Tell us a little bit about yourself, where are you located, role, etc..

[Laurence]

Hi all. I am Laurence. I work at the American School of Dubai as Service Learning Coordinator and have been involved with Compass Education for about five years now. The more involved I become the more passionate I seem to become about the power and promise of service learning and sustainability education. I have taught for over 25 years internationally in Greece (where I am from), Colombia, Malaysia and now the UAE. I look forward to getting to know you all and sharing our learning together!

[Kevin]

Hello,

My name is Kevin. I currently work in Saudi Arabia. I am the Head of Social Studies and I teach DP History and TOK. I was IB Coordinator and CAS coordinator at my school in the States previously.

I have two boys (almost 5 and 6 months) They definitely keep me on my toes!

[Rebecca]

Hey Kevin!

Ok, I’m being nosey…how are your boys 5 and 6 months…a twin decided to join the world earlier than his brother?

Sorry you were unable to get back to the States as you planned. I wanted to go see my dad in Mississippi, but couldn’t. Perhaps Xmas time.

Look forward to working with you.

Cheers,

[Kevin]

Sorry. 5 years and 6 months!

[Laurence]

Hi Kevin! Great to have you joining us here. I noted that you know Tom McLean and I’m thrilled that connections are being made. Tom is a long-standing member of Compass Ed and very knowledgeable about systems thinking. Definitely a good person to be connect with. Are you on the same campus?

[Kevin]

Yes we are

[Ian]

Hi Everyone,

I teach at an international school in Beijing, but currently stuck in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I’m ELA department head, and have experience embedding curriculum and literature within SDGs. I’m passionate about sustainability and education’s role in the world. I’ve not worked with the IB curriculum or CAS before, so I’d like to broaden my knowledge in those realms. Looking forward to learning from you all!

Ian .

[Kevin]

Hi Ian,

Sorry to hear that you are stuck away from home. We are stuck in Saudi Arabia (our flights back to the States was canceled!)

Looking forward to working with you!

[Rebecca]

Hi Ian,

I have a colleague that just accepted a new job in China. She, too, is waiting for the green light to get into the country. Long time to be “stuck”…hope you’re smiling and well!

[Laurence]

Ian,

Great to have you joining us here. I’m sorry you’re unable to get back to Beijing at the moment. You seem to bring great experience specific to the SDGs and I couldn’t help but notice that others would benefit from that. That’s what these conversations are all about and I look forward to getting to know you better and sharing learning.

Laurence

[Rebecca]

Hi Tara and Lawrence! Great to meet you both. Wow! Impressive online course you guys have going on here. I’m just starting to take a peek at everything. Nervous but excited!

[Rebecca]

Hi Hi,

I teach at an international school in Bangkok. I have taught in Thailand for 15 years now as an elementary learning designer.

I took my first Compass Course with Robert Steele back in 2013…and then another 3 courses after that. I get so inspired every time!

However, I can’t seem to land in a school that allows teachers to do service learning, let alone embrace the SDGs as curriculum guides. I am taking this course to get motivated again, as well as learn some possible entry points into my current school system.

Cheers,

Becky

[Katherine]

Hey Becky,

I’m not far from you here in Singapore and have traveled to Bangkok a few times for holiday and PD. I enjoy the city a lot and imagine you do too given the length of time you have stayed. I hear what you’re saying about schools/administration not embracing the SDG’s. I’ve noticed that here as well and wonder why that is exactly? Looking forward to working with you over the next few days.

[Laurence]

Hi Becky,

Good to see you here and so sorry that you weren’t able to get on the first session. Hopefully we’ll see you in the next one. :-). Regarding the service learning in the classroom it’s difficult to find that leverage to make change. But you can always control what your learning approach is within your classroom. Being a cheerleader or sorts and willing to celebrate your own successes often makes others more interested in wanting to know more and, possibly, getting on board. Let’s keep talking!

Laurence

[Alicia]

Hi everyone,

My name is Brett and I live in tropical Australia. I have been teaching for the past 13 years and am currently teaching a Year 6 class. I teach at a Catholic school that opened in 2016 and we are still rapidly growing.

I live with my partner and two rescue dogs.

I am currently completing a 12 month program to develop Middle Leader capabilities and started my Masters of Educational Leadership this year. I heard about Compass education through my Deputy Principal and the more I researched the more excited I got!

I am really looking forward to the next 5 days and learning with people from across the globe..

