My blog from Houston, Texas. Updated most weeks, usually on Sundays.
This has been one of those weeks when I feel as though I have squeezed a month of living into a single week. In addition to all the usual phone calls, e-mail writing, walking around the school, teaching classes, chairing meetings, signing papers, and so on, there have been some especially memorable moments.
One such special event took place under spectacularly clear blue skies on Tuesday afternoon when we held our afternoon tea time for the Senior (Grade 12) students.
The first tea time with Mrs Awty was held in her home with seven students and their teachers. When the number of graduating students and their teachers grew too large for her small home, Awty parents graciously opened their homes to continue the annual event.
Nowadays, the afternoon tea time takes place in a setting that is more appropriate to the large number of attendees – this year we have 92 students in Grade 12. Tuesday’s event was held at our Sports Stadium, having been meticulously organized by Mrs Liza Heintz, who did a brilliant job in organizing décor, flowers, fine bone china, beautiful food and a surprise visit by an ice cream truck.
Future planning was also the focus of a board meeting that took much of the day yesterday, focussing on the draft Strategic Vision. It was good to see some momentum gathering once again for the process to develop our new Strategic Vision, which was ably guided by board member Mr Johan Pfeiffer. Among the key issues discussed were school size, mission and vision.
An effective Strategic Vision is, of course, a ‘statement of everything’, or at least everything that matters. It should go to the heart of such fundamental questions as: what kind of school do we wish to be?, what characteristics would we defend most ardently and what would we would be prepared to let go?, what does it really mean to be an international school? (and is there a consensus that this meaning is truly what everyone really wants?), and so on.
One of the excellent ideas that Awty has ‘borrowed’ and implemented with great effectiveness in the past year has been the +Works program . +Works has recently launched their new website, and I was humbled to learn that they had posted extracts from an extensive video interview with me on the front page of the site. The full interview was recorded a couple of weeks ago in my office.
One of the major issues that we will need to consider in our new Strategic Vision is the notion of ‘international-mindedness). I wrote about this in a blog a few weeks ago, and the more I speak with people at Awty, the more acutely aware I become of just how important it is to sharpen the understanding of ‘international-mindedness’ for the sake of our defining our identity as an international school.
International-mindedness (which is a far deeper concept than mere internationalism) does not arise from the simple mixing of students from a range of diverse backgrounds. As the former Deputy Director-General of the IB, Mr Ian Hill, wrote in a recent article in ‘International School’ (the official magazine of the European Council of International Schools), the term ‘international-mindedness’ has a long tradition, having first been used in connection with UNESCO’s creation of the Conference of Principals of International Schools in 1949. The meaning was clear from the criteria for membership – it was open to schools that “consciously aim at furthering world peace and international understanding through education”.
One could do a lot worse than base the educational mission statement for an international school upon such a definition (after some suitable word-smithing for the sake of brevity).
On a totally different plane, Dianne and I attended Awty’s annual Gala last night at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Houston’s Galleria district. Brilliantly organized by our parent co-chairs, Janice Glaser and Nadia Tajalli, together with their committee of 11 committee chairs plus 41 committee members, the theme of the Gala was “From Awty to Africa”. How many other schools could gather such a huge number of committed parents who would be prepared to work tirelessly for months on end in a voluntary capacity to make the Gala such a success? It was truly a measure of our parents’ deep commitment to our students and the school that the Gala even happened – and it was a direct consequence of their brilliant organizational skills that the Gala was the success that it was.
And so it was! I was delighted to welcome our guests following a captivating performance by our Lower School choir, and after thanking the children and before thanking all the underwriters and sponsors who supported us to make the Gala possible, I shared some observations (with some wonderfully encouraging applause in response) such as the following:
•We are now Houston’s premier international school, a place where international mindedness is the living, breathing reality, and not empty rhetoric.
•We are now the largest international school in the US, and the largest independent school in Houston.
•The demand for places at Awty has risen by almost 40% in the last two years, and the acceptance rate of places we offer has almost doubled.
It is easy to see why.
•We have some of the best IB results and French Bac results in the world, which is a real tribute to the dedicated efforts of our teachers through all the grades of the school.
•We have wonderful new buildings that are the envy of other schools.
•We have a state-of-the-art program of conflict resolution and community building called +Works (Positive Works).
•We have some of the best, most professional teacher-student relationships of any school, anywhere.
•We have fabulous college and university acceptances.
•All this explains why Awty International School is such a great place for boys and girls, young and women, leaders of tomorrow.
And so it was that yet again, I found myself focusing on the future – in this case, the positive role our students will play in making our world a better place in the decades ahead, based on the experiences and insights they are receiving today in the Awty International School.
The Gala was a great success at another, deeper future-focussed level. The aim was to raise funds to support Awty’s future development, and the Gala certainly achieved that goal. Although I don’t have the final figures yet (or any photos to share), I was thrilled to see that we met our target of $50,000 to support a new initiative to raise funds to support financial aid for needy Awty families. In addition to serving as an important catalyst to social justice, the funds raised will help Awty to diversify its diversity - adding a focus on special needs and social-economic differences to our existing great strength of international diversity.
One important aspect of my future-focussed week contained a retrospective facet. During the Gala, it was my deep privilege to present trophies to two long-serving Awty teachers to honor their contributions over many years. Becky Johnston came to Awty in 1982, and Jean-Luc Detchessahar arrived in 1988. Between them they have enriched the learning of Awty students for almost six decades - a huge contribution by these two consummate professionals towards building the future through many years of exemplary, faithful service.
It was a superb articulation of the way education builds our future, not through any instant recipes or magic bullets, but through patient, dedicated, persistent, loving professionalism on the part of its practitioners - the teachers.
Focussing on the future
Sunday, 24 February 2013