Graduating during a pandemic is strange. Not in the usual “these uncertain times” sense (although it in no way lacks uncertainty), but rather in an eerie, almost alien way. For one, it is important to remember that while graduation is on May 28th, 2021, all classes ended on April 23rd. And between these two fateful days were supposed to be the infamous IB Examinations, which thanking the successful unionising of 12th grade together with the excellent leadership displayed by the administration, were dutifully removed. This, however, left a vacuum: between the 23rd of April and May 28th, the Seniors are entirely, or nearly entirely, lacking a North Star: disoriented. …
The Sweet, Simple Things of Life
I have three different routes I take to AAS in the mornings. I don’t consciously choose which route I will take, I just find myself going one way or another. This morning, I drove one of the “up and over” routes, which means I went up towards Bistrica and then down to AAS. There is one part of this drive where I end up on something that resembles a road, which I am sure the car does not like. However, it is a beautiful drive, especially on a morning like today. The sun was rising pink and orange over the city, and the moon was resting on snow capped Mt. Vitosha. It’s a nice way to start the day….
In Partnership: The Importance of the School-Family Relationship
After reading last week’s column about relationships, I reflected on one of the most critical relationships for a child’s success: the relationship between a child’s family and their school. When the relationship is a partnership, we see the child grow and thrive so much more in their school life; unfortunately, when the relationship is fractured, the opposite is true. Often we are tempted to see school as school and home as home, but the two are intertwined for our kids. They do not shut off one part of their life when they get into the other setting. Many parents have likely seen the impact of a conflict or a bad day at school carry over into the child’s attitude at home. Similarly, at school, we often see behaviors and learning habits impacted by things happening outside of school that are on the child’s mind, their health, or their eating and sleeping habits. …
It’s All About Relationships
Some 25 year ago, in my first few days of teaching, I stood at my classroom door to nervously welcome 10S4. They were a small group of 14-year old boys, whose love of mathematics was questionable! It quickly became clear that it didn’t matter how ‘whizzy-whizzy-bang-bang’ my lesson was going to be, if I couldn’t connect with them, the next two years were going to be an uphill struggle. Since then, teaching to me has always been about relationships. In the classroom, kids need to feel happy and safe, they need to feel part of a team, all working together to achieve a shared goal. They need to know that we want to all celebrate their successes, and that they feel comfortable enough to share their mistakes, or as my twin daughters frequently remind me, “we celebrate mistakes, because they make our brains grow!”…
That Grief You Are Feeling? It’s Real
In the first few weeks of COVID reaching the USA, the citizens of some states had their first lockdowns. After six days at home in Los Angeles, the actress Gal Gadot was inspired to enlist celebrity friends to join her in a sing-along of “Imagine” by John Lennon, with the intention to acknowledge the suffering of the people and to boost the spirits of those similarly unable to commute to work, eat out at restaurants, etc. The video was met with scorn, as many questioned the extent of our “suffering”, especially as experienced by celebrity millionaires, comfortably ensconced in their posh and spacious houses with swimming pools and other amenities. Around the same time, my high school English teacher, a wonderful writer and published author, wrote an article for her city’s newspaper that sought to put our “suffering” under restrictive COVID regulations into perspective. …
It’s Not My Parents’ School
“That’s not the way we learned it.” Have you said this or heard it from your kids? In recent years, there has been a huge push for innovation in schools and education systems. What does innovation mean? The first thing that probably comes to mind is technology. Although this is an essential part of school innovation, innovation in teaching and learning goes beyond integrating technology into schools. I was in an AAS classroom (online) recently where students were analyzing a text they had read and the discussion was completely facilitated by the students. They introduced each point for discussion, shared their original thoughts, added to each other’s thinking, respectfully disagreed, and clarified their ideas to one another. …
The Most Extraordinary Place on Earth
Sam Edwards, a substitute teacher at AAS, recently spoke to students about his adventures. Sam grew up in Tacoma in the northwest corner of the US and would spend entire summers at a cabin at 3000m a little east of Yosemite, hiking and climbing mountains all day from a very early age. It was there and then that he discovered a sense of freedom in the outdoors. When later in life Sam realized there was a career that allowed him to experience that freedom while at work it was a natural choice for him to become an outdoor guide. While his formal education is in religious studies and Latin American literature, Sam knew that upon graduating he’d be headed to work in Alaska for the foreseeable future. He agreed to answer some questions about his job and passion – being a guide in Antarctica and shared some amazing photographs of the wildlife there. …
Are We So Different, After All?
