ACAMIS PLN - Secondary Lab Technicians
- Ellie Chen, Chief Biology Technician
- Barish Wu, Technician - Biology
- Mavis Zhang, Technician - Biology
From the ACAMIS training course, I learned that different people take in information through different sensory preferences, such as visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactual. I realized that different people have different styles of learning and working, which also involves people’s temperament types. This course allows us to understand that everyone expresses themselves in different ways. As listeners, we can not only understand the facts, and the other’s attitude, but also the feelings and intentions, and commitment from the dialogues.
Combining the discussion and communication among peers, we draw a conclusion that we should respect the personalities of different individuals. learn to communicate effectively with students and colleagues in the context of international education, and learn to provide positive feedback and responses to promote a positive learning and working environment.
What went well: Explained with real examples of laboratory work.
Even Better if: More examples to be given
“The Secondary Lab Assistants and Technicians” was definitely brilliant. The most attractive part of this training is communicating. In each session, we had time to discuss topics and communicate with technicians from other international schools, which helped me know more about the lab system and how labs run in other schools. What’s more, the instructor talked a lot about how can we have smooth and effective communication with teachers, how can we make a better working atmosphere, and what should we do when facing some typical problems. Basically, it’s great for me to talk to someone whose job roles are similar to mine which help me work efficiently in the future.
Here are some thoughts about the training. First of all, there are 3 sessions in our training, I found the 2nd and 3rd sessions useful. In the 1st session, Steve taught how to help students to set goals, students learning production behaviors, and teachers’ impact on students.
The last two sessions are quite helpful. Steve presented how to communicate with different style persons and some communication skills.
Even better if there are more communication sessions in the training.
I would recommend it to a future colleague for next year.
ACAMIS PLN - Marketing
Kelly Lan
Administrator of Admission
It was a valuable experience that allowed me to gain new insights and skills in school marketing, which I believe it will benefit our Admission team greatly.
The program covered a range of topics that were very relevant to my role as an admission officer in an international school, and I particularly appreciated the strategies for creating compelling content and engaging with students and parents through social media. I feel much more equipped to showcase our school to prospective families and build relationships with them through various channels.
ACAMIS PLN - GCA
Jamie Wang
Community Liaison officeer
What went well:
With great community engagement, shared resources (eg articles, but also sample project plans), a wide range of information shared, concrete details about what can be done and how
Even better if:
A lot of time is spent discussing things in different break-out rooms. Subjectively, but I think it’s far too much. On a similar note, the sessions are very detailed but long – some information could be imparted much more efficiently.
I hope that there will be more opportunities to join CPD programs related to my admission work in the future, including topics such as university application and enrollment management. I believe that continuous professional development is critical for staying up-to-date in the rapidly evolving education industry.
ACAMIS PLN - GCA
Angelien Meggersee
Teacher of EPQ, Teacher of Economics
I think ACAMIS is one of the best CPD. Here are some reasons:
- It usually takes place over a few months. This allows me to take time to digest what they have delivered and then also try and implement it. If/when I have difficulty with some aspects, then I can ask questions during the next session.
- They have keynote speakers that are actually involved in whatever they present.
- Acamis is like “on-the-job” training, so it is easier to see how to get things started and implemented.
- I feel empowered when having PLN.
They also provide pre-reading which can easily be done as sessions are usually every 3 months.
ACAMIS PLN - Planning and evaluating professional development
Richard Driscoll
Academic Deputy Principal
Happy to belong to the network for the second year.
Session 1 was very useful for thinking about school’s strategic goal on high quality learning. In particular how to evidence. I was also able to connect the head of CPD at Dulwich, Singapore who have also undertaken the Assessment lead programme but are at more advanced stage of implementation.
Session 2 in which I presented was useful in receiving feedback from particpants on how to evaluate the module created for high quality learning.
Session 3 was very useful to get insight into A1/Chat gtp and how it effects schools. Excellent presentation and resources shared.
ACAMIS PLN - Library
Jocelyn Chen
Librarian
it is a great opportunity for me to connect with other schools’ librarians and hear about their experiences with libraries, like communications with students, promotion of reading interests, and how to combine classroom reading with libraries.
Indeed, I was inspired by some of their amazing ideas and implemented some measures in the library – displaying books in themed shelves, also posting recommended reading lists to students via Newsletters/Wechat official accounts/emails.
World Book Day: The group discussion about what to do during Book Week is also quite thought-inspiring.
Good to know more about the technologies that different libraries use for database organization, which will be helpful for me to explore more resource platforms for our library.
Even better if:
For the moment, I have just finished all three sessions of this year today. The meeting/training content was great, while I would expect a more systematic/professional map of the library setting and development.
