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Athena

athena.chan@kingston.edu.hk

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--Archana Arya

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twilliams@abroadschools.jp

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sassamendoza@gmail.com (you can find me on linkedIn as well) @sassamendoza for twitter

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hquintanilla@abroadschools.jp

@osaka.neke on instagram :D

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roystonmathias@gmail.com

It was amazing working and learning with you all.

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jwytam@luac.edu.hk

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ivana.brajanovska@nova.edu.mk

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jneufeld@aisgz.org

joshneuf@gmail.com

LinkedIn - Joshua Neufeld

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Culmination of the workshop - Harpreet Kaur

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Culmination of the workshop - Harpreet Kaur

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Creating a Curriculum for Transdisciplinary Learning

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Thanks so much for this. I had a lot of fun!
All of you are amazing and beautiful people!

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Agency Reading

Students are the CREATORS - this allows teachers to foster voice, choice, and ownership.

Students DRIVE the learning.

When a lesson goes in a new direction the teacher acts as a MASTERFUL GUIDE during the inquiry process.

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agency can be incorporated into the classroom in any situation. It may not be a class-wide project, it can be as simple as getting children to vote for which book to read during storytime, decide on class rules together, how certain routines to be carried out e.g. going to the bathroom. 

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agency can be incorporated into the classroom in any situation. It may not be a class-wide project, it can be as simple as getting children to vote for which book to read during storytime, decide on class rules together, how certain routines to be carried out e.g. going to the bathroom. 

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I used to think: Single subject teacher can connect through central idea, concepts or key concept. Now I think: Single teacher can connect through central idea, concept, profiles ATL also. 

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I used to think: Single subject teacher can connect through central idea, concepts or key concept. Now I think: Single teacher can connect through central idea, concept, profiles ATL also. 

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Agency in the time of COVID

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Incorporating Specialists into the PYP Planner

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Incorporating Specialists into the PYP Planner

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I used to think that as a specialist teacher I am supposed to have in depth collaboration on every UOI.

Now I know that I should collaborate on the UOI that allows for a more authentic connection with all HR teachers keeping my teaching schedule and planning time in mind.

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After today, as much as I see the benefits of a transdisciplinary  curriculum, there are challenges to make it happen as with any collaborative effort. But once that is achieved, magic happens!

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After today, as much as I see the benefits of a transdisciplinary  curriculum, there are challenges to make it happen as with any collaborative effort. But once that is achieved, magic happens!

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Takeaway from today's session:

1.  Educators should examine the learning experience they have planned so that they can promote higher-order thinking.
2.  Use connections to past and future learning for students to develop conceptual understandings.
3. Fuse knowledge from the various disciplines and engage with the stakeholders in the process.
4. Be intentional and purposeful in the planning process as it will help to create great learning opportunities for everyone.

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I used to think that I should work towards planning for all learning to be transdisciplinary.

Now I think that a more balanced approach can be taken to ensure connections unfold in a natural way. I look forward to exploring a unit of inquiry with a specialist teacher at my school.

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Takeaway from the blog article

PYP planner designing process involved teachers’ voice

I like the 4 balancing areas at pre plan process

A lot prompt questions to guide teachers to do the planning , very useful for new teachers

Useful document links in the planner

Learners are involved in the planning and reflection process

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What stood out?

Using data from reflections to map out collective growth - Brilliant!

Positive Tone that highlights celebrations while still communicating a sense of urgency for improvement.

Key Points I Love

Reflections can be used to inform the planning process for continual growth.

Teacher voice - collaborative decision making

I am assuming the teachers who worked through this process not only flexed their collaboration skills but came out of the process with a deeper understanding of connections between the disciplines.

How Can I Use This?

I want to make my action steps more specific. This blog post showcased how important it is to plan and document goal setting with clarity (mission, action for each week, etc.). SMART!

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Creating a Transdisciplinary Learning Curriculum March 5-7 - Google Jamboard

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Creating a Transdisciplinary Learning Curriculum March 5-7

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Single-subject teachers at Belvedere have been working diligently to make every unit of inquiry truly transdisciplinary. Our single-subject teachers, which include music, art, PE, Spanish, librarian, technology specialist and counselors, are successfully integrating their specialty into every grade's unit of inquiry. How? Collaboration.

Once every quarter, the specialists and I study the programme of inquiry. The discussion revolves around each grade's upcoming unit and how they can integrate their specialty to ensure transdisciplinary learning. Our programme of inquiry is located on Google docs. Here, the five essential elements of each unit of inquiry are being updated by teams and by single-subject teachers.

These meetings assist specialists in making conceptual or topical connections. Here is a glance at a section of our programme of inquiry.

This is the kindergarten unit "Together we can" where single-subject teachers have noted how they plan to integrate their subject into the unit during a quarterly collaboration meeting.

Our music teachers focused on the building of a community. Students worked on building a safe environment where everyone takes responsibility for their actions. In art, teachers focused on the key concept of responsibility. They stressed that students had a responsibility to take care of art tools. Our PE teachers had students work together in teams on how to support one another in a game. Our librarian read Snatchabook by Helen Docherty and focused on how our behaviour impacts communities. For the month of September, our counselors stressed cooperation and teamwork to further connect to the kindergarten unit.

Being that it is difficult to have specialists attend grade level meetings, I take it upon myself to input any connections that the specialists have to the units of inquiry. I send out "unit maps" to inform specialists when grade levels are switching units. Within these maps, the essential elements of the units are laid out for the specialists. Specialists inform me of any connections they made during these units. I then input those learning experiences into the unit planner. Should specialists have any questions regarding a unit, I am available to walk them through the unit.

At Belvedere, it is our goal that each single-subject has one unit of inquiry written. We want our specialists well versed in the PYP and to be held equally responsible for the transdisciplinary nature of the programme. By having a unit written, our specialists will internalize and empathize the process of creating a unit. Specialists and I discuss where they could develop a unit that is genuinely integrated with a grade level specific unit of inquiry. For instance, our music teachers will be completing a unit planner aligned with third grade's "how we express ourselves" unit, which focuses on simple machines. In order to develop a deep understanding of the unit, music teachers will attend third grade's meetings for "how we express ourselves".

Being a specialist in a PYP school is a very difficult job. It is extremely important to us that our specialists are fully supported. In order to further develop our specialists, I hosted a specialist networking session for the IB Mid-Atlantic region. Here, specialists shared ideas and strategies. Discussions revolved around the hardships presented by being a single-subject teacher and how to overcome any challenges they faced. Being able to collaborate with teachers from other schools helps assist specialists in furthering their PYP journey.

Through collaboration with the coordinator, the classroom teachers, administration and specialists from surrounding PYP schools, the specialists at Belvedere are successfully integrating their specialty into our PYP units. This transdisciplinary process helps all of our students grow and learn at a deeper level.

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Bridget Louder is the PYP Coordinator at Belvedere Elementary School in Falls Church, Virginia. Belvedere is the first authorized PYP school in Fairfax County. Bridget holds a bachelor's degree from Virginia Tech and a master's degree from George Mason University. Follow Bridget on Twitter @bridget_louder.

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Single-subject teachers at Belvedere have been working diligently to make every unit of inquiry truly transdisciplinary. Our single-subject teachers, which include music, art, PE, Spanish, librarian, technology specialist and counselors, are successfully integrating their specialty into every grade's unit of inquiry. How? Collaboration. Once every quarter, the specialists and I study the programme of inquiry.

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Although this definition of integration dates back to 1995, it is still very relevant today in any concept-based teaching and learning environment. When cutting to the core of what integration means, it's about creating as many authentic opportunities as possible for students to learn about important concepts and skills in a way that transcends discipline specific boundary lines.

