Creating the Future through Collaboration: Keystone Hosts IB Asia-Pacific Regional Workshops
Collaboration is consistently listed as one of the most important skills in any workplace. This holds especially true in education, where best practices are constantly evolving to match the needs of students in a rapidly changing world. This past week, Keystone was honored to host the International Baccalaureate (IB) Asia-Pacific Regional Workshops, providing an excellent opportunity for teachers from Keystone and all over the region to work together and learn from each other. The IB Regional Workshops at Keystone included four days of collaboration and creativity by experienced teachers from around the Asia-Pacific region that empowered participants with new knowledge and teaching practices.
The most recent Asia-Pacific Regional Workshops held at Keystone included around 340 participants from around the region. This was the first in-person workshop hosted in China since the 2019 Regional Workshops that were also held at Keystone. Getting a chance to meet face to face makes these workshops an important event for teachers in the region, and Keystone was honored to be selected to host this event by the IB. Expanding the strong culture of collaboration that already exists at Keystone to include even more expert educators from around the region enhanced every participant’s experience. “It was a really good opportunity for teachers from the region to come and see Keystone, to come and learn at Keystone, and to collaborate with each other,” says Mr. Nick Daniel, the Assistant Head of High School, who served as a liaison for the workshops.
To start the event, Thursday featured two full-day workshops and a welcome dinner, before Friday marked the beginning of three-day workshops. On Friday Morning, Keystone welcomed teachers from around China and the Asia-Pacific region with a welcome address, and performances by our very own Keystone students. The welcome ceremony included music from the Yunyin Orchestra, as well as Chinese Dance and Wushu performances, which gave the guests a great look at the cultural learning that takes place at Keystone every day. In fact, many attendees commented on how impressed they were by these standout student performances. After a warm welcome from our students and school leaders, including a speech by Ms. Angela Meikle, the Head of IB World Schools who was in attendance, teachers broke up into smaller subject groups using the various Keystone classrooms as workshop spaces. Each group covered subjects in the IB, including some workshops offered in Chinese and others in English. Some of Keystone’s own teachers led workshops, which allowed teachers to work closely with colleagues from around the region, sharing tools and strategies they use in their classrooms to effectively reach students and engage them in the subject material.
Such detailed workshops are a huge help to the educators that attend them, with participants actively engaging in various activities that they can take back to their own classrooms. “There are three different benefits teachers can have from these workshops. First, teachers can network with all the other participants to share their good practices, to ask questions, and to collaborate and establish future collaborative work. Second, throughout the workshops, teachers are able to collaborate to develop their units or further their understanding and learn from each other. Third, the workshops were also a good opportunity to explore and share resources,” explains Ms. Lili Jia, Keystone’s Associate Head of School and Field Representative for the regional event. In addition to being a fantastic opportunity for Keystone’s own teachers to learn and gain new classroom practices, the Regional Workshops also set the stage for greater cooperation between Keystone teachers and those from all over the Asia-Pacific region.
Hosting such a large and impactful workshop is no easy task. The Keystone representatives worked together with their teams to ensure the event was a smashing success for the hundreds of participants. Also, Keystone staff from the IT department, Facilities, and Operations staff all helped to support the workshops. Staff from the IB were also on hand to help coordinate the event. Thanks to the hard work of everyone involved with the Regional Workshops, the event turned into an amazing opportunity for learning that expanded beyond the Keystone community.
“It is very powerful for our teachers to spend these days learning alongside teachers from other schools. This collaboration speaks well to our theme of connection, reminding us that connections beyond our school gates are meaningful to our growth too,” states Executive Head of School Dr. Emily McCarren. The teachers who built connections at the Regional Workshops at Keystone will be able to give even more inspiration and support to their students with the new knowledge and skills they gained at the event. Through these workshops, the learning that takes place at Keystone was shared with hundreds of educators throughout the region. As a new world school, Keystone is leading the way in creating collaborative opportunities for educators to learn from each other and drive the future of education across the globe.
