Stribbell able to take education abroad

trevor.kenney — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 23:39:42 +0000

As a teacher, Howard Stribbell (BA/BEd '98, MEd '04) understands you can only make true assessments by comparing apples to apples. Now that he has the perspective of an administrator, he's able to do just that.

Stribbell, the Head of Schools at the International School of Macao (TIS) in China, says he always knew he was getting ahead of the competition by earning his teaching degree at the U of L, but he never really understood by how much.

"When you're in it and you're going to school, you don't realize what you have compared to other places," says Stribbell. "When I was in the program, I got to build great relationships with my professors, both in and outside of class. But I was fairly naïve, I didn't know that wasn't common."

Alumnus Howard Stribbell is the Head of Schools at the International School of Macao. He's back at the U of L for the Faculty of Education Teacher Job Fair.

When he began teaching, he quickly realized other differences between his U of L Faculty of Education experience and the experiences of those who studied elsewhere.

"The structure of the program, with so many practical hours and how they have us in the field, doing the work, all reinforced by workshops and support from the faculty and teacher mentors, makes all the difference," he says. "I didn't realize this until I became a teacher and started to see the differences between student teachers. When I became an administrator and would look at graduates coming out of the universities, then I could really see a difference."

Stribbell will be back at the U of L for the Jan. 19 Faculty of Education Teacher Job Fair (9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the UHall Atrium). His administrative role in Macao is not only a testament to the value of his U of L education, but it also provides him a platform to recruit new teachers for his school. The fact he comes home to bring U of L grads on board speaks to his faith in the program.

"We notice it over here, we've had student teachers from other institutions and we've also had a U of L student teacher, and our second one has just joined us," says Stribbell. "The quality between them is very different, and it comes down to the amount of hours they are able to spend doing the practical teaching."

Stribbell started his teaching career at Erle Rivers High School in Milk River, shortly after earning his BA/BEd degree. He spent eight years there, working his way up from a rookie teacher to vice principal. An Alberta Teachers' Association advertisement trumpeting the establishment of a new international school that was going to implement the Alberta educational curriculum led Stribbell and his family to Macao.

"It's been a world of opportunity," he says. "The whole world of international teaching was opened up for me, and you realize how big the demand is for Canadian teachers."
The school was established in 2002 to provide a Canadian curriculum and accreditation to local and expatriate students. With English as the primary language of instruction, students graduate with an Alberta High School diploma. Located on the campus of Macau ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Science and Technology, close to 900 students from pre-K to Grade 12 currently attend.

Stribbell says parents had to take a leap of faith to trust the teaching methods they introduced.

"Originally, parents just had to trust us," he says. "They really had to suspend their disbelief and trust us when we told them that the Alberta curriculum will be world recognized and that students would be able to get into universities around the world."

Two graduating classes later, and a host of success stories to tell, have solidified the approach. Emphasizing critical thinking, collaborative working, the ability to formulate an independent opinion and defend it both in written work and orally, are new concepts to traditional Chinese education but they have been embraced. So to has the community atmosphere cultivated by the school, something Stribbell recalls from his time at the U of L.

"The ability to take risks has always been encouraged at the
U of L, as well as the importance of building relationships," he says. "When we live over here, we're a community. Teachers work together, socialize together, play together and you really build a different kind of relationship with your co-workers. The U of L helped instill that sense of community that I hope to try and reflect here at the school."

· Stribbell earned his Masters degree from the U of L in 2004, while still teaching at Erle Rivers High School. He combined online courses with on campus and independent study work.

· Macao is situated 60km southwest of Hong Kong, and, along with Hong Kong, is one of two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China.

· The International School of Macao (TIS) has students representing 42 different nationalities, with about 40 per cent of the student population from the local area.

· Stribbell says he's looking for a special kind of teacher at the Job Fair. "I'm looking for students who are interested in adventure, are open to new things and who can demonstrate they have taken the initiative. We're a young school, so we're always looking for new ways to do things. The status quo is what happened yesterday."

· Stribbell is married to Doreen, and his children Timothy (13) and Rebecca (10) both attend TIS.

· The Teacher Job Fair began in 2000 and currently sees about 40 school boards from across Canada and overseas represented.

This story originally appeared in the January issue of the Legend.

U of L's global imprint seen in Hong Kong

trevor.kenney — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:51:16 +0000

We often think of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's global imprint by the number of international students we have studying here on campus. Often forgotten is the impact a U of L educated student makes once leaving campus and applying that knowledge in the real world.
Hong Kong is one place where the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ has made its mark, as evidenced by the recent alumni reception that tapped into the more than 400 U of L alumni in the area, the largest such concentration of graduates in one place outside of Canada. Bringing those people together to celebrate their alma mater represents a step toward keeping them connected to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.
"We have found that there's a really strong bond between the folks who graduated from the U of L who are in Hong Kong," Laurel Corbiere, director of the International Centre for Students, says. "They want to hear from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and they want to get together so we were really happy to be able to put together an event that facilitated that."
Two attendees of the gathering, Jimmy Chu and Howard Stribbell, offer completely divergent stories from their experience at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, but today they are connected by the similarity that their educations are making a significant contribution to the Hong Kong area.
Stribbell (BA/BEd, MEd), who grew up in southern Alberta and southern Saskatchewan, is the vice principal of secondary at the International School of Macao in Macao SAR, China.
"My master's program was essential in pushing me to grow in my professional life," Stribbell says. "I absolutely loved teaching. I delighted in the community that we were able to foster within a classroom. Through my master's program, my goals began to broaden. I saw the value of extending that learning community across the school and among schools. As such, I began to move into more administrative roles."
During his time at the school, the student population has grown from 350 to 800 students, they have moved to a new campus and are, just now, graduating their first students. All the while, the school is the first outside of the province of Alberta to use an all-Alberta curriculum, with their students writing the same exams as Alberta students. Stribbell also has two other U of L graduates working with him on staff.
"As an administrator in Alberta, I knew that U of L grads had spent more time in the classroom. This gave them an edge when it came to starting their careers," he says. "Now that I am in Macao, we recruit from all over the province and I would love to see more U of L grads apply."
Chu (Mgmt '91) came to the U of L as an international student, beginning his studies with an English as a Second Language class in the spring of 1989. Over the next two and a half years, he'd complete a management degree and begin his career in Vancouver, B.C. Two years later it was back to Hong Kong where he would begin the development of a number of business pursuits. Today, in partnership with his wife, he runs four companies, two each in compact disc manufacturing and leather finishing and handbag manufacturing.
"Inside the campus I built my personality and beliefs through communication and interactions with classmates and teachers from different cultures and countries," Chu says of his time at the U of L.
"Academic training of course is important, but the most important is the cultivating environment and encouraging atmosphere the campus offered for me to learn how to express myself, listen to objections, cooperate to solve problems, build my confidence and so on."
Both alumni appreciated the reception and look forward to further initiatives that will help the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ carve out its niche in the Hong Kong area.
"The establishment of an alumni chapter will be essential in enhancing the U of L's presence in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia," says Stribbell. "It will also provide us, as alumni, one more vehicle for networking and staying in touch."

UNews - International School of Macao

Stribbell able to take education abroad

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U of L's global imprint seen in Hong Kong

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