The new
Volume 1, Issue 1
Copenhagener Thoughts from and about our school
In this issue: The Outdoor Classroom The Heart of Inclusion The Transience of Knowledge A Raven’s Tale ... and lots more.
Copenhagen International School
November 1, 2010
Copenhagen International School Hellerupvej 22-26 Hellerup Denmark www.cis.dk
A note from the editor: This being the very first edition of The New Copenhagener, I can’t resist pausing readers for a moment to explain the context of this document -as it truly is a type of publication that our school has never produced before. So, what is The New Copenhagener? It is our school magazine downloadable for print, or to be read online -designed to give readers an insight into the professional, social and educational nature of the CIS community. The type of content in The New Copenhagener can vary greatly. It can be said that this publication is primarily geared to an adult target audience -although we will most certainly include articles and samples of work that are open to many types of readers. Additionally, this “Emagazine” will hopefully have strong entertainment value as well as quality educational exposition. How did this publication come about? In light of developments in our ability to use our school’s website to communicate retrospective news items as well as disseminate information, the need for a “typical school newsletter” became diminished... although our school has lots to say... Given these lucky circumstances and some urging from our school’s new director, we were given the opportunity to mould something new that gives contributors from our community a platform to truly dig into an issue and explore it from an educational perspective, or just have a bit of fun. Hopefully this new formula will result in content you will find worth a healthy browse. Time to jump in! I hope you like it.
Daniel Palomares CIS Communications Manager
The New Copenhagener Contents: Schooling Internationally and the ‘third way’ 6 Building and Re-Building the Learning Community
9
The transience of knowledge: Learning how to learn 10 What a Waste -A message from the “Greenie Papa” 13 The Outdoor Classroom 14 The Heart of Inclusion 18 Multi-taskers or Procrastinators? 20 Snapshots in time.... A peek into CIS life...
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A recent alumni’s reflection on the “heart” of sports 24 Student Work - A Raven’s Tale
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You are what you eat
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Closing the Journal... with first impressions 30
The New Copenhagener page 5
Schooling Internationally and the ‘third way’ http://www.amazon.com/Schooling-InternationallyGlobalisation-Internationalisation-International/ dp/0415589282/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_2
By Tristan Bunnell Diploma Program Economics Teacher About every five years a major book (as a collection of essays) appears about ‘international schooling’ and the changing role of international education. The next one is published by Routledge (and released 15th November) titled Schooling Internationally: Globalisation, Internationalisation and the Future for International Schools. I have contributed to this book (Chapter 10) with a chapter about the challenges facing the IB in the near future as it continues to grow at a rate where the number of schools is doubling every five years. It is interesting to note that CIS was one of the first seven schools to be involved in the IB ‘project’, in 1968. In July 2010 the IB hit the 3,000-school mark (including 1,200 in the United States). The IB is now aiming to involve 10,000 schools serving 2.5 million children by 2020. My overall conclusion drawn in the book is that the IB will find it increasingly difficult to hold the diverse ‘World’ of IB schools together and the bloc of about 400 international schools that currently offer the IB will probably want to create their own alternative in the near future. It is quite normal for a product that is 40 years old to have outgrown the interests of the original customer market.
In general, the book offers a fairly dystopian view of the future of international schooling. There are doubts expressed, for instance, about how international schools and ‘IB World Schools’ can keep growing at the current rate without putting even more pressure on the teacher shortage situation already evident in public schooling in Britain, Australia, and the United States. There are real fears that this growth might lead to ‘brain drain’ resentment in these countries. Another view expressed is that the growth might ultimately compromise quality i.e. how can we keep this growth going yet maintain the same standards of assessment? Moreover, there is a feeling expressed across several chapters that international schools (there are reportedly now over 5,000 of these) and ‘IB World Schools’ in general are increasingly serving an elite class and offering economic and social advantage. In other words, there is a view now widely held that internationally schooling is becoming the preserve of an elite and exclusive global class. This may not be so evident in Scandinavia but it is increasingly emerging in its Middle East and Far Eastern markets of activity where for-profit schooling is increasing and where an emerging middle-class is seeking a high-quality English-language education. In some ways this has always been so. International schooling has always involved a unique ‘��������������������������������������������������� class-in-itself������������������������������������ ’����������������������������������� , being identified with classifica-
tions of children that have a common background and emotional development, such as the ‘Third Culture Kid’. The ‘global nomad’ is another popular moniker, as is the term ‘������ ������� transnational capitalist class’ (TCC). According to some commentators, the TCC have similar characteristics. They have outward-oriented global rather than inward-oriented local perspectives. They tend to share similar life-styles, particularly patterns of higher education, and consumption of luxury goods and services (such as the IB). But, it has become almost normal (especially since 2007 when the IB dropped its ‘IBO’ title) for literature to view the IB within the lens of creating cultural capital as a relatively expensive globally recognized brand, with logo, and appeal to the transnational, and emerging middle-class in countries such as China and India. The IB certainly features highly among the academically elite; 34 of the top 100 schools in the 2009 Newsweek listing of ‘��������������������������������������������� Americas Best Public Schools����������������� ’���������������� offered the Diploma Programme. The early idealism of the IB, exemplified by the post-war vision of the German educationalist Kurt Hahn, plus the desire for peace promoted by Britain’s Earl Mountbatten, another early advocate of the IB, seems to have given way to a cynical pessimism and this is evident in part within the book Schooling Internationally. The idealistic nature of the IB ‘��������������� ���������������� project�������� ’������� is revealed in its cold-war mission to ‘create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect’. However, based on case studies at Dutch schools, it is argued the growth of the IB can now be better understood by the increased need for schools to adapt to the social reproduction strategies of privileged social classes. It has been recently argued that the emergence of the IB in Australia should be conceptualised within a broader middle-class ‘strategy’ with parents using the IB as a way of gaining access for their children to top universities. There is, though, a major problem with this largely ‘fatalistic’ type of literature. It overlooks the fact that there has always been a view that
international schools serve ‘two masters’: the ‘idealistic’ ones seek to create an irenic global citizen, committed to public service and global peace (the International School of Geneva began in 1924 for this purpose), whilst the more ‘pragmatic’ ones concentrate on providing what the Scotsman Alec Peterson, one of the key architects of the IB back in 1962, called ‘schools across frontiers’, allowing students to be schooled in one country but then be repatriated ‘back home’ in a university or college (CIS began in 1962 perhaps more for this purpose). Of course, in practice, most international schools do both; they are at the same time both idealistic and pragmatic, and that is probably true today for Copenhagen International School. This topic is one that I explored in a journal paper published in July 2010. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~co ntent=a923454497
