The year begins..

Hello everyone! 
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My name is Archana Gera, and I am the new PYP Coordinator at JVLR. I’m truly delighted to be a part of the OIS family.

As of today, we enter into our second week of school.. Congratulations to all for (somehow?) getting through the first week.

Have you ever thought of this.. Educational institutions are the only places which are designed to have an annual rebirth year after year: New faces, new goals/resolutions, and sometimes new ways of doing things. As a teacher I always felt like these restarts gave me opportunities to be a new and improved version of myself every single year. I am sure students feel the same way. And there are some facts that always hold true for the start of every year: excitement, anxiety, questions and endless change of plans. We at OIS have been no different, the only addition being our reliance on the functioning of technology! 

Our 10-week spell of online learning before summer break left us with several points of both celebration and reflection. Combined with feedback from parents, our new understanding allowed us to make informed decisions for our current 'Phase 2' of online learning, which are calling ‘Learning From Home’. Over the summer break, many of our teachers also engaged in a lot of widely available professional development and came back with some fresh thinking and ideas. 

With reference to the Stages of eLearning by Jennifer Chang, we believe that we have progressed from the ‘Survive’ stage in Phase 1 to ‘Thrive’ in Phase 2. Our Head of Primary Ms Lisa talked about it with parents and teachers during the start of this school year.

We are truly looking forward to actually implementing many of our refreshed plans with our students. Of course we miss being in the building with all the chitter-chatter, but we are making use of this time to meaningfully integrate technology with the inquiry- and concept-based learning the PYP stands for.

We will soon bring you more insights into what’s happening in those online classes. Meanwhile, here is an important IB resource that has plenty of ideas and food for thought about the implications of the ongoing pandemic on the schools, families, teachers and students: https://ibo.org/covid-19-support/

Have a great second week. If you have a question, don’t forget to talk to your child’s homeroom teacher.

Warm regards,
Archana 

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