ACS Athens Ethos, Fall 2020 by ACS Athens

ETHOS • FALL 2020

Our Mission: ACS Athens is a student-centered international school, embracing American educational philosophy, principles and values. Through excellence in teaching and diverse educational experiences, ACS Athens challenges all students to realize their unique potential: academically, intellectually, socially and ethically - to thrive as responsible global citizens.

*Quotes on cover: Joseph Campell / Brené Brown

This issue is dedicated to the late Stefanos Gialamas, ACS Athens President 2005-2019, who had the vision and inspiration for this publication in 2006

Main Number: +30 210 6393200 Reception Desk: Ext. 206, 233 Office of the President: Ext. 201 Office of Enrollment Management, Communications & Technology: Ext. 263 Admissions: Ext. 263, 251 Finance: Ext.202, 207 Business Procurement: Ext. 207 Human Resources: Ext. 204,256 Cashier: Ext. 208 Bookstore: Ext. 214 Transportation: Ext. 239 Health Office: Ext. 217 Cafeteria: Ext. 236 Academy: Ext. 222 Academy Citizenship: Ext. 404 Middle School: Ext. 261 Middle School Citizenship: Ext. 267 Elementary School: Ext. 229 Student Affairs: Ext. 226 IB/AP Programs: Ext. 247, 248 Academy/MS Library: Ext. 219, 220 ES Library: Ext. 293 Athletics: Ext. 327, 401 The Institute: Ext. 402 Optimal Learning Support Program: Ext. 237, 265 Theater: Ext. 331, 302 Security: Ext. 240 Security (After Hours): +30 210 6393555

Ethos is an annual publication showcasing the life and activity of the Institution of ACS Athens. Publisher: ACS Athens Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director: Leda Tsoukia Managing Editors: Peggy Pelonis John Papadakis Production team: Konstantinos Kouvopoulos Copy editing: Annie Angelides Contributors: ACS Athens Faculty, Staff, Students, Parents and Alumni Concept and Publication design: Leda Tsoukia

ACS Athens (American Community Schools) 129 Ag.Paraskevis Street, GR 15234 Halandri Athens, Greece E: acs@acs.gr

W: acsathens.gr

T: +30 210 6393200

F: +30 210 6390051

ETHOS • FALL 2020

Letter from the Editor

Guiding and Supporting our Students

by Leda Tsoukia

Note from the President

by the Office of Student Affairs

a virtual “road-map” of group interaction

by Dr. Peggy Pelonis

Building Global Citizenship through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals at ACS Athens Elementary School by Valeria Laitinen

Forming Active World Citizens Through the SDGs by Christina Venos

Celebrating Ms Helen Sarantes! by Penny Preen-Kynigou

A New Book by ACS Athens to be released in 2021 by Dr. Maria D. Avgerinou & Dr. Peggy Pelonis

Learning Never Stops at ACS Athens, and We Are Always Ready for New Challanges!

by Dr. Tonia Fyrigou

The Elementary School 5-Phase Process or How ACS Athens went viral on social media once more! by Dr. Maria D. Avgerinou & Sophia Moros

Beam me up, Scotty! How Visual Metaphors Scaffolded Understanding of Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning in the Elementary School by Dr. Maria D. Avgerinou

COVID19 – Reflection of Practices Undertaken in the Elementary School ESL Classes by Dr. Jenny Grigoropoulos

Music Explorations During the SARS-CoV-2 Crisis

28 30

by Peggy Apostolou

Flattening the Curve of Disruption “When everyone else in Athens stopped learning, we started again... in a different way!”

by David Nelson

Testing the Flexible in i²Flex and Combo Studies A Community of Lifelong Learners by Janet Karvouniaris

gagement, and Student-Teacher Collaboration in IB English A: Literature Yr. 1 by Dr. Evangelos Syropoulos

Virtual IB Art Exhibition 2020 by Sophia Soseilos

71 75

Quality Education during COVID-19

by Evelyn Pittas

ACS Athens student joins Greek 3D printing Group

by John Papadakis

Leadership through KΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ (KINONOS) by Evelyn Pittas

“Youth-to-Youth” becomes “Human-to-Human” Embracing differences and sharing kindness to all

by Despina Yannouli

Synaesthesia: A New Welcoming Adventure in the by Effie Elgabry

Asynchronous Teaching/ Learning, Active Student En-

American Community Schools of Athens

by Eleftheria Maratou

by Hercules Lianos

by Efi Karatopouzi

Meaningful Musings 6th Grade Language Arts

by Annie Angelides

Teaching BBB in Elementary School during COVID-19

Introducing Equity Maps® – An online tool that provides

An Interview with Dr. Natalia Linos, Running for US Congress

Continuing Education in Times of COVID - 19;

by Ann Marie Martinou

Learning to Teach, Teaching to Learn; a Two-Way

The 2020 Ideagen EU Global Goals Digital Summit

Relationship

by Konstantinos Kouvopoulos

CONT by Venie Gaki

Scientific Inquiry and Discourse in the Virtual Classroom

by Christina Bakoyannis

and Always“The Virtual Way”

Virtual Learning 2020: A Learning Experience

by Dora Andrikopoulos

“A Changing Face”

by Labrini Rontogiannis

Sharing Knowledge During Quarantine…Summer…

by Annie Constantinides

Elementary, Middle School and Academy Commencement Ceremonies 2020

by Sophia Moros, Stelios Kalogridakis & David Nelson

To the Class of 2020 and a Life Well-Lived!

100

by Evelyn Pittas

Facilitating learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. An

Response To Challenging Times ACS Athens Crisis Man-

example of teaching Greek Language Arts Courses in

agement Plan

Middle School at ACS Athens

by Annie Constantinides

102

by Maria Anna Sidiropouloui

Improvement and transformation 2019-2020

The Middle School Honor Code Club at the Mila Tora

by Stavros Tzanetakos

Campaign organized by “The Smile of the Child” at the

Remembering Stefanos Gialamas

Greek Ministry of Education

by Dr. Peggy Pelonis

by Venie Gaki & Christina Bakoyannis

Remembering Steve Medeiros

by Dr. Peggy Pelonis

104 108 110

Letter from the Editor Discovering ourselves through fear and adversity by Leda Tsoukia, Editor in Chief, ACS Athens Creative/Art Coordinator

As you think about your own path to daring leadership, remember Joseph Cambell’s wisdom: “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek”. Own the fear, find the cave, and write a new ending for yourself, for the people you’re meant to serve and support, and for your culture. Choose courage over comfort. Choose whole hearts over armor. And choose the great adventure of being brave and afraid. All the exact same time Brené Brown

ince September 2019, we have been experiencing a situation like no other in the school’s history. This situation has not only put us in the most unsafe and fearful state regarding our health but has also changed everything in the way we function in our everyday life, as individuals as well as an institution. The sudden and tragic change in our school leadership and the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the operational paradigm of our school. In the outset of this tough reality, our school managed to completely change the way everything operated very efficiently and very fast. Online classes, remote operation and even virtual events were implemented from day one. Technical issues were solved almost overnight. It was happening in a way none of us would have ever imagined: ACS Athens created a virtual nest.

It utilized technology to assure the availability of educational opportunities, tools, and practices to all our students, from the younger Elementary ages to the graduate class. Nevertheless, true Education is not only that. A collective effort extended the educational guidance and offered emotional support that helped all of us to cope better in these uncharted waters we were in. The school has become a warm nest, that not only has empowered students to continue their learning with the same thrill as before, but also to function as a safe and dependable harbor in our community’s otherwise turbulent life. After-class office hours in the Elementary school between teachers and students, counselors being available to support everyone in the Middle School and Academy, group sessions and meetings, ensured that students were connected, all questions they might have had been addressed, all voices, worries, and uncertainty were being heard and teachers and staff were available every day to listen, talk and guide. The community came closer: meetings between staff and administrators, private or group talks, supportive emails - all that ensured that we feel safe and we are indeed part of a bigger family that cares. Because in the end, a sense of belonging is what counts most. Having experienced the first wave of this pandemic, we now enter a new phase. Without really knowing where we will be at the end of this academic year or when our reality will become normal again; this is a time for reflection and a time for action! A time to discover who we really are, because how else would we know how capable we are unless we see ourselves fighting and overcoming adversity? This Ethos issue is different. All authors have put a little bit more of themselves in their writing. We have all been in the battle, we are stronger and we are ready to create, innovate and support, We are ACS Athens!

Beam me up, Scotty! How Visual Metaphors Scaffolded Understanding of Emergency

Note from the President

34 Meaningful Musings 6th Grade Language Arts

Facilitating learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Teaching Greek Language Arts in Middle School

Flattening the Curve of Disruption

Testing the Flexible in iÂ˛Flex and Combo Studies

ACS Athens student joins Greek 3D printing Group

Elementary, Middle School and Academy Commencement Ceremonies 2020

ETHOS â&#x20AC;¢ FALL 2020

When change is thrust upon us, the first reaction is shock, numbness, and denial that this really isn’t happening. This is a coping mechanism that is fueled initially to protect us from ‘too much, too soon’; too much information, too much unknown, too much fear.

The Courage to Change Note from our President Dr. Peggy Pelonis

andemic, COVID-19, social distancing, quarantine, masks, and antiseptics are the common buzz words around us these days. New words added to our daily vocabulary as we grapple to cope with the unknown. These are not just words however, they represent experiences to each one of us that evoke emotions; anxiety, fear, frustration, insecurity, self-doubt, uncertainty for the course of humanity. It is true that we are creatures of habit; we seek the familiar, the predictable, the status quo. Change, while intellectually desirable, is scary and unpredictable therefore, we often reject it before we experience its benefits. Only when change is thrust upon us, do our coping mechanisms kick in acutely, instinctively, and without thought. So, while we are creatures of habit, we are also fabulously creative individuals who seek solutions.

We don’t and perhaps never will have all the answers, mainly because the questions form as we move forward and as the situation develops. But, what we can do is provide the most optimal conditions for each individual’s creative energy to take form, we can unite with the creative energy of others, build momentum, and eventually move mountains.

As we move away from denial to understanding the seriousness of the situation, people experience a ‘fight or flight’ reaction, a natural reaction that allows us to either run away from danger or to face up and fight. Thus as our brains and bodies take time to adjust to the change, adrenalin helps us develop solution-oriented behaviors. When solutions are not in sight and “fight or flight” mode is not possible, the stress lingers, and the fear resonates within, allowing our creative imagination to run away with the worst possible scenarios. The more we focus on these scenarios, the more anxiety and fear grow until it all becomes a vicious cycle without relief in sight. Potentially our bodies react with emotional and physical symptoms; headaches, stomach aches, skin problems, sleep disorders, and much worse.

Fear is mostly a limitation, but it can also be a motivator. When we stay within the fear, we repetitively discuss it, dwell on it, find others who feel the same, and share our misery; all very normal human reactions. Staying with the fear, however, allows the fear to perpetuate, fogging our ability to think and find solutions, clouding our judgment, and making us “comfortable” within miserable situations. Escape from this situation takes courage. It takes courage to change the vicious cycle of fear and to focus on what works rather than on what doesn’t, to fixate on pockets of light rather than on the darkness, to center on solution-oriented conversations rather than on what isn’t working. Finding the courage to break this vicious cycle requires intentionality. We need to intentionally change our internal dialogue and the dialogue between us. Staying in the fear is easy; it’s a normal but not a natural response to the unknown.

ETHOS • FALL 2020

In the end, when fear consumes us, we suffer, and those we love suffer. Intentionally moving out of the fear builds resilience, produces collaborative intentions, and develops a robust psychological immune system.

Recognizing the necessity, under the circumstances, to pivot and change and nullify the vicious cycle of fear, the entire ACS Athens community moved through losses, successfully navigated the unknowns of the pandemic, and transitioned from face to face teaching/learning to virtual classes. For many, this would be “good enough” as the expectations in light of the unknown were minimal. Excellence, however, is intentional at ACS Athens, and during the pandemic, there were endless activities, creative energies, and impact-producing strategies taking place in front and behind the scenes. We felt the fear and went on with things anyway, role modeling for our students’ mindsets and reactions that ultimately could become useful in their life experience. So, despite the losses, the COVID-19, the pandemic, challenges with Moodle and the BBB, the uncertainty with canceled exams, the turmoil with IB grading, we were fully present as an institution with stronger academic programs, innovation, partnerships, activities, and events that united us as a community. In fact, coming together as a community is a strength that came to the forefront during these challenging times, and just in case you missed some of the ACS Athens stories, below are some things that took place during this past academic year. 2019-2020- At ACS Athens, when change was thrust upon us, we found the courage to change:

Prior to lockdown: ◉ Our Boys Varsity Soccer team finished 3rd place at the ISST tournament. We got 2nd place at the SCIS Middle School Boys swimming and 3rd place at the SCIS High School Girls Swimming. Our Boys Varsity Basketball got 1st place and our Girls Varsity Basketball got 2nd place in the International Youth Tournament ◉ The Incubator of Students Creative Ideas co-hosted Innovation Summit in the American Farm School in October and hosted the Third Annual Innovation Summit in February.

After the March 6, 2020 lockdown: The entire school went to online teaching in one night with a well-designed program for synchronous and asynchronous learning (MS & HS)]; Moodle and the BBB became the new classroom as well as student’s rooms; the Elementary School developed four phases of online teaching despite having very limited experience with the modality; Our IB teachers

offered additional online sessions while the Elementary teachers worked hard to engage the little ones; all counseling, guidance & psychological support services became virtual which included the Optimal Learning Program, the Mindfulness initiatives, and other services. While on lockdown, academic assessments were being conducted online; all meetings of faculty, department, parents, students, administrators went online; the school systematically sought input through weekly surveys from students and faculty and used it to fine-tune daily practices; monthly surveys were sent to parents for their feedback; the President was communicating continuously with the Middle States Association and with other Heads of International Schools; all IB classes continued despite canceled exams by the IBO; the Academy culminating projects reflected and connected learning to COVID-19 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that the school has adopted schoolwide. The ACS Athens Virtual courses (www.acs.gr/virtual) strengthened the learning platforms of the school. Courses included topics in American Studies, English Language & Literature, Art, and Humanities. Regarding schoolwide Citizenship, attendance was taken daily, citizenship issues were addressed, and there was communication with parents virtually; Service projects that continued included the ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ (Kinonos) solidarity project supporting the homeless of Athens; student-initiated innovative project manufacturing 3D printed face shields for use by the front-line health responders; Youth-to-Youth education program for unattended children refugees continued online, as was the shoe recycling project. The March lockdown caused the school’s Crisis Management Team to go to overdrive, in order to provide needed guidance to the whole community. The team also created the “Return to School - COVID-19 handbook,” a manual for the restarting of campus-based operations in May. During the lockdown, the school team of psychologists produced the manual for coping with COVID-19 effects on adults and students, addressing issues of mental wellness. The school capitalized on its collaboration with the US Embassy Regional Security Office, local and international epidemiologists and doctors, and the local chief of Police for necessary consultation and guidance. The Health Office personnel made appropriate preparations for safety and interventions if needed. During the lockdown, there was ample opportunity to develop and implement innovative initiatives, such as the Artificial Intelligence project and curriculum enrichment that continues since. Two very successful strategic planning meetings were conducted with over 80 participants from the entire community. Through productive discussions, ACS Athens man-

ETHOS • FALL 2020

aged to secure a first time ever University credit for ACS Athens students through Widener University in its Leadership Studies program and received one scholarship. 14 after school courses kept running for our students, faculty, parents, including AP® and IB® Test Prep sessions. In the Learning Commons, the ACS Athens Library resources became available online, accessible 24/7, covering all subjects taught in the school and more. The Learning Commons team created a magazine Library comprised of interactive publications; it redesigned the Library Resources Moodle Shell and turned it into a research database with reliable academic sources; in-class collaborations began with senior academic advisory classes in order to prepare students for their research and writing assignments in the IB program; summer programs began IB Prep & Revision courses; non-native English speakers were offered special ELA program for the summer; the collaboration between the Library and the Writing Studio was strengthened; the Library reorganized its printed collection and compiled a Greek book section for the printed as well as the virtual library collections. A number of free subscriptions for international newspapers were made available to our community, and the number of people accessing the Library Moodle shell has dramatically increased. Our Librarian received an invitation as a speaker to the International Follett Workshop, to show the work done by the ACS Library in creating and managing online resources, ebooks, and collections. A visual arts exhibition was held, and students from the Incubator of Students Creative Ideas participated in a virtual coding summit during the Pandemic lockdown. Finally, the junior and senior advisory classes transitioned smoothly to an online environment. Media creativity flourished with over 350 media projects produced during the lockdown. We entered two media competitions for the first time. A production portfolio was created to support an applicant for his college application; our News Club produced a Virtual News Broadcast; the Annual Truman Trial was produced online by the 10th graders. Green screen studio techniques were included in an online guide for home use by students and faculty, and a new eBook on animation production methods was created. Finally, media productions included a new “Knowledge Series” with video interviews of experts and VIP’s sharing their experiences and expertise with our community. Publishing of papers and articles did not cease during the lockdown, on topics including the Leadership of Online Schools (Pelonis/Giampapa); Psychological effects of COVID-19 (Pelonis/Kouyoumtzoglou); Professional Development (Pelonis); Online Teaching (Moros/Avgerinou & Tokatlidou/Avgerinou); Artificial Intelligence (Karampelas); and publishing the International Schools Journal and the Lancers Illustrated athletics magazine. Finally, our community was involved as presenters

and attendees in a large number of webinars, the preeminent platform for conferences of our time. Among them, Dr. Pelonis presented to Heads of Schools of NESA (Near East South Asia), NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools), AISH (Academy for International School Heads), MAIS (Mediterranean Association for International Schools). She was a speaker and moderator at the IDEAGEN’s EU Global Goals Summit “the 17 Sustainable Goals Summit,” and at the Expert Series on Leadership, while she included on the annual “Who is Who in Women Leadership” publication. Annie Constantinides (Athletic Director) presented a webinar to a worldwide group of Athletic Directors and Dr. Andreas Tsokos (IB/AP Coordinator) presented a webinar on “How to succeed in the IB program.”

Preparing to re-open A Crisis Response Team was formed by the School Administration, the Health Officers, and the Maintenance crew. The school received a grant from the U.S. State Department for needed products; accepted a large number of masks donated by the Chinese Embassy and pharmaceutical products by AbbVie Pharmaceuticals totaling in value 8,000€.

…And we came back! With a smile!!! A number of virtual events were held, including the highly anticipated Middle School and Academy Athletics Awards (1000+ views) and the Middle School Graduation and Academy Commencement ceremonies (found in the ACS Athens YouTube channel) with over 3000 views in the first weekend and growing. Celebrations continued with the Elementary School and 5th Grade Step-Up days. The Institute of ACS Athens has developed 5 Academies with unique and innovative programs intended for the school community and the wider international community. An exclusive partnership was initiated with Widener University of Chester, PA, where four of our faculty will be Adjunct Professors to co-teach in an Educational Leadership Ph.D program. Another partnership has brought to fruition with Chapman University of Orange County, CA, that offers courses at ACS Athens for the University’s graduate students. Through these trying times, ACS Athens has managed to reach another record enrollment season with integrity, by utilizing online resources for meeting with prospective students and their families, online testing and assessment K thru 12.

Not even COVID-19 could curtail the laughter and joy that we witnessed when children came back to school. It is so interesting to note how the world has changed; there were times when children wished school would close, even for a day, so that they could enjoy the comfort and freedom of home. Today, children wear their masks without question, adhere to the social distancing rule, cleanse their hands frequently, all with the silent hope that school remains open lest they experience the isolation of a lockdown again. How the world is changingâ&#x20AC;Ś and we? We must change and pivot and turn to meet the demands while developing resilience. ACS Athens; not the walls and the buildings and the classrooms but the teachers, the staff, the administrators; is alive with laughter, yes laughter, even during these uncertain times because we have the courage to change. â&#x2013;

Second Grade

Elementary adventures Building Global Citizenship through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by Valeria Laitinen, Elementary School Vice Principal

n 2015, the United Nations (UN) adopted the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) needed to put the planet on the path to a more equitable, peaceful, and prosperous future for all its citizens (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs). UN member countries pledged to work toward meeting these goals and the UN embarked on a campaign to involve individuals all over the world in its efforts to save the planet. At American Community Schools Athens (ACS Athens), elementary teachers and students in second through fifth grades took up the call to learn about the SDGs and completed several projects that raised awareness within their classrooms, the school, and beyond the community.

With so many goals to choose from, second-grade teachers decided to pick one goal at the beginning of the year that would resonate with their students - Goal 4: Quality Education. After learning that some children around the world lack access to schools and books, second-grade students decided to write their own books. Students completed numerous books designed to help children learn their ABCs, math skills, and phonics. They intended to partner with a school in Chicago and distribute their books to children in need through a charity in Chicago and a refugee camp in Greece but the sudden lockdown in early March 2020 of schools in Greece made it difficult to complete this final step. Prior to the COVID-19 lockdown, second-grade teachers also introduced Goal 14: Life Below Water in preparation for their field trip in February to the Archelon Sea Turtle Rescue Centre in Glyfada as part of their “Diversity in Habitats” science unit. Teachers led the students in a brainstorming session about what actions they might take to support and protect life below water, and the students decided that a beach clean up would be an important first step. Wearing gloves, students filled six large garbage bags with refuse from the beach. Students expressed shock and disbelief at the amount of garbage they collected which led to discussions on ways that they could spread awareness to help others understand the need to keep the beaches and water clean. The COVID-19 lockdown in Greece and the move to virtual learning at ACS Athens did not hinder the growing interest among second-graders in helping others and saving the planet. Second-grade teachers provided an inspiring opportunity for students to explore additional SDGs and take action through their Dr. Seuss unit. Students were given the option to choose a Dr. Seuss book and find a connection with an SDG or choose a goal first and then find a book that connected with the goal. Once the connection was established between a goal and a book, students wrote opinion pieces to explain why their goal was important. For the culminating project for this unit, students were invited to make a plan of action for addressing and solving their chosen goal. The inventions and action plans were creative and varied and were shared in an exhibition of learning with parents and the school community through Padlet, a virtual discussion board. Each student developed a presentation combining their opinion pieces, poems and other writing as well as their inventions and action plans. One student connected Goal 15: Life on Land with The Lorax and invented a robot that would pick up trash in animal habitats. Another student was inspired by the connection between Dr.Seuss’ Love book and Goal 5: Gender Equality and made a plan to develop a gender equality club to raise awareness and raise money for equal opportunities for girls. One second-grader decided to include all of the goals into a playground with 17 stations. Each station would teach children about the goal and engage them in an activity to further their understanding of the goal. For example, the playground would in-

ETHOS • FALL 2020

Click here for my steam idea

That’s my logo

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FZQqTnrcDgTwTjTpYoCRuO1tUTnMUHAZ

I will create an ACS Gender Equality Club and we will inform people and raise money to donate to women's rights organizations.

YPATIA KARATZA 2ND GRADE MS. VENOS

“ When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.” Malala Yousafzai

Click here for the leaﬂet i made to inform people

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FU65BeLZJNzJ97MQdfCj0f3zidTWW91F

clude a bluefin tuna protection activity to promote Goal 14: Life Below Water and a gardening station to promote Goal 15: Life on Land. One of the second-grade teachers said that she had never seen students more engaged in a learning activity and found that they worked tirelessly to develop, and in some cases, implement, their action plans.

Third Grade In third grade, students and teachers connected with Goal 13: Climate Action and Goal 15: Life on Land when they decided to raise money to help save the burning rainforest in the Amazon. Students created posters with illustrations and photos of the rainforest before and after the fires and presented their research about the rainforest to other classes in the elementary school. One group of students designed and sold t-shirts and collected donations and raised a total of 500 euros that they sent to the Rainforest Trust charity. Many students identified connections between the Amazon rainforest fires and the wildfires in Greece last summer. The third-grade year-long interdisciplinary science and social studies unit on Communities further deepened student understanding and inspired action on Goal 13: Climate Action and Goal 15: Life on Land while adding an exploration of Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities and Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy. After learning about natural disasters, ecosystems, and adaptations, students created a sustainable city in which nature and humans could peacefully coexist. As leaders of their eco-friendly communities, students designed a model city ready to protect the citizens, animals, and plants from environmental emergencies. Students wrote and performed, via video, a presidential speech describing the many ways their communities will be sustainable. For example, some students included clean energy sources such as solar panels, dams, and windmills. Two third-graders included laws that punish those who litter and enacted laws limiting hunting and outlawing poaching in their sustainable community.

Fourth Grade Before the COVID-19 lockdown and move to virtual learning, the ACS Athens fourth grade was registered and ready to participate in the Athens Science Festival. Addressing Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy, Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, and Goal 13: Climate Action fourth graders designed and began build-

ETHOS • FALL 2020

ing mechanisms that use renewable sources of energy to operate. One group of students planned a series of pneumatic machines such as a grabbing hand, a lift, a crane, and a compressor. Another group explored robotics to build a dam and electric car. Solar energy was another area of experimentation, and students built a solar crane, solar fan, and solar-powered lights for a home. While the completion of the renewable energy projects was cut short by the COVID-19 lockdown, learning about science and the SDGs continued during virtual learning. Through video lessons recorded by their teachers and instructions on how to conduct experiments at home, students learned about soil erosion and how lack of vegetation impacts loss of soil. Through their experiments, students concluded that deforestation increases the rate and amount of soil erosion and negatively affects humans, animals, and vegetation. With this prior knowledge about SDGs and time at home due to the COVID-19 lockdown, fourth-grade teachers empowered the students to think as world leaders to identify one world problem they would like to solve. Students identified numerous problems such as poverty, homelessness, pollution, lack of equality, deforestation, and lack of clean water. Through discussions and research on young people who have made a difference, students explored the question of what responsibilities they might have as citizens of the world to make effective change. Students replied with the following quotes: “It is important to young people because they are most affected by it. It is also important to help so we make the planet better to live in.” Adele “Because young people can do the same things with older people, it is just that they don’t have the chance to prove it.” Konstantinos “Because children have an amazing amount of imagination and power and responsibility to protect the future.” Paul “It’s important for young people to help achieve SDG’s because we are the next generation to become adults.” Ioanna “It’s important because if we decide to help, the word will get around and more people will decide to help.” Foivi “It is important for young people to help now because maybe there won’t be a chance later.” Ifigeneia “We can try to spread the word and start trying to achieve one goal at a time.” Ana Armed with deepened knowledge and awareness of the SDGs, students integrated the SDGs into their final video projects on South America. Through these videos students advocated for numerous goals to be met. One student focused on the need to reduce overfishing and pollution in order to address Goal 14: Life Below Water. Providing equal opportunity for men and women

through Goal 5: Gender Equality was the subject of more than one final presentation. One student, posing as UN Ambassador for South American, called for government intervention to reduce poverty and work toward Goal 1: No Poverty. In her video address, she stated that “governments need policies to help restore growth and to protect government spending on basic education and health care, infrastructure in poor areas and cash transfers targeted to the poor. Also, they should pursue help from international institutions or agencies.”

Fifth Grade In fifth grade, the reading workshop unit, Argument and Advocacy: Researching Debatable Issues, and the writing workshop unit, The Research-Based Argument Essay, served as ideal conduits for teaching and learning about the SDGs. Starting in the second week of virtual learning in March, students worked their way through learning about all 17 goals through articles, videos, and synchronous video discussions. Building background knowledge in all of the goals, students began to make connections between the goals and between their lives and the goals. Fifth graders took this newfound understanding about the challenges addressed through the goals and wrote extensive essays advocating for change in the goal of their choice. The essays included research-based evidence and calls for action on a variety of goals, including Goal 1: No Poverty, Goal 2: Zero Hunger, Goal 5: Gender Equality, Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, and Goal 13: Climate Action. Students took on the challenge of acting upon their advocacy. They partnered with the technology teacher to create posters using an online tool called Canva to raise awareness for their chosen goals. Some students engaged in individual actions, for example, one student held a family meeting to create agreements about reducing food waste by eating leftovers for lunch, checking expiration dates on foods in the store, and checking what was already in the home to avoid double purchases. Another student made dolls for refugee children out of her old socks. Capitalizing on the growing awareness and engagement of his classmates in addressing the SDGs, one student created an environmental advocacy club for ACS Athens students and teachers. Throughout this reading and writing unit, fifth-graders developed critical thinking skills, creativity, and agency over their own learning. They used their synchronous video sessions with their teachers to deepen their understanding of the challenges facing our world today and to connect their learning to the real world. Additionally, fifth-grade students integrated Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, Goal 13: Climate Action, Goal 14: Life Below Water, and Goal 15: Life on Land into their science unit on Ecosystems. For their final projects, students created biome board games that teach the players about the flora and fauna of the ecosystem and the impact of humans on the biome. Fifth graders intended to share their board games and

EQUALITY for

Global Goal # 15 Life Below Water

girls

By: Avra Petrou

Global Goal #15 Life below Water, is the goal that we have to achieve to help the ocean.

Many people throw trash and plastic in the ocean, and fish and other sea animals choke from the plastic. We have to help stop this problem

Clean water and Sanitation

By Elizaveta More than 80 per cent of wastewater resulting from human activities is discharged into rivers or sea without any pollution removal

In 60% of European cities with more than 100 000 people, groundwa ter is being used at a faster rate than it can be replenish ed.

global goals 16 PEACE,JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS

build awareness about these goals with the ACS Athens community during the annual spring Literacy Festival but this activity was canceled due to the COVID-19 lockdown. Throughout the year, ACS Athens elementary teachers successfully integrated learning around the SDGs into their science, social studies, reading, and writing units, raising awareness among second through fifth-grade students. Inspired by this learning, ACS Athens elementary students created SDG playgrounds, clean energy mechanisms, and board games focused on saving ecosystems. They proposed gender equality clubs, invented

Posters created by 5th Graders using an online tool called Canva to raise awareness for their chosen goals

garbage-collecting robots and sleep-monitoring machines, wrote persuasive essays to inform others about the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s problems, and developed how-to-learn books for children lacking access to education. Through these projects, students demonstrated empathy and care for those outside their immediate circles and developed the language and vocabulary of advocacy. ACS Athens elementary students are ready to save the world. â&#x2013; Sources: United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs

hadn’t figured out the “how” yet. I spent endless hours deciding on the best approach to integrate the SDGs into our curriculum. I decided that before introducing the SDGs, I would use a growth mindset approach to allow for a mind-shift. We spent the first couple of months fully engaged in a growth mindset. My students started building a new awareness about risk and failure: that taking risks and failing is not only encouraged but also an integral part of the learning process. They began considering what it meant to be our best selves each and every day.

Forming Active World Citizens Through the SDGs by Christina Venos, Elementary School Faculty

“M

om, my teacher has given me a purpose to learn.”