On Monday (March 1) I woke to find a message from a good friend wishing me Честита Баба Марта. The message included their family all wearing new martenitsas (мартеници). This is not unusual on March 1 in Bulgaria, but the message came from a former AAS family who has moved to a different country, and they are not Bulgarian. Baba Marta is their favorite holiday/cultural celebration. Baba Marta is a favorite in our home too. I am certain our family will continue to celebrate Baba Marta regardless of where our home is. There is something very special about greeting students and colleagues in the morning at school with “Честита Баба Марта” and sharing martenitsas. When it happens to be a gorgeous spring-like morning and you can sense the coming of warm sunny days, it makes it all that much more special. I am fortunate to greet many people on March 1. I give and receive many martenitsas; I love it. The only downside is that when I take a shower my left wrist turns into a soggy red and white blob that takes forever to dry. Maybe I won’t take showers until I see a stork. Fair warning. …
Relationships with Food
As school counselors, our work is centered around relationships. Relationships between students, families, and teachers make up the bulk of our work. While all of these relationships are incredibly valuable, we rarely talk about our relationship with food. The way we talk about food with children can influence their relationship with food for the rest of their lives. Focusing on weight rather than health increases the likelihood of harmful eating habits in the future. The benefits of food are something we often overlook, when we are too busy daemonizing ourselves and others for the choices we make. Food is not inherently “good” or “bad”, but attaching labels to our food all too often makes it so. Challenge the food police in your head telling you that as a reward for eating the mushy broccoli you can indulge in a piece of chocolate cake. What if we served broccoli and chocolate cake on the same plate, giving them equal status? …
The Importance of Learning Habits
Distance learning, hybrid models, grade level bubbles, Google meets, staggered starts and the pleasure of face to face teaching and learning. If the past year has taught us anything, it has reinforced the importance of developing and refining strong learning habits. In many ways these are the building blocks or supports that every student needs in order to maximise their learning, regardless of the situation they find themself in. At AAS, the IB Diploma and the High School Diploma are the pinnacle of each student’s academic endeavours. To attain these levels, the IB identifies a number of skills as fundamental for every student to practise and refine in order to be successful at school and beyond. These skills or attributes are commonly known as approaches to learning and underpin work that is started in the Middle school. At AAS we have our own set of descriptors that we call our learning habits. These appear on every report and I would imagine for most parents and some students are only looked at fleetingly, as the grade is actively sought out. …
Yoga Gives you Time to Work on Yourself
I was a yoga skeptic. As a cardio addict I found the thought of slowing down, breathing or lying still to be seriously boring. Being a keen runner, I was devastated about 6 years ago, when I was experiencing back pain and found out that I had dehydrated discs in my lower back. I went to my first yoga class immediately after my physiotherapist suggested it. I loved the stretching, the poses, but the Savasana at the end… I couldn’t stand it! I had to just lie there, completely still? Were they crazy? My mind went into overdrive thinking of all the things I had to do. With 3 young children, I realized I never ever stopped apart from sleeping. I seemed to be the only adult in the class who wriggled around and moved. Who couldn’t find peace. Why? What was wrong with me? However, after only a few weeks my spine felt so much better, I felt so much better. So I persevered… Eventually I found myself lying still. Eventually I found that during a hatha class with one yoga teacher, I would occasionally switch off and silence my thoughts. …
Winning or Learning ?
AAS recently earned LEED Gold Certification for the Rila Renaissance Centre (RRC). LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and it recognizes buildings that meet high standards for being “healthy, highly efficient, and cost-saving green buildings.” The RRC is the second AAS building to merit LEED Gold Certification. It is something the AAS community should be proud of as it highlights our commitment to sustainability. Though LEED Gold Certification is not an award, it feels like an award. This feeling got me thinking about awards. I haven’t gotten many awards in my life–I’m not sure what that says about me. When I was about 10 years old, my younger sister, Amie, and I spent a summer with family in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada. (Nelson is a wonderful city on Lake Kootenay in the Selkirk Mountains. If it is not on your travel list, it should be.) My sister and I participated in the Nelson Summer Family Olympics. It included events like the sack-race, three-legged race, and running-across-the-field-with-an-egg-on-a-spoon race….