The view I took is that there are arguably two sets of ‘������������������������������������� �������������������������������������� IB Learner��������������������������� ’�������������������������� being created in international schools, simultaneously. On the one hand, the ‘IB Learner’ can be viewed as a class who display irenic tendencies, that is, members are likely to be leaders of tomorrow who will show tolerance, act reflectively, and pause to consider the alternative point of view. This is the ideal diplomat or politician. On the other hand, the ‘IB Learner’ can be viewed as a class who will work within corporations and display sympathy to the environment and globalization. In other words, they are likely to be workers of tomorrow who will be tolerant and understanding of the role of multinational business. This is the ideal corporate worker, showing loyalty and understanding. The IB website (at www.ibo.org) asserts that the MYP
The New Copenhagener page 7
‘is a programme of international education designed to help students develop the knowledge, understanding, attitudes and skills necessary to participate actively and responsibly in a changing world’. One IB document includes the statement that the IB ‘not only prepares students for success at the post-secondary level, but also for life and the world of work’. This is the sort of rhetoric that might be expected to appeal to future global employers. A further view implied in the book Schooling Internationally is that the ‘IB Learner’ might in the future seek solidarity, acting together as a ‘class’, to pursue its own economic aims and social goals; move from being a ‘class-in-itself’ towards a ‘class-for-itself’. This seems negative, but within the framework that there exists two ‘masters’- one idealistic and one pragmatic- the outcomes could be mixed. The emergence of a future ‘class-for-itself’ could theoretically take alternative routes. The ‘IB Learner’ could emerge committed to its economic advantage, utilizing its international links and networks – the social mobility route. The ��������������������������� other outcome is embedded in the IB mission statement – the social progress route. Of course, these are the extremities, and there exists the possibility of a ‘third way’ emerging. One researcher examined the Diploma Programme as a predictor of success at university, and discovered that three quarters of the students (92 students, at 12 US Colleges) had settled in scientific, technical or business careers, whilst almost the same number were involved in some form of ‘community service’. The notion that there exists a ‘third way’ is widely expressed by the IB itself. Monique Seefried (ex-Chair of IB Governors) asserted in 2007 that the ‘IB Learner Profile’ combines the attributes students will need to develop a business school brain: inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers and communicators with a social worker heart: principled, openminded, caring and balanced, attributes enabled by the capacity to be at the same time reflective and risk ‘takers’. The overall conclusion to be drawn from this analysis is that international schooling can in the future take radically different routes. It
could, of course, become solely a socially exclusive ‘product’ aimed at serving the national and global elite. However, it might also move back towards its idealistic tendencies, although this does seem unlikely outside a post-‘world war’, and post-‘cold war’, historical context. Perhaps the best outcome is the ‘third way’; the creation of a global citizen and future worker that is business-oriented but socially-responsible, and ethically-minded. This sort of thinking, accepting that international schooling is, and likely will remain, a largely elite educational forum, yet one that could ‘pacify’ the more negative outcomes of globalisation, has recently been openly discussed but sits at an infancy stage of development. Suggested further reading; http://jri.sagepub.com/content/1/2/159.abstract
The article investigates the role of international education and its relation to the world of work in an increasingly globalizing society. http://jri.sagepub.com/content/9/1/24.abstract
This article examines the potential of international schools to act as agents of social transformation in developing countries. http://www.idp.com/research/database_of_research/ quick_search.aspx
This article discusses the extent to which the small but influential clusters of international schools have the potential to lead national schools into the promised land of ‘global citizenship’, ‘education for international understanding’, and ‘world mindedness’. http://www.ibo.org/council/members/seefried/speeches/documents/educating_hearts_minds_en.pdf
Speech by Monique Seefried, International School of Geneva, January 2008.
Building and Re-Building the Learning Community
By Karen Watts and Samantha Fern Director of Student Services and Deputy Primary School Principal respectively “Education is a social process; education is growth; education is not a preparation for life but is life itself.� John Dewey. Reflecting on our school as a community is not a new concept. This big idea has been around since the Greek academies and the Lyceums in Roman times. John Dewey devoted a significant amount of time to his assertion that School is a Society. But what does it mean in practical terms? To me, being members of a community means that working relationships are of great importance. Our association is strengthened by a set of shared values, beliefs, and attitudes. A sense of belonging strengthens the collegial bond by providing a sense of unity and security. But, how do we help create a sense of belonging when we experience the staggered registration process of the ex-patriot, for example? Often, classes evolve throughout the year, completely dependent upon family transfers and the student admission process. So, too, members of our staff may decide to move to another country for any myriad reasons. Still, we are in the active process of building
community. Our shared feeling of belonging--with all its inherent responsibilities--helps to build nurturing and collegial teaching relationships. However, and perhaps, predictably, it requires reflection, dialogue, engagement, and a full commitment. With such a fluid community of learners, the key to belonging is the stability provided in a consistent philosophy and practice within it. In our international school we strive to maintain a welcoming ethos through our programme. Our explicit demonstration and modeling of the IB learner profile encourages the development of set of personal attributes which promote international mindedness and acceptance of individual differences and circumstances. Throughout a career as Music Teacher, Special Education Administrator, and School Psychologist, I have been extremely interested in the benefits of this type of school environment to the student. Not surprisingly, I am thinking of daily examples of our inclusive practice. Working together as unified teams for the good of all students takes a high-level of commitment and professional expertise. Making it a priority to find the time to consult with colleagues during our Grade Level Meetings and Child Study Team (CST) process, helps us (a) to define who we are as a community, and (b) to establish best practices in inclusive education. When we invite the student’s parents to participate in our conversations about student strengths and areas of need, we include the family in our international learning community. And when we sharpen our own awareness of cultural transitions, linguistic frustrations, and multicultural values, we are in the very active process of serving members of our community. Perhaps Traditional Organizational Theory appears more clear-cut and effective. However, the process-based model of the school as a community, although extremely challenging, offers the benefits of a nurtured sense of well-being, while concentrating on the joys of thinking and learning.
