Patana News Volume 23 Issue 19

Our mission is to ensure that students of different nationalities grow to their full potential as independent learners in a caring British international community.

Patana

NEWS

Friday 29th January 2021

Volume 23 Issue 19

www.patana.ac.th

HARNESSING THE POWER OF REFLECTION

By Katherine Hume, Cross Campus Assistant Principal

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Also in this issue...

International Virtual Strings Winners/CSL Survey Results/ECAs and Sports Begin as Planned 29/01/2021

Bangkok Patana School News

Bangkok Patana is a not-for-profit IB World School accredited by CIS

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Harnessing the Power of Reflection, the Collective and the Inifinite Game

Katherne Hume, Cross Campus Assistant Principal: Continued Professional Learning

This coming Monday, we look forward to welcoming everyone back onto the school campus. We will enjoy and appreciate the opportunities this gives us to reconnect face to face with our students and colleagues. Enabling us to move forward with positivity and energy - a spring in our step and a smile on our face.

As a community of highly professional educators, we are intrinsically committed to ensuring the best possible outcomes for our students, and as a result of this we continuously strive towards pedagogical mastery for ourselves and our colleagues. Transitioning from virtual learning and re-adjusting to proximate learning, we will take some time to reflect on the past three weeks of CSL. For as John Dewey expertly observed, “we do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience.

We recognise that reflection is critical in supporting our growth and development and improving our future performance. Intentional, focused reflection allows us to step off the dance floor and get up on the balcony, giving us the opportunity to see things from a broader perspective.

It is valuable to consider through our reflections what Art Costa and Robert Garmaston call the ‘Five States of Mind’.

• EFFICACY: Knowing that one has the capacity to make a difference and being willing and able to do so.

• FLEXIBILITY: Knowing one has and can develop options to consider and being willing to acknowledge and demonstrate respect for empathy for diverse perspectives.

• CRAFTSMANSHIP: Seeking precision, refinement and mastery. Striving for exactness of critical thought processes.

• CONSCIOUSNESS: Monitoring one’s own values, intentions, thoughts and behaviours and their effects.

• INTERDEPENDENCE: Contributing to a common good and using group resources to enhance personal effectiveness.

Costa and Gramaston believe that each of us has the capacity and resources within us to grow and change from within. By paying attention to these through our reflections supports us to become efficient in each of these states of mind resulting in increased teacher excellence.

Data from the recent CSL staff survey showed how much colleagues appreciate and value the support, collaboration and expertise they receive from each other. When teachers collectively reflect, learn and adapt together then evidence shows this can have a huge impact on student attainment. Professor John Hattie and his team believe that ‘Collective Teacher Efficacy (CTE)’ - “When everyone in a school believes that together they can make a difference”, the impact

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on student attainment can be almost quadrupled (Eells, 2011). This notion of collective efficacy across the school is a powerful precursor to student success. Combine this with having a collective and collaborative focus on teachers evaluating their impact and the results on student attainment can be even greater.”

Professor John Hattie - Collective Teacher Efficacy

Taking time together as a collective of teachers, whether as peer to peer, a team or faculty, or as a whole school, to evaluate and reflect on our impact is critical in supporting us to take those steps towards pedagogical mastery and ensuring student success. So as we embrace the future, what will our next steps be? How will we apply the lessons learned and how will we measure there success?

In Mr. Mills’ recent recommended read ‘What might education focus on post COVID19?’ Simon Sinek encourages us to look beyond the finite game and embrace the infinite game. Rather than seek the immediate win look for how we might best engage with the infinite game. Ensuring psychology safety, developing flexibility, finding a worthy rival, and encouraging each other to grapple with new challenges in the hope of finding exciting solutions.

How do we equip our teachers to play the infinite game, supporting them to develop the capabilities and habits of mind they need, as they adapt to changes in the game and to play as drivers of change.

As Simon Sinek suggested “Perhaps this is the ultimate challenge for education postCOVID, to shift our focus towards how we prepare to play the infinite game of education”.

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Continuing Student Learning (CSL 2.0) Parent and Student Week 2 Survey

Helen Thew Cross Campus Principal and Acting Secondary Principal

PARENTS

STUDENTS

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Percentage

hank you for taking the time to complete the CSL 2.0 Week 2 survey. We received 678 responses from parents and 598 student responses. It is good to see how in sync the parents and the students are. All results are showin in percentage

The amount of learning being set for my child/me is appropriate. (The task is completed in the time given)

Percentage

RESPONDENTS BY YEAR GROUP

Percentage

The teacher is communicating and feeding back in a variety of ways including some face to face and electronically.

