导语

 

 

自由、勇气、高度。

 

三个词语，凝聚着蓑羽鹤——世界上最小的鹤所体现的精神。

 

以“蓑羽鹤”为学校教育图腾，北京市朝阳区凯文学校赋予学子“自由、勇气、高度”的蓑羽鹤精神，培养学生成为具有国际竞争力的全面素质人才。

 

以这样的期待为动力，朝阳凯文从“尚思学园”理念中汲取精粹，以拓展学生思维为教育核心，致力打造培养深度思考能力的成长环境。这不仅代表学校教育理念的一次飞跃，也标志着学校在国际教育领域的又一重要里程碑。朝阳凯文学校国际教育总监Catherine Ann van Schalkwyk女士，作为学校先进国际化教育理念的忠实实践者和全球化战略的卓越推动者，以其丰富的教育经验和对教育事业的深深热情，为我们揭示了尚思学园的独特魅力。

 

在这场心灵的对话中，我们得以一窥朝阳凯文如何以其独特的教育理念，培养出一批又一批的终身学习者，并赋能师资团队，共同推动教育创新。以下是采访全文，让我们一同聆听Catherine女士的精彩分享，探索更多朝阳凯文关于国际教育的智慧与洞见。

 

 

 

学校名片

 

 

北京市朝阳区凯文学校成立于2017年，学校占地约14.14公顷，总建筑面积28万平方米，是一所十二年一贯制的国际化双语学校。

 

北京市朝阳区凯文学校在义务教育阶段遵循中国国家课程标准，参考剑桥课程（CAIE），高中阶段课程分为国际课程（IBDP国际文凭、A-Level英国高中课程以及AP美国大学先修课程）、艺术高中项目和普高项目。

 

 

嘉宾名片

 

Catherine Ann van Schalkwyk

朝阳凯文国际教育总监

 

毕业于：南非的百年名校威特沃特斯兰德大学（1983年）

开始工作：1984年1月

主要成就：40年双语学校教育工作经历，丰富的学校教学管理经验。对于教授英文第二语言学习者、创新的教学课程研发、艺术和文化项目有丰富经验，2019年至今在北京市朝阳区凯文学校任职国际教育总监，传承发扬学校兼具国际视野、启迪学生的校园文化。

 

 

 

I. 遵从本质，将学生置于教育核心

多路径培养，尊重学生不同选择

 

京领：首先请简单介绍一下自己。

Catherine，朝阳凯文国际教育总监：我叫Catherine Ann van Schalkwyk，来自南非。我从事教师职业已有四十载。五年前，我踏上了中国的土地，在朝阳凯文学校任职。

 

京领：请您谈谈对“国际教育”的理解，以及您如何理解朝阳凯文的教育理念？

Catherine，朝阳凯文国际教育总监：国际教育在不同的人眼中有着各自不同的含义，始于为学生提供培养全球意识和视野的机会。作为一所双语国际化学校，朝阳凯文始终坚信，教育让学生在深深扎根于中华优秀传统文化的同时，具备全球化的视野和参与国际竞争的能力，为他们的未来打开更广阔的世界舞台。

 

京领：您的个人履历非常丰富，请您谈谈这些经历对您在朝阳凯文的工作带来的影响？

Catherine，朝阳凯文国际教育总监：南非是一个多元文化交融、多语言并存的国家，拥有11种官方语言和丰富的文化群体。在我的大部分教学生涯中，我一直在多语言、多文化的社区中从事教育工作。因此，我相信自己能够为朝阳凯文带来一种更具包容性和普遍性的教育视角。无论我是在巴西的偏远乡村、意大利、南非，还是像北京这样的国际大都市教学，学生的本质需求始终如一：他们希望在教育和学校生活中处于核心地位。因此，我坚信，我们需要提供一种面向未来的教育，赋予学生应对未来所需的多元技能与能力。

 

