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Greetings International School Teachers & Leaders

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Greetings International School Teachers & Leaders

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Go to MiniPD Core Courses to find out more about the course above.

- Consider taking daily actions to foster belonging in your learning community this month.
- Scroll horizontally along day by day. Scroll each day up and down.

Thank you to MiniPD Coaches, IB and Non-IB educators, who have co-constructed this content with the MiniPD Team.

Stay safe and well.
The MiniPD Team
www.minipd.com

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MiniPD Core Course - Strengthening Child Protection Practices

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Celebrate Neurodiversity

MiniPD Coach Kaitlyn Somers suggests:

Create a physical or digital bulletin board featuring famous neurodivergent people.

Don't shy away from talking about the different ways our brains work.

Provide opportunities for students to hear from neurodivergent voices (through guest speakers and books).

Celebrate Neurodiversity Celebration Week (March 21-27, 2022)

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Act: Dedicate Time to Build Empathy

- Check in for a one-to-one or spend a few minutes of a lesson or meeting to ask how students or colleagues are doing (professionally or personally).

- Actively listen to perspectives.

- Show you have listened.

- Follow up as needed.

The MiniPD Team

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Join our Belonging Chat
@FariaMiniPD #MiniPDchat

The MiniPD Team

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Act for Safeguarding: Play Your Part

Here are 3 steps you can take today:

- Check you know who is your school's Child Protection Officer and process.

- Be mindful for yourself, colleagues and students - any individual staff member and student should never be alone.

- Sign up for our live event which will include Matt Harris, CEO from ChildSafeguarding.com, who say 'everyone has a role to play' in safeguarding. Check out November 18th to register.

The MiniPD Team

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ChildSafeguarding - Child Protection Training for Everyone

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We provide universal baseline child protection training accessible to all adults, regardless of language, geography, or literacy level.

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Expand your Tool Kit to Foster Belonging

- Join #MiniPDchat on Twitter to share and gain strategies from international educators to foster belonging.

- Share a Pro-Tip for this month's theme: Fostering Belonging.

- Follow @FariaMiniPD

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Act: Send a Strong Visual Message

- Download any of these One World Posters for free.
- Post them in your classroom.
- Widen perspectives through careful discussion.
- Inspire those around you.

Learning for Justice

The MiniPD Team

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The One World posters featured in Learning for Justice magazine are a reader favorite, which is why we’re making them available for download.

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Develop positive relationships with your students

MiniPD Coach Sara Shehata suggests:

Encourage students using positive feedback.

Take an interest in what your students are saying.

Create a fun learning environment encouraging collaboration.

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Give socially isolated students an attractive role

MiniPD Coach Penelope Preen suggests:

In Elementary school this might be

-Animal keeper

-Board decorator

-Messenger

Other students will be eager to assist them!

Remember, it is always easier for new students to establish new friendships 1:1 around a common endeavor, than to break into an established group!

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Read the MiniPD Blog Post - Fostering Belonging to Improve Motivation, Happiness and Wellness

- Sign in or create an account at no cost to access more MiniPD Coach articles and resources.
- Get to know MiniPD Coaches experienced in Fostering Belonging who can support you 1-on-1!

The MiniPD Team

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To foster belonging, to create safer and more inclusive international schools, intentionality in our words and actions is key. Taking purposeful steps towards safeguarding physical, psychological, social and emotional wellbeing, driving equity forward and promoting inclusion, can actively foster belonging in our many different international school contexts. One of the biggest challenges that international schools are facing is the impact of social distancing. International schools continue to deal with the damage that has been caused by the disconnect, the loneliness and isolation, as connections and relationships have been severed. But there are many leaders, teachers, students and parents who will have felt a disconnect before social distancing began.
So how intentional are you being to create a safe and inclusive environment? To bring about acceptance? To foster belonging?
Some of MiniPD's experienced coaches, who are IB and non-IB international school educators, foster belonging from different perspectives. Working in K-12 international schools and intercultural environments, they share their insights below, some of which they share as bite-sized strategies here as part of MiniPD's Fostering Belonging Month November Calendar.

