The International Schools Review Forum

In need of some professional development opportunities, preferably in Bangkok. What conferences are there likely to be in 2018? Which are the best?

Also, thinking about doing a Google for Education two day program. Are these worthwhile, given that I already use Google fairly extensively?

Thanks in advance.

Do your level 1 online. 10 bucks if you pass the first time. Do level 2 at a bootcamp (you don't actually do your certification AT the workshop (you are talking AppEvent, I think?), it simply gives you training and insight.

:-)

IB workshops, if done well, can be great PD. In addition, you could attend the EARCOS teachers workshop in March 2018 at Shangri-La, Bangkok.

http://www.earcos.org/etc2018.php

the google Educator certificate is inexpensive (USD$10 for level one and USD$25 for level 2). IB workshops are fine but they are pricey and they only give you about 15-17 hours of PD credit/hours. What do you need the PD for?

Knowledge Source Institute runs a lot of PD in Thailand. I did a PD with Carol Tomlinson on differentiation--very good. They are expensive, though--but every time I've mentioned I did it, admin are interested.

Plenty of options are usually offered through The Professional Learning Hub @NIST (http://professionallearninghub.com). I just finished the last workshop in the IB Leadership Series, which was quite good, and I've heard good things from some of the teachers about the events run by the Thinking Collaborative.

Thanks for the above info. I plumped for Creating Cultures of Thinking (Ron Ritchhard - Knowledge Source Institute).

I'm looking for further opportunities in the same vein, preferably in Thailand, that would appeal to PYP/American/ international schools. Thoughts? Still planning on doing the Google Ed. Cert.

@Helen Back

Have you thought of doing your own? I understand you need this for PD, does your regulating authority accept mentorship or facilitation for PD? If so you can find a space, do a workshop on something your good at (like maybe "Practical use of Google Classroom: Technology Integration at Inception") print out some certificates and sign them, you could even give yourself one, just have someone sign it for you. You could even be a profitable side hustle for yourself, make coin instead of paying coin for PD. Leadership does it all the time, usually every week, blathering about some nonsense with a captive audience of faculty.

You could also just forget the workshops entirely, and print out some certificates for yourself in whatever you want for whatever number of hours you need.

I'm not doing it for credit, I'm doing to improve my teaching and hopefully improve my job prospects in the process.

I'm going to present a couple of pd sessions in the next couple of weeks.

@ Dave
"You could even be a profitable side hustle for yourself, make coin instead of paying coin for PD. Leadership does it all the time, usually every week, blathering about some nonsense with a captive audience of faculty.

You could also just forget the workshops entirely, and print out some certificates for yourself in whatever you want for whatever number of hours you need."

Priceless, Dave. This is nearly as good as the story about your overseas doctorate.

@Helen Back

What subject(s) are you interested in?

General inquiry courses. Social studies, science, math. I've hovered between grades 4 and 7 as a generalist plus a couple of years as a grade 7 math and science teacher. Thinking about EARCOS next year and maybe intro to PYP online. I would prefer to move out of elementary into a middle school. Anything that might help that process would be good.

...or intro to myp.