Dear High School Community,

We thank all those families affected by this week’s COVID-19 positive test. It is always a stressful time but the way our community rallies in support of each other is always inspirational. Thank you.

As yet another step towards a resumption of normality, students regained access to lockers this week. As a celebration of this event and the fact it’s just a great sight to see our kids back to school full time (with the exception of a few inconveniences) we hosted a Lockers and Lunch event today. Here are some photos of the shawarmas and fun enjoyed by all!

COVID-19 Updates

Unfortunately, we experienced our first positive COVID-19 case this week. This resulted in four teachers and 71 students being placed in quarantine before returning a negative test result.

We reiterate our plea to parents not to send their children to school if they exhibit symptoms related to COVID-19. Please err on the side of caution and take them to be tested.

Dress Code Update

To ensure we are respectful in following our school dress code, we took time to warn students at the beginning of the week about dress code. Furthermore, on Wednesday and today we reserve the right to send students home from school, if they are not complying with the published clothing expectations. We thank parents for their support and understanding.

Student Dress Code Expectations from the ASD Student Handbook

Good grooming and proper dress are a matter of mature taste and judgment. ASD students are expected to appear neat and clean. Proper dress is that which meets the following guidelines:

• Students should wear blouses, tops or shirts that cover the entire midriff. All tops must have sleeves and should not be of net material, off the shoulder, or inappropriately revealing. Halter-tops, tube tops and tank tops are all considered to be inappropriate. Skirts, dresses and shorts should be of moderate length.

• Anything worn or brought to campus should have no reference to alcohol, drugs or tobacco, and should not be offensive and should be in good taste.

• Teachers are expected to refuse to admit an inappropriately dressed student to class. The student should be sent to the High School Office. The administration reserves the right to make a final judgment on the acceptability of student attire. Parents will be notified of any dress code violations and the student may be sent home from school.

* All students must follow Article 57 of Qatar’s Constitution regarding appropriate dress.

Athletics and Activities Updates

Season 1 Sports and Activities ended this week with the culmination of the MESAC Competitions as well as the finals of the LIGA Volleyball Tournament.

The ASD Golf Team took part in the MESAC Golf Tournament, playing at Education City Golf Course.

The ASD Swim Team were crowned OVERALL MESAC CHAMPIONS and the MESAC Virtual Academic Games finished with our JV Team winning GOLD and Varsity finishing in second place.

Finally, after more than eight weeks of competition, the JV and Varsity Volleyball teams finished with our Varsity Boys winning the LIGA Tournament and becoming the Men's Overall Champions.

Congratulations to all our competitors and coaches. Roll on season two!

Production Updates

Musical: Little Shop of Horrors

The production is soon to open!

Here are the dates:

Tue, Dec 7 at 4:00 pm

Wed, Dec 8 at 7:00 pm

Thu, Dec 9 at 7:00 pm

Sat, Dec 11 at 2:00 pm

Click HERE to purchase your tickets!

Here are some exclusive behind-the-scenes photos ahead of the show…SHHHHH, don’t tell anyone we took them...

AP Updates

AP classes are in full swing now, with many important assessment tasks underway and feedback in the form of grades beginning to identify areas of celebration and concern. Following student-parent-teacher conferences two weeks ago, the AP Coordinator has been meeting with teachers, counselors, and students to have conversations about courses where student achievement indicates some struggle, with the goal of supporting and providing structures to support these students in their learning. We encourage parents and students to contact and meet with AP teachers if there are such concerns, including in the case where formative grades indicate that important foundational learning is not taking place. There are still six weeks left in Semester 1, and all AP students need to make efforts to reinforce and build on their learning to this point in preparation for Semester 2 and the eventual summative AP exams in May of 2022. If you have any questions about our AP Courses or the AP Capstone Diploma program, please contact our AP Coordinator at: joshua.giddens@asd.edu.qa

IBDP Diploma Updates

Approaches to Learning (ATL)

“In the IBDP, these cognitive, metacognitive and affective skills are grouped into the same five ATL categories namely:

