Meet our KDSL Global Intern – Dalal El Kurdi

Dalal El Kurdi was born in Lebanon but grew up in Bahrain in a household where education was a number one priority. In high school, she was the most hard-working student, but nevertheless, she found time to play on sports teams, hold a constant active role in student government, and participate and host MUN (Model United Nations) and YLC (Young Leaders Conference). She cares greatly about the environment and participated with a colleague in a national activity to promote recycling named “Recycling in School Life” organized by the Gulf Petro-Chemical Industries Company in Bahrain. Their idea was awarded first place. She also received a full scholarship from Microsoft Technology Associates after being tested and receiving a high score to take a course in MTA Windows Operating System Fundamentals program, MTA Networking Fundamentals program, and MTA Security Fundamentals program. Dalal’s fascination with technology began at a young age. She is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at the American University of Sharjah. She has taken on several internships in the past couple of years to help apply educational knowledge to real-world situations and perfect her skills in professional settings. She applied to this internship keen to learn new things and broaden her horizon into the educational sector. She hopes to hone her research and writing skills and learn how she can blend what she learns as a KDSL Global Intern with her degree because she is passionate about the future of education with technology.

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Moral Education in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Education simply must not mean obtaining a degree or passing a grade with good marks but it should also instill good moral values, ethics, and character. This is exactly what the newly established moral education system in the schools of the United Arab Emirates instills. The Moral Education curriculum will not only build character but also introduce ethical outlook, foster community, and teach culture.

Moral Education is based on these 4 pillars:

• Character and Morality
• The Individual and the Community
• Civic Studies
• Cultural Studies

Moral Education is an initiative of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, that was first announced in 2016, piloted in January 2017, and has been implemented in grades 1-9 since September 2017. The first pilot was in 19 schools across the UAE. Schools in the UAE have started implementing moral education lessons within the curriculum and it is said to have been inspired by classes in Japanese schools where pupils are given a chance to think about how different scenarios will affect people around them.

According to Dr. Dsilva, (academician and education expert) moral education is important for today’s Hi-Tech Generation due to the many social influences. On a more international outlook the newly implemented program focuses on “developing student awareness of the shared human experience and making them messengers of the values they embody.” By focusing on a local viewpoint its aim is to “develop responsible, cultured, engaged adults ready for the wider globalized world.”

What are the benefits that come along with implementing a moral education curriculum?

-Humans are known to be social beings and moral education teaches them basic moral values, socializing skills, and good social habits like respecting elders, being honest, learning to share, and being kind. It fosters them into better people. Dr. Dsilva also shared that in the past in her culture children would be under the care of grandparents, uncles, and aunts living together in the same house. This gave them great opportunity to understand moral values such as respecting elders, honesty, truthfulness, caring, and helping each other. However, in today’s fast paced world where parents leave their families to migrate to find a better job or a higher standard of living, their children lose the chance to be with their elderly grandparents and therefore they may lack the chance to learn moral values such as caring for elders.

-Implementing such a system in school years allows students to practice good character with their fellow classmates and friends. Therefore, it is the need of the hour and every school must dedicate some time for imparting such moral values.

-It brings a more socially responsible generation and develops a sense of respect towards mankind. Moral education help to teach the young generation to be honest when there are wrong doings around them.

Dr. Dsilva was asked how she thought moral education would impact youth in the future. She replied that, “In the modern world of technology and artificial intelligence, the new generation at times is going away from values of kindness towards others and toward the environment. Having moral education sessions will invigorate an ecosystem around the youth to act responsibly towards others.”

 

To learn more about Moral Education in the United Arab Emirates please visit https://www.moraleducation.ae/ or follow UAE Moral Education on Twitter https://twitter.com/uaemoraledu.

 

Jenessa Dsilva
KDSL Global Intern
Website: www.kdslglobal.com

Meet our KDSL Global Summer Interns

Vamsi Krishna grew up in Dubai and currently is a new student in The Gems Modern Academy. Previously he attended The Indian High School. This is his first internship experience but Vamsi have done loads of volunteering work at various camps and events. He has been on the school’s cricket team and House team at his previous school. Vamsi has a science background with a focus on subjects like Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, English Language, English Literature and Business Studies. He is eager to learn lots and gain experience in this internship.

 

Jenessa Dsilva has earned her Indian Certificate of Secondary Education in April 2018 from GEMS Modern Academy, Dubai. She developed interest in business related education and is currently pursuing ISC grade 11 Business Studies, Economics and she has major interest in studying Psychology as well. She has always been articulate in writing and has discovered Fine Arts as one of her passions. All through her schooling each year she participates in several charity related activities and is enthusiastic about giving back to the society. During her free time she loves to read nonfiction books and sketch out some art pieces. During one of the summer school activities she has helped develop an innovation lab along with her peers at school. In the future she seeks to attain a career in the field of Psychology along with Art.

 

 

ASCD selects the first Emerging Leader based in the Middle East

DUBAI, UAE, July 8 2018 – ASCD is excited to announce the selection of educators for its 2018 class of emerging leaders. The Emerging Leaders program recognizes and prepares young, promising educators to influence education programs, policy, and practice on both the local and national levels.

