Director News 

On Sunday 29 April 2012, ICS Addis dedicated a city roundabout in Mekanisa with a distinctive monument that symbolizes the important role of education in Ethiopia and throughout the world.

The central monument for the roundabout is in bronze and concrete. A young girl, reading a book, sits on top of the globe with the continents plastered in relief. The statue is by sculptor Bekele Mekonnen, and celebrates the power of literacy. Literacy opens the world to all of us. Without literacy, the world is a closed book. Ato Bekele has created a symbol of the value of education to all cultures around our globe. We hope that this monument will serve as a reminder to all of us in this city that literacy and learning truly are the keys that will open the world to our children.

The overall concept for the roundabout is by Abba Architects, featuring natural stone and colorful, indigenous wildflowers, shrubs and grasses. We did not want a manicured garden that will wither and die without constant water and attention in the dry seasons. We hope that the people of Mekanisa and Addis Ababa will appreciate its natural beauty. It will grow and change through the seasons and through the years. The colors will change over time.

The roundabout is lit with solar lighting systems, a donation of the Center for Sustainable Development and Research in Dubai.

We chose a sustainable design because we believe sustainability is critical for the future of Ethiopia and the world. Education itself is a venture in sustainability. Without a strong national education program, the gains Ethiopia has made will be lost to future generations. Without literacy our children will not be able to take their true place in the world. They will not be able to make their best contribution on the world’s stage.

We are proud that ICS Addis was asked by the city administration to adopt this roundabout. However, we did not want to create an advertisement for ICS. Our school’s name is not visible from the road. Instead, a small bronze plaque written in both English and Amharic dedicates the monument to “the teachers who change our lives.” I remember Dr. Kurtz, my physics teacher, who fanned the flames of curiosity in science in my own life.

I know that all of us can recall at least one teacher who changed our lives. Education, though, is not about the teacher. Education is (or should be) about the child, the learner. That is why our monument features a girl reading a book, not a teacher lecturing at a chalkboard. Ultimately, learning is up to the individual. At ICS Addis we believe the love of learning is a spark inside each one of us. Brain research merely confirms what we see daily in ICS classrooms and beyond: the human species loves to learn.

Our brains are wired for it. We feel better, we feel good, when we master something new, something difficult. It makes us healthier beings. The roundabout was funded through ICS’s “Corporate Social Responsibility” program. In previous years the school has helped pave roads and build a bridge in the Old Airport area, and has funded the kebele’s cleanup
efforts. I want to thank our Board of Governors for approving funds on an annual basis for social projects in the city.

Many of the school’s students, teachers and staff members are engaged in projects throughout the city as well. Service learning is an important piece of our educational program at ICS Addis. It is our goal to have 100% of our students serving others in some manner. Our students are planting trees as part of President Girma’s campaign. Others teach English at the YMCA or local orphanages. Third grade students read in English with their peers in a local school. Our students enthusiastically raise money for Our Father’s Kitchen, the Children’s Burn Care unit at Myung Sung Hospital, the Ethiopian Wolf Conservancy Project and other projects in Ethiopia. Our Model United Nations Club is teaching local high school students how the UN works.

We even have tennis players and coaches teaching English to young Ethiopian tennis players—future stars of the Davis Cup, we’re sure. So, giving back to Ethiopia is a core value in our school community. The banners flying at the roundabout dedication proudly proclaimed the first five words in our own ICS Way: “I Can Make a Difference.” We want
all our students at ICS Addis to grow up knowing that they can make a difference in their world.

Our land lease for the main campus was recently renewed by the city administration. We are planning to serve the children of expatriate families in Addis Ababa for many years to come. We also plan to be giving back to our host country and city for many years as well. Each of us, in our own way, can make a difference!

Recruiting teachers for international schools is one of the most important tasks in my job description as Head of School. Good teachers, more than any other factor, are critical for student learning. Finding the best teachers we can attract to Ethiopia has consumed a significant part of my attention on a daily and weekly basis since October. Jessica Fortin, Hubert Gordon, Joyce Halsey and Deron Marvin have also been very involved in all of this work, every step of the way, and I want to thank them for their time and attention, and their thoughtful feedback on so many candidates.

We send and receive thousands of emails regarding teacher openings and applications during the recruiting season. To help manage this, we implemented an on-line recruitment system this year for the first time. This allowed us to screen candidates more effectively. Altogether, more than 250 teachers applied on-line and sent us their CVs and dossiers. Many others were screened out of the process early because they were clearly unsuited to match our school’s needs. We also met dozens of potential teacher candidates at five recruiting fairs in South Africa, Bangkok and Boston, many of whom were already teaching internationally.