What teacher wouldn’t love to overhear these words? Dr. Pelonis has inspired me to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the 2nd-grade curriculum. After introducing the idea of teaching with the SDGs into our school, she asked the faculty, “Why do you teach? What is your reason for doing all that you do?” I immediately thought of an answer, but then she said, “This may take some reflection,” and I reviewed that maybe my answer came too quick. I spent days and weeks thinking about her question, but my answer did not change. I was sure that I didn’t think of my answer too fast. Teaching is what I was born to do. The reason I teach is simple: Teaching feels natural, and I love helping children find their purpose to learn. When students have a purpose, they take responsibility for their learning, they begin to want to learn. When they find excitement in the learning process, they take their knowledge to new levels. This experience marked the start of what would turn out to be a beautiful year, despite all its challenges. Initially, teaching my students about the SDGs was not easy. It was something new, but I knew this challenge would be worth it. I knew it would change me as an educator, and my students as learners. I just

We would start each day with the question, “How can I be a better person today than I was yesterday?” Each morning, we took time to reflect on how we can each do better, whether it is big or small. My students started realizing that when they focus on themselves as learners, they become happier learners. Our classroom was filled with a community of happy learners. This further sparked our empathy toward each other, understanding and accepting that we each have things to work on and that each of us has our personal goals. Once they started working on and reaching their goals, we discussed what it meant to be a role model in the classroom. Being a role model means that while we work on our own goals, we can also help those around us work on theirs, in subtle ways. “What does that mean?” they asked. Well, that means that if a friend’s goal is to raise their hand before they talk, maybe when you are around them, you can remember to raise your hand and remind them of that good choice. Maybe, you can give them a soft reminder, “Remember to raise your hand, it is your goal.” Achieving goals and helping those around us achieve goals takes immense practice, but eventually, I had a classroom filled with students helping each other. And they were doing it just for the good if it! They were not receiving anything for helping each other, except for an internal reward. An internal reward is the feeling you get when you do something good without expecting a material reward in return. This idea of internal rewards comes from the book “How to Fill a Bucket.” We took some time to reflect on these moments of helping others. The consensus was that when you help someone, it makes you feel good too. That being said, empathy was established in our classroom as a whole, but also in each individual student. Once all of the above was put into practice, I knew it was time to introduce the SDGs. One of the units for 2nd grade is Communities. We discuss the different kinds of communities, the people who make up these communities, and what it means to be a citizen of the different types of communities. After these discussions, I introduced the term “world citizen.” We discussed that we are all citizens of our town, school, and country, but what about the world? Do we all live on this planet? Yes, we do! That means we are world citizens, and everyone living on this planet is a world citizen! If we are all citizens together, we all have to help each other, just like we do in our classroom! I asked them, “Are we all citizens of our classroom?” They all yelled, “YES!” “Do we make our own goals?” “YES!” “Do you help others with their goals?” “YES!” This was my “aha moment.” So I asked, “Did you know that

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Integrating the SDGs with P.E. and making a plan to raise awareness on Goal 3: Good Health & Well-Being

our planet has goals?” The kids stopped and stared at me. “What do you mean the planet has goals?” Well, our planet has a lot of things to work on. A special organization called the United Nations has put together 17 goals for world citizens to work on! “Are you a world citizen?” “Yes! Can we work on these goals too?” They were already so excited without even knowing what the goals were! So, at that moment, we took some time to discuss all the 17 goals. We read about them, we watched videos, we had discussions, and we started brainstorming! I asked them one question over and over, “Why is it important for us to help achieve these goals?” The answers poured in: “Because we are world citizens!” “Because this is our planet, we all have to help” “Well that is easy, we help each other in the classroom, why wouldn’t we help the world with its goals?” And the answer that struck me the most; “Because if we help others, we help ourselves become the best self we can be!” Without a doubt, this was our special moment. I asked them to start thinking about what we can do to help. At first, some of the ideas were to raise money. I quickly understood that we need to discuss sus-

Making posters for a campaign on Goal 4: Quality Education

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tainability. We took the time to understand well what sustainability means and that offering money is not always the answer. I asked them again to brainstorm ideas to help our world, non-monetarily. After much discussion, we decided on one extraordinary project. It was called “Organization Happyness.” Yes, happiness is spelled wrong, but this is how they spelled it, and this, I thought, was most meaningful. They said that our organization mission was “Everyone deserves to be happy, so we are here to create sustainable happiness the best we can.” They decided on the goal of Quality Education. They said that if we provide education to others, all of the other goals could be met because knowledge is something no one can take away from you. Our project was creating books for children who do not receive a proper education. We dedicated each Friday to making books. The students made books about math skills, phonics skills, the ABCs, science topics, and much more. I was amazed with all of my authors! It was an inspiration for us all. They said they wanted the whole school involved. We began a plan to campaign in each classroom in the school. They said they wanted the community involved, so we made a plan to campaign to parents, to other schools, and I even partnered with some schools in the United States so that they could join in our project and purpose! Our goal was to create 1000 books! All of a sudden, the pandemic hit. Alongside all the unanticipated devastation, our project would have to come to a temporary halt. The students started to worry about their project. “Ms. Venos, now what will we do? How will those kids learn?” My heart broke. I was not sure what to do. This was already a new kind of learning in our classroom, but now to take it and turn it into a virtual learning experience was a daunting idea. After much thought, I decided that it would not be fair for these students who worked so hard and were so inspired by this experience to just let it go. “We will do this,” I thought! Maybe we will do this differently, but we will do this so that these students understand that they can make a difference, that they can help our world, and that even when we face challenges, we can use our growth mindset and overcome them. What an experience this turned out to be! With the help and support of my fellow 2nd-grade educators, Ms. Klimou and Ms. Lamprou, even amid all the changes we were going through, we put our team powers together and created a new project for the students: one that would integrate all core subjects and allow them to truly become architects of their own learning. The project was based on STEAM: to create an action plan for an invention or idea that could help support one of the SDGs. Brilliantly, they took off with this! They were extremely thrilled. We incorporated the project with a Dr. Seuss unit we already had in place. Dr. Seuss’ books easily connect with the SDGs. After our Dr. Seuss unit, we asked the students to decide on a book or goal they were passionate about and to connect them. Once this was in place, they were to write

opinion pieces about their goal and book: “How do they connect? and “Why is this goal important?” They gave examples and reasons in support of their personal opinions. We went through the writing process together, virtually! In whole groups, small groups, and one-on-one sessions. It was exhausting but well worth every moment spent. They were then asked to go through the design process thinking model that we had been working on throughout the year. Because of their familiarity with both STEAM and design process thinking, this task was easily accomplished. They all came up with inventions or ideas. We spent time discussing how these inventions or ideas would work, what challenges would need to be faced, and lastly, and most importantly, how they would share them with the world. They decided on making slides, videos, apps, and mini-trailers to share their action plans! Some ideas included, ◉ making an ACS Athens club to raise awareness, along with a logo, ◉ creating a UN playground to educate children about each goal with hands-on experiences at each station, such as planting trees, making a garden, and building projects out of recycled items. ◉ One student stated that we could feed morepeople if we had more gardens. She took this idea and created a movie about the importance of Zero Hunger and how we can help!

Teachers talk about proud teacher moments. Well, this undoubtedly surpassed that for me! We set a day to have an exhibition of learning to share their hard work. Parents, families, teachers, administrators, and other students came together virtually to see the presentations. This was an inspiration for us adults, and, more so, for the students! I have never, in all my years of teaching, seen more actively engaged students in their learning. They did not want to stop! I knew that all the hard work put in to complete our SDGs virtually was worth every moment spent. Some of their words have left a forever imprint on my heart as an educator: ◉ One student stated, “ a special child named Malala once said “one child, one pencil, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world.” but I will add “and one video on Zero Hunger can change the world! Let’s be that change.” ◉ Another student said, “The journey is not over here; keep on dreaming and making!”

In conclusion, this experience helped us all grow. I was reminded of the importance of instilling purpose into our students’ learning process. Integrating the SDGs into our core subjects allowed us to meet our school standards and objectives. More importantly, it helped us form active learners: learners who want to keep learning no matter how challenging something is and learners who use their knowledge to create sustainability for our future. Throughout this whole process, I never had one student come to me and say, “I can’t.” I owe this to three things: the growth mindset approach, STEAM through design time, and the empathy that was generated. The kids did not want to give up, because they said, “If we give up, then how will we meet the planet goals? We do not give up on our own goals, so we will not give up on the Sustainable Development Goals either. Together, we are active world citizens!” ■

As the pace of technology accelerated, Helen was continually reinventing the curriculum. Hewlett-Packards were replaced by Compacts, Compacts replaced by Apples, Apples replaced by PCs. Each year one program superseded the other. Each fall, with the re-opening of the school, I would find her in the lab busy reinstalling updated versions of programs, finding brand new material to replace programs no longer supported, always keeping at the forefront of change. The arrival of the networked lab, another technological milestone, provided some welcome relief, and I remember her proudly showing me how now she could upload a program on one computer, and it would be accessible on all! Then came the internet, opening up infinite possibilities. Nowadays, we take these things for granted, and it is hard to imagine how very different things were not so long ago!

Celebrating Ms. Helen Sarantes! by Penny Preen-Kynigou, Elementary School Faculty

“Ms.

Helen” has been the Technology Specialist at ACS Athens for the past 34 years and has taught generations of ACS Athens students. Her ACS Athens chronicle is one and the same with the history of computing at our Elementary School! To give you an idea, I invite you to join me in traveling back in time, through the years, and peek into her lab...to a time when a ‘mouse’ was still a rodent...to a time when people walking along the street talking to themselves weren’t using a mobile phone but were probably crazy... to a time when video calling only happened in sci-fi movies, and the internet was just a twinkle in the eye of a computer scientist! Ms. Helen Sarantes joined ACS Athens in 1986. “No one knew what a computer did back then!“ she told me. She used to go and browse computing magazines at the ‘periptera’ in Nea Smyrni, exploring the latest ideas from the States. Her earliest computers were the Commodore 64K’s, the ones with green letters on the screen, and printing paper with holes along both sides that came out in one long strip which you had to tear apart. The school had just 3 programs then: Logo programming, a spelling program, and the students’ favorite, the Oregon Trail. Then Helen wrote a grant and managed to get funding for a brand new computer lab with the latest Hewlett-Packard machines. This computer lab was where the Elementary School books are now shelved and Mr. D. has his counseling office. In those days, there was no network, and she would have to go from machine to machine, installing a program on each from a big floppy disk.

Ms. Helen always saw the potential for the integration of technology in the wider curriculum. She worked tirelessly to provide technology support for the core subjects and units of study across the elementary school grades. This was especially fostered during the school’s adoption of the Primary Years Program of the IBDP where technology and library lessons were team-taught with the classroom teachers. This is the time at which Helen and I collaborated most and which cemented our friendship. She would greet me at each lesson with her characteristic enthusiasm at having discovered yet another great program that she could offer to our students, allowing them to apply skills learned in class in a dynamic and interactive environment. Ms. Helen leaped at the opportunity to be actively involved in the research for the development of the educational search engine Choosito! , which helps students find reading material online at their own reading level. She was nominated for the 2016 ISTE Outstanding Teacher Award in recognition of her contribution. As the school moved into the development of blended learning and the i2Flex program, Ms. Helen and I co-authored a chapter for the first ACS i2Flex book on the pre-i2Flex skills fostered in the Elementary School, spending many a weekend together writing draft after draft. Meanwhile, within ACS Athens, she oversaw the alignment of Elementary School standards and benchmarks for Technology and put in place a structured scope and sequence of skills from JK through 5th grade. At every level, she introduced students to the fundamentals of computing, terminology, troubleshooting, and the structured step-by-step thinking technology demands. Without this common vocabulary and fluency in these foundational skills, the elementary teachers would not have been able to guide their students to shift so swiftly and successfully into virtual learning during the COVID 19 lockdown. Ms. Helen never sought recognition for what she did. Her reward was the joy of teaching, the excitement of watching students achieve success, and the opportunity to mentor individual students who had a passion for technology. Our students will always remember

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Ms. Helen celebrating their achievements, how she would always take the time to patiently explain everything so clearly, how she would go out of her way to find each student the perfect tool to expand their learning. Above all, our students will always remember Ms. Helen for how helpful she always was! Ms. Helen, we wish you joy and happiness in the new adventures which lie ahead! Thank you for dedicating yourself to our technology adventures here at ACS Athens. How could we have made it this far without you?! You will be greatly missed! â&#x2013;

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to contain over 30 chapters by international authors, with over 20 of them representing the ACS Athens education trenches!

i²Flex K-12 Blended and Virtual Learning Through the i²Flex Classroom Model: A New Book by ACS Athens to be released in 2021 by Dr. Maria D. Avgerinou and Dr. Peggy Pelonis

n September 2019, the IGI publisher extended an invitation to editors Avgerinou and Gialamas to produce the enhanced edition of their 2016 book Revolutionizing K-12 Blended Learning through the i²Flex Classroom Model. The mere fact that the publisher invited a second edition of an existing book, let alone doing so earlier than usual, was due to our publication’s success and the innovative content contained within, which today is more relevant than ever. Classified as core reference material with 18 out of its 25 chapters authored by ACS Athens educators and administrators, the 2016 book has been adopted by various teacher education schools and academic libraries in higher education institutions (Stanford University among others) while several of its chapters have been selected to feature in other publications focusing on online course management, gamification, mobile devices in education, and blended learning. The new book is titled K-12 Blended and Virtual Learning Through the i²Flex Classroom Model and edited by Drs. Avgerinou and Pelonis, the book is expected

Its content will mainly focus on the themes and concepts that were presented in the previous publication yet updated and informed by contemporary trends, issues, and needs. Along those lines, the current editors have decided that though Blended Learning in the K12 will remain as the major focus, the theoretical framework, research, and applications will be extended to incorporate the Online/Virtual K12 perspectivea proactive and very timely decision that aligns completely with the online teaching implications of the COVID19 pandemic. With that in mind, chapter submissions currently under review have evolved around topics such as blended/i2Flex teaching and learning in the subject areas, pre-service teacher preparation, the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, etc. Reflection on teachers’ professional experience during last spring’s lockdown is also included where appropriate. Furthermore, a new section has been added, giving voice to all three schools’ innovative work that though it supports curriculum, does not fall under formal teaching. This work is informed by the ACS Athens’ revised vision, and also by extant research and current trends in education worldwide. Here the topics span from mindfulness and growth mindset applications to coding with music, the Youth-toYouth program, and the United Nations sustainable development goals. Finally, the education paradigm of the earlier edition has now been revamped to include President Pelonis’ leadership perspective on intentional excellence. ■

Learning Never Stops at ACS Athens, and We Are Always Ready for New Challenges! by Dr. Tonia Fyrigou, Academy Greek/French Faculty

ollowing the words of Ghandi who said: ‘Live as if you were to die tomorrow, Learn as if you were to live forever’, I decided to move from my last book chapter titled: Evaluating the i²Flex Educational Experience via the Community of Inquiry, Book Title: K-12 Blended Learning through the i²Flex Classroom Model, to my new book chapter that is currently under review for the enhanced edition of the i²Flex 2016 book (Avgerinou & Gialamas, 2016). Teaching online during the pandemic was an entirely new experience not because of virtual reality but mostly because of the unique conditions. During this period, everything had to change from one day to the next. We were all lucky to have had prior teaching experience with the i²flex methodology and blended learning. Personally, I was even luckier, having already experience in teaching online courses. In any case, however, the virtual setting was a new reality for administrators, teachers, students and families. This collaborative effort had different phases and was created based on students’ needs. We had to identify our students’ potential, energy and level combined with teachers’ instructional design ability. The most important was then to continuously try to be proactive in teaching and identify the needs of our students for this specific period.

Excellence is not an accident, it’s a full commitment process with a lot of effort! The priority of this virtual teaching was the clear direction and clear communication with the students. The pandemic conditions and the emotional status of students and families didn’t allow any unclear directions for the technological part. The use of the Big Blue Button which was very familiar for me, since I had used it a lot in previous online courses, was the biggest challenge sometimes for students due to technical issues. There were two different areas of concern, the first was the quality of internet connection for some students at home and the second one was the full transition from the class environment to the virtual one. Students’ presence was different, teacher’s presence was different, and the same goes for social presence. Students with learning differences reacted in a different way throughout this educational virtual period and especially during the synchronous sessions. The preparation time before every face to face session was long and varied. As a teacher, I had to invent new methods, new assessments, new activities and new tools in order to maintain the excellent quality of teaching and learning. Our success story was different every day and always based on how students perceived their learning. Collaboration and good communication from parents was extremely important and we all invented new ways to communicate with each other. What was really amazing though was the very successful collaboration among colleagues. We called, messaged, and emailed each other many times throughout the day to make sure that we were delivering the clearest, most creative, and powerful lessons to our students. We felt that we were not only the teacher of the class but also the connection between the extreme situation of Covid-19 and the school community. We all put in many hours of endless work, day and night to offer our students the sense of belonging and the sense of smooth continuity from the school environment to the virtual environment. For all of us the continuous collection of different types of data which proved the students’ and parents’ satisfaction was the biggest gift. I will never forget the appreciation that our students and families expressed many times for our work and our dedication to the students and school. For all of us, teaching virtually covered the biggest part of our day and we all put our energy and positive thinking to overcome the challenge of Covid-19. We are ACS Athens, a powerful team of professionals with ethos and principles and we care about each and all our students! And we are ready for whatever the new academic year brings! ■

The chapter is part of an open-access, peer-reviewed book that is titled “Teaching, Technology, and Teacher Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic”, edited by R. Ferdig, E. Baumgartner, Ri. Hartshorne, R. Kaplan-Rakowski, & Ch. Mouza, and published by the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). The publication contains 133 chapters (of the original 266 submissions!) with over 850 pages of helpful strategies and content for teacher educators and those who lead teacher PD.

Online Teaching & Learning The Elementary School 5-Phase Process Or How ACS Athens Went Viral On Social Media Once More! by Dr. Maria D. Avgerinou Director of eLearning and Sophia Moros, Elementary School Principal,

n response to a special, research-based publication call referring to how academic institutions responded to the pandemic, Dr. Maria Avgerinou, eLearning Director, and Ms. Sophia Moros, ES principal, co-authored a chapter titled “The 5-Phase Process as a Balancing Act during Times of Disruption: Transitioning to Virtual Teaching at an International JK-5 School”. The 5-phase process was organically developed through a collaborative, participatory action research design by identifying the ACS Athens population’s resources, teacher’s instructional design needs and technology skills, and student body digital skills while keeping the school’s mission and vision at the forefront. The process was followed by ACS Athens Elementary School during Greece’s remote emergency teaching in the period March-May 2020.

It is particularly interesting to note that no other chapter in the book reports on original, applied research as conducted in a K12 international school. Finally, since its publication in June 2020, the chapter has received close to 20.000 hits in academic and research databases- a fact that, among other things, indicates the massive need for guidance in online teaching and learning in the K12! ■

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Excerpt from the book: Recommendations for the successful implementation of the 5-Phase Process by teachers and administrators follow below:

One should begin with clear objectives aligned with core subjects and present students with daily PowerPoint lessons without necessarily replicating a school day teaching. The progressively low to high technology approach in support of online learning will allow the school to pick up momentum as teachers and leadership move through the phases (Konen, 2020). An effective means to keep the school’s morale high and vision united is to host weekly meetings with faculty and scheduled meetings with parents. It is necessary to coach faculty and parents to remain flexible. Through mainstream announcements from the principal’s office followed by explicit outlines for each grade level, expectations will unite teacher expectations and student engagement. Keeping lines of communication open by providing weekly or biweekly parent letters about next steps is very important.

Maintaining strong and continuous communication among school leadership is necessary to align goals both vertically and horizontally between schools. It is important to recognize that everyone’s needs are different and to be prepared to support student learning needs with personalized sessions, both academic and psychological. Collecting feedback in each stage from all constituents using similar comparable surveys along the way is another important recommendation.

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fessionals including education consultants and practitioners, social workers, psychopathologists, corporate leaders, human-computer interaction engineers, software designers etc., and are typically employed to scaffold understanding, foster and support cognitive growth and change. The value of metaphors in education has been long recognized (Avgerinou, 2011; Botha, 2009; Postman, 1996) not just because of their ornamental or aesthetic function, but also and even more so, for the cognitive claims they make (Hesse, 1983), and for being integral components of most education theories. To illustrate this, let’s point out that of all 70 volumes of psychologist Jean Piaget’s work, just one included the term “construction” as part of the title. Yet, education practitioners know him mostly because of the construction metaphor (“constructivism”). Despite the complex nature of educational phenomena which makes it impossible for any metaphor to capture them in their entirety, it is important to acknowledge that “Metaphor carries epistemic and ideological freight, functions as a vehicle of a world view and provides access to a discipline’s assumptions about the way the world and humankind are structured” (Botha, 2009, p. 431).

Beam Me Up, Scotty! How Visual Metaphors Scaffolded Understanding Of Emergency Remote Teaching And Learning In The Elementary School by Dr. Maria D. Avgerinou, Director of eLearning

n his Poetics Aristotle advised us that “The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor” (Aristotle, trans. 1975). Metaphors, from the Greek word “metapherein” meaning transfer, are powerful verbal and visual tools in that they can elicit growth and change through their ability to provide frames of reference familiar to the learner, make complex concepts simple, and evoke past emotions. Being such remarkable, expansive cognitive mechanisms (Seitz, 1998), metaphors are common practice among various pro-

Captain Kirk in Star Trek used the popular command “Beam me up, Scotty” when he needed to be transported back to Starship Enterprise. Since then this catchphrase has been used in a metaphorical sense to indicate transportation into a different, more positive state: in my capacity as the eLearning expert that was assigned overnight to tend to the Elementary School’s needs, my goal was to facilitate the transportation (metapherein) of the community not only through sharing research on educational technology and K12 online teaching, but also through the use of visual metaphors that could potentially provide a less stressful, more humanistic lens to that unprecedented, science fiction-like crisis we were experiencing together. Indeed, visual metaphors were utilized at various ES teacher, administrator, and parent sessions: making explicit and articulating one’s implicit mind’s eye, using imagery to tap first into the affective and then the rational side of the brain, I drew on my past experience as an academic who employed metaphors

in the classroom to remove mental, and psychological blocks thus scaffolding understanding and paving the way to cognitive shift in the complex subjects of educational research. Here too I attempted to assist the ES community to come to terms with the unorthodox and unpredictable circumstances under which schooling was occurring, recognize and appreciate their significant role in it, and feel that since they, we are ACS Athens, as President Pelonis keeps reminding us, we can overcome this together!

Playing Croquet with Flamingoes Indeed, the whole adventure of switching overnight to remote asynchronous and then to virtual teaching, with as much arbitrary and unknown as unpredictable and volatile parameters, and with people being called to participate and perform in this erratic scheme of things while dealing with children from the early childhood through to 5th grade, conjures up the most unconventional of all Alice’s adventures in the Wonderland: the authoritarian Queen imposing arbitrary rules and playing croquet with flamingoes while using living creatures as tools in unsafe for them conditions. In our case, initially it became known that schools would close for two weeks, but subsequently this deadline was extended indefinitely. Moreover, we knew that Academy and Middle school teachers and their students were fully immersed in the i2Flex (blended) teaching and learning methodology, thus going fully online would naturally follow as their next move. With the exception of 5th grade, the ES entered the situation as brave yet amateur parachutists. Another unknown was the capacity of the technical infrastructure to suddenly host the entire school’s syn-

chronous activities simultaneously online. Here the metaphor aimed at describing the situation, making the irrational (to the extent possible) rational, and giving a lighter touch to the heavy climate of the lockdown. The Falcon During the remote emergency teaching that the Covid19 pandemic forcefully created, our school’s response was more than proactive; it was pre-emptive in that it prepared for a potential mandatory school closure before the latter became our reality, and it had already a plan of action to protect and ensure educational continuity. Of course, agile leadership is not new to ACS Athens. The late president Dr. Gialamas along with his then Vice President (Dr. Pelonis) and the late Dean of the Institute (Mr. Medeiros) would always lead this way by example and that is precisely what he expected of his top academic and administrative leaders. Just like the striking speed of a falcon’s decision process and hunting technique, agile leadership presupposes the ability to consciously shift your thinking on the spot according to the requirements of any given situation. It also means being proactive, versatile and resilient even though only some of the parameters you base your decisions upon are known. Necessity as Mother of Invention and Father of Transformation Yet, this ‘miracle’ did not quite happen overnight. In fact, as I have mentioned before (PTO Newsletter, April 2020) it was innovation by design. Under the leadership and vision of Dr. Gialamas who had read the zeitgeist and invested more in the instructional design and pedagogy, less in the technology of eLearning, I was hired as an eLearning expert in 2013 to develop and systematically implement an educational technology and eLearning strategy toward establishing a blended(i2Flex) learning culture in Grades 4-12. Indeed, we achieved our goal of becoming a blended learning community through the continuous professional development of the faculty on research-led methodologies and applications of technology in the classroom; their teaching, researching and publishing about their blended classrooms (Avgerinou & Gialamas, 2016); the systematic pedagogical exposure of the ACS Athens students to 21st century education frameworks; and, the many information sessions with the parents and the larger community. Last Fall we were able to move even further: we launched ACS Athens Virtual and offered several Academy courses online to our students and beyond. Thus, given the technology-as-a-tool perspective, the blended teaching culture and the evolving context of sustained innovation and intentional excellence (Pelonis, 2020) of our school, it should come as no surprise that over the lockdown, teaching and learning even in the lower ES took place in such astonishingly effective ways. I strongly believe that what we have collectively achieved is more than the sum of its parts, more than our former and current leadership’s vision and determination, more than my and my team’s leadership, because in my eyes, leadership came from each and every level of the ACS Athens fabric. Our past

and our present have already brought us to a future where other K12 schools in Greece or abroad can only dream about. Let me clarify that I am not just referring to teaching blended in general, or to teaching remotely to survive the current crisis. Necessity is mother of invention, and, as current circumstances have shown, father of transformation (Dede, 2020). Through structured, continued invention, our community of educators and learners has already been transformed. This transformation should not be seen as symptomatic treatment of the current emergency for teaching in the 21st century way has not only met our students’ needs in particular, but it will continue to be there when the crisis is over, to empower them to meet successfully their future college, career, and citizenship needs. The Tent vs. the Guinea Pig In natural disasters tents are there to provide shelter for those in need and to become the “home away from home”. Here too virtual learning became the tent, the (cyber) classroom away from (the four-walled) classroom, that provided the sense of safety to our children along with the much-needed educational continuity. The concept of the tent also connects to the notion of community which means all should be able to: receive shelter, have their voice heard and their needs taken care of, and finally, all should be able to help from their own corner toward planning for short, intermediate and long-term goals. The educational experiences provided during the last trimester of 2019-2020, were as always student-focused and research informed. Our sources were among others action research as conducted in the ACS Athens classrooms, extant research literature and best practices in such areas as the K12 online, developmental psychology, child psychology effects in social distancing and home confinement context, screen time recommendations by the World Health Organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, The State Board of Education, etc. Yet it is important to point out that learning designs were occurring under the “tent” (i.e. keep students safe and minimize educational disruption) vs. the guinea pig (i.e. experiment and see what works) metaphor. The Four Hats of the Virtual Teacher or Flying the Plane while Building it Four major roles of the virtual teacher have been identified by Bonk, Kinley, Hara, and Dennen (2001)– pedagogical, social, managerial, and technological. The pedagogical aspect is manifested through the role of facilitator or moderator. The social aspect is manifested through the teacher’s creating a friendly and nurturing environment or community feel, exhibiting a generally positive tone, fostering some humor, displaying empathy and interpersonal outreach, and personalizing with discussion of one’s own online experiences. Activities such as coordinating assignments, managing online discussion forums, and handle overall course structuring reflect the managerial role of the teacher. Finally, the technological aspect is revealed through the teacher’s assisting the student with technology issues, diagnosing and clarifying

problems encountered, notifying when technology is out of order and having a back-up plan for it, and explaining limitations. Teachers who have received professional development, are fully aware of these roles and typically have developed the requisite skills before entering an online classroom. In sharp contrast, when our ES teachers were called to teach during the pandemic, walked in it without having previously received online teacher training. Nevertheless, they still had to wear the four hats. And they did! Once a teacher, always a teacher no matter in traditional, or remote emergency classrooms! Here the metaphor served to describe, explain and help them see for themselves the wonderful things they were doing for the ACS Athens students so their efforts would be affirmed, and their motivation sustained. The metaphor also helped to frame and guide the professional development the ES teachers were receiving throughout the last trimester.

Deus ex Machina, Swiss Army Knife, or simply Bond, Parent Bond! When the 2019-20 year began, no ACS Athens parent signed up for regular homeschooling or online schooling. However, during the lockdown they (we!) simply found themselves in such position! As a result, they had to reinvent themselves and to become the deus ex machina (από μηχανής θεός) of the ancient Greek drama, the Swiss army knife, the James Bond of online homeschooling with an almost equal share of teaching with our teachers. ACS Athens parents co-shouldered the teaching, supported the learning, were professionally developed via numerous online meetings, shared feedback on a constant basis via various platforms, and they thus helped fine-tune the design and implementation of the 5-phase process of the ES (Avgerinou & Moros, 2020). The specific metaphor was intentionally shared at ES parent meetings (per grade) during the teacher appreciation week last May in recognition of their tremendous support of the school community as determined and tireless co-teachers of their children.

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Athena or Nevertheless, She Persisted By Dr. Peggy Pelonis, ACS Athens President

“Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore” And finally, here is my last metaphor in the words of Dorothy to her dog when she arrived in Oz: “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore”. Though I have been in the eLearning field of research and practice for over two decades, my feeling since March has been that the on-the-spot pivot and transformation are here to stay. Things have changed on a more permanent basis that we would expect or like to admit. So, we are not in Kansas anymore and our students will be living in a post-Kansas world. The question is: how do we best prepare our students for life in this new world? What’s a priority? Skills, or knowledge? What kind of skills? What kind of knowledge? And, what concepts such as preparedness and successful performance would mean for our teachers from now on? Finally, “How can ES parents become successfully educated toward understanding the 21st century education frameworks and associated student skills (Kirschner & Stoyanov, 2018), so that they can better support our curricular decisions?” (Avgerinou & Moros, 2020, p. 588). In closing, I wonder what metaphor could capture the type of leadership it took to move everyone through the unknown in such a seamless way. Preparation from the past is good but when people feel panic and insecurity it may all go out the window unless someone is conveying confidence and vision and providing the experts in the right places to give direction and skill. What could possibly be the metaphor that could reflect the adverse conditions psychologically, practically, financially, strategically that our current President, Dr. Pelonis carried on with? The response comes in her own words:

While Poseidon struck the rock and out came a spring and horse symbolizing power and physical strength, Athena’s strength was wisdom: she created the olive tree symbolizing wisdom and prosperity. So, while there was chaos, I had a vision and strategy. The challenge was to keep everyone focused on the vision and not on the chaos. This took a lot of continued individual work with each administrator, and group work with teachers and other education specialists. It was important for everyone to believe in a new vision but more important for each to believe in themselves and to rise above the fear; building this resilience was key. Then moved on to placing experts in key positions to guide the specific process. Then made a point to keep parents in the loop so we could have objective feedback via surveys. Keeping student feedback central via focus groups and making sure to be involved with the international school Head community was also paramount so as to see what was happening internationally. I was invited to give

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four presentations to international head of schools meetings about our online schooling, and about our reopening in May. Also, I made sure I strengthened our partnerships with higher education institutions, NGO’s, etc.. I was really pleased to hear from our accrediting body, the Middle States Association (MSA) that we were at the high end of what schools were doing and, in many cases, ahead. Finally, I was invited to moderate and speak on global panels where ACS Athens was highlighted as a leading institution. Meanwhile the changes kept coming and we kept pivoting. Nonetheless, my eye was on the goal and in making sure everyone was on the boat, but also that they were understanding and grappling with the internal chaos via my letters so that they could cope.

