Speech April 12, 2021
Every Monday morning, we gather in this hall, sharing our experiences and thoughts about our lives in the campus. This gathering is a great opportunity for every one of us to appreciate each other and learn from each other.
A few highlights from the last week and this week.
Last week, I sent HSSA a revised policy on the use of electronic devices. This new policy will be put into practice in September 2021. We have consulted teachers and parents. Now we are collecting opinions from students. Corresponding to this new change, we are also designing a student training program on how to use digital devices efficiently and effectively in school. From the next school year, only those who pass the training program would be permitted to use digital devices, especially cellphones, in the high school campus.
Last week, Grade 9 students sat for a mock exam of the upcoming middle school graduation examination. Our teachers will use the result of this mock to assess the current level of our students, so that adjustments about teaching and learning could be introduced if necessary.
This Wednesday, Grade 9 students will have another mock test on Physics and Chemistry; they will also take the final sports test this Thursday. This test is part of the middle school graduate examination.
As we can see, the ninth graders in international curriculum schools now have to adapt to this new normal. This new normal requires you to no longer wait, no longer delay, no longer idle, no longer procrastinate. The learning in Grade 9 now is and will be as demanding as that in Grade 10, who will take IGCSE exams and language tests, as demanding as that in Grade 11, who will have to face AS exams or IBDP first year assessments, as demanding and as that in Grade 12, who will have to successfully finish everything before you leave for a dreamed university.
To balance the pressure of study, we also had an interesting reading week and costume day last week, which as was organized by the teacher librarian and the English group. Some students participated in a range of activities, whereas some other didn’t have chance due the short week. The Teacher Librarian Miss Tiffany Zhan would like you know that most reading week activities are still open to students and teachers. You can continue to submit you excellent works to Miss Tiffany Zhan. We will set up a space specifically to display all the final products around the high school library.
This Saturday will be the second HS open day of this year. Last time, several student volunteers lent their hands. We will recruit volunteers again for this coming open day. I want to say thank you in advance to those who will support.
Mid-term exams are just one week away. I would like to remind all students to make good preparation beforehand. I trust your teachers will help you make sufficient review, improve understanding, and hone skills before the exams.
Please allow me to share one quote with you before I will talk about March House Points.
This quote was said by famous Martin Luther King, Jr. “If you can’t fly, then run; if you can’t run then walk; if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
I think the message the quote delivers is powerful and inclusive. Everyone should move forward, should make effort, should improve, as everyone can be better no matter where you are at this moment.
Next, I will talk about the result of House Points competition, March 2021.
S House won the competition of March 2021.
Let me provide several highlights:
1. The House Point competition become very tight. The totals of Houses are very close to each other. This is good because it shows more and more students across all the four Houses are engaged with the House system. You all know that the competition is not a number game, rather it is linked with the improvement of our learning environment.
2. E House was the best performer in dormitory in March. This shows E House students’ self-management skills and respect as to dormitory teachers and rules. We not only learn academic knowledge and skills at school, we also learn how to be good people. So, this part of achievement is also very important.
3. S House made good improvement on school uniforms. Heads of House, House captains, and Prefects in this House made efforts to inspect student uniforms regularly. These efforts not only strengthen the identity of our students, but also develop respectfulness.
4. We have more students earning house points than losing house points. This shows improvement of our students’ behavior and caring for the general learning environment of the school. At the same time, more and more teachers award more points than taking points away, this shows more teachers come to understand the power of positive reinforcement.
5. We asked teachers to give clear explanations to students when any positive or negative house point was given. We know more teachers now understand the importance of this practice. Also, according to the records in the Smart Campus, teachers really use the house point system to help all students improve on all aspects of campus lives.
I also would like to share a few possible changes as to House Point criteria. We will finalize these proposed changes in April and try them out in the last two months of this academic year.
1. We are revising House Point criteria, making them more aligned with the HS student Behavioral Norms, while still keeping those criteria that are linked with ECNUAS learner attributes. There are 12 main areas in the Behavioral Norms, e.g. how to use digital devices and disciplines during evening study. These will all be reflected in the House Points collecting system.
2. One Grade 10 student, Tina Qiu (Qiu, ChuTing) provided the Principal’s Office with an excellent proposal about how to give house points to those students who receive external academic or extra-curricular awards. We have more and more students participating external contests and many of them won remarkable awards at various levels. In Tina’s proposal, we won’t give a vague range of points for all kinds of external awards; instead, she categorizes external contests into four levels according to the degree of difficulty. In each category, there are also different stages of the competition, such as preliminary or final round. I really appreciate Tina’s proposal, which demonstrates her caring for the House system and the school. Also, this is a good example of taking leadership in doing things, in making impact on the community. We need more students to taking initiative, taking leadership, and taking ownership of the work we are doing in this building.
Lastly, let us take a quick recapture of Theme of April. I would ask all learners and teachers in the school to further reflect on these two terms and try to live up to these recommendations, becoming more knowledgeable and self-regulated learners.
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