Transforming Conversations | TIE Newsletter 10 September 2025 | The International Educator (TIE Online)

BECOME A MEMBER! Sign up for TIE services now and start your international school career

TIE NEWSLETTER

10 September 2025

By Yulia Akhmetova

Although multilingualism and translanguaging may be allowed or even celebrated symbolically, pedagogical practices largely remain monolingual... more

What’s Not on the Schedule: Finding Meaning in a Shifting Role

By Ahmad Fadli

What would happen if we measured impact not by student data, but by student trust. What if teaching wasn't always about what we deliver, but about how we arrive… more

NAVIGATING IN POLARIZING TIMES

Transforming Conversations With the SCARF Model

By Jennifer Abrams

Understanding social triggers through the SCARF model can reduce defensiveness and build connection during high-stakes, polarizing conversations... more

Unseen, Not Unqualified: Why Hiring Teams Matter

By Sara Refai

For people whose backgrounds and strengths are not readable nor relatable to some hiring committees, it feels easy to be overlooked... more

High-Stakes Hiring Requires High-Quality Training

By Stacy Stephens

Recruitment is one of the most powerful levers we have to shape student outcomes, strengthen school culture, and ensure long-term sustainability... more

EMPATHY TO IMPACT PODCAST

Empowerment Through Student Agency: Storytelling for a Better World

By Scott Jamieson

Meet Maria Bella, a student turned author using her voice to fight child trafficking and inspire greater student agency in learning... more

TIE Welcomes New Editorial Committee Member

Please join us in welcoming Lianne Dominguez to the TIE family as we continue to empower educators and elevate the global conversation in international education... more

Beyond Welcome: Reframing Onboarding in an Era of Talent Scarcity

By Dr. Nigel J Winnard

A research based argument for why effective teacher and leader onboarding is more critical than ever... more

Same Classroom, Different Seat

By Conny Brock

It's important to occasionally return to the learner’s seat: to stumble, to stretch, to grow. Learning a student’s language is about fulfilling a universal need to make others feel seen and understood... more

EXPLORING COACHING ROLES

Who Are Instructional Coaches?

Dr. Kristen Moreland, Dr. Samantha Olson-Wyman, and Jordan Benedict

Explore how instructional coaching is evolving through focus group insights, key findings, and real-world educator experiences... more

PEARLS OF WISDOM

Keep Making Changes

By Megan Geshel

In this Pearl, Megan shares the importance of pushing forward with meaningful changes even when they’re met with resistance... more

Why Schools Need a Shared Understanding of High-Quality Learning

By Lianne Dominguez

It’s the start of the school year. Pencils are sharpened, classrooms prepped, staff meetings underway. You might have even rehearsed your Day 1 welcome talk in the mirror. But under the energy of a fresh start is a question many educators carry quietly: “What exactly are we building toward this year—together?” Not in the abstract language of mission posters, but in the real, daily experience of student learning... more

Humanizing the Curriculum for Flourishing

By Shwetangna Chakrabarty

For too long, education has been shaped by Euro-American theories that overlooked the wisdom of Asian, African, and Indigenous traditions. Humanizing the curriculum means placing local knowledge, cultural identity, and collective values at the center of learning. In doing so, we not only make education more relevant, we initiate the deeper work of decolonizing it allowing all learners to flourish... more

Just Wondering About Professional Growth and Evaluation

By Fred Bordaguibel-Labayle

Two years ago, when I first started at Rabat American School, one of the first big tasks we took on was to revamp the school’s Professional Growth and Evaluation (PGE) model. What I am sharing here are our steps and my reflections since we enter the second year of this process and continue to make improvements... more

What Can Teachers, Tech Coaches, IT Support, and Administrators Learn About “Collective Teacher Efficacy” From F1 Racing Pit Crews?

By Matt Brady

Formula 1 is a dynamic, ever-evolving sport with constantly changing technology and regulations (like school). The relentless pursuit of improvement and innovation is ingrained in the DNA of Formula 1 (maybe not so much like school). In the 1950s, the typical pit crew team consisted of four engineers— today there are as many as twenty specialized crew members in the pits... more

My Favorite Place in Town

By Dan Kerr

So when you walk by my office window this week you’ll notice a message on my whiteboard that reads, “school is my favorite time of the year!” and I think I’ll keep it there for at least the rest of the month. I don’t know about you but I couldn’t wait for the school year to begin and for the kids to arrive. I could barely sleep the night before and when those first students arrived through the gates last Wednesday, I could barely contain myself... more

Simulación Del Congreso Nacional de Chile

By Paul Magnuson

So after years, decades, I’ve returned to the location of my first teaching job, when I was 22 years old. Concordia Language Villages. Think summer camp, but in one of several different world languages. Here is a reflection from the back of the class at El Lago del Bosque, the Spanish Village... more