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STUDENTS

The Learning is engaging (fun/interesting) / I am being challenged with learning new things.

Percentage

PARENTS

The Learning facilitates a balance of screen time and offline learning.

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Percentage

Percentage

The Learning is appropriately challenging and my child feels supported in their learning / I feel supported in my learning

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International Virtual Strings Winners Nitchaya Thamavaranukup Ekaraphanich, Patana parent

Congratulations to Narida (Nia) Ekaraphanich (Year 5) and Sira (KK) Anuras (Year 7) for their wins in the International Virtual String competition held by the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts at Chulalongkorn University.

Nia participated in both solo and ensemble categories. She was the winner of the First Prize for Young Talent in the Solo category playing the charming piece, Kujawiak in A Minor, composed by the renowned Polish composer, Henryk Wieniawski. Nia and KK played in the string quintent named V Harmonica which took home the First Prize in the Junior Ensemble category playing the famous Concerto for 4 Violins by Antonio Vivaldi. Nia performed on the violin and KK was the only cellist in the band.

The International Virtual String Competition (IVSC) was open to all string players including violin, viola and cello. It was the first international virtual string competition organised in Thailand with reputable adjudicators from international artists. Enjoy Nia’s performance here and the prize winning ensemble performance here.

Monitoring Air Quality in School A

ir quality in school is important year-round but even more so when air quality in Bangkok becomes very poor. Two years ago, the school tested a variety of monitoring systems and chose the one that produced the most accurate results. There are 27 monitors in 18 buildings across Primary and Secondary buildings as well as the Sports Hall and Gymnastics room. The system is monitored in real-time and extensive data is collected to ensure the system is working at optimum levels.

FRESH AIR FILTERED SYSTEM In addition, the school invested in a pre-cooled fresh air filtered system. This system brings outside air into the building, but before it does it passes the air through two levels of filters; the first filters PM 10.5 particles and the second level filters out PM 2.5 particles. Then the clean air enters the room and pressurises it. Once a room is pressurised, outside air won’t rush in when doors are opened. The system uses MERV 14 filters, which have a 90% efficiency rate. Depending on the season, they are changed every three to six months; there is a gauge on the filters as well that shows when they require changing.

Even when air quality outside is quite poor, the filtered fresh air systems maintain air quality within school policy guidelines for health and well-being. Parents can check the levels every day on the Parents’ Gateway dashboard as well as the entrances to the school.

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Smart watches, trackers and other wearable technology in school Carol Battram, Primary Assistant Principal: Learning and Welfare

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ast November, I was sent an article about GPS wear- are known, and someone will contact you if there is a ables in school, written by Mark Steed, the Principal of problem at the end of the day.

Kellett School in Hong Kong. It began with the following Many wearable devices allow for two-way paragraph. communication with the parent’s smartphone and this is We’re a month into term and the fourwhere problems could arise. At Bangkok Patana, we do year-old Reception girl has started not allow Primary aged children to have independent catching the school bus for the first time. contact with their parents during the school day. Our She enters the building in her shiny policy restricts the use of mobile phones to students in Year new school uniform weighed down by 7 and above. her oversized backpack, touches the If you do decide to purchase a wearable device for device on her wrist and says, “Mummy, your child, please choose one that allows you sufficient I'm at school.” “I know, dear – have a control of any settings and alerts. very good day,” comes the reply. Welcome to the next chapter of helicopter • Choose a model which allows you to turn off any parenting. two-way communication function, whether sending messages or making calls.

Over the last year, we have seen a significant increase in • Check whether a device comes pre-loaded with the number of students wearing some kind of smart watch games or other entertainment content which could or wearable tracking device to school. Some parents then become a constant distraction. keep a GPS tracker in their child’s bag so that they can • Be assured that any device that rings, pings or vicheck arrival times to and from school. This gives peace brates during the school day will do nothing to support of mind without any impact on the child’s independence. your child’s learning.

