The End of an Era

After nearly 220,000 hits, readers in every country on the planet, mentions in global media, nominations for awards and recognition from  teachers and students worldwide… 6SS@NIST is shutting down. The reasons behind this are to do with every class in the school having blogs that look the same and every class in the school having blogs with similar URL addresses. The 6SS blog can now be found here: http://blogs.nist.ac.th/6ss/.

This blog has had an amazing effect on my teaching over the past three years and it has led to some amazing experiences for my students and I:

• the students telling us about the fires, explosions, riots and general violence surrounding their homes two years ago: http://6ssatnist.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/what-has-your-day-been-like/
• the amazing philosophical thinking in the Sponge vs. Stone postings: http://6ssatnist.wordpress.com/?s=sponge+stone
• the “essays” that students wrote as comments in response to Angela Maier’s article about Mallory Fundora ( and Mallory’s comments herself) http://6ssatnist.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/homework-read-think-share/
  
• The students reactions to Robyn Treyvaud’s presentation about online safety and then Robyn’s reaction to their comments: http://6ssatnist.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/reacting-to-robyn-treyvaud/#comments
• The advice that 6SS students gave to students at Mt. Scopus Memorial College as they prepared for their first PYP Exhibition: http://6ssatnist.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/advice-for-other-year-6grade-5-students/

Blogging has helped my students and I by:

• Giving us a place to react to and think about things at any time, and from anywhere
• Allowing us to express ourselves without being interrupted or told we’re wrong
• Allowing us to develop our thinking in a way that was not really possible before
• Giving us a place to share our interests, our creativity and our ideas
• Giving us an audience of real people who would read and respond to our writing
• Connecting us with other people
• Giving us a way to make homework more fun and more connection to what we do in class
• Giving us the possibility to do “online learning” when it was not possible to come to school
• Helping us to stay in touch during holidays

What effect did 6SS@NIST have on you?

Homework: Adults’ thinking

Show your parents your comments from yesterday’s homework and explain that this unit is all about how people’s thinking can change. Ask them how their thinking has changed as they have grown older. Get several examples and make a detailed comment to tell us about them.

Homework: How has your thinking changed?

Think back to when you were a very small child. What things did you used to think were true, right or good back then but have now changed your mind?

Make a comment to tell us as many examples of how your thinking has “shifted” as you can from your life so far!

Homework – Revolution!

If you were told you had to start a revolution at NIST or in this area of Bangkok in order to improve things, what would it be? What would you change and why?

Why are we watching this series?

Here is episode one of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution so you can watch it again if you like. But, why are we watching it?

• Because Jamie is a very creative person in the way that he cooks and creates recipes, the way that he tries to solve problems and the way that he gets people’s attention.
• Because Jamie’s “ideas and actions can cause a shift in thinking and change the course of history” (the central idea for our PYP Exhibition).
• Because Jamie is a modern day hero!
• Because food is so important.

What did you learn from Shark Guardian

Today, we were very lucky to see a presentation by Brendan from Shark Guardian.

What did you learn from today’s presentation?

Homework: Shifts in Thinking

Watch the last two parts of episode 4:

Which part of the episode did you like the most? Why?

What “shifts in thinking” happened? How?

Which student was most affected by this experience?

Is Jamie a good teacher? Why?

Watch Part Four…

As part of our unit about ideas and actions, we are watching the work that Jamie Oliver is doing in America.

Here’s the last part of Episode One of the Food Revolution. Watch it at home tonight if you have time:

Were your predictions about the children correct?

What challenge does Jamie face?

How has Thailand changed?

Our next unit of inquiry is Where we are in place and time.

The central idea is “ideas and actions can cause a shift in thinking and change the course of history”.

We’re going to focus on the country we live in, Thailand. The unit gives us a unique opportunity to learn about Thailand and the important ideas and actions that have led to changes in Thailand.

How has Thailand changed since you were born, or since you came to live here? What ideas and actions have caused those changes?

Homework: The World When You Were a Zygote

Interview your parents to find out what the world was like and what their lives were like when you were a Zygote!