HIGH SCHOOL highlights

from high school

June 23, 2020

Dear Parents, 

In this last edition of SPOTS, I wanted to end as I started, with gratitude for your support during this year. In September we would never have believed that we would be thrown so many curve balls which would push us to very far outside of our comfort zone.  We all sharpened so many of our soft skills, most importantly flexibility. Thank you for trusting us in making decisions on how we structured our e-Learning plan ensuring all students transition next year academically ready.  

This last week we engaged in several reflective discussions and meetings such as:

- Grade 10 IB and all students taking AP students engaged in google meet sessions run by subject teachers explaining course expectations for next year and Summer Learning tasks given. 

All three of the above sessions are a new edition to this academic year. We have seen strong success in each of the different grade level sessions and will continue them into next academic year.  The goal was to deepen students' ability to reflect on their learning style, strengths and areas for development.  All aimed at a more transparent learning journey shared between students, teachers and of course, you as parents. We sincerely appreciate your active involvement in your child’s education and look forward to continuing these sessions next academic year.

We wish you a restful and safe summer whether you travel or stay in Dubai.  

Tammy Jochinke

Yearbook Update

At this time the final pages are being assembled by the yearbook staffing, editing is being finalized this week and the first draft will be available for digital distribution first and then printed in the next two weeks.  Online hosting of the yearbook will allow all DAA communities to view its pages and watch videos from the recorded events.  As printing will then become available, Senior’s families will be contacted about pick up or delivery as social distancing allows in July.  As the remainder of yearbooks are finished printing, they will notify grades 9-12 families the best method of pick up or delivery.  We thank everyone for their support and patience for the yearbook with the hopes that we can see each other again soon.  

This past Thursday, we celebrated and recognized the individual academic efforts of high school students at each grade level and in each subject area. We are so proud of not only these students, but all of our students who maintained not only their incredible work ethic, but also their academic integrity and high standards in assessments and assignments.

If you missed our live presentation on Youtube live and would still like to view High School’s End of Year Awards, follow the link here.

Award Pick-Up: For those of you who won an award, please note that you can pick up your certificate at DAA at Gate 1 starting on Sunday, June 28th.


On June 16th, 2020, we celebrated our Seniors in a virtual graduation ceremony that more than 6000 people have since viewed online on Youtube Live. If you did not get a chance to watch and would like to, please click on the link below.

Graduation of the Class of 2020

Students, remember to download the new GEMS Alumni App!

Counseling Connection

6.17 v2 SPOTS HS CounselingUpdate.pdf

INNOVATION SPOTLIGHT

HS Music

Recorded in June 2020 from the comfort of our homes, "Bare Necessities" is just a really nice tune - but we also chose to record it because it allows us to think about these past weeks and months, and how it is worthwhile to appreciate the little (and big) things around us! "Bare Necessities" was written by Terry Gilkyson. We have changed the 2nd verse a little. Video and sound editing by Sebastian Seidel.

For B♭("be-flat"), each member of the Dubai American Academy High School Concert Band recorded 2 measures of improvised music, played at a prescribed tempo (95 bpm) and on a single pitch ( B♭). The result is an exciting mash up of different instrument timbres and rhythms. With B♭, we bring 2019/20 to an end, saying thank you to classmates, teachers and parents for making things work in these challenging (and somehow inspiring) times! Video & sound editing: Sebastian Seidel

Arabic

Wonderfully proud of our eleventh grade Arabic B students who have created heartfelt video messages for seniors on their upcoming graduation. 

Our G10 Arabic students were covering the journalism unit where they produced weekly video magazines and a program idea promo. With varying topics each student was able to bring to life various topics while at home, using their creativity to make interesting backgrounds, costumes and media.  

Arabic Video 2 (1).mp4
group 4 wweek 1.mov
Arabic Newsreel - Week 2 - Jad, Ali, Sepehr, Shirin.mp4

G9 Arabic class designed campaigns to raise awareness about pollution and how to save earth. They produced videos and informational brochures.

Visual Art

Join us in celebrating our IBVA students, by taking a virtual tour through their exhibition spaces. Each student had a theme or concept to explore and create outcomes in media of their choice. All work is original and if you are interested in purchasing please contact the art department for further information.  

Please enjoy the show! 

Ai - Student Made Teachable Machines 

Ai Students used Teachable Machines with Google Experiments to design real world solutions for their local community.  We had students research various image, sound and pose recognition to determine best ways to train the machine to identify various classes or groupings of intended identifiers.  Some of the highlights included L.E.O (Learning Educational Outfits Machine) that determines if students are correctly dressed in DAA uniforms, PE kits or regular clothes. Other projects included a machine to measure how accurately you can draw a perfect circle, are you modeling a correct push up positioning, are you wearing a facial mask correctly and many more.  You can see both blocks of student projects HERE. 

French

Dr. Verdoia’s French Classes have been actively discussing various global issues from pollution, civil injustices and topics that involve more complex language.  As an international community, all world languages have their own way of interpreting complicated perspectives.  It’s great to see the students developing and defining more what it means to be a global citizen.  

Lockers

We asked students who had items in their locker to fill out the locker return form in order to have these items collected and returned. Some students will have an opportunity to collect these items when students return in August.

As we approach the end of another academic school year, it is important to ensure that we take the time to reflect on our year. It has certainly been a challenging year for all of us but I also believe that this year offered many opportunities for personal growth and reflection.

The knowledge that everyone in the world has been affected by the ongoing pandemic created a sense of shared responsibility and purpose. One that cannot go unnoticed. One can only hope that this experience will have positive impacts on some of the other global issues that we are facing.

While many of us have decided to stay in Dubai for the summer, we have many DAA community members who are moving on. Some students and teachers who are moving on will not get the opportunity to say a proper goodbye to one another. We wish them all the best in their new adventures and we will miss them dearly.

We hope you all have a wonderful summer and we look forward to welcoming you back to DAA in August.

Sincerely, 

Josh Doubleday

HS Dean of Students


HIGH SCHOOL MAIN DIRECTORY

HS Attendance Secretary

Roma Agtarap / 04 704 9747 / r.agtarap_daa@gemsedu.com

Attendance Mobile: 052 105 4552

HS Secretary to Principals

Nashmia Saleem/ 04 704 9723 / n.saleem1_daa@gemsedu.com 

HS Secretary to Counselors

Jan Evans/04 704 9831 / j.evans_daa@gemsedu.com