Feb
16
Why Maslow Still Matters…
February 16, 2010 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment
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”!
Sep
1
“She Started It..!”
September 1, 2009 | Uncategorized | 5 Comments
It’s an age old question: how do we teach our children to deal with confrontation? Once upon a time the response was to meet violence with violence; a big stick with a bigger stick. It was a cycle of escalation along the lines of that scene in the movie The Untouchables when Sean Connery tells Kevin Costner, “He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue!”. As I’m fond of saying, it was that sort of old thinking that got the world into the mess it is in.
May
4
So THAT’s What Graduation Means!
May 4, 2009 | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Apr
3
What Does ‘Graduation’ Mean?
April 3, 2009 | Life @ KICS | 3 Comments
In May 2009 members of the KICS community will proudly gather to honour its first ever graduating class: a phenomenal achievement for all who have been involved in the school since its inception only four years ago. A great deal of time and effort has gone into planning the ceremony and the process has raised some interesting questions not least, what does graduation actually mean?
When all the members of the graduating class are handed their diplomas, photographs are taken and speeches delivered, what exactly is it that is being celebrated? Some national systems, eg the UK, do not have the concept of graduation at school-level at all: one leaves school and one graduates from university. Still other systems have graduation ceremonies even from Kindergarten. Only last week in a Sudanese newspaper I read an article celebrating the graduation of ‘Batch X’ from a local Kindergarten, with photographs of the youngsters in full academic dress.
Sep
30
Isn’t it Good to Share..?
September 30, 2008 | Life @ KICS, Teaching | 8 Comments
It has never been more challenging – nor more interesting – to be an educator. The world is in a state of rapid flux with technology at the heart of what feels like a revolution in learning. We have wikis, blogs, moodles, virtual schools, online universities and online schools. We have books, websites and motivational speakers all preaching the power of collaboration: the wisdom of the crowd. I must admit that I’m a fan – I must have bored everyone I know with my admiration with the way in which Tapscott & Williams have captured something of the zeitgeist in their book ‘Wikinomics’. But I am also a very worried person as well… Click Here To Read More
Mar
11
‘Mind Your Manners!’
March 11, 2008 | Life @ KICS | 5 Comments
I am pretty sure I am not alone in thinking that good manners are important. I know that we value good manners at KICS though I am not completely convinced that all members of our school community necessarily attach the same value to the concept. For some, ‘manners maketh man’, with bad manners seen as a very disturbing thing indeed. For others, the development of good manners is a more superficial concept and not something to get bent out of shape about. Click Here To Read More
Jan
27
Valuing our Teachers
January 27, 2008 | Life @ KICS | 16 Comments
Estimates vary, but somewhere in the region of 160,000 expatriates are currently working as educators in international schools around the world. The findings of ISC Research suggest that this number will need to double within the next decade. So, more than ever schools need to be able to position themselves in order to both attract and, as importantly, retain teachers. Click Here To Read More
Nov
17
Does Reading Matter?
November 17, 2007 | Life @ KICS | 8 Comments
Last week I wrote on the subject of the “vindication of pleasure” with regard to reading, and the “depressingly functional reason for reading” that I hear from students (and teachers and parents come to that). When last week’s article went to press I sat back and waited for the barrage of emails to hit my screen from parents, teachers and students all eager to leap into the debate. Click Here To Read More
Nov
10
The Vindication of Pleasure
November 10, 2007 | Life @ KICS | 2 Comments
In 1956 the literary scholar David Daiches published a book on critical theory and practice that quickly became a standard reader for any student in the field of literary studies. In his book he surveys the philosophical foundations of criticism and addresses several important (at least to an English teacher) questions. In response to one of the most fundamental of them all (‘What is literature?’), Daiches pus forward an argument that I think deserves a moment’s consideration: he calls it ‘the vindication of pleasure’. Click Here To Read More