京领：结合您在各国的亲身经历，您认为朝阳凯文的双语双文化有何独到之处？

Catherine，朝阳凯文国际教育总监：朝阳凯文拥有一套独特的教育体系，注重因材施教和个性化发展，为学生提供多元化的发展路径。对于选择国际教育路线的学生，我们提供丰富的选择，让他们在全球化的教育框架中成长。同时，我们也为选择高中国家课程（普高）的学生提供特别的机会，这些学生在备战中国高考的同时，还能体验国际学校的学习氛围。

 

此外，朝阳凯文独具特色的艺术高中项目为有志于进入海外艺术院校或音乐院校的学生量身打造专业课程。这样的设计让学生能够将个人兴趣、艺术才能与学术需求和未来的大学生活完美结合。根据我的经验，在这一点上，朝阳凯文作为一所国际学校，确实展现了独特的优势和非凡的特色。

 

京领：建校七年以来，朝阳凯文取得了卓越的成绩，作为该校的国际教育总监，您可以分享一下朝阳凯文在未来五年的蓝图规划吗？

Catherine，朝阳凯文国际教育总监：自去年开始，朝阳凯文对未来五年的发展计划进行了系统的规划与部署。

 

我们全面审视了学校的专业发展(PD)项目，致力于将其转变为“教师职业发展学习共同体(PLC, Professional Learning Community)” 的有影响力的平台。我们为教师们创造了互相学习的机会，这一点至关重要；更重要的是，在上个学年结束时，我们实施了一项行动研究计划，聚焦于一个具体的问题——朝阳凯文的课堂中，思考的本质是什么？

 

此项目一经推出，受到全校师生及家长们的大力支持与深切关注，使学校领导团队带领大家能够以更审慎、更深入的方式进行研究，确保朝阳凯文真正能够从培养学生的高阶思维能力出发，鼓励学生不满足于知识的表层理解，激发学生的好奇心和探索欲，培养他们成为终身学习者，具备自我驱动力和创新能力。这一过程也促使我们思考，朝阳凯文是否具备成为一所尚思学园的潜力。

 

京领：朝阳凯文“Thinking School（尚思学园）”的概念，请您结合自身经历以及对国际教育的理解，谈谈Thinking School中蕴含的教育理念及育人理念。

Catherine，朝阳凯文国际教育总监：尚思学园（Thinking School）的理念强调将学生及其思考置于教育的核心。在这一理念上，我想引用罗伯特·伯顿教授的话，他是英国埃克塞特大学的教授，也是尚思学园理论的早期支持者。他指出，尚思学园是一个致力于培养深度思考的教育环境。这一理念的核心在于教导学生如何思考，这至关重要。这不仅涉及反思、创新和批判性思考等多种思维方式，还强调通过教授思考技能，使这一理念在课堂和整个学校的教育活动中得以全面落实。真正的尚思学园不仅仅是拥有会思考的课堂或教师，而是创建一个鼓励深度思考的学习共同体。

 

 

 

II. 尚思学园（Thinking School）理念融入校园

覆盖全学段，培养终身学习者

 

 

京领：是什么样的契机，让朝阳凯文萌生了关于尚思学园的设想？

Catherine，朝阳凯文国际教育总监：在我工作的上一所学校中，我目睹了“尚思学园”这一理念为学校带来的益处，我对教师们从中获得的支持印象深刻。正是这些支持，让教师和学生理解了彼此的思考过程，同时，他们的思考过程透明化，将其呈现给所有人。

 

我还发现，尚思学园的理念有助于更有效地集中高阶思维，这有点像为你的大脑开了一扇窗。在建设有尚思学园理念的学校工作也是一件非常开心的事情，能够帮助学生深入理解自我认知，并让他们了解大脑运作背后的科学原理。学生如果能够了解自己的大脑是如何工作的、自己的记忆力是如何发展的，那么他们就更可以将这些能力强化，并有效地加以利用。最重要的是，这非常有助于培养学生的学习习惯，使他们成为真正成功的终身学习者。

 

