Reflection on the online visit of the American School of Warsaw

Online visit of ASW

After one week's delay, on 7 December 2021, we finally had our online visit of the American School of Warsaw. Below is the schedule of the day:

9:30 Introduction

9:40- 10:00 Kindergarten morning circle/calendar time

*playground observation of OPAL (Outdoor Play And Learning)

Break

10:50-11:30 Art with Grade 4

11:40-11:55 Guided Reading with Grade 1 students**

Break

12:50-1:30 Math games, then Shared reading in Grade 2

Q&A

1:40 End of visit.

Because of the pandemic, it was conducted online, but it did not influence the effect that much. Though it was very attractive, I believe it would be more fascinating if we had the chance to observe it off-line. 

The core programme is Primary Years Programme (PYP) in this stage. And it is mainly student-centred. Students are in the centre of education, and teachers are trying their best to meet students' needs. It is completely different from the education I received when I was young in China. Compared with the education in the private schools of China, which is still more teacher-centred, the student-centred approach enables students to study in accordance with their own pace and their improvement can be ensured.

Students have many opportunities to work in pairs, so students are more likely to be collaborative and learn from each other efficiently.  Also, it provides students with chances of studying internationally because students are from different countries and they have to use English as a lingua franca to communicate with each other. Therefore, their English gets improved. Actually, I was really amazed by their English. And the multicultural environment may make students be aware of intercultural differences as well.

Lastly, I am impressed by the use of L1 (Polish) and the idea of "not yet" about assessment the most. There are Polish students and students from other countries who need Polish language to survive here. It integrates with the national curriculum and students have the chance to learn the language. Next, the interference of L1 in classes can make students feel more comfortable, and they are less likely to be excessively tense. Absolutely, it helps them understand some confusing and tricky things better. In addition, a TED talk was recommended in the professional and academic discourse (PAD) class (https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve), which is about "not yet". I have seen the idea being applied in the school, in that the teacher said "not yet" instead of giving "fail" to students when asked about assessment, which made me suddenly remind of the video.