It is with a heavy heart that I say farewell to the ABIS community in my last full week at the school. Next Tuesday, my family and I will be flying to Michigan as I start my maternity leave and plan for the birth of my daughter.
I have absolutely enjoyed the 2.5 years spent at ABIS and am glad to be bringing back so many fond memories of teaching, learning, and traveling in Oman. Some of my fondest times were spent working with Grade 10 students in the personal project and as an advisor, collaborating with the Arts Department on school projects, holding open studio sessions for DP visual art students, editing Grade 12 graduation videos, hosting the Art Club ASA, and teaching myself how to run a ceramics program. I will never forget the Fall 2019 MYP Arts Showcase or camping on the beach with Grade 8 students (now in Grade 10!) during the Oman Week diving trip. Nor will I forget hiking to see petroglyphs in the mountains south of Ghab, getting a flat tire at Wadi Bat, exploring tide pools with my son at Ras al Hadd, or watching a solar eclipse from the eastern side of Masirah Island in December 2019.
As I transition back to the United States, I am grateful to be leaving our art students in the capable hands of Ms. Linda Willms, an experienced MYP and DP art teacher with whom I have been collaborating in recent meetings. She has prior experience with the Grade 10 ePortfolio and has been following all of our activities in Google Classroom and on ManageBac. I will continue to mark and provide feedback on current student work as I put together the Semester 1 reports in time for the January deadline.
One final reminder–please keep an eye out for the link to the ABIS Arts Showcase site when it launches next week! This is our big virtual art show featuring work from all grade levels, and we have put a lot of time into documenting both the students’ processes and final products. We hope you will gain an appreciation for all of the deep thinking, planning, experimentation, creativity, and perseverance that has gone into these engaging arts projects. Thank you all for what has been a wonderfully successful semester!
