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我们欢迎Jonah Olken-Dann出任启明星新任中学校长！
Jonah校长来自美国，拥有乔治华盛顿大学学士学位、哈佛大学教育学硕士学位，曾在北京大学完成中文学习。Jonah校长拥有涵盖小学到高中的15年教学及管理经验；也拥有丰富的课程设计、职业发展和学校管理经验。
Jonah Olken-Dann校长对启明星并不陌生，因为去年一整年，他在启明星担任中学副校长兼IBDP协调员：
他会定期为老师们培训。
他还是力求改变的项目（PFC）的指导老师。
极限飞盘是他特别热爱的运动，每周五他都在飞盘课后课做教练！
熟悉启明星，熟悉中国文化，讲流利的中文，新学年的工作对Jonah校长来说就是妥妥的丝滑过渡！
不过，为了让更多人了解Jonah校长，了解新学年里中学会有哪些新动作，我们还是对Jonah校长做了一个简短的采访：
问
为什么你能这么熟悉中文和中国文化呢？
J
我从7年级开始学习第二外语，中文是我的第一选择。后来，读大学三年级的时候，我在北京大学交流了一个学期。那是2008年，北京正在准备奥运会，所以交流结束后我没有马上回国，而是留在中国直到8月份奥运会开始。那段日子我过得很愉快，也是从那时起，我就决定要来中国工作。现在我已经在中国工作很多年了。
问
在工作中，你会依据自己的优势为学校带来哪些特别的贡献呢？
J
作为校长，我的主要职责是支持老师和学生取得最出色的成果。我会和老师们紧密合作，因为他们是学生成功的真正推动力。在哈佛读硕士的时候，我曾经有幸和一位教授对马萨诸塞州一些特别的“创新学校”进行过深入的研究。所有这些学校都以不同的方式进行创新，而我也发现它们的共同点之一是，它们都非常有意识并成功地将教职员工纳入学校的规划和发展中，这对学校产生了深远的积极影响。我一直把这样的经验记在心里，所以在启明星，我会持续地和老师们合作，共同建设让所有人都感到自豪和有信心的学术项目。
另一方面，我的双语能力使我能够和启明星社区的所有家庭和成员顺畅沟通，我想确保启明星能够回应所有学生和家长的需求，提供他们想要的教育。
最重要的，我希望我们的员工继续努力为学生创造机会，支持他们探索自己的热爱，找到适合自己的教育路径。
问
你已经在启明星工作1年了，能说说对学校和学生的观察吗？
J
启明星是很独特的学校，一个特别地方就是它的社区，充满幸福感。我能感到无论家长、学生还是老师，都在按照他们的想法努力建设这个社区。启明星的老师们努力工作，支持我们聪明又有创造力的学生获得成长。我们的家长也常常表示自己愿意为学校做些什么。
启明星的学生关注学业，也尊重他人，愿意支持和服务自己的社区，这是他们这个年纪的学生不容易做到的。比如，在我们的特色社会创新活动——凤凰论坛和社会创新市场活动中，学生们相互之间真诚地彼此支持。他们在一起做真心喜欢的事情，享受共同做事的快乐。他们是一群朝气蓬勃的孩子，也追求积极的个性发展，是成长中的社会创新者！
问
作为资深教育者，你观察到时代变化对中学生提出的新要求了吗？
J
学校和教育者都要应对时代的变化，这是学校的责任，但教育的核心并没有变，比如怎样提问，怎样成为批判思维者，怎样合作，如何正确使用新技术等等？这些依然是学校教育的重要内容。
启明星采用的IB课程体系和时代发展趋势需要一致，所以，我们也需要不断反思和改进我们的学术课程。
在新学年，我们将对高中课程进行一些改进，使9年级和10年级英文课程与11年级和12年级的IBDP课程结合得更加紧密，丰富学生的人文课程和音乐课程的学习机会。
问
你认为在学生要在从小学向中学学习过渡取得成功，需要在小学阶段做些什么准备？
J
对于启明星中学课程的学习，我们自己的小学课程做了很好的准备。我们的小学采用IBPYP课程，为升入中学向IBMYP课程过渡奠定了坚实的基础。
学生们已经学会了很多关于成为探究者和批判思考者的知识，这为他们面对中学学习具有挑战性的问题和难题非常有帮助。
我建议学生在小学阶段尝试各种各样的活动，比如参加丰富的体育和艺术项目，尝试一下，看看自己真正感兴趣的是什么。这样，当学生进入中学时，他们会发展出很多兴趣爱好，这些兴趣爱好可以和他们中学的学科探索相结合。
总之，我们鼓励学生在生活中保持平衡，追求自己热爱的活动和知识。
We welcome Jonah Olken-Dann as the new Executive Principal of Daystar Academy Secondary School!
