SESSION 3

Harvey Alvy School Change TMS - Meeting Room 1 Promoting Change that Counts: How to Avoid Educational Fads - This interactive session, a shorter version of the preconference workshop, will help international school leaders address fads that undermine both innovative and timeless educational practices. This is a high stakes and urgent challenge that affects student achievement, teacher success, leadership effectiveness, curriculum, fiscal and resource accountability, professional development, and the confidence of international parents in their schools. The session, by the author of the recent book, Fighting for Change in Your School: How to Avoid Fads and Focus on Substance (ASCD, 2017), will review six “Red Flag” strategies to avoid harmful fads that educators confront, and six “Guidelines” to promote reforms of substance in schools. Workshop activities will provide leaders with practical professional development strategies to take home and share with their school colleagues, to positively impact student and teacher success.

David Beaty Digital Communication TMS - Meeting Room 2 IRL: The Value of Reality in a World of Digital Communications - Our world is increasingly dependent on digital communications. We text friends, post images and status updates on social media, and even work using tools like instant messaging. Are we missing something by communicating so much using digital tools? Attend this session to explore this question and learn more about finding a balance between our online and offline worlds.

Andy Davies / Brenda Perkins Mindfulness TPS - Hibiscus Garden Growing Mindfulness in Your School - One School’s Walk in the Garden - International schools are becoming more and more challenged with how to effectively address Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and student well-being. Mindfulness programs are gaining popularity and acceptance worldwide as research supports positive learning and mental health outcomes for students who receive mindfulness teaching as part of their school experience. This workshop presents the case study of the International School Bangkok, and our journey to support mindfulness throughout the school and community. We’ll be exploring how to begin growing a culture of mindfulness at your school - and address the challenges to finding balance with bottom-up grass-roots cultivation and top-down nurturing from school leadership.

Marilyn George Accreditation TPS - Ballroom 2 / 3 Becoming Accredited: Essential Elements - The session will address the essential elements that must exist and be operating effectively in a school whose purpose is to move into the accreditation process that focuses on student learning and well-being and ongoing improvement. This includes the following areas: mission, vision, beliefs, governance, administration and organizational issues, staffing, instructional program student support, culture and resources.

Barry Jenkin / Greg Smith Activities Programs TMS - Meeting Room 5 Deep and Wide: Creating and Sustaining a Comprehensive Activities Program - Discussing the obvious benefits of an activities program within an international school context that is focused on what is core to the school beliefs, culture, curriculum, school-wide learner outcomes and is essential to the school action plan. Suggesting an Activities Program structure that does all this while also adding benefits to staffing, efficiency and financing the school Activities Program.

Lee Ann Jung Inclusion TPS - Function Room 6 Your Students, My Students, Our Students: Rethinking Equitable and Inclusive Classrooms - The pressure for curriculum poses real challenges for schools aiming to meaningfully include students with disabilities and developmental delays. All too often, the focus of learning support time must be spent ensuring the student completes the high-level assignments required in the subject areas. But where do we find the time to “pause” the hectic schedule and use evidence-based practices to teach the critical skills these students need for long-term success? In this session, participants will engage in small and largegroup dialogue on this topic after learning four essential components of learning support for meaningful inclusion.

Daniel Kilback / Matt Kelsey Recruiting TMS - Meeting Room 4 Zero Sum Game: Case Studies in Recruiting - Recruiting has undergone a sea change in the past decade. Teams are making decisions on tighter deadlines and with imperfect information. This session won’t make recruiting easier but will allow you time to reflect, evaluate case studies, and explore strategies for developing better questions and framing your school’s unique priorities.

Marc L’Heureux / Genta Branstetter Collaboration TMS - Rose Garden Journey of Change: Building a Culture of Collaboration and Collective Efficacy at ASIJ - John Hattie contends no factor influences student learning more than collective teacher efficacy, or collaborative expertise. How does a school create a professional culture where teachers come together to share their expertise and passion? What can school leaders do to ensure teachers feel safe taking risks, exchanging ideas freely, and learning from others through collaboration? Join a team from The American School in Japan to learn how we‘re redesigning structures and norms to cultivate better collaboration. This presentation will focus on the journey ASIJ’s Elementary School has taken over the past few years to cultivate collaborative cultures that enhance learning for all students.

