Reframing Learning Values | TIE Newsletter 24 September 2025 | The International Educator (TIE Online)

24 September 2025

Establishing Organizational Clarity for Middle Leaders in Schools

By Dr. Kathryn Handy

Setting the stage for middle leaders to be the stewards of a school’s strategic vision, driving real change in teaching, collaboration, and student outcomes... more

PEACE YOU HAVE MY WORD

Africa Unite

By Africa Oforiwaa Sakyi Addo, student

This powerful poem is a declaration of identity, unity, and hope. A learner’s lyrical tribute to Africa as both a home and a responsibility... more

MULTILINGUALISM IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

When More is Never Enough, It’s Time to Think Differently

By Jon Nordmeyer and Dr. Virginia Rojas

EAL is no longer enough. Discover why schools need to evolve EAL teachers into multilingual learning specialists to meet the needs of diverse learners... more

Exploring the Range and Impact of Primary Student Supervision

By Dallin Bywater

Uncover how playground supervision impacts safety, behavior, and wellbeing, and why being present isn’t the same as being effective... more

Route to Recognition: Students Implement Bus Driver Appreciation Day

By Kathryn T. Berkman

Eight students, one overcrowded bus, and a big idea: how empathy, systems thinking, and action created real community change... more

When Assessment Holds Back Real-World Learning

By Dr. Sou Leong-Ellerker

What we assess signals what we value. If we want to inspire changemakers, our assessments must honor the full story of learning… more

The Rhetoric of Elective Education

By Libby Sievert

Breaking the subject hierarchy is key to a complete and meaningful education. It’s time to build a framework that honors all learning as essential… more

The Influence of Play on Early Literacy

By Bree Kraft

What looks like play is powerful literacy in action. Early exploration fuels language, identity, and joyful learning... more

PEARLS OF WISDOM

Whoever Does the Thinking Does the Learning

By Andrew Hay

Empowering teachers and leveraging collective wisdom can transform school initiatives and create a culture of shared ownership... more

NEURODIVERSITY IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

Bengt Rosberg Senses His Way Forward (Hypersensitivity)

By Diana Rosberg and Bridget McNamer

A seasoned school leader discovers he's a Highly Sensitive Person, transforming his empathy and emotional insight into powerful, relationship-driven leadership... more

What Burnout Looks Like When You’re 50 and Still Teaching Abroad

By Mushfiqua Zabeen

Burnout after 50 isn’t collapse; it’s quiet compromise. Discover small fixes for balance, health, and sustainable energy abroad... more

From Performance to Presence: Reframing the Trap of Performative Leadership

By Lianne Dominguez

There’s a TikTok trend going around called “the performative man”—a satirical take on guys who do the bare minimum but make it look like maximum effort. He’s flipping a pancake like it’s a CrossFit workout. He answers one email and immediately announces it’s time for a break... more

Two Paths, One Purpose: Online and In-Person Learning at the PTC

By Sue Easton

When I started facilitating PTC courses 17 years ago, they were only offered in person and only during the June/July school break. For me, it was one of the highlights of the year. To have a room filled with aspiring and current school leaders, excited to be learning together, and sharing their own wisdom and experience, was the best professional learning I could have hoped for myself... more

Global Book Recommendations: Books for the New School Year

By Margriet Ruurs

Bounce! by Robert Munsch with art by Michael Martchenko is yet another wild story by Munsch – a much welcome romp in a hospital bed. Two sisters scrape a knee and get hauled off in an ambulance. But when they are placed in a waiting room, they get tired of waiting and soon discover the bed has buttons. Buttons to move the bed up, and down, and down and up... more

Yak Shaving: The Hidden Costs of Shadow Work in Schools

By Matt Brady

Schools waste hundreds of hours of instructional prep time per year through poorly designed systems that offload administrative work onto teachers. Unnecessary screen time breeds serious staff wellness problems as well as productivity losses. What Does Yak Shaving Look Like? Consider the teacher who needs to record their expenses, update their emergency contact info, or apply for PD, for example. These procedures often trigger multi-platform odysseys... more

Epistemic Disobedience for Reclaiming Curriculum

By Shwetangna Chakrabarty

The term epistemic disobedience, popularized by Walter Mignolo, refers to the refusal to conform to dominant systems of knowledge that have historically silenced or unapproved diverse ways of knowing. It is the act of resisting epistemic dominance, the monopoly of Western, colonial, or elite discourses, and reclaiming intellectual freedom... more

Goethe Rides On

By Paul Magnuson

I’m met at the German building called the Bahnhof (though there are no trains) by the leader of the high school program. We decide to go to the learning group that is listening to and creating rap songs. I’m ushered into a room with five very energetic German speakers, fairly fluent, especially the teacher, who is the most energetic of all. This group is fired up... more