March

If you have something you would like added to the MS weekly, please complete this form by Friday at 8am.

Week of March 25th - March 28th

Important Dates:

Monday March 25th: ½ day for students special schedule, consult Google Calendar for afternoon teacher schedule.

Wednesday March 27th: All Middle School Assembly Jeju SLL Highlights @ 8:30am MS PAC

Thursday 28th: All Middle School Assembly International SLL Highlights & OBOS @ 8:30am MS PAC

Friday March 29th: School wide WASC meetings @ 8:00am, various locations please check with your group leader

Sunshine:

Please bookmark this Sunshine Weekly link to stay informed of information and events going on in our community. To subscribe to the blog for automatic updates, scroll to the very bottom and enter your email address.

Athletics:

You can read the latest News on Athletics Website which is updated every Friday.

Lists of absent students can be found here and also on our Arts, Athletics and Activities Calendar.

ELL:

The following G8 students will be meeting with grade level ELL teachers during the KIS Reads/Academic Support block in quarter 4. The groups for the first two weeks are highlighted below in the table. As groups change, ELL teachers will share updated groups during Monday morning team meetings; this will happen every two weeks.

March 27th - April 5th:

Thank you for support. Please reach out to your grade level ELL teachers or Bill if you have any questions.

Associate Principal:

MS Morning and Lunchtime Supervision: If you are currently supervising these areas, continue doing so until April 5th. The next MS supervision switch will be April 8th.

DRAGON challenge: Have a discussion with your advisees about “inclusion” and ways we can include others from other cultures.

Principal:

Communicating Learning: In Q4, teachers will transition to using PowerSchool grade book as the primary platform for communicating learning progress with students and parents. Students and parents will now rely upon this LMS to receive all formative and summative information on learning outcomes in your course. In the month of April departments will come to common agreements as to the ideal amount of information shared with students and parents, ie. minimum inputs for formative and summative grades in order to achieve consistency throughout.

PGP: A new quarter = a fresh start! If you’ve been thinking about adding to your professional portfolio, reflecting on your practice and uploading artifacts to your Google folder, now is the time! Q4 is all about bringing things together, reflecting on the previous three quarters and looking ahead. Unannounced classroom visits and walkthroughs will continue as in Q3 along with department lead observations. In preparation for observations and walkthroughs please be sure to consult the PGP 2018/19.

Head of School:

Traffic & Pedestrian Safety in the GEC: The safety of all community members at Korea International School, Jeju Campus is our highest priority. In the interest of public safety for all GEC community members, please be mindful of all pedestrian and traffic regulations including posted speed limits. KISJ is working with the police to address concerns about traffic and pedestrian safety within the GEC. We will also be raising awareness with our Parent Associations and are working with other schools in the GEC.

Child Protection at KISJ: Our Commitment to Child Protection Statement can now be found on the www.kis.ac landing page and states, “KISJ is committed to promoting the welfare of children and young adults and expects all faculty, staff, volunteers, and visitors to share this commitment towards child protection and safeguarding.” A KISJ child protection task force will be convened after spring break.

KISJ Air Quality & Outdoor Activity Policy: KISJ has updated our Air Quality & Outdoor Activity Policy. Our revised policy will promote greater student safety by encompassing all air pollutants and follows the behavioral recommendations outlined by the Korean Ministry of Environment (Air Korea). This update will be communicated to parents during the spring break.

KISJ Spring Golf Tournament: On Friday, April 26, KISJ will hold our Spring Golf Tournament and dinner at Elysian Jeju Country Club. All KISJ faculty and staff are invited, but we are limited to 32 players. The cost is 100,000 KRW and will include green fees, cart, caddie, dinner, and prizes. The first grouping will tee off at 13:19 with dinner starting at 18:30. If you would like to be a part of this event, please be sure to add your name to this registration sheet. More details to follow in early April.

2019-20 MS Boarding Changes: For the 2019-20 academic year, the KISJ MS boarding program will only be accepting students in grade 6-8 and will no longer offer boarding for grade 5 students.

The KISJ MS Dorms will continue providing the highest quality boarding program to support the social, emotional, physical and academic needs of our middle school students. We remain dedicated to providing a safe, enjoyable, and positive learning environment for students in grades 6-8.