Educators selected for the Emerging Leaders program have been in the education profession for 5–15 years; demonstrate a passion for learning, teaching, and leading; come from a diverse range of positions, locations, cultural backgrounds, and perspectives; hold promise as leaders; and are committed to ASCD’s beliefs and to pursuing leadership opportunities. Following the nomination process, this year’s leaders were chosen by an advisory panel composed of ASCD staff, education thought leaders, and emerging leader alumni.

The first Emerging Leader has been selected who is based in the United Arab Emirates. Ashley Green’s passion for global education has led to her teaching in classrooms and collaborating with teachers from all over the world. Her desire to become a global educator began when she taught students in England, and had the chance to make connections between the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program and Common Core standards. Since then, she’s honed those skills in Dubai; in both Elementary and Middle school settings as a full time classroom practitioner.

Ashley is a lifelong learner and believes that while she is an educator; she will always be striving to improve her own practice. She’s currently employed at Universal American School in Dubai. Ashley holds a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction and has developed and written curriculums for English, Language Arts and Mathematics for grades 3-8. She obtained a Gifted Endorsement in 2015 and also served as an ambassador for Gifted and Talented Education in Georgia, USA. She will be a featured speaker at the MENA Teacher Summit held during 5-6 October in Dubai. Visit www.menateachersummit.com for more information.

To learn more about ASCD’s other programs, products, services, and memberships, visit www.ascd.org. To learn about the GCC ASCD Connected Community visit www.gccascd.com.

 

ABOUT ASCD

ASCD is dedicated to excellence in learning, teaching, and leading so that every child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. ASCD’s innovative solutions promote the success of each child.  

ABOUT GCC ASCD Connected Community

The GCC ASCD Connected Community is to unite educators throughout the region, inspiring all of us to learn globally and teach locally.

 

PRESS CONTACT

Kevin Simpson, KDSL Global, kevin@kdslglobal.com

KDSL Global Education Branding Project

Are you interested in becoming an education consultant? Starting up a new education company? Scaling up your education business?

Then join KDSL Global during  22-28 July 2018 for the Education Branding Project. This week long online journey will provide you with daily tasks leading to a toolkit.

For more information email kdslglobalinfo@gmail.com.

 

Testimonials from previous participants:

“Thank you, Kevin, for being an invaluable resource! As you know, I am new to the world of education consulting and you are the ONLY resource I have found to answer my questions related to building the business. You not only provided timely responses to all of my questions, but also you have made me feel comfortable about asking those sensitive kinds of questions, like pricing, that I cannot answer on my own. You are a wealth of information, and I appreciate your willingness to share your expertise individually and through the upcoming workshop.”

“My work with Kevin Simpson through his ED Branding program has been an incredible resource for me as I establish my consulting business. Not only did I learn a lot during the initial sessions, Kevin’s continued support and referrals have been invaluable to me.”

“Kevin Simpson has a talent for conveying in simple steps something daunting like starting a consulting business. During the week-long gig Kevin guides you with practical information and motivation to keep you going to achieve your goals. It’s a great way to connect with others and start to build your ED network.”

 

 

Global Schools Network

KDSL Global Founder Kevin Simpson is a new member of the Advisory Committee for the Global Schools Network Power by P21.  The network is a community of schools committed to inclusive and equitable quality education for all with a focus on global awareness, global competence, cultural competence, and linguistic development.

 

The Goals of the network are to:

Increase global connections between teachers, students, and school leaders.

Increase global competence, global awareness, and linguistic competence among teachers, students, and educational leaders.

Expand recognition of successful organization and program models.

 

To learn more please visit https://p21global.org/.

KDSL Global Fellow at British Council Forum

With a rapidly changing world, reflecting on how education brings learning experiences for the next generation to make a lasting difference becomes crucial. As part of the internal forum the British Council held recently in the Dead Sea, Jordan, our fellow Hiba Ibrahim was invited, in addition to another 6 experts in the fields of entrepreneurship, the arts, education and gender equality, to speak to the British Council MENA staff and lead individual workshops on challenges and opportunities the region is to face for the next decade.  Hiba has been involved in projects to create effective solutions to some of those stressing challenges and avenues for international organizations to pursue effective collaboration for creating change. Bringing her educational career, academic research and personal projects to the discussion, Hiba highlighted two main challenges the region’s education has continued to struggle with for decades. The first lies in the fact that national curriculums are still not equipping learners with the knowledge, skills and attitudes they need to be become independent engaged learners. Teachers are still heavily relying on textbooks as curriculum and content coverage is still the learning goal to achieve. Alternatively, learning goals should lie in empowering students with competences that enable them to transfer their learning into unique situations to solve challenges they experience in their local communities and beyond. Hiba then shared about her course project she has been building as part of her fellowship with KDSL Global, which aims to promote design thinking and collaboration strategies to become more effective problem-solvers and globally competent citizens.

