Our team

This blog was created as an opportunity to collect and share the thoughts of young international school leaders. The authors met through their coursework in the International School Leadership Program (ISLP).   This principal and leadership training program is a joint effort put on by Washington State University and the University of San Francisco. This program runs concurrently with the EARCOS Leadership and Teacher Conferences in Southeast Asia.

The experience and school contexts are as varied as the individuals sharing their learning and musings. Please see the tagged introductory posts by each of the authors.

Derek Kensinger

Derek Kensinger believes that inclusiveness is the foundation for educational decision making processes. Professionally, this value started with his Peace Corps Service as an environmental educator. Since then, Derek has worked as a special education teacher in California and Washington state as well as internationally as an elementary PE teacher in Paraguay and an ES/MS/HS PE, Health, and Spanish teacher in Taiwan. Derek has held numerous leadership positions: School Coordination Committee Facilitator, Safety Coordinator, Athletic Director, Activities Coordinator, and now Assistant Principal. Derek is currently MS/HS Assistant Principal at American School of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.  Inclusive educational efforts such as cohort blogging are directly connected to 21st century learning goals to promote the positive relationships that matter most to learning.

Peter Broadhead

One of the founding members of International School Leadership Blog, Peter Brodhead serves as Secondary Department Head of English at Seoul International School where he has taught for the past five years. Peter enjoys walking and reading.

Roxanne Amor-Ross

Roxanne Amor-Ross has had a twenty-four year distinguished career as an upper and lower elementary classroom teacher and grade level team lead, an instructional coach, a professional developer, and an Interim Assistant Principal. She has served students working in public schools in the United States (Los Angeles, California) as well as international school students in Malaysia (International School of Kuala Lumpur) and in Vietnam. She is currently the Middle School Dean of Students at Saigon South International School in Ho Chi Minh City.

Roxanne is passionate about creating high quality learning experiences for students, parents and teachers. She believes good practices and processes come from merging the insights from practicing educators and educational leaders, school context and data, and academic research.

Mark Dominguez​

Mark Dominguez will start in August 2019 as Secondary Assistant Principal of Tsinghua University High School International in Beijing, China.  Having graduated from the EARCOS International School Leadership Program in May 2018, he is looking forward to his new position and continuing to inspire both teachers and students.  He has worked in international schools as a Middle/High School Math teacher in México, Colombia, and South Korea.  Mark loves to travel, experience different cultures, and play sports.  Mark hopes this blog will gather motivated minds in education and inspire educators to share ideas that work. Welcome!

Shelly Maldonado

Shelly Maldonado has been an international educator in four countries on three continents for nearly 20 years. She is passionate about student and teacher growth and values building diversity awareness and cultural competence in all stakeholders. Shelly has been a high school classroom teacher, school counselor for elementary and middle school students, and will be pursuing a leadership position for the 2020-2021 school year. Shelly believes, with open communication, student-centered decision making, trust and relationship building, and a lot of love, school leaders will be successful and have the ability to make a positive impact on students.

Everett Hill

Everett is currently an Athletic Director and physical educator at Qingdao Amerasia International School in Qingdao, China. This is his third international placement.  Professionally, he started in Federal Way, Washington as a physical educator and has held positions of classroom teacher, assistant and head coach, youth pastor, and Elementary Track and Field Program Director.  He has worked with Service and Action and CAS programs in IB schools, Experiential Education programs, and helped develop the climbing wall program at Chadwick International. 

Everett is a graduate of the International School Leadership Program through USF and WSU.   Everett is a student of Michael Grinder and his work on non-verbal communication and enjoys sharing that with others as they seek to improve their classroom instruction and school climate.  He enjoys sharing his knowledge with others as they seek to develop their positive classroom and school climate.

Sioibhan Dean

Having changed career from the corporate world to pursue the call of quality, whole-child education, Siobhan has never looked back. She is currently the Assistant Principal at American Pacific International’s Main Campus in Chiang Mai, and will take on the role of Elementary Principal at the APIS Primary Campus in August 2019. Siobhan is a lifelong learner, with an interest in school culture, linked with the art of combining people and processes to enhance the academic, personal, and professional growth of both students and teachers. In her free time, Siobhan loves hanging out with her two children, and following her passion for yoga.

Dustin Wood​

Father of two young boys, Dustin Wood takes pride in his work as husband, dad, and educator. As an elementary teacher, he has worked with second, third, and fourth graders in public schools, in gifted and traditional programs, and most recently with students at the Hong Kong International School. Dustin is known as the local tech guru and also “font & formatting police” on his team. He is enthusiastic and driven and also organized and creative. He loves to wrestle his boys, reading excellent books before bed time, finding new restaurants in Hong Kong and beyond, and spending time catching up on his hometown sports teams. He will complete his coursework in the International School Leadership Program in June 2017.

Anthony Giles​

Anthony Giles has worked at International School Bangkok since 2010, first as Director of HS Choirs and the HS Fine and Performing Arts Chair, and now as the K-12 Director of Arts and Activities. As an arts educator for the past twenty-seven years Anthony has championed initiatives aimed at providing better access to arts for all kids. In addition to his work at ISB he is active as a guest conductor, arts consultant, and workshop leader. He and his wife, Jackie, and their two sons, Zachary 14, and Cruz 6 (almost 7), love living in Thailand. Their daughters, Amanda, and Mackenzie, attend Colorado School of Mines, and St. Martin’s University in Washington State, respectively.

James Howard

James graduated from the International School Leadership Program in December 2018. Originally from Akron, Ohio, James Howard quickly moved overseas after graduating from the University of Akron with a BA in Education. While in Korea, James got married and started a family. He also picked up a masters degree in Divinity. After living and working in South Korea for 14 years, James returned to the US to teach at Corbett Preparatory School of IDS in Tampa, Florida. At Corbett Prep, James gained experience in both IB and Concept-based Curriculum and Instruction. Feeling the urge to be back overseas, James and his family moved to Surabaya to teach at Surabaya Intercultural School. James is currently Chair of the Social Studies Department and the school’s Data Coordinator. As Data Coordinator, James has worked with the Learning Analytics Collaborative to help create a Data Dashboard to allow administrators and teachers easy access to data to help improve instruction and student learning. James is set to finish his masters in Organizational Leadership from the University of San Francisco in December 2019. James has attended two PTC courses in Miami, Assessment Leadership and Curriculum Leadership in the International School. James is also the MUN director and Cross Country coach