Teaching Our Children to Cross the Road Safely

A reminder from Tenby Parents' Association. 

Thanks to Committee member, Swee for this article.

Staying on Top of Children's Social Networking Ecosystem

As we move at lightning speed to delve deeper into the Digital Age, there is a growing concern on how social networking might negatively impact our children. Do not undermine the power of social networking websites. They can be highly influential. 

According to U.S. data, "Children are the fastest growing population of victims of Internet crime, but only 52% of parents moderately supervise Internet use, while an unsettling 20% do not supervise at all."

In a U.K. survey, "A child's social media development begins at aged nine; first accesses YouTube, and begins to use mobile and/or laptop. At 10, they experiment the use of Internet slang (e.g. "BRB", "YOLO") and instant messaging. At 11, when the greatest proportion of internet activity takes place, they are likely to first upload an image or video of themselves, post a nasty comment online and set up a fake social media profile! At 12, children will venture into Twitter and Whatsapp, and message someone online they haven't met in real life. When children reach their social maturity at aged 13, they will try SnapChat and Ask FM, and perhaps try sexting for the first time! I do suspect Asian youths are generally digitally-connected at a comparatively younger age; as consumers in Asia use social media far more than their Western counterparts.

With the advent of technology, so come the accompanying dangers of social networking security threats. Social media has removed the barriers between a child's public and private self, leaving him / her vulnerable and exposed to content, people or situations that may be potentially out of their depth and which they're not emotionally prepared for. Parents must exercise diligence in their supervision, and persistently interact with their children on the technology they embrace:-

• Know the sites your children visit.
• Know the chat lingo.
• Maintain an open dialogue with your children. Nothing can replace one-on-one communication. Encourage sharing of both good and bad online experiences.
• Educate the children on potential social networking and internet dangers, i.e. False identities, internet predators, information posted online isn't always private. Alert them to risks about compulsive online sharing and giving out personal information to strangers.
• Establish internet safety rules and boundaries.

Here are 15 next-generation apps and sites (is Facebook still the favourite digital hangout?) that parents should acclimatise themselves to:-

Twitter
Instagram
SnapchatTumblr
Google+
Vine
Wanelo
Kik Messenger
Ooovoo
Ask.fm
Yik Yak
WhatsApp
Omegle
Yo.
Whisper

For the social networking "dummies", further reading is recommended to put us on the right track of what's currently trendy. Let's hope this will help bridge the Information Age divide between the parents and our teens...
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/15-sites-and-apps-kids-are-heading-to-beyond-facebook

Parents, let's stay computer savvy so we can better guide our children on being SAFE and socially RESPONSIBLE internet users! 

Article written by Julia Oh

Secondary school: how parents can help make the transition easier

Moving up to year 7 is a big step. Here are 10 tips on how to help your children make the change smoothly

            Glynis Kozma

            The Guardian, Tuesday 31 August 2010

For families of year 6s, the summer holidays can seem like a long run-up to that great mountain of mystery and fear that is big school. Some children will be starting a new school that is 10 times larger than their primary. Moving up to year 7 is a big step.

Professor Julian Elliott, an educational psychologist at Durham University, says: "For many children, secondary school represents a step towards autonomy and the whole process of growing up and leaving childhood behind." It can be overwhelming for children and parents alike.

But there are things you can do to make things easier, and things you can think about now that will help your child adjust and settle in quickly.

• Build your child's confidence. Settling in well is all about self-esteem. Children with high self-esteem are less likely to be bullied, or to bully, or belong to gangs. They are more likely to gather a wide circle of friends. They can confidently say "no" to anything with which they don't feel comfortable. So tell them how great they are. When did you last pay them a compliment? They don't have to have done anything special to deserve one; a compliment on how well they look after a pet, or that they are kind or thoughtful, goes a long way. Do this daily and watch their confidence develop.

• Listen to their fears. Your child is possibly anxious and also afraid their concerns will appear trivial. For instance, if they become lost in the maze of corridors, what should they do? They could make their way to the school office – they should have a map – or find a pupil or teacher to direct them. What they shouldn't do is hide in the toilets until the lesson is over. Talk through the options with them. Do this for every concern they may have so that they know you take it seriously.

• Remind your child that being a good friend, especially to shy and quiet children, is one way to make friends. Be encouraging if they want to invite friends home and suggest it if they don't.

• Show that you feel positive about their school and "talk it up" even if it was not your first choice or you lost an admissions appeal. If you have high expectations, these will be sensed by your child.

• Have a trial run of the route, especially if they walk or cycle. If they miss a school bus home you need to talk through what they will do, especially if you are working and can't pick them up straight away.