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The transience of knowledge: Learning how to learn unprecedented rate, and for our students to continue to function optimally in their careers long after they leave CIS, they need to be efficient and effective learners. Thinking that the course contents in the DP will be outdated in 5 to 10 years time may seem depressing and may even lead to a sense of pointlessness, but the learning process itself provides invaluable training. We need to train the students for a world that will demand of them a constant willingness and ability to learn, to keep on acquiring new knowledge and make it operational in their professional lives. Therefore, we need to increase students’ awareness of themselves as learners.
By Karsten Engelberg, Dean of DP Students and Senior Years Counsellor When students begin the DP at CIS, they have considerable experience as students. They have been learning in a school context for ten years or more. They have every right to see themselves as accomplished students. The question is: what will they study in the DP? The course descriptions and syllabi are clear and detailed and speak of mountains of knowledge that students need to master. The academic focus of the DP is one of its definite strengths, but focusing on subject-specific knowledge and understanding also presents a challenge. Given that we must prepare them for the information age, we need to make sure that they don’t just learn what they need to pass the exams but also come away with another skill: an increased awareness of how they individually function as learners. Much of the material that students learn for their exams will lose its immediate value once they have passed the DP. This is because they decide to pursue university studies and careers that take their attention away from close contact with most of their DP subjects. However, we also need to be aware that knowledge becomes outdated at an
γνῶθι σεαυτόν Know thyself Inscribed at the Apollo Temple at Delfi Even as learners we develop and change. Most traditional cognitive research tends to ignore this aspect or, at best, recognize its existence but continue in the traditional vein. However, a new field of research has gained attention in recent years: educational neuroscience.1 It produces fascinating results, for example in the field of second language learning.2 We have an instinctive sense that we change as learners as we grow older – mostly perhaps because we are aware that with age we seem to become slower and our memories become less reliable, but we have very little focus on learning strategies that can be productive at different For an introduction to educational neuroscience, see www.educationalneuroscience.org.uk 2 See e.g. www.ericdigests.org/2001-3/brain.html 1
ages and in different situations. Instinctive sense is useful but it needs to be coupled with a means to act effectively. Therefore we need to be much more aware of ourselves as learners, not just when we find ourselves in a formal learning situation, but as a constant element in our self assessment. That’s why at CIS we have Prospero. At the beginning of DP1, we ask the students to take 20 minutes to answer a series of questions on their learning preferences and practices. Each student then receives a 17-page report with details on his or her individual learning styles. Students react very differently to their reports. Some find that it tells them nothing that they didn’t already know, others
dismiss it as being ‘wrong’ and yet others find the whole process irrelevant to their goal of passing the IB exams with the highest possible score. These reactions in themselves suggest different approaches to the learning process, and in each case taking a little time to examine these general responses can generate some good discussion and eventually some useful insights. Ideally, the process of examining study practices must become a natural part of every student’s learning. The Prospero reports provide students and their teachers with a tool to facilitate this process, and the more we use it the more we help students become adaptable and flexible in their learning, not just in the DP but throughout their professional lives. Prospero is our starting point for this development in the DP at CIS.
The New Copenhagener page 11
What a Waste -A message from the “Greenie Papa”
By Simon Watkin PYP Teacher and “Greenie Papa” The Green Flag flies at Copenhagen International School, but what is our next step? One of the more tangible items of waste that our students often comment on, are their snacks and lunches. Last year the Greenies ran a ‘Foil Free’ campaign in the Primary School, which seems to have had some success in reducing the amount of foil wrapping used on lunches. However, we are far from ‘Foil Free’. Last week the ‘The Greenies’ collected all the non-compostable packaging from snacks and lunches within the Primary Years classrooms. They weighed it and found there to be just over two and half kilos of packaging, that would have been thrown into the bin for burning or landfill. Many of the food types could have been bulk-bought and packaged in smaller re-useable plastic containers. After publishing the results on the school website, they did a planned collection the following Monday. The results were surprising, as they found the packaging had been reduced by more than half. Was this just coincidence or was there a reaction to the publicity within the Primary Years?
Without repeating this collection a number of times, the results can only be seen as positive but not conclusive. A number of students mentioned that they were frustrated by the fact that their parents had wrapped their lunches in foil, even though they had asked for a plastic container. How can they be supported in this? More importantly is it the school’s place to have an indirect influence on the packaging that parents choose? One could say that as educators we encourage our students to make educated choices based on their acquired knowledge. If they take action and ask at home for reusable packaging, point out that the television should be turned off completely and not just left on stand-by or question their parents’ choice of transport, are they acting on their own initiative? Last year in PYP2 one of the classes conducted an inquiry into the amount of packaging individual yoghurt pots would take, as opposed to buying larger cartons and sharing it out into reusable containers. A pilot study to implement Waste Free Lunches was conducted by David Darlington of Environmental Education for Kids at schools in California. He found that with guidance for preparing food that didn’t require disposable packaging, parents were much more willing to follow the scheme. As an additional benefit, many parents noted the cost savings that accompanied these lunches. Would this be something that we could look at and would parents welcome it. I would like to think so. I’m in a privileged position as a parent whose own children go to an independent school in Sweden, where all school children are provided with a free hot lunch by the school. Therefore, I am rarely faced with the challenge of planning and making the lunches that would want for my own children. If we are to maintain our Green Flag status, then surely we should allow the students to educate and guide our (adult) age group on such matters.
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The Outdoor Classroom goes. Why are we doing the Outdoor Classroom?
