International School of Belgrade – Page 6

HS ISB Daily Bulletin: Thursday November 27, 2008

November 27, 2008billkralovec

HS Daily Bulletin: Thursday November 27, 2008

Today is Day #2. I will be at the HS all day today.

CAS: Vladamir will be meeting with the orphange “Drinka Pavlovic” this afternoon and will be out of school after 1:30 PM. They are planning for our HS Choir to go sing over there and they are also planning the food & clothing drive.

SPACES Logo Voting: You can only vote for one logo design only. Please write your name on the ballot otherwise your vote will not be counted.

ISB Visitor: A friend of Kay Strenio’s from the International School of Vienna will be visiting Ethan’s Humanities classes tomorrow. Ethan’s reputation as an incredible teacher is quite well known in CEESA.

Homework: Both Olga and Yvonne are making students stay after school when they do not have their homework done. I fully support this strategy. We have to force students to live up to reasonable expectations.

Snowball Policy: I watched the students have fun in the snow yesterday. I don’t mind a few snow fights as long as they are doing it in a reasonable manner. If snowballs are thrown at windows or maliciously at another student, then I have a problem with it and I ask teachers to intervene with the offending students. It was quite nice to see teenagers of all nationalities enjoying the snow and interacting in a positive manner.

Last night’s Parents Coffee Hour (Will’s take)

Parents are excited about the idea of Moodlic. Those who have used similar systems at other peer schools spoke very highly as a tool as being beneficial for both students and parents. Maja gave a presentation about counseling services at ISB and about future school personal development seminars for MS students to be held over three days in April.

Bill’s Take on the Coffee – They liked the idea of using the book, “7 Habits for a Highly Effective Teenager” with the students. I gave a presentation on Robert Evan’s book, “Family Matters.” Evan’s advice for parents is don’t worry about techniques, just spend a lot of time with your children, know 1) where they are 2) what they spend their money on and 3) who their friends are, and most times it is better just to listen to your teen instead of trying to solve their problems.

There are two items to put on your teacher calendar:

Salary & Benefit Presentation: Wednesday December 3 at the Lower School Multi-Purpose Room.

Web-based Forms: Bane and Zhana will be showing us how to use the web-based forms on Monday December 8 at 3:30 PM in the HS Computer Lab for all MS and HS teachers.

Both presentations will take approximately 30 minutes.

Middle School Classroom Observations: 7th Period November 25, 2008

November 26, 2008November 26, 2008billkralovec

Yesterday I did an unannounced visit to the Middle School classes in the afternoon. I took a photo in each of the class rooms I visited.

Above, two seventh grade students are learning the papier mache technique. They are creating a Galapagos Tortoise to enter in the Children’s October Exhibit of the Museum of Applied Arts in Belgrade. The theme of the exhibit is the 200th Anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birthday. Other classes are also entering projects.

Below are some photos of some of what I observed. You can see the flickr.com account for some more photos. It was nice to see literally 100% of the students engaged when I first stepped into each room. One downpoint was only 33% of one class had completed their homework assignment. This has been a topic in recent teacher meetings on how to get students to do their homework.

The 6B class is learning how to write a book report. Gal is doing a book report on the Spiderwick Chronicles — The 6B class is learning how to write a book report. Gal is doing a book report on the "Spiderwick Chronicles"

6A student Conor draws the steps of cell division (mitosis) in science class

"Use the word ACKNOWLEDGEMENT in a sentence."

ISB High School Daily Bulletin: Wednesday November 26, 2008

November 26, 2008November 26, 2008billkralovec

Daily Bulletin: Wednesday November 26, 2008

Today is Day #1. I will be at the HS all day today. I will have my usual Wednesday afternoon Admin Team meeting at the LS.

ISB Time: We will be on the assembly schedule today. During ISB Time (10:50 – 11:50 AM) today, we will be holding our annual NGO Community Service Fair. The fair will take place in the bubble. All grades will have forms to fill out during the fair as they attend the presentations by each organization. I expect that all teachers will be also attending to monitor student behavior. If things are going smoothly, then you will be dismissed. All students need to be at the fair for the full hour. The STUCO President and Director of the Anglo American School of Belgrade will be special guests at the fair.

Discipline Update: This section is confidential and will not be published on the internet. It is for internal communication among the teachers only.

School Leadership Council Meeting: Today after school in Room #17.

Parent-Principal Coffee: Tonight at 7:00 PM in the HS Computer Lab. Maja Kelly and I will be making short presentations and handling parent questions and concerns.

ISB Hooded Sweatshirt Sales: These will be on sale this afternoon at the MS, tonight at the Coffee, and Friday afternoon in the reception of the high school. The PTA sold many during yesterday’s LS Parent-Teacher Conferences.

The SPACES Media Expo Committee would like to ask you a question: What will you be eating for lunch next Monday? A soggy sandwich you found in your locker or a large, hot, cheesy slice of pizza? The lucky designer of the winning SPACES logo will find him or herself and friends dining on pizza next Monday. Voting for the logo will take place on Thursday, Nov. 27 and Friday, Nov. 28. Entries will be displayed on the screen in the lobby. Anyone can vote; cast your ballot with Bojana in the HS office.

