Dear KAS Community,
親愛的KAS家人您好:
Today marks five weeks of school. We’re halfway through the first quarter, sports and activities have begun and almost all of our new teachers are on the island or are arriving later today. I enjoyed watching our National Honor Society induction on Wednesday. Seeing our oldest students speaking about scholarship, character, service and leadership made me even more eager to be on campus soon, working with teachers and students more directly.
開學第五週了。 第一季已經過半，體育運動和各項活動都已經開始，幾乎所有的新老師都已經抵達台灣或在今天晚點會抵達。 我很喜歡星期三所看到的美國榮譽學會(NHS)儀式。 看到我們準畢業生談論獎學金、品格、服務和領導力，讓我更渴望能趕快進入校園，直接與老師、學生一起工作。
We’ve learned a lot about how children and adults learn, and how to accelerate learning. How teachers prepare and plan for learning is an important part of effective classrooms and high performing schools. This year all our teachers are focused on critical learning outcomes that were developed in KAS’s schoolwide strategic planning processes for the WASC accreditation and IB re-authorization. Teachers have devoted a lot of time to those learning outcomes before the school year, in after-school meetings, and during our teacher ‘work day’ last Friday. In the elementary we’re learning more about teaching mathematical thinking, problem solving, and modeling. The impact of that is already being seen in some of our classrooms. Our secondary teachers are developing deep and engaging ‘interdisciplinary units’ that we’ll be piloting with students later this school year. I know that these experiences will have a big impact on student learning. I’ve seen it happen many times in other good international schools. I’m excited for this year for all our learners, from PreK to grade 12.
我們已經學到了很多關於兒童和成人如何學習以及如何加強學習的知識。教師如何準備和計劃學習是有效課堂和高績效學校的重要組成部分。今年，我們所有的教師都專注於在KAS全校範圍內為 WASC 認證和 IB 重新授權制定的戰略規劃過程中製定的關鍵學習成果。老師們在學年之前、課後會議以及上週五我們的老師在進修日投入了大量時間來研究這些學習成果。在小學部，我們學習了更多關於教授數學思維、解決問題和模式的相關知識。我們的一些教室已經看到了這種影響。我們的中學教師正在開發深入且引人入勝的“跨學科單元”，我們將在本學年晚些時候引導學生進行。我知道這些經歷會對學生的學習產生很大的影響。我也在其他優秀的國際學校見證過許多次。今年我為我們從 PreK 到 12 年級的所有學習者感到振奮。
In the midst of all this, we must remember that a sense of safety and normalcy are also key for student learning. We all hope that this school year will be free from disruption, but the cases we see in northern Taiwan are worrying. Earlier this week more than 4,000 students were sent home in Taipei or New Taipei City due to transmission in their schools. We know it could happen here too.
在這之中，我們必須記住，安全感和常態安定感也是促成學生學習的關鍵。 我們都希望這個學年不再受干擾，但我們看到台灣北部的案例著實令人擔憂。 本週早些時候，在台北或新北市超過 4,000 名學生因校園傳播而被送回家。 我們知道這也有可能在南部發生。
Everything we can do to reduce transmission—wearing masks, washing hands, limiting social activities and keeping our distance from others—is important. I am pleased that our middle and high school students from ages 12–18 will be eligible for vaccinations on campus on September 27. Vaccination will provide another layer of protection that will not only help keep individual students (and their families) safe and healthy, it will also help us protect one another and reduce potential disruptions to in-person learning this school year.
我們為減少病毒傳播所能做的就是 戴口罩、勤洗手、限制社交活動和與他人保持社交安全距離，以上這些都很重要。 我很高興 9 月 27 日，我們 12-18 歲的國高中學生將有資格在校園內接種疫苗。接種疫苗將提供另一層保護，不僅有助於確保個別學生（及其家人）的安全和健康， 它還將幫助我們相互保護並減少本學年面對面學習的潛在干擾。
We have not yet made a decision on requiring vaccination for eligible students. However, better than requiring compliance, I encourage all our parents to do the right thing, adhere to the science, and send in your consent form ASAP to have your eligible children vaccinated with all the others. Our school leaders and teachers want to see 100% of our students vaccinated. It won’t guarantee that our school year will be free from disruption or infection. But, it will provide a much-needed sense of safety and normalcy that will help us all focus on learning together, face to face, this year.
我們目前尚未決定是否要求每位符合條件的學生都接種疫苗。 然而，遵守比要求更好，我鼓勵我們所有的父母做正確的事情，相信科學，並儘快繳回您的同意書，讓您符合條件的孩子與所有其他學生一起接種疫苗。 我們的領導者和老師都希望看到學生 100% 接種疫苗。 它雖然不能保證本學年不會受到干擾或感染。 但是，它將提供一種急需的安全感和常態安定感，這將幫助我們所有人今年能專注於到校上課共同學習。
In hope and solidarity,
Mr. Laney, Interim Head of School
Ms. Clark, High School Principal
Mr. Payne, Middle School Principal
Mr. Coyle, Elementary School Principal