京领：尚思学园的教育理念如何体现在日常教学中？

Catherine，朝阳凯文国际教育总监：朝阳凯文的学生年龄范围涵盖5岁至12年级。我们通过已融入课程的工具和策略，全面培养学生的思维技能。这些方法不仅是课程的补充内容，更是学习的核心基础。

 

成立尚思学园初期，我们采用了“思考框架”可视化思维工具，包含8个专注不同思维技巧的框架。教师运用时，学生能观察其思考路径；学生使用时，教师亦能清晰地看到其思维过程。此工具使思维过程可视化，便于理解。这一做法适用于全校各学段学生，无论年龄大小，均可利用相同框架解析思维，尽管内容难度各异。

 

尚思学园的核心在于将这些策略普及到各年级学生的学习中。如果我们在不同年级和发展阶段持续培养这些思维能力，学生将逐年接触并熟悉这些关键元素，最终能够自主运用各类思考过程。通过这种方式，学生不仅在课堂上培养思维能力，还能借助可视化框架，在家庭作业和学习规划中有效应用这些方法，从而大幅提升学习效果。

 

京领：在不同的学科中如何使用这些框架？

Catherine，朝阳凯文国际教育总监：这些框架经过精心设计，能够广泛应用于不同年龄、不同学习阶段和各类学科的学生。

 

这些框架较为全面，因此能够产生深远的影响。这也是它们成为尚思学园首选工具的原因，因为它们不仅普遍适用，而且易于迁移。无论是英语、数学，还是科学等学科，学生都可以使用相同的思维框架，因为核心在于培养思考过程。尚思学园尤其重视这些工具在不同发展阶段和学科之间的适用性，确保学生在各领域中都能灵活运用并提升思维能力。

 

在崇尚“尚思学园”理念的学校中，教职员工都会接受专业培训，确保将这些教学方法有效融入课程和教学理念中。同时，结合认知与元认知思维技能的培养至关重要，这样不仅能够帮助学生掌握这些关键技能，还能确保它们在教学的各个层面得到广泛应用，进而提升整体的教学效果。

 

这种教学方法使得各个层次的学生，无论其兴趣和才能如何，都能根据个人需求，在自身的水平上发展思维技能。学生逐渐掌握这些学习策略工具，并将它们融入到自己的学习风格中。这一理念不仅教会他们如何学习，更塑造了他们成为终身学习者的能力，能够从小运用这些思维工具。或许有一天，当他们成为企业的首席执行官时，仍会借助这些思维工具推动业务发展——这一点尤为重要。

 

京领：除了尚思学园外，学校还有哪些能够帮助学生培养深度思考能力的举措？

Catherine，朝阳凯文国际教育总监：我们确实正在施行其他举措。本学年，我们启动了三个令人振奋的项目，我想围绕这些做一些分享。

 

首先，我们将一部分工作重点放在了3年级至5年级的STEAM课程上。我们对该课程进行巩固与强化，不仅为学生准备更加丰富的课程，还会对该课程进行持续开发和持续审视。

 

其次，对于朝阳凯文最年幼的学习者，即学前班和1年级的学生，我们为他们开发了新课程“MATI创思特色课程项目”，“MATI”代表数学（Mathematics）、人工智能（AI）、技术（Technology）和创新（Innovation）。该课程有趣且富有实践性，它的目的是为学生日后学习STEAM课程奠定基础，帮助他们掌握关键的早期技能。

 

另外，朝阳凯文还启动了人工智能项目，朝阳凯文不仅将会帮助学生成为21世纪学习者，同时也将帮助朝阳凯文的教师们成为21世纪教育者。

 

我认为每一个都十分振奋人心。

 

京领：在这些课程落地实施的过程中，朝阳凯文都遇到了哪些挑战呢？

Catherine，朝阳凯文国际教育总监：当你听那些在获得认证的尚思学园教学的老师们讲述他们的转型历程时，他们总是提及成为尚思学园的过程。这意味着它是一个漫长的旅程，通常是学校5至10年战略发展计划的一部分。

 

