Curriculum Development at ISR

Last week Rumbai and Duri teachers got together for two days of work on curriculum. I could not have been prouder of the great progress that the teachers made in those two days. Of course this has been a continuing process through my six years here, and when I look at how far we have come in curriculum development, I could not be more pleased.

One example of the great progress we have made is the integration of technology in the curriculum. Five years ago our technology vision was to have a bank of desktop computers in every classroom, to phase out the traditional Computer Lab which tended to isolate rather than integrate technology. The concept was a good one at the time, but with changes in the world of technology we are so far ahead of that vision.

Next year our goal is that every student from third through eighth grade will have two devices, a laptop and an i-Pad (provided by the school). When you see how comfortable Preschool children are manipulating the programs on their i-Pads, you know we are in a brand new world.

Cathryn Berger Kaye

Welcome to Gena and Bruce Engelfried

Those of you who are new to Rumbai this year did not have the opportunity to meet Gena, who will be the new Director of ISR in August 2014. Therefore we have asked Gena and Bruce to introduce themselves in this edition.

It has been my pleasure since August 2013 to have monthly Skype meetings with Gena and Alasdair MacLean, Principal of ISR Duri, to support Gena in a smooth transition to her new position. As you will see from their introduction on the following page they are very excited to be coming ISR and to joining the Rumbai community.