However, creating the right conditions for authentic integration is no easy task as it requires carefully structured collaborative planning that is specific and purposeful in order to maximize the impact that the integration can have on student learning.

Although I've seen many great examples of quality integration in different PYP schools over the years, I've also seen many examples of integration that were very tenuous as they lacked any kind of depth or genuine purpose.

When I first started working in the PYP many years ago, collaborative planning around integration was done in ways that served no real purpose. Although every teacher and curriculum coordinator was well-intentioned in regards to making planning purposeful, traditional round table type of sharing dominated these meetings. I've seen this style done in many schools and think it's not even close to being the best use of planning time. Authentic integration requires genuine collaboration not just cooperation and sharing. When teachers come together to plan, effective use of time is of the essence as it honors each person at the table ensuring relevance to all.

What I mean by traditional round table type of sharing is this:

Classroom teachers from the same grade, teaching the same unit sit around a table. Seeing as it's an integrated unit with the single subjects, the single subject teachers are also in the meeting. What traditionally happens in meetings such as this is that each classroom teacher shares what they are doing in the unit, one by one. Then each single subject teachers also shares what they are doing in their classes. As the single subject teachers are sharing, classroom teachers listen quietly or work on their own planning. There may be a general discussion that is sparked from this sharing, but that is pretty much it. I'm not implying this type of planning is done in all schools, but in my experience, it used to be a pretty common thing to see.

This type of meeting, to me, is a waste of time and does very little to deepen integration or enhance student learning as there is no real guts to planning in this way. We have to remember that the act of sharing is not collaboration, it's just sharing. So, how can we ensure we are delivering more rich and meaningful learning opportunities related to integration?

In order to create the conditions for deep collaboration that goes well beyond surface level planning, there needs to be clear and specific structures in place which begin with being explicit about the exact depth of integration. Traditionally, integration is referred to as being full integration or partial. If it is not full or partial integration, it is considered a stand alone unit of inquiry.

In the levels of integration model that I'm sharing with you in this blog post, it's important to understand that there is no 'stand alone' unit of inquiry. Although the unit of inquiry in the classroom and the units happening in the single subjects may seem as though they are galaxies apart in regards to any kind of connection, I would argue that this is far from the truth.

A carefully crafted and well-thought out curriculum has, at its core, opportunities to reinforce and deeply develop the essential skills necessary for students to succeed (socially, emotionally, and mentally) in school and in life. I will go into specific examples later in this blog post, but for now, I want to summarize the levels of integration. When looking at the photo below you will see each level of integration. If you are not a PYP teacher, I hope you can still glean some insight from this model and how it might be applied in your own curriculum.

Level 3 Integration
A level 3 integration is what some consider full integration, meaning that the single subject unit and the unit of inquiry in the classroom have a lot of overlap in regards to the central idea, conceptual lens, related and key concepts and even ATLs and Learner Profile.

The focus of a level 2 integration is more on similar concepts. The central idea probably doesn't fit in both the single subject unit and the classroom UoI. Instead common links are found elsewhere through some conceptual connections.

Level 1 Integration
At minimum, I firmly believe that there are opportunities for a connection with at least one Learner Profile attribute or an Approaches to Learning skill. This is what I mean when I say that there is no stand alone unit. As educators, it is our responsibility to create opportunities for important learning that transcends subject specific boundary lines.

Once the level of integration is determined, the real collaboration begins. There is no more going around the meeting table, one by one, sharing what is happening in the classroom or in the single subject. Instead, teachers make firm decisions about the concepts or skills that will be focused on and when these things will be unpacked over the 6-week unit. We then plot these concepts and skills out on our planning timeline ( see planning timeline blog post here).

Once the planning timeline is done, the structure of our meetings gets very precise as the teachers involved in the integration co-construct conceptual questions that will be unpacked in both the single subject space and in the classroom. My next blog post will delve more deeply into the co-construction of conceptual questions, Learner Profile questions, and ATL questions. For now, all that I want my readers of this blog post to understand is that this is when the most meaningful collaboration takes place.

Teachers must put their heads together and ensure everyone has a crystal clear vision in regards to the concepts, ATL skills, or Learner Profile attributes being focused on. Are they looking at it in the same way or are they teaching these big ideas in a way that sends different messages to students?

Once this crystal clear vision is established, the process of co-constructing teacher questions related to important concepts, ATL skills, or Learner Profile attributes begins. It is these teacher questions that are then used in both the classroom UoI or the single subject unit to being the unpacking process.

To end this blog post, I'll provide some brief examples below of what these co-constructed question might look like:

Take the concept of 'Interactions ' for example. If 'interactions' was the main concept being focused on, a co-constructed question to be unpacked in both the single subject space and the UoI in the classroom might be:
"What do positive interactions look like? "
The great thing about a question like this is that it can be unpacked in PE, Music, Visual Arts, and in the classroom. The question might be unpacked at the same time or perhaps the question is unpacked first in the single subjects then followed up on and unpacked further in the unit of inquiry in the classroom.

Further collaboration is then geared around the unpacking of this question and common assessments created to be used in the single subject space and the classroom. As there are more common concepts in a Level 3 integration, more co-contructed questions could be created during the unit to further unpack things with students.
Level 2 Co-Constructed Questions
A level 2 integration is quite similar in regards to the co-construction of conceptual questions. However, the biggest difference is that the central idea and conceptual lens are probably different. Therefore, the single subjects and classroom may only have a concept or two that is in common with each other.

A great example of this is a recent level 2 integration at our school between the grade 4 classroom UoI and music and visual arts. The classroom UoI was centered around 'Well-Being'. Music and Visual Arts were focused on completely different units, however, the common link that could be focused on was the concept of ' itself.

This was the focus of the level 2 integration. The co-constructed question that the music, visual arts, and classroom teachers came up with was:
"How does creative expression affect well-being?"
The important thing to understand is that the collaboration in this level 2 integration now has a specific and explicit purpose. The visual arts and music teachers don't sit around a table and share what they are doing in the unit nor do the classroom teachers. The meeting is structured in a way that is relevant to all stakeholders. Therefore, in the 'well-being' example from above, the collaboration was structured around the unpacking of well-being and follow up decisions made in regards to next steps needed to deepen student learning around the conceptual understanding of well-being in the single subjects and the classroom UoI.
Level 1 Co-Constructed Questions
A level 1 integration should not be considered weak or tenuous at all. There can be lots of great learning that takes place as the focus is on either a Learner Profile attribute or an ATL skill. The unit in the single subject and the UoI in the classroom may seem like they are on opposite ends of the spectrum. However, there are still opportunities to carefully plan an ATL or Learner Profile connection.

For example, in a grade 3 unit the focus might be on Landforms (more or less a geography focus) and in PE the unit may be Adventure Challenge or in Music the unit might be Melody.

The common connection might then be on the ATL Social Skill

The co-constructed question could be:

"In what ways can we resolve conflict with our peers?"

As the students are doing lots of group work in the Landforms unit, resolving conflict is an important skill. In PE, the students are taking part in lots of different teamwork challenges therefore this question totally applies. And in music, the students might be working in small groups to create melody making this question relevant in that subject as well.

As mentioned, I will write another blog post soon that dives more deeply into the process of co-constructing questions. I hope that this post begins to spark your thinking about how collaboration is done at your school and what you might need to change to deepen this collaboration with your colleagues in order to create more relevance, purpose, and meaning, especially in regards to integration.

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Although this definition of integration dates back to 1995, it is still very relevant today in any concept-based teaching and learning environment. When cutting to the core of what integration means, it's about creating as many authentic opportunities as possible for students to learn about important concepts and skills in a way that transcends discipline specific boundary lines.

