Sias IS Teachers' Training Week

The 2020-2021 academic year is full of challenges and surprises. After two years of preparation, we welcomed the first group of students from founding families and moved onto the official campus in March 2021.

During this year, we’re not only moving forward, but also remembering why we started. From August 23^rd to 27^th, all teaching staff had a one-week teachers’ professional development training, which opened a new chapter for Sias IS.

All staff training on school culture construction

School culture is an ideological connotation that is long-lasting and far-reaching, which also will be carried on by generation after generation. Unified school culture is also a strong tie that connects teachers, students and parents. On the morning of August 24th, Dr. Mills, the president of our school, held a training session on school culture construction for all staff.

In the training, Dr. Mills puts "student-centered" at first. The school will work together to protect each child physically and emotionally, and create an environment in which students can grow up to be kind and successful. In order to achieve the above goals, it is necessary for all staff to remain kind, to maintain high standards for themselves, to keep exploring and seeking knowledge, to focus on teamwork, to become problem solvers, and to jointly build a mutually beneficial and balanced school community.

The second important part of Sias IS culture is to build a world-class school, which is the ultimate goal of all our work. Every staff member represents our school. That means we need to always give a positive impression, respect both Western and Chinese cultures and broaden our international perspective. Dr. Mills addressed to all staff: Each of you chose to be here because you wanted to be a part of building something amazing for our students. Each of you have my trust in your abilities to help us be successful. I'm proud to be on your team, and I can't wait to see what we will accomplish together.

During the discussion session, Mr. Philipp mentioned that the ultimate benefit of building a world-class school for our children is that they grow up in an environment of high standards, mutual respect, innovative thinking and international vision, and they can make higher achievements on the shoulders of giants, which is the basis of the school.

IB PYP Training

On the morning of August 25^th, Education supervisor, Ms. Madhu Bhattacharyya, offered a training to all teaching staff on IB (International Baccalaureate) and PYP (Primary Years Program).

Ms. Bhattacharyya introduced three concepts, Interdisciplinarity, Multidisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity. Then she explained their differences with analogy as below.

Interdisciplinarity is represented as stew, where ingredients are partially distinguishable.

Multidisciplinarity is represented as a mixed salad where the ingredients remain separate and distinguishable.

In Transdisciplinarity, the disciplines are no longer distinguishable, like the ingredients in a cake, and the result is something completely different.

Then Ms. Bhattacharyya talked about what Transdisciplinarity truly means, and the deeper meaning of it towards Primary Years learning. Teaching staff were also divided into groups to discuss more about 6 major Transdisciplinarity themed courses of PYP.  

Who we are​​

Where we are in place and time ​

How we express ourselves

​How the world works​

​How we organize ourselves ​

Sharing the planet

Finally, Ms. Bhattacharyya shared that these themes include challenges from every aspect of modern society, like environment, development, peace and conflicts, rights and responsibilities and domination etc., which made the study interesting and real. This also gave us a stronger sense of global citizenship.

Training on Inquiry Learning

On the afternoon of 25^th, Ms. Bhattacharyya shared with all teachers how to organize students to conduct Inquiry Learning in PYP courses. She also shared that Inquiry Learning fosters curiosity, encourages active thinking, reflection and action, cultivates critical thinking and holds students accountable for their own learning. Later on, Ms. Bhattacharyya talked about how to design an Inquiry Learning lesson from 5 dimensions as below: time for inquiry, collaborative practice, explicit teaching, resources, action and inquiry.

Training on Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

On the afternoon of August 27th, Ms. Hellen Su, Franklin Education Certified lecturer, from Sias K-12 Elementary Education Development and Research Center, brought us Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (7H) training. Ms. Su led all teachers to review the 7H course, understood the "circle of concern and circle of influence", resorted the relationship between "See, Do, Get", analyzed the difference of "four quadrants", and discussed the "emotional bank account". The 7H training for all teachers lays a solid theoretical foundation for the construction of a leadership school. It also gives all teachers an efficient way of thinking, which influences the whole school and creates a leadership school atmosphere.

New semester is also a new beginning. The number of our teaching staff and the scale of students are growing rapidly. Sias IS will continue to maintain high-quality and high-standard school running with the goal of building a world-class international school, so as to reassure every parent and let every student grow healthily and study happily.