这个项目目前还处于起步阶段，但我们的愿景是，未来能与北京的顶尖组织、私营企业主、大型机构及知名大学合作，共同引领和推进这个项目。

 

我认为这类合作将是未来的发展趋势。目前，我们正从教师层面着手，但未来将有许多私营企业、政府机构、顶尖教育机构共同合作，共同发展这些系统。

 

 

 

III. 教师职业发展学习共同体（PLC）

聚焦专业发展，促进持续学习

 

 

京领：您认为朝阳凯文教学团队目前遇到的最大挑战是什么？应该获得哪些支持？

Catherine，朝阳凯文国际教育总监：专业发展（PD）始终是学校的核心和基础。它不仅关乎教师的个人成长，更可以通过提供多样化的个人发展项目，助力教师不断提升自我。在朝阳凯文，我们将PD项目命名为“PLC项目”（Professional Learning Community，教师职业发展学习共同体），强调集体与个人并重的发展策略，旨在全面提升学校的教育水平。

 

目前我们在校内实施了开放课堂政策，它是一个结构化的教学观摩项目，朝阳凯文教师可以具象地、有效地学习并提升自己的教学水平，这是个人提升的一部分。而尚思学园，是我们正在开发的一个全校性的项目，旨在提升我们作为学校整体的能力。我们既关注教师的个人发展，也重视集体层面的进步，以增强我们员工的凝聚力，共同推动学校向前发展，力争打造最具影响力的国际化教育第一品牌。

 

在尚思学园的发展过程中，我们还与伦敦的一所认证学校建立了合作关系，他们将为我们提供指导和支持。随着学年的推进，我们将开展全校范围内的教师交流，分享他们的经验和实践经历，为中国首批开展尚思学园项目的学校提供宝贵的建议和指导。

 

京领：教师职业发展学习共同体（PLC）的目标是什么？

Catherine，朝阳凯文国际教育总监：从本质上讲，教师之间需要相互学习，并意识到他们的同事都是高素质和熟练技能的专业人士。无论是在小学低年级、或是数学、人文学科不同领域，他们各自在发展水平上都有所专长。然而，同样重要的是，有时教师所教授的科目并不是关键，真正的价值在于教师们可以跨学部分享和学习同伴在课堂上展现的教学技巧与策略。

 

因此，作为教师职业发展学习共同体，作为一个学习型社区，朝阳凯文的使命在于相互学习，赋予教师多样的能力，使他们能够共同成长与进步。

 

京领：朝阳凯文教学团队今后的发展目标是什么？

Catherine，朝阳凯文国际教育总监：——持续学习，做“智慧型”教师。

 

 

朝阳凯文确立了8项核心价值观，这些价值观构成了我们教育理念的基石。其中，“适应力”作为一项关键价值观，强调了在面对新挑战时，我们需要具备灵活调整和积极应对的能力。这意味着我们要批判性地审视现有的教育实践，深入理解教育的发展趋势，并以此为指导，探索如何改进和创新，以更好地满足学生的需求。同时，我们也珍视并巩固那些被证明有效的教学实践，将其作为我们不断前行的稳固根基。通过这样的方式，朝阳凯文致力于培养出既能够适应时代变化，又具备扎实学识和能力的优秀教师团队。

 

在朝阳凯文的价值观体系中，“勇气”占据着举足轻重的地位。我们鼓励每一位教师与学生都能勇于突破自我，勇敢地迈出舒适区，去尝试那些未曾涉足的新领域与新想法。正是这份无畏的勇气，推动着教学团队在不断的探索与实践中茁壮成长，共同迈向更加辉煌的未来。

 

“智慧”，则是我们在追求卓越的道路上不可或缺的灯塔。我们渴望拥有敏锐的洞察力，去精准识别哪些创意是真正有价值的，哪些理念值得我们深入挖掘与不懈追求，为教育事业的繁荣发展贡献自己的力量。

 

