Highlighted Article: Michael Pohl is Thinking Education … Are you?

Michael Pohl  is  Thinking Education … Are you?

With more than twenty years classroom teaching experience behind him, Michael now runs training and development sessions for classroom teachers in thinking skills and also in how to best meet the learning needs of gifted students in inclusive classrooms. He has run over 1800 workshops on the teaching of thinking for teachers and Principals in China, Taiwan Saudi Arabia, Spain, Vienna, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and across both  New Zealand and Australia.

A former member of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children, Michael regularly presents at local, national and international conferences on issues concerning giftedness, creativity and thinking.

With a Masters Degree in Gifted Education and formal qualifications in Adult Training, Michael is the Director of Thinking Education, currently working with many schools in diverse contexts on an on-going basis, returning many times to work with teachers as as they create a culture of thinking in their classrooms. He has worked in complex secondary settings in inner metropolitan settings, to remote schools in outback Australia, with clusters of schools in Wellington NZ,  to International schools across Asia and in Europe.

Amongst his recent publications are books on the teaching of complex thinking, models and strategies for teaching and learning, inquiry-based instruction, another on a whole-school approach to the explicit teaching of thinking skills, books for the middle years of schooling and for teachers concerning the education of gifted students and numerous articles for national and international journals concerned with Gifted Education.

All are available from the Thinking Education website.

Michael currently has an on-going relationship with The Alice Smith School in Kuala Lumpur and the International European School in Taiwan and is due to revisit both in 2012.

Should you be interested in having Michael work with your school, or present to a local or regional conference, please feel free to contact him via the website at http://www.thinking.education.com.au or simply email at mpohl@thinkingeducation.com.au

New teacher orientation must-have: The orientation programme at The American School Foundation in Mexico City

One of our Linkedin contacts just sent us this information about the new teacher orientation programme at The American School Foundation in Mexico City.

“Of course I would be happy to share information on our Welcoming Committee, which I will once again be a part of this year. Already we have put new teachers in touch with mentors to help them with academic, and classroom needs for 2012/13. Apart from this our Human Capital (resources) team have already informed new teachers about available apartments sending info and photos. Some of the new teachers arrive with apartments waiting for them and the others will go to a residential hotel for a couple of nights until they have chosen apartments that are available and suitable. Most of these apartments are furnished and ready just to move into.

Members of the committee are allotted new teachers, usually according to divisions (K-12), and we help by showing the new staff how to use the subway, buses and taxis (safe ones). We help them get any missing furniture, go to the supermarket, Costco etc. We try and show them the nearest markets etc.  We also show them around the city and the highlight is a trip to our Mexican “Venice”, with a ride and box lunch on our “gondolas” and a trip to a huge nursery to buy plants for the apartments. The drivers from school mark the plants and add the addresses and then deliver to each home.

Each year Human Capital and the committee work better together and make the transition for new staff smoother. This is always easier when you have a friend to help you.”

Currently, The American School Foundation in Mexico City has had some comments and information submitted on it by one of International School Community’s members.

American School Foundation of Mexico City (35 Comments).

Here are three samples of the 35 comments:

“There is no staff housing. Most people live in Condesa. The commute time can be as much as 45 min. There are buses that run before and after school, 4:30 and 6pm. The city is huge and there are many centers.”

“The housing allowance is $1,000 US so when the dollar goes down so does your allowance. It is plenty for basic housing, which is worse than most US apartments.”

“Lovely weather, cool all year round however the pollution is terrible, really terrible, dangerous.”

Traveling Around: Iceland (The life of an international school teacher is good!)

Traveling Around: Iceland

Can you relate?

• Being amazed at how many tours were on offer for tourists to go on.
• Realizing I was there a too short of time to see everything I wanted to see.
• Having the feeling of actually wanted to return to this country, which doesn’t happen in every country I visit.
• Relaxing in the Blue Lagoon and enjoying the beautiful ‘moon-like’ scenery that surrounded it.
• Not really understanding what it is like to try and sleep during the ‘midnight’ sun of countries this part of the hemisphere…not easy.
• Meeting some interesting people on my day trips, and then seeing them again on the bus that goes to the airport.
• Taking a risk with a short time constraint to find a recommended restaurant, finding it, very much enjoyed the food, and then making it successfully to my destination on time.
• Checking out the beautiful sky and clouds patterns each day and trying to figure out if it is true the sky truly looks different in different parts of the world.
• Getting the chance to see the tectonic plate divide and where the North American plate and Eurasian plate meet each other.
• Having a good time listening to all the old stories and myths of Icelandic culture and history.
• Realizing that Iceland is indeed the land of TROLLS!
• Seeing a bunch of geysers, one that could blast upwards of 2-3 stories.
• Sneaking up to some wild common seals and just being in awe of being that close to wild animals (being that I normally live in a big city).
• Eating a picnic on a beautiful coast just listening to the sounds of the birds nearby, the relaxing sound of the ocean waves, and nothing else!
• Finding the Iceland horses (basically found everywhere on the SW side of the Iceland) quite unique and beautiful to watch.
• Walking over a side of a cliff on the coast and not realizing that I was walking over a bridge of rock with nothing but water underneath all of us!
• Learning about the Arctic Tern bird and how protective they are of their space/area; a few of the people in our tour (including myself) were actually attacked by this bird.

Currently we have 1 international school listed in Iceland on International School Community:

• International School of Iceland (12 Comments)

If you are on a trip right now, away from your host country, write to us at admin@internationalschoolcommunity.com with your “Can you relate?” traveling experiences.  Tell us where you are traveling in the world, what you are seeing and how you are coping with any culture shock.  Once your Traveling Around experience is posted on our blog, International School Community will give 6 free months of premium membership!

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