External Affairs of NIS PM Shymkent

Nauryz celebration 2015

Хасият — Mon, 04 May 2015 11:32:24 GMT

The International team singing Kazakh folk song "Dedim-ay, au!"

Active participation at the conference of South Kazakhstan State University

Хасият — Sat, 02 May 2015 10:59:12 GMT

International scientific-practical conference “AUEZOV READINGS – 13: “Nurly zhol” - the strategic step towards industrial – innovation and socio – economic development of the country”

The International Team was invited to take part in the International scientific-practical conference “AUEZOV READINGS – 13: “Nurly zhol” - the strategic step towards industrial – innovation and socio – economic development of the country” South Kazakhstan State University.

Some members of the International Team represented the school at the conference's plenary session and main part.

Prakash Naidoo, the International Deputy Principal held his speech on the topic "Values drive organizations in raising their profile within their communities".

Claire Powis, the Team Leader, greeted the participants and congratulated the University staff with Schience Day.

Idara Ekwere, the Mathematics teacher, presented her speech on "Utilizing technology in the Classroom".

Sonali Roy, the Economics teacher, held a workshop at the sections on the topic "Collaborative and integrated teaching and learning in Economics at high school".

The whole team was acknowledged for their active and fruitful work at the conference and were given Certificates of Honour by the Universities rector.

Professional development courses for teacher assistants

Хасият — Fri, 01 May 2015 08:44:49 GMT

From the 26th of March to the 1st of April 2015 the Internation team held professional development courses on "Critical Thinking" and "Team-teaching" designed for teachers assistants of our school.

The program of the courses

Introduction to Team Teaching
Introduction to Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking in Lesson Planning
Lesson Planning for Team Teaching
Protocols of lesson observations and giving feedback
Observing Team teaching
Reviewing team teaching
Observing with the focus on critical thinking
Reviewing observed lessons

International Week at NIS Shymkent Physics and Mathematics (by Christine Lytras)

Хасият — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 05:49:57 GMT

The week entitled, “Unity through Diversity” at our school was filled with activities and events for both students and teachers alike. One of the contributions was the delivery of a professional development presentation on critical thinking skills. More specifically, a PD on Thinking Routines was delivered on their use both in and out of the classroom to develop good reasoning habits which boost lifelong learning.

Though teachers who attended the “Critical Thinking” PD had backgrounds in diverse subject areas, they each profited as the techniques discussed are useful in many areas of student life. Critical thinking skills are essential on an everyday basis in the approaches we adopt towards decision-making, problem- solving, making mathematical calculations and in the interpretation of historical events. They are essential to the teaching of subject areas such as: Science, Physics, Language Learning and Literature as they teach students to use simple three or four step routines that utilize higher order thinking skills in order to achieve a specific goal.

“Thinking Routines” are the result of a body of research conducted by the Harvard School of Education based on the precept that an Intellectual Character is defined by the triptych: patterns of thinking, patterns of behavior and patterns of interaction, which can be developed through responsible schooling. This character type is distinguished by a “kinetic intelligence” that enjoys seeking out knowledge in order to satisfy a deep-seated curiosity. Educators, therefore, are obligated to provide impetus and opportunities that enable students’ intellectual characters to flourish.

The teachers who attended the event provided feedback to state that they learned about critical thinking techniques new to them. Further, based on the success of this and other PDs offered during “Unity through Diversity” week, they were repeated for the benefit of teachers at Local School # 89. The school warmly welcomed a representative contingent from NIS Shymkent and received us for an enthusiastic exchange of ideas, proving that teachers are always keen learners.

My First Experience with Collaborative Team Teaching (by Christine Lytras)

Хасият — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 05:18:02 GMT

Having been an English teacher for 25 years, I believed I had done and seen it all. How wrong I was! Although I knew that I would be team teaching at NIS, as I had been asked about my previous experience during my skype interview, I really didn’t know what or how much of it to expect. My feelings when I learned that I was going to be co-teaching each and every lesson with a local teacher varied from apprehension to a stoic optimism that I could handle it, since I’ve handled so many other difficult situations in my career.

