Learning Continued over the Summer Break

Some parents may be concerned about their children having ‘missed out’ on their education over the last few months. The teachers at AISL are a dedicated, highly qualified cohort who are constantly upskilling in the field of education. Please know that, as educators, we are trained to differentiate learning. 
Here are two ways you might approach extra ‘learning’, if you are at all concerned, in your home this summer. 

1. Encourage reading:  Encourage your child to read, read, and read more. It would be wonderful if you could nudge them to read across genres, but what’s most important is that students enjoy reading - so if a particular genre is appealing - that’s absolutely fine! Much research is out there about how reading is directly related to academic success. Reading allows students to gain knowledge and understanding about other cultures, other points of view, the human condition, etc. In fact, reading promotes all the IB learner profile attributes such as caring, knowledgeable, communicator, etc. International Mindedness is enormously valued in the IB and reading helps develop this mindset. 
2. Encourage passions: Another way you can support your child this summer is by helping them engage with a passion. Help them to recognise an interest. This may arise from a piece of literature or a news item. Perhaps the novel your child is reading deals with espionage. Perhaps there is something newsworthy that they feel passionately about. Perhaps they have recognised a need in the local community. Start exploring that interest together. What questions does he/she have? What might he/she research or inquire into? How does he/she want to document knowledge and understanding? This could be through journaling/scrapbooking/painting/drawing/ discussion. How could they take action that would make a difference? Pursuing a passion should not feel like ‘work’ though! Your child needs to be excited and motivated! 

You may want to use the visible thinking routines that we use in the classroom to promote thinking around questions and issues. Here is the link for the routines with instructions - http://www.pz.harvard.edu/projects/visible-thinking 

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