Sunday, April 28, 2019

Weekly Updates, Monday 29 April, 2019



Dear colleagues,
Welcome to the Golden Week and soon the month of May! The next two days are going to be busy with
preparation and execution of the student-led conferences so that every child can demonstrate effectively and
confidently their progress with an abundance of evidence and well-practiced phrases for describing their learning
at their perusal. The student-led conferences are always a wonderful culmination of the school year with a strong
sense of student agency, self-directedness, and demonstration of rigorous learning at Canadian Academy.
Congratulations to the Grade 5 team and all the teachers who supported the very successful PYP Exhibition last
week! The level of student agency,  the successful choice of the main theater and the atrium as venues, and the
well-planned preparation and finally running of the evening made it a wonderful success story for grade 5
students. The excitement and perhaps a challenge for the grade 5 students and teachers is to return back to the
so important routines, mathematics, readers and writers workshop, starting on Monday and then continue with
busy routines after the golden week.
The teacher appreciation dinner gathered about 40 CA faculty members together at the Hotel Plaza on Rokko
Island for food, drinks and even some dance moves on Saturday. Thank you, PTA!
This week we also welcome Kim back from Dubai and enjoy the Golden Week extended holiday from
Wednesday onwards.
Let’s have a great two days and a rejuvenating Golden Week break!
Kim, Trevor, and Heikki


Lunchtime Supervision:                    Links to: Supervision Schedule 18-19    Supervision Protocol
Time
12:15-12:40
12:25-12:55
12:25-12:55
12:15-12:25
12:25-12:55
Duty
Cafeteria Tables
Playground
/ Gym
Playground
/ Atrium
Cafeteria line
Indoor recess ELAC Gym
April 29
Kae
Karen S
Suki

Maiko, Kaight


This week's schedule:                        Wednesday Schedule     ES Master Schedule
Day
Morning
Afternoon - After School
Mon 29 April
Day 1

14:30 ES Leadership Team Meeting
Tue 30 April
Student-led Conferences
Student-Led Conferences
Wed 24 April
Golden Week Holiday!

Thu 25 April


Fri 26 April




Professional Learning:        How to apply for PD
Please note that in order to qualify for Professional Development, you must always
apply through the CA PD application form (KissFlow) and no later than 10 days
before the PD registration deadline.
N.B. All PD information posted on Blogger is by default Personal PD unless otherwise noted.
CA will host IB workshops May 24-26
  • Leading the learning in PYP schools
  • Building for the future
**Check here for workshop descriptions.

Future Dates:
Schedule Pilot III
14 - 24 May
Extended Learning Time
16 May (Day 3 in the 9 day pilot cycle)
ES Assembly
16 May
Jazz Week
20 - 24 May
IB Regional Workshops at CA
24 - 26 May
MAPS Testing
27 - 31 May
Annual Faculty Health Check
1 June
CA Grade 12 Graduation
2 June
End of Year Faculty Party
8 June
ES Report Cards open to parents
11 June
Final ES Assembly & Last day of school
14 June

Sunday, April 21, 2019

Weekly Updates, Monday 22 April, 2019

Dear colleagues,
It is the week of the PYP Exhibition and lovely summer-like weather! Also, the grade 12 students have their
ast day of school before their exams will start in May. Thank you to Trevor for running the assembly last week,
and everyone who contributed to the assembly. This Wednesday session we will be re-focusing on assessment
and collaboratively contributing to the development of SeeSaw protocols and agreements for the school year
2019-2020 as well as preparing for the student-led conferences. We will finish the week with the PTA teacher appreciation dinner here on Rokko-Island. Heikki is excited to be back at school and is looking forward to connecting with everyone again. Kim will be away this week sorting things out for her move to the new position in Dubai.
Let’s enjoy the lovely weather and learning this week!
Kim, Trevor, and Heikki


Lunchtime Supervision:                    Links to: Supervision Schedule 18-19    Supervision Protocol
Time
12:15-12:40
12:25-12:55
12:25-12:55
12:15-12:25
12:25-12:55
Duty
Cafeteria Tables
Playground
/ Gym
Playground
/ Atrium
Cafeteria line
Indoor recess ELAC Gym
April 22
Ellen
Karen T
Enoch

Maiko, Kaight


This week's schedule:                        Wednesday Schedule     ES Master Schedule
Day
Morning
Afternoon - After School
Mon 22 April
Day 2


Tue 23 April
Day 3

13:30 ES Student Support
Team Meeting
Wed 24 April
Day 1

14:40-15:45 Assessment practices/Seesaw protocol brainstorm
15:45-16:30 SLeds - prep time
Thu 25 April
Day 2

18:00 PYP Exhibition!
Fri 26 April
Day 3

18:00 MS Music Concert


Professional Learning:        How to apply for PD
Please note that in order to qualify for Professional Development, you must always
apply through the CA PD application form (KissFlow) and no later than 10 days
before the PD registration deadline.
N.B. All PD information posted on Blogger is by default Personal PD unless otherwise noted.
CA will host the following IB PYP workshops May 24-26
  • Leading the learning in PYP schools
  • Building for the future
**Check here for workshop descriptions.