References Avgerinou, M.D. (2011). Visual scaffolding for action research training. In M.D. Avgerinou, P. Search, S. Chandler & N. Valanides (Eds.), Visual literacy in the 21st century: Trends, demands, and capacities. (pp. 29-32). Chicago, IL: IVLA. Avgerinou, M.D., & Gialamas, S.P. (2016). The i2Flex methodology: Definition, praxis, and conditions for success. In M.D. Avgerinou, & S.P. Gialamas (Eds.), Revolutionizing K-12 blended learning through the i2Flex classroom model (pp. 135-159). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. Avgerinou, M.D., & Moros, S.E. (2020). The 5-Phase process as a balancing act during times of disruption: Transitioning to virtual teaching at ACS Athens elementary school. In R.E., Ferdig, E., Baumgartner, R., Hartshorne, R., Kaplan-Rakowski, & C. Mouza (Eds.). Teaching, Technology, and Teacher Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Stories from the Field (pp. 583-589). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Available at https://www.learntechlib. org/p/216903/ Bonk, C.J., Kirkley, J., Hara, N., & Dennen, V. (2001). Finding the instructor in post-secondary online learning: Pedagogical, social, managerial and technological locations. In J. Stephenson (Ed.), Teaching and learning online: Pedagogies for new technologies (pp. 76-97). London, UK: Kogan Page. Dede, C. (2020, March 27). Necessity is the father of transformation. Available at: https://silverliningforlearning.org/ necessity-is-the-father-of-transformation/ Hesse, M.B. (1983). The cognitive claims of metaphor. In J.P. Van Noppen (Ed.). Metaphor and Religion. Brussels: Vrije Universiteit. Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (2008). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Postman, N. (1996). The end of education. Redefining the value of school.Vintage: Random House. Seitz, J. (1998). Non-verbal metaphor: A review of theories and evidence. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 124(1), 95-119. Available at www.highbeam.com ■

COVID19 – Reflection Of Practices Undertaken In The Elementary School ESL Classes by Dr. Jenny Grigoropoulos, Elementary School ESL Faculty

any changes have affected education globally in recent years; the most significant and massively altering one is the unfortunate pandemic of COVID19. Within a few hours, our entire educational institution moved K-12 classes online. Meanwhile, all educators were called upon to conduct synchronous and asynchronous instructional meetings with their students to deliver content in accordance with the curriculum and scope and sequence as per grade level and subject area. This situation found my students mature and ready to adapt their learning through our virtual classes. I was prepared to follow my educational methodologies and approaches, as both my students of higher grades and I were already familiarized with online learning through our projects and assignments based on the i2Flex instruction model. I found that fourth and fifth graders were more

independent and easily adaptable to the new virtual reality and experience. The challenging task was to engage earlier grades in the new learning practices. Additionally, first and second graders needed parental support to participate in the synchronous and asynchronous lessons. Therefore, teacher-parent partnerships and collaborations were necessary and essential for student success. Parents were often stressed or unsure about materials, resources, access to online platforms, and expectations. Moreover, it was evident that both students and parents were seeking support and communication, even if that was through virtual meetings and emails. Being familiar with Moodle as the platform through which both synchronous and asynchronous teaching and learning took place provided for a smooth transcendence towards the new reality of elementary school ESL classes in five different phases (Avgerinou & Moros, 2020). The initial phase, during the first weeks of lockdown, was through asynchronous instruction mainly based on the review of material taught throughout the academic year aiming towards the consolidation of knowledge already acquired, while providing for a smooth transition into the virtual learning practices. During that period of time, strong ties and collaboration among colleagues were established through regular ESL team and elementary school meetings, which created the groundwork for effective and meaningful teaching practices both in terms of instructional content as well as lesson delivery. Daily assignment logs, PowerPoint presentations, and regular communication with parents set the foundation for the second phase (Gruber & Bauer, 2020). During the second phase, there was the creation and design of synchronous meetings with students per grade level, which consisted of two mandatory class sessions, and an “office hour” meeting, through the Big Blue Button (BBB), which is an interactive tool of Moodle. Students of all grade levels showed readiness and eagerness to participate in the three virtual meetings on a weekly basis. Something noteworthy was that students who might have been quiet or reluctant to actively participate in the face-to-face learning environment seemed to be more attentive and resourceful during virtual classes. Moreover, the virtual setting “increased student motivation and engagement, expanded educational access, offered high-quality learning opportunities, increased educational choice, and instructional flexibility” as well as my instructional innovation adding Project-Based Learning (PBL) on the four domains of speaking, listening, reading and writing (Avgerinou & Moros, 2020, p. 586). Due to the increased amount of time that students had to spend online for their virtual classes as well as for assignment submission, the administration designed “screen-free Wednesdays” during which students could work on lesson review, worksheets, or to catch up on assignments while teachers could work on planning, grading, and other educator responsibilities and expectations.

The last phase occurred on June 1st when the elementary school reopened. Students were separated into two groups; the blue and the gold groups. They attended face-to-face classes on a rotation basis while the students who stayed at home joined class through BBB concurrently. Students were very attentive during this phase, and their efforts were remarkable through their participation and assignment submission. During all this time, I attended workshops and meetings, as well as read articles in an effort to learn how to teach my students meaningfully. My research informed my teaching practices and supported my lesson design and delivery while preparing me to be a more effective educator. In conclusion and as mentioned earlier, ACS Athens moved all academic, support, and wellness K-12 classes entirely online within 24 hours from the announcement of school closure. Initially, I was entangled with the research of meaningful and purposeful tools to use in my ESL classes. The collaboration and relationships built since the beginning of the year provided a cushion during lockdown and school closure. My training, research, and participation in online classes during my doctorate gave me much knowledge as well as resourceful and applicable practices. However, the most important and meaningful resources was the collaboration with parents and students, the enhanced teamwork, and the support built with colleagues and administrators (Ferdig, Baumgartner, Hartshorne, Kaplan-Rakowski, & Mouza, 2020). References Avgerinou, M. D., & Moros, S. E. (2020) The 5-Phase Process as a Balancing Act during Times of Disruption: Transitioning to Virtual Teaching at an International JK-5 School. Ferdig, R. E., Baumgartner, E., Hartshorne, R., Kaplan-Rakowski, R., & Mouza, C. (2020). Teaching, Technology, and Teacher Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Stories from the Field. Waynesville, NC, USA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Gruber, & Bauer, E. (2020) Fostering Interaction in Synchronous Online Class Sessions with Foreign Language Learners. ■

All these years of beating the drum about the unique and important role of music in education and this was yet another opportunity to reinforce this message. I clearly did not want for music to play second fiddle during the online period and decided to find a platform where all music lessons and activity could be communicated with my students. When I reached out to Ms. Maxwell (our technology integration specialist) asking for her advice in setting up a music website, she encouraged me to use the new Google Sites platform, and then proceeded to helping me set it up, show me how to use it, and explained how I could jazz it up and add content to it using pictures and audio links. The site was called Ms. Apostolouâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Elementary School Music Site.

Music Explorations During The SARSCOV-2 Crisis by Peggy Apostolou, Elementary School Faculty

ARS-CoV-2 and shutdown came with a blow. No one expected for things to evolve so fast, or so severely. Almost within a week we went from all that jazz regarding possible effects of the pandemic, to pulling out all the stops in order to stay fit as a fiddle and continue educating our students. It was no longer the same old song and dance, and we could not play it by ear. Some serious action had to be taken. Computer technology was never my forte. What was I going to do? In the despair of the moment I realized that I had to change my tune. Did I have the tools or desire to embark upon such a venture? Would there be people to help me with the technology if I needed help? I did not have to harp on about it for too long. I realized that the tools, desire, and people were indeed available. All I had to do was give it a good try and hopefully with hard work, arrive with bells on. A few days prior to the nationwide shutdown and the order was clear; all teachers had to prepare online material for students in case of school closure.

Every week I uploaded two lessons for each grade (K5). It was imperative to me that the instructions were clear as a bell. The distant nature of lessons, the age group of students, the new medium for some learners, the bulk of information and material, as well as my philosophy on teaching practices, underlined the need for clear instructions. In line with this clear instruction â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;philosophyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; was also the fact that students had to be given only one web link, that they could use throughout the online period in order to access their lessons and did not have to look for access through the homeroom slides in order for music activity to commence. Another two important factors for me were the design and the content. Learners of all ages understand and progress better when information is relevant, age appropriate, and is communicated to them in a fun and pleasant manner. No need preaching the choir about the element of fun and about the fact that this is not a role solely assigned to the arts. I spent hours on the design in order to make the website visually pleasant and age appropriate. The pictures chosen, the navigators, the audio examples, the music videos, the music games and activities, the wording of phrases, all had to be pleasing to the eye and relevant to each and every age group separately. The website had to utilize a combination of human senses in order to help transmit all the right information to the students. The curriculum had to carry on and although some units had to be replaced by other units due to the lack of instruments and direct human contact, learners continued with developing their understanding of music and practice of skills. It was imperative that during this online period learners would not be given busy work but instead the opportunity to grow as musicians. Unlike with verbal communication, where there is not much time to process what you are about to say, with the website I could un-ring the bell and go back and change or fine tune elements that I thought needed improvement before publishing. Another positive was that the site was used as a whistle-stop tour for those who wanted to revise the music of younger grades and/or practice or just have a look at the skills taught in older grades. It also allowed for students

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to revisit lessons at their own time should they wish to possibly comprehend some information better or further their skills through the available differentiated content. Furthermore the website enabled constant communication between myself and my students and their families. Hundreds of homework assignments and feedback were sent back and forth, along with well wishes, news, feelings and updates. Bonds of mutual respect were reinforced. The website was definitely a process of learning not just for my students but also for me. One cannot strike the right note with all learners, as we are all different. At the core of my teaching lies the belief that differentiation is extremely important and this online exploration as it turns out, another differentiation tool that could help a percentage of our students. See you on the big drum! ■

Music to my ears: “Interesting and creative music lessons” “Increased exposure to composing music, as well as the opera and classical works” “I had a great time and I am sending you my work. I like it better when I send it to you” “Thank you for the music website. It was very clear to follow and easy to navigate” “We had great fun doing the lessons” “I watched the tutorials two or three times, I listened again to pieces and collected info”

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(Big Blue Button) sessions. Meeting our students, after five weeks, was such a significant emotional uplift for all of us. Seeing my students after so many weeks, talking to them live, was a tremendous feeling. During the BBB session, I had the opportunity to teach and watch my students, give them advice, and guide them through all the sessions; I was there for them even through a screen. Even though a device, keeping us in contact was beneficial for all, but as an educator, I had to consider all the diverse needs, emotional, physical, and mental, of all students. Delivering lessons to all grades in elementary and having 290 students online is not an easy thing to do. I needed to be creative and innovative so that my teaching could be successful and meaningful. Most importantantly, however, I had to continue teaching as naturally as my students knew me in class, letting them feel safe and comfortable in this new virtual learning.

Teaching via BBB® In Elementary School During COVID-19 by Efi Karatopouzi , Elementary School PE Faculty

irtual learning was a very far perspective picture in my mind, regarding teaching Physical Education in JK-5TH Grade students.

I had this in my mind as a rapid solution, or as an extra PE engagement in students ‘everyday lives in MS/HS, but certainly not for elementary students. In physical education, we teach knowledge and skills by working and relating to each other. We try to develop teamwork skills and encourage students to transfer knowledge to other learning areas. We also develop critical thinking, and we have the opportunity to create new ideas and methods during our lesson, where students can build up awareness regarding their bodies and emotions. Unfortunately, on March 9th, we had to Stay Home and teach students via online learning, I started teaching with personal active videos and guidance, and as we continued, we evolved through online BBB

To implement active online learning for all students, I had to consider many things. Fist of all I had to think very carefully about structuring my lesson regarding theory and practice elements. Secondly, I had to ensure learning success while keeping my students’ emotionally happy and calm. Last but not least, I had to keep them enthusiastic about learning and improving their skills. My transition from live teaching to online teaching was rapid, and I didn’t have the luxury to think about what it looks like. I only did what a teacher who loves her work, and students would do. I just continued teaching as I did in class with love and caring for each of my students. Up until the day COVID -19 invaded our lives, I had only produced just a few videos regarding fitness for adults. Having to make PE videos to teach my students virtually was something very different and far more difficult . In a very short period of time I had to find ways that would encourage my students to work out with my videos. My videos were designed with each student’s grade and fitness level in mind. This helped me create a variety of workouts and drills that would engage every student. My students seemed to have fun and enjoy the workout videos. I can’t say that I enjoy online teaching very much because I can’t see how my students feel, I can’t properly assess if they are working out, nor can I see if they are doing something wrong that could potentially cause them harm.

Our BBB sessions started with great excitement and willingness from both the students and myself regarding meeting and seeing each other. Working out together with my students was a great relief because I could see them, correct them, encourage them, and they could have the motivation that they needed during their workout. I could teach them many more things than with the workout videos. I could answer their questions and push them to achieve their goals but most importantly, I was there for them all the way through the lesson to correct and help. I am trying to keep a balance between the students, their families, and myself. My teaching is designed, therefore, to keep them happy physically and emotionally while at the same time to teach them different ways of working out when it comes to learning new skills. It has been a tremendous eight-week period of personal growth as a teacher but also as a human. Every day I have one thought: Try and live the day, make the most of it, donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think about tomorrow as tomorrow is what you do today. â&#x2013;

Teaching PE online, with personal work out videos through the BBB sessions

Meaningful Musings: 6th Grade Language Arts by Eleftheria Maratou , Middle School Faculty

would like to share what we did at the end of the 2019-2020 school year during virtual learning in 6th grade Language Arts. As an educator, I have had many moments where I felt proud of my students’ learning. This year I was challenged as many educators and children were to carry on purposeful learning online. In this time of COVID -19, we had to change our routines and adapt quickly to new norms and routines. As educators, we wanted to continue to support and guide our students in their growth as learners through this challenging year. This, at times, proved daunting. There were days when we were not always able to see all our students. I would think, ‘Are they still with me, or are they tuning me out?’ and ‘I wonder if they are reading?’ These thoughts and more would cross my mind. The time I had with my students online felt more precious than ever. My 6th graders were looking forward to reading a novel as a class again and having discussions as we did during F2F sessions in the classroom before the COVID -19 quarantine. Our essential questions for our

last unit in LA are: What causes people to be unfair to others? How do you know what is right or wrong? What enables people to persevere through difficult situations? What might a sense of power do to a person? Thinking about a book that would engage and raise awareness and focus on these questions, I included the book I Am Malala (young reader’s edition) as required reading for 6th grade. I felt that Malala Yousafzai’s story would be one of inspiration and revelation to what is happening in the world. This was a time when learning should still be effective and engaging despite the challenges of online learning. I wanted our 6th graders to see that Education is a powerful tool, and lifelong learning is paramount to fighting injustice and inequality in the world. Through reading her memoir, they realized that not every child receives an education and that sometimes we take essential things for granted. They learned how important Education is as the key to enlightening minds and making people aware of causes, events, and cultural differences. This book, of course, tied in with UN Sustainable Development Goal #4, ‘Quality Education’ and led to deep motivating and meaningful discussions. Along with reading, noticing, and noting important parts in the book, my students got to experience a WebQuest by watching interviews of Malala. They saw that she was just a young person with humor, kindness, determination, and they were surprised by her courage to confront world leaders. Watching her 2014 Nobel Peace Prize speech, they were awed by her passion and eloquence. One of my goals was to finish the last quarter in a way that would be memorable and meaningful to the students. So I assigned the class to write a letter to Malala Yousafzai and express their thoughts and feelings after reading and learning about her story. This time of quarantine has been significant in illuminating what is truly important in our lives, what is worth our dedication, and what is worth fighting for. I felt very proud of the 6th graders’ reflection and reference to Malala’s story. They made important connections and expressed their thoughts and feelings authentically.

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Dear Malala, My name is Peter Prattas. I am from Canada and now live in Athens, Greece. I am eleven years old, and in my school, ACS Athens, we read your book. It was extremely inspiring. Through your struggle, you taught us the importance of gender equality and women’s rights around the world. I am writing to you because, through your dedication and sacrifice, you demonstrated how important it is to stand up and fight for what you believe in. As a young student, I am eager to build my knowledge and understanding of the world I live in. I never realized how complicated and challenging it is for some children in other cultures and circumstances. Some have no voice, and we need to speak on their behalf. In Chapter 11 “A Chance to Speak” you said: “And I knew in that instant that it wasn’t me, Malala, speaking; my voice was the voice of so many others who wanted to speak but couldn’t… I felt as if the wind would carry my words, the same way it scatters flower pollen in the spring, planting seeds all over the earth.” Reading your book and learning about your struggles to get your message out, and effecting change, I am more motivated to fight and stand up strongly for my beliefs. We live in a complicated world. We tend to think that we are fair and just but current events prove us wrong. I thought of you while watching what is going on with George Floyd and the racial inequality in the world. It is important to remember that it is possible for things to change if we really believe in them and are not scared to speak up. Another important lesson I learned from your life was your message about education and gender equality. I thought of my mother or sister, that I care about so much, being in your shoes, and realized how unfair the world is. In the interview on the Jon Stewart show, you said: “Education is power for women…. That is why the terrorists are afraid of education…. Education is the best way…. It teaches us equality, justice, respect… it teaches us how to live a life …. How to live together.” You made me realize that cultures that do not respect gender equality do exist, and girls like you have to suffer for fundamental rights that we all take for granted. Malala, I will end my letter to you by expressing my immense gratitude for how you have inspired me and a huge thank you to my teacher for the opportunity I was given to get to know your story. You exemplify the struggle for freedom and equality in our society and are a role model on how to make our world better. Sincerely, Peter Prattas

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Dear Malala, What a compelling life you have had! I have read your fascinating book and was kept at the edge of my seat the whole time. Your experiences, insights, and personality are so distinct and special compared to everyone else I know. My name is Phaedra Macdonald. In terms of nationality, I am half-Canadian, half-Greek, and I am 11 years old. I live in Athens, Greece, and attend the sixth grade at the American Community School of Athens. Our school is mixed for both girls and boys and offers classes from kindergarten to grade 12. You would love to be a student here. The main goal of our school is to challenge all of us to realize our unique potential to enable us to thrive as responsible global citizens. It struck me as a truly amazing coincidence how my school’s mission aligns with what you had always dreamt of and fought for your country’s education to entail as well. I wish I could meet you in person, introduce you to my friends, and have you talk to some of my country’s leaders to exchange ideas. Unfortunately, this does not seem possible under the current circumstances. Therefore, I chose to write you this letter instead. I was passionately driven to reach out to you to express the extent to which I admire your spirit and the way you have succeeded in changing the world. Your life, as presented in your book, reminded me to never give up and to never stop believing. It also motivated me to follow my dreams and inspired me to join your cause. To begin with, I would like to comment on how much I love the fact that you are so open and generous in sharing so many details about yourself. From learning these details, I have absorbed a wealth of life lessons, enabling me to learn in a very direct manner from your actions and your reflections on other people’s actions. Firstly, you showcased the power of faith and what goals or challenges faith can assist one to achieve or overcome. I understand how much God means to you and that you trust him with everything. You also have true faith to know that whatever he does, he does it for a reason and for your own good. I enjoyed your example at the beginning of your book when you had one of your ‘talks’ with God and prayed for him to change your height. In the end, though, you realized that he did not change your height for a reason and that he had a more important mission for you, which was to give you the courage to fight and help you to survive. You also made me understand how important it is to have someone to believe in you, be proud of you, support you, and allow you to follow your dreams. Specifically, I will never forget your father’s words in chapter 2, where he states: “Do not worry, I will protect your freedom, Malala. Carry on with your dreams.” I, too, have a great support network and am determined to follow your lead. Moreover, I felt energized when I read what you wrote in chapter 12 - that speaking up is the only way things will get better, and in chapter 20 - that when we believe in something greater than our lives, the voices will multiply. These ideas reminded me and mobilized me to start taking action for things that I believe need to change. I am now more sure than ever that we all need to be part of the change that we want to see. You also gave me a new insight on how other people in the world live, in terms of how many kids don’t have basic rights, and how lucky and privileged I am in comparison (after reading your words, I felt a bit like when you described how you saw the kids in the dumpsters and it made you very sad). I know now that I need to help the underprivileged children of this world, and so I would really like to help with your educational fund.

37 After reading your book, you also became my model as there are so many things I admire about you, and that deeply inspire me. You are so strong and determined but never use violence. Even with the people that shot you, you are not upset with them. You just think they need education to know that one should always be a good person and that education can change the world. In chapter 20, your thoughts said it best as you wrote: “If you hit a Talib with your shoe, there is no difference between him and you. You must not treat others with cruelty. You must fight them with peace and dialogue.” If only the world’s leaders would follow your advice. You are brave and confident because in all your interviews, you just simply said what you think other people should do to make things better, without being shy, and you expressed your feelings and thoughts to anyone without re-thinking it or hesitating. My mom always tells me that a brave person is not the one that has no fear, but the one that keeps on going although she/he is afraid. I wanted to ask you though, how did you manage to overcome your fear? What made you so strong inside? It is amazing how confident and truthful you are! I will try and follow your example. I also admire that even after you heard that you won the Nobel Peace Prize, you remained humble and ‘down to earth’. For example, you still wanted to finish your Physics class first, on the day of school, because you believed that you are protesting for education, and therefore you wanted to have education always as the first priority, not only in words but in actions as well. In addition, instead of focusing on obtaining awards and getting noticed, you decided that you wanted to continue with your mission and maintain your life as normal as possible. This is shown, as your brothers still make fun of you, and the love of all your friends remained strong. Your friendship with Moniba, is still as powerful as ever (using texting and face timing) even though you guys are physically separate. Going forward, I will cherish the fact that true friendship knows no borders and to never let fame go to my head. On another note, I totally agree with your comments from the interview and support your opinion that the power and control of the terrorists is based on women’s illiteracy and lack of empowerment. Everybody therefore needs to join your case: “ ‘Struggle to erase illiteracy, poverty, and terrorism.’ and follow your example by staying focused on the cause and viewing the positive side of things. In conclusion, you are so thoughtful and caring as you want everybody to have the right to learn, no matter what their race, gender, or culture is. I admire immensely how you want to be known as the girl that brought education for everybody, instead of the girl that got shot. Never stop believing and never change the way you are, because you have taught me, and the the rest of the world, valuable lessons in life, that we will never forget. Last but not least, you have taught us that we should never give up and that we should try to make a change as soon as possible before it is too late. After all the things you have been through, you have encouraged all of us to try to be known for a positive impact in the world, in our own and special way! I decided to make my positive mark by reaching out to my principal and making a presentation to our whole school to educate my classmates, in order to raise awareness and collect money for your fund. I will write you another letter to share how it went. Be well and strong! Sincerely, Phaedra Macdonald

Every week, I was teaching, reading, writing articles and doing assignments, meeting with my professors through Skype, meeting with other classmates to discuss and do group work and I was doing great! I was using technology in so many diverse ways, I was learning through a variety of tools that the professors utilized and I was enthusiastic! And then, there were more assignments and more articles to read and more exams; I had to balance those multiple identities; I was juggling, I was trying to keep balance between teaching and learning, let alone parenting….. and I started to feel frustrated, incompetent, I felt like giving up; my time management skills were at stake! I, an experienced teacher, who had consciously chosen to go for a Master’s Degree at this age, was not following, submitting assignments at the last minute, assignments which were overdue. This is when I came up with a planner; yes, I had to write down my “to-do-lists”, but now I was planning my day around my studies. I started prioritising and I managed to balance work, studies and family. I was a coach to myself; I had a plan and I had to stick to it. And I did it… My first draft of my thesis was finally done and sent… And then it struck… COVID-19! Our world was turned upside down; nothing was the same anymore; everything we did or knew existed in changed form; even simple acts like going to the supermarket could not be taken for granted.

Continuing Education In Times Of COVID - 19: Learning To Teach, Teaching To Learn; A Two-Way Relationship by Venie Gaki, Middle School ESL/EFL Faculty

n April 2020, my thesis “Creating a sense of Home; the role of a social studies teacher in an international school in Greece. Fostering identity and inclusion” was submitted to the Hellenic American College as the end product of a long journey that was interrupted for personal reasons in 2007, a journey on which I embarked again ten years later, in 2017. My goal was finally achieved; my dream, which I had to digress from due to the multiple identities a woman of the 21st century is requested to have, such as being a full time mother, wife, teacher and friend, had finally come true. And it became true mainly because, as of 2015, the MAAL Program which I so eagerly wanted to attend, being a passionate linguist, switched to e-learning.

Teachers were asked to switch to online teaching overnight and ACS Athens was ahead of the game, once again. We had moodle, we were already using platforms, we installed the Big Blue Button and everything was running smoothly! The students were enthusiastic about this new development as they were on top of things, they were eager to participate, to write in the public chat, to take a poll, to work in breakout rooms, to do projects, to present; their netiquette skills were amazing; they were muting mics, respecting each other’s time and changing their icons to a raising hand if they wanted to ask something! And gradually this enthusiasm started to wear off; assignments were submitted late, students had difficulty meeting expectations. Students were frustrated as they could not meet deadlines, and were submitting work late. As for interaction, microphones started not to work, cameras were off; students were reluctant to speak, they were feeling exhausted, frustrated, incompetent, they felt like giving up …..And then it dawned on me; what I was dealing with was the dame kind of feeling I had when I was an online student. I could see myself in the faces of my students; I could feel their frustration and anger and I could not help wondering; if I, an adult, had difficulties keeping up with due dates and workload as a student, then, how could an adolescent feel during these surreal circumstances? It was not only the new type of learning they had to adjust to, but it was also a new condition, a new reality they had to familiarize themselves with overnight; they could not hang out with their friends anymore, they could not giggle in the hallway, they could not have real eye contact with their teacher; they could not give their teachers a sign to let them

ETHOS • FALL 2020

know that the instructions to a task had to be repeated...they could not laugh at the jokes their classmates and teachers made...there was silence….an eerie silence that nobody could explain. We were not behind with the curriculum, but I felt there was something missing; the passion was missing, the energy of the busy classroom, the spontaneous discussions and debates; human interaction was missing. I had to find ways to instill this passion to my students again….After conducting some research, I discovered that there are mainly four skills that students need to learn in order to deal with the challenges of online learning. ◉ Adaptability and growth mindset in order to adjust to a more alternative type of learning that requires open mindedness and flexibility instead of traditional skills, such as note taking. ◉ Time management skills and resilience in order to cope with the intensive work, meet deadlines, read and consolidate feedback, do projects and keep up with their social life. ◉ Computer literacy; we may call this generation digital natives, however, this literacy refers to social media and gaming or even higher level computer skills, such as programming. However, our students come from diverse educational backgrounds and may not have been accustomed to google docs, forums, flipgrid and the like, applications and tools that one may consider easy. ◉ Self-Motivation is one of the most essential traits an online learner needs to have in order to cope with situations such as handling time management and technological media that may seem insurmountable. So, I started looking at things from a different perspective; how could I help my students be more engaged and become more motivated? How could I help them maintain interactivity with both their teacher and among them? How could I help them learn effectively and efficiently? I would coach my students, the same way I “became a coach to myself ”. I realised that if positive attitude and constructive feedback work in an onsite environment, in an online environment they are more effective and help students develop resilience and eagerness to put in more effort! We met individually with students who needed guidance, and discussed plans and goals, we would prioritize together; we told jokes, and broke the ice once again; we talked about their writing and went over instructions step by step, again and again; I found myself being more understanding, not lenient, but understanding…. This whole experience made me realise that maybe, we are expecting too much of our children and our students; maybe, we treat our children and students as the end product of our ambitions and goals; may-

be, it is time we looked at their needs and their wishes; maybe, it is time we asked what they want to learn and how they want to learn… Allow me to end this article with part of the acknowledgements I wrote in my thesis : This dissertation was completed during COVID 19, a difficult time for all humanity, when teachers were asked to switch overnight to online teaching practices and tools. After 8 weeks of online teaching, I would like to express the fact that I miss my students...I miss their faces, their smiles, their jokes, their complaints, their inquiries...I miss the “aha” moments, their passion and enthusiasm when they “get” it.... I miss giving “hi -fives” in the hallways and sympathizing with them in case of a broken heart..... I miss learning from them ... This work is in dedication to my students who make me want to be a better educator... ■

the lesson is to have students explore scientific concepts and make sense of the data collected with the support of a positive classroom climate that fosters collaboration. One of the units that sixth grade students studied in the virtual classroom setting was sound waves. As doing scientific investigations is an integral part of learning science, students were provided with the Google Science Journal App in order to complete data collection using just a device. Students during their asynchronous time experimented with the pitch and sound sensors to collect some data. This data was then shared through a moodle forum and then the class. The Google Science Journal is an app that makes use of the various sensors present in cell phones in order to do experiments. The sensors that pertained to the sound unit were the sound intensity and the pitch sensors (Fig. 1).

Scientific Inquiry And Discourse In The Virtual Classroom by Christina Bakoyannis, Middle School Science Faculty

eaching science in the classroom involves students in exploration and scientific investigation. How can we continue this exploration when we enter the virtual classroom setting? In addition, how can students continue to think like scientists and collaborate with their classmates? By building on existing applications and platforms already in use in the classroom and combining these with newly explored resources allowed the transition to the virtual classroom to be a smooth one. The use of the moodle platform in combination with other resources made both the synchronous and asynchronous sessions to be as meaningful and impactful to students as possible. This enhanced the learning experience online. The example I will describe below combines scientific discourse in the classroom through the use of the moodle discussion forum and how this was combined with scientific inquiry through the use of an online application, readily available to students. The goal of

Figure 1: Data collection with the sound intensity (dB) and the pitch (Hz) sensors available through the Google Science Journal App.

Students first demonstrated some of the experiments during a synchronous session and then were asked to pick one that they can complete during their asynchronous time. The experiments included: investigating the pitch changes when adding water to a glass or when playing a musical instrument such as the piano, testing the loudness of various actions using the sound intensity sensor and testing how loudness changes with distance (Fig. 2).

Students presented their data collection during a synchronous lesson as well as posted their data in the moodle forum. Students replied to the data posted by their classmates by “Being the Scientist” and analyzing the data and providing scientific explanations (Fig. 4). This way, students were asked to make sense of data presented to them, while looking at another students’ data.

This makes sense. The less water in the glass, the faster the glass vibrates and the higher the pitch. Adding water to the glass decreases the amount of air space, which means there is less air to vibrate. What is strange is how little the pitch changes in Hz between 1.5 and 4 cm of adding water. I would expect it to change more.

Figure 2: Data Collection with the Google Science Journal App sensors investigating the pitch of the water level in a glass, the notes played on piano and the sound intensity as the distance from the source changes.

To achieve a deep and meaningful learning experience, the social presence needs to intertwine with the cognitive presence. Student interactivity with both the concepts and with their classmates was designed through a moodle discussion forum. When posting on a moodle forum, students are given the criteria of delivery, expression, contribution to one’s learning in the learning community and posting a comment to another student response (Fig. 3).

Figure 4: Data collected investigating how pitch changes with the water level in a glass. A classmate posts a response giving a scientific explanation for the data collected.

As teachers, we aim to find ways to craft the webbased instruction in such a way in order to allow for the learning process to take place successfully while also fostering collaboration. Students not only need to be able to work independently in a flexible manner completing scientific exploration, but also to be able to interact with other classmates and the content. Furthermore, teaching students to communicate with each other in an online environment and giving them the questions and criteria to guide their thinking process can enhance the outcome. The overall goal is to strive for building a positive classroom culture. Students feel the sense of community and belonging as they know that when they post something on a forum, it is read and remembered. It can also serve as a way for students to go back to the post and read it again, thinking through the learning process and questioning further. In essence, it is about understanding that scientific inquiry does not end with an experiment, but that this is just the beginning of an ongoing process of questioning and making sense of phenomena around us.

■ Figure 3: Student instructions for posting to the Moodle forum.

Science aths ETHOS â&#x20AC;˘ FALL 2020

Virtual Learning 2020: A Learning Experience by Dora Andrikopoulos, Middle School Mathematics Faculty,

he COVID-19 pandemic resulted in schools shutting down all across the world. Globally, over 1.2 billion children were out of the classroom, including, of course, the American Community Schools of Athens (ACS). Our teaching methodologies had to almost instantly be adjusted to meet the needs of our students learning from home. It felt like education had changed dramatically, with the rise of virtual learning, where teaching was transferred to our Moodle platform with the use of Big Blue Button (BBB). Having done some research myself on if online learning has been shown to increase retention of information, I started to feel a little more optimistic about the outcome. Of course, during the initial stages, several tutorials were followed familiarizing myself with the use and capabilities of the BBB tools.

Seeing students become flexible, more autonomous learners through this virtual learning model was quite satisfying. There were, however, challenges to overcome. Some students without reliable internet access struggled to participate. We then needed to arrange additional asynchronous times to meet and go over essential sections of the learning content. Assessment was another critical factor that needed to be considered seriously. Through Moodle and Google Form assessments, oral presentations, and Forum Discussions and reflections, students were assessed systematically throughout the entire process. This helped students check their progress and us as educators to monitor the effectiveness of knowledge delivery.