There are many forms of what is termed team teaching. The two that I was familiar with from the US involved a special education teacher sitting beside a student or students in the classroom while the lesson is in progress in order to provide assistance. Another method is the “pull-out” method, when an area specialist remediates a small group of struggling students while the majority of the class is simultaneously working with their classroom teacher. I was totally unprepared as to the type of co-teaching that I was to encounter at NIS.

During my first week of teaching, I felt as though I was being restrained from doing what I do best: teaching MY class in MY room, MY own way. It seems to me now that we teachers have been infused with a culture of self-centered authoritativeness that we treasure and that allows us to feel that we are “in control”. The possibility of gain resulting from partial surrender of control never would have occurred to me, had I not team taught in Kazakhstan. There are many rewards, I assure you.

One of the most important rewards is the exchange of ideas. For me, communication between colleagues is always the most pleasant and effective road to learning from a peer’s experience; whether it is ideas, techniques, teaching styles or use of technology. Through co-planning and feedback I have become more reflective and gained valuable insight into another culture’s view of education.

Finally, two heads and two bodies working in unison have proven to be better than one. In terms of classroom management, it is common knowledge that students respond better when their native language is used to give complicated directions, explain sophisticated terminology or manage a challenging situation. Two teachers in the classroom means individualized attention may be given where necessary and better supervision in a test- taking situations. Additionally, four hands are better than two when it comes to the distribution of handouts or in an emergency situation where something was forgotten in another room or in case plan B implementation is necessary. Last but not least, a second head can come in very useful when a judgment call needs to be made, a reference needs to be looked up or a second opinion is required.

From a more human perspective, co-teaching brings people together. I have developed close professional relationships with my co-teachers to the extent where trust has been built and it is possible to share and correct each other if necessary without insecurities taking over. I’ve developed working relationships built on equality, trust, openness, willingness, helpfulness, and equally importantly I’ve made lasting friendships. Who would imagine? Certainly not me!

From all the reasons listed above, it is clear that team teaching has a lot to offer a facilitator who is secure enough in their teaching to take a risk and try it.

Mentoring local teachers as Professional Development on teaching Global Perspectives (by Ignacio Carreras Fortia)

Хасият — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 04:49:17 GMT

It is been more than 3 months now since I started to mentor some of the local teachers I work with, and so far the experience has been very grateful.

As I posted in my previous article since most of my local teachers were new in the subject I decided that the best way to help them would be preparing all their Lesson Plans and Classroom Activities for the first 2 terms. It has been a big challenge since a lot of extra work fell on my shoulders. Nevertheless I think this approach was helpful.

Along with this, another way to help them improve their teaching skills has been do classroom observations and video recording before giving them feedback.

As a final support I did several PDs. The very last one was on: “How to prepare Global Perspectives Classroom Activities and Lesson Plans”.

Since teaching how to teach is a very complex task that requires to be aware of many different aspects and details I wrote down a basic first approach with this purpose.

The following paper is the beginning of this PD:

PREPARING CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES and LESSON PLANS FOR Global Perspectives YEAR 11 STUDENTS

Previous considerations

All teachers have their own way of teaching and preparing activities according to their own personalities and preferences. So that it is very difficult to try to set up a general model for all educators.

Nevertheless some general consideration can be observed. Everyone agrees today that a 21th century class has to be student centred, and not a simple memorized lecture, as it was in the past.

Understanding they way we learn is also very important. It is when we do something -when students are active participants in the classroom- that we learn the most. It is called learning by doing.

Since it is a very creative process a good starting point can be:

Do classroom observations.
Research on the Internet.

The goal is: Take those activities you like, those ideas you think are engaging to students, those “tricks” that go with your personality and can be useful in your lessons.

Consider also the excitement you will put while teaching, because you will pass this same emotion to your students. If you feel excited teaching, your students will feel it, and that will make them feel more engaged in learning.

