TIS Director's Blog

“When I was grounded for a couple of months and didn’t have my phone, I got done extra early with homework.”

This is a student quote from the article, “With Tech Tools, How Should Teachers Tackle Multitasking In Class?” from the KQED Educational Blog, “Mind Shift: How We Learn. The article brings up points that many schools and families are challenged by regarding Personal Electronic Devices (P.E.D.).  The increased speed of wireless internet and phones able to do much more than just a few years ago, students and adults are being distracted with social media, text messages, and games available on line. I myself find I am reading less books than before, as there are so many interesting articles on line that take my attention away from my reading of books on my iPad. I can imagine what teenagers must be tempted by.

In Anne Murphy Paul’s article, “How Does Multitasking Change the Way Kids Learn?” she describes a study done in a California university that tracked 263 students doing homework.

Although the students had been told at the outset that they should “study something important, including homework, an upcoming examination or project, or reading a book for a course,” it wasn’t long before their attention drifted: Students’ “on-task behavior” started declining around the two-minute mark as they began responding to arriving texts or checking their Facebook feeds. By the time the 15 minutes were up, they had spent only about 65 percent of the observation period actually doing their schoolwork.

“We were amazed at how frequently they multitasked, even though they knew someone was watching,” Rosen says. “It really seems that they could not go for 15 minutes without engaging their devices,” adding, “It was kind of scary, actually.”

In other studies, professors looked at university students. One large survey found 80% of college students admit to texting during class. In another study involving spyware, professors at the University of Vermont found students multitasking with their laptops, including non course related software applications open and active about 42 percent of the time. Another study of law students showed 58 percent of second and third-year students who had laptops in class, were using them for non-class purposes over half of the time.

How does this apply to us at ISB? I think we need to look carefully at our P.E.D. policies in the classroom. Are they too much of a distraction? What classroom management techniques do we need to be aware of to help students focus on a task when a world of entertainment is just a tab away. Not only should we be concerned about in-class multitasking, but also at home. We should be addressing this with students and teaching them to concentrate and manage the demands of a buzzing phone or an active Facebook news feed. I suggest all of us read the second article, “How does Multitasking Change the Way Kids Learn?” and collect data from our students and teachers regarding multitasking.

The article ends on a positive note, however and I think this reflects the situation at our school.

Parents shouldn’t feel like ogres when they do so, she adds. “It’s important to remember that while a lot of kids do media multitask while doing homework, a lot of them don’t. One out of five kids in our study said they ‘never’ engage in other media while doing homework, and another one in five said they do so only ‘a little bit.’ This is not some universal norm that students and parents can’t buck. This is not an unreasonable thing to ask of your kid.”

So here’s the takeaway for parents of Generation M: Stop fretting about how much they’re on Facebook. Don’t harass them about how much they play video games. The digital native boosters are right that this is the social and emotional world in which young people live. Just make sure when they’re doing schoolwork, the cell phones are silent, the video screens are dark, and that every last window is closed but one.

The faculty celebrated yesterday our final Early Release Professional Development Day. Throughout the year the Upper School and Lower School collaborated to discuss and align the curriculum from a PK to Grade 12 level. Each department presented their work to the faculty as a whole. This blog post outlines my big “take-aways” from the presentations.

• Many of the groups stressed the importance of vocabulary development. That reemphasized the importance of building vocabulary with our students.
• Most groups categorized their curriculum to look for gaps and overlaps. For example, technology had the categories of Materials, Info, Systems, and Design. Humanities divided the field into Civics, Economics, History, and Geography. Language B looked at Writing, Reading, Oral, and Visual Interpretation.
• Several departments emphasized the cyclical or spiral nature of their field. The same concepts and skills are repeated from year to year, but increase in complexity as the students get older.
• I sure learned a lot about the PYP, a program I didn’t know in depth. All of our departments do a good job in covering the curriculum, and only “tweaks” or minor adjustments were needed. For example, the Fine Arts wanted to add drama to the LS and more music to the HS. Language A (English and Serbian) wants to put more non-fiction texts into the book list.

