Content from the Association Meeting

 As Sam promised, here are the things that he referred to during the recent Association Meeting.

Here are the new IB Standards & Practices. They describe all of the the elements of a successful IB school. We use them to develop strategy, identify priorities and reflect on our practice. A team from the IB comes to the school every five years in order to do an evaluation visit and measure how the school is doing according to these standards and practices. It is normal for schools to be at different stages of development and evolution in the various aspects of the IB Standards & Practices.

Here is a video showing all of the attributes of the IB Learner Profile. Being and becoming these attributes is the higher purpose of an IB education and so it is important that all adults in the community of an IB school are aware of, know, understand and have high expectations for themselves and each other to demonstrate these attributes at all times.

This video is a great overview of the Ruler approach to emotional intelligence that we will be implementing throughout the school in the next couple of years, starting next academic year.

Here are the links to the Grade 5 PYP Exhibition, Grade 10 MYP Personal Project Exhibition and Grade 12 DP Extended Essay Exhibition... three major milestones in an IB education!

Grade 10 Student's Poetry is Published!

 

Olinda, in Grade 10, blew us all away with her powerful poetry during the MYP Personal Project Exhibition and during the Buffalo Talks Author's Night a few months ago. She even impressed author Mia Couto so much that he invited her to join him and other authors at the Fundacao Fernando Leite Couto right then and there during the event!

The next part of the Olinda's story as a Poet has just happened, with two of her poems being published in the Minfo Femme magazine.

You can read her poems on pages 16 and 17 below.

Congratulations, Olinda!

The Grade 12 Extended Essay Exhibition 2021 is live!

 

Click on the image to visit the Extended Essay Exhibition

Grade 11 and 12 students go through the process of planning, writing and publishing the extended essay as part of the IB Diploma Programme. This is an independent, self-directed piece of research, finishing with a 4,000-word paper.

The extended essay provides:

• practical preparation for undergraduate research
• an opportunity for students to investigate a topic of personal interest to them, which relates to one of the student's six DP subjects, or takes the interdisciplinary approach of a World Studies extended essay.

Through the research process for the extended essay, students develop skills in:

• formulating an appropriate research question
• engaging in a personal exploration of the topic
• communicating ideas
• developing an argument.

This year, AISM students have written essays about topics ranging from the ideal diets for basketball players to the relationship between childhood experiences and criminal behaviour, from the discrimination and exploitation of minorities to Turtle nesting in Mozambique, from the effects of social isolation to Korean cuisine and social media! The diversity of topics is amazing, and something our school, and this cohort of students, can be very proud of.

Crucially, the extended essay is a powerful reminder of how important it is for students to be curious about the world, to develop strong interests and to develop the skills involved in personal inquiry.

Please enjoy exploring the Extended Essay 2021 Virtual Exhibition!

Research, our Librarian and a slice of the PIE!

For three days last week, our whole-school Librarian, Leah Ittner, Zoomed into the Grade 8 classes during PIE (Personalization, Intervention, Extension) time to introduce the learners to the library resources and databases that are available to them for their research. Reminding students that anyone can make a website, it is important to use the carefully curated databases to get reliable facts and information about topics. She also showed tools that can help learners cite their sources easily, translate texts into any language, and listen to articles in order to support with comprehension. 

"The students responded really well to Leah’s openness and general disposition. Many are thinking about reaching out to her for support because they thought she was so nice! It was a great kick-off to our research process" said Peter Hennigar, Grade 8 Science Teacher and Advisor.

Here are the Slides that Leah used in order to share this information with Grade 8 students.

Mathematical Micro-Inquiry Projects in Grade 8

These mathematical inquiry projects give Grade 8 students the opportunity to transfer the mathematical concepts they have been learning this year into real-life situations.

The one about how much money will you cost your parents is proving to be a popular one!

Which one would you choose to do? Let Francois McCurdy know if you decide to do one of the inquiries yourself and share your findings with him!

How the Zebra got its stripes!

 

Grade 6 and Grade 10 collaborated to put together this brilliant performance of a traditional African tale and showed that performances can still be done in the middle of a pandemic - the production was staged completely outside, masked and socially distanced!

Even more impressive is the fact that the students were able to entertain physical audiences on campus, online audiences through a Facebook live stream and countless other audiences through this video of the whole thing. All sorts of collaboration was necessary in order to make it all happen, showing how powerful drama is as a way of bringing community together.

AISM Earth Day Buffalo Talks

On the 31st of March, we continued our series of Buffalo Talks. These talks are aimed at connecting people in our community with people in Maputo and beyond who are taking action and doing work that reflects our school's mission.

The 31st of March was Earth Day, so the focus was on environmental issues. An inspiring line-up was created and the programme was put together and hosted by our amazing Grade 11 Environmental Committee - Lara and Jana.

Larissa Sousa spoke about the Girls' Education Programme in Gorongoza National Park. Her talk starts here.

Olivier Hamerlynck spoke about the incredible Macaneta wetlands, just a short drive from AISM. His talk starts here.

Dorkhanay Paykhar spoke about the Circular Economy and the work she is doing with the African Circular Economy Network. Her talk starts here.

The AISM MAP Help Center

 

The AISM MAP Help Center has been created as a "one-stop-shop" for all information regarding:

• the big picture of MAP Growth testing
• the implementation of MAP testing at AISM
• the disruptions to MAP testing during the pandemic
• the variables involved for students doing the test this year
• the importance of avoiding emotional reactions to MAP scores
• how to access MAP reports on Managebac
• how to look at an understand the MAP reports

Please make the most of the information on the AISM MAP Help Center as we believe the vast majority of your questions or concerns will be addressed in the content.

If you would like to talk about your child's MAP scores and do some interpretation and analysis together, please feel free to contact Sam Sherratt - sam.sherratt@aism-moz.com