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Working theories are holistic learning outcomes for children, and somewhat more complex than discrete and identifiable knowledge outcomes such as 'can count to ten'. Working theories are a way in which children draw on and apply ideas and understandings accumulated from their personal and social experiences, in order to make sense of their world.
The concept of working theories celebrates children's unique ways of thinking and inquiring. It recognises that there are many possible theories which take children in different directions, and that these theories are improved and extended as children gain more knowledge and experience. Children's knowledge will vary according to prior experience and context, and will involve complex and unique combinations of knowledge, skills, strategies, attitudes and expectations.

What are working theories?

A working theory might be best identified by the way in which it connects one or more separate pieces of information in order to draw an inference or shape an argument. Working theories include:

A child saying 'that's a girl's bike' (that bike is pink; pink is a colour associated with girls)

A child using lots of glue to stick wood to paper (nails will rip paper; glue can join things together; heavy things need more glue than lighter things)

A child insisting 'that's what I need but you got all of them and you can't' (if you have all of those parts then there are none left for me; things need to be fairly shared so that everyone who needs them can have them)

Working theories have several defining features. They are:

Provisional. Working theories are constantly revised and evolving as children gain more experience and information, and as such are tentative and speculative - the child's best guess for now. Children's theories and understandings are gradually edited over time so that they contain better quality knowledge and skill, are better adapted for particular contexts and areas of experience, and are more elaborate, interconnected, applicable and useful for children's purposes.

Functional. Children's theories are about making sense of phenomena by seeking patterns, explanations and meanings, making connections between experiences and events, determining causal relationships and generating arguments (which may be implicit). These theories support children's understanding and meaning-making, and guide their actions, problem-solving and ongoing learning.

Dependent on context or situated. Working theories are stimulated by, constructed from, developed and revised within children's contexts, interactions and experiences. Working theories can accommodate many different kinds of knowledge from children's diverse home and cultural experience.

Created and owned by children. Children create working theories in their own way and according to their own purposes and interests. A focus on working theories as knowledge outcomes for early childhood education emphasises and supports children's agency in relation to their own learning.

Although there is a lack of empirical evidence to support a focus on children's working theories as a pedagogical approach to developing knowledge, recent findings about the brain are congruent with such an approach. For example, neuroscience shows that the brain identifies patterns between past and present events and stimuli to create knowledge structures or schemas for encoding new information. This means learning always takes place in the context of previous understanding, in other words, in the context of previous working theories. Cognitive psychology also demonstrates that learning involved a gradual unfolding of understanding, in which there are revisions, corrections and expanded ideas. The concept of working theories aligns with these perspectives as a way in which children integrate new knowledge as part of the process of learning.

The limited research that has been undertaken on working theories in early childhood education in New Zealand suggests that:

Working theories mediate children's engagement with others and with learning environments and activities. Children's working theories about social relationships and aboutbeing a learner are important here, as well as theories about social identities which may constrain some behaviours and enable others. For example, children hold working theories about areas of play that are not appropriate to them in relation to their particular gender or ethnicity.

Working theories involve sophisticated thinking skills and support cognitively challenging programmes for children. In order to create a working theory, children must abstract and reflect upon the knowledge they have gained from practical experience, and connect, organise and structure different pieces of knowledge into a meaningful order.

A curriculum for working theories: what does that look like?

The world-renowned curricula of Reggio Emilia are based on an image of children as competent learners continually creating and testing theories on a variety of topics. Early childhood settings that place a focus on children's working theories develop curricula that are meaningful and relevant to young children's lives and grounded in children's inquiries about their worlds. Children are provided with many opportunities to participate with others in knowledge-building and theorising. There is an emphasis on questioning, observing, wondering, puzzling and creative thinking which result in children creating, developing and editing their working theories.

A curriculum for working theories might take an inquiry approach to learning and teaching. An inquiry approach addresses content in curriculum in ways that is creative and responsive to children's current interests and learning needs, and enables children to improve their working theories over time and revise their knowledge as a result of ongoing experience and information-gathering.

Teachers require both subject content knowledge and knowledge of pedagogical strategies to support inquiry learning. A curriculum for working theories is not about rushing children towards accurate concepts and knowledge, but allowing conceptual development to be achieved over different time-frames and in indirect ways, allowing time for deepened conversations and reflection that draw out children's existing understandings, as well as varied experiences and interactions with multiple others. Teachers understand that progression may involve backward steps, spirals of learning, creativity, emotions and imagination rather than a logical sequence.

A curriculum for working theories:

Builds on teachers' strong relationships with, and knowledge and understanding of, children. Teachers work to build pedagogical relationships with children in which they identify, decode and respond to children's attempts to create working theories and make sense of their world.

Fosters a culture of inquiry, as well as wonder and curiosity, in teachers and children, and values children's theorising and emerging and personal understandings of the world, without comparing these to adult ways of understanding.

Focuses on valuing and making visible children's individual learning processes and highlighting the conceptual knowledge embedded in children's play. Children are encouraged to reflect upon their working theories and to take responsibility for their learning journeys.

Draws on children's inquiries and interests. Teachers engage deeply with children's interests as a basis for curricular decision-making, and use children's interests and inquiries to engage their emotions and heighten motivation.

Makes inquiry collaborative, to extend across a wide learning community, including other children, teachers, and family members.

Challenges children's thinking, seeking topics and ideas that are open-ended and uncertain and inviting children to grapple with ideas rather than be provided with them. Children are encouraged to wonder, ponder, digest, explore, experiment and play with ideas and theories, with emphasis placed on helping children become learners and thinkers rather than their acquisition of a particular body of knowledge.

What about dispositions? Are they still important?

Yes! Dispositions and working theories interrelate, and reinforce one another. Many important dispositions (such as question-asking and curiosity) are implicated and intertwined in working theory development. As children develop working theories about their world and the people, tools, objects, materials and animals within it, they are also learning about (and developing working theories on) important dispositions such as curiosity, perseverance, and taking responsibility.

Further Reading

Hargraves, V. (2013). What are working theories? And what should we do to support them? Early Education, 54, 34-37.

Hedges, H. & Cooper, M. (2014). Engaging with holistic curriculum outcomes: Deconstructing 'working theories'. International Journal of Early Years Education, 22(4), 395-408.

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Working theories are holistic learning outcomes for children, and somewhat more complex than discrete and identifiable knowledge outcomes such as 'can count to ten'. Working theories are a way in which children draw on and apply ideas and understandings accumulated from their personal and social experiences, in order to make sense of their world.

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Trichelle

Excited
I was excited to collaborate with other educators and share our experiences and knowledge about transdisciplinary curriculum. I learned a lot from this experience.

Worrisome
There sometimes can be lack of clarity and legitimization among researchers in this area of study. For this reason, there tends to be  conflicting viewpoints over its effectiveness.  In addition, learning can sometimes be a solo journey, and to make matters worse,  the daily schedule of educators is not set up to build and maintain transdisciplinary teams.

Need to know
I would like to know how do I maintain  a balance among disciplines in exploring the various units. Without a balance, certain disciplines may take precedence over others.

Stance or Suggestions for Moving Forward

I would like to like to conduct a transdisciplinary research and meet with stakeholders and collect data on a given problem.

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The article gives an example of how the principles of Universal Design for Learning can be embedded into a unit of inquiry to purposefully differentiate for all students. The example is from a PYP 1 (age 6) classroom and looks closer at how the principles were used to differentiate mathematical education connected to the unit.