Take Action for Safeguarding

Intentional actions that foster belonging must sit within and build upon the solid foundations of safeguarding best practice. The International Task Force on Child Protection (ITFCP) set enhanced standards adopted by school evaluation agencies. As Matt Harris, CEO of ChildSafeguarding.com advocates, we all have a role to play.

What can you do now? Read and reflect on the International Task Force on Child Protection Standards , to increase your awareness of your individual role in safeguarding physical, psychological, social and emotional wellbeing. Or read MiniPD Coach, Engy Olama's article Essential Agreements Nurture Belonging where she suggests practical steps 'to establish expectations that hold everyone accountable to ensure that the working environment is safe and sets everyone for success.'

Take Action for Inclusion

Peter Dewitt , openly gay author, presenter and leadership coach, talks about his struggle to feel accepted and to belong during certain times in his educational career. MiniPD Coach, Kaitlyn Somers, shares her personal experience coming out as a queer educator to colleagues and the process of creating a gay-straight alliance (GSA) at her middle school. She shares a few tips on how to get started and the impact these clubs can have on students.

Take Action for Equity

Black author of Care at the Core, Sherri Spellic , asks us to be aware of our cultural and racial blindspots. She says, 'What you see depends on what you know, are aware of, have had experience with. Seeing beyond our experiences means talking to people in other positions: getting proximate to those who are not us.' (Beyond Armchair Antiracism, ELMLE, Nov.23 2020).

Take Action to Impact Staff Belonging

Our micro actions and interactions on any given day can have a notable impact on the extent to which others around us feel they belong. Purposeful practice to develop listening skills can support empathy building to foster a sense of belonging in colleagues. MiniPD Coach, Tom Hetherington asks, ' How can we utilise our full-body listening skills to create a supportive network where our colleagues feel valued and supported?'

Take Action Within the Classroom for Student Belonging

As teachers in the classroom, consider being more intentional to shift thinking from tolerance to acceptance. After all, acceptance is essential for mental health. MiniPD Coaches, Penelope Preen and Maria Herrán provide practical approaches to develop inclusivity in classroom practice. Penelope invites us to use a simple debriefing strategy framed by key questions that invite collaboration and build connections. Mercedes invites us 'to aim for the creation of cross-age PBL spaces where students can relate through interests and not just age groups.'

Take Action Beyond the Classroom for Parent Belonging

As mentioned, there will be some international school parents who will have also felt a disconnect before social distancing began. MiniPD Coach, Sara Shehata invites us to foster belonging through encouraging community engagement. She suggests asking 'parents or family members if they can be 'expert' guest speakers at your school to support student investigations', or 'to create community suggestion platforms for parents to voice their praise, opinions and feedback.'

We all need to feel accepted, to feel a sense of belonging to be motivated, happy and well. It is essential for good mental health for all individuals that we are intentional in our actions and words. It is our duty as international educators to intentionally promote open-mindedness in our community, to nurture connections and relationships, to ensure all members of our communities feel accepted; feel a sense of belonging.

We invited educators from around the world to join us in a Coaches-in-Conversation on Fostering Belonging in November 2021, and would invite our readers of this blog to benefit from the conversation as well.

Needing a thought partner? A critical friend? Schedule one-to-one coaching sessions with any of our inspirational MiniPD Coaches above about areas that can support you to foster belonging in your international school community!

Want to keep connected?

You will receive a newsletter at the beginning of each month with pro-tips, tools and resources.

You will have access to information on live events and our bite-size action-based calendar created for, with and by our community of international school educators.

You can access articles published by MiniPD experienced Coaches, IB and non-IB international school educators, on topics that matter to you.

You can connect with our experienced Coaches quickly and easily for ongoing one-to-one supportive conversations.

Want to learn more?
Safeguarding Equity and Inclusion
What topics matter to you?

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Foster Belonging to Improve Motivation, Happiness and Wellness - MiniPD

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To foster belonging, to create safer and more inclusive international schools, intentionality in our words and actions is key. Taking purposeful steps towards safeguarding physical, psychological, social and emotional wellbeing, driving equity forward and promoting inclusion, can actively foster belonging in our many different international school contexts.

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Reflect on Essential Agreements

MiniPD Coach, Engy Olama, suggests focusing on essential agreements to create a culture of belonging by:

Following through on essential agreements.

Understanding the belief behind the behaviour before you apply consequences.