Schoolwide Communication: Interested in knowing what is happening in other divisions across KISJ? The KISJ Intranet (my.kis.ac) has all of our most important KISJ documents and includes links to the ES Weekly, MS Weekly, HS Weekly, Sunshine Weekly, Human Resources Department, Director of Teaching & Learning, Head of School, Dragons News, and all KISJ social media accounts.

Wishing everyone a restful and rejuvenating spring break!

Week of March 11th - March 15th

Important Dates:

Monday March 11th - Friday March 15th: MS SLL Week! Please consult your trip leader for all the important details.

Sunshine:

Athletics:

You can read the latest News on Athletics Website which is updated every Friday.

Lists of absent students can be found here and also on our Arts, Athletics and Activities Calendar.

HR Update:

Please check out the latest updates from the Human Resources Blog!

If you need to reach out to someone on the HR team with a question please use the following as guide.

Questions about your paycheck and salary >>> Stella Kim yjinkim@kis.ac
Questions related to housing >>> Antoine Yoo hkyoo@kis.ac
Faculty Assistance >>> Kate Seo yesseo@kis.ac
All other HR inquiries >>> Scott Brown sbrown@kis.ac

Technology:

Reminder If you have not already signed up for a technology workshop during the In-House PD the afternoon of March 25th, please do so by Monday.

Tech Bytes Sometimes finding a file in Google Drive can feel like searching through a dark abyss. This blog post takes you through 8 ways to find the file you are searching for within your Drive.

Instructional Coach:

Do you have particular titles you’d like added to our MS Professional Collection? Please complete this form, if so.
Do you have particular titles, authors or genres you’d like added to our MS Library? Please complete this form, if so.

ELL:

Please bookmark ELL Department. The first week of every month, our department publishes a tip for that month. This will take place of the monthly email that was being sent out.

Associate Principal:

DRAGON challenge: Try to have conversations with 3 students during SLL about empathy and what it means during SLL week.

Look ahead: March 25th ½ day for students special schedule

Continue to remind students of our acceptable body contact rules and “skinship rules”.

“If you search for positive behavior you will find it…..If you search for negative behavior you will breed it.”

Principal:

SLC & PTSC Roundup: Thank you MS faculty and staff for your tireless efforts in preparing for March SLC’s & PTSC’s - middle school workshops, sessions and conference were well attended by our community. Our facility looked amazing, classrooms and learning spaces were exceptionally prepared. Teachers, thank you for all your efforts in ensuring student learning was appropriately showcased. Learning is truly alive and well in the middle school. A special thanks to Ian, Lyla and Stacy for their expert communication and organizational skills in ensuring today ran smoothly. We’d love your feedback to help inform planning for next year, please click here at the conclusion of PTSC’s to contribute your voice.

Communicating Learning: Thank you for inputting Q3 final grades and Dragons scores into PowerSchool, MS Learning Leaders will be reviewing all reports for accuracy and completion. If you receive notification re: any changes that might need to be made please act on this feedback as soon as possible. Reports will go live to students and parents Friday March 15th @ 5:00pm

Head of School:

Many thanks to everyone who took the time to speak with Dr. Marilyn George during our WASC visit this week. We look forward to sharing a summary of her reflections and recommendations as soon as they become available. Her guidance and suggestions will be a valuable resource as we begin the process of focus group meetings and self-study for the purpose of school improvement.

Thank you to our KISJ Faculty Council for meeting with Dr. George after school on Thursday. The minutes of this meeting will be shared with our community in the coming days.

A special thanks to our Central Control Team for making sure that the entire campus was clean and in proper working order. This was immediately noticed and remarked upon by Dr. George.

Have a restful weekend!

Week of March 4th - March 8th

Important Dates:

Tuesday March 5th: MS stand up meeting in MS Library @ 8am

Thursday March 7th: WASC Special Visit (school wide) 8:00am - 4:00pm

Friday March 8th: Q3 grades are due @ 9:00am

Friday March 8th: SLC and PTSC 9:00am- 4:00pm & Teacher Lunch in MS Library @ 12:00pm-1:00pm

Sunshine:

Faculty Council:

The Faculty Council met this past week as a full committee for the month of February. The public minutes can be viewed here. In addition, thank you to all that cast votes for the faculty council election. We would like to congratulate the new MS representatives for the 2019-2020 school year: Neyda Moulier and Paul Boland. Sincere gratitude is expressed for all of the nominees and we would like to extend a special thank you in advance to Paul and Neyda for your commitment of time and energy next year.