"The unit was based around the central idea: Homes and communities around the world reflect cultural influences and local conditions , and as part of the unit the children were going to make gingerbread houses . "

The IB recognizes that children enter the school system with different backgrounds, interests, personalities and abilities. Each student is unique, and because of this, our lessons cannot be standardized. The IB believes in full inclusion, which means that children should be able to learn on their own terms within the same context. One of the means the IB suggests is planning and teaching through Universal Design for Learning (UDL) ( International Baccalaureate Organization, 2016, p13) . UDL is a research-based approach, introduced by CAST in the 1990's. It emphasizes that a task should be designed to fit all learners, taking into account the uniqueness of every student (CAST, 2018). In a PYP classroom this is done through purposefully planned inquiry with open-ended tasks, creating opportunities for children to advance and learn from each other and allowing teachers to challenge students at various levels.

To give you some insight into how we interpret this at Tromsø International School (TRINT), I will give an example from a PYP1 classroom. At TRINT we follow the Norwegian standards for school starting age, so children in PYP1 are turning 6 the year they start. In this article, I will be looking at how we used the principles behind the UDL in one of our units. For the purpose of this article, I will focus on one of the lines of inquiry connected to the concept of form , limiting my example to a small part of the unit. The unit was based around the central idea: Homes and communities around the world reflect cultural influences and local conditions , and as part of the unit the children were going to make gingerbread houses . The houses were inspired by a house that one of their family members could have lived in.

"Those who found th e task simple were given additional tasks connected to measurement, accuracy and scaling and were questioned on their thinking . "

Engagement is about creating a love of learning, exploring errors as a means for learning and triggering the belief that learning is fun, challenging and rewarding. Teachers understand the importance of interest and understand that students' focus may differ based on their personal inquiry.

Representation is about ensuring access to what is taught by varying or adding to the material. Through representation, the teacher can ensure that children understand tasks, content and vocabulary.

Action and Expression is about supporting the students via personal feedback, support and adequate scaffolding. This way, the teacher helps the student navigate through the task and supports the student in reaching realistic goals so that students experience accomplishment and progress. (CAST, 2018).

They were then given glue, paper and scissors and asked to try to construct a model of this house. In this process the children were su p ported on t heir own terms through feedback, support and scaffolding . Those who found th e task simple were given additional tasks connected to measurement, accuracy and scaling and were questioned on their thinking . T he children who found the task hard were aided by the teacher through questions on how they had thought, what did not work and help to see how they could be successful. This way the children were challenged and provided with sufficient scaffolding in accordance to the idea of action and expression .

"Even though I felt that I could assess their learning, they were not fully aware of this themselves. "

After the children were happy with their construction, they used their cuttings as a base for the gingerbread house. They reflected on the process, shared ideas and learned from each other. Some might have discovered that the roof did not fit because it had four edges while the house had five walls, and they had to fix this. Others experienced that they could not make a prism-shaped roof using four triangles. One student saw that he could draw a house in two dimensions, but then fold it to be three dimensional.

The children were engaged in this unit and they were proud of their presentations which included the houses at the end. This article has focused on mathematical differentiation in the unit and it was engaging for me as a teacher to see how they inquired into the connection between shapes, measurement and structure. We had many interesting discussions about why a construction did not work, how to measure, plan and estimate. I was however surprised when the children expressed that they had not done much math in this unit, and it triggered a wider discussion within our staff about being explicit in their learning. Even though I felt that I could assess their learning, they were not fully aware of this themselves. The principle of action and expression is also about students being able to be explicit in their targets and doing this unit again, I would be more thorough in linking their expression to the subject and to their target.

In this article I have provided a window to how we think about differentiation and inclusion in Tromsø International School. We strive to provide education in accordance with The International Baccalaureate, and this is reflected in our Inclusion Policy. The emphasis on respecting every student's strength and interest, as exemplified through the Universal Design of Learning in this article, is something all teachers are committed to. Our Inclusion Policy states that
'At Tromsø International School, we value our students' diversity and provide them equal opportunities to engage in the curriculum. We are committed to creating an inclusive learning environment, so they can affirm their identity and 'reach their full potential.' (Tromsø International School, No Date)

Citations:

CAST (2018). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2 . Retrieved from http://udlguidelines.cast.org

Tromsø International School (no date). Inclusion Policy

Susanne Hebnes is the PYP coordinator / Head of PYP at Tromsø International School in the north of Norway. G raduated from the university of Tromsø with a Master of Education and started as a PYP 1 homeroom teacher. I am passionate about primary education and am inspired by the possibilities within the PYP to authentically bridge academic progress with children' s interests and real- life context. I believe a strong foundation and a joy of learning is crucial for fu rther academic progress.

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The article gives an example of how the principles of Universal Design for Learning can be embedded into a unit of inquiry to purposefully differentiate for all students. The example is from a PYP 1 (age 6) classroom and looks closer at how the principles were used to differentiate mathematical education connected to the unit.

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An early years approach to global issues

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An early years approach to global issues

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The inquiry approach requires educators to think about their role and their students in a different way. It creates conflict among some educators, as it is a change not only in their practice, but also in their belief (Short & Burke, 1996). It was very enlightening when I understood that my role had shifted from delivering information, to consulting and working with the students on their lifelong learning journey.

During our unit of inquiry People make choices about how they move from place to place, under the transdisciplinary theme Where we are in place and time, the students began to explore the transport systems they used over the holidays. We asked the students various questions to prompt their thinking and they communicated their experiences as well as asked each other questions. It became clear to us that this unit of inquiry was relevant and meaningful to the students, as it tapped into their personal experiences and prior knowledge.

From these conversations and explorations, we created different transport systems in the classroom using recycled materials. The students were active participants in their learning as they investigated different systems and decided how to make parts of a system. In the classroom, the students were seen engaging in dialogue with their peers or with the teachers. This was a demonstration of their commitment to learning and respect for one another.

During the unit, a student told me he had seen a plane crash on TV. I realized that the students are exposed to all sorts of media outside of school, which exposes them to unfortunate events such as the Trans-Asia flight 235 in Taipei. I wondered, "What do they think about this event? How does it make them feel?"

Undoubtedly, it is a sensitive topic and not all educators would agree that we should talk to our young learners about certain events in the world. However, what if our students raised it? Is it right to not explore the new direction of the inquiry with students in the early years?

At many points in our teaching career we find ourselves in the midst of a sensitive conversation and we are uncertain about how to tackle it. What do we say? What if we offend someone? Or we may come across challenging behaviours and realize that there is a cultural context, which we may not be aware of, or we do not agree with.

The TransAsia flight 235 was a real issue for one of the students and I question if comforting my student was the appropriate response. It may be a sensitive topic for educators; however, thinking about the IB mission statement, we need to equip ourselves with strategies to work with our young learners.

At a young age students begin to form their opinions and beliefs; this is evident from the choices they make. Therefore, I wonder if we want our students to be on the path of international-mindedness, should we give our young learners a chance to explore different perspectives? Thinking back to the classroom inquiry and the authentic direction it was going, I recognized that it could have been explored further.

I feel these observations of students and professional reflections raised valuable questions for me. I invite other PYP educators to do the same the next time you face tension in your teaching.

When thinking about the educator's role in approaching different perspectives, I recalled Merryfield's (2002) article on The difference a global educator can make. Merryfield states, "Everyday, teachers make instructional decisions that affect how students perceive their own culture, their nation, the lives of people around the world, and the issues and conflicts facing the planet."

So I ask, how can we, as Early Childhood Educators, make the right instructional decisions in an early years classroom?

Sources:

Davy, I 2011, 'Learners without borders: a curriculum for global citizenship', IB Position Paper, pp. 3-10.

Merryfield, M 2002, 'The Difference a Global Educator Can Make', Educational Leadership, no. 60, 18-21.