而“创新”，则是我们独特个性与创新精神的体现。我们坚信，每一个个体都是独一无二的存在，每一份创意都蕴含着无限可能。因此，我们积极鼓励并珍视那些与众不同的想法与实践，让它们在我们的校园里自由绽放，共同编织出一幅幅绚丽多彩的教育画卷。

 

朝阳凯文是一所独具特色的学校，我们应当珍视这种独特性，并为我们所提供的一切感到自豪，这正是我们未来的发展方向和目标所在。

 

京领：未来，朝阳凯文如何满足学生的不同需求？如何培养教职工团队和学生的创新能力？

Catherine，朝阳凯文国际教育总监：我认为作为教师，我们必须再次鼓起勇气，在学习中给予学生更多自主权。我们要探讨如何让学校进步，以便更好地认识到学生已经具备多种技能，并且能在使用这些技能的同时，发展教师的新技能。

 

因此，这不仅仅是一种传统的师生关系，而是一种真正的学习伙伴关系。在这种关系中，学生和教师各自带来独特的技能、知识和创新想法。他们共同在课堂上构建一个促进所有人成长的环境。尽管学生可能经验尚且年轻，但他们拥有的其他才能，可以有效地用于教育计划的制定，使整个教学过程更加丰富和多样化。

 

朝阳凯文开放日在即。如果您对朝阳凯文的优质教育感兴趣，欢迎您扫描下方二维码进行预约，体验优质课堂，参加教育论坛，深度认知国际教育，感知好教育的样子，为孩子择校作出合适的选择。

 

 

 

 

 

English Version

 

 

I. Adhere to the essence 

and place students at the core of education

Multi path cultivation, 

respecting students’ different choices

 

 

KingLead: Please firstly give a brief introduction of yourself.

Catherine, Director of International Education at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy: My name is Catherine Ann van Schalkwyk. I come from South Africa. I’ve been a teacher for over 40 years. I came to China 6 years ago. I’ve been working at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy ever since.

 

KingLead: Please share us your understanding of “international education”. How do you understand Chaoyang KaiWen Academy’s educational philosophy?

Catherine, Director of International Education at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy: International education means so many different things to so many different people. It’s to give an opportunity to students to become globally aware. Chaoyang KaiWen Academy is a bilingual international school, we believe in firmly rooting students in the Chinese heritage, but at the same time giving them the opportunity to become students with the global awareness and and to be internationally competitive.

 

KingLead: You have a very extensive personal experience. How does this experience impact your work in Chaoyang KaiWen Academy?

Catherine, Director of International Education at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy: South Africa is a multicultural country and a multilingual country, because there are 11 official languages and many cultural groups in our country. My experience for almost all of my teaching career has been teaching multilingual communities and teaching in multicultural environments. So I think I bring to Chaoyang KaiWen Academy a sense of universality in my understanding of education. Whether I’m teaching in a very poor rural area of Brazil, Italy, South Africa, or the very affluent city like Beijing, students are fundamentally the same. They all need us to put them at the center of the school and at the center of educational experience. So I think we need to offer them an education that equips them for the 21st century, and gives them skills that they need to be accessible into the future.

 

KingLead: We know that you have lived in different countries which have diverse culture. Based on this experience, what features do you think that Chaoyang KaiWen Academy’s bilingual and bicultural education have? 

Catherine, Director of International Education at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy: We’ve adopted quite a unique system at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy for developing both students following international educational parts could be offered in many different options in that area, but we also offer options to students who want to follow a national curriculum part. They want to do the Gaokao exam, but also want to experience what it’s like to have education on an international campus.

 

Thirdly, we have a very unique art school attached to our campus that tailor makes programs for our students who wish to study in art schools or music conservatories overseas. This offers the students of Chaoyang KaiWen Academy the ability or opportunity to merge their interests and their talents with their academic needs or the university careers. In my experience, Chaoyang KaiWen Academy is quite unusual as an international school in this regard.

 

KingLead: Since its establishment seven years ago, Chaoyang KaiWen Academy has achieved remarkable results. Can you share your plans for the next five years as the Director of International Education?

