TIS Director's Blog

Students and parents today are much more anxious of standardized test scores and the college admissions process than when I was in high school 30 years ago. I think part of it is that with the globalization of the economy and rise of the internet, it is a much more competitive job market which makes families concerned about their children’s future success. Based on the recent results of our OIS high school students, OIS parents can rest assured that their children are on track for university and career success.

The faculty and students are analyzing the scores of the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT). Students in grades 10 and 11 completed the exam in October and the scores came back to us earlier this month. Half of the 24 OIS students who took the test scored at or above the 90th percentile. 2/3 of the students scored above the 80th percentile. A score above the 90th percentile means a student score higher than 90% of the students in his/her grade that took the test.

The PSAT is used to prepare students for the SAT, which many universities in North America and throughout the world use for determining admission. It is an accurate predictor of what the student will score on the SAT and it also gives the strengths and weaknesses of students on the test. We highly recommend students to do extra preparation for the SAT. Counselor Melissa Lamug and our testing coordinator, John Van Plantinga can give students guidance in this area and are working with them to understand their score reports.

This is the second year of the revised SAT and PSAT. The ACT has surpassed the SAT as the most popular admissions test. College Board, the publishers of the SAT reacted to this by making its test more like the ACT. OIS is a testing center for both the SAT and ACT and offers the test throughout the year for our students. We host the SAT 6 times per year in October, November, December, January, May and June. We host the ACT 4 times per year, in September, October, December and April.

Three grade 11 OIS students scored in the 99th percentile of the exam. Congratulations to Kaya Friese, Mark Yamamoto and Nicole Yoo! (pictured below)  American citizens scoring that high are eligible for the National Merit Scholarship.

 

I was inspired to follow the students for a day by a blog post I read about in the Washington Post.  Alexis Wiggins taught in international schools in Malaysia and Qatar and is the daughter of a well known educational consultant, Grant Wiggins. She shadowed a grade 10 class one day and a grade 12 class the next, completing all the same work and participating in all activities and she blogged about it on her father’s website. It was picked up by the Washington Post and read around the world. After her experience, she concluded the following:

• students sit all day long which is exhausting;
• teachers did most of the talking and were more active than the students, who were passive listeners;
• she felt the students were treated as a nuisance, and were told to be quiet and pay attention often;
• Alexis also noticed some sarcasm used teachers and she felt guilty of this too at times and wanted it eliminated from schools.

I reached different conclusions than she did, perhaps it was the particular day or time of the year. Maybe it was our IB curriculum. I am not judging her schools, because her points are valid and there is some of that at every school, including our school. However, my day went by fast! As the head of school, I am removed from the classroom, working on projects and issues not directly involved in the daily life of the students and teachers. It was so good for me to get back in touch with the students and teachers and get an appreciation of what their days are like. I think it would be good for them to follow me around for a day to see it from my perspective as well!

The grade 10 schedule yesterday was Japanese, humanities, chemistry, lunch, mathematics, visual arts and music or physical education. Here are my takeaways from the day:

1. Students were mostly working independently on projects or assignments. Teachers briefly introduced topics at the start of class and spent a lot of time going around the classroom, meeting with individual students. They would occasionally call the class’s attention to explain an idea or solve a problem. Most of the time, students could get on with their work like in an office environment. This allows for much differentiation, and as in any class, students have a wide range of ability and interests. Example – In humanities they were preparing for the upcoming Model United Nations and each student was working on a 30-second opening speech to the general assembly and a thorough, detailed report on a country they chose and were representing at the conference. Students could choose from topics like universal education, the death penalty, doping in sports, poaching/ivory trade, etc. One student was looking up the verb “to hinge” while simultaneously another was reading a Fiji government report on education funding. That was much better than the entire class listening to a lecture each of the topics.
2. Students are not only learners, but teachers as well! There were so many instances of students helping each other. I overhead a discussion  between students on the role of Boko Haran in Nigeria, or listening to another student explaining how to calculate the molar mass of a complex compound to her neighbor in chemistry. You really learn something well when you have to explain it to someone else. All of us at OIS, students, teachers and parents are both learners and teachers.
3. Classroom management is easier at OIS than other parts of the world. Teachers rarely had to deal with disruptive or off-task behavior. The students largely were trying their best and engaged in the material. I thought in mathematics class, with a worksheet of a large number problems of increasing difficulty, that students’ attention would wander. I didn’t notice this and they were asking lots of questions to Mr. Bertman and each other and moving through the set at a good pace. We do have mischievous, restless students, especially in elementary and the challenging time of early adolescence, middle school, but I didn’t see a single instance of annoyance or anger from a faculty member. Of course, my presence may have influenced the students, but not for an entire day. I sense that students in Japan, our school included, are not as rebellious and have a deeper respect for teachers and education. The challenge with many of our classes is to solicit strong opinions and innovative ideas, especially during class discussions. I worked in Latin America, Australia, Eastern Europe and the United States, so have experience of students from a variety of backgrounds.
4. The fine arts are more important than traditional academic classes. Well, maybe not more important, but as important. Finishing the day sketching a still life object with charcoal and singing in the choir were so pleasurable to me. The arts make us more human and it is so nice because of our shared program, music and visual arts are central to our identity and all students enroll in these classes. I regret not taking  an art class after grade 9 and not playing a musical instrument in secondary school. My commitment to supporting music, visual arts, theatre, dance, physical education was reinforced through this experience. Mathematics, writing, reading, understanding history, speaking other languages, etc. are all important, but often in schools the fine arts are subordinated to these core subjects. They should be on equal footing.