Short, K & Burke, C 1996, 'Examining our beliefs and practices through Inquiry', Language Arts, no. 73, pp. 97-104.

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The article was originally published in The Red Dot, Issue 4, June 2015 - a Singapore/Malaysia PYP Network Newsletter.

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Maninder Johal is passionate about the early years and enjoys teaching young learners. Since working and learning about the IB, she has taken a personal interest in international-mindedness and exploring how this looks in the classroom and the school community. She strives towards teachers sharing their practice, extending ideas with students and teachers and encouraging teachers to reflect on their practice.

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An early years approach to global issues

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The inquiry approach requires educators to think about their role and their students in a different way. It creates conflict among some educators, as it is a change not only in their practice, but also in their belief (Short & Burke, 1996).

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This article explores a school's decision to align the units of inquiry so that all classes explore the same transdisciplinary theme at the same time, and reflects on its impact on the school community.

"Our aim was to further strengthen the collaboration between classes, and for the community to become more aware of each transdisciplinary theme as it becomes the focus throughout the school. ."

The International School of Dublin is a small school, comprised of four multi-grade classes. This characteristic has an impact on the Programme of Inquiry, which used to be completely modified every year, until we adopted a Year A/Year B system more recently. The size of the school allows for a great amount of collaboration between classes. Both homeroom and single-subject teachers are aware of the units of inquiry being explored in all classes. Weekly assemblies and shared field trips are ways in which different classes interact and collaborate with one another.

In 2019-2020, we decided to modify the order of the units of inquiry so that all classes would work under a given transdisciplinary theme at the same time. The idea came from a staff meeting, and the first step was to discuss it with all staff, taking time to consider pros and cons of doing so. Our aim was to further strengthen the collaboration between classes, and for the community to become more aware of each transdisciplinary theme as it becomes the focus throughout the school. We did some research and found other PYP schools that had one or two units of inquiry that crossed across the school. However, we did not find a school that had attempted this before. After several discussions, we decided to do it for one year as a trial. We put together all the units of inquiry under each transdisciplinary theme, and analysed in which order we wanted to present them. It was quite clear from the start that everyone agreed on who we are and how we express ourselves as transdisciplinary themes that were best suited for the beginning of the year. This had to do with exploring identity, establishing a relationship between class members, and the possibility of using the tools for expression throughout the year. Once that had been established, the rest of the themes were put in order depending on how certain units of inquiry were best suited for certain times of the year.

The revised Programme of Inquiry was carefully discussed with all teachers. However, the new alignment was not discussed in advance with the students, but we rather chose to introduce the units of inquiry at a class level as usual, and observe the impact of the alignment, if any, throughout the year. Observations from members of staff were discussed during meetings, and the results were overwhelmingly positive.

Among the most mentioned advantages were the following:

Students were making more connections to the transdisciplinary theme. This was particularly noticed during assembly, where students would connect their learning experiences with those of other classes. Parents of siblings in different classes also provided anecdotal evidence of these connections being verbalised at home.

Teachers admitted putting a greater focus on the transdisciplinary theme when planning and evaluating.

Single-subject teachers (who work with all classes) expressed delight in being able to make more profound connections to the transdisciplinary themes and they also felt planning was easier as they could focus better.

Homeroom teachers were able to collaborate in more meaningful ways with other classes. Examples of this were:

1. A doctor visited the school as a guest speaker for Kindergarten and G5,6 class while exploring Who we are. In this opportunity, the doctor visited the classes separately due to the age difference. However, it was easier for the teachers to coordinate one guest speaker together, and students were made aware that the doctor was visiting two classes to discuss the human body from different perspectives.

2. A whole school field trip was organised to Chester Beatty Library while exploring How we express ourselves. Each class had a different angle to explore the library, but the whole school went together and later discussed the reasons why. Kindergarten enjoyed reading stories from other cultures, Grade 1,2 explored antique artistic techniques, Grade 3,4 visited an Exhibition where stories were told through images, and Grade 5,6 compared and contrasted religious art.

3. Kindergarten and Grade 1,2 planned a joint Field Trip to Airfield Urban Farm while exploring Sharing the Planet but unfortunately, it had to be cancelled due to COVID-19.
The shift to online learning due to the pandemic impacted the inter-class collaboration. Nevertheless, all teachers agreed that the advantages to this approach were strong and as a team we decided to continue organising the Programme of Inquiry in this manner.

"...the benefits seem to outweigh the risks, and as a whole we saw greater levels of collaboration between classes, a greater awareness of the Transdisciplinary Theme at all levels in the community (students, parents, teachers) and more natural interactions during whole school assemblies."

Some of the challenges we faced when implementing this approach were the following:

Teachers had to be open-minded and willing to change the order of the units of inquiry at a grade level in order to align them across all grades. We had to try to accommodate requests for units of inquiry that might fit better at certain times of the year due to weather or special events.

Teachers had to adapt certain elements of the units of inquiry to suit the new order.

An important discussion was which units of inquiry we wanted Grade 6 students to engage with prior to Exhibition.

Nevertheless, the benefits seem to outweigh the risks, and as a whole we saw greater levels of collaboration between classes, a greater awareness of the Transdisciplinary Theme at all levels in the community (students, parents, teachers) and more natural interactions during whole school assemblies.

Our advice for a school considering doing this would be:

1. First, list the pros and cons in your setting. How would this change impact students, homeroom teachers, single-subject teachers, parents? How would it impact your use of resources?

2. Give teachers the Programme of Inquiry organised by Transdisciplinary Themes. Analyse, theme by theme, possible instances for collaboration that arise between classes.

3. As a team, discuss how to decide on the order of the Transdisciplinary Themes. In our case, having Who we are and How we express ourselves at the beginning of the school year was decided unanimously. From there, each grade submitted their "ideal order" and we tried to respect that as much as we could.

Naná Isa is the PYP Coordinator at the International School of Dublin. Naná began her PYP journey in Uruguay and has experience working in and outside the classroom. Naná is an English teacher and translator, currently undergoing a Master's in Education with a focus on Inquiry-Based Learning. She is particularly interested in the learning process of multilingual children.

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Aligning transdisciplinary themes across school

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This article explores a school's decision to align the units of inquiry so that all classes explore the same transdisciplinary theme at the same time, and reflects on its impact on the school community. "Our aim was to further strengthen the collaboration between classes, and for the community to become more aware of each transdisciplinary theme as it becomes the focus throughout the school.

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What is the difference between interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary Curriculum ?

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Critical differences between traditional teaching and transdisciplinary teaching? How to early year students since their understanding of the world is still limited?

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To inquire about implementing a transdisciplinary framework, developing new ideas for designing, inquiry based learning engagements, inclusive and supportive learning environments and designing and moderating assessment processes and tasks etc.

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In what ways do you leverage the strengths of specialist teachers when planning a unit of inquiry?

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How I can implement transdisciplinary curriculum in a bilingual context where the children are proficient in one language but not in the other?

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How do we embed student agency into a transdisciplinary curriculum?

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What is transdisciplinary learning and how does it matter to the learners? How do you plan transdisciplinary learning in a way that is effective for students' learning? What are the teachers' and students' roles in this? What does it look like in a classroom? Any difference between interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary learning?

