Visiting Experts and Workshops
ISP’s enthusiasm for professional development and commitment to innovation in education means the school welcomes educational experts from around the world to speak to and work with our faculty, staff and community. See below to learn more about those visiting ISP.
Ochan Kusuma-Powell
Cognitive Coaching® Foundations SeminarThe mission of
Yeap Ban Har
Empowered Math LearnersDr Yeap Ban Har continues to teach courses, visiting ISP in March 2020 to run a workshop for the ISP community on the theme of empowered learners in Mathematics.
Aaron Moniz
Inspire Citizens
Barbara Noel
Language Education
Julie Stern
Professional Learning
Garfield Gini-Newman
Sustaining Inquiry through Focused FeedbackIn the quest to nurture self-directed and self-regulated learners, students and teachers need to embark on collaborative learning journeys where teachers help to grow student learning through guided critical inquiry.
Traditional rubrics have been helpful scoring tools ensuring greater consistency in grading – they have not been powerful learning tools for students. This two-day workshop, led by
Ricky Arnold
From the International Space Station to the International School of PragueRicky Arnold has a fascinating life story, having made the transition from international school teacher to international astronaut. Mr. Arnold returned from his most recent mission less than a year ago, arriving back on Earth in October 2018, after spending several months working on the International Space Station. Before being selected by NASA in 2004, Mr. Arnold was an international educator. He started his teaching career in his native Maryland, USA, before teaching at international schools in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Romania.
Gianfranco Conti
Breaking the Brain and Sound BarrierThese interactive sessions appropriate for language teachers of learners from ages 8 to 18, will include a range of activities and instructional sequences and provide for time to learn from our colleagues in attendance.
Working with the human forgetting rates to enhance retention based on the latest cognitive and second language acquisition research,
Deb Wilenski
Reggio-Inspired LearningDeb Wilenski is a pedagogical consultant, educator, writer, and graphic designer working with Reflections Nursery and Forest School (West Sussex, UK) and Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination (Cambridge, UK).
With a background in Biological Anthropology and the Arts, she is inspired by the preschools and infant-toddler centres of Reggio Emilia, the woodland nurseries of Scandinavia, and by projects which value children as radical makers of culture and meaning.
Previous Visiting Experts
ISP’s passion for learning as well as its excellent facilities allow the school to host a significant number of guests, workshops and conferences. In recent years, ISP has hosted the Central and European School Association (CEESA) Conference, IBICUS International Baccalaureate workshops, the Czech National Teachers Conference and the memorable visits from the totemic British primatologist, Dr. Jane Goodall, and NASA astronaut Mr. Ricky Arnold.
Deb Willenski
Multiple times between 2016-2020Deb Wilenski is a pedagogical consultant, educator, writer, and graphic designer working with Reflections Nursery and Forest School (West Sussex, UK) and Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination (Cambridge, UK).
With a background in Biological Anthropology and the Arts, she is inspired by the preschools and infant-toddler centres of Reggio Emilia, the woodland nurseries of Scandinavia, and by projects which value children as radical makers of culture and meaning.
Garfield Gini-Newman
Multiple times between 2017-2020Garfield Gini-Newman is an associate professor at OISE/University of Toronto and the senior national consultant with The Critical Thinking Consortium. He has worked with thousands of teachers across grades and subjects, helping them to frame learning around engaging and provocative activities and authentic assessments.
Ochan Kusuma-Powell
Multiple times between 2018-2020Ochan Kusuma-Powell is co-founder and director of Education Across Frontiers, an organization that promotes teacher education towards the development of professional learning communities. A graduate of Columbia University with a doctorate in international education development, she has more than 25 years experience in international education and is actively involved in supporting international schools to become more inclusive of students with special needs. Ochan has worked as a consultant to international schools in the areas of differentiated instruction, developing teacher emotional intelligence, collaboration and coaching. She is an Associate Trainer for Thinking Collaborative, for both Cognitive Coaching as well as Adaptive Schools.