Finally, remember: our goal is make our students learn what we want them to learn. In this case: skills. The academic content you will teach in GP is just an excuse we use to reach our goal. If you want to know how good you are as a teacher ask yourself: how much are your students learning in class?

Steps to follow

1.Choose a topic.

2.Be an expert about the topic you will teach. Do research and learn it profoundly.

Usually when we know something deeply we enjoy explaining it to others. This will make your classes more exciting because you will feel excited when teaching them.

Besides, knowing a lot about your topic gives you that necessary background that allows you to explain an interesting anecdote, if necessary, or answers a difficult question from a smart student.

3.Consider the amount of time you have to teach your topic.

In our case we have 5 sessions of 40 minutes each.

4.Check the Learning Objectives you need to cover.

You will work focusing your attention in each part of the process individually, but finally you will have to make them match all in one single unit.

The point is to start connecting the “how you will teach the topic/skills”, with the “how you will assess your students”. Finally you will write it all in a lesson plan.

5.Think what will be your Assessment Criteria, and how it will match with your Learning Objectives.

Summary:

Topic (what you teach)
Method (how you teach)
Assessment Criteria (how you know learners learned what you want them to learn)
Learning Objectives (how you know learners meet the Learning Objectives through your Assessment Criteria?)

Think of what kind of activities you want to use in your lessons. Some may include:

Ask questions to the audience at the beginning of the lesson (brainstorm)
Ice break activity (sing a song, short games, etc.; -to create a positive atmosphere-)
Discussions/Debate (critical thinking skills)
Poster activity (hands on activity; visual learning; creative skills; presentations; etc.)
Brochures, leaflets or pamphlets activity (visual learning; creative skills, etc.)
Work in groups: 2, 3 or 4 students (cooperative learning)
Lecture (brief, 5 or 8 min max., and being very interesting/engaging)
Power Point (used by the teacher, or the students if they do a presentation)
Video (visual and audio support)
Role play (connecting the topic with real life scenarios)
Games (only if they are educational and highly engaging)
Internet research activities (essential skill today)
Newspaper articles/other reading papers (critical thinking; reading comprehension)
Etc.

Start creating your activities, trying to keep in mind the time you have, the Learning Objectives and the Assessment Criteria you want to use.

This part may be the most challenging one, since being creative requires a special condition and mood, which is difficult to reach sometimes. A good suggestion is start working on a draft trying to imagine how the activities you are putting together will fit in your classes.

The last part, once the classroom activities have been created, is write them down in the format of a Lesson Plan.

Overall the best way to go through it is just to do it, and then get feedback from your personal adviser.

: your classroom activities need to match the level of your students (think of: learning differentiation).

Practical Activity

Choose a GP topic you are familiar with and start preparing a draft for an 80 minutes lesson. Then show it to your adviser to get feedback from him.

Shakespeare’s Insults - International Week Activity for Students and Staff (by Sharon Ahern)

Хасият — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 04:39:51 GMT

Shouting and being rude can be educational and fun.

Shakespeare, is in my opinion, one of the greatest, if not THE greatest English playwright and poet. He has enriched the English language beyond measure. He has an amazing understanding of the human spirit and creates characters who seem so realistic and believable whatever the time and place. His works have been translated into countless languages and his plays are regularly performed all over the world more than 400 years after his death. If you have never seen one then I urge you to do so as soon as possible.

I have taught Shakespeare’s plays for the last sixteen years and each time I find something new about them or better still, one of my students makes an observation during a lesson or in an essay which stops me in my tracks and makes me think again.

International Week! What a perfect opportunity to introduce the joys of Shakespeare’s language to students and teachers at NIS. From my own experience I know that foreign language learners need courage to use the words they have been introduced to. So I decided to use an activity familiar to many English Literature teachers and students – ‘Shakespeare’s Insult Activity’. Shakespeare’s language is rich in insults. They are funny, clever, rude and inventive. The activity I chose introduces students to Shakespeare’s language before teaching the play itself begins. It gives them an opportunity to practice their intonation and pronunciation.

The activity itself is very simple. All students have to do is stand in two lines facing each other and hurl insults at their partner at the tops of their voices.

