Today I talk with Louse Favaro about her blog post Reversing and Preventing a Culture of Silence Among Girls The story is shocking, surprising and a good insight into what we may be dealing with as teachers to students in an international setting.  Start with her intro below then head off to read the article.In light of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, and the #MeToo movement that followed, Louise Favaro shares insights from dealing with what appeared to be an incident involving inappropriate language by middle school boys, but further investigation opened a Pandora’s box of misogynistic behaviour toward middle school girls that had been secretly tolerated for years. This led to a better understanding of how blind acceptance, normalization, and a culture of silence can start at a young age, and what we can do in schools to reverse and prevent it.BioLouise Favaro is a writer and speaker who has worked in education for more than 25 years, mainly in international schools that were International Baccalaureate (IBDP, MYP, and PYP) and One-to-one Laptop (Mac Platform). In addition to her experience as an IB Diploma Teacher, a Counselor, and an Administrator, Louise is a practitioner of Mindfulness Based Systemic Constellations to help people deal with interpersonal dynamics in families and organizations. 

Alec Couros has long been in the world of social and digital culture.  He was/is an early adopter in the social world and has watched it evolve from a place for nerds, full of hope for the future, to what it is today.  Recently we have seen much reporting on the downsides of digital culture with fake news, extremist information and louder voices than usual.Alec and I discuss this world, how it has changed and the impact it has on our students and their learning.  We wrap it up with a story or two about catfishing.  Not sure what that is? Put it this way, Alec has been replicated thousands of times on the internet. Connect Website: http://couros.ca Twitter: aleccourosBioProfessor of educational media at the University of Regina. Well-known keynote speaker, educator, consultant, and advocate for openness and connectedness in education and digital literacy.

High Tech High is a well known brand in the education world. But do we really know and understand their core values and educational philosophy? How does it impact their students and growth of the organization?Today I talk with Melissa Daniels from the High Tech High organization. Melissa is a director at High Tech High Middle school in Chula Vista, California. Connect [email protected] began her teaching career at international schools in both Cairo, Egypt and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After teaching internationally for seven years, Melissa joined High Tech High as a 6th grade humanities teacher. In 2011, she became the founding director of High Tech Middle Chula Vista.

The future. The future of education.This is a topic getting a lot of discussion over the last ten years or so.  In many ways, it has dovetailed the rise of technology and the disruptions we see in the workplace and what it means to have a job, a skill and a career.Today I speak with Brad Latzke a retired international school administrator about his ideas of what the future of education should look like, where we are going now and what it takes to get “there.”BioBrad Latzke is the former middle school principal at Shanghai American School – Puxi Campus and American School of Doha. He has taught and served in school leadership positions at international schools in Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Qatar, and China. Currently on sabbatical from international school leadership.Connect with Brad @BradLatzke 

If you are going to design an adjunct campus with boarding facilities, remote from your main campus, then it seems likely you will see the development of student independence as the natural outgrowth of the experience.Richard Pratt, my guest today, found that the experience at Chinese International School’s Hang Zhou campus did actually created even more INTERdependence among his students. The interconnected, two-way dependence between individuals sharing a common experience.We discuss the relationship between the development of interdependence and the growth of students and preparation for an even great future.Connect With RichardLinked InBioOriginally from UK, teaching career in UK independent schools and Chinese universities. With CIS since 2012.

Many of us have some great ideas and things we think we should do or make happen.  Sometimes it is difficult for us to take one of those ideas and make it a reality.  We enjoy listening to the stories of those who do though and Kristen MacConnell is one of those people.Kristen sees a need for the combination of conversation about great teaching pedagogies and the sharing those ideas. In addition, Kristen knows that research based, peer reviewed content makes for a stronger, more sustainable conversation capable of effecting more dramatic change.That is why she launched the online journal Globally Informed.  Kristen shares with us her ideas behind the journal, how it works and her plans for the future.BioKristen has a diverse educational background that includes school counseling, school psychology, instructional coaching, university teaching, and school leadership. Kristen has worked in the US and internationally in Chile at the International School Nido de Aguilas.Connect @kristenmacc @globallyinformd