Principal Jonah comes from the United States, holding a bachelor's degree from George Washington University and a master's degree in education from Harvard University. He has also completed Chinese language studies at Peking University. Principal Jonah has 15 years of teaching and management experience spanning from elementary to high school, along with extensive experience in curriculum design, professional development, and school management.
In fact, Principal Jonah is not unfamiliar with Daystar, as he served as the vice principal of the secondary school and IBDP coordinator for the entire last year:
He leads training sessions for teachers.
He is also the mentor for the Project for Change class.
Ultimate frisbee is his favorite sport, and he coaches every Friday after school!
Familiar with Daystar, well-versed in Chinese culture, and fluent in Chinese, we can be sure that it will be a smooth transition to his work this school year for Principal Jonah!
To help give you a better understanding of who Principal Jonah is and what new initiatives the secondary school will undertake in the year ahead, we conducted a brief interview with him:
Q
How did you become so proficient in Chinese?
J
I started learning my second language in 7th grade, and Chinese was my top choice. Later, during my junior year in college, I spent a semester studying at Peking University. That was in 2008, when Beijing was preparing for the Olympics. After my exchange ended, I didn’t return home immediately but stayed in China until the Olympics began in August. I had a wonderful time during that period, and it was then that I decided I wanted to work in China. Now, I have been working in China for many years.
Q
What special contributions do you plan to make at Daystar?
J
I see my main role as principal as being able to support both our staff and our students to achieve their most outstanding results. This includes working closely with our teachers, who are truly the driving force behind the success of our students. While at Harvard studying my masters, I had the unique opportunity to conduct an in-depth independent study with one of my professors on a special group of schools in Massachusetts called Innovation Schools. All of these schools were innovating in different ways, but the one common thing I found at each school is that they had all been very intentional and successful in including their teaching staffs in the planning and development of the school, and this in turn had a profound positive impact on the school. That lesson has always stuck with me, and so I want to constantly be working with our teachers to cooperatively build an academic program we all are proud of and believe in.
On the other hand, my bilingual ability allows me to communicate smoothly with all families and members of our Daystar community, and I want to be sure that our school is also being responsive to and able to deliver the type education that our students and parents want. Most importantly for that, is I want our staff to continue to strive to create opportunities for students to truly explore their passions and find the educational path that is the right path for them.
Q
After working at for a year, what are your observations about the school and its students?
J
Daystar really is a truly unique school; one special aspect is its community, which is filled with happiness.I can feel that parents, students, and teachers are all working hard to build this community together into the school that we want.Our staff works incredibly hard to support the development of our bright and creative students, and our parents also often express their willingness to contribute to the school.
Our students are focused on their studies, respect each other and others, and are willing to support and serve their communities, which is not common for students at their age. For example, during our signature social innovation activities—the Phoenix Forum and Social Innovation Market—students genuinely support each other.They engage in activities they truly enjoy and relish the joy of working together.They are a vibrant group of kids, pursuing positive personal development and growing into social innovators!
Q
As a seasoned educator, have you noticed how the changing times present new demands on secondary school students?
J
School education must respond to the changes of the times; this is the school's responsibility and the responsibility of every educator. However, the core of education hasn’t changed—such as how to ask questions, how to become critical thinkers, how to collaborate, and how to use new technologies positively. These remain important elements of school education.The IB curriculum system used at Daystar by is very much in line with the trends of the times.That said, we also need to be continuously reviewing and improving our academic program.In the new school year, we will be making some improvements to our high school curriculum, more closely aligning our 9th and 10th grade English courses with the Grade 11 and 12 IBDP courses, as well as expanding access to humanities course offerings and music study for our students.
Q
You are currently managing the secondary school. What preparations do you think are necessary for students to succeed in the transition to secondary school from elementary school?
J
For Daystar's secondary school program, our own Daystar Academy Elementary Schools do an excellent job in preparing students for our secondary school program. Our elementary school’s utilize the IB PYP curriculum, which build a strong foundation for the transition to our IB MYP curriculum in our middle school. The students will have already learned a lot about to be inquirers and critical thinkers, and this will serve them well when faced with challenging questions and problems in secondary school.I also encourage students to explore widely different activities during their elementary years, including participating in sports and arts programs, to try out and see what it is they are truly interested in. This way, when they reach secondary school they will bring with them a host of their own interests, which will combine with their exploration of many new subjects such as design technology, in middle school.Ultimately we want to encourage our students to develop balance in their lives and pursue activities and knowledge that they are passionate about.
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