MAIS Annual Professional Development Conference 2017

This year, a team of 3 members of staff from Chester College I.S. attended MAIS´s 2017 Annual Conference, which took place in Valencia, November 2-5, and was entitled “Setting Learning on Fire”. The conference provided a wonderful opportunity for teachers to learn from experts in the fields of student assessment, curriculum development, and speech development.

Below is Mr Javier Vesga´s account on his personal experience as a MAIS Conference participant:

“The MAIS (Mediterranean Association of international Schools) conference provided me with the opportunity to learn from leading experts first hand and harness ideas and knowledge from teachers in schools across the Mediterranean.

My experience began with attending a keynote speech by Dr. Reeves on formative assessments and their application as an evaluative tool. This was followed by a thought-provoking talk by Dr. Guskey who developed on the premise of formative assessment and emphasised the importance of the tool as an appropriate means of evaluation, and finished by attending a talk by a leading science curriculum developer, Jennifer Weibert. By the end of Day 1 I was enthralled by the insight I was receiving by all these inspiring educational leaders.

Day 2 began slightly earlier, but I was excited. The keynote speaker, Stephen Ritz, on the second day provided us with an inspirational talk on the impact we can have as teachers on students, talking from his own experience- a simple gardening science project motivating and empowering his students, something an educator may dream of. It was then followed by a talk by Dr. Grant on student development and finished with a talk on critical thinking (questions for life), introducing methods and phrases to help students understand the critical thinking process. Unlike day 1, day 2 was a lot more hands on; learning in groups allowed me to learn from more highly experienced teachers from all across the globe.

In all, the MAIS conference was an opportunity where I have come out with a multitude of ideas and resources for my classes, as well as excited about the educator profession I have the privilege to be a part of”.

* Chester College I. S. is a full member of MAIS (Mediterranean Association of International Schools) since 1992. It yearly participates in this network´s professional development events.