Informative after class hours like Geek Hour and oneto-one meetings through Google Meet with our technology experts helped considerably with a smooth transition through each of three phases of online learning between March and June. As the days went by, it was evident that not only were our students able to follow lessons and complete assignments during and after their virtual classes, but they also showed interest in wanting additional sessions to either clarify their understandings of content or for guidance into further independent study.

Through my research and personal experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, I believe that despite the rapid move to virtual Learning with very little time to train and prepare, a new hybrid model of education emerged. I also believe that this new hybrid model will result in a rich experience with significant benefits that is conducive to sustained growth. Virtual Learning, has undoubtedly changed the way of my teaching. It has enabled me to reach out to my students more efficiently and effectively through chat groups, discussion forums, video meetings, breakout rooms, and also document sharing. My students found an effective and smooth way to communicate with me while on or off BBB.

There is evidence that learning online can be more effective in several ways. Some research shows that, on average, students retain 25-60% more material when learning online compared to only 8-10% in a classroom. This is mostly due to the students being able to learn faster online; e-learning requires 4060% less time to learn than in a traditional classroom setting because students can learn at their own pace, going back and re-reading, skipping, or accelerating through concepts as they choose. Studies have shown that children extensively use their senses to learn, making learning fun and effective through the use of technology. We have observed that clever integration of games has demonstrated higher engagement and increased motivation towards learning, especially among younger students, making them truly fall in love with Learning. I did observe that a good number of my students who had trouble focusing and performing during regular classes, were much more successful during virtual Learning. In general, I would say that a structured environment assists online Learning because students may be

more easily distracted. To get the full benefit of online learning, there needs to be a concerted effort to provide this structure and go beyond replicating a physical class/lecture through video capabilities. Using a range of collaboration tools and engagement methods will promote “inclusion, personalization, and intelligence”. What has been made most apparent to me throughout this time is the importance of disseminating knowledge clearly to our students. If a virtual learning model can play a role here, I am more than curious to explore its full potential. As Wang Tao, Vice President of Tencent Cloud and Vice President of Tencent Education says, “I believe that the integration of information technology in education will be further accelerated and that online education will eventually become an integral component of school education.” ■

ETHOS • FALL 2020

months, K-12 students became online learners; something that is normally experienced by students when they enter university. Think about what this means. For the next decade or so, students who enroll in online classes will already have had hours of experience learning online. How will that affect online teaching? More importantly, how will that even affect face-to-face teaching and learning?

“A Changing Face” by Labrini Rontogiannis, Academy Faculty, Virtual Classrooms and Technology Integration Coordinator

ow more than ever, education is changing in a profound way. Within weeks, days, hours, the face of teaching and learning was remolded. New teachers, seasoned teachers, young and old, science or language arts, went from the good old, brick and mortar classroom, to becoming entirely virtual. Online instructors may have trained years to do what “regular” teachers did overnight…and they did it well! ACS Athens faculty were faced with a challenge, and with the support of the entire community and their own dedication to teaching and to their students, they made the impossible, possible. Teachers and students who take part in online courses know what to expect; teachers are trained and students are enrolled knowing very well the dedication, time commitment, and motivation needed. But what of 10 and 13 year-olds who all of a sudden went from learning side by side with teachers and friends, to continuing their learning within a virtually unknown realm? Much was asked from students; to adapt overnight to learning that needed additional self-discipline, and independence. Could you ever have imagined a day when a 2nd grader would take part in a synchronous online breakout room? A 4th grader would learn their fractions by watching their teacher on their computers? For two

With hard work and perseverance from all constituents, ACS Athens adapted to this new reality and committed itself to make it happen, to make learning happen no matter the circumstances. Years of training and commitment to i2Flex, inadvertently prepared ACS Athens Faculty for what came. Teachers took whatever training they had received and transformed their face-to-face classrooms, into virtual ones. They dedicated themselves to being “present” so as to try and minimize the loss of being socially distant. They knew that they could not lose touch with students. And students did their best to continue to maximize on their own learning with the tools given to them. But, where do we go from here? Education is continuously changing, constantly adapting to philosophies and methods. Still, this sudden change from face-to-face to online learning was unprecedented and will have long-lasting effects on K-12 education for many years to come. No matter the changes, no matter the face that education will take, ACS Athens and its community will be there to learn from their past experiences, take on the challenge and thrive. ■

ETHOS • FALL 2020

Facilitating Learning During The COVID-19 Pandemic. Teaching Greek Language Arts In Middle School by Maria Anna Sidiropoulou, Faculty of Greek Language and Literature

ntroduction

Indisputably the pandemic, together with the health crisis, has shaken and significantly affected societies and their economies. The accomplishment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) has been hindered, while the educational systems worldwide have to cope with the emerging learning inequities through flexibility and the development of online courses. However, there are differences between a well-structured online course and one created hastily, under a global threat. Bibliography provided a theoretical background on how to support students and their learning during the crisis and we share our practical experience and what actually worked in dealing with the challenges the pandemic imposed and secure the undistracted continuation of our students’ learn-

ing. To effectively respond to these challenges, we did not deviate from the i²flex methodology as applied in our Institution but we opted to enhance the presence of the CoI framework (Garrison, Cleveland-Innes & Fung, 2010), to maintain student interest and engagement and expand the learning process. This blended learning practice not only provides the tools to form a reflective learner, but also supports the educational process in times of crisis. However, the recent updates in educational objectives prior to the appearance of the Covid-19 threat, have already offered further enrichment with technology-supported practices in helping the digital native student (Prensky, 2001, as. cited in Avgerinou & Gialamas, 2016, p.137) to meet the challenges of the 21st century. At ACS Athens the educational Global Morfosis Paradigm (gMp) is applied and consists of the Morfosis Educational Philosophy, the i²Flex Instructional Methodology and the Aristeia Leadership (Gialamas & Pelonis, 2009; Gialamas, Pelonis & Medeiros, 2014; Gialamas & Avgerinou, 2015) inspiring faculty on a daily basis to apply innovative teaching practices. Changing to online teaching, aka Emergency Remote Teaching-ERT (Hodges, Moore, Lockee, Trust & Bond, 2020) at ACS Athens did not cause panic and the transition was smooth, since the existing teaching methodology was already applied in the courses, whereas the involvement in the Virtual School Training Program provided the tools to effectively navigate this new educational space. Consequently, the most important points were coping with the challenges of online teaching and, mainly, re-design the course. 1. The online teaching challenges and our response Online teaching is associated with open-learning, as it aims at making the learner more self-determined and independent, while the teacher tends to become a learning facilitator (Wiki, 2020). Nevertheless, it also causes great concerns, the greatest one being associated with physical isolation. We had to teach our teams from a distance for two months; maintaining the bonds and enhancing students’ learning motives in order to raise their personal commitment and responsibility towards learning was an objective that sparkled a great deal of thought. Synchronous teaching via the BBB (Big Blue Button) sessions with breakout rooms and activities breaking the boundaries of physical distance was a primary treatment. However, we had to make up ways to deal with physical isolation and create the impression that the educator was indeed present. Therefore, we set up circles of Gmeets not only to discuss the students’ learning pace, but also to share discussions and connect with the students. Transferring the teaching/ learning responsibilities to the learner (Goode, 2007) was dealt with in a variety of ways, which are described below. Technical difficulties were an important concern as well, but, as the IT staff rushed to their treatment, we had issues such as internet connectivity, communication and structure of moodle shell resolved fast. In our case, teaching flexibility raised a series of questions, some of which are shared below:

◉ At what moment do we believe that learning is taking place in an online course and what kind of support is provided to students? Learning definitely took place during the BBB sessions, but students could learn at their own pace. Therefore, we posted Pages (Table 1) on moodle shell weekly, to support curriculum delivery and meet learning needs and created a list of Homework- Assignments (synchronous and asynchronous) that included Checklists for time and learning pace management. Moreover, checklists helped us identify procrastination, monitor students at risk of failure, and take necessary proactive steps, e.g. reminders, e-mails to students and parents, scheduling Gmeets or proceeding in cooperation with faculty support, such as the OLP Department. When students encountered difficulties, appropriate encouragement and effective, timely provided feedback became our main means of issue resolving. Lacking communication by means of body language, we had to be extremely clear when providing instructions, while the teacher’s invisibility was somehow resolved by leaving the camera on.

Table 1: Weekly picture of Moodle shell

◉ What to learn and how? We had not only to choose the curriculum’s most essential elements for in-depth teaching, but also to support learning with activities meeting the CoI framework, that is the student-student, student-teacher, and student-content presences. Apart from creating Shared drives, where the material of synchronous and asynchronous sessions was posted, extensive usage of the following moodle features and other tools (Table 2) was made.

Table 2: Moodle Features and CoI Framework

The learning material was designed in a variety of ways; for example, we used Screencast-o-Matic and Audacity to produce audiovisual material and support learning of grammar in asynchronous sessions for our Greek LA 7-8 courses and Youth-to-Youth Program. Students before or after class could watch the videos and then proceed to practice through worksheets, google forms, external online practice from the Institute of Educational Policy (Ellinikos Politismos) and moodle formative quizzes. We also used the Book (Greek LA 8) to simplify the content and posted worksheets, ppt’s and further material in the shared drive. Another support tool was the TedEd; through the Watch and Think tasks, the students of the Youth-to-Youth Program listened to a song, filled in questions with gaps and learned grammar (adjectives, imperative of verbs), vocabulary and practiced listening skills (Appendix 1). ◉ What instructional approaches and learning strategies could be offered online? Following the i²flex methodology in individual, collaborative, or in study groups offered significant differentiation of learning approaches. At first, direct instruction was carefully articulated to ensure the active participation of students. Thus, we had to enhance our lectures with qualitative brainstorming, well-organized material, and ask questions regularly so as to engage students into discussion. Extensive utilization of discussion was made either in synchronous sessions during the BBB chat and breakout rooms, an element that raised the level of interactivity too, or in asynchronous time via the moodle forums. It was also astonishing to see that the students’ assistants cooperated exceptionally well with our Youth-to-Youth Students with the breakout rooms. Another indicative example of flexible learning was when our Greek LA 7 students completed the face-to-face activities of comparing innovative educators of different eras (Delmouzos in Greece, Célestin Freinet in France and Ran Clark in the U.S.A.) with a Debate and simulation of Delmouzos’s Trial. The students chose and took over the roles of the protagonist, prosecutor, advocates/ attorneys, witnesses. An example of how the Art Gallery and Optic Approach (Sidiropoulou, 2017) supported learning is through the Movements of Art Project for Greek LA 8, which was connected to the Component of

Language. After three synchronous sessions, students researched, individually and in groups, the Art movements in painting. They presented the most characteristic painters of their favorite movement and their work and commented on paintings appealing most to them. The last phase of the Project required an Art Craft (Appendix 2) by students, which should display the typical characteristics of the Art movement they had discussed. We had to continue providing students with clear instruction to minimize possible misunderstanding with regards to the steps they had to follow. The instruction was delivered through Moodle shell and other resources were posted, in order to limit the time-consuming access. Thus, students could access WikiArt, Google Arts and Culture & The art story.org, in order to support their inquiry and research-based project (Appendix 3). Likewise, the research-based assignments provided our students with chances to navigate the internet and explore resources for the Byzantine History Project. ◉ Which friendly learning tech tools to use in a constructivist teaching online methodology? Students process information and construct knowledge in an individualized manner, collaboratively and, primarily, through taking over active roles (Mayer, 1992). Since students don’t live in sterilized social contexts, social influences offer them tools for knowledge construction through interaction. Within a collaborative environment, the intervention of technology cannot be overlooked since, according to the SHiFT research “students do better if they combine part of their learning in an online classroom with those who learn fully in the traditional way” (2013, as mentioned in Avgerinou & Gialamas 2016). Taking into account the definition for the hybrid learning model as provided by Graham (2006, cited in Avgerinou & Gialamas, 2016), blended learning combines learning activities related to live educational planning, real classroom conditions, and online guidance. If the discussion addresses the dynamics of distance learning, then additional dimensions enhancing pedagogical practice appear: social interaction, presence of the teacher, student interest-motivation, content, and learning outcomes. In our case, the attempt to classify the learning tools (UNESCO & IRTCRE, 2020), in order to assure both real-time feedback and formative assessment resulted in the following categories: 1. Tools to produce resources and material: Moodle, moodle quiz and forums, Screencast-O-Matic, Audacity, PPT, Cam scanner (in rare cases) 2. Tools for synchronous sessions: BBB, breakout rooms, chat, google docs and google forms, ppt-presentation, moodle forum-quiz 3. Tools for asynchronous and self-regulated learn-

ing: moodle forum-quiz, google forms, flipgrid, google drive/ docs, TedEd, mind mapping, 2. How to enhance the CoI framework during the pandemic in Greek LA Courses The CoI model combines the social, teaching and cognitive presence into an indivisible unity, where each component influences equally the other and forms the necessary prerequisites for a qualitative learning experience. Each presence consists of certain parameters; teaching presence includes design and organization, directed facilitation, and facilitated discourse (Anderson, Rourke, Garrison & Archer, 2001, p. 3). Four phases define the cognitive presence: triggering event, exploration, integration, and resolution (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2001) while the concept of social presence is defined as “the person perceived as ‘real’ in mediated communication (Gunawardena and Zittle, 1997, p. 4) and predicts the level of student’s satisfaction. The i²flex methodology builds the sense of community as “a feeling that members have of belonging, matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members’ needs will be met through their commitment to be together” (McMillan, 1976 as cit. in McMillan & Chavis, 1986, p. 9). A strong learning community then is one with a high level of connectedness. If we take into account the different communication patterns (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger & Tarule, 1986), it is within the CoI model that cooperation is prioritized, and a collective connected voice is heard. What follows are examples of how we applied and tried to enhance the three presences of CoI framework during the virtual classes since the beginning of the Greek lockdown. The Greek LA Courses consist of three different components: Language, History, and Literature. As per course design, each component is taught in close relation to the other and the topics under research or discussion are examined on an interdisciplinary basis. For example, through the Byzantine History assignments and activities, we practice different writing skills. Each example displayed reflects activities that took place on a weekly basis or were completed within two consecutive weeks. Students were working individually before or after class and in groups, in synchronous or asynchronous mode. Example 1: Greek LA 8, Byzantine History, Unit: Crusades and Constantinople Sacks & Grammar, Unit Subordinate Clauses Objectives: 1a. Develop arguments in relation to topics of the Crusades and the Sacks of Constantinople in 1204 and 1453 1b. Evaluate the causes and effects of the two Constantinople Sacks 2. Practice writing skills and enhance formative assessment through teacher and peer feedback

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3. Familiarize with moodle quiz and the essay question as a proactive step to online final assessments 4. Distinguish and use subordinate clauses in written or oral speech Tools to support activities and Assessment: moodle url, formative quiz, forum, dialogue (where applicable), google doc and forms Summary of Activities: after a poll on BBB and the synchronous brainstorming activity (google form), the teacher showed a short presentation on the BBB screen, while questions were addressed that sparked discussion. Students exchanged points of view in the chat and shared notes, but could also unmute their micro. Subsequently, in the BBB breakout rooms, team-work required students to discuss and post answers on assigned questions in a google doc or ppt, which was presented and discussed, when the class returned as a whole to the discussion. After the conclusions, students proceeded to work individually and in asynchronous pace, i.e.: ◉ Enhancing the Student-Content presence: we divided the documentary “The Sack of Constantinople” (webtv.ert.gr/ert1.myxani-tou-xronou) into three parts, each one with distinct content. This division assisted in organizing the discussion forum topics. A moodle quiz followed each part and required students to have watched the video and reflected on questions before answering. Instant feedback was posted for each question. Apart from the url’s posted on moodle shell to support the grammar component, additional material was posted on Pages as Related Readings and Other Resources and summative moodle quizzes underlined the closure of all units. ◉ Enhancing the Student-Content and Student-Student presences: three discussion topics were posted in relation to the above documentary sections. Students worked in two phases. At first, we formed two different student groups, each one with a different reflective question to answer. Each student posted his/ her answer based on a Rubric/ Criteria of Assessment to check Content-Expression-Organization of Ideas. The teacher provided individual feedback on a google doc to avoid influencing the peers in their assessment, which was requested in the second phase. Where assigned, peers provided feedback based on Peer Assessment Rubric. After the completion of this phase, the students resubmitted their answers, which they improved on the basis of the feedback they received from their peer and teacher. The teacher evaluated students for both their posts and the quality of feedback they provided. On the same base, students worked on similar forum posts supporting the extension of reflections on the topics under discussion (Sack of Constantinople in 1204 and 1453) but through

the component of language and rammar. For example, the song of Professor Helene Glykatzi-Ahrweiler was one of the prerequisites to analyze one of the forum questions. Likewise, students evaluated the content and practiced the Subordinate Clauses/ Supplementary Sentences of Constantine Palaiologos’s speech about the eve of the city’s sack by the Ottomans. Example 2: Greek LA 7, Ancient Greek History, Unit: Architectural Orders and Pottery & Language, subchapter Distant Education & Grammar, Unit Pronouns and Adjectives Objectives: 1. Participate in online discussions 2. Ancient History: ◉ Recognize and explain the two decoration styles in ancient pottery ◉ Identify features of pottery in Classical times ◉ Identify, describe, and comment on the features of architectural orders ◉ Compare types of pottery ◉ Explain and justify (arguments and evaluation) points of views 3. Language/ grammar: ◉ Practice and revise grammar, so as to proceed to summative assessment (quiz) ◉ Reading texts and answering questions, justifying points of views Tools to support activities and assessment: moodle url- Quiz-Art Gallery- Forum, google doc Summary of Activities: after a verbal poll in BBB and the synchronous brainstorming activity, the teacher showed a short presentation on the BBB screen, while questions were addressed that spared discussion. Students exchanged points of view in the chat, verbal discussion, and shared notes. Then, in the BBB breakout rooms, team-work required students to work on grammar exercises. Before the synchronous session, students had watched the material prepared with Screencast-o-Matic. As a whole, the class shared their answers, creative usage of mistakes took place, and the necessary feedback for improvement was provided. After the completion of this task, we proceeded to the history component making use of the Art Gallery, the booklet prepared, and a url in relation to famous buildings featuring elements from the ancient Greek architectural orders from all over the world. After revising and commenting on this part, students had to work through the Forum and a formative quiz. Three different content questions required a combination of observation skills, reading

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and listening comprehension, small-scale research on the architectural orders by using the provided url and other sites, if students wished, and exposition of points of view. In asynchronous time, students would work on a Language Forum and the topic of Distance Learning. After watching a video, they were asked to post their answers and justify their points of view. The forum activity was completed with peer assessment based on assessment criteria. Το assess the answers, a sample analysis of the posted answers and the peer feedback was made by the teacher, while corrections and improvements were suggested in collaboration with the students. ◉ Enhancing the Student-Content presence: following the course design, additional material was created to support content comprehension. We opted not to use the Book moodle feature, as it was possible to attract limited student interest. Instead, booklets with pictures followed by short paragraphs and the Art Gallery could serve our purpose. The Art Gallery consisted of images associated with the Greek architectural orders from the sites usa.greekreporter.com and ehow. com. Students could describe and comment on the famous buildings while making connections to the material previously discussed. There were three forum discussion topics that the students would work on individually at home as written tasks since the writing process is one of the main course objectives. Each one required different skills such as observation, reading and listening comprehension, small-scale research, and justification of arguments. After the completion of the forum posts, the students received the teacher’s written feedback and proceeded in a formative moodle quiz, where each question received instant feedback. The Grammar component was revised through a formative quiz, and students could access the audiovisuals and exercises from the shared doc, prior to their attempts. ◉ Enhancing the Student-Student and Student-Teacher presences: This was covered through forum activities. Different topics of discussion asking students to watch a short video and post their answers to two questions related to distance learning were posted. Students had to reveal their own views and comment on the views presented in the video. The second forum discussion topic required reading comprehension and vocabulary enhancement tasks. After the completion of the assigned activities, students had to provide feedback to their peers’ posts following the assessment criteria. Apart from the teacher’s individual feedback to the answers, a sample analysis of the posted answers and the peer feedback was made by the teacher and corrections and improvements were suggested in collaboration with the students.

3.Reflections Teaching online during the pandemic was indeed an experience that promoted flexibility in designing daily lessons and adapting teaching practice to the emerging challenges. Based on observations, the teacher’s diary, and students’ feedback, we believe that from the students’ point of view, what worked effectively was the learning engagement and motive, especially for our 8th-grade team. The students experienced a high level of satisfaction working at their own pace in asynchronous time, and with the extension of submission until 20.00 or 21.00 pm, their time-management skills gradually improved. The level of familiarity with i²flex methodology and moodle shell was maintained for the 8th-grade team and increased on a daily basis for the 7th-grade teams. Another encouraging result is the fact that the different formative assessment tasks met the curriculum objectives; the moodle formative quizzes supported effective self-assessment. Multiple attempts at formative quizzes enabled concept negotiation too. In general, the student-student and student-teacher presences were daily met and we could see the majority of students developing social competence and resilience. However, the passive observation of peers’ posts by a percentage of students on the Forum and sometimes the reproduction of similar answers, make reflecting and attempting to come up with more ways to restrict this case imperative. Even if we smile with a portion of students’ future learning (Thomas et al, 2011) or feeling content with raising the level of equity in class participation on behalf of the shy students, the question of how effectively OLP students worked for their own learning and contributed to collective learning remains thorny. We had a steady rate of missing posts and peer feedback, and a month later the number of posts and level of collaboration had reduced dramatically. However, the close cooperation and support by the OLP department facilitated many of the missing tasks and the preparation for the final quarter assessment. Lastly, peer assessment is another area of growth. Even if it worked for the 8th-grade team, as their level of maturity and familiarity is higher, it seems that regular practice and responsible commitment to this role required empowerment as far as the 7th grade teams were concerned. The quality of feedback from teachers and students is a process requiring constant F2F and online monitoring, but the management of the time invested by the teacher can be strenuous. Repeated meetings with students who could not keep up with the pace are helpful, but we must keep in mind that constant motivation renewal is necessary. The forum was appealing, but there is always the danger of a drop in student interest, as a result of its systematic use; thus, we are always in need of additional ideas for student interactivity. In regards to the teacher’s part, changing the role into a facilitator and moderator raised the level of students’ self-expectations, and we were proud to see them taking over a more responsible role in their learning, one of the prerequisites of an effective online course. It was apparent that the 8th-grade team, with few exceptions, worked with conscientiousness and did not lose

their learning pace. The formative assessment required careful selection between activities and skills to be developed, but this allowed us to also carefully choose the most important components for in-depth teaching. Perhaps the preparation of the necessary activities and moodle quizzes is time-consuming, but in the long run, this activity builds a resource bank, ready to use at any time. What would enrich and add originality to the course would be to include more interactive tools, thus enhancing each of the CoI presences. Our ultimate objectives include the continuous improvement of OLP students’ motivation and alertness to monitor peer assessment; the quality of individual feedback and peer work is a constant objective in online and synchronous teaching. As far as the objectives are concerned, we feel that the CoI framework presences are a dimension that worked well during online teaching. Although the pace of curriculum coverage might have been slower for the 8th-grade team, we feel that we preserved a good level as far as the writing process is concerned. Primarily, the activities engaged students to apply and evaluate knowledge, rather than simply comprehend it. Conclusion There are plenty of reasons for the pandemic-prompted shift from live synchronous teaching to online; a true venture that educators had to deal with to be sure. This immense challenge forced educators worldwide to adapt and transform their teaching practice overnight. Although student learning was severely disrupted, learning in a safe environment has been the main priority of every public or private educational institution. The Covid-19 threat represents another crisis to manage, and it is within crises that innovative solutions usually emerge; education leaders reflect on learning continuation by either incorporating already existing alternative learning methods or addressing online learning. However, perhaps we do not need a pandemic to alter our teaching methods and learning approaches. If we take into consideration that we live in a digital era where education is not sterilized by technology intervention, then we welcome alternative and progressive methodologies that combine synchronous with distant and self-paced inquiry learning. Our experience concludes that to secure the effectiveness of such an endeavor, the application of the CoI framework requires paying similar attention to each of its presences. Among the presences of the framework in the online learning, rarely will an educator slip to the negligence not to enhance the student-content or student-teacher dimension. It is mainly the enhancement of the student-student presence that makes the difference in the quality of interaction. The question is then transformed into which kind of activities and supporting tools are the most effective in expanding student learning and motivation. This is a question that educators need to answer every day. ■

References Anderson, T., Liam, R., Garrison, D. R., & Archer, W. (2001). Assessing teaching presence in a computer conferencing context. Avgerinou, M. D., & Gialamas, S. P. (2016). The i2Flex Methodology: Definition, Praxis, and Conditions for Success. In Revolutionizing K-12 Blended Learning through the i²Flex Classroom Model (pp. 135159). IGI Global. Belenky, M. F., Clinchy, B. M., Goldberger, N. R., & Tarule, J. M. (1986). Women’s ways of knowing: The development of self, voice, and mind (Vol. 15). New York: Basic books. Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2001). Critical thinking, cognitive presence, and computer conferencing in distance education. American Journal of distance education, 15(1), 7-23. Garrison, D. R., Cleveland-Innes, M., & Fung, T. S. (2010). Exploring causal relationships among teaching, cognitive and social presence: Student perceptions of the community of inquiry framework. The internet and higher education, 13(1-2), 31-36. Gialamas, S., & Avgerinou, M. D. (2015). Aristeia Leadership: A Catalyst for the i 2 Flex Methodology. Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research, 10(1), 13-23. Gialamas, S., & Pelonis, P. (2009). Morphosis leadership being visionaries in a changing world. Academic Leadership: The Online Journal, 7(2), 10. Gialamas, S., Pelonis, P., & Medeiros, S. (2014). Metamorphosis: A collaborative leadership model to promote educational change. International Journal of Progressive Education, 10(1), 73-83. Goude, S., Willis, R., Wolf, J. & Harris, A. (2007). Enhancing IS Education with Flexible Teaching and Learning. Journal of Information Systems Education, 18(3), 297-302. Gunawardena, C. N., & Zittle, F. J. (1997). Social presence as a predictor of satisfaction within a computer-mediated conferencing environment. American journal of distance education, 11(3), 8-26. Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T., & Bond, A. (2020). The difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning. Educause Review, 27. McMillan, D. W., & Chavis, D. M. (1986). Sense of community: A definition and theory. Journal of community psychology, 14(1), 6-23. Mayer, R.E., (1992). Cognition and instruction. Their historic meeting within educational psychology. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84, 405-412 Mayer, R. E. (1992). A series of books in psychology. Thinking, problem solving, cognition (2nd ed.). W H Freeman/Times Books/ Henry Holt & Co. Sidiropoulou, M. (2017). Applying the Aesthetic Experience in Teaching a Greek LA Literature and Language Course in a multicultural environment. Ethos, Vol. 12 (1). Thomas, G., Martin, D., Pleasant, K. (2011). Using self and peer-assessment to enhance students’ future learning in higher education. Journal of University of Teaching & Learning Practice, 8 (1), 5 Wiki(2020).Open learning. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Open_learning Appendices 1. Using Screencast-o-Matic to support Grammar for Greek LA 7 and Youth-To-Youth Program and TedEd for Youth-To-Youth Program 2. Last Phase of Movements of Art in Painting, Student’s Artwork (I.P.)- Greek LA 8 3.Indicative resources to support the Movements of Art in Painting as posted in the Moodle Page, Greek LA 8

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Panhellenic action against school violence and bullying, an event that was organized by “The Smile of the Child” and held at the Greek Ministry of Education. The event was called “Mila Tora” (Speak Now), and it united student voices to spread their own messages and raise public awareness against this phenomenon. According to UNESCO, Plan International suggests that approximately 264 million children and adolescents experience some form of violence or harassment, either verbal or physical, in and around school every year. As this phenomenon is clearly a violation of one of the most fundamental human rights, as the right to education is enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, our students were inspired by Martin Luther King’s speech “I have a dream…”, delivered at the march to Washington in 1963. With their speech, they intended not only to raise awareness but also suggest ways to eradicate discrimination, prejudice, and exclusion and measures to ensure equal treatment and promote inclusion.

The Middle School Honor Code Club At The “Mila Tora” Campaign Organized By “The Smile Of The Child” At The Greek Ministry Of Education by Venie Gaki and Christina Bakoyannis, Middle School Faculty

he Honor Code Club has long been recognized in ACS Athens, and ever since it was founded, its members have been involved in many initiatives. For the past two years, our focus has been on inclusive education and creating a place that everybody calls “home”. On March 6, 2020, the Middle School Honor Code was the delegation from ACS Athens that attended the

Kosmas Drakopoulos, Antonis Nikoletopoulos, Anna Pruess and Themis Soukakou, four of the most active and dedicated members of the ACS Athens Middle School Honor Code Club gave a powerful speech in both English and Greek in order to promote the club’s motto “Students inspiring students to do the right thing.” The Middle School Honor Code Speech, as delivered on March 6, 2020, within the MILA TORA campaign at the Ministry of Education: “We are members of the Honor Code Club from the American Community Schools of Athens Middle School. We believe in helping students build character, learn to work together on a variety of projects, learn to be reliable and to live and promote values such as courtesy, resilience, respect, and concern for others. We work with charity organizations, and we put into action plans and projects to increase the well-being of the students in the ACS Athens middle school, and we have a dream. We dream of a safe and friendly school environment where students can develop positive relationships and feel included. In order to achieve this dream, we have done work to educate ourselves and others about various forms of bullying, cyberbullying, and social exclusion. Last year, we sent out a survey to all the students in MS, we analyzed their answers, and we decided that we will continue to take action. We are planning a middle school volleyball tournament to grow and strengthen a sense of community among the students and remind them that we are all on the same team, and we need to support each other and not bring each other down. We are also going to collaborate with another club in the school to produce a video that will raise awareness of the issue we are here for. Our anti-bullying campaign is called “We’re All on the Same Team,” and we want to make sure everyone understands that there is no reason to hurt others when

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Our ACS students delivering their powerful speech “I have a dream...”

we’re all going through the same things and working for the same goals. According to the International Bullying Prevention Association, “many of our children and young people will experience the most powerful positive childhood experiences at school. Our priorities in schools must be to establish, strengthen, and maintain a sense of safety and a sense of community first. Safe and supportive schools are fertile ground for student learning.” So, we have to find ways this can become a reality in every school. And this is why we strongly support the initiative “MILA TORA”. We have a dream...We want to inspire students who have bullied others to STOP IMMEDIATELY. There are other, better ways to deal with the problems they may be experiencing in their lives, and we want to help them find those better ways and keep their classmates away from harm. Schools are great plac-

“We are all on the same team; united we stand”

es to build and learn to understand relationships, and those relationships make a large impact on the mental health of these people when they become adults. We have a dream…..We believe that when passionate, intelligent, and proactive kids and teens gather together and work to make a difference, things can change. We have a dream….to spread kindness and the message that mutual respect is the key to a healthy teenage and adult life. We have a dream, and it is more than just a dream. It is a plan. A plan that is becoming a reality. “Mila tora….” ■

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The use of Google Meets allows the E.S. counselor to stay connected with students in an effort to continue counseling sessions virtually. The E.S. Counselor can provide live face-to-face brief counseling. In addition, the virtual counseling session allows for student weekly checkins. The Brief Counseling session is scheduled on a planned/agreed day and set time. Some of the challenges experienced thus far have been: Parents are needed to facilitate/initiate the virtual session as a result of the technical issues that may arise. This sometimes adds another task/responsibility on the parent.