Catherine, Director of International Education at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy: The plans for the next 5 years really started last year. We looked at our PD program across all the schools and focused on developing them into really an influential thing called PLC or Professional Learning Community. On one level, we implement the structure of programs, providing our teachers with opportunities to learn from each other. That’s really important, but more importantly, on another level, at the end of our last academic year, we implemented an action research plan and looked at a specific question: What does thinking look like in our classrooms? What came out of this action research plan was the springboard for me as the director of international education to look in a more careful and considered way, it really making sure we were engaging our students in higher order thinking. And this led us to investigate the possibility of embarking on the journey to becoming thinking school.

 

KingLead: Based on your personal experience and understanding of international education, how do you understand the educational philosophy underlying Thinking School?

Catherine, Director of International Education at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy: A thinking school makes sure that students and students’ thinking are at the very heart of educational experience. Speaking of the definition of a thinking school, I’m going to quote from a person called Professor Robert Burton who was formerly of Exeter University in the U.K. and was one of the very early proponents of the thinking school philosophy. He says a thinking school is an education community in which all members share a common commitment to giving regular, careful thought to all aspects of an educational environment. This will involve explicitly teaching students how to think, which is really important for me. It means all types of thinking, like reflective thinking, creative thinking, and critical thinking. In explicitly teaching thinking skills and thinking techniques, you also teach across your school, across your curriculum, and across all the associated active. That’s what really makes it a thinking school, not a thinking classroom or thinking teacher.

 

 

 

II. Integrating 

the Thinking School philosophy 

into the campus

Covering the entire academic stage 

and cultivating lifelong learners

 

 

KingLead: What kind of opportunity inspire Chaoyang KaiWen Academy the idea about Thinking School?

Catherine, Director of International Education at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy: I think it really came from me because I previously worked at a school that had started to embark on the journey to become a thinking school. I worked there for about 15 years, but in my last 5 years at that school, we were developing as a thinking school. I saw firsthand the benefits of the philosophy of a thinking school. I was really impressed by the tools that it gave the teachers, help them and their students to understand each other’s thinking and to make their thinking visible to everybody.

 

I also found that the strategies helped to focus higher order thinking much more effectively. It was a bit like having a window into your brain. I enjoyed working in a school that also helps the students to understand their own cognition and make the cognition about the science behind how their brains work. If they as students can understand how their brains actually work, how their memory develops, then they are much more able to enhance those skills and to use them effectively. And perhaps most importantly, it also helped to create dispositions within the students to enable them to become really successful lifelong learners.

 

KingLead: How does the educational philosophy of Thinking School be manifested in daily teaching?

Catherine, Director of International Education at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy: Students in Chaoyang KaiWen Academy are from 5 years old to grade 12. We’ll be given the opportunity to develop their thinking skills using the tools and strategy is really embedded into our curriculum. Thinking of teaching is not just an add on. It’s not an additional subject or an additional course you need to take. It becomes fundamental to how the students are taught in all aspects of the education at our school.

 

We’ve decided at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy at the start of our journey to become a thinking school, to use a visible thinking tool called thinking frames. This system develops different thinking processes and makes invisible. So what it does is it gives you eight thinking frames, and each frame develops and makes a specific thinking process visible. So it allows students to see the teachers thinking process when the teacher uses the frames in the classroom. And then in turn, it shows the teacher the students thinking processes when the students use the frames. In short, what it does is it just makes visible what you’re thinking inside your head, so people can see it. This happens across all developmental levels. So children of 5 years can use the same frame to explain the same thinking process using their content. As a grade 10, grade 12 or grade 8, student can use that same process, the same frame that same framework to explain basic just at a different level of content.

 

What’s really important about a thinking school is that you develop these strategies across all your grades, all your different developmental levels in the school from the youngest to the oldest students. And what it also means is that if you’re developing them and every grade and every developmental stage, every year they seeing these same elements being used, over time the students gain a very in-depth understanding of the thinking processes that go with those frames and they start in independently. So they would start to develop their thinking around using these visible frames. So that even in their homework or their own study processes and plans, they can use these systems to enhance their learning.