It was a good use of our time as a school. I’ve been thinking a lot about next year’s use of the Early Release Days. I am not sure we need to collaborate PK-12 again so much next year. In the Upper School, we would use the time to more horizontally align the curriculum and look at ways teachers at the same grade level can work together. I would also try to come with a list of key vocabulary for the staff.

The New York Times Magazine this week published a story (“The Best School Money Can Buy?” ) about new private school in Manhattan called “Avenues: The World School.” Reading the article helped me put our school in perspective. The school is planning an interesting model of building 20 campuses all over the world so their students can study abroad during their years of study at the school. I will be looking at their web site to gain ideas to help our school. The link to their web site is here.

 

 

In discussing our units in the lens of the four science disciplines (Earth/Chemistry/Physics/Biology) we made several changes to our units.

1) We were concerned of when the Human Sexuality and Reproduction unit is taught. We currently teach puberty in grade 5 and everything else in Grade 8. We changed it by adding a more extensive Human Body unit in Grade 6 and keeping more of the Human Sexuality aspects in Grade 8.

2) Stewardship of the Earth should be a focus on every year. We went through the Reduce/Recycle/Reuse and global warming/climate change focus for each grade level.

3) We also made some specific unit moves, like moving general ecology unit from grade 7 to grade 10 as an addition to the cellular respiration and photosynthesis unit. Simple machines are covered in Grade 4 so do not have to be done in Grade 6. We swapped Electricity/Magnetism in grade 9 with Evolution in Grade 8. We take alternative energy out of Grade 9 and into Grade 10.

In the PYP we added Electricity and Fire Safety and Waste Management to Grade 4. To help understand Rube Goldberg Machine unit, we added magnets, nanotechnology, and work. We moved Newton’s Laws from Grade 6 and put into Grade 5, taking out Light and Sound and the Scientific Method. We also added “Then and Now” to Grade 1 and made three science units for the new PK-3 class.

After we completed re-arranging the units we put forth a plan for 2013-2014. The three priorities will be to look at the skills of science and when and to what extent they are taught at each grade level and comparing our Curriculum Overview Map with the National Science Digital Library (NSDL)  science literacy maps. This will get us some conceptual balance. Finally, are the PYP Science Strands and the MYP Concepts enough substance for our curriculum or do we need another curriculum tool.

This weekend I had the pleasure of participating in a workshop entitled “Civics 101” with our students. The National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International School of Belgrade (ISB) are partners in delivering workshops this spring. NDI was founded in 1983 by the United States Democratic Party as a non-governmental, non-profit organizations whose mission is to spread and support democratic principles throughout the world. NDI is closely working with the Serbian government during its process toward possible European Union membership. NDI targets impoverished areas in Eastern Serbia and so this year our students are working with students from Kladovo High School. Kladovo is a small city located on the Danube River, about 4 hours north east of Serbia.

The goal of the workshops is for the students to learn leadership and advocacy skills and jointly execute projects in the communities of the two schools. This weekend’s workshop was held in Kovačica, a city in the south Banat region about 30 minutes outside of Belgrade.

I would like to thank the NDI workshop leaders and our staff members who participated in the workshops!

 

 

 

ISB is using its six early release professional development days for each discipline to align its content and skills from Pre-Kinder to Grade 12. As a former science teacher, I am working with the science department. Earlier in the year, we completed putting together the official documentation in a form called a Curriculum Overview Map (COM). Now we are looking at the content in each grade level and seeing which units can be classified as biology, chemistry, physics, or earth sciences (astronomy, geology, weather).  We will be able to see where there are gaps and where there are redundancies. The process is causing us to re-think how we do things, what units we are doing and when. The goal is for a student to complete our science curriculum with a solid understanding of the issues, mastery of the skills of science, and most importantly, an enthusiasm to study more science or an appreciation of science. I will blog after our next early release day with our findings. I am really enjoying digging into the science units again and wish I had the time to teach a class.

