and communications](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/technology-and-communications/)
- [recruitment](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/recruitment/)
- [one to one programs](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/one-to-one-programs/)
- [technology in schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/technology-in-schools/)
- [Sebastião Salgado](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/sebastiao-salgado/)
- [Art](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/art/)
- [disruptive innovation](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/disruptive-innovation/)
- [alan eustace](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/alan-eustace/)
- [individualized learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/individualized-learning/)
- [anyone can cook](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/anyone-can-cook/)
- [ratatouille](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ratatouille/)
- [Mission](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/mission/)
- [Change](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/change/)
- [Innovation](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/innovation/)
- [Social Media](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/social-media/)
- [Focus](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/focus/)
- [Intentional Teaching](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/intentional-teaching/)
- [how to find a job](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/how-to-find-a-job/)
- [sputnik](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/sputnik/)
- [steam](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/steam/)
- [stem](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/stem/)
- [teaching design](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teaching-design/)
- [science and technology](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/science-and-technology/)
- [teacher feedback](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teacher-feedback/)
- [education appraisal](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/education-appraisal/)
- [third culture kids](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/third-culture-kids/)
- [teacher kids](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teacher-kids/)
- [moving](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/moving/)
- [new jobs](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/new-jobs/)
- [global competency](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/global-competency/)
- [global education](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/global-education/)
- [Arts](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/arts/)
- [Opportunities](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/opportunities/)
- [Connections](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/connections/)
- [coaching](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/coaching/)
- [evaluation](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/evaluation/)
- [Life of Pi](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/life-of-pi/)
- [experiential learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/experiential-learning/)
- [creative confidence](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/creative-confidence/)
- [motivation and learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/motivation-and-learning/)
- [organizational design](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/organizational-design/)
- [school systems](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/school-systems/)
- [management](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/management/)
- [new england patriots](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/new-england-patriots/)
- [coding](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/coding/)
- [social media education](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/social-media-education/)
- [Human Resources](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/human-resources/)
- [Profiles](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/profiles/)
- [global professional](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/global-professional/)
- [international worker](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international-worker/)
- [global competence](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/global-competence/)
- [expat](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/expat/)
- [cultural intelligence](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/cultural-intelligence/)
- [Community](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/community/)
- [Relationships](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/relationships/)
- [Heroes](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/heroes/)
- [Support](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/support/)
- [ethics](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ethics/)
- [single teachers](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/single-teachers/)
- [Kindness](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/kindness/)
- [Culture](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/culture/)
- [International](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international/)
- [failing](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/failing/)
- [the backpack theory](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/the-backpack-theory/)
- [cultural competence](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/cultural-competence/)
- [PTC](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ptc/)
- [urgent](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/urgent/)
- [organization of learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/organization-of-learning/)
- [time management](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/time-management/)
- [learning architecture](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/learning-architecture/)
- [steven covey](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/steven-covey/)
- [good life project](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/good-life-project/)
- [stress management](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/stress-management/)
- [Inclusion](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/inclusion/)
- [Stephen Dexter](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/stephen-dexter/)
- [thanksgiving](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/thanksgiving/)
- [millenials](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/millenials/)
- [generation x](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/generation-x/)
- [Character](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/character/)
- [Learners](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/learners/)
- [Vision](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/vision/)
- [Resolutions](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/resolutions/)
- [Goals](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/goals/)
- [dharavi](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/dharavi/)
- [maker space](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/maker-space/)
- [service learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/service-learning/)
- [student voice](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/student-voice/)
- [student choice](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/student-choice/)
- [disruptive education](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/disruptive-education/)
- [Future](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/future/)
- [college acceptance](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/college-acceptance/)
- [international school community](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international-school-community/)
- [host country](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/host-country/)
- [effective schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/effective-schools/)
- [singapore](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/singapore/)
- [chicken rice](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/chicken-rice/)
- [educational technology](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/educational-technology/)
- [measurement](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/measurement/)
- [Cloud](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/cloud/)
- [TheCloud](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/thecloud/)
- [GoogleApps](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/googleapps/)