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Group Workbook Creating a TDL Curriculum 

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Useful for collaboration

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Creating a Transdisciplinary Learning Curriculum March 5-7 - Google Jamboard

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Creating a Transdisciplinary Learning Curriculum March 5-7

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Negotiating Transdisciplinary vs. Stand Alone

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Negotiating Transdisciplinary vs. Stand Alone

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Mathematics in the Primary Years Program (PYP): Negotiating Transdisciplanary Vs. Stand Alone - Judy Imamudeen

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In the purest sense of the PYP, everything is the Unit of Inquiry (UOI), right? One of the greatest suppositions of transdisciplinary learning is to try to create enduring understandings that connect as many dots with the discrete subject areas. For example, when we think about how young children le…

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Reviewing and revising the programme of inquiry

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Reviewing and revising the programme of inquiry

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This article outlines the opportunities and impact of taking a collaborative approach to planning and reviewing the programme of inquiry with a learning community in an Indonesian context, while mapping its national curriculum requirements to the Primary Years Programme (PYP) scope and sequence documents.
Sekolah Victory Plus implements the PYP alongside the Indonesian National Curriculum (INC). The INC scope and sequence is based on Kompetensi Inti (standards set for each year level) and Kompetensi Dasar (the minimum standard of knowledge, skills and attitudes in each subject). We consider the contents of the INC and embed them in our programme of inquiry where possible.
Valuing collaboration
Formal planning with all teachers happens at the beginning, middle and the end of a unit of inquiry. Single-subject teachers negotiate with year-level teachers on how their subjects can either drive or support a unit of inquiry. We also allocate time for collaborative planning every week, modifying the student timetable so that inquiries end 30 minutes earlier that day. All our planning materials are shared in Google Drive to make collaboration visible.

Collaboration with members of the learning community is key to providing authentic learning experiences and helping students make connections to their learning in the wider world. We collaborate with our Parent Support Group to identify family members who can help develop our units of inquiry based on their expertise. We also create opportunities for students to learn through the wider community, including outreach and excursions beyond school to get information from primary sources. The learning from these community connections feeds back into the review of our programme of inquiry for the following year.
Reviewing and revising the programme of inquiry
The Indonesian National Curriculum focuses more on topic-based learning, whereas the PYP promotes transdisciplinary learning across, between and beyond subjects. We are always looking for ways to embed the national curriculum and local cultures and beliefs within our programme of inquiry. We take a whole school approach when reviewing and refining our programme of inquiry, looking for horizontal alignment under each theme, and checking for repetitions or omissions through vertical alignment.
Step 1:
We review and revise the central ideas based on tips for writing clear and powerful generalizations (Erickson, 2006). We have found these helpful in reflecting on and strengthening our central ideas.
Step 2:
Year-level teachers meet to analyze key and related concepts for horizontal alignment to look for ways to embed Indonesian culture, and to look for any repetition or overlap between units and this impact on student learning.
Step 3:
Year-level teachers meet to analyze for vertical alignment. This discussion includes the descriptors of the transdisciplinary themes, a balance of key concepts and inclusion of all PYP subjects each year.
Step 4:
Teachers meet to discuss mapping the PYP and INC subject-specific scope and sequence documents. We colour-code the subject strands and analyze the programme of inquiry for depth and breadth of learning. We take the skills from INC and integrate them into our curriculum mapping document.
Step 5:
Upper grade students co-create assessment criteria for each central idea; their reflections on learning feed back into our review of the programme of inquiry.
Impact on student and teacher learning
The collaborative process of reviewing a programme of inquiry has had a significant impact on student learning in our school. Our students benefit from:

units of inquiry that are more engaging, relevant, challenging and significant

a wider exploration of local and global perspectives

a deeper understanding of the concepts over each grade and across the grades

a greater sense of agency as their reflections feed back into the planning process.

The process has also brought about many learning benefits for our teachers, including opportunities to:

engage in sustained dialogue and reflection

reach deeper levels of understanding together

develop openness to other perspectives

look beyond disciplinary boundaries.

Our process for reviewing the programme of inquiry is constantly evolving, based on our feedback and learning from collaboration. Our next step is to find ways to further involve students to ensure they have choice, voice and ownership in their learning.

References

Erickson, L. 2006. Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction for the Thinking Classroom. Corwin Press, A Sage Publications Company, Thousand Oaks, California

Fifi Anggraini (Aini) is the school academic coordinator who coordinates the curriculum continuum from PYP, MYP and DP at Sekolah Victory Plus, an IB World School in Bekasi, Indonesia. She has been a PYP educator for 17 years and a PYP coordinator since 2003. Fifi has been a member of the IB Educator Network (IBEN) since 2008 as a face to face workshop leader, online workshop leader and a school visiting team member. Her passion is to develop a better education for everyone. She tweets at @fifiaini.
Early Hapsari is also the PYP coordinator at Sekolah Victory Plus. She has been a PYP educator for more than 10 years and is a face to face and online workshop leader. You can follow her on Twitter @earlyhapsari. Your can follow Sekolah Victory Plus on Twitter at @victoryplus.

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Reviewing and revising the programme of inquiry

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This article outlines the opportunities and impact of taking a collaborative approach to planning and reviewing the programme of inquiry with a learning community in an Indonesian context, while mapping its national curriculum requirements to the Primary Years Programme (PYP) scope and sequence documents. Sekolah Victory Plus implements the PYP alongside the Indonesian National Curriculum (INC).

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If you are reading this blog post, chances are that you are open to exploring new ways to plan your units, ensuring more clarity and purpose in student learning. Changing the way we plan can help us see units we teach in a different light, allowing us to reframe, reorganize, and recalibrate. It's not about reinventing the wheel, and is instead about reflecting and refining what we do to impact student learning on a deeper level.

The day-to-day demands on teachers can be overwhelming and very hard to navigate. It takes a very special focus and a relentless level of effort to remain on the top of our teaching games. In this blog post I share a pre-unit planning framework that I have adapted from IB's From Principles into Practice and developed over the past few years. It helps break down not only the 'why' of teaching, but also the 'what' and 'how.'

A Framework for the Planning Process

1. Planning Prompts: As PYP teachers there is a certain framework teachers must adhere to in their planning process. It is important to note that teachers across the world follow different planning processes and create their version of the process. This blog captures the process that I follow with my teaching teams and in no way is it the only way to plan. As a reminder of the essential elements of the PYP, I adapted and created a planning prompts document based on IB's From Principles into Practice. This captures the big ideas that teachers need to think through when planning units.

This planning prompts sheet outlines key concepts, the Learner Profile, the Approaches to Learning Skills, and both discipline specific concepts and related concepts that transcend subject specific boundary lines.

Teachers sit down with this planning prompts sheet to not only plan new units, but also revisit units previously taught to discuss and reflect on how these units might be refined. This allows them to be intentional and focused on the 'why' behind their teaching.

The Music pre-unit planning and Physical Education pre-unit planning prompts sheets are available in the downloadable, so be sure to click download now!

2. Pre-Unit Planning Outline: When I am working with my teaching teams to plan a completely new unit or work to refine a unit taught from the year before, I encourage them to use my planning prompts sheet along with the pre-unit planning document:

According to me, this pre-unit planning outline helps create a bird's eye view of the unit at a glimpse. It helps teachers define what they want the enduring understanding to be, which is then crafted into the central idea.

I, then encourage them to identify the essential student learning outcomes based on the scope and sequence that they use in their program.

Next, I encourage teachers to decide on a conceptual lens or overarching concept that will support the enduring understanding of the unit.

Next, they look at the key concepts, related concepts, the Learner Profile attributes, and Approaches to Learning Skills that will best support the conceptual lens and the enduring understanding of the unit.

My whole process is deeply rooted in refining the number of outcomes, concepts, attributes and skills to be taught. Less is more! Keeping it on one page gives teachers a clear and concise overview of the unit that they will teach.