Kevin Ruth
November 1-3, 2019Dr Kevin Ruth is Executive Director of ECIS. In addition to two decades in education, he has given 18 years of service as a director on non-profit boards, with four years as a school trustee. Kevin is a Fellow in the UK-based Royal Society of Arts; advisory council member for Harvard Business Review; advisory council member for AAIE (Association for the Advancement of International Education); member of the Online Executive Panel (Education) for McKinsey & Company; member of the Feedback Forum (Marketing) for the Financial Times; and past lecturer for the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Ricky Arnold
September 30-Oct 5, 2019Ricky Arnold has a fascinating life story, having made the transition from international school teacher to international astronaut. Mr. Arnold returned from his most recent mission less than a year ago, arriving back on Earth in October 2018, after spending several months working on the International Space Station. Before being selected by NASA in 2004, Mr. Arnold was an international educator. He started his teaching career in his native Maryland, USA, before teaching at international schools in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Romania.
Gianfranco Conti
September 26-27, 2019Dr. Gianfranco Conti is the co-author of the best-selling books for ML teachers ‘The language teacher toolkit’ and ‘Breaking the sound barrier: teaching learners how to listen’ and is internationally renowned for his popular award-winning blog, ‘The Language Gym’ whose mission is the dissemination of current research in a language that is accessible to classroom practitioners. Having taught and researched modern / world languages for 25 years, Dr. Conti is currently supporting language teachers around the world online and in person. He has taught French, English, German, Italian and Spanish.
Jennifer Abrams
April 5-6, 2019Jennifer Abrams is an international educational and communications consultant for public and independent schools, hospitals, universities and non-profits. Jennifer trains and coaches teachers, administrators, nurses, hospital personnel, and others on new employee support, supervision, being generationally savvy, having hard conversations and effective collaboration skills.
Kimberly House
February 8, 2019Kimberly House has been a primary school educator for 20 years, serving the 12 years as a Technology Integration Specialist at the Bavarian International School in Munich, Germany. She is a Google for Edu Certified Trainer and an Apple Distinguished Educator.
Jan Chappuis
January 22, 2019Prior to joining ATI, Jan Chappuis was a curriculum and assessment specialist responsible for professional development and school improvement. Her background as an elementary and secondary teacher, combined with her assessment expertise and professional development experience, enables Jan to provide teachers and school leaders with practical solutions for motivating students and involving them in their own academic success. Her most recent publication, Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning, helps teachers adopt formative assessment practices shown to improve learning.
Rosalind Wiseman
November 25-27, 2018Rosalind Wiseman is an educator, writer, and founder of Cultures of Dignity. For over two decades she has been talking with, listening to, and occasionally arguing with young people about everything and anything that’s important to them. She has authored five books — two of which hit the NYT Bestseller List. Rosalind’s non-fiction books are titled, Queen Bees & Wannabes, Masterminds & Wingmen, The Guide, Queen Bees Moms & King Pin Dads, and the Owning Up curriculum.
Kath Murdoch
October 2-4, 2018Kath Murdoch is an experienced teacher, author, university lecturer and popular consultant who has worked for many years in schools throughout Australia, New Zealand, Asia, America and Europe. She is widely respected for her work in the field of inquiry based learning and integrative curriculum in which she has taught, researched and published for well over 20 years.
Petr Horáček
September 20-21, 2018Petr Horáček is a Czech born illustrator who studied at the Academy of Fine Art in Prague for six years before becoming a graphic designer, painter and author-illustrator. Now living in England, he made his publishing debut with “Strawberries Are Red” and “What is Black and White?” Working in a mixture of media, he loves to explore the bookmaking process with a style that is both bold and naïve, and full of startling colour. His other books include “When the Moon Smiled”, a bedtime counting book, and “A New House for Mouse”, about a tiny mouse who comes across a large apple.
Professional Learning Salons
Professional Learning Salons are one way for us to share our extensive internal expertise here at ISP. PL Salons take place four times every school year and are facilitated by our teachers. They encompass a range of topics based on the expertise and interests of the facilitator such as, to name a few, Learning Environments, Critical Thinking, Drawing to Learn, 3D Printing, Cognitive Coaching, Student Agency, Yoga for children, etc.
Drawing to Learn
2018/2019An observational drawing workshop to relax, have fun and enhance learning across disciplines. Teachers explore and experience how to help their students get better at noticing the world. It’s about slowing down, accepting imperfection, and paying attention.
Learning Progression for Narrative Writing
2019/2020An opportunity to look at benchmark pieces of narrative writing using the Writing Pathways rubric to facilitate discussion of the teaching moves that we use to help nudge students’ growth and development as writers. The workshop focuses on the levels of writing most relevant to the participants and gives everyone an opportunity to share ideas with each other (especially with regard to vertical articulation from one grade to another). Participants can learn from each other about the types of narrative writing taking place across the grade levels and explore how to keep this fresh, challenging and engaging for our students.