- [Office365](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/office365/)
- [PBL](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/pbl/)
- [ProjectBasedLearning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/projectbasedlearning/)
- [LearningSpiral](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/learningspiral/)
- [OnetoMany](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/onetomany/)
- [ISTE](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/iste/)
- [Standards](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/standards/)
- [EdTech](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/edtech/)
- [Problems](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/problems/)
- [OLYMPICS](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/olympics/)
- [Diversity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/diversity/)
- [Data](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/data/)
- [Cleaning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/cleaning/)
- [SIS](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/sis/)
- [LMS](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/lms/)
- [PowerSchool](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/powerschool/)
- [Moodle](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/moodle/)
- [iSams](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/isams/)
- [SIMS](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/sims/)
- [ManagaBac](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/managabac/)
- [Validate](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/validate/)
- [Verify](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/verify/)
- [Wellness](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/wellness/)
- [Mindfulness](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/mindfulness/)
- [LearnerProfile](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/learnerprofile/)
- [IB](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ib/)
- [Software](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/software/)
- [NewTeachers](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/newteachers/)
- [Relevance](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/relevance/)
- [Services](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/services/)
- [Ecosystem](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ecosystem/)
- [Activities](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/activities/)
- [TimeManagement](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/timemanagement/)
- [Matrix](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/matrix/)
- [Priority](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/priority/)
- [Eisenhower](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/eisenhower/)
- [Projects](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/projects/)
- [Programming](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/programming/)
- [HourOfCode](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/hourofcode/)
- [ComputerScience](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/computerscience/)
- [Gladwell](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gladwell/)
- [10000Hours](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/10000hours/)
- [technology integration](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/technology-integration/)
- [curriculum mapping](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/curriculum-mapping/)
- [Atlas Rubicon](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/atlas-rubicon/)
- [Reports](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/reports/)
- [Printing](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/printing/)
- [HTML5](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/html5/)
- [Parents](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/parents/)
- [quincy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/quincy/)
- [george smith](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/george-smith/)
- [quincy high school](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/quincy-high-school/)
- [BYOD](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/byod/)
- [Security](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/security/)
- [Network](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/network/)
- [WIFI](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/wifi/)
- [Transgender](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/transgender/)
- [Title IX](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/title-ix/)
- [Bathroom laws](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/bathroom-laws/)
- [job search](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/job-search/)
- [interview tips for teachers](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/interview-tips-for-teachers/)
- [Time](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/time/)
- [TechnologyManagement](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/technologymanagement/)
- [Efficiency](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/efficiency/)
- [pollution](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/pollution/)
- [air quality](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/air-quality/)
- [haze](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/haze/)
- [Apps](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/apps/)
- [Simplicity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/simplicity/)
- [BigData](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/bigdata/)
- [Systems](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/systems/)
- [Expectations](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/expectations/)
- [hidden curriculum](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/hidden-curriculum/)
- [Partnerships](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/partnerships/)
- [Muslim ban](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/muslim-ban/)
- [Religion](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/religion/)
- [emergency](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/emergency/)
- [medical care](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/medical-care/)
- [DIY](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/diy/)
- [MAKERS](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/makers/)
- [CREATE](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/create/)
- [Constructionism](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/constructionism/)
- [UniversityAdmission](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/universityadmission/)
- [MakerPortfolio](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/makerportfolio/)
- [Joseph Campbell](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/joseph-campbell/)
- [Appreciation](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/appreciation/)
- [Gratitude](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gratitude/)
- [breastfeeding](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/breastfeeding/)
- [pumping](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/pumping/)
- [maternity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/maternity/)
- [baby names](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/baby-names/)
- [naming laws](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/naming-laws/)
- [Ransomeware](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ransomeware/)
- [WannaCry](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/wannacry/)
- [NHS](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/nhs/)
- [Hacking](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/hacking/)
- [Malware](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/malware/)
- [consent](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/consent/)
- [sex education](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/sex-education/)
- [parenting](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/parenting/)
- [family reunions](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/family-reunions/)
- [summer](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/summer/)
- [reading list](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/reading-list/)
- [EOY](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/eoy/)
- [StartUp](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/startup/)
- [Catalysts for a Career in International Schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/catalysts-for-a-career-in-international-schools/)
- [NewHires](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/newhires/)
- [Surveys](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/surveys/)