Guiding And Supporting Our Students

Finally, I’ve particularly enjoyed our daily student services check-ins with our counseling team. One can easily see the quality of service and guidance our students receive. As a member of this department, I appreciate the discussion/dialogue of the K-12 counseling initiatives that our team delivers. In addition, our plan to attend to our student services team’s well-being is an important initiative. I look forward to hearing how we can support each other as we experience these challenging times of social distancing. Demetri Pelides, Elementary School Counselor

by the Office of Student Affairs

uring the lockdown and the Virtual transition, the Office of Student Affairs continued to function and provide support for both of our students and faculty alike. In particular, our weekly scheduled meetings for all Faculty and Staff with our school Psychologist Mr. Manos Kougioumtzoglou were a big success. Regularly scheduled meetings between students and counselors transitioned fully to the online platform, whether through our Counseling Moodle shell or through a Google Meets session. In the Middle School, we were also able to reinstitute an advisory session within the Middle School virtual schedule. In the Academy, the 4-year academic plans transitioned fully in an online setting, giving the counselors the opportunity to meet with each and every 9th grade student and their family. Some of the highlights from each aspect of the Student Affairs department are listed below:

This past week and a half, the virtual journey for the MS counselor consisted of continuous virtual meetings with administration, teachers, and numerous parents. The students that were on my regularly scheduled week load resumed with weekly virtual sessions. Also started brainstorming on reinstating an advisory session in the middle school virtual schedule with fellow teachers and principal, and finalizing the course selections for the entire 5th grade, including a video presentation sent out to those families. Stelios Kalogridakis, Middle School Counselor

With the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic still raging around the globe, the ACS Athens is implementing work-from-home policies to help stem the spread of the virus and protect not only its faculty and staff but students, their families, and the entire community Working from home might sound comfortable, but it is not an easy “working environment “ for me to adjust. Sometimes I miss the relationship I have developed with my colleagues and the students, a bond that has been a vital component of my daily routine for the past five years. However, I also see it as a challenge for myself as it requires me to be more disciplined and avoid distractions while I’m at home, to manage my time effectively, to take breaks when needed, to think outside the box, and be more creative! A highlight, all the Middle School Clubs were integrated in a website, for virtual meetings! https://sites.google.com/acs.gr/ middle-school-student-life/clubs-activities Theodora Panteli, Student Life Officer

Delivering a synchronous session through the Big Blue Button for the first time was so exciting! Firstly, we set up agreements and then discussed the different types of financial aid offered in the USA and the UK. Students used the chat to respond to questions or to type their comments. Overall, a very positive educational experience! Completing students’ course selection through the Big Blue Button was a great experience! The students were ready and responsible during the Junior Advisory class; they asked important questions that reflected their genuine interest in the learning process. I really enjoyed today’s sessions! Chara Kouppa, Advisory Specialist 11-12

It was a very unique and exciting experience! Students were very engaged and eager to ask questions and be involved in the process. Even though I had the “first time jitters”, this was a wonderful process! A big thank you to our students! Ina Hatziagelides, Academy Guidance Specialist

The virtual experience has thus far has been better than expected for us. It was exciting to learn how to use “google meets” and other online interactive platforms! I am glad that students can feel connected to us, although they are not near us. It was a great experience! It was so nice to be able to connect with our students, even though they are far away. I feel very grateful that we live in a time where we have the necessary tools to be able to educate despite the current circumstances. I think it is actually quite refreshing for both for the kids and for us to have some structure and goals during this time. Helen Seretis, Academy Guidance Specialist

In this day and age, we rely on technology for so many things, so I anticipated the switch to online learning would be somewhat natural with some roadblocks. I was quickly proven correct in my prediction of roadblocks! I started off on the first day with the Big Blue Button, which stopped working and had to think on my feet to find a solution. My solution in the moment was to work with the students through google docs that they had already created, and I could speak with them all individually through chat boxes there. Because the instructions had already been given for this lesson, I could use the chat boxes as a way to guide each of them. This worked, but not because I found a perfect solution. It worked because the students were ready to listen to my next instruction, and they were engaged in the process. I was extremely impressed with how much they wanted to make this experience work and their willingness to make an effort to communicate with me. Looking forward, we are using Google Meet with limited roadblocks and strong participation! Anna Fergione, Academy Advisory Specialist Grades 9-10

y now, quite a few of you, as well as over 30,000 users across the globe, have heard of the app Equity Maps® that promotes student interaction and reflection. But did you know that it was created by David Nelson, the ACS Athens Academy Principal? The basic idea of the app is simple, and it’s based on the classic concept of passing a ball of yarn from speaker to speaker in a group discussion to track how the conversation is flowing. By the end of the discussion, everyone has a visual of how the interaction was taking place. The discussion can then be played back to allow for reflection and further feedback from the group

Technology Is Navigating The Future Of Education How educators utilize technology will be a game-changer for students and society. And this is a game ACS Athens is clearly winning. Introducing Equity Maps® – An Online Tool That Provides A Virtual “Road-Map” Of Group Interaction by Annie Angelides, Assistant to the Dean of Academics

Annie Angelides interviewed David Nelson to find out more about this unique tool. AA: So, what exactly is Equity Maps, and how does it work? DN: “Equity Maps is a tool to help students or adults delve deeper into their dialogue and analyze how they communicate together. It was designed for facilitators, teachers, and instructional coaches. Each student in the app is displayed as an icon. During a group discussion, teachers tap the icon of each new speaker, and a line appears to create a visual representation of the conversation. Teachers can then play back the data to show how the conversation flowed. “When students can see the data and see the lines of communication that happen in a classroom, they can come to their own conclusion about how to improve their discussions.” Mr. Nelson says. Dialogue and collaboration is a skill. It’s not automatic. AA: How did you come up with this idea? DN: “I’ve been teaching for thirty years, but when I first started out, I was Activities Director, and we did a lot with student leadership retreats. Bonding activities were very popular at these retreats, and I remember, in some, we would sit in a large circle and do various communication exercises. One of the most popular activities was to pass around a ball of yarn every time someone had something to say, and then pass it on to the next person in the group who had something to share.

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That vision was so powerful when looking at the metaphor of how they were connected. In the classroom, I did a lot of Socratic seminars, which is a dialogue-based method of class discussion where the students are interacting to go deeper into the particular piece of work that they are studying. They build collaborative skills in the process. Teachers that use Socratic seminars are always looking for different methods to help their students improve. Dialogue and collaboration is a skill. It’s not automatic. So about three years ago, I had the idea of putting together some kind of visual that can give an image, animatedly, of what took place and then use that to improve and reflect on what the students were doing. That’s how Equity Maps was born; as a way of visualizing their interactions so that they could see what happened rather than just think about what had happened”. Equity Maps creates a discussion map and helps students to navigate more effectively. Mr. Hercules Lianos, who teaches American Literature at ACS Athens, regularly uses the app and had this to say: “The data Equity Maps collects provides me with a greater sense of the interaction and understanding in the classroom. What I like most, however, is the awareness it further cultivates in the students. After Socratic seminars, we review the data and engage in a metacognitive analysis of the discussion. Students are in control, focused, and conscientious of other participants, creating an etiquette of dialogue as a means to deeper understanding.” When you invite students to speak equitably, you get more creative ideas; you have a greater feeling of community and a longer-term commitment. Equity Maps is not intended to provide evaluative data but to provide information on how the group collaborated in a specific exercise. By playing back for students how they interacted in a group project and for how long, they, as well as the educator, can effectively assess what worked and didn’t work, and how equitable their discussion was in the group discussion. “I believe that when you put the right group of people together with diverse abilities and interests, and when you invite them to speak equitably, then you widen your range of possible benefits. This kind of communication yields more creative ideas, a great-

er feeling of community, and a longer-term commitment. That is what motivated me – to help move that process forward,” says Mr. Nelson. When the group then has the capability of reviewing and assessing on the “how” and not the “what” of their interaction with each other, it allows them to be more open to receiving and providing feedback in a non-judgmemental environment – and that is the essence of effective communication. ■

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greatly affect their abilities to learn. Our job was to quickly transition to a virtual system of learning while consciously developing ways to maintain vibrant and engaged classroom communities. We knew that such an online program needed to be built upon support, trust, predictability, routine, and teaching methodologies that engage students with each other and their learning in all content areas. At the time we did not know how long the closures would last, but we did know that the sooner we could make ACS Virtual feel “normal” for students, aka predictable, that stressors would decrease and fight or flight cortisone levels would fall, allowing students to learn more effectively. The careful planning that followed not only helped students to settle in with their learning and increase retention, but also allowed teachers to adapt and innovate learning experiences, while being as fully present as possible for their students.

Flattening The Curve Of Disruption “When Everyone Else In Athens Stopped Learning, We Started Again... In A Different Way!” by David Nelson, Academy Principal

hen schools closed across Greece during the first week of March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ACS Athens Academy students missed only one day of instruction before we reopened school online with ACS Virtual. Parents and students received an email from me that ended with what would become my tagline, “When everyone else in Athens stopped learning, we started again... in a different way!” For our students, we knew that doing things differently in the “classroom”, especially within the context of such immense disruption, would be accompanied by tremendous stress, anxiety, and even grief that might

Unprecedentedly, the global pandemic disrupted the world and brought a new scale of uncertainty and unpredictability to our lives. I’ve used the illustration below throughout the experience to describe that disruption from an individual school perspective. While epidemiologists devise ways to flatten the curve of viral transmission, educators think of how to “flatten” the disruptions in students’ minds so that they can focus on their learning. In the ACS Athens Academy, the virtual learning structures and learning support did just that.

The “new normal” has also brought new ways of thinking into our everyday lives that have so quickly become mainstream that they have even replaced the way we think about connecting, communicating, and learning with others. “Let’s zoom later.”, “...sent you a Meet invite”, “Are you interested in this webinar?”, or for ACS Athens students, “See you on BBB!”, have become so ubiquitous that few pause to wonder, and most feel at ease with such invites. What we continue to see is that as things become more predictable, students are able to focus on their learning, and teachers are even more equipped to guide them with doing so. I recently attended a webinar conducted by the National School Reform Faculty out of Bloomington, Indiana, featuring Psychologist and author David Gleason, also a long time friend and supporter of ACS Athens. “Live in fragments no longer, only connect”,

was his theme and access point to confirm for educators the crucial role they play in students’ lives. In his book, At What Cost?: Defending Adolescent Development in Fiercely Competitive Schools, Dr. Gleason (2017) reveals the impact of “hyperschooling” related to university admissions and other stressors that affect adolescent development. In the webinar, Dr. Gleason applies his research to examine the impacts of pivoting to an online learning environment and emphasizes the power of creating communities of connection and of establishing routines that allow for predictability and flexibility (D. Gleason PhD. & Mattoon, 2020). As he presented, so much of what he shared helped to explain the research behind the successes that so many of our students and teachers experienced with ACS Virtual. I’d like to share a few take-aways and connections with you to describe how we pivoted so quickly into the online learning environment and what allowed so many students to focus on their learning. 1. Structures of blended learning developed through i²flex were already normal. The ACS Athens Academy has had a rich history of blending learning, which is highlighted continually in this issue of Ethos and long before (Avgerinou & Gialamas, 2016). Our faculty is well versed at designing their lessons to maximize interaction among students and between the teacher and students, not only in the classroom but also online through the Moodle platform. Independent learning is guided, both in and out of the classroom, and students are constantly encouraged to learn from each other as they analyze, design, or create. 2. Professional development with a long history of collaboration among faculty. As soon as international schools in Asia began to close in January 2020, we were already building on years of tradition with online learning and of the newly created ACS Virtual Classes that had been released in September of 2019. Not only did faculty collaborate with colleagues who had already been teaching in online classes, but they also applied ways to improve the blended learning model of i2flex to maximize interactivity and engagement, which had been our focus one year earlier. In other words, our faculty had already been digging deep into the methodologies and thinking about the possibilities. When we introduced online facilitation tools like the Big Blue Button and Google Meet, already integrated into our learning management systems, our faculty were prepared to pivot and were able to guide the students along the way. Additionally, our tech support team was on call with scheduled PD sessions, as well as constant support, to assist teachers and students as they adjusted.

3. Focus on finding the optimal blend of synchronous and asynchronous learning. While many schools simply took their face-to-face schedules and replicated them online, we knew that virtual learning can not be effectively implemented by thinking the same way (Horn & Staker, 2014). We also know that the bulk of learning is not defined only by what teachers say in the classroom, but rather by the learning structures they design to maximize engagement, among their students and between their students and the curriculum content . As an ACS Athens Principals Council, we established a schedule from the start of lockdown that sought to create a careful blend of synchronous and asynchronous learning, not full of worksheets and packets, but enriched with opportunities for students to interact through discussion forums in Moodle, group projects facilitated through Google tools, video discussions through Flipgrid, or content discussion with Voicethread, to name a few. We knew that learning is made more powerful with the right blend.

Figure 1: ACS Athens Academy Virtual Schedule Phase I

4. Schedules provided consistency and flexibility for faculty. The online learning schedules that we first created began with ten hours of synchronous sessions a week, along with ten optional additional hours for faculty to meet synchronously with their students. The afternoons were dedicated to asynchronous work, through which faculty-guided students or met individually with them during the online office hours. The online schedule began at 9:00 am with two synchronous sessions and a 20-minute break to allow students time to move away from the screen. The optional sessions in the afternoon allowed teachers to schedule sync sessions according to their needs while guaranteeing students that they would not have conflicts - seemingly small proactive measures that have huge gains because there is less stress. Monitoring on a daily basis through surveys and classroom “virtual” visits, we realized that in the

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first three weeks of ACS Virtual, Academy teachers had offered 239 additional synchronous sessions for their students. By monitoring and adjusting our schedule, according to real needs of teachers and students based on the pacing of their curriculum, we shifted to the Phase II schedule (see Figure 1). We added an hour a day of mandatory synchronous learning, along with the maintenance of flexible time, key to specific content areas such as Math and Modern Languages. Naturally, asynchronous learning never stopped; only its scope was adjusted. The schedule that we created helped make learning more meaningful and predictable for students, also lowering their stress. The following graph (see graph 1) represents total absences during the first weeks of ACS Athens Virtual in the Academy, an even smaller percentage of absences than normally experienced when we were face-to-face. When I informally polled parents during one of the principal’s coffees, over 50% present said that they did not need to wake their child/ren up to attend the online classes. In other words, as the data shows, the schedule and the virtual designs in the classrooms were predictable, engaging, and quickly established a routine for students.

Graph 1: ACS Athens Academy Virtual Absences March 10 May 8, 2020 Absences are students who did not attend the scheduled synchronous sessions

5. Goals for learning were at a high standard with high expectations. Needless to say, at the beginning, we didn’t always get the right balance of work and challenge for all students, but teachers and administrators alike always monitored and adjusted to find the best balance. By carefully gaining feedback and analyzing formative assessments of student learning, we adjusted accordingly to find the right balance of academic rigor and care. From the beginning, we emphasized the need to focus on quality learning designs that promote student engagement and interactivity, defined as the following: ◉ Learning activities foster teacher-student, con-

tent-student, and student-student interaction in both synchronous and asynchronous learning. ◉ Interactivity exists when students are actively engaged with other students, the teacher, or with content in an authentic learning task. ◉ Interactivity means that students are at the center of learning, given a wide range of opportunities for inquiry and higher levels of thinking. When students are invited to ask questions about key concepts or skills and interact virtually with their peers, students drive their own understanding and seek to create deeper meaning. 6. Students’ well-being and partnerships with families were key. Perhaps the most important element of ACS Athens Virtual was the united effort to keep students and their well being at the center of focus and our first priority. Our citizenship office, counselors, and school psychologist were in constant contact with students and families to find ways to discover and support the changing needs of the students. Teachers intentionally strove to maintain a sense of community in the virtual classrooms, and constantly reached out to students to provide support. We know that without a sense of psychological safety, students can’t learn effectively - this is our highest priority (Clark, 2020). As a school we extended the 3rd quarter to reduce the stress of arbitrary deadlines for learning and assignments, we eliminated exams that weighed heavily at 20% of a student’s grade and replaced them with quarter assessments, often performance based or project based assessments, that allowed students to apply what they learned. Finally, we met regularly with parents to learn more and communicate clearly, so that we could all be on the same page in support of our students. There is one thing that I am certain of: I know that the experience of the past months will not be forgotten by our students, and I am confident that they will carry with them greater resilience, a stronger sense of independence, and a broader appreciation for collaboration in their learning. By helping to flatten the disruption curve for our students, I know that they have a newfound sense of time management and self-advocacy, as principled, caring, and reflective students of the world. I thank the ACS Academy faculty and staff for making the transition possible and extend my gratitude to the parents of our community for trusting us throughout the process to find the best ways to support their stu-

dents’ learning. Without a doubt, John Dewey’s words ring true for all of us, “We do not learn from experience... we learn from reflecting on experience”.

References Avgerinou, M. D., & Gialamas, S. (Eds.). (2016). Revolutionizing K-12 blended learning through the i2flex classroom model. Information Science Reference. Clark, T. R. (2020). The 4 stages of psychological safety: Defining the path to inclusion and innovation (First edition). Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. Gleason, D. L. (2017). At what cost?: Defending adolescent development in fiercely competitive schools. Gleason, D., PhD. (2020, April 15). Health & student support services: A message from David Gleason. Concord Academy. https://concordacademy.org/health-student-support-services-a-message-from-david-gleason/ Gleason, D., PhD., & Mattoon, M. (2020, April 24). National School Reform Faculty webinar: Live in fragments no longer, only connect. https://nsrfharmony.org/ Horn, M. B., & Staker, H. (2014). Blended: Using disruptive innovation to improve schools (1st ed.) [Electronic resource]. Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Brand. http://catalogimages.wiley.com/ images/db/jimages/9781118955154.jpg ■

Testing The Flexible In I²Flex And Combo Studies by Hercules Lianos, Academy English Faculty

Monty Python’s Terry Jones, Michael Pallin, and Terry Gillian

n a Monty Python sketch, Michael Pallin, Terry Jones, and Terry Gillian burst into a room set in an English industrial town dressed as medieval cardinals. They shout in shrill voices, “nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!” to the surprise of an unsuspecting mill worker (Graham Chapman) and lady (Carol Cleveland). Michael Pallin then begins to list their car-

dinal weapons: “fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, fanatical devotion to the Pope, nice red uniforms.”

1. Very Uncomfortable to 5. Very comfortable

If you are not familiar with the sketch, I apologize for what may have been confusing to you. I would say, however, that the first three of the cardinal weapons apply to the Covid-19 pandemic as well. It surprised everyone, spread fear, and is ruthlessly efficient though as far I know it has no relation whatsoever to the Pope. Nobody expected Covid-19 in September, and we as educators were forced to adapt to a new landscape. Every aspect of the i2Flex approach was tested, as were the goals of interdisciplinary teaching and learning. Testing Flexibility However, administration, IT, faculty, and our students were, in large part, prepared. For years now, ACS has focused on a blended learning approach through its i2Flex methodology. There has been consistent reflection and revision of teaching strategies for guided and independent student education. Our emphasis on face to face and independent inquiry learning was transferable to the synchronous and asynchronous lessons that schools worldwide grappled with. We had practical experience in what is needed to make blended learning meaningful. But let’s not kid ourselves. The transition was abrupt, and it was absolute. There was exhaustion, there was anxiety, and there was frustration. There was also perseverance and wisdom gained. The transition was abrupt, and it was absolute. There was exhaustion, there was anxiety, and there was frustration. There was also perseverance and wisdom gained. Flexible, independent, and inquiry-based learning is cultivated in students from the day they begin their educational journey at our school. Two weeks into “lockdown,” high school principal Dave Nelson wanted to take the pulse of the academy student body. In a survey he administered of 160 high school respondents in April, 81.2 % stated that they felt very comfortable around technology. Of those students, 58% felt quite comfortable transitioning into an online environment, while 18.2% felt uncomfortable. There is, of course, more than one way to skin a statistic. During professional development, the group I was in wondered if willing respondents reflect trends that would be found in those who didn’t respond to the survey. Be that as it may, this is still a strong indication that our student body was well poised to navigate virtual waters. Our student body is well poised to navigate virtual waters

During campus closure face to face teaching hours decreased. This meant that students devoted more time to independent study, and faculty spent an impressive amount of time adapting content and delivery to invigorated demands of synchronous and asynchronous remote learning and assessment. Together with my Combo Studies partners, Marla Coklas and Leo Gontzes, I reflected on the process after each lesson. We noticed, broadly speaking, that some students more easily adapted to remote learning than others. Some students even felt more comfortable participating in discussions through the chat than when in a physical classroom. They became more “vocal” through their keyboards. What to do, though with those who are less motivated, have less developed time management skills, and are experiencing “Covid-19 closure” anxiety? In that same survey, 30% of the students did not feel confident about their motivation levels, 26.9% about their time management skills, and 39.4% felt anxious about school closure. Addressing this set of statistics was perhaps the greatest challenge faculty faced during the Covid-19 phases. When sharing a physical space, an educator has an immediate understanding of engagement. The classroom is conducive to individualized support. Modeling learning, socialization, and utilizing physical proximity to instill motivation transpires more seamlessly in a physical setting.

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Covid-19 and Combo As “Combo teachers,” we set preserving the tenets of Interdisciplinary team teaching (ITT) as a priority. Integrating disciplines, understanding equality of partner roles, and sharing a vision are all elements that are required and cultivated throughout such a partnership. Jan Karvouniaris, whose dedication to interdisciplinary teaching is tireless, defines it as “the breakdown of artificial barriers between disciplines resulting in a richer curriculum.” As such, students do not view subject matter through a single lens, but rather through a kaleidoscope. A common theme is the lens, and critical skills are the tools, through which students view each discipline. All of this necessitates constant communication between teaching partners. During campus closure, common planning time shifted from primarily physically sitting together as a team during a planning block to virtual meetings, phone calls, and file sharing. A goal behind any course should be to more deeply engage students by creating relevance between what they have been examining and their lives in the world today. It is relevant what Combo classes inherently focus on. What we aim for is a constructivist approach to learning where students draw from prior knowledge to solve current or novel problems. Is history doomed to repeat itself? To what extent is literature a product of its social, historical, and geographic context? These are perennial questions. One thing is for sure, though, their relevance is timeless. This became absolutely clear during campus closure and a “Covid world”.

Faculty became quite savvy, or rather savvier, with various platforms like Big Blue Button, Moodle apps and other tech tools - shout out to the IT team for all the support. This technology was utilized to meet educational goals by delivering content and providing a means for interactivity. Students may be digital natives; this, however, does not mean they necessarily are adept at educational tech demands. A large portion of the time faculty spent was on guiding students either during virtual office hours, synchronous lessons, or responding to individual emails throughout the day and night. We must remember that all of this existed in the greater context of a “Covid-19 world” and all that entails. Teachers were modeling, furbishing, and refurbishing their virtual classrooms. Accommodating the needs of all students in this new setting was and is an ongoing process. How does one achieve a constant gauge of involvement of all those pixelated usernames? This has been our challenge. The classroom is conducive to individualized support. Modeling learning, utilizing physical proximity, and instilling motivation transpire more seamlessly in a physical setting.

Students concluded their study of the Cold War and The Crucible by Arthur Miller shortly after campus doors shut. The themes of fear, paranoia, and mass hysteria, as expressed during this historical period and in Miller’s work, were discussed. These elements were clearly visible in today’s world to students.

As the Cold War Unit came to a close, we began the study of the Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights, the Vietnam War, and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Students examined common characteristics of dystopian (or speculative ) fiction and its purposes. Generally set in an imagined future, their authors filter through what is very real in the world today to spin a cautionary tale. Essential questions asked (thank you, Elizabeth Ktorides) were what role does

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the individual play in the function of a society? What role does a community or government have for the individual? What are the responsibilities of each during times like these? What role does a community or government have for the individual? What are the responsibilities of each during times like these? In his Financial Times piece, “The World After Coronavirus,” Yuval Noah Harari warns that in times of crisis, freedoms are necessarily limited for the sake of the greater community, but do they stay limited when the crisis is gone? Offred, the narrator in The Handmaid’s Tale, reflects on how Gilead came to be when she muses, “nothing changes instantaneously: in a gradually heating bathtub you’d be boiled to death before you knew it.” However, in response to the question, “are we living in a dystopian society?”, Atwood responds with an emphatic “no.” She asserts that it is a crisis and that it requires concerted mobilization. Students drew parallels between the emotional, civil, and political reactions to the spread of Covid-19. We again reflected on what the collective responsibilities are. We looked at news pieces and discussed possible parallels between history, literature, and the world today.

We examined why the Harlem Renaissance helped to redefine how Americans and the world understood African American culture and how it set the stage for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s. We also came to the realization that the struggle for a just and free society is an ongoing one. In his 1951 poem, “Harlem” Langston Hughes ponders what “happens to a dream deferred”.

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a soreAnd then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar overlike a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode? Weeks after its initial study we revisited the last line, “Or does it explode?”. We reflected on it following the protests that transpired after police officer Derek Chauvin was recorded killing a subdued George Floyd. We asked the class if their understanding of the poem changed in any way. We discussed what ways citizens mobilize to affect change and to what extent they are effective or justified. We again studied media representations and statistics.

Offred argues that change is gradual, but often it can be abrupt, as was the case in March 2020. The question is if, and how quickly, you can adapt without sacrificing core values, how flexible you can be. As educators, this is what we wrestle with. We were all tested during the pandemic and will continue to be. Eventually, we will flatten the Covid-19 curve. But as educators and eternal students, we will never flatten the learning curve. If we do, we’ve stopped trying. ■

cussion, either for the troll’s amusement or a specific gain. (Wikipedia) The Internet, under any circumstances, is a seemingly limitless trove of information for the curious, lifelong learner, but…caution, critical thinking must be amply applied! I have always believed that effective teachers see themselves as both teachers and learners, and that lifelong learning is a habit of mind developed where there is a predisposition and a growth mindset. When I retired from ACS Athens nearly five years ago, I continued to work with colleagues on Professional Development and Curriculum Development initiatives in areas where my experience and expertise could perhaps be of benefit. I have also stayed in contact with many former colleagues and students around the world through social media, pursued other areas of interest, read widely, and certainly become more proficient with the use of digital tools. My long career as a member of the vibrant ACS Athens learning community and the habits of mind I cultivated ensured that even in retirement, my own education was far from over!

A Community Of Lifelong Learners by Janet Karvouniaris, Social Studies Alumna Faculty

Dedicated to Steve Medeiros, an educator of unique intelligence, character, and leadership

recently came across this question on ResearchGate, a platform for researchers to post their work, posit questions and respond to fellow researchers: “Caveat lector (Warning to reader): How do we distinguish “trolling” from critical thinking with the Socratic Method?” (Joseph Tham starting a discussion in Deliberation, June 2, 2020) I found this juxtaposition of trolling with the Socratic Method intriguing - the contemporary with the classic! And the role of critical thinking in connection with the former and the latter was very compelling. I am much more familiar with the Socratic Method than I am with the concept of “trolling”, so my first reflex was “Google it” and here is what I found: In internet slang, a troll is a person who starts flame wars or upsets people on the Internet by posting inflammatory and digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses and normalizing tangential dis-

When the Covid 19 pandemic forced school closings and ACS Athens had to make the transition to distance learning, I was not surprised, but impressed at how seamlessly the transition appeared to be. Not surprised, because the groundwork had been laid over a decade ago when the Humanities team designed and offered the very first blended course (2008), an online Humanities class with a 10-day Face to Face field study component, which served as a model for subsequent courses. By 2011 there were three online Humanities courses, each with a different interdisciplinary theme, making the Humanities interdisciplinary study experience available to a wider audience while maintaining the necessary F2F interaction among students and between students and teachers. We were able to begin a partnership with the Chapin School in New York. With the introduction of the i²Flex paradigm under the expert guidance of Dr. Avgerinou, blended instructional design with online components that met international standards (QM©) became the norm. The emphasis on flexibility, student-centered guided instruction, and the use of a multitude of digital tools certainly prepared teachers and students alike to move toward the Virtual School. Moreover, constructivist educators willing to invest substantial time, take the calculated risks, and commit to an ongoing process of research and reflection in order to improve student learning were uniquely suited to facilitate a smooth transition. The history of education in the digital age at ACS is one built on a tradition of creating unique programs tailored to a diverse student population, taking full advantage of the school’s location in Europe. So when the need arose for a holistic approach embracing academic, social, and emotional needs of individuals during a very stressful time, ACS was well-positioned

to fill the need. I am certain that, while this was exhilarating and rewarding, it has also been extremely stressful and exhausting for all involved! The recent “Stay at Home” period due to the Covid 19 pandemic provided many opportunities, as well as challenges, for me. I found a complex of thoughts and feelings surface as my family navigated, seemingly blindfolded through new territory. By far, the most pervasive feeling was one of gratitude for many things I used to take for granted; health, food security, running water, family, and the comforts of home. Reflecting back on that period, I also realize that I was never bored because I was discovering new areas of interest and developing new practices. Thanks to technology, I was not isolated from my retired colleagues and friends at ACS Athens, and they continued to influence me toward further learning. I started a Qigong practice, completed a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle depicting Renoir’s Dancing at the Moulin de La Galette (a painting I love from teaching Humanities all those years), and signed up for an online course called, Tangible Things: Discovering History Through Artworks, Artifacts, Scientific Specimens, and the Stuff Around You (EdX/ Harvard). I hadn’t taken an online course since I did the requisite training to teach TOK but this seemed perfect for me! The course was self-paced and I opted out of the certificate so…no pressure. I quickly recognized that the opportunities and limitations of conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic would change the way I approached the course. I would like to share with the ACS Community of Lifelong Learners the way I addressed the final project for the course: “Your final assignment is to develop an original interpretation of a physical object of your own choice. Your interpretation can be presented through writing, making another object, or helping to design and create an exhibit. Regardless of the form it takes, your project should demonstrate an ability to look closely, connect broadly, and think critically.” Due to the limitations of the “lockdown”, I chose to present by writing about an object I had at home – no access to museums or libraries! The result is Pythagoras Cup and the Greek Mind.

Pythagoras’ Cup and the Greek Mind By Janet Karvouniaris It is May 11, 2020, in Athens, the first day of opening public services, shops, and some schools, and the beginning of unrestricted movement since early March when measures were enacted to prevent the spread of Covid 19 and “flatten the curve”. (Greece has done a good job of keeping the pandemic at bay, although 151 people have died to date.) Museums, libraries, and archaeological sites are still closed, which limited my choice of a “tangible thing” for this investigation and meant that I would have to use my own library and digital tools for research. Consequently, I chose a museum replica of Pythagora’s cup that I had purchased from the museum shop in the Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology. This small, rich interactive museum contains exhibits from a whole range of technology including: The automatic theaters of ancient Greece, clocks, mythical automatics of ancient Greece, the inventions of Archimedes, elevating mechanisms, hydraulic technology, measuring instruments, telecommunications, astronomical measuring tools, siege, textile, agricultural and medical technologies, flight machines, sport and nautical technologies, toys and musical instruments, geometric kinetic mechanisms of ancient Greece, and the automatic servant of Philon-the first operating robot known to humans! The museum collection represents a unique feature of ancient Greek civilization which is what HDF Kitto called, “a sense of wholeness of things.” Unlike the modern mind, which tends to divide, specialize and think in categories, the Greek instinct was the opposite, to take a wide view and see things as an organic whole (Kitto, p. 169). The Greeks have an untranslatable word, ‘sophrosyne’ (Σωφροσύνη) which expresses this unity of the intellectual and moral virtues. We might think of sophrosyne today as a sound, open mind and excellence of character, which leads to other virtuous qualities such as; self-control, prudence, decorum, and the ability to think critically outside of the boundaries of specific disciplines. Many of the well-known Greeks of the ancient world were many things at once, what would later be described as “Renaissance men”, and today as “well-rounded individuals”. Solon, for example, was a political and economic reformer, businessman and poet. Pythagoras was a philosopher, mathematician, and inventor who developed theories of mathematics and music, nature and the universe- BIG, BROAD

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ideas! He is on Plato’s side with the abstract, philosophical thinkers, and poets in Raphael’s fresco, The School of Athens (created in 1510, Vatican Library, Rome).

