–Highlights–

 

• 29,674,488 Cases World-wide (Johns Hopkins)
• TOMORROW'S CONVERSATIONS
• Our collective commitment to innovation-The Seven Principles
• Toward a more equitable school because of the pandemic
• The role of online learning coordinators- at a critical time
• It's not about "Me", but about "We" at FIS
• The wisdom of Goethe
• COVID-19 and a 7% increase in world poverty
• A synthetic coronavirus?  

–QUICK LINKS FOR BUSY PEOPLE–

From Frankfurt International School

A Community Commitment to "WE"

THURSDAY'S LEADERSHIP CONVERSATIONS 

with International School Leaders Around the World

All international school senior leaders are welcome.  A Weekly CONVERSATION  between School Heads and Senior Leaders– #29. Our discussions continue to be contemporary, important and a time we teach each other.  The dilemmas and conundrums are changing the longer we live with a global pandemic. Stay current and stay thoughtful in the company of colleagues. With thanks to Will Richardson who has facilitated our Thursday CONVERSATIONS  since the very beginning. 

The weekly Thursday CONVERSATIONS between Latin America school heads and senior leaders resumes in collaboration with Tri-Association and AASSA. All are welcome to join the discussion. Our sessions are hosted by Sonia Keller and Dereck Rhoads.   

–GETTING THE AAIE NEW SCHOOL PROJECT INTENTIONS RIGHT–

 "Leading on Principle: A Collective Commitment",

5 Ways Online Learning Coordinators Can Support Remote Learning

The role of the online learning coordinator has never been more critical than right now, in the middle of a global pandemic

• Understand and communicate students’ needs. If applicable, supply the online teacher with each student’s individual education plan (IEP) at or before the start of the course. Knowing the specific modifications that must be made for each student, as well as having a basic understanding of the student’s needs and learning style, will help the student and teacher get started on the right foot - making a big difference in overall student/teacher experience. Reach out to the online teacher to discuss your students’ unique needs.
• Show students how to use online learning. If your school does not have a student orientation for online courses, now is the time to develop one. Ideally, if you have the students all in one class, you can walk through the orientation with them as a group. Your students will save a lot of frustration if they enter their online course with a strong understanding of expectations on how an online course works. Although students are often tech-savvy you cannot assume they have experience with more structured online learning methods.
• Use a regular cadence for “checking in. Setting up a time to communicate with the online teacher at the start of class is a wonderful way to start the semester off right, and lets the teacher know you are available to support the student should the need arise. Check in with the teacher at regular intervals throughout the semester to make sure the student is on track.
• Respond in a timely manner. Be timely in your responsiveness to the online teacher, who should have a protocol regarding important times to reach out to you, the student’s local online learning coordinator. Teachers often reach out for example, if a student is falling behind, not logging in, or otherwise exhibiting behavior for which the teacher has concerns. Be sure to show professional courtesy by responding as soon as possible; creating strong open lines of communication early with the teacher is extremely important.
• Monitor and respond to student progress. Stay in regular touch with students taking online courses, especially if they are falling behind. Sooner rather than later is the best policy. Many online courses do not “stop” for a student who is lagging. The farther a student falls behind, the more discouraging it can be and harder to catch up. At the start of each week, review the course homepage and weekly objectives with the entire class. Read the online teacher’s guide for the week out loud together. Depending on the need, you may even want students to quickly go through the lessons themselves so that you and the students know what is ahead.

Remember, no matter where we are located or how we’re delivering education, all teachers and support staff are committed to helping students succeed. Great learning is not constrained by the format or location—even during a disruptive event like the global pandemic. By working together, we can create a memorable learning and teaching experience for everyone. 

 

Reimagining a More Equitable and

Resilient K–12 Education 

FROM THE INTRODUCTION:

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended school systems around the world. The pace has been frenetic as systems have had to stand up remote learning overnight, plan whether and how to reopen schools amid changing epidemiological circumstances, and support students academically and emotionally. The scope of the challenge has thus far left little time for deeper reflection.