 

KingLead: For different subjects, how are these frames used?

Catherine, Director of International Education at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy: These frames have been very carefully designed so that it doesn’t matter what age you are, what level you are, what subject you are exploring. Elements of these frames can be used across the board and everything. That’s why they are so influential. That’s what makes them one of the first strategies or tools that many thinking schools start to use, because it’s so universal and it’s kind transferable. What I can do in English with this frame, I can perhaps doing mathematics or in science and so on with the same frame, because it’s the process of thinking that’s important that is associated with each of these frames. That’s the element that’s very important in a thinking school is that the tools that the school starts to use across the school are transferable across developmental levels and across subjects.

 

When you work in a school that is a thinking school, you especially train your staff to use methods that are introduced into the curriculum for developing the thinking school. Also, to associate their cognitive and meta cognitive thinking skills is really important, because this enables you to use it as at the broadest possible application of these skills.

 

I think also it enables students at all levels with very diverse interests and talents to develop their different thinking skills at their own level and according to their own needs, we can then see the students themselves taking ownership of these tools and strategies for learning, and implement them in their own learning styles and implement them in their own way. It links this whole idea of teaching them to be lifelong learners, to be using tools that they learned at 5 years old. But still maybe when they are CEO of a company, they still using those same thinking tools to enhance the development businesses. So that’s really important.

 

KingLead: In addition to Thinking School, what other initiatives does Chaoyang KaiWen Academy have in order to help students develop deep thinking skills?

Catherine, Director of International Education at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy: We’ve embarked and I just want to talk about three of our other very exciting developments for this academic year. In our primary school, one of our focuses has been to improve our STEAM program for all our grade 3 to 5’s. And this thing will prepare them for an enhanced program that we started to develop in middle school with regard to how we look at ask program.

 

For our very youngest learners, our learners in reception in grade 1, we just developed a new subject for them called “MATI”. “MATI” stands for Mathematics, AI, Technology and Innovation. This is a fun and really hands-on program that begins to develop very early skills needed for the STEAM program when they into grade 3.

 

We’ve also started to the very exciting AI program for our teachers. That means that we really looking at helping our students to become 21st century learners. But at the same time, we are enabling our teachers to become effective 21st century teachers. And this is, I think, very exciting and something new for us.

 

KingLead: Did you face during you promoting these programs?

Catherine, Director of International Education at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy: When you hear teachers who teach at accredited thinking schools and have been developing this program for quite a few years, you always hear them talk about their journey to become a thinking school. That means it’s a long process. It’s part of many schools’ 5 to 10 years strategic development program.

 

I suppose one of the challenges is to keep the impetus going, to keep the staff invested in the process, and that requires a long term commitment from your staff. But it also requires, which I think is possibly even more important, commitment and support from your school leadership as a strategy that you’re going to invest in and long term. In schools like us, it’s the commitment from our board of governors, people who are prepared to put money into developing these systems in our school. So essentially, all the stakeholders must buy into it for it to be successful.

 

This program is at the very early stages yet, but I think within our vision, for what it would do in the future would be to partner with leading organizations, leading private ownership and big institutions, big universities in Beijing to actually lead and take this forward.

 

I think those kind of things are in the pipeline for the future. At the moment, we’re just starting out with our teachers, but there are lots of initiatives where private businesses, government organizations, leading educational institutions, all partner together to develop these systems in the future.

 

 

 

III. Professional Learning Community

Focusing on professional development 

and promoting continuous learning

 

 

KingLead: What is the biggest challenge is the faculty currently facing? What support should be supplied?

Catherine, Director of International Education at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy: PD is always important. It’s fundamental to any school. It’s the center of everything. PD really does talk about personal development as a teacher and we offer our teachers a myriad of personal development programs that they can go on to develop themselves. Developing themselves as individuals is really important. We call our PD program a PLC program. So that’s a collective development. So we’re looking at developing the personal development of each of our teachers, but for us at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy we also want us to develop of the school as a whole school. So this means more of a collective development.

