"Dear World" by Mariana in Grade 3S

 

Dear World,

Everyone needs to “STOP RACISM” because you can't judge people by their color. Just because a person is a particular color, does not mean they are not nice or as special as anyone else. In fact we are all humans with: family members, eyes, nose, ears, bodies, lives, and friends. Maybe not all of us have shelter but we all learn and we need to support others and accept them the way they are.

My opinion is that it is very rude to be racist. Like what happened to Jorge Floyd, American police killed him just because of his skin color, and that's not right. He was: a dad, a brother, a son and most of all a young man and he was a human. It's unfair you are making people lose their self confidence and people will feel sad, anxious, a loser and uncomfortable with who they are.

Everyone has the right to be loved, have a family, have friends that love you. Everyone has the right to have freedom to be themselves, and live with freedom with no one judging them. People need to feel free in this world and feel confident with themselves.

“DON'T BE RACIST”

From: Your Mariana in 3S
To: Our amazing world!

Image from: https://www.gcftf.org/statement-against-racism-and-inequity/

A Closer Connection Through Storytelling

The Bobole Bats project has been running for many years, but in the last 4 years it took on an additional and far more authentic direction, and that was to connect with the community through storytelling. Each time the AISM students went to the community of Bobole they would spend the night and a member of the community would tell their story around the campfire. Not only did this give more context to our students, but it made the experience more authentic, in that when students went out the next day to work in the community, there would be a little more understanding of the way people have lived and continue to live in rural, Mozambique. While working with the community during the day, more stories started through incidental conversation, such as one of our students asking an older woman in the community “Have you ever been in love?” The passionate and heartfelt response sparked off an exploration of gathering stories that range from experiences of war, that is so far removed from our students, to every-day occurrences and emotions that we can all relate to.

The stories have become the central part of the Bobole Bats project. Why do we collect stories? So that we can find common ground of living in Mozambique, recognizing the value of different ways of knowing. This validates all voices. By doing this, we can collaborate more effectively on projects.Molly is a grade 12 student who collated some of your stories for her CAS project and created a beautiful calendar. That honors the voices of the Sibakusi community in Bobole. Enjoy reading their stories.


Download and print the calendar here!

Dr. Colleen Fletcher, Director of Community Partnerships

Teachers Serve Up Tasty Teaching Treats at AISM's TNT Cafe

Collaboration is "da bomb" at AISM's TNT Cafe.  Launched last year by mathematics coach and teacher Francois McCurdy, the goal of the effort is for teachers to help each other in ways both big and small.  If you haven't guessed by now, TNT stands for teachers nurturing teachers.  

Francois wanted to foster a positive, collaborative environment among the professional teachers at AISM. The idea was start slow.  Begin with a group of teachers as a demonstration group and let it grow from there.  He wanted it to be engaging and organic.  This isn't mandated professional development.  Instead it is acknowledging good teaching when it is seen, either when directly observing a teacher in action or indirectly when someone happens upon something particularly interesting.  The ultimate would be to have a teacher's lesson videotaped and critiqued by fellow teachers.  There were many possible ways teachers could help each other, literally a menu of options.

Francois consulted with the communications office and brainstormed ideas.  And it was in the brainstorming of possible ways to frame the idea, that the idea of the TNT Cafe was born.  Graphics came next.  From there, the idea of the menu and the naming of items gave way to even more creative ideas.  

This year, teachers have already given each other a "Pat on the Slack" for wonderful creativity in the design of a lesson.  Sweet Tweets have gone out for an intriguing math prompt (teacher talk for the part of a lesson that helps students in an interesting way).  Even teachers who have creating an interesting virtual classroom have received special recognition from their colleagues.  At a time when teachers do not see one another directly, this is an effective method of simple, cost-effective professional development. 

The TNT Cafe is still new, but based on the early reviews, it is clear that it sates the appetites of all who have visited.  

A Playdough Lesson In Two Languages

Even from afar, our learners can still have fun with play dough, and of course at this age learning and playing go hand in hand. In this video clip, one our fabulous teaching assistants, Ms. Ansely, guides young Kindergarten learners through the steps of making play dough in both Portuguese and English.  

A Mission to Mars: Structuring the Year in an Out of This World Way

Peter Hennigar is always thinking -- "how can I engage my students? How can I stretch their thinking? What will raise their eyebrows and maybe also cause them to furl." Peter is in his second year teaching science at AISM, and as an encore to his impactful debut, he decided that starting the year with everyone distance learning was a perfect opportunity to launch this innovative approach to the year-- using the theme of a mission to the red planet as a way to structure the year and introduce important concepts and ideas in a different way.

“I always look for storylines that I can use to help the kids weave together the content we explore into a more coherent package. It helps them to understand the relevance of the ideas. It also answers the so what? Why is this an important question?”

This is even more true when your students are spread around the world and in differing time zones. Most are in Mozambique, but some students are in European countries like Portugal and the Netherlands while others are across the ocean in cities like Houston and Toronto. Some are participating in real time while others view recorded lessons at times that better suit their schedules. An educational tool for teachers that has been around for awhile called Padlet is a perfect mechanism to pose questions and allow student to respond as well as ask their own questions and respond to one another.

Peter’s Mission to Mars Padlet began with four broad categories:


Getting There


What is There?


Recognizing Life


Establishing Life

Peter invited his students to share their initial questions about the challenge. Like any group of people confronted with something new, the initial reactions ranged from reserved and mildly interested to excited and enthusiastic. A sampling of the questions that students posed under each broad category include:

Getting there

What materials can we use to get there?
Who would be the best people to go?
What skill sets are needed to survive and flourish on mars?
Do we have a capacity limit?
What supplies are necessary?
What about air?
We could use a jet
how long would it take for us to get there?
Is there an ideal location that the rocket should be launched from to ensure the quickest route?


What is there?
What would we do once we have arrived, what would be the protocol or list of things we would need to accomplish upon landing.
Will there be threats on mars?
what terrain will our vehicles have to account for?
How can we use the resources there to our advantage?
Is everyone going to have to wear space suits all the time ?


Recognizing Life
How will we protect ourselves from possible sicknesses?
How will we not threaten life there?
What would be do if we found some type of life there?
If there is life on mars can it get the corona virus?
What will we do if we encounter life, what would the protocol be?


Establishing Life
What will we do for the Astronauts to have safe drinking water? We know that there is water on Mars but we aren't sure if it is safe
In what ways can we replicate the systems that we use here on earth to keep us alive, on mars
How would we build our civilizations there
Would there be medical supplies in case of emergency's and who would administer it to the injured/sick one
Could we create an artificial atmosphere?
Where would be the best place to start establishing life?
How would we organize ourselves?

Obviously this is the type of structure to a year that fits nicely to AISM’s core value of Inspire Curiosity. But it’s not much of a stretch to see how this can touch other core values like Inspire Grit and Celebrate Humanity.



As the class progresses, we will orbit around and check in with mission control (Peter Hennigar) to see how the approach is working. In the mean time What questions do you have? Do you want to follow the mission? Check back here or simply subscribe to #AISMLearns.

Wander Through the Virtual Classrooms in the Primary School

AISM started the school year with our teachers and learners connected via their virtual classrooms. Check our this short one minute video to see the classrooms from ELC through grade 5 and including our primary school office.  It's short and sweet.  Online learning is learning!

A WordCloud of Day One Reflections

Vice Principal, MYP Coordinator and teacher Michael BondClegg asked his students in grades 6 through 9 "what went well" on their first day of school.  He then turned their responses into a WordCloud.  Check out the responses.  What words do you think would come up most often?  Zoom in to see all the responses.