Creating Teaching and Learning Principles through an Inclusive Process
By SARAH SISCO, Curriculum and Professional Development Director
American International School of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
An inclusive committee of parents, students, and staff work on AIS Jeddah’s ‘Teaching and Learning Principles’.
The American International School of Jeddah (AISJ) recently went through the process of developing Teaching and Learning Principles. While we have a strong set of guiding statements in the form of Mission, Vision, and Core Values, we felt the entire community would be better served by defining what we believe best practices are in both teaching and learning.
To create our Teaching and Learning Principles from the ground up, we relied on an inclusive group drawn from volunteer parents, students, and staff members. This inclusive group began by looking at the Teaching and Learning Principles of other notable NESA schools, both for form and for content.
Next, we analyzed our foundational documents and pulled out words or phrases that resonated with us. These foundational documents included the AISJ Mission, Vision, Identity statement, Core Values, and the Charlotte Danielson Framework. With these words and phrases, we began the important task of finding common ground to answer these questions: “What does good teaching look like? What does good learning look like?”
AIS Jeddah's new Teaching and Learning Principles.
Our inclusive group allowed us to bring in parent, student, and staff perspectives on learning and teaching. We went through a process of drafting with the words or phrases drawn from our foundational documents, revisiting these drafts multiple times. Finally, we shared our efforts with the AISJ Leadership Team and the Parent Teacher Association before reaching approval on our final draft.
Our work together has really just begun! Ahead on our agenda is the creation of a plan to communicate and implement our Teaching and Learning Principles. We look forward to these next steps, and are confident that our inclusive processes will result in buy-in from all stakeholders.
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