Although these skill areas are presented as distinct categories, there are obviously close links and areas of overlap between them, and it is intended that these categories should be seen as interrelated. It is also the intention that these ATL skills should be seen as linking closely with the attitudes and dispositions identified in the IB learner profile. The learner profile is the IB mission statement translated into a set of learning outcomes for the 21st century. It is an easily communicated set of ideals that can inspire, motivate and focus the work of schools and teachers, uniting them in a common purpose.” (IBO, 2021) It is to this end that we encourage our students to refine these skills in the completion of not only their summative and formative work but also in their Internal Assessments and other IB assessed work.

IB Parent/ Student Support Meetings

This week Ms. Farmer and the IB Coordinator continued to meet with students to provide additional academic and social emotional support where appropriate. In addition, creating support plans that provide a specific set of strategies to support success.

IBDP May 2022 Exam Registration

All students taking at least one IBDP course have been registered for the final May 2022 IBDP Exam. Please note that after this past Wednesday, November 10 students will not be able to make any changes to their subjects or levels. If you have any questions or you would like additional information please do not hesitate to contact the IBDP Coordinator, Ms. Katrina Charles at katrina.charles@asd.edu.qa

The South Asian Society

The South Asian Society is hosting a meeting with student alumni from Shanti Bhavan, a non-profit school in India that aims to eradicate the roots of the caste system and generational poverty in India by providing quality education for 1 child per impoverished family. Guest speakers will discuss the social situation in India, their time at Shanti-Bhavan school, how their lives were impacted by this NGO, and how we can help create positive change through education. In addition, a Q&A session will be conducted at the end of the presentation.

The meeting will be on Tuesday, November 23 at 5:00 pm.

If you would like to join us, fill out this form before Monday, November 22 at 3:00 pm and we will share the Zoom link with you shortly after.

To learn more about this organization, please visit their website or watch the Netflix documentary "Daughters of Destiny".

We hope to see you there!

Teaching and Learning Moment

In our Grade 9 Global Issues in Action classes, students have been engaging with one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, focusing on understanding the needs and challenges faced by refugees and internally displaced persons and migrants. All classes were able to take part in a video conference with a special guest, Jordan Hattar, who spoke about his work through his NGO Help4Refugees, and to ask questions that related to their research on refugees in case study countries of their choice. Students were also able to speak with Sulaiman, a refugee of 9 years in the Jordanian Zathari refugee camp, who shared a little of his personal and his family’s stories and took the students on a virtual walk through the camp. Students will be able to take advantage of the information gained from this real-world connection to such a knowledgeable source as they continue their research on their case study, and hopefully were also moved by some of the life lessons relating to the power of taking action, resilience, and hope that Jordan and Sulaiman shared. We celebrate this fantastic example of formative learning preparing students directly for their summative assessment task, but also the connection between theoretical understanding and real human experiences. We encourage all parents to ask their Grade 9 students what lessons they took away from this experience. Mr. Giddens’ takeaway: In humanitarian work, one needs to focus on the ‘ripple effect’ of positive action rather than fearing being merely a ‘drop in the ocean.’

Service Updates

In our desire to ensure our parent community has more access to Learning Service information, we have provided access for parents on the "Learning Service” tab on the HS Office Teneen page. The same information is available on the HS Student Teneen Page for students. Supplementary information can also be accessed on our Learning Service Libguide. This page is now updated and live.

One of the important parts of any Service opportunity is the opportunity to learn. As we brought to you a few weeks ago, the Challenger League is a community organization that many of our students volunteer with that helps children with special needs play softball in a safe and caring environment. In order to do this effectively and safely, they undergo training in helping to manage the unique needs of the children they work with. This past week, Dr. Adrienne Robek from the Child Development Center for Special Needs in Doha gave a presentation on behavior management, and earlier this month, Reshmi Menon, a speech and language therapist from the Step by Step School for Special Needs gave a Zoom inservice about communicating with children with autism.