By Darren Davies MYP Deputy Principal Tuesday Sept. 28 As I sit here writing, two days before 6O are due to overnight in the shelters they have been busy constructing today, I can’t help but feel that it is going to be a very different experience to that when 6G overnighted less than two weeks previous. Two weeks ago it felt like summer still… today felt like winter. I guess I should be grateful. I did get to spend autumn in the forest! And on the bright side, at least the mosquitoes have gone, although the ticks are hanging on in there, literally in some cases. Actually, I feel privileged to have been able to spend the autumn, short as it was, in the forest with the children, teachers and parents of our school. It has been a rich experience and I’m tempted to say one only the outdoors can afford. Interestingly I found it to be a great leveler, where the roles and formality of normal school community life was for a while, like us, simply lost in the woods! Still though, I sit here thinking of the cold and asking myself, why are we doing this? Which is always a good question, and timely given I have to get this done by the end of the week, so here
Well, it is a complex and multifaceted answer. It is the result of one teacher’s firm conviction that all the world is indeed a classroom. It is the result of a feeling among faculty that learning isn’t limited to the school classroom, rather that it happens in different places, at different times in different people, and that we need to accommodate this. It is about building character, and community. It is about the work of Richard Louv described in his book, ‘Last Child in the Woods’, work that crystalised our thoughts and gave us a context. It is the result of a problem we face, or rather, one which are our children face, appointed to by us…. that of rescuing the planet in the face of increasing environmental stress. The problem of saving a natural world, that according to Louv, we are increasingly depriving them access to. Our new Director has spoken about whether we can teach children to be good. Posing the question differently in terms of our formulated problem, can we teach them to care? Is caring for something a pre-requisite for taking action to protect it? The study of the Environment is a current and ongoing focus in education. We teach about it at CIS, and do a good job. The children write excellent essays and presentations, demonstrate excellent understandings and get good grades. We teach the knowledge well. But is this enough to invoke the feelings necessary for action? Brain-research tells us that we pay attention most to that which concerns us most. Do we need more than a purely abstract understanding of the natural world in order to take action to protect it from future threat? According to Louv, our children are suffering from a condition he coins, ‘Nature Deficit Disorder’, a disorder characterised by the absence of an authentic physical and emotional relation to the natural world, one which we as children of all ages formed with nature by simply playing in it. Our children, he purports, no longer play in the natural world, rather they inhabit one dislocated from it which we define for them as safe. No wonder then, that
when confronted with it, our children are in fact afraid of it, a natural world alien to them.
provide. Suddenly, I’m looking forward to Thursday again! Friday Oct. 1
Talk about making a bad situation worse! So why are we doing the Outdoor Classroom? Well, because we have to. Two weeks in the forest won’t save the planet, but is a start. A start of something at CIS that I believe will grow and grow. And who knows, one day we may well have that Outdoor Education Centre, and that school-ship, and a market garden and a greenhouse, and be providing an education in-keeping with the needs of twenty-first century inhabitants where action and knowledge go hand-in-hand. I wonder too, if our shelters will still be standing then, out there in the woods. I think that they will. In the meantime, if you are passing by Skodsborg woods you should check them out, crawl in to one of them and look up at the sky through the branches weaved together for a makeshift roof, and share the fantasy of being out there alone, in the cold and dark, listening out for the sounds of the forest at night and waiting for morning to come. The feeling of having an adventure, of surviving with only that which the forest can
Well I was right. Right to look forward to it again, and right that it was a very different experience. But I was right for the wrong reasons as it turned out. For what I didn’t want to write was what I was actually thinking Tuesday, that being it couldn’t match the experience I’d had with 6G. There I was wrong…because it did, and more. Why did I think it couldn’t? Well, because on the Friday afternoon with 6G I experienced what can only be described as teaching idyll. The children had free time after lunch and were playing in and around the forest, totally at ease among and with themselves and their surroundings, demonstrating exactly the behaviour we had hoped a relationship to the outdoors would nurture. Job done. So what of 60 - a different group of children, a different dynamic, and early autumn rather than late summer? The weather was glorious, two bright, clear days and a still brilliant night. 6O excelled in the outdoors those two days, that Friday after lunch filled with play, both structured and unstructured, conflicts and arguments arising and resolving themselves, new relationships defined and existing ones strengthened, all in bare dirty feet, or with smoke-filled eyes, and fingers black and singed from the fire retrieving lost marshmallow. It was perfect. A far cry, I reflected on later, from the first day with 6th grade in the lab where half of them couldn’t light a match, nevermind the Bunsen-burner. I didn’t dare hope it would be as good as the first time with 6G. That it worked again was like teacher nirvana, 6O took a different path but arrived at the same destination. So, whilst I felt the job was done again, I knew too it was just beginning. We have to do
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this again, only better next time! Watch out 5th Grade! My time in the woods evoked memories of my own childhood, in particular a recurring one from a very early age, of heading through a wood with some older boys from the estate, heading for an adventure playground with a tarzan-swing.
Funnily enough I can’t ever picture the playground, nor the swing, but always a vivid image of being surrounded by tall trees, and knowing I felt safe. That is what I remember, and I believe these children will always remember this experience, as one of being surrounded by trees, of being on an adventure and of being safe, even though they may not always have felt they were. I guess that is what makes it memorable. Have they altered their view of nature? Will they be better able to relate to it, care for it? The truth is a number of them had very good and healthy attitudes toward the outdoors before this. It is in no small part thanks to them and their demeanour that this project was successful, they led by example and excelled in ways they couldn’t in the indoor classroom. Others had their view challenged for sure; they were certainly less convinced they weren’t the outdoor type. They
just need continued exposure. A few did change however I believe, or rather grasped the opportunity and reveled in it, with the result they did things, and said things that they weren’t at the beginning. Change for good. There is more work to do of course to save the planet, if indeed it is at all under threat, but this works. And for that I have many people to thank. Firstly thanks to the parents of 6G and 60, for your enthusiasm and support throughout, for your children and your willingness to entrust them to us for a night in the forest. To another parent, Neil Goldsworthy, Scout Troop leader and all round good guy. We couldn’t have done this half as well without you. To 9th grader Matthew Lundy, ropeman extraordinaire, for teaching the 6th grade the knots that held their shelters together. To our scientist intern Andrew Stern whose ever-presence made this possible. Thank you for taking all the tickbites. To Andrew in the kitchen, for the recipes and supplies that kept us warm on the inside. To my colleague Lorraine Wykes, whose idea this was, for her vision and tireless work, and to all my colleagues in the 6th grade who happily stepped out of their comfort zones and put in the work to make this happen. Your professionalism and willingness to go beyond what is expected again made the difference. I want to thank the school for their commitment to this ongoing work, and lastly I’d like to thank Denmark, for providing the absolute perfect milieu. Tusind tak Danmark!