As a friendly reminder, if you have any concerns you’d like to bring forward, please complete this MS Faculty Council form or see Brian or Stacy. Our next meeting is April 1. Thank you, FC Reps: Brian and Stacy

Athletics:

You can read the latest News on Athletics Website which is updated every Friday.

Lists of absent students can be found here and also on our Arts, Athletics and Activities Calendar.

WASC:

Thanks to everyone for the great work y’all are doing in your Focus Groups. Just as a reminder, Dr. Marilyn George, Executive Vice President of WASC, will be visiting KISJ on the 7th and 8th (this Thursday and Friday). Again, do not be surprised to see her walking around, checking out classrooms, and potentially asking you questions. Please take some time to review the Progress Report we shared with WASC in December. Please pay close attention to Chapters 10 and 11.

SLL:

Service Learning and Leading week is just ‘round the corner! Thanks to trip leads for time and effort spent planning, to teacher teams for continued efforts that will turn ideas into collective reality, and to Ian and Joseph who have been critical to facilitating processes.

This past week, policies and protocols for trips were reviewed and discussed with trip leads, with important revisions suggested and clarifications made. These policies can be accessed here so that all chaperones--local and international--understand and can act on expectations. Additionally, itineraries for local trips are in the final stages of creative visualization and logistical coordination. Once all details are verified, they’ll be widely shared: with families via the parent portal and staff through Monday team meetings.

Don’t forget: the deadline to support the Cambodia Bamboo Toothbrush drive is about to expire; thanks to all who were able to contribute! Through these efforts, we’re hoping to provide 100+ biodegradable toothbrushes (and natural, locally-sourced toothpaste) that will serve to brighten Cambodian smiles.

Lastly, there are possibilities to connect with students in the Elementary School about learning that results from SLL week. Follow-up activities can be planned and facilitated in Quarter 4 in order to expand the impact of service learning and leading. Team leads from ES were enthusiastic to learn about topics such as kindness and environmental consciousness that are being covered through meaningful service projects by MS students and staff. Let’s explore opportunities to keep these important conversations going!

Grade 6 SLL (Jeju) Request:

Grade 6 SLL needs your help! We will be making reusable shopping bags during our SLL week to promote sustainable practices. If you have any old t-shirts please donate them to grade 6! You can email Lindsey Sowell to pick them up or drop them off in room 306. Thank you.

Technology:

Reporting Grades Q3 As you are finalizing grades for this quarter, please refer to this slide show for instructions on how to input grades into PowerSchool. Let me know if you would like for me to sit down with you 1 on 1.

Tech Bytes: Plickers is the perfect low tech/high tech assessment tool. It allows teachers to collect on-the-spot formative assessment data. Students are given a unique QR code print out with multiple choice options. When prompted, students hold up their answer choice, the teacher scans the room with the camera on their phone or iPad and it gives you immediate data on the students answers. Watch this video for more information.

Instructional Coach:

Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences are on the horizon. When preparing for one-on-one conversations with parents in the afternoon of March 8, you might consider collecting supporting documents that you may want to lean on and refer to: recent/upcoming project descriptions, checklists/rubrics and evidence of student learning. Additionally, review this document for directives and guidance on setting up the classroom environment. If you’d like some support for preparing for PTSCs, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
KIS Reads Teachers: Over the next several weeks, with various interruptions to learning in preparation for SLL and spring break, it might be helpful to prepare for some hiccups in KIS Reads. Consider reading KIS Reads - Problems & Possible Solutions to prepare.
Do you have particular titles you’d like added to our MS Professional Collection? Please complete this form, if so.
Do you have particular titles, authors or genres you’d like added to our MS Library? Please complete this form, if so.

Counseling:

New Student Growth Portfolio/SLC Prep: As we prepare our students for success in leading their SLC’s on March 8th please remember to provide a little extra guidance and support for our S2 New Students engaging in the growth portfolio development and reflection process for the very first time.

