I can be  a real pain in the neck as an educator with a voice that can reach many people through the mass media.

Recently I asked myself why there isn’t any student radio on the UAE airwaves.

Sure you can find hybrid student radio online but what about students from a high school doing talk radio? Nothing.

Until now.

Twice a month the students of Wellington International School in Dubai take over my Nightline show for an hour.

The students not only create the content, this is talk radio, but they also run the board making sure that the technical side is perfect.

The result is arguably the best student radio you can hear in the middle east!

If you give our youth a voice it is incredible what you will hear.

It was amusing to see so many organisations from car rental companies to souvenir shops trying to cash in on the idea of providing a beyond expectation experience or WOW.

At times I actually wondered if Tom Peters had air dropped his library of books onto major tourist destinations.

What becomes very clear when I think back on my summer, in search of WOW, is that many organisations simply do not understand the DNA of WOW.

Take Royal Caribbean Cruises International as an example.

The Liberty of the Seas is an amazing cruise ship, home to a huge climbing wall, ice rink and a flowrider! If you look at stuff there is no question WOW is in the making, BUT WOW is more than stuff it is also the culmination of many subtle pieces such as employee attitude, general atmosphere and more. The funny thing about WOW is those little things become very significant when they are added to the larger experience.

So what knocked Royal Caribbean from the WOW podium? Melamine plates in the general eating area. Really! The sound of cutlery on glass, the way sauces pool and flow on a glass plate, the feel of a glass plate in hand are all pieces of the WOW puzzle. Flatware and china all make the difference in an eating experience and the calculus of melamine, staff, ship,entertainment and activities clearly said to me that Royal Caribbean International has not quite grasped what WOW is all about.

Lesson #12

Don’t throw the kitchen sink at WOW think of the details.

Chipotle Mexican Grill in NYC has WOW all figured out.

Chipotle is all about food with integrity!

Chipotle is fast food, no tables, paper and a cafeteria style service area.

But the food is good, the service is honest and the intention is genuine.

Lineup, music and design all come together to make it work and WOW.

Chipotle is WOW and I am not even sure they are looking to be.

Lesson #21

Don’t try to be WOW just do your best at what you do and WOW will follow.

WOW is out there, be honest with yourself and what you do and WOW will follow!

But try too hard to manufacture WOW and it will bite you and leave a bad taste in your customers mouth.

Hey my own children have gone through an IB program at the PYP level!

In fact last night at Uptown School the grade 5s did a fantastic Exhibition with acting, dancing and the whole 9 yards to really demonstrate what they have learned and how they have learned about the environment!

And this was just one of the units of enquiry, imagine!

Here is a sample of the goods!

But I have a few question when all is said and done.

Is it possible to teach in an IB manner without doing in an IB manner?

Odd question you might say but one we need to ask.

Here is what the PYP is all about.

Six transdisciplinary themes

Six transdisciplinary themes of global significance provide the framework for exploration and study:

• who we are
• where we are in place and time
• how we express ourselves
• how the world works
• how we organize ourselves
• sharing the planet.

Teachers are guided by these six transdisciplinary themes as they design units of inquiry that both transcend and articulate conventional subject boundaries.

The programme can be illustrated by a hexagon with the six transdisciplinary themes surrounding six subject areas:

• language
• social studies
• mathematics
• arts
• science
• personal, social and physical education.

The transdisciplinary themes and subject areas outlined above form the knowledge element of the programme.

Five essential elements

The five essential elements—concepts, knowledge, skills, attitudes, action—are incorporated into this framework, so that students are given the opportunity to:

• gain knowledge that is relevant and of global significance
• develop an understanding of concepts, which allows them to make connections throughout their learning
• acquire transdisciplinary and disciplinary skills
• develop attitudes that will lead to international-mindedness
• take action as a consequence of their learning.

Curriculum model

The curriculum is expressed in three interrelated ways:

• the written curriculum—what do we want to learn?
• the taught curriculum—how best will we learn?
• the assessed curriculum—how will we know what we have learned?

Under certain conditions, schools may deliver the programme in any language, although the IB provides services in:

• English
• French and Spanish

So, my question is can we teach IB without doing IB?

Can an administration administer an IB curriculum without itself living by the very tenants it is asking its students to embrace?

And here in lies the problem with all but a very few schools today, our schools are teaching one thing but acting very different.

Sure there are a million reasons to justify a school operating as if it was the turn of the century, the 1st being that that is they way it has always been done.

I believe it is time, yesterday, for teachers and administrators to take a good hard look in the mirror and ask whether they are doing what the student needs or what they are comfortable with!

If teachers were unbridled from administrators I am sure the classroom would be a very different place!

What we need in our schools today.

1. teachers who understand children, parents do make better teachers

2. administrators who work for the school not the board of company

3. to be engaged with the community not walled off and segregated from the reality

4. parents MUST engage

5. a work/education harmony

6. realistic expectations of teachers

7. honesty

I took my son to listen to Darren Shan at the Emirates Airlines International Literature Festival in Dubai and realized I have missed something grand!

Thanks to the power of QIK.com and my iPhone I have some bad video but great audio!

Here is what you missed, or what got me excited to go and read Darren Shan’s work.

Here is part 2 of the reading!

And the Thin Executioner reading!

And finally a piece from the series to come!

Darren Shan is a person I would love to sit and have a conversation with, he loves what he does!