Past Events
SGIS Learning Forum
Dear Colleagues,
We would like to invite you to the inaugural meeting of the SGIS Learning Forum. This is an opportunity for teachers to meet to discuss developments in teaching and learning. The sessions will be aimed at Learning Directors, Approaches to Learning Coordinators, Professional Development Coordinators or teachers interested in developing their pedagogical approach from both Primary and Secondary schools. |
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At the first meeting we will create our aims and the focus for the group, however, to give an idea of the rationale here are some suggestions:
- To discuss pedagogical development and change.
- To share best practice in the fields of teaching and learning
- To share models of implementation for Approaches To Learning
- To share ways in which schools are meeting the demands of the ‘21st Century learner’.
The concept behind the group is to engage in pedagogical discussion about some of the challenges facing teachers today. In a period of global and educational change, the development of IT and the internet means education and communication is changing. There is an increased demand to integrate skills into our curriculums. The Forum is an opportunity to share and discuss the impact this is having, what we are doing about it and our responses to some of the big questions in education such as what Tony Wagner calls ‘The Global Achievement Gap’.
Hopefully we can share expertise and experience in areas such as ATL implementation, developing skills based curriculum, integrating IT, developing critical and creative thinking and more.
The first meeting will be held at
the International School of Lausanne on Monday 16th January 2012.
Registration will be at 09.30, for a 10am start. We will finish at 15.30.
If your school would like to engage in this pedagogical discussion, share ideas and resources and develop ways of meeting the challenges we are facing then please send me an email indicating how many people you would like to send to the meeting.
If you have any further thoughts or would like to suggest ideas for the day, then I look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
Lisa Craddock
Approaches to Learning Coordinator
lisa.craddock@isl.ch |
Annual Education Conference
Language as a Vehicle for Learning
Saturday 14th January 2012
International Labour Office, Geneva, Switzerland
Next year’s Ecolint Education Conference, hosted by the International School of Geneva, will take place as usual at the International Labour Office (ILO) in Geneva from 9.00 (registration from 8.30) to 17.15 on Saturday 14th January 2012. Last year this annual event attracted 200 delegates from independent and state schools in Switzerland as well as from a large number of other countries. As in previous years the conference will be in both English and French, with simultaneous translation available throughout the day. The conference will be held in cooperation with the International Baccalaureate (IB) and with the International Schools Association (ISA).
Theme of the conference
This year’s conference theme will be Language as a Vehicle for Learning. The conference will focus on the idea that a language is not merely an academic subject or a skill that we appropriate, it is a means through which we develop higher order analytical and affective skills, intercultural awareness, conceptual thinking and metacognitive skills, to name a few of the key attributes.
The aim of the conference is to leave teachers and policy makers with ideas that will cause them to look at the way language is taught in their schools and to search for increasingly creative, innovative and dynamic ways of making language a vehicle for powerful holistic learning.
The conference will address questions such as the following
- What are some of the theories and practices that reinforce effective bilingual instruction?
- How have new technologies altered the way that language is used and, therefore, the way that it is or could be taught?
- What does the way that we use language tell us about our own belief systems and way of seeing the world and to what extent was the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein correct when he claimed that “the limits of my language are the limits of my world?”
More information and registration
Meeting of English Additional Language Teachers and Mother Tongue Coordinators
Friday 11th November 2011 - International School of Lausanne
This initial meeting is intended for English Additional Language Teachers and Mother Tongue Coordinators as an opportunity to share ideas and practice in a professional ‘job-alike’ forum, using our collective experience in helping our schools provide the best learning environments possible for our communities.
In addition to setting up future directions for the group and establishing cross school linkages, we will be joined by the applied linguist and author of Sites of Multilingualism: Complementary Schools in Britain Today, Vally Lytra.
The agenda for this meeting will be:
Open Session 9:30-10:00am
School Tour 10:00-10:30am
Share ideas and practices
- programmes
- collaboration with class teachers
- in class mother tongue support
- adaptation of the curriculum, reflecting the extent to which ESL students can access information with a example from ISL
- assessment
Lunch 12:00-1:00pm
Discussion of problems faced by individual members
Agree upon the frequency of future meetings
Please contact aidan.macdonald@isl.ch for further details before 1 November 2011 if you wish to join this forum.
SGIS Secondary Principals/Heads of School Meeting
Friday 4th November 2011 - International School of Basel
This meeting is intended for Middle and High School Principals/Heads (11-18 year olds) as an opportunity to share ideas and practice in a professional ‘job-alike’ forum, using our collective experience in helping our schools provide the best learning environments possible for our communities. We had a successful start last year with two meetings in Berne and twenty different participants.