Instead of having new students develop three posts using the prompts provided on the SLC handout, it may be more valuable for them to develop one or two posts focused on their transition process. Feel free to use the following guiding questions for reference.

Describe your experience as a New Student at KISJ.
Describe your experience as a New Dorm Student at KISJ. (If Applicable)
What has been the most exciting/your favorite part of becoming a KISJ Dragon?
What has been the most challenging part of your transition to KISJ?
What have you learned, personal skills or strengths have you gained as a result of your transition experience?

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to your grade level Counselors as well as our Technology Coach for guidance and support. Many Thanks for your time and care!

Course Registration Timeline & Events: The Middle School Counseling department has begun preparing students and educating parents about the course registration process to ensure a successful transition into the 2019-2020 academic year.

Below is a brief outline of our Course Planning and Scheduling events. If staff, students, or families alike have any questions or concerns regarding any aspect of the course registration process please reach out to your grade level counselor for clarification and support.

Course Registration Overview for Current G6 & G7 Students, led by MS Counselors during KIS Reads/Academic Support February 25th ~ March 6th.
Dragon Dialogue for Current G5 & New Middle School Families [MS Overview], Wednesday March 6th at 10:30 AM. Location: MS Collaborative Space 4 [MS R&D]
MS Course Registration Workshops during Parent Student Teacher Conferences for Current G5-7 Parents, Friday March 8th
Middle School & Course Registration Overview for Current G5 Students, Classroom Visits from March 25th ~ April 5th
MS Course Registration for 2019-2020, During KIS Reads/Academic Support for all G6/7 Students from April 1st ~ 12th
G5 Course Registration for 2019-2020, Classroom Visits from April 8th ~ 19th

Associate Principal:

Student Behaviour: Continue to encourage and remind students to make appropriate choices regarding our acceptable physical contact rules of high fives, hand shakes, fist bump and sports hug being allowed. Everything else is not allowed.

Behaviour Consequences: In an effort to shed light on student suspensions and withdrawals, common communication will be sent via email to teachers stating:

“The discipline decision regarding ____________was based on a violation of the __________ rule outlined in the School and Dorm Life guide. Teachers are to refrain from discussing this information with colleagues in public places. Please use the following common message when students ask questions about the outcomes of a disciplinary event: “I am not in a position to share this information with you, if you have a personal relationship with __________ feel free to ask them.”

Important Fire evacuation notes:

Remain silent throughout the process (teachers included). This is extremely important for obvious safety reasons.
All classrooms must have a clipboard hanging beside the door with the Fire/Emergency evacuation procedures on it
Advisors must also have RED and GREEN laminated sheets of paper.
Advisors’ list will also include the color group teachers’ advisory so both teachers can check for students’ attendance. If a student is not physically present in your line when checking the advisory/color partner’s list hold up your red card so Lyla and Stacy can cross reference their absentee list. Do not ask students if other students are absent.

MS Faculty sign-out Procedures: When using the faculty sign-out / sign-in log in the MS office, be sure to physically sign out when you leave, and physically sign in when you return to account for accuracy.

MS Facilities: Rooms M302 and M321 are now available for student and teacher use. Look to your team lead for further instructions regarding times and purpose.

Principal:

Communicating Learning: All new students who joined the middle school on February 18th will not receive final grades or Dragons scores in Q3. In PowerSchool, simply enter “NG” in the final grade. In an attempt to bring greater awareness around student growth and development, advisors of new students admitted on Feb. 18th will communicate directly with students and parents on March 15th providing a brief written account of their advisee’s progress to date.

Core and elective teachers, please forward a written 2-3 sentence progress update for each new student (February 18th - March 15th) to the new student's respective advisor. This progress update will comment on: the student's progress towards current prioritized standards and/or the student's transition into the classroom community.

Example: Although Suzy Oh has only recently joined our Social Studies 6 class, she's demonstrated that she is approaching proficiency in understanding why societies create and adopt systems of governance in relation to our Ancient India unit. She's transitioned well into discussing key concepts that we're currently studying; being able to engage in partner and group conversations around Ancient India.

