Oct
6
End of an Era: Steve Jobs 1955-2011
October 6, 2011 | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
“Think differently”. that is what Steve Jobs asked us all to do with Apple’s approach to computing. Yes, he transformed the personal computer and yes, he revolutionised the way we access information. But for me his single largest gift to mankind was to challenge us think differently.
As an educator and school leader I have looked to Steve Jobs for inspiration in so many ways. He will be lauded by many and missed by even more. The world has lost a visionary thinker.
Jul
25
Not why I got into education…
July 25, 2011 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment
A small and distasteful anecdote for you:
A day or two ago my wife attempted to drop off our nephew at school. He is five and likes toast and Bob the Builder. They arrived a little early – maybe by 10 minutes? – and my wife was on the clock. At KICS we are used to kids being dropped off early so my wife thought nothing of it. Here in the UK this is what happened. A polite inquiry of the teacher if it was ok to drop off the young chap was met by terse refusal to even open the door. “I’m not contracted until 8:50″ came the response of this particular committed lifelong educator. Astonishing. Embarrassingly so. I even wondered if I should share this anecdote for fear of contributing to the already low level in which teachers seem to be held in the UK. Mercifully I do live or work in this world. I work at KICS in Khartoum, a school built by the daily hard work and dedication of teachers, hard working support staff and restful students and parents. If you are a KICS teacher reading this then thank you – I mean it. For you it is secodn nature to do whatever it takes to support the students that we serve. I know that you would never dream of behaving in such a churlish manner. We should never ever take that for granted.
Jul
9
Why we need to pay attention to what we know about our brains…
July 9, 2011 | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
One of the good things about being stranded at an airport is that it gives you time to think. I’m on my way home from the annual Academy of International School Heads seminar in Germany. The journey isn’t going smoothly thanks to thunder and lightning. I seem to be having a malfunction in my common sense department as I feel a strong need to get on a flying tin can in the middle of a lightning storm. Shouldn’t I be happy the plane is grounded? Shouldn’t I be avoiding the danger instead of running towards it? What on earth is my brain playing at?
Mar
28
Tweet, Tweet, Tweet…
March 28, 2011 | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
I have resisted the urge to explore Twitter for a long time ..
But I cannot restrain myself any longer! So, if you are into Twitter and want to know more check out my tweets @kicsprincipal. I can’t promise I will have anything profound to share but you never know…
I am interested to see what possibilities it opens up.
Mar
2
21st Century Latchkey Kids?
March 2, 2011 | Uncategorized | 11 Comments
Here is a phenomenon for you: should a school make a fuss if it discovers that a student is left ‘home alone’ in the care of the maid, with both parents having left the country?
Our policy at KICS has always been, each morning after registration, to follow up absent children with a phone call home to the parents. We ring mum’s number: no answer. We call dad: no answer. Eventually we discover that dad and mum are both ‘travelling’ out of the country and that the child is being looked after by the maid / nanny / driver / who knows?
Question – and it is a serious one:
Should we make it a condition of student admission that parents sign a contract in which they promise never to leave the country and abandon their child to the tender mercies of a housemaid without first notifying the school?
Please post a response as I am very keen to get a sense of our community’s views on this subject.
Oct
21
So what’s so ‘international’ about international schools?
October 21, 2010 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment
I was recently in Nairobi for the annual conference of the Association of International Schools in Africa where I found myself pondering this question: what makes an international school ‘international’? There were schools in attendance of every shape, size, curriculum and composition, yet they were all ‘international schools’. So what defines them as international? Is it composition of student body or faculty? The nature of the curriculum? The nature of the school’s mission? Is there some sort of ‘tipping point’ blend of these factors that a school needs to reach before it is viewed as truly international? Click Here To Read More
May
12
If Reading is So Special…
May 12, 2010 | Uncategorized | 3 Comments
A simple question for every parent, teacher and student out there: if getting hooked on reading is so valuable, why do schools not build time into the daily schedule for the development of personal reading?
Just imagine what daily school life would be like if we started each and every day with 15 minutes of DEAR (drop everything and read). The students arrive for registration and we begin with 15 minutes of quiet, personal immersion in a novel or a magazine. What would the impact be? A quiet campus certainly! A less hectic start to the day – definitely.
May
12
The Art of Paying Attention
May 12, 2010 | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Thomas Newkirk is a wise man. If you don’t believe me have a look at his 2009 book, ‘Holding on to Good Ideas in a Time of Bad Ones‘. The book is about not just literacy (it’s main focus) but about the need for teachers to keep a sense of perspective.
He gives a wonderful anecdote about going to see his son play High School baseball in an important game:
“I recall my frustration sitting there, watching it all, watching the hopelessness of this game, the futility of this season that should have been the happiest. Innings seemed to take hours, the sun began to set, increasing the chill, and I could feel my frustration mounting. Then it hit me. The thing I had been missing the whole time.
I was here to watch my son. Wasn’t that obvious? The great thing was I had a son, that I was a father and I could be here to watch.”
Feb
16
Why Maslow Still Matters…
February 16, 2010 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments
How much sleep do you need? How much sleep does your son or daughter need? And how much sleep do they actually get? These are pretty important questions as they all speak to a very basic human need, one that is right there at the foundation of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Each morning at KICS we make a real song and dance about students being at school on time: on the dot; not one minute late. Why do you think this is?
I am convinced that many parents would be shocked if they saw the yawning, somnambulatory, barely conscience teenagers that we greet each day – particularly those parents who for whatever reason do not even see their children in the morning before they go to school. When asked what time they got to bed the replies are often astonishing: 1am, 2am, even later.
I’ll ask the question to the parents reading this once again: how much sleep does your child actually get? How much do they need as growing youngsters? Finally, whose responsibility is it to teach healthy sleeping habits?
We’ll keep policing a prompt and prepared start to the day in the hope that the message gets through. I just wish more parents took as much care with their own children in this area as we try to do with the students as their teachers.
Oct
28
Principals are Human Too…
October 28, 2009 | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Last week the Reception children came to visit me in my office as part of the unit of inquiry. They wanted to interview me about “how I help people”. What followed was an exercise in abject humility as they charmed and bamboozled me with the most wonderfully bizarre questions imaginable. A few days later I visited their classroom and found a beautiful display showcasing their visit. And there, in glorious technicolor, was a reminder to me that nomatter what your job might be, how old you are or whatever else distinguishes you from someone else, you are neither better nor worse than the next man. So, Lara, I am very proud indeed to have you notice that I have “shoulders and feet like everybody else”!