The New Copenhagener page 17
The Heart of Inclusion
By Jeff Phillips PYP Resource Coordinator “Inclusion means that as a school we need to be prepared for whoever might come our way. The heart of inclusion IS differentiation of instruction.” The word “inclusion” has become a buzz word at CIS, as it has throughout the international community. The idea of it seems to be something we would want to demonstrate as we value community and all members of the community. But what does that word really mean? Does it mean the same thing to every person? How does it look? These questions should be considered in any discussion about inclusion. Inclusion is a wonderful idea and practice, but getting from the idea to the reality is often a journey that has unforeseen twists and turns, especially as each traveler in this journey is coming from a different origin. How do we mesh all these different perspectives to produce something that looks like a model everyone desires, or even somewhat like our original idea? From a parent’s perspective, inclusion might mean making sure their child has the same exposure to learning as all other students. Their child should not be denied any access to educational experiences because of the way they learn. The parent is responsible for their child’s long term future and in making sure
they receive all that they need to meet their life goals. From a general educator’s perspective, inclusion might mean anxiety as to exactly what to do with a student who performs outside the norm of their peers. It might mean excitement at testing their creativity and teaching skills with someone who learns differently than others. The general educator needs special education training and a great deal of planning before each activity to make sure all students can access the curriculum and demonstrate what they have learned in the way that works best for them. The general educator is responsible for all the students in the classroom and is responsible for everyone’s learning progress. For successful learning, teachers must plan for differences: differentiation. From a special educator perspective with training in the US, inclusion means that students are educated with their peers in the classroom setting as much as possible and it is appropriate for them. This stems from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The students start in the general classroom, “the least restrictive environment”, and then services are added as needed. Teachers are specially trained to offer accommodations, modifications, and other “-tions” to meet the student’s needs wherever the student is. Inclusion means that as a school we need to be prepared for whoever might come our way. It definitely shouldn’t mean we pick and choose who we would “include”. If we are truly inclusive, we would be able to accommodate students in wheelchairs, intellectually challenged students, autistic students, vision/ hearing challenges, and whoever else appears at our door. What needs to be considered is whether or not we are truly prepared for this. One of the factors that strongly influence a positive feeling about an inclusive community is when teachers have a positive mindset about inclusion. In order to facilitate this, “effective ways to assist teachers in the formation of positive attitudes and beliefs toward inclusion” (Cullen, Gregory, Noto 2010) are necessary. In
a survey administered by Weimer (2003), teachers believed their attitudes and acceptance were the factors that made inclusion successful. Adequate training and support are imperative. The physical facility must reflect the positive acceptance of all people who require access to learning. The school needs to be prepared to allocate the necessary resources to insure that the physical support, the morale support, and the learning support pieces are in place in order to make the inclusion process a positive one for all stakeholders. This is one of the most important ideas behind inclusion: understanding the learning needs of each person and what it takes to meet those needs, which speaks specifically to differentiation. The heart of inclusion IS differentiation of instruction. As the new IBO document about special needs states: Any issues in establishing differences in levels of attainment must not be an excuse for implying that the only significant variation between learners is in a single dimension of ability. Differentiation calls for greater understanding in the way learners work,
either alone or with others, based on their individual needs and goals (p. 5).
So to answer the question as to the meaning of “inclusion�, we reflect on what it means to be part of a community, on the values of the community, and whether they include the important ideas of our learner profile: are we open-minded about inclusion, are we caring about all individuals, are we knowledgeable of what it takes to make this happen, and are we risk-takers in attempting to make sure we are really being inclusive in all facets of what inclusion might mean?
Cullen, Joseph P.; Gregory, Jess L.; Noto, Lori A. The Teacher Attitudes Toward Inclusion Scale (TAIS) Technical Report. Online Submission, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Educational Research Association (Feb 11, 2010)
Weiner, Howard M. Effective Inclusion: Professional Development in the Context of the Classroom. Teaching Exceptional Children, V35 N6 p.
12-18.
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Multi-taskers or Procrastinators? is not detrimental to the quality of the homework they produce, with only 32% of students believing it lowers the quality of their homework. By far the most popular ‘distraction’ is Facebook and listening to music, followed by skyping and surfing the net. A selection of comments by CIS students show that they are aware of many issues with multi-tasking: “The quality is the same, but the time it takes to complete the tasks increases.” “I think that I do more homework when I am on Facebook and other things because I don’t notice how long I have been working on them for.”
By Dr. Simon Watson Secondary School Principal How much do we get done while multi-tasking? Is multi-tasking Generation M’s term for procrastination? Or are there benefits to this mode of working? Like many people my age I find it virtually impossible to get the depth of understanding and produce quality work while being distracted by various electronic stimuli. But does this thinking extend to our children? Whether it is the short, yet universally recognised, alert from a cell phone, email client, instant messaging or the latest Youtube video that a friend has uploaded, the plethora of instant communication and connectivity devices available today, has changed beyond all recognition the way in which students study. Do students at CIS multi-task while completing their homework? I sent out a brief questionnaire to all the Secondary School students at CIS who had an email address in the school’s database, Veracross. The results of the survey show that the vast majority of students believe that multi-tasking
“I think that multi-tasking improves the quality of the work because you feel a lot happier when you do your work as opposed to when you are stressed out and are feeling forced to complete your work.” “It lowers the quality, but it makes the incentive to do homework higher, I give up on homework very fast if I’m just completely focused.” “I am always connected to skype just in case i need a friend to help me out. For me music is very motivational and it helps me get new and better ideas. I surf the net just in case i need a word to check. However facebook can distract me from time to time so i log off. Besides all of the above it helps me a lot when i work. (except for when i read).”