PowerSchool will be “closed” to students and parents at 8:00am Monday March 4th, teachers can begin entering final grades and dragons scores. During PowerSchool ‘down time’ please be sure to continue to communicate student progress via Google Classroom.

Final Q3 grades and Dragons scores are due in PowerSchool Friday March 8th @ 9:00am
Q3 reports / final grades will be visible via PowerSchool Friday March 15th @ 5pm.

Preparing for PTSC’s: On Friday March 8th from 1:00pm-3:30pm middle school students and parents will meet with middle school teachers to engage in brief 10min conversations. The purpose of these face-to-face meetings is to communicate student learning outcomes in your subject matter - think “two stars and 1 wish”. As you prepare for these brief conversations, please consider which students and parents might benefit from a longer face-to-face conversation with respect to areas of academic growth and improvement, behaviour, and/or social emotional concerns. If you anticipate such conversations, please reach out to students and parents this week to communicate your concerns and set up a meeting. Lyla is on hand for support with translation, so please include her in written communication and in parent meetings.

Atlas Expectations: Please click here to refamiliarize yourself SY’18/19 ATLAS expectations. On Friday March 8th, there is dedicated time in the morning for documenting Q3 progress. As you read and understand the expectations, continue to allocate your time accordingly during planning periods (non-student contact time) toward staying up-to-date on ATLAS curriculum mapping. You might consider using the Atlas Style Guide to direct your work. If you have questions please reach out to Julia Snider, Rick Odum or myself, as we are here to help.

Head of School:

On February 18-22 I was fortunate to participate in the Child Protection Foundation Workshop and Child Protection Deep Dive Workshop offered by the Council of International Schools (CIS) with learning materials developed in conjunction with the International Task Force on Child Protection (ITFCP).

As a result of participation in these workshops, several specific steps were identified to strengthen KISJ child protection systems and processes. The following list is not exhaustive and is intended to be a starting point for our focus on child protection at KISJ.

Review, revise and align the following documents:

-KISJ Child Protection Policy including peer on peer abuse and online safety

-Staff Code of Conduct policy in KISJ Faculty & Staff Handbook with a

required signature from all KISJ employees

-Reporting Policies

-Professional Code of Ethics

Make child protection visible throughout KISJ by publishing appropriate policies on www.kis.ac in English & Korean and creating signs on campus
Mandatory Child Protection PD training for all faculty, staff, support staff, cleaning staff, security: “Everyone is responsible for child protection”
Safe Recruitment Policy & Commitment to Child Protection Statement on www.kis.ac landing and careers page
Develop a Visitor Code of Conduct
Centralized child protection file (repository for child protection concerns)
Develop shared / better understanding of Korean laws (reporting, defamation) and international protocol throughout the entire organization to the highest levels
Develop physical intervention and restraint policy
Risk Assessment document that includes child protection for school activities
Background checks for all including security, business, outside instructors, etc.
Campus hotspot mapping exercise
Develop well-defined roles, responsibilities and team members for:

Child Protection/Safeguarding Team

Crisis Management Team with Crisis Management/Communication Plan

Online Safety Committee

Most of these steps will require a collaborative approach and will likely fit well with our WASC focus group work.

Our current KISJ campus restroom policy requires students and adults to use separate restrooms and was a topic of discussion during the child protection workshops. Child protection best practices seem to indicate that students and adults should not use the same restrooms but that scheduled supervision will help prevent detracting behaviors and peer on peer abuse from occurring in student restrooms. This will be discussed during divisional meetings in the coming weeks. Please remember that all adults on campus should be using the adult only washrooms for their personal needs.

Earlier this week, I had an opportunity to meet with the KISJ Faculty Council who will be releasing the public minutes this week with the names of our new Faculty Council members for the 2019-20 school year. I would like to recognize and thank Stacy Breckell, Brian Elshoff, Caitlin Wampler, Chris Kleynhans, Daniel Wickner, Dave Gagnier, Elaine Costeira, and Tyler Echols for representing their colleagues in bringing forward schoolwide concerns and helping to improve communication and collaboration throughout the entire school. I look forward to welcoming our new members of Faculty Council to the next meeting.

As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions, concerns, or ideas.

Have a great weekend!

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