Nanjing International School is excited to welcome Ms. Sandra Chow as our new Director of Learning. With years of teaching and leadership experience in education, Ms. Chow comes to NIS from Keystone Academy in Beijing, where she worked as their Director of Digital and Innovative Learning. Ms. Chow is from Canada and has a B.Ed. from the University of Ottawa and a Master of Accounting from the University of Waterloo. She is currently working on completing an Ed.D from Western University. We spoke with Ms. Chow to learn more about her journey and vision for learning at NIS.

Why did you decide to become a teacher?

I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to be when I was growing up. I went down the accounting path, but quickly realised that it wasn’t something I enjoyed. It didn’t fit my personality where I like to be constantly creative and thinking outside the box, coming up with a lot of different ideas that people can apply.I decided to start exploring other areas and went into volunteering at a daycare. I also started teaching Sunday school, and I had already taught piano. I discovered that I just truly enjoyed teaching and helping people to understand a subject or to feel like they learned something. It brought me a lot of joy. And I also really like kids! So, I started pursuing a career in education.

What’s one of your passions besides education?

I love languages. I grew up in Ottawa, which is a very bilingual city. I was raised in a home that spoke largely Cantonese. So right from the start when I was young, I had to learn English, French, and then also Cantonese – I was immersed in a lot of language, and so that comes easy to me.

How did your journey lead you to become the Director of Learning at NIS?

I started my teaching career in the inner-city area of Toronto wanting to make a difference in society and have whatever I do improve the common good for everyone. Somehow along the way, because I was always thinking about educating for the future, technology became a big part of how I taught. Eventually, my work led to leadership roles, and a position in China came up. A few years after our big family move overseas, I was looking for a role that would bring me back to my love of just focusing on teaching and learning. At NIS, there was a good fit for that. I could be authentic, and that’s so important to me.

What is your teaching philosophy?

I see education as such an important part of developing social good. Our children are our future. It’s a cliché, but I believe that. As an educator, I need to focus on students first. Future mindset is another aspect that’s important to me as a teaching philosophy. Along with that is a global mindset, or international mindedness. You can’t just think about your immediate surroundings. There are so many things that we need to consider outside our bubble. A global perspective is needed to survive as a species. Looking at international mindedness helps us to keep those in perspective. If we can help prepare students with the skill set to make future decisions, I think we’re doing a good job as an educator. I believe we need to focus less on content and much more on skills – and the experiences to take risks or try new things in a safe environment.

What are your thoughts on the IB (International Baccalaureate) programmes?

What attracted me to the IB was very much that inquiry mindset – the opportunity for students to have voice in certain projects and make it their own. This is embedded in many of the IB core programming like the PYP exhibition, personal projects, and their CAS projects. The IB scaffolds many of these experiences so that students can learn in their classroom but then apply it to a larger interdisciplinary project of their choice. In addition, the IB’s emphasis on approaches to learning means that students are developing skills throughout the learning process of any subject or content area, so that they can pivot, adapt, and still use those skills later in life. Another aspect I truly appreciate about the IB is that there's global standardisation, which helps to ensure the integrity of the program worldwide, especially when it comes into the upper years. You want students to have a voice and a choice, but you also want to make sure that there’s excellence in whatever they're pursuing and learning about.

What message do you have for our community?

I think NIS has something very special. We need to hold onto it, nurture it, and embrace and develop it. The sense of community is so strong. It’s kind of like a fire. You don’t want to let it burn out. You want to help let it grow and be a spark for others.

With Ms. Chow’s innovative spirit and dedication to nurturing both students and the community, Nanjing International School looks forward to her leadership and expertise.