The students who enjoyed it most were the grade seven’s once they had got over their fear of raising their voices. The teachers never did. All the insults were taken from Shakespeare’s well-known plays. Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet for example. Anyone who knows the story of Romeo and Juliet will know how Juliet’s father behaves when Juliet refuses to marry Paris, the very acceptable young man her father has chosen for her. Why does she refuse? Well, she has already married Romeo in secret. If she married Paris she would be committing bigamy (marrying someone when you are already married to someone else), committing a sin in the eyes of the church and breaking the laws of the land. Juliet’s father is understandably furious and berates his daughter for her disobedience.

As I said, the aim of the activity is for students to speak, hopefully with feeling and some understanding. The grade 7’s couldn’t believe their luck. Shout? In a classroom? To each other? At a teacher? What fun!

I began by asking what they knew about Shakespeare. Then, talked briefly about the use of grammar, see below.

Thou/thee = you - singular
Ye = you – plural
Thy/thine = your
Art = are (present of ‘to be’)
Wast = were (past of ‘to be’)
Dost = do
Hast = have (present tense)
Hath = have (past tense)
Will - wilt

I include a list of some of the sentences and phrases I used with their translations.

1. I bite my thumb at you, Sir.

Biting your thumb was very insulting in Italy during the 14^th century

2. You are as loathsome as a toad!

You are as unpleasant as a toad

3. Away, thou art poison to my blood!

Go away, you poison my blood!

5. Art thou the slave that with thy breath hast killed?

Aren’t you the poor person whose breath is so bad that it can kill?

6. You are a vain giddy shallow humorous youth!

You are a proud silly young man with no intellect!

8. Peace, you mumbling fool!

Be quiet you stupid fool who can’t speak clearly.

8. You are too hot!

You get angry too quickly

10. Threadbare Juggler!

Threadbare means you are poor and the job of a juggler is very low class.

13. You greensickness carrion.

Carrion is the word for a dead animal’s flesh which goes green when it decays.

14. Thy horrid image doth unfix my hair!

Your ugly face makes my hair stand up and I feel afraid.

16. Ye flibbertigibbet

A flibbertigibbet is someone who keeps changing their mind and is very irritating.

17. Thou art a double-dealer!

A double-dealer is a cheat and a dishonest person, someone not to be trusted.

18. Thou art a puke-stocking!

You are someone who vomits into their own socks and is therefore disgusting.

I gave each person a folded piece of paper on which was written one of the insults. We had a short discussion about the meaning of the phrase or sentence and then the shouting began!

In the end it was the grade 7 students who were uninhibited enough to fully profit from the activity. The adults and the older students found it difficult to raise their voices and be rude to each other even in jest.

An Effective Demonstration for Teaching the Conservation of Mechanical Energy by George Evers

Хасият — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 02:51:58 GMT

The primary goal of our lesson was to teach grade 9 (G9) the basics of conservation of energy in a memorable way. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but it can change forms; and some energy is wasted when changed from one form to another. For example, friction changes some kinetic energy into heat, motors produce noise, and some machines even produce light. Heat, sound, and light are common ways that energy is wasted as a machine operates.

In the case of a pendulum, there's also air resistance: some of the initial potential energy is lost as the pendulum bob (i.e. the pan hung from a thin rope in the video) collides with air molecules, transferring kinetic energy to them. As a result, when the pendulum bob returns toward its beginning position, it will not return to quite the same height because some of its energy has been lost along the way.

A second goal was to guide students via effective questioning to answer their own questions. When we ask guiding questions instead of just telling students what to do, we model an effective problem-solving process. This helps them develop their own such thought processes in addition to knowledge.

A third goal was to give students practice with Cambridge-style structured questions. As I've taught around the world, I've noticed that teachers often test students with informal language and different question types than they will see on their end-of-year exams. It's only fair that we give students practice with conceptual questions phrased in formal English like those on actual Cambridge exams. Based on my experience successfully preparing students, this type of practice helps them remain calm and confident when taking an actual exam.

