Our focus at school recently has been on developing units of work for the IB Middle Years Program, and reflecting on and updating the units we have now taught. I noticed that as I was teaching the last couple of units, they were going in a significantly different direction to what had been planned, but was still valid learning. This resulted in a rather fantastic idea to run a fairy tale court. Despite it being a huge amount of effort to prepare, scaffold and deliver to the students, the learning opportunity provided made the effort worthwhile.
I also enjoy not having to create my own rubrics for assignments. The IBO provides performance standards as part of the framework. This means that consistency between classes and teachers is maintained, regardless of school or even country. I am slowly getting better at creating task-specific criteria, which is a mini-rubric that goes alongside the IB standards that students can clearly understand in relation to the specific assessment.
As student knowledge improves around the IB, learner profiles and the consistency in task appearance between subject areas, it becomes easier to integrate inquiry statements and questions and have technical discussions about IB requirements. Students also get used to knowing where to find task information and how to interpret the assignment sheets.
I have been able to experience the difference that the IB has made in my classrooms. Firstly, by forcing me to think of in depth inquiry questions and designing the assessment task first. Secondly, by improving my ability to facilitate more detailed discussions around related concepts and encouraging students to make connections between existing and new knowledge.
I look forward to continuing to develop my skills and knowledge around the IB MYP.
I also enjoy not having to create my own rubrics for assignments. The IBO provides performance standards as part of the framework. This means that consistency between classes and teachers is maintained, regardless of school or even country. I am slowly getting better at creating task-specific criteria, which is a mini-rubric that goes alongside the IB standards that students can clearly understand in relation to the specific assessment.
As student knowledge improves around the IB, learner profiles and the consistency in task appearance between subject areas, it becomes easier to integrate inquiry statements and questions and have technical discussions about IB requirements. Students also get used to knowing where to find task information and how to interpret the assignment sheets.
I have been able to experience the difference that the IB has made in my classrooms. Firstly, by forcing me to think of in depth inquiry questions and designing the assessment task first. Secondly, by improving my ability to facilitate more detailed discussions around related concepts and encouraging students to make connections between existing and new knowledge.
I look forward to continuing to develop my skills and knowledge around the IB MYP.