Before equipping your child with a smart watch or other • Find out if device has a Student or Airplane mode device, please consider whether this is something that your which could then become your child’s default setting family actually needs. Responsible parenting doesn’t have whilst in school. to mean knowing where your child is 24/7, and school is NO ELECTRONIC DEVICES ON PRIMARY RESIDENTIALS We expect that all electronic devices, including trackers Once a student has passed through the school gates, and phones, stay at home during your child’s Primary they fall under our Duty of Care. Our start and end times Residential. Please give yourself permission to take a break whilst our wonderful teachers look after your child. a very different environment to a busy shopping mall or transport hub, where a child could more easily become separated from their family.

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UNI COUNSELORS’ CORNER

University Offers

Nutthadon (Nadon) Tantiponganant (13F) University of Nottingham, Medical Science

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ongratulations to Nadon on his unconditional acceptance to a joint six year Medical programme between the University of Nottingham and Srinakharinwirot University (SWU). Nadon will be enrolling in a dual degree programme to earn his Bachelor’s of Medical Science at the University of Nottingham followed by a further three years at SWU to earn a Doctor of Medicine. Nadon has been a member of the Bangkok Patana family since 2006.

“Choosing to study medicine wasn’t a one-night decision but it was an accumulation of many parts of my life. As a child, I had these very bad allergies to the point where I was even allergic to grass! So, whenever I went to my doctor, she would treat me, I would always feel much better and this happiness inspired and motivated me to study Medicine as I wanted to spread this type of happiness to others as well. During my volunteer work as an English instructor in Nan province at Banarab Primary School, I was playing basketball with the kids and I fractured my finger. Arriving at the provincial hospital I saw that many patients were waiting and looking as if they had been waiting for a very long time. When I saw the patients, I wanted to do something but at that time I was not qualified enough to do anything. All I could do was just watch hopelessly. This moment also motivated me to studying Medicine as I wanted to help people and those around me to the best of my abilities.”

In the Spotlight...

The University of Queensland, Australia Established in 1909, the main campus is located in the capital city of Queensland in Australia. Brisbane is known not just for its climate but also its proximity to many of Australia’s top attractions. The University of Queensland ranked 36th in the US News Global rankings and 62nd in the Times Higher Education global rankings in 2021. Out of the over 40,000 students 38 percent are international.

Well-known for Engineering and Life Sciences, the University has also seen pioneering research producing the first HPV vaccine and the development of high-performance superconducting MRI magnets for portable scanning. There are six academic faculties; Science, Medicine, Health and Behavioural Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences, Business, Economics and Law and Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology. The University of Queensland counts two Nobel laureates, over a hundred Olympians winning numerous gold medals and 117 Rhodes Scholars among its alumni and former staff. Other notable alumni include Oscar and Emmy awards winner Geoffrey Rush and triple Grammy Award winner Tim Munro.

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Winning the Wait Paul Yap, Careers and University Counsellor

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n a recent webinar conducted by the NCAA, one of the coaches noted that one of the most important things student athletes can do is “win the wait.” Coach Hernando Planell, Head Women’s Basketball coach at William Jessup, commented on the importance of continuing to work hard, continuing to do research, continuing to be in communication with universities even during these difficult times of COVID-19. A lot of the sports teams at Bangkok Patana have continued working on the conditioning of their athletes, PE teachers have encouraged students to engage in exercise as much as possible, and IB students have been engaging in the CAS activities. There is always something that you can be doing to make yourself not only a better athlete, but also a better person.

In his book, “Thinking Fast and Slow”, Daniel Kahneman talks about two systems constantly battling for control of your thoughts – the conscious and the automatic. The automatic system helps us jump to easy schemas such as two plus two is four, dark clouds mean we should bring an umbrella, or a car is coming “I need to get out of the way.” The more conscious system helps you focus, exerting deliberate control so that we can ensure that we do not miss things. As human beings we tend to rely on our automatic system, “habits” if you want to call it something. Habits are a good thing because it teaches us how to do things excellently. But habits, like inertia, can make us continue on a track that prevents us from growing, from evolving, from challenging ourselves outside of our comfort zone. It is this inertia, this habit, we need to break, and therefore Reflecting on the many moments we as human being we need to engage our mindful, conscious system to help need to queue or wait for other things to happen, I realised create the correct atmosphere to win the wait. how important this is especially now with lockdown. The importance of not just waiting for the world to provide for “Winning the wait” can take many forms; exploring us what we need, but rather to take full responsibility, to ourselves and understanding what makes us happy; take initiative, these are important things not just during the exploring our interests and seeing the heights that can be lockdown but also for life in general. As a Careers team, attained; or just putting on your trainers and going for a we continuously talk to students about exploring the super- run. Although there is something to be said about taking curricular: the things that we read, that we do, that we a break, but when the break lasts more than the working explore outside of the classroom because we are interested time, then the systems must change. There is a fine balance in it. These are wonderful moments and opportunities to do to being active and restfulness that every individual needs it. There are many wonderful opportunities for Bangkok to find. In the same sense, it is important to figure out the Patana students to explore other ways to take part in right fit and match when it comes to universities, to engage service organisations, from designing websites, taking with the super-curricular. The Careers team has a number part in virtual marathons, exploring courses on Coursera, of great resources to help you explore that through our Udemy and other MOOC platforms. Opportunities to Firefly page here. “win the wait.”