- [PD](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/pd/)
- [DataDriven](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/datadriven/)
- [trekking](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/trekking/)
- [8020](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/8020/)
- [Pareto](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/pareto/)
- [Strategy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/strategy/)
- [Sharing](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/sharing/)
- [pronouns](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/pronouns/)
- [gender](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gender/)
- [welcome back](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/welcome-back/)
- [Choices](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/choices/)
- [Branding](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/branding/)
- [intersex](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/intersex/)
- [inclusive schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/inclusive-schools/)
- [ClassSize](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/classsize/)
- [Hattie](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/hattie/)
- [data-based](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/data-based/)
- [research](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/research/)
- [context](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/context/)
- [critical thinking](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/critical-thinking/)
- [diplomacy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/diplomacy/)
- [nationality](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/nationality/)
- [global citizenship](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/global-citizenship/)
- [WireLessClassroom](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/wirelessclassroom/)
- [Freedom](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/freedom/)
- [MakingChanges](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/makingchanges/)
- [NewIdeas](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/newideas/)
- [privilege](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/privilege/)
- [ethnicity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ethnicity/)
- [Peggy McIntosh](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/peggy-mcintosh/)
- [heteronormativity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/heteronormativity/)
- [cisnormativity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/cisnormativity/)
- [Paradigm](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/paradigm/)
- [politics](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/politics/)
- [evidence](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/evidence/)
- [science](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/science/)
- [metoo](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/metoo/)
- [timesup](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/timesup/)
- [school policy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/school-policy/)
- [sexual harassment](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/sexual-harassment/)
- [Mobile Phones](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/mobile-phones/)
- [Policy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/policy/)
- [Feedback](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/feedback/)
- [economics](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/economics/)
- [reflection](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/reflection/)
- [bicycle touring](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/bicycle-touring/)
- [adventure](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/adventure/)
- [safe schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/safe-schools/)
- [inclusivity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/inclusivity/)
- [LGBTQ](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/lgbtq/)
- [gender nonconforming](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gender-nonconforming/)
- [school shooting](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/school-shooting/)
- [toxic masculinity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/toxic-masculinity/)
- [gender norms](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gender-norms/)
- [fragile masculinity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/fragile-masculinity/)
- [GSA](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gsa/)
- [GSM](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gsm/)
- [Access](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/access/)
- [Safety](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/safety/)
- [CampusAccess](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/campusaccess/)
- [tck](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/tck/)
- [expatlife](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/expatlife/)
- [TechSupport](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/techsupport/)
- [HelpDesk](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/helpdesk/)
- [expat life](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/expat-life/)
- [culture map](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/culture-map/)
- [learning design](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/learning-design/)
- [ace accreditation](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ace-accreditation/)
- [Control](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/control/)
- [WebFiltering](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/webfiltering/)
- [human rights](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/human-rights/)
- [tradition](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/tradition/)
- [gender and sexual minorities](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gender-and-sexual-minorities/)
- [farewell](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/farewell/)
- [leaving](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/leaving/)
- [Chromebooks](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/chromebooks/)
- [Amazon](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/amazon/)
- [Workspaces](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/workspaces/)
- [NewIdea](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/newidea/)
- [anthony bourdain](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/anthony-bourdain/)
- [international mindedness](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international-mindedness/)
- [international community](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international-community/)
- [cultural literacy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/cultural-literacy/)
- [parts unknown](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/parts-unknown/)
- [SSO](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/sso/)
- [Speed](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/speed/)
- [OneLogin](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/onelogin/)
- [KeepITSimple](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/keepitsimple/)
- [international life](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international-life/)
- [third culture](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/third-culture/)
- [immigration](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/immigration/)
- [Switzerland](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/switzerland/)
- [Schedules](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/schedules/)
- [Scheduling](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/scheduling/)
- [growth mindset](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/growth-mindset/)
- [teachable moment](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teachable-moment/)
- [music](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/music/)
- [the arts](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/the-arts/)
- [influence](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/influence/)
- [Simulation](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/simulation/)
- [Interface](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/interface/)
- [UserExperience](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/userexperience/)
- [Development](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/development/)
- [language](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/language/)
- [process](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/process/)
- [quality](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/quality/)
- [Conversations](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/conversations/)