I know my emotional reaction to multi-tasking is partly based upon my own study habits from when I was at school and university. My children are amazed that I did not have an email address until I was in my thirties and a mobile phone until I was in my forties. While I can theoretically agree that there are some benefits to multi-tasking, I still find it hard to reconcile the differences. This was certainly confirmed when I first sat down to write this piece for the CIS newsletter;
accurately when listening to their favourite music and with background speech (like the TV news) than they did with background silence. As teachers, we should be sensitive to the fact that effective study habits for one student may not be the same as those for another. Catherine O’Brien in The Times Online (July, 2008) writes: Children do have the capacity to assimilate learning faster and simultaneously from multiple sources. “The downside is that they expect more variety, so their boredom threshold is falling. Some teaching is adapting to that and becoming more dynamic, some is not.”
However, we must question whether multi-tasking is productive and efficient and whether it generates a depth of understanding that would not be possible without ‘interruptions’? Dave Crenshaw, a productivity coach and author of The Myth of Multitasking says:
I had one daughter playing the violin, another child wanting a story and a third mindlessly idling time away on her laptop. I could feel my fuse getting shorter, the number of words that I wrote quickly diminishing, and I had to delay completion of the piece until they were all in bed! It is not clear that multi-tasking is an unambiguously bad thing. In the view of some researchers, it is preparation for the complex, dynamic and rapidly-changing workplaces that these students will encounter when they leave education. Moreover, there is a plethora of research to suggest that students may learn differently today than twenty years ago. For example, an article in the Journal of Learning Disabilities found that students with ADHD were able to perform maths problems MORE
“When people attempt to multi-task, what they are really doing is switching rapidly back and forth between tasks, what I call ‘switch-tasking’. These switches cause people to lose time, and be incredibly less productive.”
So, the next generation’s connectivity brings both potential benefits and potential pitfalls. It also has implications for the way we educate. Firstly, perhaps it increases the challenge involved in making our lessons ‘interesting’. How can we compare to the music, the skyping, the on-line chatting and the on-line games? Of course, we can’t! But we need to incorporate modern techniques into our teaching, treating these as potential allies not competitors. Secondly, I would doubt that anyone would disagree that students today are able to find information far quicker than students a generation ago. One possible inference from that
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is that a good education should give students research skills rather than knowledge. I would argue that both are essential. As well as learning how to find out things, students should be exposed to and given the opportunity to assimilate knowledge. The more one knows the more one can find out and being a cultivated and respected member of society, with a breadth of knowledge giving a contextual understanding of the world, will certainly not come from googling. Being able to critically analyse information has always been important, but the stakes are so much higher with the avalanche of information available today. So while parents and teachers can undoubtedly learn much from the younger generation’s connectivity habits, the students will hopefully learn a little from us about what electronic media cannot do! I will finish with a quote from one representative CIS student who shows that many of the students themselves have reflected on and grappled with this issue: “To start off, I believe you’ve cleverly substituted the word ‘procrastination’ with ‘multi-tasking’. I think I have read numerous articles and have listened to many experts speak about how males are ‘’officially’’ unable to multi-task. Speaking from a LOT of experience, I don’t think multi-tasking affects the quality of the work produced. It only has the following effects: 1) Keeps me awake unnecessarily at night, which then affects my whole cycle (sleeping, eating etc) affects overall health; 2) Slowly but persistently, damages my eyes (constant exposure to screen).
I strongly believe that it is next to impossible to prevent today’s generation from multi-tasking as half our lives, if not more, are now internet based. Internet provides a wealth of information as well as distractions and I think the students are well aware of adverse effects of procrastination, but still continue to do so, and in my opinion, will always do.”
Snapshots in time.... A quick peek into CIS life...
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A recent alumni’s reflection on the “heart” of sports in NECIS basketball... Being part of the team that won the first NECIS Basketball championship in CIS history has meant the world to me. Some things however are more important than simply the visible success or end results. The journey of getting from a bunch of guys throwing around a ball, to becoming a determined, willful, closely bonded team, is a great story. On the way to grabbing what you personally have been aiming at, you realize what is really the important part. All this work as a member of a team has a great deal of importance when it comes to shaping personalities and the ability to work with others for a common goal.
By Areeb Siddiqi [class of 2010] Sports. This word may be defined as an organized, competitive, and skillful physical activity requiring commitment and fair play. It is governed by a set of rules or customs. This word represents more than that.... It can represent a lifestyle, it can determine who you are as a person, it can develop one’s personality, teach one discipline, communication, as well as the ability to handle a struggle, a loss, and/ or a victory. Being a good Athlete, doesn’t necessarily just mean that one is only skillful at a given sport, it also shows a strong personality, determination, commitment, passion and the will to make sacrifices in order to succeed. When someone is conscious and capable of using these strengths, one can use the experiences gained from sports and apply them in other life situations -especially in studies. A little bit about my CIS life. I was in Copenhagen International School for 7 years, I have played soccer, basketball, and Track and Field. Went to NECIS soccer four times, came 2nd, 6th, 7th, 7th in that order. Went to NECIS basketball twice, came 3rd, and 1st. Went to NECIS Track and Field twice, came 1st in Long Jump, 3rd in 100M Hurdles. These achievements have meant a lot to me, especially the first place
“No matter how bad you think you are at a sport, or striving and wanting some thing else, dreaming for something... pursuing greatness whether in sports or in something else, has a success in itself. “ Being at CIS for so long, and trying to find a sport I was truly good at was hard for me. Every sport I played I was told that I was OK, or PRETTY GOOD. Apparently I am “pretty good” at all sports, but I was told that the difference resided in my attitude and mindset. Having the right mindset allows you to open up to anything that comes your way, whether its sports, education, health, etc. It’s not always the skill level that determines whether you succeed, it’s also your attitude. Having “heart”, is an expression used often but truly understanding the word in this context means coping with loss, victory and the pressure of having to perform in front of hundreds of people screaming in support of their team, a bench filled with people eager to make a difference of their own, as well as the people on the court
giving their all for the team. “Heart” is players holding their head high when we are down, and maybe even crying when seeing it’s all over.... that is truly something incredible to experience and shows what importance it carries for each of the players and the coaches.