 

We put in place a very structured, open door policy, where we effectively learn from observing each other, from watching other teachers in action. We can learn to data perform in the classroom ourselves. So that’s one element. And then obviously, as the thinking school, we are developing a whole school program that aims to develop us as a school. And I think this develops cohesion in our staff. So we developing the staff individually, but we developing ourselves collectively as well, so that we can move forward as a school.

 

At the moment, some of our open door classroom policies remains within our school, and it’s a structured program of observation of each other teach. But we have in developing ourselves as a thinking school. We’ve also partner with a school in London which has now achieved a very high level of accreditation as a thinking school. So they are able then to help to coach and to partner with other schools around the world that are wanting to develop as thinking school. At the moment, we are developing strategies, just talking with management about how they implemented, what programs they instituted in order to create themselves as a thinking school. And then slowly as the year progresses, we will start talking across the board teacher to teacher, talking about their experience of developing their school as a thinking school and what we are experiencing and giving us advice as a new thinking school, and as one of the first schools in China to embark on this program of becoming thinking school.

 

KingLead: What are the significance and goals of Professional Learning Community (known as PLC)?

Catherine, Director of International Education at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy: It’s fundamentally learning from each other and knowing and understanding that all of our teachers are highly skilled people. They either skilled within their developmental level. They skilled junior primary teachers or they skilled maths teachers or they skilled humanities teachers. But also that it doesn’t matter what you teach sometimes in subject, but your techniques and your strategy is in the classroom we can learn from each other across all the schools.

 

So basically, that’s what we wanting to do as a PLC community, as a learning community. We want to learn from each other, we want to give our skills showcase really to our teachers so that we can learn from each other.

 

KingLead: What are the future development goals of Chaoyang KaiWen Academy’s teaching team?

Catherine, Director of International Education at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy: You can sum it upin two words: keep learning.

 

As a school, we’ve got 8 values and these values really are fundamental to how we see education. Adapting is one of our values. Adapting to new challenges, to looking at our school very critically and seeing how we need to change and what we need to do, to adapt to the moving trends in education, but adapt to the needs of our students.

 

And then we want to really cement what we know is good teaching practice. We want to have that as the patient, but then courage is another value of ours. So we want to be courageous enough to step out of our comfort zone and embark on new ideas and grow as a teaching that a faculty. Another of our values is wisdom. So we want to be able to be wise enough to know what are good ideas, what are ideas worth pursuing and exploring. Being unique is another value of ours.

 

I think as a school, we have to remember that we are a different school, and we must value that, and we must be proud of our uniqueness as a school and what we offer as a school. So I think that’s really our way forward and the goals for us in the future.

 

KingLead: How to satisfy students’ different needs in the future? How to develop the staff team’s innovation ability as well as the students innovation ability?

Catherine, Director of International Education at Chaoyang KaiWen Academy: I think that’s where we’ve got to as teachers all must be courageous again, because we have to give students more agency in their learning. We have to look at ways of developing our schools where we are open to the idea that students come with a lot of skills into the classroom, and they need to be able to use those skills and develop those skills alongside the development of the skills that the teacher brings to the classroom.

 

So it’s more of a partnership in learning in many ways that the students bring skills, the students bring knowledge and innovative ideas, so does the teacher and together they work to creating a system in the classroom where everybody develops. Obviously that it comes with age and wisdom and knowledge and that perhaps the students don’t come with, but students come with other skills and other talents that can be used in the classroom very effectively to develop educational programs.

 

CKWA OPEN DAY is coming soon. If you are interested in the high-quality education of Chaoyang KaiWen Academy, you are welcome to scan the QR code below to make an appointment, experience the high-quality classroom, participate in educational forums, gain a deeper understanding of international education, and perceive the essence of good education. This will help you make the right choice for your child’s school selection.

 

*文中图片均来自：北京市朝阳区凯文学校

 

 

 

 

 

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