Since As and A level questions are designed for grades 11 and 12 respectively, we used O level questions for this G9 lesson. These proved appropriate as evidenced by the fact that the students found them challenging but were able to solve them when asked effective guiding questions.

This demonstration was inspired by a YouTube video of Dr. Walter Lewin at the world-renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A short video clip of that lecture is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhIOylZMg6Q

My co-teacher for the lesson was Mrs. Кулайхан Танабаева.

PLANNING EFFECTIVE LESSONS (BY SHAGUFTA KHAN)

Хасият — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 07:55:55 GMT

Planning Effective lessons

In todays society education has a complete new meaning. It no longer judges students on how much and how quick they can memorize or how many marks they score. Its about gaining the skills to understand right from wrong and having the knowledge you need to progress and contribute positively towards the society you belong to. It helps students develop their prospective on the world around them and pushes them to think creatively and conceptually about all the subjects they study. Education helps student’s process the information they receive on a daily basis and draw conclusions and inference based on what they already know. It makes them independent learners, critical thinkers and future innovators.

As teachers we have an even bigger responsibility to bring forward these skills in our students and hence it’s important how we plan our lessons. As the requirement of the society has changed so should we change the way we educate our students. A good lesson starts with good planning. A lesson plan is a teacher’s roadmap to what he or she wants the students to achieve by the end of the lesson. A good lesson plan indicates how well you know your students. Lessons should be planned keeping in mind the strength and weakness of your students. Understanding the learning style of your students helps you plan appropriate tasks.

Types of learning styles

Auditory Learners; Hear

These types of learners learn better by hearing. Verbal explanation of concepts are best understood by such learners.

Visual learners: See

These types of learner learn best by seeing things. All kind of visual aids such as pictures, maps, graphs help better understanding of visual learners.

Kinesthetic Learners: Touch

Kinesthetic learners process information best through “hands on” activities. Doing the activity helps them remember best. This may include building models, practical’s, role play or writing down.

Most people learn best by a combination of two or three learning style but everyone is different hence our lessons need to have a combination of all learning styles. A successful lesson plan addresses and integrates these three key components:

Objectives for student learning
Teaching/learning activities
Strategies to check student understanding (AFL)

Great teaching begins with great planning.

Characteristics of a great lesson

Clear instructions, explanation, timelines, expectation and assessment.
Interactive: hands on activities
Engaging and fun
Allow students to feel a sense of shared exploration and discovery.
Give students choices.
Break assignments into small chunks
Hands-on manipulative
Ask open ended questions
Make lesson relevant
Allow students to develop own questions to research
Integrate diverse teaching strategies
Talk at appropriate level

Lesson plans can be written while having clear goals in mind. What is it that you want the students to achieve.

Backward Planning: It’s thinking about assessment before deciding how you teach, planning instruction, what resources you will use and finally and most importantly….

Objective:

A description of what the student will be able to do at the end of the lesson.

Warm up and introduction:

This can be a starter activity where you grab the attention of the students. It can also be used to identify todays objective. This activity provides interest and works as a motivational factor. Set the tone for the lesson connected to the objective. For example a question, a story, a saying, an activity, a discussion or create curiosity for the topic.

Pre-assessment:

What are the characteristics of the learners in the class?
What do the students already know and understand?
How do my students learn best?
What modifications in instruction might I need to make?

Procedure and presentation:

Sets up a step-by-step plan
Provides a quick review of previous learning
Provides specific activities to assist students in developing the new knowledge
Provides modeling of a new skill
- A picture is worth a thousand words.
- I hear, I see………..I do!