Our school’s library situation is different from other K12 schools’ libraries. Our students are purely high school students, there will be a big difference in how to promote library activities.
From the ACAMIS training course, I learned that different people take in information through different sensory preferences, such as visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactual. I realized that different people have different styles of learning and working, which also involves people’s temperament types. This course allows us to understand that everyone expresses themselves in different ways. As listeners, we can not only understand the facts, and the other’s attitude, but also the feelings and intentions, and commitment from the dialogues.
Combining the discussion and communication among peers, we draw a conclusion that we should respect the personalities of different individuals. learn to communicate effectively with students and colleagues in the context of international education, and learn to provide positive feedback and responses to promote a positive learning and working environment.
What went well: Explained with real examples of laboratory work.
Even Better if: More examples to be given
The Secondary Lab Assistants and Technicians” was definitely brilliant. The most attractive part of this training is communicating. In each session, we had time to discuss topics and communicate with technicians from other international schools, which helped me know more about the lab system and how labs run in other schools. What’s more, the instructor talked a lot about how can we have smooth and effective communication with teachers, how can we make a better working atmosphere, and what should we do when facing some typical problems. Basically, it’s great for me to talk to someone whose job roles are similar to mine which help me work efficiently in the future.
Here are some thoughts about the training. First of all, there are 3 sessions in our training, I found the 2nd and 3rd sessions useful. In the 1st session, Steve taught how to help students to set goals, students learning production behaviors, and teachers’ impact on students.
The last two sessions are quite helpful. Steve presented how to communicate with different style persons and some communication skills.
Even better if there are more communication sessions in the training.
I would recommend it to a future colleague for next year.
It was a valuable experience that allowed me to gain new insights and skills in school marketing, which I believe it will benefit our Admission team greatly.
The program covered a range of topics that were very relevant to my role as an admission officer in an international school, and I particularly appreciated the strategies for creating compelling content and engaging with students and parents through social media. I feel much more equipped to showcase our school to prospective families and build relationships with them through various channels.
I hope that there will be more opportunities to join CPD programs related to my admission work in the future, including topics such as university application and enrollment management. I believe that continuous professional development is critical for staying up-to-date in the rapidly evolving education industry.
Kelly Lan
Administrator of Admission
What went well:
With great community engagement, shared resources (eg articles, but also sample project plans), a wide range of information shared, concrete details about what can be done and how
Even better if:
A lot of time is spent discussing things in different break-out rooms. Subjectively, but I think it’s far too much. On a similar note, the sessions are very detailed but long – some information could be imparted much more efficiently.
Jamie Wang
Community Liaison officer
I think ACAMIS is one of the best CPD. Here are some reasons:
- It usually takes place over a few months. This allows me to take time to digest what they have delivered and then also try and implement it. If/when I have difficulty with some aspects, then I can ask questions during the next session.
- They have keynote speakers that are actually involved in whatever they present.
- Acamis is like “on-the-job” training, so it is easier to see how to get things started and implemented.
- I feel empowered when having PLN.
- They also provide pre-reading which can easily be done as sessions are usually every 3 months.
Angelien Meggersee
Teacher of EPQ, Teacher of Economics
it is a great opportunity for me to connect with other schools’ librarians and hear about their experiences with libraries, like communications with students, promotion of reading interests, and how to combine classroom reading with libraries.
Indeed, I was inspired by some of their amazing ideas and implemented some measures in the library – displaying books in themed shelves, also posting recommended reading lists to students via Newsletters/Wechat official accounts/emails.
World Book Day: The group discussion about what to do during Book Week is also quite thought-inspiring.
Good to know more about the technologies that different libraries use for database organization, which will be helpful for me to explore more resource platforms for our library.
Even better if:
For the moment, I have just finished all three sessions of this year today. The meeting/training content was great, while I would expect a more systematic/professional map of the library setting and development.
Our school’s library situation is different from other K12 schools’ libraries. Our students are purely high school students, there will be a big difference in how to promote library activities.
Jocelyn Chen
Librarian
Happy to belong to the network for the second year.
Session 1 was very useful for thinking about school’s strategic goal on high quality learning. In particular how to evidence. I was also able to connect the head of CPD at Dulwich, Singapore who have also undertaken the Assessment lead programme but are at more advanced stage of implementation.
Session 2 in which I presented was useful in receiving feedback from particpants on how to evaluate the module created for high quality learning.
Session 3 was very useful to get insight into A1/Chat gtp and how it effects schools. Excellent presentation and resources shared.
Richard Driscoll
Academic Deputy Principal