- [skills](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/skills/)
- [gamify](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gamify/)
- [gamification](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gamification/)
- [fun](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/fun/)
- [expats](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/expats/)
- [pets](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/pets/)
- [kids](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/kids/)
- [money](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/money/)
- [saving](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/saving/)
- [travel](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/travel/)
- [solutions](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/solutions/)
- [BigBang](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/bigbang/)
- [turnitin](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/turnitin/)
- [cheating](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/cheating/)
- [overrubric'd](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/overrubricd/)
- [Civic Responsibility](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/civic-responsibility/)
- [Laptop](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/laptop/)
- [DrWho](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/drwho/)
- [Practical](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/practical/)
- [Accessory](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/accessory/)
- [Wonder](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/wonder/)
- [connecting](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/connecting/)
- [advising](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/advising/)
- [mentoring](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/mentoring/)
- [engagement](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/engagement/)
- [#internationalschools](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/internationalschools/)
- [#leadership](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/leadership-2/)
- [cybersecurity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/cybersecurity/)
- [socialengineering](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/socialengineering/)
- [networkplanning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/networkplanning/)
- [schoolnetworks](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/schoolnetworks/)
- [digital learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/digital-learning/)
- [integration](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/integration/)
- [Magana](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/magana/)
- [Trickledownedtechonomics](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/trickledownedtechonomics/)
- [pseudoscience](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/pseudoscience/)
- [corwin reacharound](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/corwin-reacharound/)
- [educatiion](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/educatiion/)
- [digital citizenship](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/digital-citizenship/)
- [surveillance capitlism](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/surveillance-capitlism/)
- [privacy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/privacy/)
- [artificial intelligences](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/artificial-intelligences/)
- [pentesting](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/pentesting/)
- [John Hattie](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/john-hattie/)
- [Sonny Magana](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/sonny-magana/)
- [T3 framework](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/t3-framework/)
- [backups](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/backups/)
- [homework](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/homework/)
- [zagreb](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/zagreb/)
- [student learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/student-learning/)
- [online teaching](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/online-teaching/)
- [crisis](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/crisis/)
- [business continuity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/business-continuity/)
- [virtual learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/virtual-learning/)
- [disruptive learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/disruptive-learning/)
- [COVID](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/covid/)
- [Thailand](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/thailand/)
- [Flexibility](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/flexibility/)
- [f2f](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/f2f/)
- [3-D](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/3-d/)
- [Summative](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/summative/)
- [Formative](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/formative/)
- [Anthropocene](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/anthropocene/)
- [John Green](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/john-green/)
- [Reviews](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/reviews/)
- [Gandhi](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gandhi/)
- [Intercultural competencies](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/intercultural-competencies/)
- [#disruption](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/disruption/)
- [Differentiation](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/differentiation/)
- [Children's Books](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/childrens-books/)
- [Novels](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/novels/)
- [teen books](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teen-books/)
- [Emotional Intelligence](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/emotional-intelligence/)
- [Caring](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/caring/)
- [Permission to Feel](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/permission-to-feel/)
- [ipad](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ipad/)
- [Hybrid](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/hybrid/)
- [HiFlex](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/hiflex/)
- [gigworker](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gigworker/)
- [new economy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/new-economy/)
- [gig economy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gig-economy/)
- [Streaming](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/streaming/)
- [G-Suite](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/g-suite/)
- [books](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/books/)
- [picturebooks](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/picturebooks/)
- [Halloween](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/halloween/)
- [reading](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/reading/)
- [environmental](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/environmental/)
- [pandemic](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/pandemic/)
- [Covid-19](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/covid-19/)
- [fiction](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/fiction/)
- [literacy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/literacy/)
- [review](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/review/)
- [teacher hiring](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teacher-hiring/)
- [biographies](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/biographies/)
- [children books](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/children-books/)
- [VirtualLearning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/virtuallearning/)
- [RecordMeetings](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/recordmeetings/)
- [gsuite](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gsuite/)
- [googlemeet](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/googlemeet/)
- [gsuite enterprise](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gsuite-enterprise/)
- [censorship](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/censorship/)
- [Media literacy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/media-literacy/)
- [OnlineData](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/onlinedata/)
- [Working or Sleepinig](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/working-or-sleepinig/)
- [Migration](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/migration/)
- [Virtual Reality](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/virtual-reality/)
