GSIS21 Cohort

I have been trying to look for ways to build capacity and expand our knowledge base of "experts" at both our campuses. For GSIS, we have decided to take a small group and go deeper with content than we can with a larger group. In consultation with division leaders, we invited some faculty to participate in a series of PD sessions stretching from September to March 2011. We want to create a cohort of learners that can share a common experience and take their knowledge to the next level. We have so many teachers that are interested and desire this sort of training that is hard to select just a few.

Kathleen Ferenz's 2nd day of PD was spent with this group. We focused on what she called the visual and audio channels. We had a great day of understanding how to construct learning by starting with visuals. We spent a lot of time with iPhoto in the morning. Then we moved to podcasting with GarageBand in the afternoon. Like the previous day, we had fun and learned skills that had immediate applications to classrooms. We also embarked on a larger journey of transforming our perspective to create truly effective 1:1 classrooms. I'm looking forward to continuing our learning together!

The ES Mobile Lab

We are very blessed to roll out a mobile lab in the GSIS elementary school this year. We piloted laptops with 5th graders last year through a 1 laptop to 2 students ratio. Although this was a significant step forward, the teachers quickly desired a 1:1 ratio for students and laptops. This year, we have implemented 1 full cart with 21 laptops in the 5th grade, which is shared between 2 sections.

Due to space needs, we also replaced the aging Windows desktop PC lab with a mobile cart of 26 laptops for grades PK-4. We are excited about the opportunity teachers have to bring the laptops into their classroom and let all students access and learn with technology.

GSIS is getting to be the first ones to experience and utilize this resource in our system. As TCIS moves to the new campus, they will be implementing a similar mobile cart as their lab will not be present in the new building in Techno Valley. We hope to further expand the mobile labs to have more carts shared between fewer classes so students and teachers have greater access in the future.

Youtube Debut

If you are searching for videos, the first place most people go is Youtube. What will you find if you search for TCIS or GSIS? For Taejon Christian International School, you might find an old dance contest or a cheerleading video posted by some students, maybe even something that has nothing to do with our school. For Gyeonggi Suwon International School, you might find some training videos or some students making a newscast.

We want to promote our schools and make some of our media about our schools readily available so others can see the fantastic work our students are doing and the learning environments our faculty are creating.

We are debuting a TCIS Youtube account for the first time with a slideshow that will be embedded on the new Daejeon Techno Valley (DTV) campus blog. Subscribe to the channel to see future videos.

Thanks to some of my forward-thinking and acting colleagues, GSIS has been posting student work and activities on a Youtube channel for some time. We will continue posting media of student events here and letting people know what we are doing on this channel. We have also created an official GSIS Youtube channel and we hope to add some video content to it soon.

Check out these Youtube channels and see the learning taking place at TCIS and GSIS.