My Visual Arts and Music Pre-Unit Planning Document is available in the downloadable curated for you

According to me, thinking intentionally about the order and laying it out is in itself an important step in the process. Once teachers identify what the big ideas of the unit are, they can then create a mini-timeline on the same planning sheet. This can be broken down into however long the unit is, for example, 6-7 weeks.

Creating a timeline in this way essentially provides teachers with a roadmap to the unit from the first to the last week. It allows for more meaningful discussions about formative assessment and how timely feedback can be provided to students with more regularity.

Once the rough draft of the timeline is complete, teachers create a large poster-sized timeline to be posted on the wall in their planning space. This becomes a constant go-to throughout the unit in order to have authentic conversations and reflections around how the unit is going.

Teachers can use the timeline to specifically look at how each of the big ideas will be unpacked within the unit. They can create the guiding questions they need to promote deeper inquiry into the big ideas and understandings. The timeline can be used for ongoing reflection using specific protocols.

Plan Using Andy's Planning Prompts & Documents!

3. Coded ATLs Handbook: As part of this planning process, I decided to number code each of the ATL skills in the five areas of Thinking Skills, Research Skills, Communication Skills, Social Skills, and Self-Management Skills.

This allows for better navigation through the newly enhanced ATLs provided by the IB PYP. Teachers can dive more deeply into the skills themselves and which of these skills authentically and meaningfully support the enduring understanding of the unit.

The planning prompts sheet devotes a section to the ATLs and has a breakdown of the sub-skills in each of the five areas. Included in each of these areas are the number codes that correspond with each sub-skill. Teachers can then refer directly to the ATL handbook to look specifically at which indicators they would like to target as part of the teaching in the unit.

I hope you find my planning process and prompts useful in making your planning more meaningful, authentic, and collaborative!

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A Roadmap for Success in the Single Subjects - Key Learnings and Resources from Webinar

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Get planning with Andy Vasily's planning process and prompts to make your planning more meaningful, authentic, and collaborative!

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Developing Approaches to Learning (ATL) as a PYP Single Subject Teacher

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Developing Approaches to Learning (ATL) as a PYP Single Subject Teacher

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Developing Approaches to Learning (ATL) as a PYP Single Subject Teacher

The Importance of Transdisciplinary tasks.
By Ding Ding Song (Chatsworth East International School)

The PYP is a holistic and transdisciplinary education framework. Subject discipline knowledge is important, but at the same time, developing conceptual understandings and developing skills that transcend disciplines should also be a priority in the planning and delivery of a quality balanced curriculum.

When turning an idealized philosophy into a practical and deliverable curriculum, many teachers and schools recognize and battle with the tension between disciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches. Like all PYP teachers, additional language teachers need to also apply transdisciplinary approaches to teaching and learning as well as try to develop specific disciplinary knowledge and skills . However, it is not unusual for Mandarin teachers from different PYP schools to share similar concerns, trying to balance the development ofMandarin language skills and content knowledge with transdisciplinary teaching and learning in their classrooms. Having spoken to and reflected with many Mandarin language (and other single subject) PYP teachers, some clear misconceptions and frustrations emerge; "There is too much content to 'cover' and not enough time '' , 'as a Mandarin teacher my job is only to build Mandarin skills. ' or 'Isn ' t it the classroom teachers ' job to develop students transdisciplinary skills?'.

Mandarin teachers (and all single subject teachers) carry equal responsibility in building PYP students ' Approaches to Learning (Transdisciplinary Skills) as classroom teachers do. One simple but effective way to promote transdisciplinary teaching and learning in an additional language classroom is to commit to, and purposefully design, transdisciplinary tasks, either individual or group, that require the use of a wide range of skills. During the process of completing transdisciplinary tasks, there are plenty of opportunities for students to develop transdisciplinary skills and display the attributes of the PYP Learner Profile and attitudes. They also provide opportunities for Assessment as Learning where students self reflect and peer assess their skills, knowledge and new understandings.

The magic of Transdisciplinary tasks is to allow multiple transdisciplinary skills to develop while at the same time, still having a clear focus on Mandarin language skills. Transdisciplinary tasks sound like something big and tedious. In reality, reframing simple class games and activities into transdisciplinary tasks is relatively straight forward with a bit of reflection and creativity.

Some strategies for Mandarin PYP teachers, and all specialized PYP teachers to facilitate transdisciplinary teaching and learning are below:

Don't afraid of doing things differently. Using backwards design as guidance, focus first on skill development instead of content knowledge. Think of specific students or classes and imagine them being engaged in these tasks. Are they all saying, thinking and creating the same thing? If so, revisit your plans again to refine and improve. A recent Year Six class wrote and performed fables in Mandarin using Hanyu Pinyin. Students used, and were assessed on, Mandarin knowledge and skills as well as social, communication and self-management skills.

Collaboration has always been the key for teaching and learning in PYP classroom. Designing transdisciplinary tasks is best achieved through sustained collaborative effort. Single subjects teachers and homeroom teachers can assist each other in design, planning, delivery and assessment of such tasks. Teamwork between teachers and with students will help ensure success in students' transdisciplinary skills development as there is greater opportunity for more teachers and students to self assess and peer assess. Recently, the Mandarin team integrated with a Year 2 unit of inquiry. Mandarin teachers and homeroom teachers collaboratively designed and planned a transdisciplinary summative assessment task. A variety of on-going formative transdisciplinary skills assessments were effectively conducted during both Mandarin classes and homeroom unit of inquiry sessions. Students self-reflected and peer assessed these skills at the end of the unit.

A teachers' philosophical belief regarding skill and knowledge acquisition has a dramatic impact on students learning. Talk to a colleague or a mentor that you admire or who has a different perspective than yours. Imagine yourself teaching in a different way or delivering a different curriculum. Thinking out of the box and taking other suggestions can be a good starting point. Bring your students on board, acknowledging their ideas and appreciating their afford in actively contributing in the creation of authentic assessment tasks.

As educators, we want to model the PYP Learner Profile and Attitudes to be life-long learners. Professional development is not only able to equip us with theory that allows us to make connections with practices but also enables us to further challenge our way of thinking, practicing and seeking different ways to achieve better results. This might be in the form of a current book, video clip, conference speaker or school visit. Joining local PYP school networks, meeting teachers from other PYP schools, using local resources or interviewing experts from your school community could also provide opportunities of gaining different perspectives and accumulating subject knowledge.

Reflection informs further teaching and learning. Keep some key questions in mind: Does this task address all the essential elements? What specific skills and knowledge are being developed during this week or month? What aspects need to be enhanced? Are we still focused on our objectives while giving students freedom to inquire and be responsible learners? Have we catered to students' interests and different learning styles? Students, especially upper primary, can actively participate in the reflection process. Work with your students and receive some constructive feedback.

Share the objectives of transdisciplinary tasks with students and parents. Clearly explain the focus isn't only on content knowledge but also skills and understanding. Assessment criteria need to be shared at the beginning; making an assessment rubric with your students is even better. This helps students understand what the expectations are and can stay on task. Bare in mind, understanding and skills cannot be developed overnight. Teachers should provide guidance and constructive feedback in a timely manner to improve students' development. In the long run, time in planning and monitoring will pay off.

No one is perfect and teaching is a learning journey as well. Teachers and students need to understand that making mistakes and finding tasks challenging are important parts of learning. Skill development occurs when the focus switches from the product to the process, from memorizing to applying, from copying to creating, from following to evaluating. Be confident when there are doubts about these slightly time consuming and students directing tasks. Share your skills and knowledge confidently. Believe the way we support our students is the best practice to develop skillful global citizens.