- [VR](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/vr/)
- [nonfiction](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/nonfiction/)
- [Books about feelings](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/books-about-feelings/)
- [SEL](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/sel/)
- [Feeling Routines](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/feeling-routines/)
- [How are you doing?](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/how-are-you-doing/)
- [snow day](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/snow-day/)
- [distance learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/distance-learning/)
- [seasonal](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/seasonal/)
- [Christmas](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/christmas/)
- [honesty](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/honesty/)
- [virtues](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/virtues/)
- [Empowerment](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/empowerment/)
- [Green Ocean](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/green-ocean/)
- [Club](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/club/)
- [Service](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/service/)
- [action research](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/action-research/)
- [bright spots](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/bright-spots/)
- [Netflix](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/netflix/)
- [No Rules Rules](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/no-rules-rules/)
- [Values](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/values/)
- [Mastery](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/mastery/)
- [Competencies](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/competencies/)
- [MTC](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/mtc/)
- [Authenticity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/authenticity/)
- [Student Empowerment](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/student-empowerment/)
- [Student Ownership](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/student-ownership/)
- [fantasy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/fantasy/)
- [Brevity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/brevity/)
- [Seth Godin](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/seth-godin/)
- [Getting out of the way](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/getting-out-of-the-way/)
- [orphans](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/orphans/)
- [legends](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/legends/)
- [global minded](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/global-minded/)
- [current events](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/current-events/)
- [YouTubers](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/youtubers/)
- [Generation Z](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/generation-z/)
- [poetry](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/poetry/)
- [Future of Education](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/future-of-education/)
- [Credentials](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/credentials/)
- [picture books](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/picture-books/)
- [math](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/math/)
- [Engaged](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/engaged/)
- [Parent Involvement](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/parent-involvement/)
- [Zoom](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/zoom/)
- [What School Could Be](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/what-school-could-be/)
- [nature](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/nature/)
- [NFTs](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/nfts/)
- [Blockchain](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/blockchain/)
- [Easter](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/easter/)
- [Eid](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/eid/)
- [community service](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/community-service/)
- [food](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/food/)
- [Curiosity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/curiosity/)
- [Google](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/google/)
- [Soft Skills](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/soft-skills/)
- [How Old is the Shepherd](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/how-old-is-the-shepherd/)
- [Warren Berger](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/warren-berger/)
- [People Also Ask (PAA)](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/people-also-ask-paa/)
- [Related Searches](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/related-searches/)
- [Earth Day](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/earth-day/)
- [environmental awareness](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/environmental-awareness/)
- [global](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/global/)
- [Punctuation](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/punctuation/)
- [End-of-school](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/end-of-school/)
- [Evergreen](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/evergreen/)
- [Co-Creating](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/co-creating/)
- [Sir Ken Robinson](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/sir-ken-robinson/)
- [Ted Dintersmith](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ted-dintersmith/)
- [Unstuck](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/unstuck/)
- [free verse](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/free-verse/)
- [accreditation](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/accreditation/)
- [WASC](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/wasc/)
- [Diversity Collaborative](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/diversity-collaborative/)
- [Humans of CIA](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/humans-of-cia/)
- [Belonging](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/belonging/)
- [DEIJ](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/deij/)
- [Survey](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/survey/)
- [friendship](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/friendship/)
- [environment](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/environment/)
- [endangered species](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/endangered-species/)
- [global warming](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/global-warming/)
- [action](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/action/)
- [biography](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/biography/)
- [activism](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/activism/)
- [Harvard Zero](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/harvard-zero/)
- [Pause](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/pause/)
- [Meta-Reflection](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/meta-reflection/)
- [homelessness](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/homelessness/)
- [social issues](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/social-issues/)
- [Crypto](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/crypto/)
- [historic novel](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/historic-novel/)
- [social studies](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/social-studies/)
- [Humanity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/humanity/)
- [emotion](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/emotion/)
- [in the moment](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/in-the-moment/)
- [new school year](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/new-school-year/)
- [literature](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/literature/)
- [school](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/school/)
- [school libraries](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/school-libraries/)
- [Blended Learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/blended-learning/)
- [banned books](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/banned-books/)
- [home](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/home/)
- [Covid-19 books](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/covid-19-books/)
- [pandemic reading](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/pandemic-reading/)
