Educators from throughout the region convened at a ‘NESA favorite’, the elegant Shangri-La Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, for the 2008 Spring Educators Conference, April 5-7. Over 700 delegates enjoyed three days of professional renewal and collegial reconnection on the banks of the historic Chao Praya River – the “River of Kings” – in the heart of Asia’s ‘City of Angels’.

Delegates commenced Saturday and Sunday with motivating keynotes: John Joseph (“the Brain Man”) launched the conference with an impressive, high-tech presentation entitled, "What Does Learning Look Like?", that provided insights into learning from a biological perspective; Ken O’Connor presented an informative and enlightened keynote on the all-important, but sometimes elusive, subject of assessment with, “Fixes for Broken Grades”; and journalist and media authority Larry Kramer gave the closing keynote on Monday afternoon, entitled, “How Media is Changing the Way We Learn/How the Internet is Changing the Storytelling Process”, an important and timely topic relevant to all educators.  

Delegates chose from a wide range of three-hour "institutes" on all three days on topics ranging from music education, grading, the role of classics in today’s society, the visual arts, dealing with bullying, early childhood education, habits of mind, diversity, and many more. Six sessions of teacher presented workshops (71 in all!) featured the outstanding professional work of NESA educators. Additionally, The College Board offered two three-day Advanced Placement institutes in AP Physics and AP World History.

Several awards were announced during the Educators Conference: The American School of Doha’s Julian Arambarri won the Stanley Haas/Luke Hansen Student Award (sponsored by TieCare International); Ray Montoya of The American International School of Muscat, Oman, was the winner of the NESA Call for Papers. Julian was NESA's guest in Bangkok and addressed a plenary session of delegates (Ray was unable to attend). Additionally, NESA Math League awards for 2007-2008 were announced and certificates and plaques distributed — NESA expresses its appreciation of Math League Coordinator Art Radtke (AS-Dubai) for his time and effort. NESA Teacher Representatives sold raffle tickets throughout the conference to raise funds for the Community Service Awards, grants distributed to worthy community service projects at NESA regular member schools. For detailed information on NESA awards, please go to "About" --> "Awards".

In keeping with the ‘NESA spirit’ of professional development balanced with personal renewal, NESA delegates enjoyed a cocktail reception Saturday night in the Shangri-La pool gardens, and a “Closing Gala Evening” Monday in the Shangri-La’s ballroom that featured an incredible Thai and international buffet, dancing and a folkloric performance of traditional Thai dancing.

Mark your calendars with next year's dates and venue: April 4-7, 2009, at the Conrad Hotel in Cairo, Egypt.

Plus, NESA's other professional development events for teachers:
-- Fall Training Institute, October 31-November 1, 2008 at the Le Meridien in Amman, Jordan
-- Winter Training Institute, January 30-31, 2009 at the Doha Seef Hotel in Qatar

This two-day specialty conference is designed around a variety of topics of interest to specialists. This year focused on several subjects with a wide professional appeal, and took place at the Bahrain Conference Center (adjacent to the Crowne Plaza Bahrain), January 25-26, 2008. After an opening plenary session on the first morning, when each speaker briefly highlighted the goals of his/her two-day presentation, delegates split into three “institutes”.

Delegates attended one of the following three institutes:
•    ESL Institute: “Assessing the Reliability of Language  Proficiency Assessments and Their Application to the Curriculum and the Classroom” with Tim Bonner;

•   SCIENCE Institute: “Strategies for Differentiating Instruction in the Science Classroom” with Erma Anderson;

•   EARLY CHILDHOOD Institute: “Creating Intensely Positive Learning Experiences for Young Children: Brain Research in Action” with Cheryl Gibson Smith, Wendy Kelly, Terry Gibney & Donna Donnelly

The Winter Training Institute ended with a closing plenary session during which each specialist presenter offered a ‘wrap-up' of his/her sessions and impressions of the conference.

Mark your calendars with dates of next year's WINTER TRAINING INSTITUTE focusing on the following two separate topics: Science, Early Childhood (ECE): JANUARY 30-31, 2009, at the Doha Seef Hotel in Qatar.

Plus, NESA's other professional development events for teachers:
-- Fall Training Institute, October 31-November 1, 2008 at the Le Meridien in Amman, Jordan
-- Spring Educators Conference, April 4-7, 2009 at the Conrad Hotel in Cairo

By Shabbi Luthra, Director of Technology, American School of Bombay

The American School of Bombay began its one-to-one learning odyssey in 2001. We are now in the seventh year of the Grades K to 5 laptop learning program and the fifth year of the Grades 6 to 12 tablet learning program. During the course of this journey, we have learned many lessons.

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Click here to read about NESA awards.

By Juan Jose Fuentes, Physical Education Instructor, The American School of Bombay

Three weeks prior to the start of the season, during Christmas break, Coach Fuentes and Coach Weber decided to team up with Santa Claus and get the 44 boys that signed up for try outs ready for their 2008 SAISA season.

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