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Arts Corner Developing a Passion for Music Cheyenne Lu, 11E

interweave, and create my own.

My first attempt at creating my own music was difficult to say the least. One moment music would be flowing out of my mind, other times I would spend hours editing two bars. In the end, despite the several mental blocks I had on my journey of creating, I was able to grasp the process of translating my ideas into notes. This liberty led me to writing my recent composition Variation in D Major. It explores several different stylic features I have learnt throughout my piano playing career so far, especially influenced by W. A. Mozart. I investigated how he varied his themes into lively variations and attempted to incorporate this into my ince a young age, I have been exposed to the world own work. When I was composing this piece, I particularly of music, performing, practicing and enjoying. Fortu- loved having to come up with creative new ways to vary nately, I was able to carry this passion into my high school a theme to make the piece more exciting and enjoyable career. Ever since starting (I)GCSE Music, I have learnt to listen to. more than just how to insert notes onto a blank page, or I have really grown a passion for music, a form of the complex structure of a piece of music. (I)GCSE Music has opened my eyes to a wide variety of cultures and their art constantly revolving around us with or without our styles of music, explore how the melody and harmonies acknowledgement.

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Drama Inspired by the Global Pandemic Lily-Anne Boucher, 10M n the first term of school, we were given the opportunity to choose a topic that inspired us or we could relate to, and perform a devised piece about it. The only requirement was for it to be in Brechtian style. After talking about possible topics, we soon realised that there was one thing we could all relate to, COVID-19. Some of us had experienced the ‘first hand’ effects of the pandemic - whether it was our parents being stuck abroad or just missing friends back at home - so we knew this was something that inspired us all.

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with the scenes and all there was left to do was to refine.

My favourite part of this project was our last scene - we used movement in a way that I had never explored before and watching it back was really rewarding because we were so unsure of what it would look like. Looking back, I’m really proud of the piece and can’t wait to create more pieces with everyone.

Thank you to Tisha, Andrew, Catherine, Emily, Sophia, Alicia, Aprillia and Mr Pearton for making my first devised piece one that I am so proud of.

This was the first time I had created a piece with people who were just as passionate about drama as I am and it really showed! Everyone contributed tremendously to the creative process; we wanted to create something really special. Gradually, the pieces started to come together, the thousands of ideas we had rounded down to a few scenes. I think the biggest challenge about this project was implementing the Brechtian style. It was so new to all of us but we gathered some inspiration from different sources and eventually came to a point where we were happy

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174: How to Force Outlook to Spellcheck Emails Before They’re Sent M

icrosoft Outlook has just over eight percent of the email client market share. I thought it would be much higher than that to be honest. Since its our default email client at school, I thought I’d share this tip with you, nonetheless.

Outlook has a setting that forces spellcheck to take place after you click the “Send” button. If no errors are found, the email is sent as normal. If a spelling error is found, Outlook gives you the option to correct it before the email is sent. You can add common words it does not recognise to the dictionary.

To turn this setting on, open the Outlook desktop application and click File > Options.

In the Mail > Compose Messages section, toggle on the “Always check spelling before sending” checkbox.

Click “OK” in the bottom-right corner to save and close the “Options” panel.

And that’s all there is to it. Now, when you click “Send” on an email with a spelling error, Outlook will pick it up and give you us the opportunity chance to correct it.

Note: The spell checker won’t pick up the wrong words, just words that are not spelled correctly. If you meant to type in “Geek” but typed “Greek” instead, the spell checker won’t pick that up because “Greek” is a correctly spelled word.

Have a great weekend in anticipation of life returning to some sense of normality on Monday morning!

