ENCOURAGING ENGAGEMENT AT ISE

'Art does not only exist in the art class.'

 I find that if I encourage art throughout the school, not only does my art program become more dynamic and populated, but the school population becomes more engaged.   At ISE, I focused much time in showcasing student’s creativity and developing ways to include all students within the creative process, allowing them to realize the power of art.

‘Engaged students and teachers create more learning opportunities.'

THAILAND STUDY TRIPS CAMPAIGN

After my first Thai Studies Trip, I was sharing photos with my students – discussing our different adventures – and I was amazed at the varied and unique experiences each class had to immerse themselves in learning experiences far more vast and engaging that what was possible within the classroom.  I was sure that our parents, prospective students and even our current students and teachers weren’t aware of the amazing experiences each group got to experience.  With the help of the Moving Arts class, we challenged students to take photos of their favourite memories during the trips. Students submitted photos through our ISE VA website and selected photos from each age group were used to create a display area, showcasing the absolutely breathtaking  captured showcasing their learning experiences. One student from each trip wrote a small reflective summary to further explain their experiences.  The photos and student's writing was swapped out each year and it became a great hub of interest for all the students to experience each other's trips, look forward to trips that they would take the next year and reminisce about the trips they had taken in the past.  This also fit into my ISE Beautification Project. 

The learning experiences were:
Grade 7 –  Ayutthaya and Supanburi

Grade 8 –  Chanthaburi Province

Grade 9 – Kanchanaburi

Grade 10 – Koh Chang

Grade 11 – Chiang Mai – Elephant Sanctuary

Grade 12 – Rayon

ESLR CAMPAIGN

One of the key focuses of the ISE WASC team was to improve our students knowledge and engagement with our ESLRs.  When I spoke with students, I noticed that the students did know the ELSRs in theory – but were unsure what each meant.  In order to help with their understanding, myself, along with help from my Moving Arts class, decided to discuss well known successful people that successfully encapsulated that particular ESLR.  Using my ISE VA website, I collected suggestions from each class, and then as a school we voted for the most popular ‘spokesperson’ for each ESLR.
It was a source of great conversation and heated debates, particularly among the science vs arts when the selection of Masuro Emoto was named as the popular choice over David Attenborough. 

MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

Marketing is an important aspect of an international school and that one that I am always happy to explore with my VA students. While I was at ISE, I was able to enlist the help of students to create advertisements – not only posing for photos, but they suggested 'INSPIRE' (which includes our ISE) – for local magazine advertisements,  our large billboard poster at the entrance to Burapha Golf Course and our ISE Beautification Project