Using age-appropriate consequences.

Reflecting on your actions: Do you make others feel belonging and significance?

Read the full article here.

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REGISTER
for Fostering Belonging: Coaches in Conversation (See November 18th)

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER for FREE

ON REGISTRATION YOU WILL RECEIVE A COUPON FOR A 30% DISCOUNT on a 1-on-1 MiniPD Coaching Session

Coupon Valid November 1st - December 31st 2021

MiniPD Coaches are experienced IB and Non-IB International Teachers, Leaders and Consultants.

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Foster belonging through encouraging community engagement

MiniPD Coach Sara Shehata suggests:

Ask parents or family members if they can be 'expert' guest speakers at your school to support student investigations.

Create community suggestion platforms for parents to voice their praise, opinions and feedback.

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Linking belonging to teamwork though PBL

MiniPD Coach Mercedes Herrán suggests:

- Aim for creating cross-age PBL spaces where student can relate through interests and not just age groups.

- Make sure you distinguish this spaces from extra-curricular activities when there is not necessarily a team focus and that usually imply extra hours for students.

- Innovative spaces such as these should be managed by experienced PBL teacher or teachers that are at least provided with training, so that the aim and overall operation does not risk the purpose.

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Act for Antiracism

Access one of these resources below.

National Equity Project

Association of International Educators and Leaders of Colour (AIELOC)

Learning for Justice

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Jump back into our Belonging Chat
@FariaMiniPD #MiniPDchat

The MiniPD Team

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Build Inclusivity in your classroom through debriefing

MiniPD Coach Penelope Preen suggests:

Debrief classroom activities by asking students,

“How did that go for you?”

“Does anyone else feel the same way?”

”Does anyone feel differently?”

“What might we do differently next time?”

- Students learn that their experience of learning matters in your classroom.

- You learn what worked and what didn’t in a lesson.

- Lesson design becomes a collaborative process.

- Systematic debriefing helps to create a culture of shared accountability for how lessons go.

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Inclusive Practices for LGBTQ+ Students, Faculty, Families:

MiniPD Coach Kaitlyn Somers suggests

Hang up a Safe Space sticker or sign. You can order a kit from GLSEN or print PDFs here.

In your 'get to know you' activities at the start of the year, ask for students' preferred pronouns and honor them.

Use inclusive language: refer broadly to a student's family as opposed to using specifics (this supports students coming from all kinds of families), use gender neutral language.

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GLSEN Safe Space Kit: Solidarity with LGBTQ+ Youth

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You can download the contents from the Documents section on this page. Please feel free to print your own copies and distribute them. We appreciate your commitment to creating safe spaces for LGBTQ youth in schools.

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LIVE EVENT: WATCH THE RECORDING

FOSTERING BELONGING
MiniPD Coaches in Conversation took place on November 18th, 2021. 8:00 am UTC.

Access the recording, and other past live events, HERE.

Alternatively, go to our blogpost on belonging HERE and scroll down to view the live event recording.

Find Coaches to support you!

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Fostering Belonging: MiniPD Coaches in Conversation

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Role-model Commitment: Motivate teachers to motivate students

MiniPD Coach Mercedes Herrán suggests:

-Teachers are key stakeholders in fostering student belonging, but workload may be too much.

- A distributive leadership models could allow teachers to take on more responsibility in terms of creating calendar based or topic based initiatives that might foster diversity and belonging.

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November 20 is Transgender Day of Remembrance

Find age-appropriate ways to raise awareness about hate crimes against transgender people.

Provide space for this teachable moment.

Connect with your diversity coordinator or Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) advisor to see what kind of professional development might be available for faculty and staff related to gender identity and sexual orientation.

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Practice Heartfulness!

MiniPD Coach Engy Olama suggests:

Start with yourself, send kind wishes to yourself.

Send kind wishes to a family member.

Write a kind note to a friend.

Pick a secret buddy who needs support and send them a kind thought.

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Share a story of impact on our Belonging chat on Twitter.

- What is one positive change you made in your work or classroom to foster belonging?

@FariaMiniPD #MiniPDchat

The MiniPD Team

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Act for Antiracism

- Be intentional. Be aware of your own racial and cultural blindspots.