“It’s not always the skill level that determines whether you succeed, its also your attitude.” Sports has brought me down for years. Never good enough to surely be on the team, bullied, the losses at friendlies, the losses at NECIS, nothing was seeming to work, and it was bringing me down. I am glad I did not quit. Not once did I think, “enough! I don’t need this any more!” True, playing sports for CIS, I learned how to lose... that was something we were good at.
However, that one single NECIS Championship was enough to make up for any loss I have ever had in any sport at any time. The positive energy that is gained from sports can be put towards education and the will to learn and achieve more. The discipline can be used in studying, the fair play can be used in listening to others and collaborating, the commitment can be used to follow through on hard assignments, the passion can be used for inspiring my classmates... it can all be used for education, among other countless other life challenges. This is what my experiences of sports at CIS have taught me over the years. I hope that my words inspire current students in some way, and maybe have given some insight as to what sports can be about. Love to all my coaches over the years, and all my team mates. You made me the person I am today.
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Student Work - A Raven’s Tale
Introduction by Robert Reynolds Capture the flag, student council elections, staying up all night with good friends are the prime ingredients for having fun while getting to know each other on the annual Social Overnight. As a Lang A teacher, there is no better vehicle for securing that first writing assignment than “The Tales of the Social Overnight”. For this assignment students must take an experience from the trip and write a short narrative that exhibits tone. Tone is the writer’s attitude about the subject and is achieved by merging precise vocabulary, mature sentence structures and story line. Students are also encouraged to be imaginative. For the following tale, Emil Rømer, a MYP 4 student, took an ordinary, everyday experience that has vexed us all, and through language and structure, pulls us into the entertaining characterization of the protagonist.
A Raven’s Tale By Emil Rømer A frigid, bitter wind rushed throughout Hillerød, my feathers furiously rustling, my beak sharply twitching. Everyday is the same in this dull wasteland, and the most galvanizing sight I had seen all day was an ancient woman, tediously walking her dog. Oh, what simple creatures dogs are! They have no wit, spending everyday dimly following the orders of their human masters. But not me, I am a free spirit, a liberated soul, and luckily I am not bound to the chains of human oppression. I swiftly swooped down from the outstretched
arms of my favourite oak. Her enchanting leaves brushing against my face. I sharply rose upwards and ascend towards the sky. Soon enough I was gliding above Hillerød’s rooftops. I could see everything, my sharp eyes allowing me to ascertain every feeble-minded human in sight. Since the Arctic weather didn’t present me with optimal flying conditions, I had decided to take my normal route around the barren town. I was fleetly descending towards the centenarian church when out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of an unusually large group of children, gawkily stomping down the street like a herd of newborn elephants. With astounding alacrity, I perched myself on a nearby tombstone and doggedly awaited the raucous primates. The fun was about to begin. Although it may be hard to imagine, living in a place like Hillerød can be quite deadening for a raven such as myself. Therefore when I am given the opportunity to terrorize a claw-full of pesky brats, I hastily take it. The cluster of children was a mere fifty meters away now and the moment of reckoning was almost at hand. Those next few seconds seemed like centuries and for a moment it felt like time had stopped. I observed the innocent look of content in each of the children’s eyes and reveled in their blatant ignorance of the fate that was about to befall them.
possible. Once I had peaked above the sky’s first cloud, I swerved around and, with a trail of snowy mist flowing behind me, hurtled towards the ground. I was a sleek, feathered dart about to hit its bulls-eye, a pitch-black meteor racing down to earth. This was the moment I had been waiting for, the terminal point of my hunt. I was nearing the ground, my aim never more perfect, my courage never so great. It was the day the raven would finally triumph over its lesser counterparts. My vision was a blur, my senses were numbing and feeling only the adrenaline and exhilaration of the hunt, I gave in to a fatal gust of wind, sending me careering into a nearby tree. Over my screeches and hisses, I could hear the mocking sound of laughter. Rage rippled down my spine as I realized my prey had escaped, and fury consumed my heart as an enchanting leaf brushed across my face. My beloved oak tree had betrayed me.
Suddenly I was brought back to reality and in a flash I was soaring towards the heavens, trying to gain as much height as
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You are what you eat
By Darren Davies MYP Deputy Principal We are what we eat. This is true whichever way you look at it. The human body is dependent upon fuel in order to function. It is fortunately incredibly indiscriminating and can make use of the barest forms of sustenance in order to function. However, at school we want it to do more than just function, we want it to perform, and what’s more perform to the fullest of it’s potential. This requires more than just sustenance, it requires nourishment, a blend of fuels that are suited to particular functions, in the requisite amounts that will sustain performance, that will reconstitute after performance, and that will satisfy the brains insatiable demand for nutrients. Despite it only making up 2.5% of our bodyweight it requires 20-30% of the nutrients we intake. Thinking is an energy-rich activity. As is running around the playground, as is PE, PULSE & NECIS, as is moving between A, B, C and D floor eight times a day with varying loads of books, kit and the assorted paraphernalia of daily school life. It is therefore imperative that we eat the right
things. And thankfully nobody understands this better than Andrew Press in the canteen. He also understands that it needs to be appetizing as well as nutritious and it seems to me that so far he is getting it just about right. For there is a difference around the place this year and in no small measure I believe it be as a direct result of many of our students simply eating the right stuff. There is a calmness to the Atrium at lunchtimes, despite it being busier than ever, that is noteworthy, people sit and concentrate on eating their food, enjoy eating their food. It has become the social hub that it was designed to be, the heart of the school.
“True, a number of 10th graders insist still on dining at Netto, but we are working on them...” -Andrew is first and foremost a teacher, the Atrium has become his classroom and his dishes his lessons. Children ask him what is in the soup and he shows them, lets them touch it, taste it raw, strange grains and weird and wonderful vegetables that clearly they have no idea of what they are, where they come from and how they might be prepared to form the dish that they are about to eat. For the most part they are eating, and eating well. It is more often than not that the primary school students come back and ask for more, it has to be said that the fish dishes aren’t going down too well, but he
intends to persevere. The middle and senior school students rush down to the canteen to beat the rush, eagerly anticipating a hearty lunch. True, a number of 10th graders insist still on dining at Netto, but we are working on them and as winter encroaches I am sure the lure of a hot meal in the middle of the day and the benefits that ensue will bring them round to our way of thinking. For the benefits are becoming self-evident, a number of parents have commented to Andrew that this has simply changed their lives, that their children having a hot meal in the middle of the day provides them with the energy (the right type of energy to boot) to carry them through their school day with vim and vigour and that when they get home the same is true, and more.