Indoor Climbing
2019/2020A 15-20 hour indoor climbing and bouldering course conducted on ISP’s very own indoor wall. Reoccurring periodically, the workshop has been facilitated by ISP’s certified teachers in partnership with the department of Physical Education and Sports at Charles University, Prague.
Focus & Awareness in the Classroom
2019/2020An informative and practical session in which teachers learn about current research on the benefits of focused breathing, movement and concentration, followed by a discussion and idea sharing on how these practices can be brought into the classrooms.
Professional Inquiry: ‘LIFTs’
Learning Inquiry Focus Teams (LIFTs) is a form of professional inquiry where ISP faculty engage in relevant, significant, and evidence-informed inquiries that are connected to our mission and learning principles, and involve:
- Questioning what’s going on for our learners;
- Investigating and reflecting on evidence of learning;
- Testing ideas intended to improve learning;
- Drawing evidence-based conclusions about what we have learned;
- Deciding what will we do with what we’ve learned.
Cultural Learning
Diverse and ChallengingFocus: Ways to integrate host country learning (Czech culture and history) into the ES and MS curriculum.
Learning Principle: Learners apply their learning in diverse and challenging contexts
How can we increase students’ engagement, awareness and knowledge of Czech culture through teaching our subjects? How might we balance or integrate teaching language and culture? What strategies be used to increase awareness?
When asking students about their favorite topics in our subjects we found out that most students are very interested in learning about our host country. This LIFT focuses on ways of enhancing this interest and knowledge and providing opportunities for our students to learn more about the Czech Republic, its’ culture, music, sport events, etc.
Current Affairs and Statistics
Connecting Complex IdeasFocus: How can real world events be explained, interpreted, and understood through statistics.
Learning Principle: Learners consider and connect complex ideas
There is a great deal of confusion among students as to what stats can and cannot do. This LIFT explores strategies to help students feel empowered to interpret data, develop their own and connect complex ideas, not just textbook interpretations. Students need to know proper ways to collect data, understand and create appropriate surveys and explore connections between mathematics and science, mathematics and the social sciences.
Classrooms without Walls
Safety and BelongingFocus: How does creating classrooms without walls enhance building a stronger sense of safety and belonging?
Learning Principle: Learners feel a sense of safety and belonging.
This LIFT focuses on exploring the following questions: Which learning habits are supported by the classroom without walls learning environment? How does creating classrooms without walls enhance building a stronger sense of safety and belonging? Are learners engaged with and inspired by their learning? Do they have autonomy over their learning and make informed choices, supported by teachers acting as coaches and mentors? Do learners demonstrate the skills and dispositions of self-directed learners?
Knowledge Application
What and WhyFocus: How can a unit of inquiry in the sciences ensure students are able to apply their knowledge beyond their lives at ISP?
Learning Principle: Learners know what they’re learning and why it is significant
This LIFT focuses on e-prototyping units of inquiry, from paradigm shifting experiments to 3D print for kinaesthetic experiences.
Technology Skills
Where and HowFocus: How can students better identify their current technology skills and then make relevant next steps to enhance their learning?
Learning Principle: Learners know where they are as learners and how to go further
Through gathering data from MS students this LIFT looks to determine what is working for the students that are doing well with their tech skills and how we can leverage existing skills to make them readily available to our students that have gaps/holes/inconsistencies in their tech skills.
Music Literacy Activities
Relevant and RichFocus: Which types of music literacy activities (and their implementation) create greater learning and enjoyment of playing music?
Learning Principle: Learners persist with relevant and rich challenges
This LIFT focuses on trying different music literacy activities, tracking their success and analysing the data.
Choice and Engagement
CuriosityFocus: Under which conditions does choice support learners’ perseverance/engagement?
Learning Principle: Learners’ curiosity drives what and how they learn
This LIFT explores ways in which we can support student empowerment while also increasing student responsibility and ownership. We are also exploring what are the enabling conditions for students to take responsibility, such as skill set, mindset and classroom structures and culture.
Thought Leaders
ISP is very active in regional and international professional education organizations and networks. We partner with multiple educational institutions and members of our faculty are regularly involved, and indeed take lead roles in working groups, presenting workshops at conferences and leading multi-day workshops in Europe and beyond.