This third meeting will be hosted by International School of Basel. Agenda for the meeting will be finalized according to priorities of those attending. Please contact tobin.bechtel@isberne.ch for further details before 21 October 2011 if you wish to join this forum.
SGIS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
THE SGIS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING will take place at Institut Le Rosey, Rolle
Friday September 30th 2011
Registration 9.15-9.45
SGIS Primary Principals Meeting
September 22nd, Zurich International School
Bambi Betts will be visiting Zurich International School on Thursday September 22nd for an all day workshop on creating primary school reports that reflect a developmental approach to children’s learning. Please contact Ms Deborah Cotorceanu dcotorceanu@zis.ch if you wish to attend. This workshop is designed for Primary Principals, Assistant Principals and PYP coordinators. As SGIS is partially funding this event the remaining cost will be divided up between the attending participants.
We look forward to having you attend.
Parallax BASIC Stamp Educator’s Course
Monday & Tuesday
20-21 June 2011
International School Winterthur
Zum Park 5,
8404 Winterthur, Switzerland
Course Host:
Colin Chapman
MYP Coordinator
International School Winterthur
Course Outline :
Day #1 focuses on the design principles that go into most common digital devices with the BASIC Stamp Activity Kit and What’s a Microcontroller text. Examples include programming a microcontroller, controlling indicator lights, servo motors, speaker tones and optionally LED displays, as well as monitoring pushbutton contact, dial position, and light levels.
Day #2 focuses on the SumoBot robot and activities featured in the Robotics with the Boe-Bot text, which are used by instructors worldwide to enhance robotics, pre-engineering, technology, electronics, and mechatronics courses. The Boe-Bot robot also provides a unique window into understanding the nuts and bolts of autonomous transportation technology. Day #2 of this workshop provides a hands-on introduction to the Parallax SumoBot and its applications in the classroom. All attendees will build, program, test, (and take home and continue to experiment with) their own autonomous SumoBot robot.
Registration:
ZEKO Kolbicz
www.zerko.ch
Detailed schedule and info (PDF file)
Meeting of Primary Principals
On May 6th 2011 the primary principals are getting together at ZIS LS (Steinacherstr 140) to have their second annual meeting.
The agenda for this meeting will be:
- Open Session 9-10am
- Learning logs, a new way to look at homework from 10-11am
- Classroom Walkthroughs 11.15-12.00pm
- Lunch 12.00-1pm
- Electronic Portfolios, our Grade 5 trial 1-2pm
- School Tour 2-2.30pm
The Responsive Classroom, an approach to Personal and Social Education 2.30-3.30pm
Wine and Cheese from 3.30pm
Could all participating school leaders please contact Deborah Cotorceanu at dcotorceanu@zis.ch to confirm their attendance and their arrival time.
Meeting of the SGIS Business Managers
The next meeting of the SGIS Business Managers will be hosted in Wallisellen at the invitation of ISZN on Friday 1st April.
Additional participants from schools not already on the mailing list are always welcome.
Further information from christine.knight@haut-lac.ch.
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SGIS Annual Conference
March 11th and 12th, 2011,
at The American School in Switzerland (TASIS), Lugano |
Transitions
"Nothing endures but change."
HERACLITUS, from Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers
It has become a cliché that the one constant in schools is continuous change. Teachers, administrators and students are therefore permanently confronted with TRANSITIONS. These can take a range of forms. For teachers they may be curriculum transitions or shifts in pedagogical methods; working with new groups of students, while ensuring that previous students are supported as they too make changes and cope with the constant changes allied to growing up. Students have to make transitions between schools, curriculum models, countries, cultures and languages; ultimately they must take the leap into further education, employment and the world outside school. Growing schools may have to cope with transitions to new facilities or locations, adapting and responding to new technological opportunities.
This conference provides a chance to hear and work with some outstanding speakers who can help define and review strategies that help teachers, students and administrators respond positively to change as an exciting opportunity rather than a threat to be feared.
More info |
Pre-Conference JOINT CIS/NEASC ACCREDITATION WORKSHOP
March 10, 2011
This workshop trains teachers and administrators to serve on Visiting Teams for the Council of International Schools (CIS) and/or the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).
The session is also helpful for schools beginning the Self-Study.
The workshop is conducted by Peter C.Mott, Associate Director, Commission on American and International Schools Abroad, NEASC and also Director of the Zurich International School.
The workshop will concentrate on the 7th Edition of the accreditation protocol which will be used for Visiting Teams through spring 2011, but will also acquaint participants with the 8th Edition protocol (Journey to Excellence in International Education) which is being introduced now for
Preliminary/ Preparatory Visits.
The accreditation workshop will take place at The American School of Switzerland (TASIS), Lugano.