I recently needed to write a philosophy of education statement for a class I am taking. I am posting it on my education blog to help people get to know me better.  Enjoy!

Being inspired by the 1950’s radio series hosted by Edward Murrow, and more recently by the National Public Radio series in the same name, my philosophy statement is in the same form of “This I Believe.” Some of the principles are old aphorisms, others are original observations I have made. I provide a bit of background and elaborate with each statement.

• I believe in treating every student like I would my own son or daughter. I always ask myself, if I was the parent of this child, what would I do? It also has guided me in being a better communicator to parents. If I hear or see something about a student that I feel the parent should know, I always contact the parent as soon as possible.
• I believe the most important job for a head of school or principal is hiring great teachers. If a school has teachers that are enjoy being around children, a knowledgeable about pedagogy and the subject area, and go beyond the regular teaching expectations, the school will be an excellent one. In my work with teachers, I always try to support and inspire them and make them feel valued and professional. The business of recruiting great faculty is paramount and much time and consideration must be put into promoting the school and country and having a competitive salary and benefit package. Much time must be put into screening candidates and I always check references and try to get as much background on prospective employees as possible. This applies to recruiting fairs and the on line interview process.
• I believe in differentiation while evaluating teachers. Different teachers need different things from a leader. Inexperienced teachers need more attention and direction than veteran teachers, but then, this may not always be the case.
• I believe in asking myself this simple question when considering re-employing a teacher: “Would I want my child to be in his or her class?” Making it personal forces me to maintain high expectations for every teacher.
• “The apple does not fall far from the tree.” My father, a long-time principal and teacher, always said this after parent-teacher conferences. After attending these for years, I understand that this is very true. To understand the student and his or her performance at school, one must understand the family which they come from. This relates to the culture, occupation, socio-economic class, genetic traits, prior school experiences, etc.
• I believe that extracurricular or co-curricular programs are just as important to a school as the academic curriculum for the development of young people. Therefore, the same amount of resources and time should be put towards them. A school can have both world-class IB exam scores and world class theatre productions or football teams.
• I believe that one must dream big when leading an international school. The amount of economic, political, and intellectual power behind and international school is incredible and it is the job of the leader to collect and direct that power.
• I believe that community service should be
• I believe that a leader must be himself or herself. There are many styles of leadership that are successful. My strengths are a calm, people-oriented demeanor, strong work ethic, sense of humor, creative thinking, and an open, honest, and humble manner with community members.
• I believe that one must not be afraid of confrontation. This took me a while to learn, as I have a peacemaking personality and dislike conflict, but there are times when difficult conversations must be conducted or decisions must be made. These can be done fairly and deliberately, always putting the good of the students and community in the forefront.
• I believe in mission statements. Earlier in my career, I used to think these were platitudes or “pie in the sky” language. As I mature as a leader, I find myself going back to the mission when we are making decisions or considering new programs, events, or activities.
• I believe in seeking other’s opinions, especially when something is bothering me. I rely on collaboration with trusted colleagues and share leadership responsibilities. I do not have all the answers and usually after mulling a situation about for some time, the answer or path forward rises to the center of our vision.
• I believe what is good for students, is good for parents and teachers as well.
• I believe that schools should teach life skills with the same rigor and attention as academic skills. The life skills are things such as dealing with one’s emotions, finding balance between work and family, relationships with others, resilience, etc. These are the things that as much as the academic skills, will determine a student’s future success. For example, for one’s happiness, it is more important the person one marries than the career path one chooses. Working in close conjunction with parents, it is the job of the school to help young people develop as people.
• I believe most students in international schools will be fine, with or without our help. This seems a bit pessimistic, but the reality is the majority of our students come from families that value education and has the resources that most often, result in highly functioning adults. The school does have a lot of impact in what direction they take and what they achieve, and I do not want to dismiss our contributions. However, the relevance of this fact must spur international schools to make a significant contribution to those in our communities that are at risk or downtrodden. The ethos of community service and the importance of caring for those that most need it in a society should permeate a school. This is where an international school can make its biggest impact on its students.
• I believe in learning the local language, history and culture of the host nation. A leader can be a bridge between the international community and the local community. Learning to speak and write at least on an intermediate level, fully understanding the historical and cultural components of the host nation shows respect.
• I believe schools are hugely affected by the cultural context which they are in. Schools in many ways are the embodiment of cultural beliefs and a good leader understands that context.
• I believe an educational leader should always have a direct connection to the students. This may mean teaching a class or sponsoring an activity. It also shows the faculty that a leader knows that this is the most important part of the school. It also gives me direct experience that helps me when working with faculty or parents.
• I believe in always asking, “Am I improving learning?” and “How does this decision affect students?” The student should be in the center of any decision making.
• I believe that good ideas come from anywhere and I always listen first. It is amazing what I can learn by asking questions and keeping my mouth closed.
• I believe to always focus on the individual student. Every student has a contribution to make to the community and it is our job to find their talents and develop them.
• I believe that students will live up to high expectations. Academic rigor and a demanding school life will result in students and community stakeholders, rising up to meet them.
• I believe that you cannot separate the personal from the professional. This is true for faculty or parents and much of what they bring to school, starts at home. This is also true for me. We all have to find a balance between work and the home. I take pride in trying to be the best father, husband, brother, son, friend that I can be.

