Dragonwaves
During class suspension in the time of Covid-19, the HKIS community came together to support each other, develop creative solutions to continue learning, and think about how this situation has changed our world.
Dragonwaves - HKIS On The Air is a podcast series produced by the Advancement and Marketing Office and features guest speakers who share their perspective on home learning, school closures, and other topics related to our school. Hear leaders, experts in their field, and other members of the community share about their experience, some of their thoughts behind decisions that were made during the class suspension, and their views on education at HKIS and around the world.
Episode 15: Pools Are Open!
On April 1, pools and beaches re-opened for the first time in four months. Ella Healy, HKIS's Director of Aquatics, shares how she ran "online swimming" classes while pools were closed, and Andrew Bridle describes some scary moments on Hong Kong's beaches. Finally, David Pool, Head Coach of the Hong Kong Island Stingrays Swim Club, tells us how our competitive swimmers stayed fit and motivated during pool closure and why open water swimming is a great way for the club to adapt to these new conditions.
Guests: Ella Healy, Andrew Bridle, David Pool
Episode 14: Do Kids in Hong Kong Really Hate Reading?
You might be surprised to know that Hong Kong has the lowest rate of family literacy in the world, less than ⅓ of the international average. We invited new HKIS Board member, Michelle Bang, and HKIS librarians, Laura Chesebro and Amy Robinson, to discuss the importance of promoting reading at home and an exciting new search engine called ‘Find Me A Book’ that helps parents identify the right books for their kids.
Guests: Michelle Bang, Laura Chesebro, Amy Robinson
Episode 13: Juan Lucas Umali wants you to know you belong.
It wasn't until a friend convinced junior Juan Lucas Umali to run for Senator for Student Life that he realized he'd found his calling - to find a way to make sure everyone felt like part of the High School community. "I want to continue building that culture of love and collaboration [at HKIS]. No matter what grade you are, wherever you're from, who you are -- you have a place at here at HKIS." Tune in to hear more about Juan Lucas's journey to leadership, and how he wants to build stronger connections among the different grades in High School.
Guest: Juan Lucas Umali
Episode 12: Our High School’s VADT Program: Origins + Future
The High School's Visual Arts, Design and Technology department has taken flight over the last few years! Hear High School teachers Ms. Tracey Cheung and Mr. Daniel Budd talk about the amazing program, the collaboration and innovation that it inspires, and a vision for its future.
Guests: Tracey Cheung, Daniel Budd
Episode 11: Can a 9-year-old Change the World?
It's American Thanksgiving, and at HKIS, we're big on helping our kids learn how to have a spirit of gratitude. On this podcast, we interviewed fourth-grade teacher Stan Krause on how Service Learning and understanding the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals help our students better understand the needs of the world. We also talked to student Maya Stoehr on her reflections from fourth grade. Hear how nine-year-olds view global concerns and how empathy and taking action play a role in our Student Learning Result of Contributing to Society.
Guests: Stan Krause, Maya Stoehr (Grade 6)
Episode 10: Meet Our Four Principals
As a new school year begins, our four principals came together to share with new parents what the journey at HKIS looks like from our youngest learners to our seniors. Meet Geoff Heney (Lower Primary), Ben Hart (Upper Primary), Connie Kim (Middle School), and Dave Lovelin (High School). This segment was recorded as part of a Virtual Town Hall at the beginning of the 2020-21 school year. The school year started virtually on August 13, and students began returning to campus in phases beginning September 23.
Guests: Dave Lovelin, Connie Kim, Ben Hart, Geoff Heney
Episode 9: Parents Helping Hong Kong Recover
Wondering how you can help those who have been hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic? Listen to the latest episode of the Dragonwaves podcast series to hear from alumni Rick Johannessen '92, Leontine Chuang '93, and parent Beth McNicholas about what they are doing together to help communities in need through the Hong Kong Community Recovery Fund.
Guests: Leontine Chuang '93, Rick Johannessen '92, Beth McNicholas
Episode 8: Preparing for College
With classes suspended during the second semester of the school year, the pressure was mounting for Seniors who had conditional offers with colleges, and Juniors who were just starting the process of selecting desired schools and preparing for their applications. Aaron Hollingshead is one of eight High School counselors serving our High School students to help them through this precarious time of Covid-19. While the pressures are real, students have been resilient, and colleges have adjusted their expectations. In this episode, Aaron shares his insights with us on how the students are coping.
Guests: Aaron Hollingshead, High School Counselor
Episode 7: Serving Hearts, Sisters in Lockdown
Classes have been suspended for 14 weeks, but many of our students remain passionate about service. Elanna and Annalise wanted to do something to help those in need in Hong Kong amid the Coronavirus crisis and looked for ways to do this while social distancing. Tune in to hear about their video project to bring exercise to kids in need!
Guests: Elanna (Grade 10) and Annalise (Grade 8)
Episode 6: Home Learning, Uninterrupted
The HKIS IT department’s most critical task: Keeping home learning up and running. Hear from Roy Bas, the head of IT, about his past week, and how an emergency kept him and his team onsite day and night to ensure our students can access home learning. An HKIS alumnus, Roy also shares about his days as a student at HKIS.
Guests: Roy Bas, Head of Information Technology
Episode 5: Rethinking the Classroom
We speak with Brent Brayko, our High School Associate Principal of Teaching and Learning, about the challenges of switching to an online program overnight, how to make sure students are engaged and learning while off-campus, and what new discoveries may stay with us beyond the covid closure.
Guests: Brent Brayko, High School Associate Principal, Teaching & Learning
Episode 4: How to Teach Writing to Little Ones
How does bookmaking and writers workshop transform our students into strong writers? Our Lower Primary teachers sit with us to explain the writing process and how they incorporate methods proven to help students progress from level to level.
Parents might find this podcast useful to understand how the writing curriculum was modified to complement digital learning for our youngest students at home.
Guests:
Mekala Weerakoon, Grade 2 teacher
Priyanka D’Costa, R1 teacher
Kristina Kyle, Grade 1 teacher and literacy coordinator
Episode 3: The Parent/Child Relationship
Meet Jacci and Siena Grawburg, an HKIS family overcoming the challenges that develop between the parent and child while navigating through home learning.
Guests:
Jacci Grawburg, HKIS Parent
Siena Grawburg, Grade 4 Student
Episode 2: Getting Started at the Upper Primary
Upper Primary principal, Ben Hart, shares his experience from the day the Hong Kong government announced class suspensions on February 1 to the first eight weeks of home learning for over 600 students in Grades 3 to 5.
Guests:
Ben Hart, Upper Primary Principal
Episode 1: Wellbeing in the Time of Covid-19
Hear from three of our counselors at HKIS as they discuss wellbeing for students and parents during the extended class suspension. Topics include social isolation, screentime, family dynamics, and social media.
Guests:
John Everett, Grade 7 counselor
Kevin Fields, Grade 4 counselor
Kate Gardner, Reception 2 counselor
Special thanks to Weilyn Chong '20 for recording our intro, Laura Lorentzen and Danielle Solan, our Lower Primary music teachers, for creating our theme song, and to Hillary Sandeen from Alumni Relations for creating our Dragonwaves logo.