- Reflect. 'What you see depends on what you know, are aware of, have had experience with. Seeing beyond our experiences means talking to people in other positions: getting proximate to those who are not us.' Sherri Spellic, Beyond Armchair Antiracism, ELMLE, Nov.23 2020. Author of Care at the Core.

- Follow @edifiedlistener

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Growth Mindset

In this learning experience, we are going to learn about growth mindset and how this thinking can enhance our self-efficacy and support well-being and human development.

1. Watch this video.

2. Reflect on the following question: What does a growth mindset look like in the world around you?

3. Open this Data Talk document from the resources section.

4. The crayons and the bar graph both represent the same data. Observe the data and answer the following questions:

What do you notice?

What do you wonder?

What is going on in this data visualization?

Which one do you prefer?

What do you believe causes this trend?

What factors, aside from age, could affect a growth mindset?

5. Pair and share your thinking with a peer.

Mihai Catrinar
IB Physical Education and Health Coordinator

Learning That Transfers Physical Education Specialist

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Act: Develop a Community Agreement

'We can’t achieve our vision in a hostile, disrespectful, or undermining group culture.' National Equity Project

- Do you have a community agreement for your class or for your team?

- Access the link for an outlined step by step guide on how to frame the conversation and how to engage people in developing a community agreement.

The MiniPD Team

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Developing Community Agreements — National Equity Project

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Community agreements are a powerful strategy for coalescing a group into a team. Develop effective agreements with these tips from the National Equity Project.

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Act: Use a Stereotype Wheel with Your Class

- Invite students to consider implicit bias by using a Stereotype wheel.

-  Create your own Wheel of Names to address contextual issues.

As the Council of International Schools says, 'bias is a natural human tendency that, left unchecked, can undermine equity in our schools.'

The MiniPD Team

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Wordwall - Create better lessons quicker

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Women spend more time than men on social networking sites., Men talk more about things, women talk more about people., Men are more interested than women in gadgets like phones and tablets., Women are better at multitasking than men., Men find it more difficult than women to talk to their friends or family if they have a problem., Women spend more time than men talking about celebrities and their lifestyles., Men are more interested in power than women are., Women are less interested in sport than men., Men worry more about their health than women., Women are better parents than men., Men make better chefs than women., A pure friendship between a man and a woman is possible., Men swear more often than women., Men make better drivers than women., Women's life tends to be more demanding., For a good reason, there are more men in managerial positions than women., Men make better bosses than women., Women are more caring than men., Men are better at telling jokes than women., Men are better at navigating than women., Women are worse at maths than men., Men are more competitive than women., Women panic more than men in stressful situations., Men are better at assembling IKEA furniture than women..

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Women spend more time than men on social networking sites., Men talk more about things, women talk more about people., Men are more interested than women in gadgets like phones and tablets., Women are better at multitasking than men., Men find it more difficult than women to talk to their

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Act: Tackle Your Unconscious Bias

- Recognize your own bias.

- Take a test to promote self-awareness and self-reflection.

- Try Harvard's Implicit Association Test or other instrument to assess bias is the first step.

The MiniPD Team

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Preliminary Information

On the next page you'll be asked to select an Implicit Association Test (IAT) from a list of possible topics . We will also ask you (optionally) to report your attitudes or beliefs about these topics and provide some information about yourself.

We ask these questions because the IAT can be more valuable if you also describe your own self-understanding of the attitude or stereotype that the IAT measures. We would also like to compare differences between people and groups.

On the IAT, you may find it easier to pair certain attributes with one group of people compared to another. Your IAT results may depart from your personal beliefs.

Note: This site is designed for adults, aged 18 or older.

Data Privacy: Data exchanged with this site are protected by SSL encryption. Project Implicit uses the same secure hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS) that banks use to securely transfer credit card information. This provides strong security for data transfer to and from our website. IP addresses are routinely recorded, but are completely confidential. For research purposes, data without directly identifying information is made publicly available. You can find more information on our Data Privacy page.

Important disclaimer: In reporting to you results of any IAT test that you take, we will mention possible interpretations that have a basis in research done (at the University of Washington, University of Virginia, Harvard University, and Yale University) with these tests. However, these Universities, as well as the individual researchers who have contributed to this site, make no claim for the validity of these suggested interpretations. If you are unprepared to encounter interpretations that you might find objectionable, please do not proceed further. You may prefer to examine general information about the IAT before deciding whether or not to proceed.

