Wells International School Students Make ‘Every Action Count’
Sustainable Warrior- Crossing Borders
What is the definition of a border? It is a question that we have been asking our students at the Eastern Mediterranean International School since the start of the academic year. It is a question with so many answers from so many perspectives. According to the Oxford Dictionary, it is: ‘A line separating two countries, […]
DAIS 5th Grade Steps Towards Sustainability
In Mid-January, our 5th grade class taught Chinese students visiting from Harbin and Dalian, about the 17 Goals for sustainable development. The 17 Goals are 17 problems around the world that the United Nations decided that need to be solved by the year 2030. Our experience teaching the kids was extraordinary. It made us think about how […]
SUSTAINABLE WARRIOR
Investigating The Conflict in Jerusalem Through the Lense of the Compass When we set out on the Jerusalem Week project at the Eastern Mediterranean International School (EMIS), we wanted to gain real life experience of the issues faced on a daily basis in the city of Jerusalem- one of the most contested, fought over, complex and desired cities in the world. The issues surrounding […]
Introducing Systems Thinking in Fifth Grade Social Studies
In January, 2017, many teachers at Colegio Maya had the fantastic opportunity to attend a two-day workshop run by our director, Michael Johnston, one of Compass Education’s master trainers, with assistance from several teachers who had previously completed the Level 1, Compass Practitioner training. I’m so glad I was able to participate and walked away […]
Grade Four Business Unit of Study: Goods and Services
The Grade 4 unit of study, Goods and Services, was a unit which had historically centered around seeing how businesses run and the main ideas behind what businesses need to make a profit. It culminated in a ‘market day’ where student sold their own products that they had come up with and made to the school community at lunchtime. This year […]
Dorm Leadership
The Sustainability Compass model was shared with the students in the Dorm Leadership Council. These students make written proposals to the Dorm Administrators to make changes in the system. We had great discussions on why the Dorm Coordinator would not want to do some of the changes that the students want. It helped them realize other points of view as […]
Human Impact on Tioman Island
Working with the Sustainability Coordinator, we identified our grade level trips as opportunities to utilize systems thinking on sustainability with students. As a result we created several lesson plans utilizing the Sustainability Compass. In the first lesson, all 6th grade students participate in the “HDB Condo Case Study” where they place the nearby construction of […]
Ancient Egypt Compass
In my 4th grade class at Wells International School, we are wrapping up a unit on settlement patterns around the globe and how geography shapes the lives of people and cultures. This seemed like an opportune time to incorporate what I had recently learned from a Compass Education workshop. For one of our unit projects, I decided to […]
Conservation of the Bali Starlings in the Compass Model
The Compass model is an invaluable tool to help students become systems thinkers looking at the big picture of our world and its interconnections. As an educator with a degree in ‘Educating for Sustainability’ and teaching at a school focused on environmental and sustainable education, I have found the Compass model to be one of […]