- [Recruiting](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/recruiting/)
- [Top Tier](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/top-tier/)
- [Fittingness](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/fittingness/)
- [Questions](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/questions/)
- [Alison Wood Brooks](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/alison-wood-brooks/)
- [ISC Research](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/isc-research/)
- [Transition](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/transition/)
- [talent](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/talent/)
- [sports](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/sports/)
- [Haloween](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/haloween/)
- [Remembrance Day](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/remembrance-day/)
- [Memorial Day](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/memorial-day/)
- [War memorial](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/war-memorial/)
- [sounds](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/sounds/)
- [Evaluating Sources](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/evaluating-sources/)
- [5Ws](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/5ws-2/)
- [Entrepreneurship](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/entrepreneurship/)
- [Possibility](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/possibility/)
- [Purpose](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/purpose/)
- [Great Resignation](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/great-resignation/)
- [Mindset](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/mindset/)
- [Carol Dweck](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/carol-dweck/)
- [Softball](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/softball/)
- [Casey at Bat](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/casey-at-bat/)
- [time and learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/time-and-learning/)
- [education architecture](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/education-architecture/)
- [winter](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/winter/)
- [Climate Change](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/climate-change/)
- [Net-zero](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/net-zero/)
- [heritage](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/heritage/)
- [India](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/india/)
- [residential](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/residential/)
- [Vietnam](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/vietnam/)
- [Japan](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/japan/)
- [Hawaii](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/hawaii/)
- [Unicef](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/unicef/)
- [YA](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ya/)
- [bilingual](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/bilingual/)
- [pictebooks](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/pictebooks/)
- [book reviews](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/book-reviews/)
- [war](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/war/)
- [Redesign](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/redesign/)
- [Iceland](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/iceland/)
- [Monsters](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/monsters/)
- [Web of Meaning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/web-of-meaning/)
- [wordless](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/wordless/)
- [The Endurance](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/the-endurance/)
- [Felicity Ace](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/felicity-ace/)
- [Robert Frost](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/robert-frost/)
- [Hope](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/hope/)
- [Regenerative Learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/regenerative-learning/)
- [Sustainability](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/sustainability/)
- [SDGs](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/sdgs/)
- [Ecology](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ecology/)
- [Complexity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/complexity/)
- [Coffee](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/coffee/)
- [The Lorax](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/the-lorax/)
- [creative writing](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/creative-writing/)
- [Wisdom](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/wisdom/)
- [Laughter](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/laughter/)
- [Memes](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/memes/)
- [Socrates](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/socrates/)
- [Plato](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/plato/)
- [New Narrative](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/new-narrative/)
- [early novels](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/early-novels/)
- [dyslexia](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/dyslexia/)
- [graphic novels](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/graphic-novels/)
- [Currency of Time](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/currency-of-time/)
- [Paul Salopek](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/paul-salopek/)
- [Hermann Heese](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/hermann-heese/)
- [Daniel Christian Wahl](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/daniel-christian-wahl/)
- [Connectedness](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/connectedness/)
- [Quahog](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/quahog/)
- [uplift](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/uplift/)
- [self-organization](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/self-organization/)
- [teacher agency](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teacher-agency/)
- [literture](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/literture/)
- [community creation](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/community-creation/)
- [empathy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/empathy/)
- [story-telling](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/story-telling/)
- [summer reading](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/summer-reading/)
- [new releases](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/new-releases/)
- [mythology](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/mythology/)
- [boardbooks](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/boardbooks/)
- [afghanistan](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/afghanistan/)
- [breadwinner](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/breadwinner/)
- [Deborah Ellis](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/deborah-ellis/)
- [library](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/library/)
- [read aloud](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/read-aloud/)
- [classroom reading](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/classroom-reading/)
- [School Admissions](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/school-admissions/)
- [Business Intelligence](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/business-intelligence/)
- [DataStudio](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/datastudio/)
- [enquiry](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/enquiry/)
- [knowledge](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/knowledge/)
- [Global Online Academy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/global-online-academy/)
- [Listening](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/listening/)
- [Re-imagining Learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/re-imagining-learning/)
- [Slowing Down](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/slowing-down/)
- [Optimism](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/optimism/)
- [Responsibility](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/responsibility/)
- [Año Viejo](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ano-viejo/)
- [Joe Dispenza](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/joe-dispenza/)
- [Jared Diamond](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/jared-diamond/)
- [Yuval Noah Harari](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/yuval-noah-harari/)
- [Simon Sinek](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/simon-sinek/)