“On either side of Plato or Aristotle are the main thinkers of the classical world. The philosophers, poets, and abstract thinkers are allied on Plato’s side. The physical scientists and more empirical thinkers are on the side of Aristotle. Only a few of the ancient thinkers in the School of Athens can be identified definitely. One of whom is one of Plato’s masters, the Greek mathematician Pythagoras. Here he is demonstrating his theory that ultimate reality consists of numbers and harmonic ratios.”

students from primary grades through university who explained/demonstrated their own inventions, performed, and hosted exhibits of their work connecting a variety of disciplines. Visitors could browse, stop, and talk with the students and even make things of their own. A small group of middle school girls from a Greek public school were demonstrating the scientific principles behind Pythagora’s cup and showing interested visitors how to make their own from a plastic cup and a straw. Their enthusiasm for their “work” was remarkable and hooked me into spending more time than I expected with them. I had never seen this object in a museum (only a demonstration of the “tricky” siphon principle) and I have been to MANY museums in Greece, but since Pythagoras (ca.570-ca. 490 BCE) was from Samos, these cups can be found in the museum there. They can also be found at the “mother of all souvenir shops” near Monastiraki Square, I discovered. They come in a variety of colors and styles but are always the same simple *krater shape and make great gifts for friends who are interested in wine, ancient Greek art and history, and, of course, STEM education. Now, with this project, I had an opportunity to take a closer look at this object and delve deeper into its significance. What does it look like? This particular cup is handmade of clay, and the decoration is close to the **white ground style that was popular at the end of the 6th C. BC. It is about five inches tall from foot to rim. The colors used are black and rust on an off-white background. I noticed (and one can see in the photo), these three colors are combined in different ways to give the impression of more variation. Pythagoras holding a scroll is depicted on one side with his name above and an olive branch (?), and the other side has a stylized palmetto design. By doing a small sketch, I was able to observe details that I hadn’t seen just by looking at and handling the cup. Two different views of my Pythagoras cup (my sketchleft, my photo-right)

In my view, Pythagoras’ ingenious wine cup represents this unity of the ancient Greek mind. From careful study of this artifact, we can glean much about the “wholeness of things” in ancient Greece, as we are guided by The scientific principle behind the “trick”, the moral lesson he intended his students to learn about moderation - Παν μέτρον άριστον- the beautiful melding of form and function, and the aesthetics of a handmade, practical object meant for daily use. My first encounter with Pythagora’s cup was about 18 months ago when I attended a STEM Fair at the Technopolis venue in Athens, which is the former gasworks plant of Athens, established in 1857 to light the city of Athens. It is now a major cultural center for all types of artistic, scientific, and cultural events. The fair was wonderful and surprising in many ways-there were

Cultural Context Now, I was curious to find out how this tangible thing was known outside of Greece, so I did a Google search in English and was a little surprised at the top results: “Fair cup”, “Greedy cup”, “souvenir of Samos”, “practical joke”, “trick cup”, “disappearing water trick”, “where to buy”, 3 D

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print, but nothing about Pythagoras, except on Amazon: “Tradition says Pythagoras, during water supply works in Samos around 530 BC moderated the workers’ wine drinking by inventing the ‘fair cup’. When the wine surpasses the line, the cup totally empties, so the greedy one is punished.” A Google search in Greek yielded somewhat different results: “How it works”, “what it is”, “punishment for hubris”, “the ‘smart’ cup”, “the ‘just’ cup”, “make one yourself ” (instructions), “where to buy”, “Samos souvenir”. The results in Greek gave much more historical and scientific information about Pythagoras’ cup and focused more on the ingenuity of the design to teach a moral lesson. These differences in the cultural contexts were remarkable. Greek is a much more specific language than English and has many words that can only be translated into English by way of explanation. “Hubris” is one of them. It has a number of different explanations, depending on the context, including excessive pride, failing to recognize human fallibility and wanton wickedness, but one thing is for sure in the Greek tragedies, it is always punished. Pythagoras’ cup was designed to punish hubris and particularly, “pleonexia” (Πλεονεξία)-trying to get more than your share, which was considered an intellectual and moral error, a defiance of the laws of the universe. (Kitto p. 171) How does it work? At The Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology, there is a demonstration of the principle that causes “magic” to happen when too much liquid is poured into the cup. “It was an ingenious wine cup that had a line which determined the limit of fulfillment and an axial or curved siphon. When one filled it excessively, the level of liquid covered the siphon and emptied automatically. It is considered an invention of Pythagoras (6th C BC) who wanted to teach his students the necessity of [applying] moderation in our lives. It is also called the cup of justice because it reflects the basic principles of justice (vituperation and vengeance). When the limit was exceeded (vituperation) lost was not only that which exceeded the limit but also that which had been acquired up to then.”

The humanistic outlook of the ancient Greeks “urged human beings to develop physical, intellectual, and moral capacities to the fullest, to shape themselves according to the highest standards, and to make their lives as harmonious as a flawless work of art. Such

an aspiration required intelligence and self-mastery.” (Perry, p. 55) From the outside, it looks like any other cup, but, as this cross-section reveals, it was designed to teach Pythagoras’ students lessons beyond the formal lessons of mathematics and philosophy: The ethical lessons of moderation in all things and justice. If a student poured himself more wine than his mates, he would be punished by losing all the wine, and probably be humiliated at being found out! Drinking in moderation was a virtue but there were higher principles to be taught, as well. Reflection The process of looking closely was not a particularly new experience for me, but doing the sketch changed my interaction with the object. I began to think more about form and function and the artistic process of creating pottery. I launched my research with Google searches in two languages out of pure curiosity. Examining the cup in two cultural/language contexts led to surprising discoveries and guided me toward further sources across a number of disciplines. The first connections I made were within the obvious context of history. As new questions arose, however, I connected the object to hydraulics (technology), language, visual art, philosophy/ethics and economics. Reviewing my research notes/visuals and thinking critically helped me construct new knowledge and develop my thesis: Pythagoras’ cup represents much more than an ingenious, functional drinking vessel, it embodies the “wholeness of things” that was characteristic of the ancient Greek mind. Throughout this investigation, the writing process was the way I recorded my evolving thinking and kept track of my research. (I kept a digital file, as well.) Handwriting notes has been proved in many studies to create deeper learning than typing on a keyboard. Teachers know this! Writing was an essential tool in each stage of the process Observe Closely, Connect Broadly, Think Critically. Finally, the exploration of this “tangible thing” has reinforced how much the constructivist approach to learning has become a habit of the mind after my years of teaching Humanities. Notes: *A Basic Guide to Greek pottery shapes

Krater “Krater comes from a word meaning “mix”. Kraters were used for mixing wine with water. The Greeks thought it uncivilized to drink their wine neat, so these large bowls were used to mix wine with

water. Kraters were used at drinking parties called symposia, where men would talk and enjoy the company of male friends, whilst their wives were prevented from taking part.” **White ground technique “The white-ground technique was developed at the end of the 6th century BC. Unlike the better-known black-figure and red-figure techniques, its coloration was not achieved through the application and firing of slips but through the use of paints and gilding on a surface of white clay. It allowed for a higher level of polychromy than the other techniques, although the vases end up less visually striking.” Wikipedia Sources Cited Kitto, HDF. The Greeks. Penguin Books, 1951. Perry, Marvin. Sources of the Western Tradition, Vol 1. Wadsworth, Boston, USA, 2014. https://thegeorgegarden.blogspot.com/2018/10/raphael-school-of-athens-labeled.html Accessed May 3, 2020. https://www.artble.com/artists/raphael/paintings/school_of_ athens Accessed May 9, 2020 http://kotsanas.com/gb/exh.php?exhibit=2201006 Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology Accessed May 5, 2020 https://www.polytroponart.gr/greek-pottery-shapes/ cessed May 3, 2020

Ac-

https://www.ancient.eu/Pythagoras/ Accessed May 7, 2020 https://www.zmescience.com/science/physics/the-pythagorean-greedy-cup-423545/ Accessed May 5, 2020 My sketch and my photo of the Pythagoras cup ■

Asynchronous Teaching & Learning, Active Student Engagement, And Student-Teacher Collaboration In Ib English A: Literature Yr. 1 by Dr. Evangelos Syropoulos Academy, English Faculty

ne of the biggest challenges all IB teachers face is the enormous syllabus they have to cover in three semesters. Taking also into consideration that teachers could not exclusively focus on content but should also help students develop various skills as well as prepare them for many external and internal assessments, teaching an IB course looks like a Herculean task. To continue with the allusions to ancient Greek culture, the aim of this article is to show how a bit of Odysseus’ cunning and ingenuity in the form of asynchronous teaching/ learning may make this task far easier and less intimidating than it origi-

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nally appears to be. To do so, I shall present how I incorporated asynchronous components in IB English A: Literature Yr. 1 that enabled me to run two classes concurrently: a traditional F2F class combined with an online asynchronous one during the first semester of the 2019-2020 academic year; and two online classes, a synchronous and asynchronous one, during the second semester, after the closing of the schools due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I shall also show how the use of online asynchronous activities during the first semester smoothened the transition to an exclusively online learning environment both for my students and me in the second semester. Challenges of the New IB English A: Literature Course The structure of the new IB English A: Literature course necessitates that students are exposed to as many literary texts as possible in the first year of their studies. According to the new syllabus, they should freely choose which texts they are going to use for their official oral and written assessments. Taking into consideration that they should start preparing for these assessments at the beginning of the second year, students should have as many options as possible by the end of the first year. For this reason, I decided that they should study in-depth at least eight out of the 13 texts (11 at Standard Level) in the first year. At the same time, they should also acquire almost college-level thinking, oral, and writing skills, master both the contextual, theoretically-informed method of literary analysis and the sophisticated, detailed close reading of a text, while being introduced to three out of four official assessments: the Individual Oral, Paper 2, and the Higher Level Essay. Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic Syllabus Design Even before I started exploring the potential of online asynchronous teaching/ learning, I decided that I should reconceive the design of the new syllabus to accommodate the new needs of our students. To use terminology borrowed from structural linguistics, the design logic used to create the syllabus of this course is usually a paradigmatic, vertical one. In each unit, teachers include literary texts from different historical eras and literary periods, encouraging students to explore thematic similarities between them. This approach can be particularly time-consuming, especially if it is applied not just to a unit but to the course in its entirety because several teaching hours should be spent in discussing radically different historical and cultural contexts. Moreover, the occasional back and forth movement between historical eras and literary periods can be confusing for students, preventing them from grasping how literary forms develop throughout the years – for example, how we move from literary realism to modernism and postmodernism. Since generic transformation was one of the prescribed organizing concepts of the new IB English A: Literature syllabus, I decided to combine the paradigmatic approach with a syntagmatic, linear one, enabling me to group literary texts from roughly similar periods within a unit and progressively trace the development of literary forms either from unit to unit or even within a unit. So, instead of structuring units around different

themes, I chose an overarching theme for the whole course: the rise of individualism and its effect on literary writing. It is obvious that this theme already contains a diachronic, progressively historical dimension, allowing me to trace generic transformation and development from the ancient times to the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, modernity, and postmodernity. So in the first semester, students would be exposed to radically different forms of individuality in ancient Greece and the English Renaissance through the study of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, while additionally reading two classics from the Italian and French Renaissance: Machiavelli’s The Prince and Montaigne’s Essays, that also happen to be two of Hamlet’s most prominent intertexts and Shakespeare’s major influences while writing his play. In the second semester, students would study how post-Enlightenment middle-class individualism gives rise to the realist novel (Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey) and realist drama (Henrik Ibsen’s The Wild Duck) and is subverted in the modernist novel (Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Virginia Woolf ’s To the Lighthouse). Year two would focus on modernism’s division between high and mass culture (Robert Frost’s poetry, Joni Mitchell’s lyrics, Annie Dillard’s essays), the overcoming of this division in postmodern culture (Maya Angelou’s poetry and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton) as well as on how the existence or the subversion of this division determines the identity of both the author and the reader/ audience. Previous Experience with Blended and Online Asynchronous Teaching/ Learning Although I had hoped that the above design logic would enable me to teach several texts at the same time and, thus, save some time, in the first month of teaching, I realized that more time was needed to help students develop their thinking, writing, and oral skills. This was when I started exploring the idea of asynchronous teaching/ learning. Although I had already used i2Flex activities (mostly forums) in the teaching of IB English A: Literature in the past, my attitude to the use of blended teaching/ learning radically changed after the training I received for online course design and the actual design of an English Literature course for ACS Athens Virtual in the summer of 2019. In particular, the activities I created for the studying of prose fiction and drama allowed me to understand that assessments should not be separated from instruction but conceived as an instructional tool, each one providing students with a different frame of literary analysis. Semester 1: Combining F2F and Asynchronous Online Teaching/ Learning Determined to solve the problem of time, I decided in the first semester to take advantage of the intertextual connection between Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Machiavelli’s The Prince, and Montaigne’s Essays and run concurrently a F2F and an online asynchronous class. During November and December, students studied Hamlet in a traditional F2F classroom setting, while at the same time, they were studying independently Machiavelli (in November) and Montaigne (in December) in a virtual classroom setting. Their online learning experience

included the study of various primary and secondary sources as well as the composition of two mini-essays, addressing the representation of individuality in both writers, that were uploaded, peer-reviewed, and discussed in four different Moodle forums (two for each writer). Apart from the virtual classroom, Machiavelli and Montaigne were also discussed in a F2F setting in relation to Hamlet, enabling students to apply the knowledge they acquired from the online learning experience to the analysis of Shakespeare’s play in class. Apart from allowing me to teach three authors at the same time, this use of the i2Flex model of instruction enabled students to develop many different skills: critical and synthetic thinking, research, and oral skills in the F2F setting (through contextual presentations on the Renaissance, application of knowledge acquired online to the class analysis of Hamlet, and mock Individual Orals combining knowledge acquired both in the F2F and online classroom); critical reading and writing skills in the virtual classroom (through the four mini-essays/ forum posts on Machiavelli and Montaigne). It also allowed me to prepare students for different internal and external assessments at the same time: their oral assessment, the Individual Oral, in the F2F setting, and two of their written assessments, the Higher Level Essay and Paper 2, in the virtual classroom. The success of this experiment became immediately evident when I read the first forum posts on Machiavelli and saw how thoughtful and sophisticated they were, exhibiting in-depth understanding and critical application of the reading material. Moreover, when students had to choose two of the four texts analyzed during the semester for their mid-term exam (which was modelled after Paper 2), most of them selected the ones they studied online. When I asked them why they replied that they felt more confident with these texts because they were far more involved in their analysis. Ultimately, this online asynchronous component changed the class dynamic. We were not interacting any more simply as teacher and students, but as collaborators in the learning process. From the beginning of the online component, I explained the rationale behind the assignment and made clear that I needed the students’ active engagement and help in order to cover in-depth the demanding syllabus of IB English A: Literature. This empowered students to assume responsibility for their learning and view the detailed covering of the syllabus as our collective goal. Their attitude has inspired me to come up with bolder ideas about the use of asynchronous teaching/ learning in the second semester.

Semester 2: Combining Synchronous and Asynchronous Online Teaching/ Learning A) Even before the end of the first semester, I knew that I would include an online component in the second semester for the analysis of the aesthetic form of Ibsen’s The Wild Duck, so after the winter break, I organized my F2F classes accordingly. In February, after the midterm exams, we studied at the same time the content/ context of Austen’s Northanger Abbey and Ibsen’s The Wild Duck through a series of research-based student presentations, focusing on how the cultural context of the Enlightenment enables the rise of literary realism, how Romanticism’s critique of the Enlightenment affects generic development as well as how the realist novel/ drama is generically related to the romance, the sentimental novel, the gothic novel, and melodrama. When our school closed, I was ready to introduce them, through the F2F discussion of Northanger Abbey, to the analysis of a fictional prose text’s aesthetic form: plot/ structure, narration/ focalization, characterization, setting, and language. The closing of the school did not affect the delivery of my syllabus, as the F2F sessions were immediately replaced by BigBlueButton synchronous sessions, supplemented with some low immediacy and asynchronous sessions that ensured that I retained some flexibility in the online environment. In this way, some formal aspects, like plot/ structure and character complexity, development, and depth, were discussed in synchronous sessions, while others, like the direct or indirect presentation of character, the representation of setting, and the referential or self-consciously literary use of language, were analyzed in more elaborately designed forums that exhibited the influence of similar forums I designed for my online course. These forums, apart from prompts, would include step-by-step directions for the analysis as well as references to carefully chosen and curated reading material that introduced students to a small number of clearly defined new concepts. Before the spring break, students finished the analysis of a realist novel’s aesthetic form, and they were ready to apply the knowledge they acquired to the analysis of realist drama through the 100% asynchronous study of The Wild Duck’s aesthetic form.

Jane Austen Forum: Indirect Presentation of Character

Machiavelli Forum: Content Analysis

B) The design of the new asynchronous component greatly benefitted from the work I did for a GOA course on online assessment that I attended immediately after the closing of the schools. The Wild Duck asynchronous component was conceived as a combination of three forums, each one devoted to the analysis of different formal aspects: 1) plot/ structure, 2) characterization

and 3) setting and language. Three students would analyze plot/ structure, seven students would analyze characterization (each one a different character or a couple of characters), and two students would analyze setting and language. For the first phase, each student had to respond to a different prompt addressing different aspects of the formal elements and upload a 1000word essay. Once again, the forums included stepby-step directions for the analysis and occasionally strategic references to new reading material, offering more sophisticated approaches to methods of analysis they had already practiced in the synchronous sessions. For the second phase, after all the essays were uploaded, students had to study their peers’ responses and post in each forum a 200-700 word review of the essays submitted in each section (the number of words depended on the number of essays each student had to review in each forum). In other words, each student had to post three reviews, highlighting what they liked about the analyses, what they thought was missing as well as contrasting their peers’ analyses with their own evaluation of Ibsen’s use of plot/ structure, characterization, setting, and language in The Wild Duck. Obviously, this was a long-term assignment, lasting for more than a month, and ran concurrently with the synchronous study of Heart of Darkness and modernism, starting immediately after the spring break. The fact that The Wild Duck includes proto-modernist elements (especially its overdetermined symbolism) eased the transition to the synchronous study of modernism and Heart of Darkness. Assessment wise, there were multiple opportunities for formative assessment and feedback. Peer assessment was already part of the second phase of the task, and it led to self-assessment, as students had to repeatedly use the relevant rubric and apply its criteria to both evaluate the work of their peers and compare their peers’ performance against their own. Since most students are impatient with the detailed analysis of aesthetic form, the overarching goal of my feedback was to teach them how to insist on technical details. This was mainly achieved through the use of strategic questioning in the discussion forum (during the second phase of the task), directing students’ attention to nuances that their analysis may have missed. The most important learning target of this asynchronous component was the autonomous detailed close reading of a fictional literary text (The Wild Duck). Autonomy is the keyword here. Students had already spent many synchronous sessions closely analyzing with my help another fictional text (Northanger Abbey). The challenge for them now was to assume ownership of the skills they had already developed by applying them independently in order to both perform close reading and assess the close readings of their peers. Moreover, as all students studied in-depth and evaluated every formal aspect of The Wild Duck, an invaluable knowledge bank has been created that may prove extremely helpful in various official IB assessments: the Individual Oral, the Higher Level Essay, and Paper 2. This asynchronous component once again changed the class dynamic as well as the nature of my collaboration with the students, as they realized that they are responsible not only for their own learning but their peers’ learning.

Henrik Ibsen Forum: Analysis of Structure, Associative Relations

Summer Assignment and Online Asynchronous Learning One of the dilemmas I faced after the transition to a totally online learning environment was whether I should teach the eighth text of the syllabus To the Lighthouse. I could still teach it in an asynchronous way, but I feared that given the extraordinary circumstances and the work students had to do for other courses, the workload would be too heavy for them. I also felt that this workload would be unnecessary since the seven texts they studied this year already provided them with more than enough options for all their internal and external assessments. However, I found a way out of the dilemma when I started thinking about summer reading as a perfect opportunity for asynchronous online learning. Every summer, first-year students have a large-scale summer assignment, preparing them for the second year – usually, they study some texts and write an essay. For this year, I thought it would be a great opportunity for students to study To the Lighthouse in the way they studied The Wild Duck. They were already introduced to literary modernism through the synchronous analysis of Heart of Darkness, so they would easily apply their knowledge of modernist thematic concerns and aesthetics to the analysis of Woolf ’s novel. The first part, including the independent study of the Moodle Reading Material, step-bystep directions, and the essay-length response to different prompts, could take place during the summer, while the peer-review and the F2F debriefing could take place in early September. In this way, my initial goal of teaching eight texts before the beginning of the second year would be accomplished without overburdening the students. Concluding Remarks My initial combination of F2F and online asynchronous teaching/ learning in the first semester prepared my students for the smooth transition to an online learning environment after the closing of our school in the second semester. It also prepared me for a more rigorous exploration of the potential of low immediacy tech tools as vehicles for active student engagement and student-teacher collaboration. Looking back on all the prompts, extensive directions, carefully chosen and targeted resources, forum posts, responses, and discussions in the tabs of our course’s Moodle Shell, I witness the full transformation of teaching and learning into a collaborative effort; or rather, the realization of the platonic idea of the teacher-student relationship. ■

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case that there were two videos (a video game and a video animation) displayed, frozen screenshots were placed instead. From the virtual exhibitions we took screen shots that accompanied the students’ portfolios to the examiners. In addition with a lot of excitement we managed to share their exhibitions through videos captured from the virtual spaces, showcasing them in the website for the rest of the ACS community.

This year our IB visual Arts students were: Suami Dekker (HL), Nefeli Naoum (HL), Sabrina Saboya (HL) and Tural Abdullayev (SL). They all worked with their own distinctive style and dealt with different issues; personal explorations, visualization of time, environmental concerns and social imbalance. The following texts are part of their curatorial rationale:

Virtual IB Art Exhibition 2020 by Sophia Soseilos, Academy Visual Arts Faculty

ur school’s planned Visual Arts Exhibition on the 31st of March was cancelled due to covid-19 and the closure of the school. It was a very stressful period for us since the Exhibition was not only an event anticipated by the students, their parents and friends but mostly because it was part of the student’s final exam. The Exhibition is one of the three IB Visual Arts components worth 40% of the total grade. According to the IB expectations the selection and arrangement of artworks need to convey an understanding of the relationship between the artworks and the viewers as justified in their curatorial rationale, thus the choice and impact of the settings are very important. Due to the new unfortunate circumstances and following the new IB suggestions we explored alternative options. Through collective effort students were empowered to continue utilizing technology to find technical solutions for best virtual results. Most students created their exhibition digitally and one student set it at home which she then documented. The artworks were digitally placed in a pre planned order with some difficulty on the 3D artworks. In the one

“Through my art, I explore myself, I am trying to form a connection with myself and my body, but also not only be limited to myself, I am trying to understand the universe around me, and my own subconscious. I like to be vulnerable, and to show my thoughts, in a way it is a catharsis or a confession of the different faces that I have, and that everyone explores in their own way when they are honest to themselves. These contradictions that I find in myself, I challenge myself to shed light on, and in the process I discover more about myself.” Suami Dekker “My art in the past two years has revolved around the visualization of time. I explored this subject by breaking it up into cyclical, linear and vertical time. Western societies have established a linear format of time, based on sequential numbers as opposed to cycles that define time, based on experience. Such cycles are clearly seen within nature (cycle of life, cycles of seasons, etc), as well as the universe (i.e.: cycles of the moon/sun- planet movement). Parallel to these, there is the physics understanding of vertical time which exists within planes that co-exist. I aim to visualize time through my experiences, both in two-dimensions as well as three. My process led me to define this notion, with a focus on death and mourning.” Nefeli Naoum “Humans coexist with animals and plants but due to our activities, this balance is disrupted, leaving Earth in urgent threat. Many species are close to extinction. Pollution is everywhere. Oceans are full of plastic, debris and oil spills. Forests are diminished. Since I was very young, I have been conscious about the environment and animals in particular. I knew I had to fight for the voiceless. I stopped eating red meat when I was eight years old and became vegan at thirteen. I convinced my family to go vegetarian by educating them through brutal videos, showing the negative effects our actions cause. Seeing these catastrophic acts took a very big toll on me; I knew I wanted to make a change. Every piece in this exhibition shows my concern relating to the notions above. I not only feel passionate about my work, but I am able to use

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this media as a platform to raise awareness to this leading problem in our world today.” Sabrina Saboya “My exhibition has a central premise of an imbalance. The concept is in every piece, whether in formal qualities or message, there is a feeling of unfairness that I wanted to convey. But at the same time I didn’t want the tone to be too dark, so humor is used throughout to bring the mood back up. It’s easier to talk to someone if you are on the same page, and turning really serious (as some individual pieces are) I find is an easy way of losing that common ground with the viewer. The occasional humor and dramatization hopefully lifts the tone, and makes the pieces ‘talk’ more to the viewer. This is not to say that populist art is something to aspire to, but instead that forging connection demands self-awareness.” Tural Abdullayev ■

Tural Abdullayev exhibition

Nefeli Naoum exhibition

Sabrina Saboya exhibition

Suami Dekker exhibition

Suami Dekker

Sabrina Saboya

Nefeli Naoum

Tural Abdullayev

Suami Dekker

Quality Education During COVID-19 by Evelyn Pittas, Academy, English Faculty

NESCO claims that almost 1.3 billion students have been affected worldwide by the COVID-19 pandemic.1 Massive school closures have occurred globally to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Students at all levels are having their education disrupted at an unprecedented intensity. ACS Athens is no exception, but unlike most educational institutions, ACS Athens had the ability to continue and keep the pace of the education and well-being of its students. An entire community of ACS Athens students, administrators, teachers, counselors, staff, and families came together to ensure quality education remains at the heart and soul of everything while maintaining positive and innovative virtual learning experiences for all. The entire school adjusted to virtual learning without notice and much success. Virtual learning is a reality we must deal with, work in, and overcome together as no one knows for sure when or if things will return to normal. We are now faced with miles and miles of Internet cable and a computer screen, instead of a room full of students with their teacher. This is the new normal. One thing is for sure: our world, as we know it, has become very small during this pandemic. 1

“COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response.” UNESCO, 12 May 2020, en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse.

Our educators not only continued to virtually teach the world’s knowledge, but they also searched for lessons across all disciplines from this current catastrophe, asking our students to act and think as conscious global citizens. Many of us have had unfavorable experiences before, but no one has ever experienced this type of global disaster we are now enduring. A cure will be discovered, even though our modern world brings multiple threats that we need to understand and take seriously. Ending hunger and poverty in all its forms, achieving healthy lives and gender equality, ensuring clean water and sustainable consumption, promoting economic growth, and strong institutions are all side-effects of the global economy we all benefit from. Scientists must now face the reality of the deaths from this pandemic. As educators, we are held responsible for ensuring that the expertise needed to maintain this complex world continues to be stimulated and interconnected. We need to do that face-to-face when we can and virtually when we must. ACS, Athens educators not only recognize the value of supporting students’ social and emotional development, but they also are aware of their performance in academics. Teachers’ support is important not only for students’ academic success but also for their ability to deal with stressful situations. Each educator places the student at the center of the circle, the center of the conversation, and builds around them. This commitment to student-centered teaching and learning continued even when the format of instruction shifted to virtual. At ACS, Athens we want our students to do well, enjoy learning, experience success, and be happy. Children need to know that learning is important and valued, not just so they can get a job, but for its own sake. As conscious citizens, our students have become resilient, have taken responsibility for their own actions and understood that they can recover and learn from setbacks and mistakes. They learned that they can bounce back from adversity. Perhaps what children need the most though, is love and security, especially now. Children need to know that they are liked and that their good qualities are admired; they need to be listened to and respected. One of the most powerful rewards for children is the care, interest, and attention they receive from their teachers. This teaches them security, self-esteem, empathy, and seems to enclose them in a cloak of invulnerability against the difficulties of life. Our children are the most precious possessions in our lives. They are the joy of the present and our hope for the future. We teach them to learn, give them resilience, help them grow with discipline – and love them with all our heart! Our role as a conscious global citizen is to recognize what we need and want in life and to know what we can live without in order to pass it on to the next generation. We must learn and understand how the world is changing, how education, wellness, health, gender equality, sanitation, economic growth, innovation, sustainability, climate, and above all international cooperation is affected. In the midst of this new normal, the most important lesson has the power to change our ways moving forward. As conscious global citizens, this has become our responsibility towards quality education during such unforeseen times. Work Cited “COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response.” UNESCO, 12 May 2020, en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse. ■

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globally, as the deadly COVID-19 began to grip people’s lives, keeping millions at home under lock-down if not in strict quarantine. As life came to a stand-still, schools like ACS Athens had to interrupt normal operations, move teaching and learning online and find new and innovative ways to continue students’ education.

Social awareness ACS Athens Student Joins Greek 3d Printing Group Flattening the curve, one mask at a time by John Papadakis, Director of Communications

alandri, April 27, 2020

Whether this has been the Spring of the Quarantine, the Spring of the Coronavirus, or the Spring of the Lockdown, it is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most of the human population. We have all been hearing about the Spanish Flu pandemic at the beginning of the 20th century, but that period’s 500 million cases and 50 million deaths is very far from the 3 million Coronavirus cases and 352,000+ deaths (as tallied to-date). The effect on people’s lives around the world has nevertheless been extraordinary, to say the least. Professional activity, commercial operations, tourism, and all aspects of business life, even the subsistence of entire nations is put on hold since the beginning of this year, beginning with China and spreading

ACS Athens had to close for the first time since 1990 and everyone had to come to grips with this new reality. Due to the exceptional efforts of the entire ACS Athens community, operations adjusted practically overnight to a new modus operandi; digital platforms for online collaboration of teachers and students, administrators and staff, allowed virtual classrooms to take place and online activity flourished. This unprecedented disruption brought outstanding innovation. Innovation that had been years in the making, however. Students and faculty had already embarked on an educational adventure in the digital domain since 2008, something which allowed them to seize the opportunity offered to them with the nationwide school shut down and transition of online learning. ACS Athens was ready, and well-prepared to meet perhaps the greatest challenge of our life so far. Other than academics, many members of the community have embarked on extra-curricular activities, civic and volunteer projects, and were inspired by the global predicament. One ACS Athens student, 11th grader Jason Stavros Somoglou, engaged in an innovative and self- driven initiative; producing 3D-printed face masks to assist medical support facilities. He managed to manufacture 20 face masks at a time in exchange for more raw material. Jason explained that the idea came when an adult friend of his sent him an interesting article on 3D printing (shield) masks in the United States and in various other countries. “This caught my attention and I wondered whether Greece had its own version of this. Turns out we did! I found a group chat on Facebook that had around 200 members at the time and I joined. It was interesting to see how all of these 3D hobbyists and enthusiasts brought together their resources to help fight the epidemic. I knew that I had to help and chip in, in order to help flatten the curve.”

Describing the process, Jason points to its simplicity. Verified by the Greek Ministry of Health, a single source provided with the 3D design, a group of 3D printers manufactured them and the group was collecting them. “It was heartwarming to see that a young firefighter volunteered to come to pick up the first 20 masks even though the virus outbreak was at its peak,” said Jason. Explaining the process, he said that “there isn’t exactly a collaboration between the Hellas COVID-19 3D printing group and an organization, but there is communication between the volunteers and a company called Prusa. Prusa sells 3D printers and is also the company that produced the 3D models of the masks that we print here in Greece. There are also other collaborations between companies that provide 3D material for printing with some public schools that are in possession of 3D printers.” So what is Jason’s take away from this experience? “I feel like this project has proven to me that everything that I have been doing with robotics and programming can actually make an impact in this world. All these years that I have been participating in competitions and going to events, I never made a real contribution to the world. I just “presented” my skills. But now that I got the chance to help and contribute something to our society in need, I feel like I am working towards achieving my deepest wishes: making a contribution, as small as it may be! That is exactly what I need in this current situation.” Jason Somoglou, a “netizen” since birth like most of his generation, feels very comfortable around technology and how it is used to accommodate people’s needs. However, as he points out, “this outbreak is a life-changing moment for all of us and the only thing we can do is try to protect ourselves and the ones we love by staying home and listening to what the experts have to say about this situation. I will continue this project as long as masks are needed, and if any other situation comes up where I could help I would be more than happy to contribute my time and resources into fighting whatever fight has to be fought.” The lesson of the Spring of Quarantine: Pandemics, like all wars against humanity, can only be won by the dedicated, selfless effort of the many only if each one of us puts oneself at the forefront of the fight. ■

conscious citizen, exemplifying the virtues of leadership as explained in the 2003 publication titled The 7 Heavenly Virtues of Leadership by Carolyn Barker.1 Following in her footsteps, is a group of student members with their leaders who also share this strong sense of justice and fairness through community work. They have applied and demonstrated the virtues of leadership throughout the year and are dedicated and devoted to continue doing so! Both the members and the leaders have displayed the kind of discipline and tenacity that has allowed them to reach and achieve our school-wide purpose of sending conscious citizens out into the world, turning global goals into a local reality.