Brian Taylor Assistant Principal, Campus Curriculum Technology Integration

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Desert Island Discs With Simon Griffiths, D + T Teacher

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his column follows in the style of the famed BBC podcast which features a celebrity every week – here we feature our own Bangkok Patana celebrities! What eight songs, one luxury item and one book would you take with you if you were stuck on a desert island?

Today Design + Technology teacher Simon Griffiths is stuck on a desert island.

MR GRIFFITHS, IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND WHAT EIGHT PIECES OF MUSIC WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? Escape (The Pina Colada Song) – Rupert Holmes The Bottle – Gill Scott Open Up Your Door – Richard Hawley How Soon is Now? – The Smiths Wichita Lineman – Glen Campbell 5 Years Time – Noah and the Whale Brass in Pocket – The Pretenders

Listen to Mr Griffiths’ playlist here

International Velvet – Catatonia PICK ONE LUXURY ITEM YOU WOULD WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU. THIS ITEM MUST BE INANIMATE AND OF NO USE IN ESCAPING THE ISLAND OR ALLOWING COMMUNICATION FROM OUTSIDE. A monkey waiter on roller skates to serve me Piña Coladas WHICH ONE BOOK WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart Catch the real Desert Island Discs on BBC. Now that you are stuck at home, what are you listening to? Have a list of your own? Let us know! Contact SHKN with your favourites.

Although the Thai government has announced new holidays, the school calendar remains the same.

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Wildlife Hotspots of Greater Bangkok!

Alexander (Coke) Smith, Environmental Systems and Societies Leader his era of COVID-19 has really limited our ability to get out, explore and travel afar. Many of us are accustomed to traveling to distant and out of the way places to explore the world, but with our current limitations, we are finding ourselves limited in where we can go.

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I for one have had a difficult time adjusting to not having the ability to plan an epic “nature expedition” to far off exotic places to experience the wonders of nature. Luckily Thailand has made minimal impacts on domestic travel, so I’ve made it a point to get out to experience nature and the great outdoors at least once a week or more. With this in mind I thought I would make an effort to share with the Bangkok Patana family some awesome “local escapes” where we can go to see nature and view wildlife in urban or semi-urban conditions. I hope you enjoy this series.

RAMA IX PARK Located just behind Paradise Mall and Seacon Square on Srinakarin Road, Rama IX park is no stranger to many of the Bangkok Patana family. Hundreds of rai of beautifully manicured gardens with easy access trails and spectacular views makes Rama IX a welcome sanctuary of nature from the hustle and bustle of busy Bangkok, right next door.

What many folks don’t know about Rama IX is that it is a major stopping off point for many migratory forest birds. On any given day one can find dozens of local Bangkok nature photographers and birdwatchers out focusing on the many rarities that find their way to Rama IX during their migrations. Beautiful species like the Emerald Green and the Violet Cuckoos can be seen this time of year there.

LAT KRABANG WETLANDS Just east of town beyond Suvarnabhumi Airport, there is an area that is famous with the local bird-watching crowd – the Lat Krabang Wetlands. Here, on a good day, one can see nearly 100 species of birds throughout the winter months. This is a great spot to get fantastic views of many species of egrets and herons as well as countless waders and grassland birds. This location gives a glimpse of the immense biodiversity that can still be found here in the greater Bangkok area! Sadly though, this area is also being developed incredibly fast and will soon be a thing of the past, unless government intervention can stop or slow the destruction of these vital wetlands.

SOUTH BANGKOK SHRIMP FARMS This area of Bangkok is famous for its awesome seafood restaurants and mangrove and Nipa palm-lined khlongs. This is a rarely visited part of town but can be easily accessed in less 16

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than an hour from most locations. Bird-watching is great in the area for egrets and herons but the main attraction for this wildlife enthusiast is otters! This region has many families of Smooth-coated Otters, which comes as a surprise to many.

How on earth could such a magnificent carnivore still be prospering in an urban and polluted water system? Somehow though they are. On a good day, one can hope to see them at play. There is now a specific location where viewing has a better than 50% chance! And that is pretty high considering most people can live their entire lives around otters and never see them.

Coke Smith is our Environmental Science Leader and is an avid nature photographer. Coke has published his wildlife images in many books and magazines over the years and has been included in publications such as BBC Planet Earth and Nat Geo Science and many other internationally renowned publications. For more information on any of the above local wildlife hotspots, please contact Coke (cosm@patana.ac.th)

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the m o r f t es The lat

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