Learning activities:

Graphic organizers
Creative play
Peer presenting
Performances
Role playing
Debates
Game making
Projects
Cooperative groups
Inquiry learning
Direct instruction
Differentiation
Direct Instruction

Practice:

Provide multiple learning activities
Guided practice (teacher controlled)
- Use a variety of questioning strategies to determine the level of understanding
- Journaling, conferencing
Independent practice
- Practice may be differentiated
Build on success

The purpose of questioning

To interest, engage and challenge pupils;
To check on prior knowledge and understanding;
To stimulate recall, mobilizing existing knowledge
and experience in order to create new understanding
and meaning;
To focus pupils’ thinking on key concepts and issues;
To help pupils to extend their thinking from the concrete and factual to the analytical and evaluative;
To lead pupils through a planned sequence which progressively establishes key understandings;
To promote reasoning, problem solving, evaluation and the formulation of hypotheses; to promote pupils’ thinking about the way they have learned.
As a means of creating healthy learning tension

Use daily in questioning to develop higher order of thinking skills...critical thinking skills. Blooms Taxonomy is a great way to encourage higher level thinking skills.

Blooms Taxonomy

KNOWLEDGE
COMPREHENSION
APPLICATION
ANALYSIS
SYNTHESIS
EVALUATION

Plenary

Lesson Wrap-up: Leave students with an imprint of what the lesson covered.
- Students summarize the major concepts

Displays internalized student knowledge

Teacher recaps the main points
Teacher sets the stage for the next phase of learning

Student evaluation

Assess the learning-Rubric
- Teacher made test
- In-class or homework assignment
- Project to apply the learning in real-life situation
- Recitations and summaries
- Performance assessments
- Use of rubrics
- Portfolios
- Journals
- Informal assessment

Teacher reflection

What went well in the lesson?
What problems did I experience?
Are there things I could have done differently?
How can I build on this lesson to make future lessons successful?

“A teacher is one who brings us tools and enables us to use them.”

Jean Toomer

“The greater the structure of a lesson and the more precise the directions on what is to be accomplished, the higher the achievement rate.”

Harry Wong, The First Days of Teaching

MY PERSONAL IMPRESSIONS OF SHYMKENT (BY DIEUDONNE NAHISHAKIYE)

Хасият — Sat, 18 Oct 2014 08:23:08 GMT

My historical background: I am American by citizenship, but I was born and raised in Burundi, Africa. After living and working in America for over 18 years, I moved to

Bahrain as a Mathematics Teacher at Abdul Rahman Kanoo International. After two years in Bahrain, following a friend’s piece of advice, I applied for a teaching position to Nazarbayev Intellectual School (NIS), and I have been working at NIS Shymkent (Physics and Mathematics) for the past one and a half months. Below is a short account of my day-to-day life here in Shymkent.

My very first impression is that Shymkent has some of the nicest people I have ever met: everywhere I go, people extend their hand to help me. Because of my language barrier, I have to ask so many questions, whether it is at the store, at the bank, or in a restaurant. People try to communicate with me so that they understand what I need, and they are always ready to help me. I experience this act of kindness at school or in my neighborhood. Fellow teachers, at school, have given their time to take me to the bazaar or to the airport so that I could get what I need. This has happened on several occasions. On several occasions, I have met people who have gone out their way to interpret for me when I needed to explain my needs.

My second experience had to do with my job. NIS has made me feel welcome in Shymkent: for the first time in my teaching career, I have felt appreciated by the teachers, the administrators and the students when they planned the teachers’ Day ceremonies. From the start of the day, I and other teachers walked between rows of students who applauded and sang in appreciation for our job. The ceremony had been so well planned until the Teachers’ Day party where we ate, dance, and mingled with other teachers. That special Day will remain engraved in my memory for a long time. I even shared my feelings with several of my students.

Finally, I co-teach with the local teachers. We planned our lessons together on a regular basis. Despite our language barrier, we always discuss together various ways of helping the students. Together with my co-teachers, we are slowly moving toward student-centered teaching techniques where the students work cooperatively with their peers. We still have a long way, especially when it comes to communication, but I strongly believe that we are moving toward a common purpose. As a final thought, I personally feel lucky to be in Shymkent during this period: I am always amazed by how our students switch from Kazakh and Russian to English in their instruction. I do believe that this is just the beginning of very bright future for them. Here are some photos to illustrate my classroom experience with the students and some part of the Teachers’ Day activities.