Leadership Through ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ (KINONÓS) by Evelyn Pittas, KΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ Advisor, Academy, English Faculty Chasiotis, Konstantinos (KΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ Leader 2019-2020) Ghoneim, Raneem (Leader of the Economic and Finance Committee) Gregoriou, Alexandra (Leader of the Interaction Committee) Soulanticas, Emma (Leader of the Fundraising Committee) Srouji, Marios (Leader of the Presentation Committee)

he ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ (Kinonós) school-wide service club was founded by Lydia Pinirou, ACS Athens graduate, Class of 2019. It was her humility, her inner strength, and her drive to accomplish greatness that became her driving force to create change and make a positive impact on our community and society at large, while remaining humble in her leadership but not afraid to stand up for what is right. Thus, ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ came to be in 2018. Lydia stands as a bright example for the ACS Athens community of what it means to serve humanity while leading as a

The first quality of leadership, according to Barker, is to lead with humility. This means that one does not allow his ego to get in the way of doing what is right or use his position for his own good. When one leads with humility one accepts the position given to him, and uses it on behalf of others. Humility is the virtue of being able to put others before you. The significance of this virtue is vast, as it is the driving force of a leader, who needs to be able to take into account those around him, rather than just himself. Being humble does not mean degrading yourself by any means; rather it means wanting to benefit more than just yourself. Humility unites people and is the silver lining that allows people to see the good in others. Individuals who possess this virtue are those who are sympathetic towards those around them, and who are truly genuine, caring people. This virtue is what embodies ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ. The global pandemic has allowed us to reflect on priorities and things we took for granted. Humility is what subconsciously drove us to donate Easter eggs to the homeless, and to promote numerous clothing and food drives. The sustainable development goal of “Good Health and Well-Being” represents the objective of ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ, ensuring that the homeless are cared for. During a pandemic, when times can be very uncertain and scary, a small gesture such as offering Easter eggs during a religious holiday is a simple act that speaks volumes. Taking into account the well-being of others is truly a noble principle to live by. The club has shifted my perspective of the world, and the way I choose to interact with people I meet. Taking the time to truly connect and sympathize with those who are less fortunate, and being given the opportunity to help them, even through a weekly clothing and food drive, is truly eye-opening. The virtue of humility is found within all aspects of our lives, and by accepting it, and choosing to live by it, makes the world a better place filled with individuals who strive to lift each other up. Humility means that one pursues a noble dream in a noble way! To do this, it often takes the second of the virtues – courage (Alexandra Gregoriou, Leader of the Interaction Committee). Courage is about doing what one believes to be the right thing despite the consequences. It is not about

Barker, Carolyn. The 7 Heavenly Virtues of Leadership. McGraw-Hill, 2003. Print.

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the absence of fear; it is about caring enough about one’s values that one bravely upholds them in the face of personal risk. A courageous leader does not always expect to be popular. Popularity is a very fleeting thing, and if one gains popularity by giving into pressure to do something one may find that the feeling of letting himself down is much worse than temporarily being out of favor. Facing a hard time from others because one does what is right may strip one of his popularity, but it is unlikely to strip one of his self-respect or the respect of others. Volunteering with KOINWNOS helped me realize that helping is not just going down to the center of Athens and handing out food to the homeless; rather it is about connecting with the lives of others. Through ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ I achieved inner peace and felt renewed. Everybody knows that volunteering is satisfying; however, only after you have experienced it, you truly know how rewarding and life-changing it really is (Marios Srouji, Leader of Presentation Committee). Integrity is another important quality of leadership. Integrity is not easy to define; however, what is certain is that integrity serves as a moral and ethical foundation that safeguards anyone from deviation in their principles and convictions. This loyalty to ethics guarantees that fundamentally, a person is “good”. People are willing to work and follow those who lead with ethics and truth, as the foundations of a village, community, and even a high school club lie in the integrity of their leader. This is not to say that integrity is limited to leaders. Those with integrity “do the right thing when nobody’s watching”, and in the case of ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ, this means remaining committed to our effort, despite the hardships of the ongoing pandemic. This can be attributed to our partnership for our goals. Before the pandemic, I was able to organize bake sales in order to raise funds, and this occurred through partnership between students, teachers, and club members. As the pandemic broke out, we realized that we could no longer physically work towards our goal, and yet, we still ensured that we were meeting (virtually) and making efforts to communicate with the organization we partnered with. I realize now more than ever that I am in a position to influence and inspire others in a positive manner, providing aid to those who do not have access to the same privileges as I do. I realize that the integrity that each individual possesses translates to an entire community (Emma Soulanticas, Leader of the Fundraising Committee) The fourth virtue of leadership is compassion. This is defined as deep and profound awareness of the suffering of another, coupled with the wish to relieve it. To lead with compassion is to treat others the way we would like to be treated ourselves. Being compassionate is related to empathy. One is able to feel the other’s pain and is willing to help without expecting anything in return. A compassionate leader senses the emotions of those around him. Compassion has helped me understand its impact through ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ, especially during COVID-19. During the lockdown it was extremely hard for the homeless to find food or water; while everyone was safe in their homes, and protect-

ed. The homeless of Athens do not have such luxury, living on the streets, alone, unsafe. It was our obligation to help them. This obligation derives from compassion, a necessity which was far more important than the measures imposed upon all of us at the time of lockdown. SDG 1“No Poverty” is related to ending poverty in all its forms around the globe, ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ has contributed into improving the development of such a goal. The homeless of Athens are not in the current position of living a stable lifestyle. Therefore, through fundraisers, donations of food and clothes, but also night interactions, ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ has tried to improve the poverty these people are experiencing, simply by giving them whatever they are not able to own, even if that contribution lasts for one or two days. Through the donation of the 300 Easter eggs we were able to provide the happiness people needed despite our lack of presence, due to the pandemic. Through ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ I have had the chance to see the world through the eyes of those who suffer. My main concern is to make this world a better place for the less fortunate who deserve to be treated equally. I have had the chance to realize and appreciate what life has generously given me. My dream is to communicate this experience to others, so that they can follow in my footsteps and transform this world into a better place (Konstantinos Chasiotis, ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ Leader 2019-2020). Humor is having the ability of finding ease and satire in stressful situations. Humor acts as the bridge between quitting and persevering, as it essentially provides an individual with a different perspective on any situation in hand. This leadership virtue is one of the only virtues that has a strong link with one’s mental state as it allows them to “find the light in the darkness”. Unfortunately, not everyone is seen to possess this form of humor, seeing as though in today’s time, individuals tend to give up more easily than before. That is why, as the leader of the ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ Economic and Finance Committee, I tend to view the lives of the homeless through an economic lens. This immediately gives me the advantage of thinking and formulating different plans that can lead to the homeless seeing life with more light. More specifically, during this COVID-19 pandemic, humor has helped me understand its impact through ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ, since this club is all about hope, and the light we can become for the less fortunate. Humor, as a virtue can be strongly connected to the Sustainable Development Goal of “No Poverty”. This is mainly because with humor comes perspective and the ability to defuse any given situation the right way. This leads to taking initiative, like thinking of projects that can lower poverty rates. I now have a clearer picture regarding the bridge between the SDG, ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ and COVID-19; I believe that monetary value allows people to achieve their physiological needs, and once that is achieved, then every other need becomes easier. Thus, I have matured greatly through ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ and this virtue as I am able to see the light in dark situations and to spread this light to those who unfortunately are not able to (Raneem Ghoneim, Leader of the Economic and Finance Committee).

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Passion can be seen as the virtue that causes one to act. Passion leads to purpose and this purpose turns into motivation that aids in accomplishing the impossible; overcoming the obstacle. Living in society today is like running a race; at first you explode off the blocks with high power and no obstacles deterring the way. Then, about halfway to the finish line, your muscles tense up, your legs become weaker your breath become heavier and you start to lose your motivation to continue; the same way that life can throw obstacles at you. That is where passion kicks in; however, this passion re-fuels your body in order to continue the race. Without passion, all of us would be stuck in a bottomless pit of apathy and indifference. As a leader of the ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ Economic and Financial Committee, the main area I was able to recognize this passion was actually through the homeless. They possess passion and perseverance to such a high extent, as they believe that there will be a better end; they are willing to take that stride. During this COVID-19 pandemic, it makes sense for the homeless to lose all hope and passion as they are indirectly impacted by the economic recession. One SDG present through ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ is that of “good health and well-being.” This is mainly because with the help of the club and the integrated work of all leaders, the homeless are able to maintain a healthy life which thus leads to a passion to continue living. I am provided with a perspective that passion can come in many different forms, but in order to be passionate and have purpose, then one must overcome the gap between poverty and wealth. That is why it is my duty to always provide motivation to anyone in need, whenever it is needed. Therefore, I have learnt that economic support is the backbone of feeling passionate, and it is the fuel to finish the race (Raneem Ghoneim, Leader of the Economic and Finance Committee). The final leadership virtue is wisdom. Wisdom is a quality of character that guides an individual towards making the good or optimal decision. In order to do so, they do not have to be “smart”, but rather they must view the world through various perspectives. Wisdom is a virtue that is built over time, and through experiences. Those that lack wisdom may make decisions that ultimately damage a number of people, regardless of how moral their intentions. Those that lead with wisdom are able to think quickly but also effectively. It is this wisdom, this quick and effective leadership I have seen in ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ that allows us to do so much to “transform our world” and ensure (to the best of our abilities) the good health and well-being of the homeless in Athens. Organizing a clothing drive was one of our efforts to do so, and the project allowed us to donate plenty of clothing and bedding for our cause. We not only had good intentions but provided something practical to their well-being. The outbreak of COVID-19 meant that we had to halt our efforts, as we no longer had a platform through which to collect the clothing. It is important in these times to consider the health and well-being of those who do not have homes to quarantine in. COVID-19 demonstrated that countries with wise leaders suffered less than countries whose leaders acted hastily. A wise leader is someone who can retain their moral

high ground regarding their decisions, even in times of crisis (Emma Soulanticas, Leader of the Fundraising Committee). As the ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ advisor, I learned that the most powerful voice is that of the students; I learned how the sharing of self is one of their biggest pleasures. They are compassionate, knowledgeable, and empathetic. I learned that as our students interact with the homeless of Athens through ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΣ, they improve their own lives, the lives of others, and the dilemmas and misfortunes the world faces on a daily basis. ACS, Athens nurtures a diverse fabric of human beings, and they each have a strong voice in enacting change and promoting a more just world as it is their leadership that defines their generation! Work Cited Barker, Carolyn. The 7 Heavenly Virtues of Leadership. McGraw-Hill, 2003. Print. ■

KOINWNOS Leaders meeting virtually during COVID-19 lockdown

KOINWNOS members preparing for the food and clothing drives

KOINWNOS Leaders serving the homeless downtown Athens

els that I wish all kids living within the safe confines of their homes had the opportunity to meet. They are kids that take care of their younger siblings as their parents (if they are alive) remain in other home countries, looking forward to the day when they will all be reunited again. They are kids who woke up one day and decided they deserved better. They left home country and shelter. Here, they live decent lives, respect what they have been given, and look at their past with a smile, befriending the nightmares they’ve lived for the sake of the better days to come. I shared the same desk with these kids and showed them how to write the letters of the alphabet, what words to use when they communicate in Greek or English, how to show up for a job, how to use the computer keyboard, how to combine notes on the xylophone and create melodies. I observed their fearless faces as they attended the class, and I could see their brave history unfolding within their entire being. They stood proudly to receive what was there for them in the present moment, appreciating the Home Project’s embrace and ACS Athens’ welcome.

“Youth-To-Youth” Becomes “Human-To-Human” Embracing Differences And Sharing Kindness To All by Despina Yannouli, ACS Athens Parent

t all started out of curiosity. I saw how my son looked forward to going to ACS every Saturday to be with the Youth-to-Youth program participants. And when he returned home, he was always more compassionate, happier, more complete. So, I decided to volunteer, too! Thanks to the guidance of Julia Tokatlidou, there was always a seat for me in every classroom, to assist in the learning journey of the unaccompanied refugee kids. The teachers were already doing an amazing job, dealing with students of various ages, backgrounds, ethnicities, and learning levels. They knew how to grasp their attention and inspire them to learn. But they were working with fertile minds – the students’ willingness to learn, grow, and create a better future was remarkable. These kids are paradigms of perseverance, resilience, and determination. They are mod-

The bonds created between these kids and the ACS Athens student volunteers, teachers, and staff are incredibly strong. I see looks of love in their eyes, care in their hugs, and kindness in their intimate discussions. It’s a big family, and I am so proud to be a small part of it. I feel honored to be given this opportunity to offer some of my time and all of my love to this group of people, and I hope the message of hope, and the common humanity that we experience and share, become an inspiration for more peace, heartfulness, and joy.

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this rare beauty of a phenomenon, as well as share the incredible initiative ACS Athens is on to support young learners who are gifted with Synaesthesia! What is Synaesthesia Synaesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. The term Synaesthesia is derived from the Greek syn =union and aesthesia = sensation, and refers to the capacity of conjoining two sensory experiences while one sense is stimulated, e.g. hearing colours, or feeling sounds etc. It is a neurological condition whereby stimulation of one sense automatically evokes a perception in an unstimulated sense. For example, the sound of a ringing bell may trigger seeing the colour pink or seeing an oval shape. You might see colours when reading numbers and letters or experience tastes in the mouth when hearing sounds. A beautiful blending of powers!

Synaesthesia: A New Welcoming Adventure In The American Community Schools Of Athens by Effie Zografou - Elgabry Fellow, The Institute of ACS Athens

lending of powers! The sweet smell of Red!

Imagine a child in class who doesn’t like to talk because of the bad taste of his voice or another child who loves a certain teacher because her voice is violet and smells good. Imagine that the wind tastes like sugar cane. Imagine that you could smell distances. Imagine the voices of people that surround you to feel like coloured fireworks, or imagine that time has shapes and that words have personalities. Well, you can let your imagination fly, because guess what? This magical world is not imaginary; it is a very real phenomenon called Synaesthesia that allows you to taste words, see and smell sounds, and hear colours. Monday might be an angry or depressed young man wearing a white shirt; the number three might be blue and moody; February can be brown, and the letter “S” can be golden yellow. Welcome to the world of Synaesthesia! I hope to enlighten readers young and old about

There are multiple types of Synaesthesia. For instance, Grapheme-Colour Synaesthesia blends the words with colours while Sound-Colour Synaesthesia blends the sounds with colours. Mirror-Touch, on the other hand, is the tendency for an individual to react in a mirror-like movement of another person. Chromesthesia or Sound-to-colour-Synaesthesia is when sound involuntary evokes an experience of colour, and Spatial Sequence Synaesthesia is when ordinal sequences, such as months, numbers or the letters of the alphabet are experienced as specific forms and volumes in space. Other types include Grapheme-Personification, Touch-Temperatures, Smell-Emotion, Smell-Taste, Sound-Touch, Vision- Touch, and a whole lot more that brings a total of 80 registered types of Synaesthesia! Famous Synesthetes include novelist Vladimir Nabokov (Grapheme-Colour), who saw each letter in a different hue; musician Duke Ellington, who interpreted notes as colours; painter Joan Mitchell, who associated colours with letters, sounds and personalities; or scientists Nikola Tesla and Richard Feynman, as well as Academy Award winning actor Geoffrey Rush (Grapheme-Colour and Spatial Sequence Synaesthesia SSS), and iconic pianist-composer Franz Liszt (Chromesthesia), and last but not least, Vincent van Gogh (Chromesthesia) among others, are also thought to have had Synaesthesia. The Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras, who himself displayed signs of the remarkable trait, produced the first known description of Synaesthesia around 500 B.C., but the first known reference to Synaesthesia in scientific writing dates to 1690, from John Locke’s account of a blind man who described the colour scarlet as “the sound of a trumpet”. Similar isolated case-studies continued for some time, and it was described in detail by Francis Galton at UCL in 1883. It is only recently, however, that we have grown accustomed to Synaesthesia, now included in the syllabus of psychology as we continue to learn about this incredible phenomenon. Only 4% of the total population is reportedly synesthetic; well,

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I am one of them...and it is fascinating! My Synaesthesia: A Late Bloomer I am an Associator Grapheme-Colour Synesthete, which means that all letters, words, numbers, days of the week, months and years have colours! For instance, my A is red, my 11 is black, my Monday is white, and my November is blue. I also have Spatial Sequence Synaesthesia, where I see days of the week in a horizontal line of coloured blocks.

The same might be happening for April. April should be red because of its first dominant letter A, which is red. But April is green because it is taking its colour from second letter π from Απρίλιος, Aprilios in Greek, which is green. It is important to note that, when describing the colours I see, it is not easy to describe the precise colours of my mind-eye; could there be a way to generate these? Possibly a future project! Now, for the days of the week, there seems to be no rule at all. The colour I see does not match with the first dominant letter of the word. Monday is white, although it should be sunny yellow, like the letter M. Tuesday is blue, although it should be almost completely black like the letter T. Wednesday is pure sweet brown, though it should be a kind of grey-brownish. Thursday is yellow, although T, as I mentioned, is almost black. Friday is green, although F is a grey. Saturday is blue, while Sunday is red, despite S being a golden yellow. This is a nice mystery which I have yet to explain, and I know that I am probably annoying any synesthetes reading my article right now, as their colours might be completely different!

When it comes to numbers, no matter the magnitude, my numbers grow vertically in a line, upwards. They all go up in what looks like a simple dark row and have no shapes at all (but in numerical form). Some might say I have a Personification-based Synaesthesia as well, since they are so dark and utterly moody.

How I realised I had Synaesthesia For many years, I had not realized that I was, and am, a Synesthete. I thought that everybody, like me, experienced the same colours in their everyday life. I found out very late, after my 30’s, that this is not a common part of people’s lives.

On the other hand, calendar months are funny and cute; I would describe them as train stations, because they form an oval shape and each month has a permanent position on that oval, like a station. They are static and only I can move, like a train. I can zoom in towards them or zoom out away from them, but they never change position. When I drew them for the first time, I realised that the months belonging to the seasons of winter and spring are more tightly condensed into each other, with a darker background, as opposed to the wider, lighter warmer months. I am always aware of the current month, because like a magnetic force, I cannot escape my current position, but I can visit previous months. I can only do this by zooming out to the previous month, but only for a short time, as I will be dragged back to the current month, like an elastic band. This happens every time I would like to visit my memories.

Yet, even when I discovered my Synaesthesia, it was by accident. I was playing a made-up game with my kids one day, when my daughter required us to remember certain numbers with a special colour for each. Without going into much detail, I accidentally mentioned that this was too easy since each number already had its own colour, but they could not understand what I meant. It was from this point onwards that I unintentionally entered the very real game of Synaesthesia, which has now become a core aspect of my life. Synaesthesia also helps me understand why I sense other people’s emotions, with a kind of a lighter or heavier internal blushing feeling. From that moment on, I began to distinguish my colourful synesthetic aspects of my life, which are not common to everybody.

All my months take a clear colour from the first and dominant letter of the word. August, for example, is red, because A is red. September is a golden yellow, because S is a golden yellow and so on. There is, however, an exception to this rule for two months. April and October. April is green, though A is red. And October is cherry red, though O is white. The only explanation I can think of to explain this, is that the sound of the first syllable of the word October is the sound οκτώ, okto (8) which in Greek means the number eight. The number eight has a cherry red colour for me, so October might be getting a little confused, taking its colour from the number instead of the dominant letter.

I started to enjoy discovering more and more, day after day, these colours, that have helped me to remember things easier. As an associator (as opposed to a projector Synesthete), I balance between reality written colours and what is referred to as my mindeye colours (i.e. what my head tells me I see). I can see them the way they are given, but I translate them into my own colours. Can you imagine the struggle of a student in class trying to copy things down from the black board or trying to write something down on a computer, where all the letters or numbers are either black or white? This, for me, is unbelievably wrong! Nonetheless, as an associator, I can distinguish and switch between both worlds: the reality written colours and my mind-eye colours. As I mentioned earlier, I did not find out about my Synaesthesia – and that this is not everyone’s reality

– until I was into my 30’s. Not everyone can remember things easier through colours, so I consider this a colourful privilege, and I am so grateful for this! Kids and students with similar experiences shouldn’t feel uncomfortable or stressed because they see and sense things differently; they should know that they are not alone in this matter and their school can support them! My Synaesthesia as a Bilingual I always found it easy to pick up new languages and it is possible that Synaesthesia was what helped me with this. I speak Greek, German, English and Arabic. English and German letters have identical colours, for me. Greek letters, on the other hand, have their own colouring due to their separate non-Latin characters. Finally, my 4th language, Arabic, has no colours at all... When I see the Arabic letters written, they are all black. When I hear the sound of the letters within the Arabic word, however, my mind-eye colours take the colouring scheme from the Latin or Greek letters. For instance, the written Arabic letter B has no colour but the sound of the Arabic letter ba is blue for me as in the Latin letters or yellow- green from the Greek letters. In another example, the written Arabic letter F has no colour, but the sound of the Arabic letter fa is grey for me as in the Latin letters or brown from the Greek letters.

The project began in early 2018, still only a fading shade, until it was brought to its feet in October 2018 with the Royal Society’s Conference in London, Bridging Senses: New Developments in Synaesthesia. Experts from cognitive psychology, neuroscience and genetics joined together to discuss the phenomenon of Synaesthesia based on findings from major multiyear initiatives, including the first genome-wide investigations of the trait. For a research area that lacks a recurring scientific meeting, this was a rare opportunity to determine how emerging results can shape this field and build interdisciplinary collaborations. This scientific meeting brought up contacts with other universities and scientists (of neuropsychology) specialising in Synaesthesia research with the target to raise awareness of the unknown phenomenon towards our teachers, our students and their parents, and swiftly move towards a collaboration in 2020 by having the MULTISENSE Synaesthesia Toolkit questionnaire for children and students to identify Synaesthesia. Meanwhile, throughout 2019 we participated in the 2nd International Conference for Synaesthesia in Moscow, organised by IASAS (the International Association of Synesthetes, Artists and Scientists) which I am happy to be a member of, where the event was hosted by the Moscow State University of Psychology. 2nd IASAS International Conference in Moscow From the 17th - 21st of October 2019, I was delighted to attend the 2nd IASAS International Conference in Moscow. It was here that my synesthetic journey of research started, because among other things, I had the opportunity to share my personal account with other participants, researchers and Synesthetes, as well as share ACS’s initiative. From the Press Conference to the opening talk, it was an invaluable time to meet and share knowledge on this phenomenon. It was at this conference that we proudly announced that ACS Athens will be the first ever school in Greece to run the pilot program of identifying synesthetic students. Indeed, it happened.

This might be because I did not learn Arabic until my late teens, or because I first learned to speak Arabic without writing, picking up the language purely based on hearing. All this mystery of the blending power is so fascinating and unique that the need to do something about it was essential, especially considering an international community of young learners as in ACS. ACS and Synaesthesia: A Colourful Bloomer The realisation that we might have our own synesthetic students at ACS, who may need support, led to the creation of the pilot program within the Institute for Innovation and Creativity in our school such as Synaesthesia: A colourful Bloomer.

Education and Synaesthesia Synesthetes experience their senses in unusual ways. Therefore, students are not all the same and it is time for schools to seriously equip themselves in order to support the needs of synesthetic children. The identification of Synaesthesia early in childhood may bring beneficial changes in later life, notwithstanding school life well-being, and that is certainly something worth achieving. This is one of the things I would like to highlight in our efforts at the American Community Schools of Athens. And we are proud to say that ACS Athens will be the first school in Greece to introduce the pilot program that will identify synesthetic students. The first step is to educate and inform our teachers. We have planned a few seminars and lectures for the coming academic year, and this is just our first goal. The next step is to identify students with Synaesthesia; this will take place through our collaboration with research institutes and universities. We

must identify the volume of synesthetic children to be able to assess the best way to learn within school life. Finally, we will explore ways to improve learning styles and methods for synesthetic students, so we can support them in school. These improvements may take different forms that include, for example, personalized keyboards that will help students to keep up with the class so that they can write at their own comfort. Art and music are also great gateways of supporting learning and the participation of students. Sounds and noises can make synesthetic kids uncomfortable, for example, so those should be avoided. Likewise, some noises have a bad smell as well! As a result, new dimensions of problem solving must be met to address these issues and cater to students with special needs. We aim to have a positive effect in our academic system, which is no easy feat, but like any worthwhile journey, a path on which we have already set course; no matter the time it will take us, our community makes sure that this knowledge is shared and exchanged between reputable institutions to improve our global efforts and support those in need, notwithstanding the 4%. We must acknowledge and inform, identify and exchange knowledge while we offer our support to students with Synaesthesia! The pandemic of Covid-19 has recently brought changes to the traditional way in which we implement our educational system. Although some adjusting was needed, ACS went through this process unharmed, quickly responding through virtual classes and online courses. But in times like these, parents need to be aware as well on how to accommodate students and their children who may learn in different ways. We are currently developing a guidebook to enable such capability for future such situations. ACS Athens is an academic institution pioneering in initiative that supports young people with learning differences with the best fit education experience. It is the need for preparing young people for the 21st century to design, implement, and foster a learning environment characterized by innovation, diversity and a new approach in teaching and learning. This is precisely why ACS Athens is supporting Synaesthesia. In the words of Dr. Gialamas, another “first” for ACS Athens! I myself, as parent of two ACS Alumni, am very proud and thankful for all the educational principles and values of our school. ACS Faculty, staff and students have excellent teamwork-Our Blending Power! ■

Presenting my personal account, and the school’s initiative at the 2nd IASAS Conference in Moscow, Russia

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“Everything is political” An Interview With Dr. Natalia Linos, Running For US Congress by Ann Marie Martinou, Academy student

am not the type of person to refuse to grab a unique opportunity when it is presented to me; I constantly strive to work on what makes me passionate and engaged. This value emerged as I was scanning through my new emails on a warm summer day and one title stood out in particular: “Unique opportunity to interview an ACS Alumna running for Congress.” I was intrigued by the idea, however, could this be true? Could I really have the opportunity to interview someone running for United States Congress? To my surprise, I quickly found out that yes, this was true, the opportunity was bestowed to me by my teachers. A few email exchanges and hours of research later, on Thursday, July 24th, I had the utmost honor to interview Ms. Natalia Linos, a social democrat running for Congress in Massachusetts’ Fourth Congressional District. Natalia Linos is a Greek American born in Cleveland, Ohio. She is a social epidemiologist, an experienced public servant, and a mother of three. Growing up, Natalia had a passion for health and she was destined to pursue a career in medicine; her dad is a surgeon and her mom is an epidemiologist. After perform-

ing some initial research on Ms. Linos, one question quickly dawned on me: how does someone who is passionate about medicine decide to run for Congress? After sitting through an interview with Ms. Linos, along with the supervision of Ms. Carla Tanas, the Dean of the Institute, I am ready to share the answer to this daunting question. Perhaps I did not make one thing clear enough: Natalia Linos attended ACS Athens when she was younger! As psychology strongly suggests, the environment which a child grows up in greatly affects the child’s perception of the world around them. Ms. Linos is no outlier to this fact. AMM: Do you believe the fact that you attended an international school, ACS Athens, influenced your perception and your drive to fight injustice, and, if so, to what extent? NL: Yes, I certainly do. I think one of the main ways that injustice works is through discrimination. In the US, it’s around racism, it’s this discrimination against different groups. In Greece, it could be around Roma populations or people of other ethnic or religious backgrounds. I think the fact that our school was so diverse, included people of many religions, people of many linguistic backgrounds, and many ethnicities, allowed me to break down the isolation that allows you to have these views of the other being inferior. Fundamentally, I see inequities as not about personal failures or inferiority of one group versus another, but just as a failure of our society, of our laws, of our systems, to provide the same conditions for everyone. I think ACS is one of the most diverse schools in Greece. It gave me the opportunity to have these conversations and friendships. “Fundamentally, I see inequities as not about personal failures or inferiority of one group versus another, but just as a failure of our society, of our laws, of our systems, to provide the same conditions for everyone.” Following her graduation at ACS Athens, Ms. Linos attended Harvard University, earning her Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, her Master of Science in Social

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Epidemiology, and Doctor of Science in Social Epidemiology. When asked about her reaction when she found out that she had been accepted into Harvard as a senior at ACS Athens, she stressed the importance of not worrying too much regarding the name of a university; she believes that there are multiple universities that may not be as prestigious as Harvard, but can still provide someone with a valuable education. Apart from studying at Harvard University, Natalia Linos has also been the Executive Director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, and has worked with the United Nations and the New York City Health Department. AMM: You have been the Executive Director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University since September 2019. What exactly does this position entail, and what has working in this position taught you? NL: This center is an interdisciplinary center; it has professors and faculty of law, of medicine, people who work on human rights from a holistic perspective, not just doctors or public health officials. There is a lot of knowledge that is produced in academic institutions like Harvard, but that knowledge doesn’t always translate to change in terms of policies, because, people write academic papers and publish them in journals that nobody reads outside of academia, so the role of that center, we call it an action-research center, is to do some of that translational piece, making sure we’re writing articles and ensuring that we’re communicating directly with the public, as well as policy makers. In Greece, we do work on the refugee crisis. There’s some of the faculty that do work there, we work on COVID-19 and racial inequities right now, there’s work been done on climate change and migration, so there’s a lot of different thematic issues, but the focus is recognizing that health is not shaped just by whether you have access to a doctor, but also about human rights, discrimination, poverty, and all the conditions outside of the healthcare system. “There is a lot of knowledge that is produced in academic institutions like Harvard, but that knowledge doesn’t always translate to change in terms of policies.” Nevertheless, the question of why a scientist would run for Congress was still dwelling in my thoughts. After all, only 14 out of 535 members in Congress are scientists. As quoted by Ms. Linos, “You can’t hope that politicians will listen to scientists; we must elect them. That’s why I’m running.” “You can’t hope that politicians will listen to scientists; we must elect them. That’s why I’m running.” AMM: You said you had a passion for health growing up, however, what was the single event that inspired you to run for Congress? How did you make the leap from science to running for Congress? NL: I have been in a lot of political spaces, and I don’t know if, Ann Marie, you do MUN, but I was doing

MUN when I was your age, and I worked for the UN for a long time (for 10 years). In those spaces, I have been in meetings with prime ministers, with ministers, I have gone behind the scenes hearing how politicians debate and discuss priorities. It’s been very exciting. I’ve worked with the former prime minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, as her speech writer, the former vice president of Costa Rica… I have always been interested in the political space and how important that is… Women leaders have been mentors to me, but I was quite happy doing work outside of politics, like working at the UN. But, COVID-19 hit. And, in Greece, it was managed pretty well, but in the US, it has been a disaster. It has been a disaster despite the fact that we have the best doctors, the best hospitals, even the best public health professionals. The irony there has been so strong and so clear that it’s a governance failure, that it was the administration that failed, that politically, we needed more people with a science background to help guide us. That’s why I decided to run. “We needed more people with a science background to help guide us. That’s why I decided to run.” Finally, one of the last questions I asked Ms. Linos was regarding extracurricular activities she had participated in at ACS Athens. Although this may seem like a misguided question, her answer made me realize how ACS Athens, as a diverse international school, equips its students with knowledge and the mindset necessary to excel later in life. Years following her graduation in 1999, Ms. Linos still nostalgically remembers the inclusive environment of ACS Athens, the long lasting friendships she created, and how ACS Athens truly promotes all types of learning. AMM: Were there any extracurriculars that perhaps made you think that you wanted to study medicine or shaped your thinking into what it is today? NL: No, I’ll tell you the opposite. I did a lot; I did choir, music, I was into orchestra… I always played sports. I was never a top athlete but I played basketball and soccer with the ACS teams. I think those are just as valuable experiences and I think that’s what was unique at the time. I don’t know if it’s more common now, but, at the time, ACS was one of the only schools that had both academic excellence and a huge array of other activities that students were getting engaged with. What is more common in the US is that if you’re an athlete that’s all you can do, because you train 4 hours a day, whereas at ACS it was more like you can be both an athlete and an MUN person, and it was okay if you weren’t the top athlete. I liked the way ACS embraced and allowed people to explore their interests without feeling like you had to be amazing in something in order to participate; it felt quite inclusive. I do want to add that a lot of the alums from ACS are engaging with me right now in this campaign. I graduated in 1999, so that’s 21 years ago, and still people are engaged and excited. I do believe there is something about ACS and the community that it builds. I’ve reached out to a few older alums and younger alums and even a professor here at Har-

vard, called Nicholas Burns, who used to be ambassador to Greece. His daughters graduated from ACS and I spoke to him yesterday, he said, “Any ACS alum I’ll support!” So it’s kind of that notion of a shared experience. I was also in student government for a little while. Anyway, the ACS community is an important one, and it still is. I still talk to some of the teachers. Recognize that as something, and in a few years you’ll reach back to some of your ACS friends. “I liked the way ACS embraced and allowed people to explore their interests without feeling like you had to be amazing in something in order to participate, it felt quite inclusive.” After talking to Ms. Linos about her experience regarding ACS Athens, I asked her a final question. AMM: What advice would you give a young person that wants to pursue a career in politics? NL: No one is ever too young to become involved in politics. I think there is value to being engaged, because decisions that are being made today will shape the future that you will live in tomorrow. It’s import-

ant to have political engagement and conversations, and to say that “I’m not political” doesn’t get out of the fact that the laws, the rules of a country are going to influence your life, so there isn’t really “I’m not political.” Everything is political. “Decisions that are being made today will shape the future that you will live in tomorrow.” By the end of the interview, it was crystal clear that Ms. Linos is a perfect candidate for raising the number of scientists in the US Congress, considering her willingness and passion to serve her community. As a student, it is evident to me that the values Ms. Linos was taught in the diverse and inclusive environment of ACS Athens have helped her achieve ambitions throughout her career. On behalf of all ACS Athens, I would like to wish you good luck with your campaign, Ms. Natalia Linos! It was a pleasure to meet you and I wish you the best in all your future endeavors. ■

cussion with George Sifakis, Ideagen® Global Chairman, Founder, and CEO on the role of education in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In her interview, Dr. Pelonis highlighted the vital importance of education in providing an example and framework to the next generation and creating a positive impact in their environment and in the societies that they live in.