Future Dates:
Student Led Conferences
30 April, Tuesday
Golden Week Break
1 - 3 May, Wednesday-Friday
Jazz Week
20 - 24 May
IB Regional Workshops at CA
24 - 26 May
MAPS Testing
27 - 31 May
Annual Faculty Health Check
1 June
CA Grade 12 Graduation
2 June
End of Year Faculty Party
8 June
ES Report Cards open to parents
11 June

Monday, April 15, 2019

Professional Development 2019-2020


As an initial step to preparing for the next academic year, the Curriculum Leadership Team would like to open applications for Personal PD and early consideration for Faculty PD conference options.


While we have not specifically identified our operational goals for next year, much of our self-study has identified areas that we may want to develop and nurture. Consider areas specific to your grade-level, team or department when you consider Tankyuu-related pursuits. Topics that have risen to the top of conversation include curriculum development, teaching and learning practices, wellbeing, and community-building/inclusion.


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Personal PD includes:
  • Subsidy for continuing education, such as advanced degrees, extension courses, or online workshops
  • Tankyu-related courses
  • Subsidy for Conferences or workshops


Possible Personal PD for Tankyuu or Personal Pursuit
  • ASCD.org - Online Courses - This 6-lesson, blended learning courses (click to see description of courses) support you through clear, succinct learning episodes with opportunities to trail and reflect on your own practice. Courses are worth up to 20 hours of professional learning if you are required to track your hours. Group participation is strongly encouraged. There are 143 courses available, please let me know if you would like to discuss options. These courses can be taken at any time, they are self-paced.
  • Harvard Project Zero - There are four courses that are of particular interest moving forward: Creating cultures of thinking, Making Learning Visible, Teaching for Understanding, Visible Thinking. These courses require group participation (groups of 3-6) and run from September 16- December 15, 2019. These courses have consistently received excellent feedback from participating teams.
  • Online IB Courses - IB online courses are an option for teams to learn together. There are sessions in October, Nov-Dec, and Spring (not yet published, generally Feb and May)
  • Other online options include (this is not an exclusive list):


Deadlines for Personal PD Applications:
  • Thursday, May 9 - Ongoing Professional Learning Personal PD Subsidy for SY19-20 - for coursework completed this summer or at any projected time next school year
  • Friday, May 17 - Harvard Project Zero - All members of the team should submit individual applications; identify full team in “COMMENTS” field
  • Monday, Sept 30 - Other Tankyu-related subsidies - This should allow time for teams to consider their inquiries
  • Process: Submit through KISSFLOW with an accurate estimate of cost (Maximum subsidy is ¥100,000 per person total per year)
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Faculty PD - Conferences CA plans to attend:
  1. EARCOS ELC2019 in Malaysia; October 2019
  2. EARCOS ETC2020 in Bangkok; March 2020
  3. Learning 2.0 October 2019, Nanjing (Presenter Proposals open with registration)
  4. IBAP2020 Bangkok (Presenter Proposals open in October)
  5. SENIA (Feb/March - exact date and location TBD)
  6. 21CLI: GELS conference, Hong Kong, March 2020
Deadline: Thursday, May 9
Deadline for Early Consideration for any of the above Conferences. Submit through KISSFLOW as per normal applications with an approximate cost estimate (most travel outside of Japan ranges from ¥200,000 to ¥2500,000 depending on the cost of the location and registration fee). If additional spots are available we will re-open applications next fall.
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CA Ambassadors
CA Ambassadors are staff members that represent CA in a range of professional capacities, including presenting at conferences or workshops, becoming an IB Educator, or serving as a representative for one of our organizational networks.
If you are interested in exploring one of these roles, please submit this survey for consideration. At this stage, you are not committed to presenting but simply letting us know of your interest.
Note: CA aims to support a range of presenters and CA Ambassadors. To promote fairness and transparency, please share your plans well in advance so that they can be considered by the leadership team as part of Faculty PD planning. For any further information please consult Renee.