Superintendent's Message

Good afternoon,

The last couple of weeks have celebrated many of our student performing artists. Congratulations to our High School WAISAL Band students who workshopped with several other international schools last week and performed a tremendous concert at the American International School of Abuja. Don’t just take my word for it! Click on the above youtube video to watch the concert

Also, we congratulate several of our elementary students for performances last week and this week. Our grade 3 and 4 students shared “informances” with their parents; grade 3 created and performed dances to poetry and grade 4 researched, presented and performed cultural musical traditions from around the world. The week was punctuated by our grades 1 and 2 students in their concert yesterday where they performed an international array of drama, dance, and music that was co-created, choreographed and staged by the students themselves. Bravo AISL student performers!

Performing Arts for the 21st Century

Over the past 18 months, the performing arts department has implemented an array of pedagogical and programmatic changes to better meet students’ diverse learning needs and 21st Century demands. Our curriculum historically emphasized music performance over all other aspects of performing arts. As we embark into standards-based learning and assessment, we now teach and evaluate 11 standards equally spread amongst 4 strands: Creating, Performing, Responding and Connecting.

Additionally, we no longer focus on only musical performance or, even more one-dimensionally, playing the recorder and traditional American band instruments. For example, our elementary school now focuses on multiple aspects of performing arts which include: 1) music, dance and drama from all over the world; 2) singing, dancing, acting, playing multiple instruments, listening, composing, performing and reflecting; and 3) an emphasis on student ownership, building skills and confidence, reinforcing character traits, and developing love for the arts.

In middle school, we know that pre-adolescents and young adolescents excel when they have more voice and choice in their learning. As opposed to only having the option for American band, they can now choose from band, choir and guitar. Additionally, there is now a middle school musical performance opportunity annually. In the past, students were not able to join band in later grade levels if they had not played an instrument previously. Now, band is more inclusive along with the other performing arts disciplines. Students may join the band as a beginner as late as eighth grade. Students are not excluded from performances based on their skill level. This practice aligns better with our school’s core values of providing a well-rounded education, instilling life-long learning, and honoring the diversity of learners.

In high school, students also have diverse opportunities to explore the performing arts including IB Music, Symphonic Band, Choir, Hip Hop, Rock and Roll, Songwriting, and Digital Musicianship. Next year, we hope to add Guitar to the list of options. Before this diversity of choices was offered, 33 high school students participated in music. After these new options were implemented, 77 students participated in a performing arts elective. In addition, all high school students are able to participate in the school plays as an outside elective, rather than restricting this opportunity to fewer students through a course.

I am proud and grateful to our teachers (Kingsley Nahkwa, Marnie Hurst, Katie Van Zant, Eric Taylor, and Evan Darling) for the many enhancements they have made to our students’ learning opportunities in the performing arts. They exhibit our AISL learning culture that we are always striving to improve on our previous accomplishments and never satisfied with the status quo. Change is not easy and involves risk. I look forward to seeing the continued evolution of our performing arts programs under our talented teachers’ guidance.

Parent Forum for Performing Arts

Want to learn more about our performing arts programs? All of our performing arts teachers will be hosting a parent forum next Wednesday, February 19 at 7:30 A.M. in the Parent Lounge. This is an excellent opportunity for parents to learn about the philosophy, science of, and future plans for our performing arts program. We also welcome questions and feedback as we continue to strive for excellence in all that we do.

Middle School WAISAL Volleyball

We have an exciting weekend ahead with several middle school boys and girls from international schools across West Africa visiting AISL to compete in our WAISAL volleyball tournament. Good luck, Eagles! See the Athletics section of our newsletter for more information. Thanks in advance to Mr. Rodine, all of our coaches, staff and volunteers who will be working hard to make this a wonderful experience for our middle school student athletes.

Board Meeting

Our next board meeting is Tuesday, February 18 at 4:00 P.M. in the Library. Amongst other board business, we will be presenting a school-wide overview of our most recent NWEA MAP assessment data. All parents and staff are welcome to attend.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Yours in partnership,

Sean Areias, Ed.D.

Interim Superintendent