CEESA
CEESA leads educational transformation through collaboration. ISP is a central member of the Central & Eastern European Schools Association. CEESA was formed to promote professional growth in the region. In addition to the CEESA Annual Conference in March, CEESA sponsors regional workshops, institutes and meetings to foster professionalism, scholarship, and a deeper understanding of improvements for leading, teaching and learning. ISP teachers regularly attend and facilitate at these workshops and conferences.
CIS
The Council of International Schools is a membership community working collaboratively to shape international education through professional services to schools, higher education institutions, and individuals. In addition to being a member school and being accredited by CIS, several of our educators are CIS accreditors, visiting and evaluating international schools in the region and beyond.
EAF / NFI
Education Across Frontiers is an organization dedicated to the professional learning of teachers and school leaders around the world. ISP has hosted several EAF workshops, including Adaptive Schools and Cognitive Coaching Seminars.
ECIS
Founded in 1965, the Educators Collaborative of International Schools is a non-profit global membership organisation that supports schools in the areas of teacher development, leadership development, recruitment and human resources, governance and risk, and global advisory, complemented by grants and awards that illuminate significant impact. In addition to being members of this active organization, ISP educators regularly serve on committees and present at ECIS workshops and conferences. Arnie Bieber, ISP director, as served as chair of the ECIS board of directors.
ELMLE
The European League for Middle Level Education, international affiliate of the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE), and the visible presence of middle level education in the international schools of Europe and beyond. In addition to being a member of ELMLE, ISP sponsors a faculty member to serve on the annual conference organizing committee. Several of our Middle School faculty present and attend ELMLE in January each year.
IBO
ISP is authorized to offer the International Baccalaureate® (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) is for students aged 16-19. The programme aims to develop students who have excellent breadth and depth of knowledge – students who flourish physically, intellectually, emotionally and ethically. The DP curriculum is made up of six subject groups and the DP core, comprising theory of knowledge (TOK), creativity, activity, service (CAS) and the extended essay. In addition to having highly qualified and experienced IBDP faculty, several ISP Upper School teachers serve as IBDP examiners and offer training courses throughout the region.
NEAS&C
ISP is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, which ensures that the ISP Upper School Diploma is recognized by Universities in North American. ISP was the pilot school for NEASC’s Commission on International Education new transformative
PeaceJam Foundation
The PeaceJam Foundation is an international organization whose mission statement is “to create young leaders committed to positive change in themselves, their communities, and the world through the inspiration of Nobel Peace Laureates who pass on the spirit, skills, and wisdom they embody.”
The PeaceJam program was launched in February 1996 by co-founders Dawn Engle and Ivan Suvanjieff to provide the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates with a programmatic vehicle to use in working together to teach youth the art of peace. This foundation supports young people working for change through peaceful acts, giving them a platform by which they can be heard.
Reggio Emilia-Inspired Early Childhood
Reggio Children is an international centre for the defence and promotion of children’s rights and potentials, known in Italy and throughout the world as the Reggio Emilia Approach®. Given the close alignment with our ISP Mission, we have sent all of our early childhood and primary (through Grade 3) teachers to be trained at the annual international Reggio Emilia conference. In addition, we have hosted Reggio Inspired conferences, workshops and continue with professional development work onsite with a Reggio specialist.
The DofE's Int Award Foundation
ISP is a member of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation, which drives and supports the Award’s global growth, so more young people can undertake the world’s leading youth achievement award. Working within a network of Award Operators in more than 130 countries and territories, the DofE’s International Award is increasing global awareness of the value of non-formal education and young people’s development outside the classroom. By creating opportunities for young people to develop skills, get physically active, give service and experience adventure, the Award plays a critical role in their development outside the classroom.
WIDA
WIDA provides language development resources to those who support the academic success of multilingual learners. WIDA offers a comprehensive, research-based system of language standards, assessments, professional learning and educator assistance.
“At WIDA, we believe that everyone brings valuable resources to the education community. Children and youth who are linguistically and culturally diverse, in particular, bring a unique set of assets that have the potential to enrich the experiences of all learners and educators. Educators can draw on these assets for the benefit of both the learners themselves and for everyone in the community. By focusing on what language learners can do, we send a powerful message that children and youth from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds contribute to the vibrancy of our early childhood programs and K–12 schools.”
