Parent Focus Group

The goal in starting the Parent Focus Group was engage our parent community in dialogue over a number of hot topics in education (and in our societies as well).  Each month, Dr. Arnie Bieber (Director of ISP) and I gather as a group of parents to discuss an educational topic related to ISP and to their interests.  Below are a list of topics and the resources we use to serve as a focus for the dialogue:

Session 1 & 2 : Creativity and how it is fostered in a school and society. Ken Robinson TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

Sessions 3 : Project Based Learning and Assessment.  Edutopia video: http://www.edutopia.org/geometry-real-world-students-architects 
Session 4 and 5 : Flipped Classroom (presentation by Derek Druce, US Physics Teacher, ISP). Videos and website by Derek: and https://sites.google.com/a/isp.cz/ib-physics/home . Project Based Learning and the ISP 7th Grade Curator Project (presentation by Matt Hayes, MS LA/SS Teacher) based on work with the collections of the Lobkowicz Palace.
We had our final meeting of the year on May 17th. Overall, based on verbal feedback after each session, the parents found the discussions very useful and informative. We hope that this kind of engagement with parents will be a catalyst for continuing dialogue. Isn’t this what we should be doing as lifelong learners?