Participants in the workshop must register to attend the SGIS conference.
For further information about the registration to the Pre-conference accreditation workshop and any other questions please contact:
Phyllis Tumsaroch ptumsaroch@neasc.org
AGIS Conference
February, 11th - 13th 2011
Hannover
The Association of German International Schools (AGIS) announces its Conference in February 2011.
The participation of members of SGIS would be very much appreciated.
More info
ETHICAL ISSUES IN EDUCATION
Saturday 15th January 2011
International Labour Office, Geneva, Switzerland
Introduction
Next year’s Ecolint Education Conference, hosted by the International School of Geneva, will take place as usual at the International Labour Office (ILO) in Geneva from 9.00 (registration from 8.30) to 17.15 on Saturday 15th January 2011. Last year this annual event attracted 200 delegates from independent and state schools in Switzerland as well as from a large number of other countries. As in previous years the conference will be in both English and French, with simultaneous translation available throughout the day. The conference will be held in cooperation with the International Baccalaureate (IB) and with the International Schools Association (ISA).
Theme of the conference
This year’s conference theme will be Ethical Issues in Education. In a world of conflicting values and major ethical debates there are few more fundamental questions than ones about the values we wish young people to develop and how best to go about developing them. The conference will address questions such as the following:
- To what extent is there agreement on the values that we want young people to develop? What are these? Have our views about these changed?
- Is education about promoting virtues, as used to be thought, or is that an outmoded concept?
- Do we still agree with the great 19th century educationist and poet Matthew Arnold’s view that education is about passing on to the next generation ‘the best that has been known and thought’?
Speakers
We are delighted to announce that we have gathered a distinguished panel of speakers for the conference who will include:
Professor J. Mark Halstead, research professor in the School of Education and Professional Development, University of Huddersfield, who will talk on the theme of Creating an Ethical Environment in the School.
Professor Richard Smith, School of Education Department, Durham University, who will address the question whether education is about promoting virtues under the title of The school of virtue ethics.
Professor Monique Canto-Sperber, Director of the Ecole normale supérieure, Paris, who will talk on the theme of Autonomy and Responsibility.
There will be opportunities during the day for delegates to discuss in small groups the implications of the presentations for their own educational programmes. The conference will conclude with a round table of all speakers and representatives of the IB and the ISA.
Who is this conference for?
This conference should interest educational administrators and policy makers, principals of both state and international schools, those involved in teacher education, and teachers in all types of school, as well as anyone interested in the future development of school education.
How to apply
Please complete the attached form and return it by fax, at your earliest convenience but no later than
10th December 2010, to Ms Séta Kapoïan, ISG, on + 41 (0) 22 787 25 57 or to conference@ecolint.ch
Detailed Programme and registration : PDF file | WORD file
SGIS Secondary Principals/Heads of School
Friday 26th November 2010
The International School of Berne has the pleasure of hosting the first SGIS Secondary Principals and/or school leaders on
Friday 26th November, 2010 – 10:00-15:00.
Professional Development – what initiatives are schools working on and do we have common needs that we could work on jointly (IB, AP, Harvard PZ, Rubicon Atlas, etc.)
Curriculum development and curriculum mapping
Vignettes - share an issue to get some different perspectives on possible solutions or opportunity
Cross school connections – connecting our faculties through SGIS – job-alike sessions, common PD etc.
Future directions and agendas – next meeting time and place.
Please contact tobin.bechtel@isberne.ch for further details
Meeting of the SGIS Business Managers
Friday 5th November 2010
ISKK
The next meeting of the SGIS Business Managers will be hosted in Romanshorn at the invitation of ISKK on Friday 5th November.
Additional participants from schools not already on the mailing list are always welcome.
Further information from christine.knight@haut-lac.ch.
SGIS Elementary/Primary Principals and/or school leaders
Friday 1 October, 2010
The International School of Lausanne has the pleasure of hosting the SGIS Elementary/Primary Principals and/or school leaders on Friday 1 October, 2010.
| 0930 - 1030 |
Welcome |
Tea/coffee followed by a short tour of ISL |
| 1030 - 1200 |
Session 1 |
Personal leadership vignettes |
| 1200 - 1300 |
Lunch |
Please let me know if you have any dietary requirements |
| 1300 - 1430 |
Session 2 |
Positive Discipline – more info to follow |
| 1430 - 1530 |
Session 3 |
Open Forum |
| 1530 - 1545 |
Close |
Next meeting, where and when. Please bring calendars. |
SGIS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Friday September 17th 2010 |
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At the Inter-Community School
Strubenacher 3
8126 Zumikon, Switzerland
044 919 83 00 |
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