High School

At ISW, we see technology as a tool that supports a school community and facilitates learning. We recognize the enormous potential of modern technology to enhance and enrich learning, and are committed to preparing our children to be successful in a society permeated with technology.

As an important tool, both inside and outside of the classroom, students use technology to inquire, communicate and safely take risks. Through our technology program, we ensure that every student in our community has access to campus and worldwide electronic resources, enhanced classrooms and a learning management system employed by higher education institutions. These tools encourage students to adopt and employ technology during their tenure at ISW, preparing them for college and professional environments as true digital citizens.

CAMPUS NETWORK

Our campus is connected to our data networks allowing students to wirelessly access electronic material in all academic and community spaces. School bandwidth has significantly increased over the past few years to better support classroom initiatives, cloud computing, multimedia and improve the overall student experience. In accordance with our standards, students must abide by acceptable use policies and guidelines found in the school handbook. To help encourage these standards our network is regularly monitored and acceptable barriers have been put in place for the safety of our students.

INTEGRATION SPOTLIGHT

Students in high school (grades 9-12) will have the privilege to bring their own laptop device under the new Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program.
The focus of the High School BYOD program at ISW is to provide the necessary tools and resources for a progressive learning environment, characterized by flexibility, collaboration, personalization, creativity, and technology-rich learning. At ISW, technology will be integrated throughout the educational program in a seamless and timely fashion. The BYOD setting empowers high school students and teachers to use technology like adults do in the real world, accessing and using purposeful technology-based tools anytime a task calls for them. The question is no longer what technology programs do the students need to learn, but how can we teach students to evaluate the tasks given and choose technology resources that is appropriate for the task. Particular programs will always be changing, but learning how to adapt to the resources available is a skill that can be used throughout a lifetime.

The ISW library a vibrant, welcoming environment for students, staff and parents to enjoy for recreational and educational purposes and is specifically organized to service our diverse school community. We strive to ensure that not only are learning needs met but also that every child feels valued and happy. Our Library resources support the teaching of the curriculum and develop our student's interests and hobbies. Incorporating the use of iPads for searching the library databases, library lessons are also linked to the curriculum and teach essential information skills for 21st Century learning.

Our Library Strives:

• To ensure learners grow as competent, ethical users and producers of ideas and information.
• To prepare life-long learners who are effective communicators, critical researchers and problem solvers.
• To collaborate and share with audiences beyond our school walls.
• To model our school’s mission and support learners in the pursuit of aesthetic growth and personal learning pathways.

To this end, a collection of books has been developed to support teaching and learning activities. Chinese books have also been acquired to support language learning. In addition, we have a collection of e-resources including online newspapers and magazines, which children can access on their iPads. We use a color code system to help our English language learners to find books with more ease and encourage families to donate fiction and nonfiction books in Japanese, Chinese and Korean to help round out our diverse collection.

READER PROGRAM

Our library sponsors a year-long reading incentive program to encourage all students to go beyond homework assignments and read for fun. Awareness of a variety of books, school library materials and reinforcement of language learning are a few of the goals anchored in the reading program.

This year’s theme is “The Great Book Adventure” and each participating student is given a game board to represent each level in the game showing how many pages they have read and how many books they have completed. Students are also encouraged to take challenges by reading a specific genre, completing creative activities and taking comprehension quizzes. Students receive prizes to reward their success when reaching their reading goals.

We are constantly seeking to strengthen our partnership with parents and one of the ways we do this is through reporting to parents and actively involving parents in their children’s learning.

At the start of the year, we have orientation sessions for both new and returning families. This is an opportunity for parents to meet the new class teacher and to find out about the year group routines, special events and expectations. Each term, we welcome parents to an open morning, which provides an opportunity for children to share and celebrate their learning. We also have more formal Parent Teacher Conferences in October and again in March. This is an opportunity for parents to meet with their child’s class teacher on an individual basis and review their child’s learning and next steps. Progress Reports are written at the end of the first semester and all children receive a summative report in June.

Although there are many structured opportunities for parents to meet with teachers, parents can also make appointments with teachers throughout the year to discuss any concerns they may have.

PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES

At ISW, we plan specific days within the school calendar for conferences to be held as we believe it is important to communicate with families. The fall and spring conferences are all day events and allow for families to schedule 20-minute conferences with their teacher in High School. Special area teacher conferences are 15 minutes and can be scheduled separately. Phone conferences are a possibility on these days, as some families may have difficulty scheduling time to leave work/commitments to travel to school.

PRE-CONFERENCE PREPARATION

• In the weeks ahead of a conference, check in with kids about how they're doing on homework and in each subject. Review homework and any recent projects, tests, quizzes, report cards, or progress reports.
• Ask if there are questions or issues your child wants you to discuss with the teacher.
• Plan to bring something to take notes with (paper and pen or a laptop or other device).
• Share a few things about your child with the teacher — interests, strengths, favorite subjects — to help the teacher know your child better.
• Write down questions or topics you'd like the conference to cover. Depending on your situation, you may want to ask about:
  • whether your child is meeting grade-level expectations (not how he or she compares with peers)
  • educational testing if your child is struggling
  • what the teacher sees as your child's strengths and challenges and how these are being addressed
  • other services to help your child grow as a learner
  • making a plan to check in regularly if there are any learning or behavior problems
  • your child's work habits, independently and in large- and small-group instruction
  • how your child gets along with other students in class and during lunch, recess, phys-ed, and other classes

POWERSCHOOL

PowerSchool is the most widely used web-based student information system, supporting 10 million students over 65 countries. Benefits for parents and students include: real-time grades, attendance, comments, assignments, scores and much more…right from the teacher’s gradebook directly to students and parents.