The other challenge she highlighted was refugee students with no access to a quality basic education. This has caused a lot of tension in host communities and made 86,000 Syrian students in Jordan and 480,000 others in Lebanon vulnerable. Due to the on-going conflicts in Libya and Yemen, around 2,300,000 children are in need of education. For that, social-emotional learning and professional development programs for teachers and school leaders on social inclusion and dealing with PSTD are a must. Showcasing effective solutions, Hiba highlighted her work with Umnyat for Training, an NGO started by her mother that brings “Labeeb’s Friends”, a program that promotes social emotional learning through storytelling to schools in Jordan and other countries in the region such as Kuwait and Palestine. She also stressed on the positive impact of intercultural dialogue that bring students of different backgrounds to a space where they feel safe and open to share perspectives on topics such as culture, religion, daily life, community, immigration, conflict and challenges to learn how to be more understanding and accepting to one another.

The day was concluded with bringing those conversations into a workshop to inspire the organization’s staff to reflect on solutions they can drive with other stakeholders in the region to take part in the region’s growth and development for the upcoming decade.

MENALearns Portal

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STEMCON 2018

Our KDSL Global Fellow Tiffany Johnson recently attended the STEMCON conference in Chicago, Illinois. STEMCON is a platform for STEM educators and administrators from all around the nation to share their best practices. Below is a reflection on her experience as a first time participant.

Year after year, STEMCON is where all STEM educators want to be. Just to put things into perspective, STEMCON is like the Coachella for all things STEM. From the moment I walked in, I knew I was in the presence of greatness. Upon arrival, I noticed Dr. Carolyn Hayes, the former president of National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), sitting amongst several of her colleagues. I was instantly star-struck! After setting my obnoxiously large teacher bag down, I wasted no time to introduce myself to Dr. Hayes. Dr. Hayes has an energetic personality that is highly contagious and seeing a woman achieve the “Lifetime STEM Leadership” award was very inspirational. After breakfast & coffee, the stage was graced with the first female civilian Afghan-American pilot and the youngest female pilot to fly solo around the world in a single-engine aircraft, Shaesta Waiz. Ms. Waiz has an amazing story, and a unique purpose that motivates her in the work that she does.

After breakfast, there were numerous breakout sessions that I attended throughout the day, such as Innovative Ways to Sustain STEM Interest and Career Paths for Girls, Bringing the Outside In: Making an Ecosystem in a Bottle, and last but not least, How Hip-Hop Music and Culture can Bridge the STEM Gap for Underrepresented Populations. There was not enough time for me to attend all the sessions, but I did make connections with the presenters of the sessions I did not attend.

Being a person of color in STEM, I am constantly questioning myself about how do I influence students that look like me, to be like me. At STEMCON I was exposed to many different versions of what STEM looks like for different people. One of the sessions I attended talked about connecting STEM to the culture of Hip-Hop and broke down the science behind the movement. After getting the opportunity to bounce ideas off of the presenters, Darlyne de Haan and Damiso Josey, we agreed to continue the conversation even after the event and beyond!

I departed STEMCON feeling inspired, educated, connected, and supported which are all the reasons why I would recommend this conference to anyone in STEM.

P.S. – Among the many lessons I learned at STEMCON, one of the top lessons I learned was don’t be afraid to ask people for a picture! This is the only picture I have of myself at STEMCON. Thanks to the photographer.

Tiffany Johnson learning more about STEM.

Dr. Carolyn Hayes receiving the Lifetime STEM Leadership Award.

Shaesta Waiz, the first female civilian Afghan-American pilot and the youngest female pilot to fly solo around the world in a single-engine aircraft

 

To learn more about Tiffany visit https://kdslglobal.wordpress.com/2018/03/05/kdsl-global-fellows-2/ and STEMCON visit www.stemcon.net.

 

 

 

KDSL Global Founder joins the Center for Educational Improvement as an Advisory Board Member

 

KDSL Global Founder Kevin Simpson has joined the Center for Educational Improvement (CEI) Advisory Board. This group features national and international experts in the fields of education, neuroscience, and technology. Collectively, they provide CEI with critical strategic advice in fulfilling our mission to support and uplift schools through 21st century learning and leadership.

The Center for Educational Improvement (CEI) identifies, shares, and applies 21st century innovations in learning to guide school leaders as they improve their schools.

CEI’s approach is based on input from school principal advisors as well as their environmental scans and conversations with psychologists, neuroscientists, educators, engineers, scientists, other researchers, and policymakers. Bolstered by their relationship with the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) and its Foundation,  they are grateful for their continuing support.

CEI advises principals, teachers, leadership teams, and districts on how to implement evidence-based best practices to “fast track” academic progress and close gaps between the latest research on student achievement and what is practiced in schools. CEI also collaborates with principal mentors to design, implement, evaluate, refine, and disseminate research with the principal in mind. As they build bridges to educational excellence, CEI teams with other researchers, private companies, and government agencies.

 

To learn more about The Center for Educational Improvement please visit http://www.edimprovement.org/