Assistant Head Teacher, Katie Latham, took the plunge this year to set up her own company and she is now Managing Director of Teacher Card Limited. We all stand to benefit!
Through their friendship and shared love of music Dr. Winston Wuttunee and Jordan Laidlaw feel that they have been able to contribute to the process of reconciliation in Canada.
In a difficulty year, Anna Azarova reflects on how music has enabled students from the British International School Ukraine to communicate and work with peers from around the world.
Wherever your school is with the issue of equity, this well-informed, down-to-earth conversation between Nunana Nyomi and Clare Ives, two of the most experienced educators responsible for establishing a culture of equity in a school, is a must-listen.
Matthew Savage considers the importance of symbols and flags for young people as they develop their own sense of belonging and identity in their school.
Sports Facilities Lead at Alleyn’s School, Joel Stewart describes how a visit to Qatar changed his world view – and his life.
Gordon Montgomery, Head of Partnerships and Outreach at Oundle looks at how the school has developed its culture in order to embrace an enriching range of different partnerships.
Gavin English, Deputy Head Pastoral at Alleyn’s School in London, considers whether the pursuit of ‘greatness’ is overrated.Could good be better?
For Nunana Nyomi, it is fear itself that holds us back from addressing diversity, equity, inclusion and justice issues in international schools. Two strategies can take us forward.
Thomas Kelley and Kathy Marshall propose that if we are to address the issue of poor wellbeing and mental stress in our schools, we must grasp a sufficient understanding of the way every person’s psychological life is created from the “inside-out”.
Despite the huge benefits of an international education, we know there can be a downside for ‘third culture kids’. Tanya Crossman looks at awareness and risk mitigation in schools.
Tash Hingston with news of an opportunity for the views of international school students to be heard by participating in the ISC Research student voice survey.
David Cole, Principal of the British International School Ukraine looks at how an online art project has kept the school community together during the country’s diaspora.
The unique programme of a school built in the grounds of a residential care home on Réunion Island is impacting the lives of young and old alike. Principal of Ma Kindy, Jade Amalou reports.
Do you suffer from risk assessment anxiety? According to David Gregory, you are not alone but you can master your fears!
A recent global survey by Tes shows international schools are meeting staff wellbeing needs pretty well, although more can always be done. Jon Romer-Lee reports.
According to Jim Knight, Rt Hon Lord Knight of Weymouth, dealing with Covid has come at a cost, but significant ways to improve teacher wellbeing are also at hand this side of the pandemic.
Chika Kumashiro-Wilms tells how a simple question asked at school led to a major logistical effort to assist with the vaccination of some refugee communities in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Supporting projects in low-income contexts can reinforce inequalities between ‘supporters’ and ‘activists’ on the ground. EduSpots is a project based in Ghana that aims to address post-colonial issues head on. Cat Davison reports.
If you want to find out how to change the world for the better, Margaret Rooke suggests listening to young people.
In the context of continuing uncertainty, Megan Flottorp asks service learning guru, Cathryn Berger Kaye how schools can develop their programmes for ‘21-‘22.
Rachel Coathup looks at the development of two video resources from ClickView for teaching Relationships and Sex Education, now available free to schools and parents around the world.
Sir Anthony Seldon reflects on five restorative practices that have a positive impact both on ourselves and on those around us.
Dietitian and international teacher spouse Breanna Baildon knows what it’s like for busy teachers – but that’s why our eating habits have to change.
Clare Taylor loved teaching internationally, but having seen what can be done in South Australia, she suggests international schools could become more fully inclusive.
For Angelo Castelda, if you are going to help others effectively during the ongoing pandemic, you have to make sure you look after yourself as well.
Kevin Goggins, Head of Skt Josef’s International School, Denmark considers how the Danish experience of the pandemic may point the way to more lasting educational change.
Set up to provide a great education in self-supporting schools, HUGS is a model for the development of low-cost, sustainable learning, as Dr. Richard Bircher reports.
Andy Homden looks at a competition for international schools that simply would not have happened without lockdown, and seems destined to grow quickly.
Covid has brought home the value of getting outside. Nicholas Chaddock looks at why reevaluating the importance of outdoor education is so important for all of us in 2021.
Far from being marginalised, sport moved centre stage at this UK day and boarding school during a difficult year, as Ed Buck, Director of Sport reports.