I really enjoy speaking to people about the changes and shifts taking place in education today.  There are a host of early adopters out there trying and succeeding at bringing contemporary learning ideas more suitable for today’s world.Doris Korda is one of them.Doris is the associate head at Hawken School in Ohio, USA. She leads the Hawken Entrepreneurial Studies program designed to change how students think, solve problems  and learn.After a quick overview, we start out talking a lot about a tea shop and how it becomes a teachable and scaffolding moment for students. It makes more sense once you hear about it.Doris also shares her incredible outreach efforts as she continues to share and spread how to develop entrepreneurial studies in any school.Doris is a featured speaker at the Global Education Leadership Summit in Bangkok this coming April.  For more information, head to the summit website: GELS.AsiaBioPrior to her 20 years as an educator, Doris spent 15 years in the software industry building out products and businesses from raw technology. Doris left business to become an educator, and is currently number two at Hawken School, where Doris designed and directs Hawken’s Entrepreneurial Studies programConnect @DorisKorda

The combination of the words Green and Bali may conjure up the idea of beauty that we have come to expect when we think about or visit Bali, Indonesia. The popular Bali Green School combines the beauty of Bali, a focus on sustainability and modern learning practices to create a unique student experience.I talk today with Glenn Chickering, a founding faculty and head of upper school at the Green School. We enjoy a variety of topics including the power of experiential learning, giving students freedom to pursue passions and how having a positive impact on the local community brings learning to life.   Glenn uses the term “messy learning” to explain their pedagogy and you will enjoy understanding what that means.Glenn is representing the Green School at the upcoming Global Education Leadership Summit in April 2017. For more information about the summit, head to GELS.asiaBio As a founding faculty member of the Green School, Bali combined with experience in a variety of educational organizations, Glenn gained perspectives on the needs of the student, teacher, and parent from many different vantage points. This helped him to better understand the interconnections of all stakeholders and how best to steer relationships to foster a sustainable organization.Connect with Glenn@ChickeringGlenn

Change is coming!  We often hear that in education today.  We also often see signs and examples of those changes in new schools with a shared commitment to a contemporary pedagogy. But what about larger schools? Schools that are already well established, doing well and seen as successful in many ways. How do they shift? Should they?Today I talk with Tim Stuart, Executive Director for Strategic Programs at Singapore American School, all about change, significant change, in a large flourishing organization.SAS is on a multi-year journey to improve how education is delivered at their campus. Today we talk all about that journey, what it looked like, lessons learned and where they are today.Connect With Tim Twitter: @drstuart LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-stuart-75b62a48BioDr. Tim Stuart grew up as an American in France and Germany and graduated from an international school as a multilingual Third Culture Kid (TCK). He appreciates Singapore American School as a place that is nimble and courageous enough to support revolutionary change while upholding a tradition of proven excellence.Dr. Stuart landed in Singapore in 2010 as the high school principal and now serves as the executive director of strategic programs. Before SAS, Dr. Stuart's professional teaching and administrative experiences brought him from eastern Turkey to Switzerland, from Washington State to the Navajo reservation in New Mexico, and then for three years as high school principal at Jakarta International School in Indonesia.The co-author of several books on parenting, teaching, and mentoring, Dr. Stuart holds an Ed. D from Seattle Pacific University, an M.Ed from The College of New Jersey, and a B.A. from Wheaton College.

Data, data, data and more data.  I often hear the call for data at meetings, gatherings or even the occasional happy hour.  Well not really, but you know what I mean.Today I talk with Dr. Damian Bebell, assistant research professor at the Lynch School of Education, Boston College. More germane to the discussion today, Dr. Bell also works for the International Research Collaborative, a group of international schools looking to analyze data to look for improvements and trends in student learning. We cover  the power of data, ways to visualize it and what it means for schools going forward.BioDamian holds a position of Assistant Research Professor at Boston College’s Lynch School of Education and is a Senior Research Associate at the Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation, and Educational Policy. Over the past decade, Damian led numerous research and evaluation studies investigating the effects of 1-to-1 technology programs and other computer-based technology tools on teaching and learning.Connect with Damian ircollaborative.org