Events The 2020 Ideagen EU Global Goals Digital Summit by Konstantinos Kouvopoulos, Assistant Director of Communications

deagen, a US-based civic & social organization specializing in cross-sector collaborations and convening the world’s leading companies, NGOs, and public sector organizations, organized the 2020 EU Global Goals Digital Summit on July 22nd, 23rd, & 24th. Organized by Ideagen, the “2020 Ideagen EU Global Goals Digital Summit” is addressing one of the most important issues of our time, as a distinguished panel of over 25 global leaders and luminaries will come together in a three-part summit to discuss ways of achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals and how the EU is tackling the global issues. In Part 1 panel, ACS Athens President Dr. Peggy Pelonis moderated and discussed the importance of making a social impact through entrepreneurship, relief work, community serving start-ups, communication, and volunteerism. Apart from Dr. Pelonis, the panel included Hanne Dalmut - Sr. Director / Partnership Development at Concordia, Melina Taprantzi - Founder of Wise Greece, Michalis Stangos - Co-Founder ID-GC, Vassilis Michailidis - Chief of Staff at The HOME Project, Yanna Darili - Media Executive and Elina Pipa - ACS Athens student. The closing day for the “2020 Ideagen® EU Global Goals Digital Summit”, with a broad-ranging schedule, also included ACS Athens President Dr. Peggy Pelonis’ dis-

Dr. Pelonis also explained the significance of these goals to ACS Athens and how, in collaboration with the faculty, the School has integrated them into the curriculum through its Citizenship Academy which will be launched in the fall of 2020: “Our mission is to prepare this generation by offering resources, researched knowledge and support to see this through”. Education addresses each and every one of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. ACS Athens remains true to its commitment to working with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in the field of education and contributes to the discussion with its president, Dr. Peggy Pelonis, Board of Trustees Members Mr. Mark Wolper - President and Executive producer at The Wolper Organization and Ms. Effie Tsiotsiou Executive Director & Director of Education, Onassis Foundation, Faculty member Ms. Christina Venos, student Ms. Elina Pipa, and ACS Athens Alumna Ms. Lydia Pinirou - a student at Royal Holloway, University of London. ■

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A two-day virtual event took place on April 21st and 22nd, and speakers from 17 countries engaged in 38 workshops and 30 roundtable discussions over a period of 22 hours! A wealth of information was made available (free of charge) to more than 200 educators who chose to participate (even at odd hours of the night due to the different time zones) I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to present two workshops and share with others what we do at ACS Athens: how we prepare student-athletes to move on to higher education in the United States, and the role of the Athletic Council as a student leadership program in our school. Detailed information was provided and I was pleased to see that a number of participants were interested in finding out more and connected with me individually for further discussion. Since time was not an issue during quarantine, I had the chance to listen to other presenters as well and exchange ideas on several topics; learning is truly a lifelong process.

Sharing Knowledge During Quarantine… Summer… And Always “The Virtual Way” by Annie Constantinides Director of Athletics, Recreational Programs & Theater Operations

e are definitely living through unprecedented times, and 2020 will be a year to remember! The global pandemic caught everyone by surprise, and we are all navigating through a “new normal” in many aspects of our lives: daily routines, work, education, travel, and much more. People went from being stunned to being creative as days and weeks went by, and through challenges that came our way, opportunities were created. As the Winter (March) sports competitions were being cancelled one by one, and fellow colleagues in the athletic community around the world were disappointed to see a sudden “flatline,” the importance and need for staying connected professionally was evident more than ever. As a result, in an effort to stay focused on our profession, a sports administrator with many years of international experience - Nick DeForest from the American International School of Vienna - initiated the “Globetrotting Ads” Online Conference for International School Athletic & Activity Directors, Coaches and program associates across the world. It was an opportunity to connect and to share best practices.

It was apparent that a lot of work was put in by the hosts to prepare this online conference. When asked how he did it, Nick DeForest’s response was both simple and somewhat profound: “During the lockdown, there was so much great content popping up online, but nothing was specific for International School Athletic Directors and Coaches. I realized that I was in a unique position to not only help our global community with some Professional Development specifically for them but also give many of our colleagues the opportunity to present some of the amazing things that they do at their own schools. I felt it was my way to give back and to be a real servant leader”. The feedback from the conference was very positive; people wanted an “encore”, so preparation for the planning of the Summer Conference Series (July 8th & 22nd) began, and the outcome included, once again, many presenters from all over the world! Same format, same time schedule but NEW topics and ideas! Another professional development opportunity without having to go anywhere! ACS Athens was once again represented through my workshop of “Leading and Mentoring Coaches – from Theory to Practice,” and it was a great way once again to network with fellow colleagues. From participating in these online conferences, it was obvious that all of us, no matter what part of the world we live in, have one thing in common: we serve the students through sports. We are all committed to education based athletics whose purpose is the growth and development of young people. Finally, it was crystal clear that we all experienced similar challenges before COVID-19 and certainly during the pandemic “era.” Now is a time where continuous collaboration and sharing knowledge will keep us going. ■

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Commencement Ceremonies

2020

Elementary, Middle School And Academy Commencement Ceremonies 2020 by Sophia Moros, Elementary School Principal, Stelios Kalogridakis, Interim Counseling Coordinator K-12 and David Nelson, Academy Principal

rom Grit to Graduation Ceremonies During Spring of 2020 by Sophia Moros

Grit is defined as “passion and perseverance” by renowned psychologist Angela Duckworth. Perseverance is the exact trait that allowed ACS elementary students to forge their way to the end of the school year despite having experienced a major disruption in their school life. These changes roughly started during the onset of the pandemic, February 2020, and included sacrificed field trips, enforced social distance rules, alternating schedules including blended learning, virtual classroom, and hybrid classes, along with many other adjustments. Daily practices required training children for heightened hygiene routines that were imposed on all students while adhering to dis-

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tancing rules, avoiding group work, frequently sanitizing hands, personal belongings, tabletops, etc.. This was certainly not how I pictured the end of the year to come to a close, nor did I ever believe that we would be dividing kindergarten students into smaller groups in an effort to keep them socially distanced from their peers. The sad truth about the C19 pandemic is that it strained students’ daily conveniences and interrupted their safe living conditions, including precious time with friends and opportunities for extracurricular or social events. Even worse, it tested their technical skills by forcing them to navigate online platforms for learning - including ages under 10. The early childhood program offered students, from the age of 3, to join synchronous sessions (with their parents’ help, of course) in order to keep strong bonds and communication with their homeroom teachers, while 10-year-old students were tasked with completing online assignments, collaborating with peers, and independently coordinating their schedules to submit online assignments. Despite all the adjustments and discomforts the pandemic inflicted on our students, it also brought forth the possibility for personal growth with new learning opportunities. Fifth-graders, in particular, quickly rose to the occasion and learned to work cooperatively, communicate through writing emails, scheduled appointments with peers or teachers, accessed online support tools and resources. They came together, and each demonstrated a collective persistence towards completing the school year with a strong readiness for moving to middle school. ACS Athens students shifted overnight from brick-and-mortar classrooms to virtual classrooms, and students had no choice but to adapt to an entirely different way of learning. Individual feedback from student reflections included heartfelt gratitude for their teachers - specifically during the period of lockdown. An unexpected appreciation for ‘normal’ school arose because students could then see the difference in attending school faceto-face on a daily basis. Again Angela Duckworth’s research “argues that an individual’s grit is a better predictor of long-term success, more than talent or IQ. Grit is a combination of passion and perseverance for long-term goals.” (Daniels, 2017) Early childhood students, on the other hand, were simply exposed to such modalities for the first time, meaning their earliest experiences of school included virtual learning, turning this into a standard expectation for school. Regardless of grade, students relied on technology, cooperation, teamwork, and exposure to various learning modalities. They created communities that took risks and created a culture of care and respect for each other’s ideas.

Elementary School Graduation 2020

iddle School Commencement by Stelios Kalogridakis

During these unprecedented times of the pandemic, our school quickly shifted into our Virtual Learning Phases to ensure our students’ learning had the fewest disruptions and continued to meet curriculum expectations. We shifted our MS schedule into 3 Phases; during Phase 1, we provided two synchronous sessions for our students with Virtual Office hours at the beginning and end of the school day. This shifted in the second week of the phase to synchronous and asynchronous sessions, meaning more time for our students to be supported outside of the classroom sessions.

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Phase 2 (April 8-May 15) of Virtual Learning shifted in the following ways: ◉ A minimum of three synchronous blocks per class every two weeks ◉ A strong connection between asynchronous and synchronous interactivity for students ◉ 20-minute breaks in between the sessions ◉ Uninterrupted planning time ◉ An organized schedule for adding any additional synchronous sessions (mandatory or optional), without creating any conflicts for students This culminated with the 3rd and final phase when we welcomed our students back to campus. We allowed the possibility for families that were either abroad or unable to return to campus to continue with their online learning while welcoming two separate groups within our school. Each group would come in for three days, transitioning from group A to group B, and so forth. We continued this format leading up to our Virtual Final assessment week in early June and then closing out the year with our Virtual 8th Grade Step-Up Ceremony. While a very difficult and challenging year, our students pivoted greatly into this new e-learning reality and were more equipped with the transition through years of working in their classrooms with the i²Flex teaching methodology.

lass of 2020 ACS Athens Academy Graduation by David Nelson

It was a time of great pride for the ACS Athens community as we came together to celebrate the class of 2020 with an unprecedented hybrid graduation that showcased our students’ resilience, leadership, friendships, and academic success. While the “Live” YouTube event featured the Academy graduates who received their diplomas on the campus of ACS Athens, the recorded event also honored the classes’ Valedictorian Barbara Simonetou and Salutatorian Marianthi Bitsikas, who addressed their class. President of the Class of 2020, Jason Stavropoulos and Vice President, Gerogios Soukakos have since read the roll call to thousands of online viewers. This special event allowed families and friends to convene, both during watch parties and in online events, where they listened to the inspiring words of ACS Athens President Dr. Peggy Pelonis, Chairman of the ACS Athens Boards of Trustees, Suheil Sabbagh, and commencement speakers, His Excellency Geoffrey R. Pyatt, U.S. Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic, and Dr. Michael Amiridis, Chancellor of the University of Illinois at Chicago. You too can visit the following link and see the student honorees, talented performers, and award recipients from the class of 2020. [https://bit.ly/31xSBir] As the Principal of the ACS Athens Academy, I was hon-

ored to address the graduates and to highlight their range of interests, skills, strengths, and attributes. I called on the students to not “race through life with things to do”, but rather to kiss the end of the alphabet and place their “Y before their X marks the spot” to discover their own “WhY in life”. With an “invitation to think differently”, I welcomed them to the world, their world as work in progress, and reminded them to always ask the most important question, “Why do I?” I have all the confidence that they will move forward with purpose and willpower as graduates of ACS Athens and future leaders of our world. Once again, congratulations to the class of 2020 ! A special thank you to the faculty and staff of ACS Athens and to our Graduation Coordinator Evelyn Pittas, Co-Coordinator Stacy Filippou, as well as the amazing video production and editing crew from our own ACS Athens Media Studio: John Papadakis, Thanasis Palos, and Linos Meitanis. ■

To The Class Of 2020 And A Life Well-Lived! by Evelyn Pittas, Academy IB Faculty, Senior Class Advisor

t gives me great pleasure to speak to you, as you are entering the next phase of your lives; a step into a world that I hope you will find exciting and fulfilling! As you set out to explore the horizons of your future, I hope you seek to claim the lives that rightfully belong to you.

You will not only enter an ever-changing world but also a somewhat frightening one where security cannot be taken for granted. This will call upon all of your independence, determination, and perseverance. It means you will undoubtedly face setbacks and have times when life seems unfair. Such experiences promise adventure, thrill, wisdom, and mystery. It is opportunities like these that can bewilder both young and old alike; much more you, now that you will embark into unknown territory, a journey that is definitely unfamiliar from your adolescence and teenage recklessness. It is often believed that adolescents do not consider themselves young adults until after the age of 18. The media and a raw desire for attention have created this blurry border between adolescent and young adult. Yet, there is one significant distinction that must be recognized and avoided. A teenager today can live carefree and casual, light-hearted and cheerful without consideration of what tomorrow may bring. A young adult, on the other hand, is faced with life-changing decisions. The young adult must settle cause with effect, action with reaction, ambition with apathy. Being a young adult means being legally and morally independent, ethically, and consciously responsible; it means being free to select your own course of action.

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Valedictorian 2020 Barbara Simonetou with ACS Athens President Dr. Peggy Pelonis and Salutatorian 2020 Marian Bitsikas

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For the first 18 years of your lives, your character has been molded by your experiences and education; and it is this character that now slowly paves its way into adulthood. Do not forget that a significant part of this character is the set of values that you have carefully developed so dearly. Open-mindedness, empathy, integrity, ethos, diligence, and solidarity should not be “tags,” but fundamental truths and golden principles symbolizing your moral compass as you spread your wings to soar high into the skies of the future. As you leave ACS Athens, you must designate a new course and develop your own vision. I hope that you will never allow others to persuade you against striving for those things that you really want from life. I hope that you will not be so insistent upon demanding rights that you will not discharge your obligations. I hope you will remember that you are responsible for what you say and do. I hope you will aim high! There is nothing wrong with aiming high and failing, but there is waste in failing because you did not try in the first place. So dare to dream, so that, when you are older, you will have no regrets. I hope that you will have enjoyed more laugher than tears. Discover new heights to conquer, new worlds to explore, new people to encounter. I trust that you will be able to examine the way you have lived and be proud that you have identified the strengths in people, their gentleness, and how they smile; that you will have found the goodness in others; that you will have been kind. As you go into the world, do not forget about others. Your family, your friends, and your nation depend on you and should be somewhere in your heart. Look back sometimes and remember the friends you made at ACS, Athens, and the things you learned. Never stop learning and respect yourself and others! Finally, remember that you are not only an individual but also a conscious citizen who must remain informed and who must reflect on what is happening around the world. Use your logic to understand politics, embrace social issues, debate war and peace, and do not blindly accept the declarations of any creed or the bliss of ignorance. Seek the truth from the facts instead. As you face and tackle the inevitable changes, hold true to yourself. Remember to hold onto your value system, your work ethic, and , most importantly, your humanity. It is these qualities that will guide you further on your journey. So, as you continue this journey which started when you were just a child and now sees you move into your young adult years, watch out for the steps along the way that will lead towards deciding who you will be – and remember that whatever decisions you make, there will always be a choice. As you leave us today, my love and best wishes go with you. Thank you for sharing the sparkle in your eye, the trust from your heart, the curiosity of your mind. I trust that you will be able to look back on your life and see that it has been a life of achievement and a life well-lived!Good luck to you all ■

Facilities Response To Challenging Times ACS Athens Crisis Management Plan by Annie Constantinides Director of Athletics Crisis Management Team, Chair

he world is facing a health threat, unparalleled by no other in the past 100 years; the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged individuals, institutions, organizations, and governments since early 2020, and it seems that we will be in this turmoil for a number of months ahead of us. It is important for any organization, including educational institutions, to be prepared in case of unexpected crises or threats, from dealing with fires or earthquakes to human loss. A plan is needed not only to identify the threats, but also to be able to manage them effectively for the wellbeing of all constituents. The safety and well being of our students, faculty, staff, and parents of our community is of primary importance to ACS Athens. The ACS Athens Crisis Management Team consists of the Dean of Academics, the Director of Finance, the Facilities Manager, the Director of Athletics & Activities, and the Middle School Principal. This team is responsible for the creation and constant review of the Crisis Management Handbook, which includes the safety protocols and policies of our institution,

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in regards to major threats, such as possible fire and earthquake incidents, school closures for various reasons, and other. The team meets regularly throughout the year, reports to the President, and, depending on situations arising, acts accordingly. In matters of public health, the school nurse is actively involved in the creation and communication of our health protocols While no one in the world was ready for the global pandemic, the ACS Athens Crisis Management team was able to take necessary action (as dictated by the authorities) and simultaneously navigate our school administration, faculty, students, and the entire community through uncertain times full of anxiety and in some instances, fear. Since the beginning of the year, when COVID 19 was spreading, ACS Athens took action by: ◉ Following current events – news and government announcements ◉ Meeting virtually and in-person with medical doctors to clarify gray areas and provide clarifications regarding COVID-19. ◉ Communicating with government entities (Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health) as needed. ◉ Communicating with the Regional Security Office of the U.S Embassy and the Medical personnel from the Medical Unit of the U.S Embassy. ◉ Working diligently to prepare all classrooms and indoor spaces. ◉ Collaborating with the cafeteria to determine new procedures for the food services operation, abiding by government regulations. ◉ Creating new outdoor seating areas to be used by students for lunch. ◉ Making arrangements for masks, disinfectant gels and sprays, and additional cleaning materials. ◉ Providing appropriate signage all around campus ◉ Creating a new website section on “Return to School 20-21” with COVID-19 information and announcement s. ◉ Providing specific COVID-19 documents (health office procedures and general information) prepared by ACS Athens Head Nurse to parents, faculty, staff, and students. ◉ Establishing new campus protocols in regards to drop off, pick up points, staggered departures, visitor entry, staggered recess time, and more.

◉ Working with the transportation company to ensure that all hygiene protocols and procedures are followed. ◉ Working with the cleaning company about new cleaning protocols as well as new schedules of additional personnel. ◉ Working with our maintenance and security personnel to ensure that all safety measures are followed. ◉ Identifying a “quarantine” area, should there be a case of COVID 19 on campus. ◉ Communicating with our community with important information. As we are going through constant change and uncertainty, it is essential to react immediately, effectively, focus on the matter at hand, know the facts, and have clear communication channels among all the constituents of our community. The ACS Athens Crisis Management team will continue to work diligently to ensure the safety and well being of all. ■

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This complicated and challenging project commenced in the summer of 2018 and was completed near the end of 2019. The principal design focused on the erection of supplementary columns and beams, ensuring that the structurally upgraded theatre building could withstand even a significant earthquake. In addition, for the needs of the structural upgrade, heavy electromechanical equipment installed on the terrace of the theatre was fully dismantled and temporarily moved to another location of the school, and moved back again and reassembled after the completion of the structural works. Major phases of the project can be described as follows: ◉ The dismantling all the electromechanical equipment, main machineries, piping, and electrical installations.

Improvement And Transformation 2019-2020 by Stavros Tzanetakos, Facilities Manager

s every year, a significant part of ACS Athens’ planning is the upgrading of the facilities and infrastructure.

Several projects on campus were carried out this year targeting the improvement of the premises and raising the standards for the benefit of our students. At this point, we feel the need to especially thank the people who shared our vision for continuous improvement and financially supported us to realize it. ◉ Mr. Hercules Prokopakis, a parent and Treasurer of the Board of Trustees, for his generous donation of two Dell servers and 25 computers for the Academy computer lab. ◉ The IKEA and personally Mrs. Ada Gianneskis, a member of the Board of Trustees, for her contribution of the new cabinets’ furniture in the Elementary school Teacher’s lounge. Structural Upgrade of Theater Currently, in its 13th year of operation, the theatre building went through a structural upgrade so that it conforms to the latest structural standards. The decision was made after the completion of a technical study by static engineers, taking into consideration the large number of people that may be gathered in this area (approximately 500).

◉ The moving of all main machinery, pipes, cables, and air-ducts to various terraces of the campus. ◉ Taking down one of the two main power supply stations of the campus. ◉ Building new structural elements, columns, and beams required for the reinforcement of the theater building. ◉ Moving back all the electromechanical equipment onto the theater terrace and reassembling it. ◉ Carrying out the complete piping, electrical, and air ducts installations, as well as the required automations. ◉ Waterproofing the terrace. Sitting Area Outside Main Cafeteria / Restaurant The area outside the main restaurant of the campus, behind the Academy, has been fully renovated and turned into a contemporary and stylish sitting area for the enjoyment of our school students. We have raised a polycarbonate roof canopy, providing wall mounted solid wood sitting benches and a wholly renovated tile floor. The whole surrounding area has been architecturally “touched” to reflect elegance. New furniture has been added which, together with the hidden lighting techniques that were implemented, reflect a cozy and pleasant environment. Storage & Multipurpose Canopies To satisfy the diverse functional needs of our campus, we built two new metal canopies. One of them serves as a storage canopy for the needs of the maintenance department, and the other one has a multipurpose scope serving the various needs of the campus. Both of the structures were designed according to

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architectural guidelines, meeting the urban planning requirements of the school to avoid any future conflicts with the authorities.â&#x20AC;&#x192; Outdoor Side Area Behind Academy and Gym The side area behind the Academy and Gym has been fully restructured and resurfaced to provide an attractive area for walking or even light physical activities. During the project, the ground was fully torn down and removed, the in-ground aged piping and wiring was fully replaced for safety reasons, and the whole area was resurfaced and paved to a smooth industrial cement looking new surface. Furthermore, during the works, we had the opportunity to build new in-

ground drainage, in place of the old one, which was in poor condition. Prep-Labs During the summer, the old prep labs for the Middle School and Academy were fully renovated, refurbished and equipped with all the necessary facilities to function as high standard prep-labs, meeting the needs of our modern campus. For this purpose, we resurfaced and paved the floors with tiles; we fully redesigned and installed tailor made cabinets, counters, and working benches. We also installed new electrical wiring, piping, sinks, and faucets as well as a stronger, more effective, and ad-

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Elementary School Teachers Lounge The Elementary teacher’s lounge was redesigned and renovated, following a design proposed by IKEA expertise. The faculty lounge was refurbished and equipped with the appropriate facilities to provide a practical, elegant, and comfortable sitting area for our elementary school educational personnel.

justable ventilation system to match the increased fresh air needs of the prep-rooms. In addition, we equipped the prep-labs with special cabinets certified for storing potentially hazardous chemicals for the storage of flammable substances that may be hazardous under special conditions. IT works During this year, several works regarding our IT department were carried out. We replaced the Annex Rack and fixed all network cabling problems on the Annex Building. We bought two new laptop carts with 20 laptops each to be used by 4th and 5th Grade Elementary School students. We replaced 25 computers at the Academy Computer Lab. The computers were a kind donation by Mr. Prokopakis. We installed two new DELL servers that replaced five existing old servers through virtualization Technology. The servers were also a kind donation by Mr. Prokopakis. We upgraded our Servers to Windows 2019 Operating Systems. We upgraded most of our network operating systems to Windows 10 (about 380 computers). We purchased and implemented Office 365 for all our students and our entire faculty.

The design process, supply, and installation of the furniture were a kind donation of IKEA and Mrs. Ada Gianneskis. Electrical Works As part of our annual maintenance plan, we proceeded to the replacement of some aged main electrical panels and switchboards, in order to ensure safe and continual operation of the power supply. The need for replacements was determined after inspection and according to the recommendations of the safety engineer and our technical team confirmation. BMS upgrading BMS (Building Management System) is a computer-based control system installed in buildings that controls and monitors the building’s mechanical and electrical equipment. BMS consists of software and hardware and offers the possibility of monitoring and operating the installations from a distance through a personal computer. We fully replaced the main campus BMS last year with the latest version of Siemens, after our existing BMS was rendered obsolete. Our new BMS is an advanced system that provides our school with a more efficient and cost-effective operation, increasing the safety standards as well. Waterproof works Major waterproof works on the roof of the theater terrace have been done, with the use of high-standard insulating materials, to meet the needs of the new structural reinforcement of the theater. Because of the complexity of the structural changes made, the insulation techniques applied were also complicated, targeting not only the waterproofing

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effect but also the prevention of the concentration of heavy rainwater. The whole installation has been combined and matched with an extensive drainage system as well, providing a safe intergraded system. Playground Area Floor Last year we built a new playground area for our Elementary school kids. The playground area was designed according to standards and legislation and was TUV certified as a safe play area for our kids. During this year, we exceeded the required by law standards and upgraded the floor area, adding a second layer of impact absorbant floor tiles to provide an extra level of safety level to our students in case of a fall. Chimney Replacement Following our recent transition to natural gas for heating purposes, a technical need to modify the chimney was deemed necessary to keep up the performance and safe operation of the heating system at the recommended standards. For this year, we carried out the modifications that concern the two boilers in the pool machinery room. We replaced the old chimneys with stainless steel, thermally insulated ones, ensuring the safe and long-lasting operation of the boilers. Finally, we would also like to sincerely thank our school’s maintenance team for their continuous support, which allowed us to complete the projects without affecting the school’s day-to-day operation. ■

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Dr.G Remembering Stefanos Gialamas, ACS Athens President 2005-2019 by Dr. Peggy Pelonis, President

tefanos Gialamas was in the habit of surprising people with his innovative ideas, inspiring colleagues with his abundant energy, and mesmerizing others with his strong convictions about education and ethos. The greatest surprise however, took place on a crisp, cold morning, October 18, 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland, where he failed to arrive for his keynote speech at the Alliance for International Education conference. It was not unusual for Stefano to be late; he had a unique ability to connect with others, igniting conversations that frequently distracted him from the task at hand. So, this unusual morning, I assumed that he was engaged in one of those conversations and would any moment run to the podium, making some humorous remark that would immediately put the audience at ease. Instead, he had taken the ultimate journey that marked the end of a life well-lived. Fifteen-year prior, Stefanos Gialamas arrived at ACS Athens. A former mathematician and expert in knot theory, he spent a number of years teaching both secondary and higher education students. Eventually, his desire to be where decisions that shape education are made led him to education administration. He served as Dean, Provost, and Vice President at several higher educational institutions in the United States as well

as Greece, but it was his tenure at ACS Athens that impacted the educational world most. It all began with a vision at a time when ACS Athens was struggling; the demographics were changing quickly, and competition with other international schools found ACS Athens fraught to redefine itself and develop an identity. Stefanos recognized this struggle and decided to implement a management style not common in K-12 education; the development of a leadership structure that included several layers of administrators as functional area leaders. This university management model ensured continuity as the transient populations, due to work assignments, continued to come and go but also provided opportunities for people to develop administrative skills and eventually seek such positions. Stefanos believed strongly in developing leaders and giving opportunities. He knew that in order to inspire lifelong learning in students, he must start at the top. Even after years of success at ACS Athens, he made it a point to continue writing and engaging the educational community in dialogues that would bridge the gap between K-12 and higher education. His development of the I2flex model of blended learning created the foundation for online teaching/learning that inevitably took place over the lock down. Under his leadership, ACS Athens flourished both in numbers and in programs and ultimately led to achieving the highest level of accreditation under the Sustaining Excellence protocol by Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges. Many wondered what made this leader tick. I was fortunate to have worked by his side from the start and though he struggled to see the connection between mathematics (his love) and psychology (my love), we eventually found our way to a middle ground that led to the development of multiple programs, partnerships, publications and most of all an educational institution that is at the forefront. What do I most remember? I’m often asked; the endless conversations that led to writing, that led to projects that led to programs that led to a school that develops the type of student that goes out into the world committed to making it better. In this sense, Stefanos Gialamas’ legacy lives on. ■

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humility never allowed him to walk ahead of others, he walked beside us; friends, colleagues, students, new educators, VIP’s. Most remember him in relation to ACS Athens for his contributions, but I will always remember him as a man who walked this earth touching the hearts of so many; as a man who taught me to look for beauty even in the midst of ugliness. It is no wonder that writing about Steve has met me with resistance; there really are no words to capture who he was and how much his presence on this earth is missed. So, I defer to Maya Angelou whose efficacy with words far outweigh mine and who captures the true spirit of this man; Steve Medeiros.

Steve Remembering Steve Medeiros ACS Athens Educator 1981-2019 by Dr. Peggy Pelonis, President

“T

he object of education is to teach us to love what is beautiful”. Plato. Yet there is no education without an educator. Steve Medeiros was an educator in the true sense of the word. He recognized true beauty and inspired in his students, colleagues and friends a love of beauty. His own education from the finest institutions; Yale, Harvard, Middlebury, provided an endorsement for a mind and heart that was in continuous search of truth and beauty. In more than 35 years of being a teacher, principal, assistant superintendent and Dean at ACS Athens, Steve mostly loved his role as a teacher. He cherished his time with the students and the opportunity to unleash their minds and hearts towards ultimately becoming the best version of themselves. He taught with seemingly little effort; he could walk into a room full of students and later full of educators, for the first time, and within minutes turn it into a learning incubator. When Steve spoke you couldn’t hear a pin drop, yet, his

When Great Trees Fall by Maya Angelou When great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder, lions hunker down in tall grasses, and even elephants lumber after safety. When great trees fall in forests, small things recoil into silence, their senses eroded beyond fear. When great souls die, the air around us becomes light, rare, sterile. We breathe, briefly. Our eyes, briefly, see with a hurtful clarity. Our memory, suddenly sharpened, examines, gnaws on kind words unsaid, promised walks never taken. Great souls die and

our reality, bound to them, takes leave of us. Our souls, dependent upon their nurture, now shrink, wizened. Our minds, formed and informed by their radiance, fall away. We are not so much maddened as reduced to the unutterable ignorance of dark, cold caves. And when great souls die, after a period peace blooms, slowly and always irregularly. Spaces fill with a kind of soothing electric vibration. Our senses, restored, never to be the same, whisper to us. They existed. They existed. We can be. Be and be better. For they existed.

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INSIDE TRACK TO GREATER LEADERSHIP