Bridges to Inquiry | TIE Newsletter 8 October 2025 | The International Educator (TIE Online)

8 October 2025

The Power of Small: Why Schools Don’t Need to Apologize for Their Size

By Dr. Jeremy Majeski

What if small schools aren’t lacking but leading? Discover why their size is not a weakness but a strength, and what larger schools can learn from them... more

From Learners to Teachers: The Impact of Student-Made Tutorial Videos

By Tianshuai Jiang

Through these experiences, curiosity grew into ownership. Students were learning in connection with their peers, their families, and the wider community… more

Digital Tools as Bridges to Inquiry in Early Childhood

By Itzel Madero Hernandez

Technology can enrich play in early childhood, supporting inquiry, creativity, and meaningful expression... more

The Culture Shift That Keeps Students Safer

By Alistair Goold

Restorative practices move safeguarding beyond checklists, building safer schools through trust, belonging, and student voice... more

From Pause to Progress: Catch Up on Your Job Search Process

By Stacy Stephens

If you’ve been watching from the sidelines or feeling behind, now is the time to jump in. You still have time to get aligned, get visible, and get ready before Phase Three begins in November... more

Beyond English-Only

By Anita Louise Churchville and Ceci Gomez-Galvez

A research-based look at why we must shift from English-only to multilingual approaches, leveraging students' linguistic assets for sustainable success... more

Navigating New Roles as an Instructional Coach

By Sasha Robins and Kim Cofino

Learn how instructional coaches can embrace informal leadership to build trust, advocate for coaching, and lead meaningful schoolwide change... more

SHIFTING SCHOOLS PODCAST

Data Literacy: The Key to Future Problem Solving

By Jeff Utecht and Tricia Friedman

This episode discusses the transformative role of AI and data literacy in education and employment... more

Rethinking Normality in Uncertain Times

By Rachida Dahman

In times of crisis, do we cling to artificial rituals of stability or do we dare to create spaces where something genuinely new can emerge… more

PEARLS OF WISDOM

Looking After Yourself

By Jinjie Shi

Highlighting the paradox that while leaders are expected to support others' wellbeing, they frequently neglect their own... more

Swiss National Day

By Paul Magnuson

So I received Swiss citizenship a few years back, after living in Switzerland more than 12 years. It’s been 17 now, and counting. Way before moving to Switzerland I taught German at these summer immersion programs in Minnesota, at Concordia Language Villages. I’ve returned for a few days to observe the learning here, and what do you know, I happened to be on site when a special event was organized with the high school students learning German, French, or Italian... more

Tick Tock: The O.G. Decision

By Stephen Dexter, Jr.

I wish I had time to humor you with the series of creative prompts that led to this masterpiece, but this is the best I could to on a Sunday afternoon. Not that any international educators are looking out their apartments with a view of Big Ben wondering what to do next, but you get the symbolic metaphor. It’s time... more

Warm Sunny Days

By Daniel Kerr

So there’s this student that I know at our school who might just be the happiest person that I have ever met. I fortunately get to see her every morning, and her contagious warmth, smile, and attitude brightens my mood without fail, and sets the tone for my day. She’s like the weather for me, as well as for everyone around her, in that she changes the mood, the energy, and the outlook of anyone lucky enough to cross her path... more

What’s Really Holding Your Team Back? The Confidence–Competence Gap No One Talks About

By Lianne Dominguez

There’s a look I’ve seen often — that pause after I introduce a new task. Not resistance. Not laziness. Just a subtle pause. Sometimes it’s a look of “Are you sure I can do this?” Other times it’s a confident “Yep!” — followed by an outcome that quietly says… maybe not... more

Teaching To Be an Upstander: Education and Bullying

By Conrad Hughes

Many of the competencies and values we aim to develop through education are cognitive and technical: conceptual understanding, skills, knowledge and the transfer of knowledge, innovation and creativity, criticality, and reflection. The radical transformation of the generation and distribution of knowledge by artificial intelligence is reshaping the importance and form of some of these facets of learning... more

The Price of Privilege (That Is Paid by Our Students and Children)

By Nicholas Alchin

It’s not often that I read a book and question it, but still want to recommend it widely, and indeed to re-read it immediately. Dr. Madeline Levine’s The Price of Privilege is one such book. Though based largely on her clinical experience in California – and hence arguably very culturally specific – the anecdotes resonate with my experience as a teacher, principal and, I have to admit, as a parent in Singapore, Kenya, UK, USA and Switzerland... more