 

Yet crises often create an opportunity for broader change, and as education systems begin to make decisions about investments for the new school year, it’s important to step back and consider the longer-term imperative to create a better system for every child beyond the pandemic.

 

The process starts with a key question: What are we trying to achieve, for whom, by when, and to what standards? Our research shows that top-performing school systems can vary significantly in curricula, assessments, teacher behaviors, and even desired outcomes. What unites them is a focus on excellence for every child, regardless of race, gender, income level, or location. That core value should inform the areas to keep in our current systems and where to innovate to create more effective and equitable education for all.

–THE NEWS of COVID-19–

29,674,488

Cases Worldwide (Johns Hopkins CSSE)

–A COVID-19 QUOTE–

 

Two hundred years before coronavirus, the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had some poignant metaphorical advice to do your part in this pandemic, when he wrote, 

 

"Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean."

A 7% Rise in Those Living in Poverty

A new report paints a bleak picture of the far-ranging impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, with a major backsliding in the percentage of children around the world getting essential vaccinations, food insecurity on the rise, and a sharp increase in the number of people living in extreme poverty. The first six months of the pandemic saw the number of people living in extreme poverty around the globe rise by 7%, after declining year after year for the past two decades. “That one is super worrying,” billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates said of the extreme poverty trend, one of more than a dozen metrics for global development assessed in the 2020 issue of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers report. (Stat News, Gates Foundation)

 

The China Vaccines– Announcing Progress

As global coronavirus cases neared 30 million on Tuesday, a senior health official in China said she expected a vaccine to be publicly available as early as November this year. According to the Johns Hopkins University Covid-19 tracker, which relies on official government data, there are 29,190,588 confirmed infections worldwide. Deaths stand at 927,245 and are expected to pass 1 million by October. Both the death toll and global infections total are believed to be higher, due to differing testing rates and definitions, delays in reporting and suspected underreporting by some countries. Meanwhile Wu Guizhen, head of biosafety at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said she expected Chinese vaccines for Covid-19 would soon be available to the public as soon as November or December. Speaking to state broadcaster CCTV, Wu said: “It will be very soon. The progress is currently very smooth.” (Johns Hopkins University, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph)

 

Genetic Code Back in the News

A forthcoming study from genetic testing giant 23andMe shows that a person’s genetic code could be connected to how likely they are to catch Covid-19 — and how severely they could experience the disease if they catch it. It’s an important confirmation of earlier work on the subject. People whose blood group is O seemed to test positive for Covid-19 less often than expected when compared to people with any other blood group, according to 23andMe’s data; people who tested positive and had a specific variant of another gene also seemed to be more likely to have serious respiratory symptoms. (via Stat News)

 

Europe is Not Out of the Woods

The head of the World Health Organization has warned that Europe is “not out of the woods”, as the continent begins to see more cases than it did at the height of the pandemic in April. WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that, while deaths remain at a "relatively low level", the average number of daily cases in Europe is now higher than during the first peak of the pandemic. Spain and France in particular have faced a resurgence of the virus and countries across the continent have introduced a host of new control measures including limiting gatherings and introducing quarantines for travelers arriving from abroad. According to data from the European Centers for Disease Control Spain is now seeing 250 cases per 100,000 head of the population, compared to around 200 at the peak of the pandemic. The country is also witnessing a rise in the rate of deaths. (The Daily Telegraph)

 

 

Biologists Have Created a Synthetic Slow-Growing Version of the Coronavirus to Give as a Vaccine

The news: Synthetic biology has led to a way to create a weakened form of the coronavirus that causes covid-19. Although the idea remains a long-shot in the vaccine race, an attenuated coronavirus could be formulated into inexpensive nose drops for use around the world. Plans are for the first volunteers to sniff up the synthetically designed virus starting in November, in initial human safety tests in the UK.

 

What's the difference? The most advanced covid vaccine candidates expose a person to only one part of the virus, the crown-shaped “spike” that gives it its name, in order to generate antibodies. The potential advantage of a vaccine using an attenuated live strain is that the body will encounter—and be able to react to—the entire virus. People will “catch” it through their nose, and it will even grow inside them. In theory, that could prompt the formation of not just antibodies but also T cells and specialized forms of immunity in the nasal passage, leading to broader protection.