This statement is dedicated to my father, Charles Kralovec (1932-2012), who is shown below on playground duty at the Caspian Elementary School (Stambaugh Township Public Schools – Caspian, Michigan). He was the last Principal of the school when it closed in 1971.

We had some fun yesterday at the Middle School CEESA Knowledge Bowl that ISB is hosting this weekend. We wanted to give the opening ceremony a little “pizaz” so we “resurrected” the great Serbian scientist, Nikola Tesla. A student from the Thespian Society did an amazing performance of Tesla. Instead of lighting the olympic flame in the opening ceremony, he lit the bulb from the Tesla Coil. To make the event more dramatic, we played 2001: A Space Odyssey in the background. The teachers and kids loved it.

I am the tourney director and really enjoying being involved in all the action today. The knowledge bowl is one of the events that the bigger schools in CEESA participate in, so it is nice to see some of the schools we usually do not compete against like Vienna. Hosting a knowledge bowl requires a lot of help and I would like to thank the many volunteers from the faculty, staff, and community that made the event successful.

The Knowledge Bowl is great for schools to have as it celebrates and puts in the forefront, knowledge and academics. The weak point in our form of knowledge bowl is that there are no problem solving or creative hands-on activities. It does mostly rely on information retrieval, which is some ways is very important. Overall, I really feel knowledge is important for schools and should be a part of every school!

Update: As a follow-up to this blog post, I summarized the comments from the evaluation forms to help us with future knowledge bowl competitions that we host.

Positive

• Great having gym nearby for recreation and interaction.
• Broken arm dealt with well
• Great work with competition and socialization of participants. Excellent organization and positive tone – wonderful tournament!!
• Great tournament!!!
• Coaches Meeting – Efficient and clear, awesome use of time
• Loved Tesla! Fabulous tournament
• Great job! Best CEESA I’ve been to

Negative

• Some misread questions/accents made it difficult
• Saturday morning algebra speed round tough for 6^th and 7^th grade students (algebra as a speed round???)
• Some math questions not appropriately timed

Improvements

• Have fewer math questions, more 60 second math questions
• Suggest only native English speakers reading questions (suggested twice)

My suggestions

1)      Have a creative thinking / problem solving / hands-on / teamwork round added to the competition, similar to Odyssey of the Mind

2)      Eliminate speed round and go with all toss-up questions

 

This weekend I participated in the school’s annual 24-Hour Theatre project. Every year a theme is selected and the students spend 24 hours learning new techniques and coming up with an original public performance.

