taking home the beacon - bbs teaching & learning center home the beacon vol 3 issue... · and...
TRANSCRIPT
Taking Home the Beacon
Volume 3 Issue 1 Fall 2018
Coaches CornerBy Aaron Shelby
The Teaching and Learning Center wants to welcome you to the new school year. We are fortunate to have expanded our department to include the Technology Integration Specialists. They have been in coaches training since we have returned in August. They are very excited to partner with you as you implement technology into your classroom and curriculum. Welcome Katerine Albarellos, Huda Barghouti, Evgenii Permiakov, and Ashraf Al Rabah!
The TLC is looking forward to supporting all of the exciting learning opportunities taking place at BBS this year. From the monthly PD days and NESA conferences to the open houses and personalized coaching, we are here to support your needs as it relates to your students’ achievement. We hope that each of you will join us at some point this year to share your expertise with us and the BBS community. Be on the lookout for upcoming opportunities to do so.
Finally, as we continue to get to know our students and strengthen our collegial relationships this fall, we hope that you share your successes with the TLC so we can share this good news with the BBS community. Feel free to send photos to us via Twitter @tlcbbs or our new Instagram @tlcbbs. We are excited to share all of the good work in action.
Best wishes for you in this school year!
Sincerely,
Aaron ShelbyHead of Teaching and Learning Center
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The Big Four: Spotlight on Community building By Mona Yacqub
Content
Strategy: Pros-Cons Grids
Strategy Descriptor:
Size: Groups of 2-6
Time: Unrestricted
Objectives:This activity can help students in developing analytical and evaluative skills. It also requires students to go beyond their initial position and reactions, and come up with points of discussion for the other side of the issue. Finally, it also requires students to weigh the points of competing positions and claims.
Steps:
1. Pick a topic that lends itself to the idea of making lists of pros and cons/advantages and disadvantages for some issue (see pointers for suggestions). Break students up into small groups.
2. Have the groups come up with at least three points for each side. Additionally, let students know whether they should be putting their lists together in point form or full sentences.
3. Once students have had time to complete the activity, bring the class back together to share and discuss points on each side.Pro- Con Grids
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The Big Four: Spotlight on Community building By Mona Yacqub
Instruction
Strategy: Readers' Theater
Strategy Descriptor:
In readers' theatre, students rehearse and perform a play for peers or others. They read from scripts that have been derived from books that are rich in dialogue. Students play characters who speak lines or a narrator who shares necessary background information. Readers' theatre provides readers with a legitimate reason to reread text and to practice fluency. Readers' theatre also promotes cooperative interaction with peers and makes the reading task appealing.
Readers' Theater
"Top 15 Problem Solving Activities for Your Team to Master." Wrike. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2017.
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The Big Four: Spotlight on Community building By Mona Yacqub
Assessment
Strategy: Daring Doodles
Strategy Descriptor:
Challenge students to use a drawing rather than words to show understanding of a concept. This is the perfect exercise for those kids who
have difficulty speaking out in class.
Daring Doodles
"Top 15 Problem Solving Activities for Your Team to Master." Wrike. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2017.
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The Big Four: Spotlight on Community building By Mona Yacqub
Community Building
Strategy: Back-to-Back Drawing
Strategy Descriptor:
Working in pairs, one person must describe a shape without naming it, whilst their partner must try to draw the shape they are describing to
try and get as close the original shape as possible. This activity focuses heavily on verbal communication and listening skills.
"Top 15 Problem Solving Activities for Your Team to Master." Wrike. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2017.
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Teacher Spotlight: Ashraf Al-Rabah By Tahani Hashem
Technology is the wave of the present and future
My name is Ashraf Al-Rabah and I am from Irbid, Jordan. I graduated from Jordan University of Science and Technology (J.U.S.T) in 1996 with specialization in computer engineering. Both my parents were History and English teachers and this is why I like teaching. Reading history books, traveling and visiting ancient cities are my passion. This is my 20th year in education technology.
I have taught technology in a national university for 12 years, 4 years in an international school (British and American) in Amman and this is my 4th year here at BBS and in Kuwait. Having been an IT teacher and IT HOD, and now technology integrated specialist, I'm passionately interested in training and development for teachers.
Building relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally is a goal that I would like to achieve.What really excites me is considering each day as a new adventure, meeting new challenges, solving technology problems, teaching in different strategies, collaborating with multi-culture teachers and the joy of success as a result of hard working.
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Curriculum By Carol Alawadi
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Teachers are very important and influential people in the lives of their students. In his book, Teacher and Child, Haim Ginott, a school teacher, child psychologist and psychotherapist, and a parent educator in the 1950’s and ‘60’s wrote the most powerful words I have ever read about being a teacher:
I have come to a frightening conclusion.
I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis
will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or de-humanized.
Tuck these word into your heart and never, never forget them.
Student Learning Activities By Mary Beth Akers
Stem Thursday!!! Students have the opportunity to be creative & innovative!!! In this activity students worked in groups to create a catapult from popsicle sticks. They modified their catapult in order to produce the best possible launch!! These engineers had a blast launching small erasers across the room while learning about observations and measurements of an object’s motion!
Student Learning Activities
NESA uPDATES By Aaron Shelby
NESA is off and running for the 2018-2019 school year. We have successfully sent two teams to the fall learning opportunities. The Fall Leadership Conference was held in Athens, Greece and the Fall Training Institute was held in Amman, Jordan with particular focus on continuous adult learning at the interest of our students. The Winter Training Institute is up next in Chennai, India!
(L to R) Fatima Kamali, Mary Beth Akers, Lina Soury, and Kevin Fullbrook attend the Fall Training Institute in Jordan
Top: (L to R) Joseph Williams, Nada Kayssi, Lana Hallal, Gustav Gropp, Michelle Brisset, and Nehme Kourani pose for a quick photo at the Fall Leadership Conference in Greece.
Right: Madeleine Hewitt, NESA Executive Director, greets the NESA FLC participants
Connect with the BBS Teaching and Learning Center
Website: tlcbbs.com
Twitter: @tlcbbs
Instagram: @tlcbbs
Aaron Shelby [email protected]
Lana Hallal [email protected]
Mary Beth Akers [email protected]
Mona Yacqub [email protected]
Tahani Hashem [email protected]
Ashraf Al-Rabah [email protected]
Evgenii Permiakov [email protected]
Huda Barghouti [email protected]
Katerine Albarellos [email protected]
Teaching and Learning CenterAl Bayan Bilingual School
2018-2019