If you have questions about the study, please contact Project Implicit at questions@projectimplicit.net. To obtain more information about the study, ask questions about the research procedures, express concerns about your participation, or report illness, injury or other problems, please contact:

Tonya R. Moon, Ph.D.
Chair, Institutional Review Board for the Social and Behavioral Sciences
One Morton Dr Suite 500
University of Virginia, P.O. Box 800392
Charlottesville, VA 22908-0392
Email: irbsbshelp@virginia.edu
Website: https://research.virginia.edu/irb-sbs
Website for Research Participants: https://research.virginia.edu/research-participants

I am aware of the possibility of encountering interpretations of my IAT test performance with which I may not agree. Knowing this, I wish to proceed I am aware of the possibility of encountering interpretations of my IAT test performance with which I may not agree. Knowing this, I wish to proceed using a touchscreen OR using a keyboard.

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On the next page you'll be asked to select an Implicit Association Test (IAT) from a list of possible topics . We will also ask you (optionally) to report your attitudes or beliefs about these topics and provide some information about yourself.

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Act: Develop Your Intercultural Competence

The Council of International Schools says,

- Be intentional: take time to develop and strengthen your foundations by purposefully tackling racism, diversity, equity and inclusion.
- Support progress by being self-reflective, deliberate and evaluative.
- It is essential, no matter how progressive or rudimentary we are in our thinking and actions.

The MiniPD Team

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A CIS virtual workshop series

We are all accountable for purposefully and intentionally tackling racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion in schools and universities across our global CIS community.

Progress is dependent on strong foundational concepts that are grounded in being self-reflective, deliberate, and evaluative. Taking time to develop and strengthen our foundations-individually and institutionally-is essential, no matter how progressive or rudimentary we are in our thinking and actions.

We can help you do the groundwork during these one-day, 2.5 hour virtual and interactive workshops we will address intercultural competence and help you achieve equity in your schools and universities.

You and your institution will be in a better position to address the challenges faced by non-dominant racial and cultural groups, and the resulting bias and discrimination, by developing the behaviours and understanding at the core of intercultural competence.

In these three interactive workshops, you will join guest speakers and your peers from international schools and universities to collaborate and build your understanding of intercultural competence and its role in tackling racism and creating equity.

Related content that helps us tackle racism together:

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Tackling Racism Workshop Series - CIS Council of International Schools

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We are all accountable for purposefully and intentionally tackling racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion in schools and universities across our global CIS community. Progress is dependent on strong foundational concepts that are grounded in being self-reflective, deliberate, and evaluative.

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S.M.A.R.T. Goal-setting

This process will help you identify physical and mental wellness goals to help you add purpose to your human development.

When writing your goals for physical, emotional, and social well-being, try to use concise language and include relevant information. These steps are designed to help you succeed, so be positive when answering the questions.

Use the format from the template section and consult the provided examples of other students' work.

1. Start by thinking and answering the following questions: What would you like to achieve at this point in your life and it would add meaning to it? What is your physical, emotional, or social well-being goal?

2.  Use the template provided to start formulating your goals.

3.  Prioritize and write down a goal that you want to achieve first. This is your initial goal.

4. Complete each section by answering their related questions.

5.  Before you reach the last point, review your answers again, and re-formulate your initial goal into the SMART one!

6. Share your goal with your family members, friends, or the larger community that you belong to.

7. In order to increase accountability and responsibility make your goals public. Make your failures public too!

8. Enjoy the process of becoming and discovering a better YOU!

Mihai Catrinar
IB Physical Education and Health Coordinator

Learning That Transfers Physical Education Specialist

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Next? Check out the MiniPD resources on Driving Engagement.

Engagement focused:

#MiniPDchat on Twitter

Padlet Calendar for daily-actions and resources

Blogpost and articles from MiniPD Coaches

Free live session with experienced MiniPD Coaches in Conversation

1-1 Coaching sessions via www.MiniPD.com

Stay safe, stay well, stay connected.
The MiniPD Team

Questions? Feedback? Suggestions?
Contact us at: hello@minipd.com

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