“a number of parents have commented to Andrew that this has simply changed their lives” This is a community effort, from the teachers who volunteer to help out when it gets busy, satisfying their need to ‘play shop’, as Andrew puts it, to the DP students working to earn money to pay their way, to the MYP students earning Community & Service hours to meet the requirements of the Programme, to the parents enjoying cake and coffee in the peace of the Atrium just before the school day ends, and of course the students, young and old, making good, healthy choices each and every day. As such there is warmth to the Atrium that has been notable in its absence, and the whole school is the better for it. So what can we expect now that Andrew has gotten a grip of the canteen? Well, healthy food, locally sourced and organic where economically viable. A responsive menu, tailored
to produce in season and the wishes of the consumers, where you have ideas let him know, feedback is imperative. A home-meal service for families on the go, available after school ready to be warmed through and served as soon as you get home. Grab-and-go bags for the PULSE students, energy packs for NECIS training, study food for when those dreaded exams come around, cake-Friday because a little bit of what is bad for you is good for you too! We have the opportunity here to make the canteen exactly what we want and it is too good an opportunity to miss. Your support and feedback is critical to making this a success. Drop by one day when you have time, see what is going on, grab a coffee and have a talk with Andrew, that is if he isn’t too busy, buried in his pots and pans and feeding the masses!
Note from the editor: This article is clearly a shameless advertisement for our cafeteria. However, as a cafeteria customer who for the first time in his professional life enjoys “school food”, I fully approve this message, and urge you to try one of Andrew’s top-notch espressos. Viva la cafeteria!
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Closing the Journal... with first impressions a city that I consider to be the “antiCopenhagen”. Beyond both being located on the same planet, the two cities share very few other similarities. What we believe and where we’ve come from influence what we choose to see and the impressions that we subsequently form.
By Walter Plotkin, Director I suppose that it goes without saying, though that won’t stop me from stating the obvious, that one has a limited window of opportunity in which to form and share “first impressions”. What follows, then, will be my brief attempt to summon, articulate and share with you my initial impressions of life in Copenhagen and at the Copenhagen International School. Without consulting a dictionary or lexicographer (I did, however, look up the latter, which was conveniently defined as a dictionary author/editor.), I believe that an impression is either a general thought that one forms, or in a physical sense, the imprint or outline left behind when an object is removed from a resting place. My family, all of whom are scientists, would laugh at any attempt from me to be any more technical than that. Both meanings imply substance without great detail, which may fade over time. I also believe that our impressions result from, among other things, our perspectives, biases and experiences. Given that, it is relevant to mention that my previous professional and personal experiences were in Dhaka, Bangladesh,
So, you might be asking yourself, what impressions have I formed? I’ll begin with general impressions of this city and its residents. Starting with the latter, I don’t think that I’ve ever lived anywhere that collectively had as attractive a group of people as here. I’m also assuming that as a group, Copenhagen residents are also very practical and have a specific fashion sense. I say this because I notice that many of the women here have put a great deal of time and thought into deciding what tops to wear, despite the fact that they have either forgotten or chosen not to put on bottoms (slacks, skirts, jeans, etc.) before leaving home. When I first arrived at the end of July I assumed that there must be sales on blouses, which would be followed by discounts on pants (the American definition). That would have implied a people that are sensible and stylish.
“Riding my bike, though, has caused me to question my previously formed basic understanding of physics ... I’m wondering how it is possible that regardless of the direction of my ride, I’m always going slightly uphill and into a headwind.”
I have also been impressed by the extent to which the city has embraced bike riding as a means of transportation. Most mornings and evenings I look forward to taking advantage of the bike paths that literally cover my route from apartment door to school entrance. Riding my bike, though, has caused me to question my previously formed basic understanding of physics (again, I beg my family’s indulgence). I’m wondering how it is possible that regardless of the direction of my ride, I’m always going slightly uphill and into a headwind. Be that as it may, being able to ride my bike has brought me joys I previously experienced when I was eight. I’ll get back to you when the days get shorter and the weather turns cold and wet.
“I have quickly been made to feel at home in a community anxious to continue to grow and develop its ability to provide an excellent educational experience for its children.” Turning my thoughts more seriously to the school, I have had the opportunity to meet with many parents, students and staff members. I’ve been deeply touched by the warmth of the reception that I’ve been given. As a result I have quickly been made to feel at home in a community anxious to continue to grow and develop its ability to provide an excellent educational experience for its children. Like other international schools of which I’ve been part, CIS benefits from terrific teachers, a committed board, dedicated parents and energetic students. Paraphrasing the Jim Collins book, Good to Great, we have the right people on the bus. I feel that the challenge before us is developing
a consensus of where we want to drive it. I’m convinced that with a common vision and collective will we can accomplish great things. Another recurring thought that I’ve had is about the unique nature of the school. As with most, if not all, international schools, CIS has been influenced by its location. It’s not surprising that schools take on the characteristics of their environment, though it is not always apparent what the effects are. In the case of CIS, I imagine that the Danish system of education that makes a distinction between basic school (Grundskole, Grades 1-9) and university preparatory school (Gymnasium, Grades 10-12), has had its influences on our programs. While we have students that span the grades above, would any of our parents consider only some of them as being basic? I wonder how the artifacts of an older system influence our present practices and whether we are one school with distinct divisions or a series of divisions under the CIS banner. I will conclude with a thought about the physical environment at the school. We have a wonderful staff doing yeoman’s work in a building with limited space. Our challenge will be to find ways to optimize learning for our students by proving a physical plant that lends itself to the type of teaching that we know is beneficial them. I am heartened by the acknowledgement of this by the school board and their ongoing efforts to improve it. While these are but a few of my initial musings, I can only imagine that there will be others and that they will change over my time in Denmark. I guess, however, I’ll have to get back to you on that as well.
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