[Laurence]

Hi Brett,

I’m so happy that your connection brought you to this course. There is much overlap (and a common purpose) for the service learning and sustainability education so this is a great place to get your feet wet, so to speak. I keep telling my friends that this stuff is like the little blue pill in the Matrix… once you’ve seen you cannot unsee. Welcome to the journey!

Laurence

[Kelly]

Hi everyone,

Nice to meet you all today and see you in person. I currently live and work in Johannesburg, South Africa as an educational consultant. I work with Tara on service learning development, and with another group pf schools out of Finland that base their curriculum on the SDGs. I am originally from Canada and have been working internationally for the past 22 years, in all types of schools. Looking forward to collaborating in this course with all of you..

[Katherine]

Looking forward to working with you as well Kelly. Sounds like you will have some great experience and insights to share!

[Laurence]

Hi Kelly!

So great to have you here and for me to meet you as well. I’ve head about you from Tara (all good things) and I’m very much looking forward to learning together. 🙂

Laurence

[Jeremiah]

Hi everyone, my apologies for the earlier booboo. I hope I’ll have a better connection over the next few days.

I am Jeremiah, originally from Singapore and currently based in Suzhou, China. I am the PYP coordinator at a local private school. I am passionate about community engagement and would like to learn how I can guide my teachers and students into embedding the UN SDGs into our curriculum. We are a new school and I hope to be able to shift mindsets and behaviours through service learning.

[Laurence]

Hi Jeremiah,

It was good to see you, even for a short while, on the first session earlier. Feel free to take a look at the recording Tara will have posted by now. Regarding the SDGs I found that your introduction and Ian’s were a perfect match. Perhaps one option would be putting you two (and more) at a table and watching the magic happen! I look forward to learning together!

Laurence

[Katherine]

Hey there,

Katherine here. Originally from the US, but I have been living and working in Singapore with my husband for the last 5 years. I started as an MYP science teacher (with a bit of math thrown in as well), but am now teaching DP SEHS and acting as MYP Service as Action Coordinator at Stamford American International School.

My background is in Outdoor Education so I’m no stranger to experiential learning or place-based education but feel I still have a lot to learn about service learning in a school setting, especially a LARGE international school setting. Looking forward to working with and learning from you all.

[Laurence]

Hi Katherine,

Great to have you on board. Sorry about the mix up at the beginning there but I hope things get smoother as we move forward. Your background bring back memories of a previous life of mine (I studied outdoor ed as part of my master’s degree) and it’s great to have you here. I don’t haver personal experience with Service as Action and so I’m particularly excited about learning more about that side of things. Welcome!

Laurence

[satybaldievasel@gmail.com]

Hi everyone,

nice to know all of you. Here is Asel and I am working as a college counsellor in Cambodia for almost one year. Before I was working in Kyrgyzstan at international school. Unfortunately, I have not worked with CAS or IB programs, but have an experience with Cambridge Curriculum. I am totally new in this area and this is actually the first time the school is trying to incorporate Service Learning. So, I would love to learn about the Service Learning and Sustainability and how to implement it in our school.

I have two boys (6 and 3 years), who are on holidays and looking forward to flying back to Kyrgyzstan.

Asel

[Laurence]

Hi Asel,

I would be particularly interested in knowing more about the school where you are working as well as your connection to Kyrgyzstan (are you from there?). Courses like this, though having a different dynamic than face-to-face PD, offer a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our diverse backgrounds but move toward a shared vision. Welcome!

Laurence

[Ereeny]

I know it is too late but better than never!

I am Ereeny Gawdat. I am located in Egypt and I am from Egypt! This was my first year as a K-12 service-Learning coordinator at Cairo American College (CAC).

Prior to that, I was an elementary after school activities coordinator for 10 years at the same school. I am very passionate about my new role, which I knew I had the passion for but wanted to make sure that I also have the professional knowledge so I kept on searching for references, websites, videos, workshops, etc,… and I came across Serve Learn. <i style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>I was excited to take the workshop in Greece, but 🙁 – It’s okay someday 🙂

This year our leadership team focused on Well Being, we had Dr. Ronald D. Lalonde CEO and Founder of River’s Path Coaching and Consulting. I asked him back then about the connection between Wellbeing and Service learning. He put me in contact with Laurence who turned out to be the facilitator of the workshop that I was interested in and obviously joined.

I am very excited to meet this group “virtually” every day and to learn from everyone. I keep bragging about my daily meetings with “colleagues from around the globe” 🙂

Thank you Tara and Laurence

Sincerely,

Ereeny

[Tara]

We are excited to have you join our team Ereeny! I love our virtual group meets as much as you do. Wellbeing definitely connects to service learning, we may have more on this coming soon 😉