• Get up earlier during the last week of the holidays so that early starts for school aren't a shock to the system.

• Stick to the uniform code. Your child will feel more comfortable from day one.

• Make sure they have emergency money and credit on their mobile phone – if it's allowed in school.

• Think about any changes you might need to make at home so they have the time, space and energy for homework. One parent who has three children shared her strategy: homework begins at a set time every day, after dinner, with all three children working simultaneously to avoid distractions. In the early days you should check their homework diary daily and if it looks empty, check with other parents or the school. Your child may simply forget to write it down.

• Encourage them to join lunchtime or after-school clubs. They are a great way to make friends. If after half a term they really don't enjoy it, they can drop it.

Give your child a few weeks to settle in. Ensure you know who to contact for any situation, and the school's preferred means of contact. If they are having any problems, social or educational, make an appointment to see their form tutor.

                                    • Glynis Kozma is author of Secondary School: A Parent's Guide, and was a teacher for 30 years.

Education Perspective - The Observer (15June2013)

Advent of Google means we must rethink our approach to education

We have a romantic attachment to skills from the past which are no longer relevant on a curriculum for today's children

• Sugata Mitra
• The Observer, Saturday 15 June 2013 21.00 BST

Educationalist Sugata Mitra with pupils at a primary school in Gateshead. Photograph: Mark Pinder for the Observer

Would a person with good handwriting, spelling and grammar and instant recall of multiplication tables be considered a better candidate for a job than, say, one who knows how to configure a peer-to-peer network of devices, set up an organisation-wide Google calendar and find out where the most reliable sources of venture capital are, I wonder? The former set of skills are taught in schools, the latter are not.

We have a romantic attachment to skills from the past. Longhand multiplication of numbers using paper and pencil is considered a worthy intellectual achievement. Using a mobile phone to multiply is not. But to the people who invented it, longhand multiplication was just a convenient technology. I don't think they attached any other emotions to it. We do, and it is still taught as a celebration of the human intellect. The algorithms that make Google possible are not taught to children. Instead, they are told: "Google is full of junk."

In school examinations, learners must reproduce facts from memory, solve problems using their minds and paper alone. They must not talk to anyone or look at anyone else's work. They must not use any educational resources, certainly not the internet. When they complete their schooling and start a job, they are told to solve problems in groups, through meetings, using every resource they can think of. They are rewarded for solving problems this way – for not using the methods they were taught in school.

The curriculum lists things that children must learn. There is no list stating why these things are important. A child being taught the history of Vikings in England says to me: "We could have found out all that in five minutes if we ever needed to."

One of the teachers who works with me said to her class of nine-year-olds: "There is something called electromagnetic radiation that we can't see, can you figure out what it is?" The children huddle around a few computers, talking, running around and looking for clues. In about 40 minutes, they figure out the basics of electromagnetism and start relating it to mobile signals. This is called a self-organised learning environment, a Sole. In a Sole, children work in self-organised groups of four or five clustered around an internet connected computer. They can talk, change group, move around, look at other groups' work and so on.

One of them says: "Aren't we going to do any work?"

"What do you think you were doing?" asks the teacher.

"Learning about electromagnetism."

"What's work, then?"

"Work is when you say things to us and we write them down."

Methods from centuries ago may seem romantic, but they do get obsolete and need to be replaced. The brain remembers good things from the past and creates a pleasant memory of the "good old days". It forgets the rest. It is dangerous to build a present using vague memories of the good old days.

Any standard room in a Holiday Inn is better than the best facilities in an emperor's room in the 15th century. Air conditioning, hot and cold running water, toilets that flush, TV and the internet. The middle class lives better today than any emperor ever did. Going back to horse-drawn vehicles is not the solution to our traffic problems and pollution. Beating children into submission will not solve the problem of educational disengagement.

If examinations challenge learners to solve problems the way they are solved in real life today, the educational system will change for ever. It is a small policy change that is required. Allow the use of the internet and collaboration during an examination.

If we did that to exams, the curriculum would have to be different. We would not need to emphasise facts or figures or dates. The curriculum would have to become questions that have strange and interesting answers. "Where did language come from?", "Why were the pyramids built?", "Is life on Earth sustainable?", "What is the purpose of theatre?"

Questions that engage learners in a world of unknowns. Questions that will occupy their minds through their waking hours and sometimes their dreams.

Teaching in an environment where the internet and discussion are allowed in exams would be different. The ability to find things out quickly and accurately would become the predominant skill. The ability to discriminate between alternatives, then put facts together to solve problems would be critical. AThat's a skill that future employers would admire immensely.