I would like to thank the grade 10 students and teachers for putting up with me for the day.

 

All Senri & Osaka International School parents are invited to attend this Friday January 27 from 4:00 – 7:00 PM in the Home & Family Life room. There will be Russian food, language lessons and discussions of life in Russia. Please RSVP caotani@senri.ed.jp

 

 

Read this month’s edition of Educator, a publication from the Osaka International School of Kwansei Gakuin.

Great to see our amazing city of Osaka making the NY Times list again this year!

If Kyoto represents Japan’s spirit, and Tokyo its heart, Osaka is the country’s insatiable appetite. The city’s culinary legacy is alive and at work in the neighborhoods of Tsuruhashi and Fukushima, and in the 91 Michelin-starred restaurants spread throughout the city — like Ajikitcho, specializing in traditional Japanese cooking, and Taian, with a chargrilled focus. On April 28, it will all come together at the International Festival Utage (“feast”), a 10-day food festival, celebrating flavors from Japan’s 47 prefectures. — KENAN CHRISTIANSEN

High school students got the opportunity to interact with professionals from our community in our inaugural Career Exploration event on December 12, 2016. Seven presenters representing a wide range of occupations, gave talks about what they do and how they got there. The students then had the opportunity to ask questions.

The big takeaway for me was the importance of developing a network of people that can help you. Whether is be knocking on doors in US Congress to find a job, to moving between companies, having the courage to reach out and meet potential mentors or partners is crucial for success in the global economy. Everett Shiina, in sales and marketing for Google, mentioned that our students have a big advantage with a bilingual education and one that foments creativity and critical thinking. Art Tsubaki, CEO of Ipsen, challenged the students to start networking now, and reaching out to the parents of their classmates and develop their Linked In profiles as much as their Facebook profile. Kozo Kimura of I Ware Scanning, has a small company here in Minoh that now works with shoe companies all over the world, from Asics to Nike. He and his team developed the best foot scanning software and equipment. His database of close to 1 million human feet is such an incredible resource. Another takeaway was the frequency people move positions. The days of “lifetime” employment are over and successful people look to move to new challenges many times in their careers.

I would like to the parents and friends who met with the students. I believe that schools should have close relationship with business and professionals. It helps them make better decisions for their own path, as if they don’t choose it, their path will get chosen for them.

 

In preparation for our latest earthquake/fire drill at school, I read Amanda Ripley’s “The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes – And Why“. I highly recommend it as it goes through human reactions during a crisis. From fire to airplane crashes to accidental explosions to floods to the story of the people in the World Trade Center on 9/11, Ripley goes through human psychology during emergencies.

My big takeaway from the book is to make sure the school and my family have practiced what to do so many times, that our actions will be automatic in the event of a real emergency. It is a natural reaction to panic, but if one has practiced the drill so many times, they will usually do what they have been trained to do. This also means having as much information as possible about a building’s safety features, like where the exits are located, location of fire extinguishers, etc. The biggest risk for us in Japan is an earthquake. The basics of taking cover, knowing where to turn off gas/water and moving safely to the nearest emergency shelter, should all be automatic for us. After an earthquake, there is a high chance of fire because of downed wires, so evacuating safely is important. I made a note to install a fire alarm in our house because we have portable gas/electric heaters and to be aware of emergency exits in airplanes and hotels upon entering.

We always have a debriefing after every drill, and with this recent one, we realized that we need to teach people upon reaching a door, how to unlatch the locks on top and bottom to avoid delays of groups. (see photo below) We also need to have everyone quiet on the soccer field so we can take attendance efficiently.

In thinking about risk/safety however, depending on your age and location, the biggest risk we face is heart disease and cancer, the two biggest reasons people die, so a healthy lifestyle and regular wellness visits to medical professionals is the best thing we can do. It It is human nature to focus on rare, dramatic events, but the chances of these happening to a person are very slim. We should treat more common causes of death, like car accidents, with the same attention we do terrorist attacks, because it is a much higher risk to die in a car accident that just about any type of traumatic event.

We are already planning our next drill for the winter trimester which will take place in February 2017. We are also convening a two-school task force to work on improving our emergency preparedness documentation. Note that our wonderful SOIS library also has a copy of Ripley’s book.