Twenty-one professional staff members (i.e., teachers, administrators, program coordinators, etc.) will be leaving ICS Addis at the end of this school year. With 95 professional staff members, this represents a turnover of 21%, well within international school norms. Our teachers are moving on for a variety of personal and professional reasons: their spouse’s employment has changed, because of retirement or simply to seek a new adventure in a new part of the world.

I am proud to provide the ICS Addis community with information about the 25 people who will be joining us as full or part time teachers and administrators in August 2012. Click here to see a page with their brief teaching bios. Our new staff members are from Canada, the USA and France. There are six teaching couples and thirteen singles. Collectively, they will bring over 300 years of experience in teaching to ICS, with the bulk of those years teaching in international schools around the globe.

This year we are also happy to announce the first teaching intern to join ICS Addis in our new “Internship in Teaching” program. We feel that ICS students will benefit from the active, enthusiastic involvement of a young teacher intern, that colleagues will benefit from an intern's energy and ideas, and that as a beginning teacher, any intern can benefit from the strong culture of ICS and Ethiopia.

The mission of the International Community School of Addis Ababa is to develop the talents and intellects of a multicultural student body using learner-centered, holistic instructional methods, empowering each student to contribute in an evolving world.

This year, one of our schoolwide improvement goals is to improve the feedback we give to students, in order to maximize their learning. Frequent, timely and actionable feedback is one of the strongest supports that students can receive for improved learning.

We also want to make sure that our teachers are receiving regular feedback about the teaching and learning happening in their classrooms. Educational research is very clear. One of the most important supports for student learning is to have principals and other school leaders in classrooms on a regular basis, looking for evidence of student learning and giving feedback to teachers. For this reason, school principals and administrators at ICS Addis have recently committed themselves to spending as many as two “coaching” days every week in classrooms. This will allow us to better support the teaching and learning that happens on a daily basis.

As a result of this commitment, we may not always be available to speak with you when you drop in or telephone us. However, we really do value communicating with parents. The “community” part of our name is a critical part of our school’s identity. When you want to speak with a school principal, the head of school, or other senior administrators, please contact our offices first, so that we can set up a time to talk. Our office days will be much more tightly scheduled as a result of spending two coaching days in classrooms. We have also asked our secretaries to always ask, “What is this meeting about?” With that information we can be prepared for a productive and efficient meeting with you.

Thank you for your ongoing support to ICS Addis and for your patience and understanding as we spend time in classrooms.

Best regards,
Jim Laney Jr., Head of School

On behalf of…
Hubert Gordon, Elementary School Principal
Deron Marvin, Middle School Principal
Joyce Halsey, High School Principal
Katherine Brewer, Director for Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment
David Redmond, IB Diploma Program Coordinator
Wondwossen G/Egziabher, Deputy Head for Finance & Operations

The 2010 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study of schools in 60+ countries found a close link between students’ enjoyment of reading and their reading proficiency. The study reveals that 37 percent of students in those 60+ countries say they don’t enjoy reading—and their achievement is often the lowest among their peers. For parents, the implications are clear. If your child is not motivated to read, she will never reach her full literacy potential.

Motivation to read can be seen when children regularly choose to read. Our teachers, especially in the elementary, use many strategies for encouraging a love for reading. The busyness of our library before, duringand after school tells me that many students are learning to love reading, and that bodes well for their future literacy.

Parents can also help their children find pleasure in reading. Here are some tips…

• Model your own enjoyment of reading. In our middle school, for example, all our students and teachers “drop everything and read” for 20 minutes one day a week. Families can do the same thing on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Then talk about the books you are reading while enjoying a treat together.
• Allow your child a wide range of reading materials. Soccer or nature magazines, graphic novels, an array of genres can keep a child with a short attention span interested in the act of reading. Choice is closely identified with ownership and responsibility, and can be a powerful motivator.
• Learn more about your child’s reading level, especially if he is in the elementary. Struggling readers will often choose books for pleasure that are too difficult because classmates are reading and talking about them. Help your child pick out a (potential) favorite at his level or one or two levels lower in our library on a Saturday morning. One more tip…don’t call it “easy!”
• Talk to your child’s teacher about some realistic reading goals and provide rewards for pleasure reading at home to meet those goals. 30 minutes per day, 200 pages per week, a special series of books by one author—there are many ways to challenge and reward your child to pick up a book instead of a GameBoy.
• Buy books as gifts. Allow children to keep their “old favorites” and encourage them to pick them up and read them occasionally. Dr. Seuss stories are enjoyable for children of all ages!
• Read a book and then watch the movie together. You can talk about why you like the book, why you like the movie, and some of the changes in the film version when they adapted the story.

Next week we celebrate a love of books—reading and authoring—by bringing in author Toni Buzzeo. A passionate proponent of reader’s theater, Toni will help students explore this way of understanding and communicating works of literature. Families will have an opportunity to purchase Toni’s books, and the author will be able to sign copies during her visit. Parents are welcome to drop in on any of her sessions through the week.