Becoming totally absorbed in painting increases a sense of wellbeing, but there may be more to it than that writes Peter Hudson.
As a result of frequent relocations and long periods of family separation, the children of military personnel need empathetic support in school, writes Louise Fetigan.
Holly Warren describes Think Tank, an innovative studio environment in which children learn to synthesise their learning experiences as new design and art pieces.
The Think Tank (Warren, 2015) is an immersive, interactive studio setting (atelier) designed by students and an atelierista (art studio teacher) to celebrate, stimulate, enhance, and develop creative thinking patterns that connect children with a range of other experiences, both inside and outside a school. The concept was initially inspired by the educational approaches of pedagogues Loris Malaguzzi, Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner and Kieran Egan, which allow a child to express ideas, interests, concepts and theories by creating visual narratives without restriction. This approach sets the ground for exploratory adventures that will tell the story of a child’s research and findings and has evolved into what the children have described as “the place where your ideas come true.”
The Think Tank never requests, it proposes, shares, presents, and inspires its community to create art pieces that are expressive of their own experience. A constant inter-action with the students’ environment allows an ongoing dialogue of the parts. Think Tank therefore embraces and celebrates the different environments in which the students work, whether at home or at school.
Designing and making activities in Think Tank draw on materials which are readily available and are sourced locally either at school or at home. Recycled, repurposed and natural materials are valued, while the language, movement, and sounds that are part of the materials are used to enhance, document, and create narratives.
Think Tank is also a research hub for children’s ideas, concepts, and interests. As a child-centred learning setting it documents the ever-changing processes and themes the children spontaneously engage in.
During Think Tank sessions, the mentor meets small groups of 6 to 8 children in a Pow Wow format to share ideas and thoughts. These can be experiences, recollections of past explorations or new proposals. If needed, a quiet moment of recollection/thinking is proposed as a way of linking with the students’ self. Then the group creates a dialogue and decides how to proceed. This is the three-step process of visible thinking that accompanies the experiences.
The environment is set up with a selection of materials that the Think Tank mentor proposes in different areas of the room. These could be glass bead on the light table, a video installation with sounds and an area for exploration with light such as light pebbles and fairy lights.
Having welcomed each other, participants start a conversation about a continuing project or make an initial exploration of something new. Beads can turn into spaghetti in a make-believe restaurant, the video installation might become a walk in the woods or the lights may turn into a fire requiring firefighters to design a new generation hose.
Recently, due to the requirements linked to the pandemic the students have been given working and exploration areas that are not shared with other classes but are still trampolines of inspiration.
The Think Tank is its own setting, created with the children’s input. It is dynamic and changes according to the moment, the situation and the projects involved. This requires a space that can morph and adapt easily, but its salient characteristic is the mental space needed to create it.
However, there are strong links to what children are learning elsewhere, and which they bring to the studio quite naturally. Think Tank enables them to talk about these ideas and skills in a new context, which is invaluable. Surface learning becomes embedded into deep learning as the children make connections that are meaningful to the projects. Think Tank discussions therefore involve personal know-how and knowledge acquired in class from all areas of learning. Literacy, numeracy, knowledge and understanding of the world, social and emotional skills and predispositions, fine and gross motor skills, creative thinking and problem solving meet in the Think Tank, demonstrating the uniqueness of each student that becomes a vital element in the creation of projects that celebrate multi-perspectives:
“Nothing of me is original, I am the combined effort of everyone I’ve known.” (Palahniuk, 1999)
Think Tank therefore celebrates and brings together the school as a learning community. Parents become partners in exhibitions and performance art pieces when everyone adds to the outcome. During the lockdown parents themselves became Think Tank mentors themselves by stepping inside the experiences and working with the children to produce family pieces in a process of incredible educational value.
The richness of the Think Tank experience is best expressed in the words of the children themselves, as in the poem spontaneously presented by a seven year old participant to her parents as a gift:
The Think Tank is full of ideas,
If you listen with your ears, just peer through here,
And maybe you will see a pear,
You will see oysters and monsters.
But don’t worry you don’t need to say sorry.
Now watch this film (Ripples) and you will be surprised
With what your child has learnt.
Holly Warren is an atelierista, or art studio teacher, working in an international school in Italy. She is the creator of Think Tank – a new project environment that links the creative process of art with Montessori, Steiner and Reggio Emilia educational methodologies.
To learn more about her ideas see:
Images kindly provided by Holly
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