HS Math Competition: Organizational meeting at lunch on Friday in Ms. Marija’s room. Everyone is invited to attend.

Purchase Order 2009-2010: A reminder to all that the PO for next year is due by the end of this week. You will want to prioritize into category 1-2-3. We will meet next week to negotiate the final amounts. Once again we will have approximately $XXX,XXX to work with for all departments.

ISB High School Daily Bulletin: Monday November 24, 2008

November 24, 2008billkralovec

I am posting my Daily Bulletin this week in anticipation of my Principal – Parent Coffee evening on Wednesday. The Bulletin will be posted on our school’s web site beginning in January 2009.

Today is Day #3. I will be in the High School.

Illness: Milica is not going to be in school today as she is under the weather.

HS Health Screening: Dr. Lily will be screening students today so expect students to be pulled out of classes sometime this morning. This is the annual hearing, vision, etc. testing.

Second Quarter Progress Reports: A full report will be distributed to teachers later today in anticipation of today’s faculty meeting. Thanks to Bojana for compiling these and the teachers for getting them in on time.

HS Faculty Meeting: We will be meeting in the HS Computer Lab. If everyone can make it, we’ll begin at 3:15 PM and be out of here by 4:00 PM. Topics include the following:
•    analysis of second quarter progress reports (10 minutes)
•    compile list of students to be put on academic probation for second semester (10 minutes)
•    discussion of tardies / use of Serbian in classroom (10 minutes)
•    arranging of after school “extended learning opportunities” (students that need to make up a missed homework assignment) (10 minutes)
•    teacher professional development / evaluation – goal setting (5 minutes)
•    divide grade 10 students into two even groups for next semester’s non-math classes (5 minutes) – grade 10 teachers only
Please let me know if there are any other agenda items for possible inclusion. Thanks.

HS Boys’ Basketball Practices: The boys will have the following practice tmes this week:
•    Monday Nov 24 4:30 – 6:00 PM
•    Tuesday Nov 25 3:00 – 4:30 PM (Tuesdays are with the marines)
•    Friday November 28 4:30 – 6:00 PM (Faculty vs. Team)

Knowledge Bowl: Mr. Slough will be hosting an organizational meeting after school today for all interested students. Everyone is invited to attend.

ISB Time This Week: Our CAS Coordinator Vladamir has organized our NGO Community Service Fair. This will take place during the ISB time 10:50 – 11:50 AM. The grades 9-11 will attend the fair as well as guests from the Anglo-American School of Belgrade.

Discipline Update:
A student will be serving a lunch time detention today for using facebook in DT class and being argumentative with a teacher.

The top 20 tardy students served a lunchtime detention with me on Friday. I feel stronger measures need to be taken and parent meetings with me will be arranged for this week.

Performing Arts Update: Students are getting ready to perform at the ISB Holiday Dinner on Thursday evening. Both MS and HS students are also holding extra rehearsals for next Thursday’s Winter Music Concert.
Sign up sheets for ONE ACTS auditions are posted on the Performing Arts Bulletin Board. The auditions will be Tuesday December 9 and Wednesday December 10. One Acts are SHORT plays (5-15 minutes in duration) that rehearse once or twice a week after school. These sign ups are open to ALL HS students! Students who have other after-school commitments can also participate in One-Acts, provided they have some free time after school. Some of the one acts are student-directed, some teacher-directed. If any teachers want to act or direct, please let Mrs. Sands know.
One Acts performances are March 20 and 21. Rehearsals will begin in January.The One Acts are sponsored by the ISB Thespian Society Chapter 7335.
MS/HS WINTER CONCERT: Thursday December 4, 2008
HS PERFORMING ARTS STUDIO
7:00-7:30 MS CONCERT
(6A and 7A General Music Classes AND MS CHOIR)
7:45-8:30 HS CONCERT
(HS JAZZ/BLUES COMBO, HS String Duet, HS CHOIR)
We ask that MS Parents attend the MS portion of the concert, and HS Parents attend the HS portion. We do not have enough space in the Performing Arts studio to accommodate all parents from both levels at the same time. Please plan to attend and support the MS and/or HS musicians as you will hear a variety of musical selections from music classes and performance ensembles at ISB.

Family Journal: November 8-9, 2008

November 11, 2008November 11, 2008billkralovec

We had a busy weekend as our school ISB, hosted the CEESA Boys’ Soccer Championship. Part of the weekend is our families billeting the visiting players. We hosted two fine young gentlemen from the Anglo American School of Sofia, Bulgaria. Shown above is Lubo Zhelehanov with our children. The boys loved having a real soccer player in the house! We also hosted Darren Bonev (shown below with Ocean) another “Wolf” from Bulgaria.

Both young men were very well behaved all weekend and it was enjoyable getting to know them. It is a reflection on their families and school. It was a really nice weekend and a positive experience for our community. I hope we can do more of these in the future.