 

Take it slow: The engineered virus looks exactly the same as the real thing on the outside but has a “virtual brake pedal” inside, causing it to replicate much less quickly. Inside a person, it could be less efficient by a factor of up to 1,000, giving the immune system time to respond.

 

Long history: It might seem scary to imagine getting infected by the coronavirus on purpose, but attenuated-virus vaccines are common. The kids’ flu vaccine FluMist has a weakened influenza virus in it. The only disease ever successfully eradicated from the globe, smallpox, was wiped out with shots of a live virus. However, not all experts believe this is the right approach. (MIT Technology Review)

 

The Molecule that Neutralizes the Virus

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists have isolated the smallest biological molecule to date that completely and specifically neutralizes the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is the cause of COVID-19. This antibody component, which is 10 times smaller than a full-sized antibody, has been used to construct a drug—known as Ab8—for potential use as a therapeutic and prophylactic against SARS-CoV-2. The researchers on Monday reported in the journal Cell that Ab8 is highly effective in preventing and treating SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice and hamsters. Its tiny size not only increases its potential for diffusion in tissues to better neutralize the virus, but also makes it possible to administer the drug by alternative routes, including inhalation. Importantly, it does not bind to human cells—a good sign that it won’t have negative side-effects in people. ( pittwire.pitt.edu, Cell.com)

 

India Surpasses 5,000,000

India’s total coronavirus cases passed 5 million on Wednesday, health ministry data showed, as the pandemic extended its grip on the vast country at an ever faster rate. With its latest million cases recorded in just 11 days, a world record, India now has 5.02 million infections. Only the United States has more, with 6.59 million. India has for some time been recording the world’s biggest daily rises in cases, and on Wednesday, the rise was just over 90,000 with a record 1,290 deaths. (via The Guardian)

 

Spanish Repeat of Hospital Chaos?

Fears of a second wave causing repeat scenes of chaos in Spanish hospitals have grown with the health ministry adding 156 deaths to the national toll in 24 hours, the largest daily rise since mid-May. Of 303 deaths recorded in the past week, 115 were from Madrid, Spain's hardest-hit region where infection is rising faster than anywhere else in the country. Jens Spahn, the German health minister, on Tuesday expressed confusion about why the numbers were rising. “There aren’t many other countries in the European Union to have adopted such tough measures to contain the first wave,” he said. (The Daily Telegraph)

 

 

Sweden Spared European Surge as Coronavirus Infections Stay Low

While many European countries are seeing new cases surge to levels not seen since the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sweden – whose light-touch approach has made it an international outlier – has one of the continent’s lowest infection rates. According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the Scandinavian country’s 14-day cumulative total of new cases was 22.2 per 100,000 inhabitants on Tuesday, against 279 in Spain, 158.5 in France, 118 in the Czech Republic, 77 in Belgium and 59 in the UK, all of which imposed lockdowns this spring.

 

Twenty-two of the 31 European countries surveyed by the ECDC had higher infection rates. New cases, now reported in Sweden only from Tuesday to Friday, are running at roughly the rate seen in late-March, while data from the national health agency showed only 1.2% of its 120,000 tests last week came back positive.

Unlike many countries, Sweden closed schools for the over-16s but kept those for younger pupils open, insisting on full attendance. Schools and universities are now open again. It also banned gatherings of more than 50 people and told people over 70 and in at-risk groups to self-isolate.

 

Otherwise, the population of 10 million was asked, rather than ordered, to respect physical distancing and work from home if possible, which it largely did. Shops, bars, restaurants and gyms stayed open and the wearing of masks has not so far been recommended. (The Guardian)

–Tracking the Virus Around the World–

–FROM JOHNS HOPKINS CSSE–

The Cultures of Dignity Resources for Supporting

Social-Emotional Wellness 

A Final Note: The AAIE COVID-19 Briefing is provided to support your leadership for the school community you serve. We encourage you to use these resources in any way, shape or form that helps you, your communications and toward furthering close relationships across your community.  – The AAIE Board