- [Jocko Willink](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/jocko-willink/)
- [Speed Reading](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/speed-reading/)
- [Audio Books](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/audio-books/)
- [Simplification](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/simplification/)
- [Busyness as Usual](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/busyness-as-usual/)
- [Reduction](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/reduction/)
- [Pathways](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/pathways/)
- [Capstone](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/capstone/)
- [Design for Excellence](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/design-for-excellence/)
- [information](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/information/)
- [reading aloud](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/reading-aloud/)
- [rigor](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/rigor/)
- [radical simplification](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/radical-simplification/)
- [Passover](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/passover/)
- [compassion](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/compassion/)
- [End of Covid](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/end-of-covid/)
- [America Succeeds](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/america-succeeds/)
- [Durable Skills](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/durable-skills/)
- [Humor](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/humor/)
- [Scholastic](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/scholastic/)
- [Kids Can Press](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/kids-can-press/)
- [Orca Books](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/orca-books/)
- [Annick Press](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/annick-press/)
- [Tundra Books](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/tundra-books/)
- [Nimbus](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/nimbus/)
- [teen](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/teen/)
- [Connection](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/connection/)
- [Tech-free](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/tech-free/)
- [Authentic](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/authentic/)
- [Brene Brown](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/brene-brown/)
- [Tech Limits](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/tech-limits/)
- [peace](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/peace/)
- [cultures](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/cultures/)
- [malala](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/malala/)
- [Compliance](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/compliance/)
- [Defiance](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/defiance/)
- [22nd Century](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/22nd-century/)
- [Gary Kasparov](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gary-kasparov/)
- [novel](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/novel/)
- [alphabet books](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/alphabet-books/)
- [animal stories](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/animal-stories/)
- [Trying](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/trying/)
- [Doing](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/doing/)
- [Confucius](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/confucius/)
- [Shakespeare](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/shakespeare/)
- [global books](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/global-books/)
- [booklovers](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/booklovers/)
- [fictional](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/fictional/)
- [nautical books](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/nautical-books/)
- [classroom reads](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/classroom-reads/)
- [WELL](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/well/)
- [books as tools](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/books-as-tools/)
- [family values](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/family-values/)
- [cities](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/cities/)
- [memories](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/memories/)
- [penpals](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/penpals/)
- [writing](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/writing/)
- [Khan Academy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/khan-academy/)
- [Flexible Scheduling](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/flexible-scheduling/)
- [Hunter and Gatherer Education](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/hunter-and-gatherer-education/)
- [4-Day School Week](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/4-day-school-week/)
- [multicultural](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/multicultural/)
- [Brain-changing effects](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/brain-changing-effects/)
- [Neuroplasticity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/neuroplasticity/)
- [Running](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/running/)
- [Excercie](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/excercie/)
- [Trust](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/trust/)
- [Agency](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/agency/)
- [Place-based learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/place-based-learning/)
- [libraries](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/libraries/)
- [ghana](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ghana/)
- [neurodiversity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/neurodiversity/)
- [collaboritive learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/collaboritive-learning/)
- [AI](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ai/)
- [Human Intelligence](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/human-intelligence/)
- [Shortcuts](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/shortcuts/)
- [Nepotism](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/nepotism/)
- [Arctic](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/arctic/)
- [disabilities](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/disabilities/)
- [wheelchair](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/wheelchair/)
- [classroom](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/classroom/)
- [fieldstrip](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/fieldstrip/)
- [COP28](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/cop28/)
- [Personalization](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/personalization/)
- [UWC](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/uwc/)
- [Kwanzaa](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/kwanzaa/)
- [Love](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/love/)
- [Haiti](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/haiti/)
- [Gatekeeping](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/gatekeeping/)
- [Probability](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/probability/)
- [Resilience](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/resilience/)
- [picturebook](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/picturebook/)
- [tools](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/tools/)
- [wildlife](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/wildlife/)
- [animals](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/animals/)
- [imagination](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/imagination/)
- [World Read Aloud Day](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/world-read-aloud-day/)
- [Patience](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/patience/)
- [Basketball](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/basketball/)
- [Waves](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/waves/)
- [Wind](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/wind/)
- [Whales](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/whales/)
- [Place-based](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/place-based/)
- [walking](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/walking/)
- [hiking](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/hiking/)
- [international literacy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international-literacy/)