Deliberation in a Democracy Workshop

October 29, 2008October 29, 2008billkralovec

I really enjoyed participating in yesterday’s workshop. Katie Moore from the Constitutional Rights Foundation of Los Angeles, California came to give our teachers a workshop on how to implement their Deliberating in a Democracy initiative. This program aims to improve the teaching and learning of democratic principals and skills of civic deliberation. The program is funded by the US Department of Education and works in schools in eastern Europe and the USA.

I learned the difference among deliberation, debate, and discussion. Deliberation is listening to other viewpoints and opinions carefully and then for a person to make his/her own decision. Debate is trying to convince the other side and discussion is talking about an issue but not making a decision. Katie led us through a sample lesson and we deliberated the question, “Should our democracy permit hate speech?” which comes under the topic of Freedom of Expression.

I particularly liked two parts of the lesson procedures. The first is it forces students to first use their heads and concentrate on the facts and readings and not go directly to their emotions on controversial issues. Deliberation is about controlled controversy, and almost all of the topics are controversial. The other aspect is each side needs to “teach back” to the other side what they learned from listening to the other side’s arguments. The rules for deliberation also help young people control their emotions when involved in these discussions.

Katie has been to Serbia many times and they have a page on the Deliberation in a Democracy web site. I would like to thank her for including ISB in her visit and for the teachers who enthusiastically participated in the workshop. This will definitely benefit our students.

MS School Girls’ Soccer Team Wins in Sofia

October 26, 2008October 26, 2008billkralovec

We had a great trip to Sofia, Bulgaria this weekend. It was my first CEESA sporting event. The Middle School boys’ and girls’ soccer teams traveled the 7 hours to visit the Anglo American School of Bulgaria. We played two games, one on Friday afternoon and the second on Saturday morning before heading back home to Belgrade.

The girls arrived in Belgrade moments before the game. After a long bus ride due to traffic on the “Ring Road” in Sofia, the girls were a bit lethargic. Yasemin however, scored the first goal of the game within seconds of the kick off. AAS then proceeded to reel off 5 unanswered goals. ISB played much better in the second half after some adjustments were made. Striker Natasa scored a goal and we ended up tieing the second half, 1-1. That was a portend of things to come.

The players then went with the host families and spent the night in Sofia. They made some good friends and saw a different way of life. That is a big part of the CEESA sport exchanges.

On Saturday morning the ISB Dragons were hungry for revenge. The combination of Yasemin as sweeper and Natasa as striker paid off as they combined for four goals. Johanna was incredible in goal making numerous stops, allowing only one goal. ISB won the game 4-1 and evened the goal differential between the two games at 6 goals apiece. A fitting end for two well played games.

All the girls showed improvement during the season. The dedication to practice and games really showed. Standouts on defense were Ana Maria and Natasha. They continually frustrated AAS by clearing the ball out of bounds. Midfielders Tamar, Charlotte, and Vanessa, although being small physically, were big in performance and really played well. ISB played both games without substitutes and a much younger team than AAS. They are to be congratulated for their fitness and teamwork.

Most Valuable Player (Girl of the Match) Yasemin G. clears the ball.

I would like to thank the parents of the players, Coach Jamie Van Drunen, Athletic Director Will Clowney, and AAS Athletic Director Murray Te Huti for their efforts in making the season and the trip a big success!!!

Family Journal: September 30, 2008

October 2, 2008October 2, 2008billkralovec

Tuesday Nadia and I arranged for the kindergarten students to visit the high school. They are studying “Community” and they wanted to see the older students and teachers. It was a great little tour as they got to listen to the choir sing, “California Dreamin'” and the kinder sang Nadia’s “We Go to ISB” song. We then arranged for the students to read with the HS students. Shown above is Owen reading his book to Marko, a grade 9 student. Owen said he only needed help on a few of the big words.

It was a great morning and I hope to do more of this at ISB.

A Rare Moment

September 26, 2008September 26, 2008billkralovec

I took this photo Wednesday afternoon, little did I know that it would be the only sun we have seen in two weeks. The rain continued today (Friday) and I just returned soaking wet and full of mud from refereeing a soccer game. The picture shows our high school courtyard. In the upper left you can see the bubble gymnasium. The school is a former embassy and has very beautiful grounds.

ISB Staff Professional Development

September 16, 2008September 16, 2008billkralovec

We just completed two glorious days of professional development. Debra Welch from the Teachers Training Center (TTC) came to Belgrade to work with our entire staff on Understanding By Design (UBD). This is an approach to planning learning units that uses the concept of Backwards Design. This method was produced by educational experts Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. The idea is to first look at the essential learning (big ideas) and work backwards through assessment and teaching strategies. The staff was asked to work on 1-2 units they were going to use this year. The two days gave us a rare opportunity to really go through the process as most of the time we are so busy with the daily teaching schedule, that we do not get the luxury of time when planning curriculum units. It also let us meet across grade levels and disciplines to plan and discuss common issues and units. Deb Welch is shown above addressing the teachers.

I got a thorough understanding of UBD and a booklet of resources that I will refer to throughout the year. I also worked through the Backwards Design process with a middle school girls’ soccer unit and a school-wide discipline model. I also had a chance to meet and talk with many of the staff that I don’t get to see often.

Nadia found some time to shop at the mall at the Hotel Zira