Our Service Speaker Series this year continued to ramp up with Dr. Amy Lehman from the Lake Tanganyika Floating Health Clinic talked about maternal and neo-natal health and mortality with an emphasis on fistulas in the Lake Tanganyika basin and we welcomed Dr. Dave Cooper, a renowned rhino conservationist who shared his experiences in dehorning operations in South Africa.

Also, congratulations to our Water for Life Club who ran another successful Water Week which was kicked off by wear blue day on Sunday and concluded with a virtual visit to the Thirst Project’s project sites in e-Swatini. That recording will be available next week.

Good luck to the St. Pius Educational Scholarship Fund and IMPACT who kick off Quality Education Month with Wear Red day this Thursday. One of the major initiatives during this month, IMPACT and St. Pius students write individualized notes to every High School teacher anonymously is also a part of this month devoted to promoting SDG #4 (Quality Education).

We would like to remind you about the Social Entrepreneurship course that ASD has partnered with Schoolyard Ventures and the University of Pennsylvania. Please see the link for details. Students who successfully complete this course will earn a certificate from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice. The deadline to commit is Wed, December 1.

By now, all Grade 9 and 10 students should have formally joined a service club and have met. If your child has not heard from a club that they have signed up for, please have them email the contacts on the club’s slide on the Virtual Service Job Fair. If they have done this and have not yet heard back, please have them email Mr. Shang (cshang@asd.edu.qa) who will help them get in touch with the teacher sponsor of the group.

Also by this point in time, all Grade 9 and 10 students should have loaded their service commitments into Managebac. Please check with your child. In most cases, students should have done this through their service club at one of the meetings. In case they were not able to, the detailed instructions for this are here. Students should have completed Part A and B ONLY (Part C will be done at the end of the year)

For questions about service or IBDP CAS at ASD, please contact Mr. Shang at cshang@asd.edu.qa.

Counseling

Counselor Coffee

Our next Counselor Coffee will be held on Monday, November 22 from 8:00 am - 9:30 am! This month’s topic will be AP, IB and University Admissions. Come hear the AP and IB Coordinators explain a little about their programs, while ASD Counselors discuss where in the world you can apply with both programs and what universities are looking for! It is important to note, this Counselor Coffee is looking more at the university process with both programs. We will be hosting this in person as well as on Zoom to hopefully allow everyone who is interested to attend. Due to capacity limitations, please sign up here if you are interested in attending, in person will be limited to the first 28 people that sign up. If you are interested in attending via Zoom, you can join via this link.

Counselor Course

Our Grade 9 Counselor Course is starting next week. All Grade 9 students and parents have been sent an email so everyone is aware of what is going on. Throughout the course, the Grade 9 students will meet in small groups with their counselor to talk about things such as time management skills, self-advocacy, stress management, creating a 4-year plan and more. The counselors are looking forward to getting to know their Grade 9 students better!

Overseas School Project

Overseas School Project works in conjunction with the U.S. Department of State's Office of Overseas Schools and the College Board's Overseas Schools Project, an initiative aimed at helping American families (and their international friends) navigate the admission and financial aid process in the United States. We will be hosting the virtual session on Wednesday, December 1 at 6:00 pm!

Book Study

Are you interested in participating in our first book study? If so, please register your interest by completing the enclosed form. The form will be open for the entirety of next week and more information will be communicated out after that. If you have any questions, please get in touch with Dr. Jones at aaron.jones@asd.edu.qa

University Visits

We have had some great university visits over the past few weeks! It has been wonderful having representatives on campus and interacting with our students.

Please check out our teneen page for virtual university visits and fairs that are happening around the world!

Resources

We encourage students and parents to check out the HS Counseling Teneen page within the Main HS Office as it has lots of resources available for students and parents.

Enjoy the weekend.

Michael Roberts

High School Principal

American School of Doha

Hot Dog Lunch Sign Up

A link will be sent directly to students and staff to pre-order hot dogs; hot dogs can also be ordered by scanning the barcode in the flyer.