- [global reading](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/global-reading/)
- [self help](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/self-help/)
- [therapy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/therapy/)
- [classroom discussion](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/classroom-discussion/)
- [Consistency](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/consistency/)
- [Building Trust](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/building-trust/)
- [countries](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/countries/)
- [grandparents](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/grandparents/)
- [stories](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/stories/)
- [Global Teacher Status Index (GTSI)](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/global-teacher-status-index-gtsi/)
- [Value](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/value/)
- [Status](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/status/)
- [Recognition](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/recognition/)
- [urban](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/urban/)
- [growing](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/growing/)
- [dinosaurs](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/dinosaurs/)
- [traditions](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/traditions/)
- [henna](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/henna/)
- [DNA](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/dna/)
- [read alouds](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/read-alouds/)
- [global picturebooks](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/global-picturebooks/)
- [travel literature](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/travel-literature/)
- [graphic novel](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/graphic-novel/)
- [identity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/identity/)
- [Pole pole](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/pole-pole/)
- [ISM](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ism/)
- [VUCA](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/vuca/)
- [BANI World](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/bani-world/)
- [Discourse Across Difference](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/discourse-across-difference/)
- [UK riots](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/uk-riots/)
- [Youssou N'Dour](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/youssou-ndour/)
- [author visits](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/author-visits/)
- [aboriginal](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/aboriginal/)
- [First Nations](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/first-nations/)
- [cooking](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/cooking/)
- [Seasonal books](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/seasonal-books/)
- [Hannukkah](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/hannukkah/)
- [awareness](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/awareness/)
- [global stories](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/global-stories/)
- [equality](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/equality/)
- [historical fiction](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/historical-fiction/)
- [activists](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/activists/)
- [emphathy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/emphathy/)
- [global awareness](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/global-awareness/)
- [United Nations](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/united-nations/)
- [Anxious Generation](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/anxious-generation/)
- [Phone Boundaries](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/phone-boundaries/)
- [How to Break Up With Your Phone](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/how-to-break-up-with-your-phone/)
- [Resisting a Dystopian Future](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/resisting-a-dystopian-future/)
- [superintelligence](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/superintelligence/)
- [Skill-Based Learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/skill-based-learning/)
- [AI and big data](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/ai-and-big-data/)
- [networks & cybersecurity](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/networks-cybersecurity/)
- [Technological literacy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/technological-literacy/)
- [Autonomy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/autonomy/)
- [Uncomfortable](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/uncomfortable/)
- [Challenge](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/challenge/)
- [Habits](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/habits/)
- [onboarding](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/onboarding/)
- [Luke Nichols](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/luke-nichols/)
- [Idleness](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/idleness/)
- [Experience](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/experience/)
- [instructional supervision](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/instructional-supervision/)
- [principals](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/principals/)
- [coach](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/coach/)
- [Flow](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/flow/)
- [Effort](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/effort/)
- [The Rise of Superman](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/the-rise-of-superman/)
- [Bloom](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/bloom/)
- [Belief](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/belief/)
- [author visit](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/author-visit/)
- [international baccalaureate](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/international-baccalaureate/)
- [standardized testing](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/standardized-testing/)
- [High quality learning](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/high-quality-learning/)
- [mummies](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/mummies/)
- [cultural awarenss](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/cultural-awarenss/)
- [‘books](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/books-2/)
- [recycling](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/recycling/)
- [making a difference](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/making-a-difference/)
- [human centered](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/human-centered/)
- [performative leadership](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/performative-leadership/)
- [human centered leadership](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/human-centered-leadership/)
- [Yak shaving](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/yak-shaving/)
- [leaders](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/leaders/)
- [safeguarding](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/safeguarding/)
- [saferrecruitment](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/saferrecruitment/)
- [governors](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/governors/)
- [seniorleaders](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/seniorleaders/)
- [slt](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/slt/)
- [HR](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/hr/)
- [DSL](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/dsl/)
- [kōlea](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/kolea/)
- [safer recruitment](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/safer-recruitment/)
- [interview](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/interview/)
- [hiring](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/hiring/)
- [Paradox](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/paradox/)
- [Attendance](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/attendance/)
- [Collaboration](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/collaboration/)
- [Collaborative literacy](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/collaborative-literacy/)
- [K-12 schools](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/k-12-schools/)
- [recrutiment](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/recrutiment/)
- [retention](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/retention/)
- [staff voice](https://blog.tieonline.com/tag/staff-voice/)