This year’s theme was Stage Combat and we invited professional South African actor, Christopher Boyd, a specialist in the field to come and work with our drama and theatre students. The students learned the fundamentals of stage combat (eye contact – preparation – action (sound) – reaction), unarmed combat choreography, and sword fighting. The group performed the opening scene of Romeo and Juliet and they also devised scenes of their own to demonstrate the techniques mastered over the 24 hour period. Everyone slept in the school and in the evening we watched the classic, “West Side Story” and learned more about how to portray conflict or tension on stage.

The 20 high school students absolutely loved it! I brought my son Owen along and he also played a part in one of the skits.

These are the kinds of experiences that make ISB special. The opportunity for students to learn these kinds of skills from a professional is so beneficial to their development. I would like to thank our Theatre Director, Mr. Bruce McDonald and Mr. Christopher Boyd for putting on the workshop.

For the second consecutive year, the International School of Belgrade Boys’ High School Basketball Team are the Central and Eastern European Schools Association (CEESA) Blue Division Champions. They defeated the host school, the American International School of Vilnius, Lithuania in the finals, 43-39. The Dragons finished 7-0 over the three-day tourney and repeated as champions, also defeating Vilnius in the finals of last year’s tourney, 60-55. The Dragons cruised through the round-robin competition, winning by an average margin of 21 points. Their toughest match in the seven-team round-robin was with AISV, where they came from behind in the first game with AISV to win 49-44.

The final standings were as follows:

1) IS Belgrade 7-0

2) AIS Vilnius 5-2

3) Pechersk School International (Kiev) 4-2

4) Anglo American School of Sofia 3-3

5) Nova School of Skopje 2-4

6) IS Latvia 1-5

7) IS Helsinki 0-6

The championship Most Valuable Player was senior captain Carl Kelly. Carl scored 76 points during the tourney and made many clutch steals, rebounds, and baskets when the Dragons needed them the most. Freshman Brin Mrzel was the second highest scorer with 58 points, many coming from behind the 3-point arc. ISB had the most talent of any team in the tourney and it showed with the depth of scoring. Serbian seniors Luka Gobeljic and Dimitrije Veselinovic combined for 94 points and 78 rebounds in the tourney. Brothers Sava and Sima Stakic played amazingly together, combining for 30 steals, 15 each, in the seven games. Two other seniors finished their ISB careers in style, with Matija Tausan and Simon Simsic scoring a combined 39 points and grabbing 53 rebounds. Junior guard Travis Eller played exceptional defense and senior forward, Alexander Soljakovski played valuable minutes, giving the starters the rest needed to win in the final game.

This was the most successful HS boys’ basketball team in school history. The Dragons finished with 17 wins and 2 losses. They defeated teams from 10 different countries and scored 178 more points than the opposition, that is an average of almost 10 more points a game than their opponents. In tournaments leading up to CEESA, the Dragons also defeated three “Red Division” schools, Budapest, Bucharest, and Vienna. The Red Division teams are the larger schools, with enrollments above 500 students, in CEESA.

The championship marks the second consecutive first place finish and the third in four years. The Dragons lost in the finals in 2011 to Zagreb 54-57. Carl Kelly was on all three of the championship teams!

The Dragon coaches, (Jeff Eller and Bill Kralovec) would like to thank Athletic Director Damian Hart for his relentless efforts in making the program the best in CEESA. Thanks also to the staff at the American International School of Vilnius, especially Activities Coordinator, Jolita Norkunaite, for a first-class hosting job. The care and attention to details made a big difference and this was the best CEESA tourney we ever attended! We also want to thank the parents, teachers, and ISB staff for their support for the team during the entire season.

Coaching the team this season solidified my belief that sports in schools enhances a students education and does not detract from it. Also, the school taking a lead role in developing and implementing a sports program is much better than  by a private club. The teacher-coach can be an incredibly strong mentor for young men and women. The lessons learned in a season will go far beyond high school. The student-athletes will take away skills (collaboration, finding one’s role, commitment, resilience, concentration, etc)  and fond memories of these CEESA championships. The tears, hugs, and shouts of joy of the players at the end of yesterday are signs that sports are so vital in schools.