In this kind of self-organised learning, we don't need the same teachers all the time. Any teacher can cause any kind of learning to emerge. A teacher does not need to be physically present, she could be a projected, life-sized image on the wall. A "Granny Cloud" of such volunteer teachers have been operating out of the UK and a few other countries into schools in India and South America for more than five years, using a combination of the internet and admiration to provide a meaningful education for children. We don't need to improve schools. We need to reinvent them for our times, our requirements and our future. We don't need efficient clerks to fuel an administrative machine that is no longer needed. Machines will do that for us. We need people who can think divergently, across outdated "disciplines", connecting ideas across the entire mass of humanity. We need people who can think like children.

Sugata Mitra is professor of educational technology at Newcastle University, and the winner of the $1m TED Prize 2013. He devised the Hole in the Wall experiment, where a computer was embedded in a wall in a slum in Delhi for children to use freely. He aimed to prove young people could be taught computers easily without formal training.

International Education - Article from Expat Education Guide 2012/2013

Found this article written by Denise Sinclair (School Development and Improvement Manager of Tenby Schools) in the Expat Education Guide 2012/2013.

International Education....what does ‘international’ really mean?

‘That’ day has finally arrived and you are sending your child off to their new school. It is a day of trepidation, nervous excitement and relief. 

Over the last few months, not only have  you moved countries, shipped  your belongings, made a home and started a new job, you have also spent a great deal of time looking for a school for your child. You have toured many schools; have been introduced to a variety of teaching programmes  and spoken  to numerous administrators.  You have considered the importance of  homework,  uniforms (an important issue for those who have teenagers),  the catering provision, the fees,  the examination results  and the travelling distance from your new home. You have spoken to new acquaintances and read as much as you possibly  can on the
numerous  schools in your area, and  you have  finally made your decision because the school offers an ‘international education’. But have you ever thought about what ‘international’ actually means?

Having ‘international’ in the school name does not necessarily mean that a school is international. Over the last few years there have been many new schools opening up across the world which all claim to offer an international experience and yet when you look at them closely, they fall short of that real international experience. 

The word ‘international’ has become a marketing tool, a way of drawing in potential clients in a very fluid market place. At the same time, events we watch through our ever expanding networks, depict a worldfraught with misunderstanding and we look towards our present and future leaders to act with sympathy and understanding. It is in this world arena that education has such an important role to play in preparing young people for a future which will require them to make the right decisions.

At Tenby School’s, our vision “A United World at Peace-Through Education” is one which drives us forward as we review our school programmes, our teachers and our students. It is a vision which  in my opinion,  should be at the heart of international education across the world. 

Teaching and learning are of course,  what a school is about and within our community we welcome children from a wide range of countries and backgrounds into a rich learning environment.  We have students who enrol in our national schools,  successfully  following the Malaysian curriculum,  coming together with our
students from the international sections  to share in a wide range of activities. Our teachers, many who teach the prestigious CIE IGCSE  and ‘A’ level  programmes, also come from far and wide, all with one intention to give  our  children the opportunity to achieve their full potential within an atmosphere of trust and
compassion. But succeeding within the academic programme is only one aspect of the Tenby experience. We also encourage and support excellence and achievement in the arts and on the sports field. Only a few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to be in the audience when 450  students from our  founding  school in Ipoh put on a fantastic day of drama. No boundaries, no arguments, just students from across the world and across all ages,  celebrating  and sharing  their considerable talent with peers and parents, a day which will live long in their memories and in mine.

An international school is one which looks outwards; it welcomes diversity and goes out of  its way to bring the world into the school. This could be through such events as international days, world literature days, cultural awareness activities and school trips and visits or through  the constructing of a teaching programme which not only brings in the rich local culture of the host country but also introduces concepts from other countries and cultures  including languages and a love of international literature.  It is a school which encourages discussion and through discussion develops in the young people an understanding of others. It is a school which does not avoid the difficult issues, instead it welcomes differences and through excellent
teaching  develops independence, confidence and a belief that learning about our world and about others never stops.

As  international teachers, we look forward to the new school year,  there are  new challenges to face, new children to meet, we have exciting lessons planned and are looking forward to  meeting and working alongside new parents. It is a time of optimism and confidence. If you have selected an international school for your child, enjoy this  time with them. A student, who attends a school with ‘international’ at its heart,  is one who has been given an opportunity to  become a true  citizen of this world we share with millions of others.

Next time you watch young children play, watch carefully, there are no language barriers or barriers due to colour, class or religion. Yet they play peacefully, sharing their experiences with their friends without reservation.  Maybe we should be the ones learning from them, they are our future and our real ambassadors of all that is good in international education.