Jane Larsson / Stuart Mc Lay / Mark Orchison Data Protection TPS - Function Room 1 International Data Protection Law: What are Your School’s Responsibilities? - Considerable changes in international data protection law have been implemented over the past 18 months and many schools around the world are struggling to interpret what action is required. As a result, 9ine and the Council of International Schools (CIS) have partnered together to revise the CIS International Accreditation protocol, creating new tools to help school communities evaluate, implement and strengthen data protection and cybersecurity practices to comply with these new laws. This workshop will provide school leaders with an understanding of how to implement leading practice and meet new standards designed to protect and secure the personal information of your students and staff as you collect, store and share it.

Jon Nordmeyer ELL Assessment TPS - Function Room 9 Assessing English Language Learners: Turning Data into Action - 21st-century international schools serve increasingly diverse transnational communities. Multilingual students are both learning a new language and learning in a new language. Effective assessment practices help educators understand what learners can do, empowering teachers to build on student assets and scaffold both language and content learning.

Kristie O’Brien EAL Placement TPS - Function Room 2 Equitable EAL Program Placement Systems - “Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind.” - Brene Brown. Kind EAL program placement systems are framed by clear visions that view multilingual learners through an assets-based lens. This workshop is designed to support leaders in the analysis of their EAL program placement systems. Leaders will take away a data-based framework for building more equitable placement practices.

Rick Odum School Improvement TMS - Orchid Room Bringing it All Together: Aligning Practice with Policy - All schools require structures which inform the practices which display, and define, the character of the organization. The four element model of alignment which emphasizes alignment of goals, curriculum, practices and professional development, provides a useful starting from which to both assess the organizations areas of policy growth, as well as a “roadmap” for continued school improvement by way of increased alignment. This session will walk you through the following school improvement steps: assessment of alignment in each of the four elements; prioritization according to the acuteness of need and logistical possibility; development of action plans to address identified target areas of need; and the continued oversight and review necessary to ensure progress.

Mary Scott Crisis Management TPS - Ballroom 1 Managing Crisis in the Age of “Viral” Communications - What happens when a crisis explodes at a neighboring school and somehow your school is buried in shrapnel? Concordia Head of School will share both the events that kept her from attending 2018 EARCOS LC, and the learnings on getting ahead of unexpected crisis, negotiating swarm communications, and managing parent expectations.

Dave Shepherd Alumni Programs TPS - Function Room 4 Enhancing Education through Alumni Engagement - Parents frequently indicate that ‘word of mouth’ is a key influencer in selecting a school. Having a strong alumni relations programme has multiple layers of benefit to both the individual alum and the broader school community. This workshop will guide you through the process of establishing or elevating your alumni programme, whether you are starting out or looking to refine further. A simple four phased approach will be presented as a framework to identify, connect, engage and build resources around your best advocates; the accumulative outcome of your educational experience.

Ian Sutherland / Ted Mockrish Learning TPS - Function Room 8 Defining Learning in Educational Leadership - This interactive session explores our very understanding of learning, and common misunderstandings of the nature of learning. We espouse influence over the very thing that is so often misunderstood and ill-defined, learning itself. This workshop is based on the research and professional work by Dr. Sutherland and Dr. Mockrish.

Katie Rigney -Zimmerman / PETER BARON Admissions TMS -Meeting Room 10 Enrollment Challenges are Real in International School Admissions - Twenty years ago the admissions office was the “hospitality hub” of the school. Today it is a research, data, and marketing hub. Learn how admission works at 400 international schools: from staffing/operations to marketing to enrollment outcomes. Use the survey results and practical takeaways in The 2019 International School Admission Industry Report to strengthen your school’s admission efforts.

Kendall Zoller Communication TPS - Function Room 10 8 Steps for Delivering A Message When Groups Don’t Want to Hear It - Many of us have been in situations with colleagues where we have a message and we know they don’t want to hear it. Imagine being able to deliver that message in ways that preserve relationships while at the same time increasing their receptivity to considering it. This session introduces a nonverbal/verbal framework derived from Grinder (2010) and modified by Zoller that intends to honor the relationships and address the challenging issues.

15:15-15:45

TEA & COFFEE BREAK

Sponsored by

TPS - Function Room Foyer, Hibiscus Garden & Grand Ballroom Foyer TMS - Meeting Room Foyer, Rose Garden & Orchid Room Foyer