For our students to survive in this highly competitive modern society they need to be equipped with a wide range of transdisciplinary skills. It is up to us to prepare our students to succeed in their future studies, careers and personal life. As educators, we need to shift the paradigm, striving to provide learning opportunities that don't rely only on the acquisition of specific knowledge, but also strengthen their globally transferable skills. Educators, enjoy the journey of inquiring best practice. Choose, act and reflect.
By Ding Ding Song, Mandarin Teacher, Chatsworth East International School

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Developing Approaches to Learning (ATL) as a PYP Single Subject Teacher

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Developing Approaches to Learning (ATL) as a PYP Single Subject Teacher - The Importance of Transdisciplinary tasks. By Ding Ding Song...

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Quick Quiz: What is the first "box" in the PYP planner? Did these things come to mind?:

What is our purpose? To inquire into the following: What are the possible ways of assessing students' understanding of the central idea? What evidence, including student-initiated actions, will we look for?
summative assessment task(s):

Now with the enhancements in the Primary Years Programme (PYP), we can redesign our planner which has to lead to an overhaul of our collaborative planning. If you notice in the Box #1, aside from clarifying our theme and central idea, we would start planning our summative. However, we haven't done any assessment of student's prior knowledge, and I often found that determining the summative assessment before we have even launched a unit of inquiry (UOI) has always led to more teacher direction in our units, as if we are nudging and, sometimes pushing the students toward our end goal-The Summative Task. Think about it, when we plan in this way, we are already dictating the terms of what we want the students to Know, Understand, and Do (aka: KUD) before we have even gotten them to SHOW US what they already know, understand and do. A bit presumptive of us, really, eh?

Needless to say, since the reigns are off, and schools get to design PYP planners in the Enhanced PYP, there's been a shift in how we approach planning. And the new "Box 1" (figuratively) is about planning our provocation FIRST so we can let the students reveal to us what they know and lead the direction of the UOI, rather then us marching them towards the summative. It may seem trivial, but when you consider how AGENCY is the new core of our curriculum, we need to be approaching our units in different ways.

Let me provide a context, looking at our Math Stand Alone:

Patterns and sequences occur in everyday situations.
-Patterns can be found in numbers.
-Types of number patterns
-Patterns can be created and extended.

Key concepts: Connection, Form, Reflection

Related concepts: pattern, sequences, collections/groups

As a team, including our Math Leader of Learning ( Olwen Millgate), we sat down and discussed the many different ways that we could plan a provocation around this central idea. At the end of the day, we determined that the most open-ended, the better, so that students could exercise as much creativity and skills as possible. We would just be the "researchers" in the classroom, observing and noting what the students came up with when given the challenge- Create as many patterns using one or more of the materials provided.

As teacher researchers, we divided up the students so that we could take notes, making sure that all students were given the time and attention to "show what they know" about patterns. Here is the simple observational sheet that was created for this provocation: (Free to use)

We gave the students a variety of math tools to work with:

1. counters

2. ten frames

3. unifix cubes

4. Cuisenaire Rods

5. beads

6. pattern blocks

7. peg boards

8. tanagrams

9. popsickle sticks

10. white board and markers

11. stampers and paper

12. dominos

13. magnetic letters and boards

As you can see, they had a plethora of options, and the students engaged freely, making their own choices and creations. Some students preferred to work by themselves while other collaborated-another aspect that we noted along with capturing their conversations. Here are just a few of those creations:

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There was a very loud and animated group at the Unifix cube station-which surprised us all by how excited they got about building "tall patterns", with a lot of debate about whether they were just snapping cubes together or generating a true pattern. Although to outsiders, it may have felt chaotic, there were fantastic conjectures going on, which we saved a few examples to use for future provocations. (The Guiding Question: Is this a pattern? Why or Why Not?)

Later, our team met to discuss what we observed and we were able to sift through our documentation. We unpacked the provocation, and shared our photos and notes, describing some of the interactions that we had with them. Then we went to our curriculum and examined the phase the students might be achieving at in their conceptual understandings. Our central idea comes from the PYP Maths Scope and Sequence in Phase 1, so we needed to challenge it - is this the phase they are actually in or are we seeing evidence of Phase 2 understanding? We decided to stick with our central idea and lines of inquiry because we felt like we saw and heard evidence that most of our learners were on the tail end of this phase, applying their understanding of pattern.

After this conversation, we went on to determine what our next steps could be. Most of the patterns were ABABAB-do we encourage them to make ABCABCABC or other more sophisticated patterns? At the end of our deliberations, we decided that rushing them might create conceptual gaps so we wanted to stick with their ABABAB, but create a series of opportunities to look at how we could manipulate only 2 variables to generate a variety of patterns. What can we do with only 2 attributes?-This became the guiding question for our upcoming provocations.

So here we are, in Week 2 of this unit and we still haven't nailed down our summative task. Gasp, right? But, on Friday, after this week's follow up provocations, we can safely appreciate our learners, where they are and where we can take them during the remaining weeks of the unit. I find that thrilling. We will create our conceptual math rubric, using this generic one as our guide:

Hopefully, you can see that we are thinking about planning not as boxes but phases in our inquiry. We are using this "tuning in" period to dictate the terms of our how we will ultimately assess students. And we are spending more time researching and planning our provocations so that they can make the children's thinking visible and expose their understanding of the math concepts. I believe that as this approach to planning evolves, our attitudes toward our students also evolve when we are observing how they are competent and creative when expressing their ideas.

I'm wondering how other schools have begun to consider the impact of planning on agency and how it will look in the Enhanced PYP. The planner has always been a tool for us to shape our collaboration and thinking about how best to meet our students' needs in the inquiry. I think it will be fun to see how schools begin to shift as they reflect deeply on the importance of it-it's more than just an exercise in paperwork, it is an artifact of learning.

So what's your "Box #1"?

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The PYP Planner: A Shift in Our Approach to Planning Inquiry (#enhancedPYP ) - Judy Imamudeen

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Quick Quiz: What is the first "box" in the PYP planner? Did these things come to mind?: What is our purpose? To inquire into the following: Transdisciplinary theme: Central idea : summative assessment task(s): What are the possible ways of assessing students' understanding of the central idea?

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The Learner in the Early Years (3-6 years old)

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PYP Workshop Creating a Curriculum for Transdisciplinary Learning Activity 1

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Connection - This is a process of shift.

Challenge - Any ideal timeline that would work best to incorporate this philosophy into different schools

Concept - Is is flexible

Change - Teachers must be open-minded and open to shifting and adapting the recommended approaches to planning, teaching, and reflecting.

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Connection: The future of education we want depends upon the learning and teaching of today.
Challenge:
Concepts: Student agency, ATL's, Inquiry based, Conceptual learning, TD Curriculum, the 3 pillars
Change:

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Connection
Both articles support a social constructivist approach to learning.

Challenge
How might we leverage the knowledge and skills students bring from their families and communities? Is this voice captured in the documents?

Concepts
justice, problem-solving skills, growth mindset

Change
Fostering agentic learning will help us acquire the knowledge, skills, and values needed to prepare for an unknown future.

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Connection

Both articles addressed student agency and problem-solving

Challenge

Learners have different cultural and family backgrounds. Some parents have high expectations of academic achievement while some parents don't want to be involved in their kids' learning.

Concepts

mobilisation of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values

Change

Students will need to apply their knowledge in unknown and evolving circumstances.

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E

I am excited to plan a unit of inquiry with the art teacher at my school.

W

How do I share my excitement in a way that is inviting?

N

I need to spend time becoming familiar with the art curriculum before I meet with her.

S

I will use my action plan to document next steps.

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Connection- Making lifelong learners, giving agency to students, and social-emotional learning. Holistic development of the learner.

Challenge-  Application with the local environment.

Concept- skills, attitudes, student agency,

Change- More open-ended inquiry to prepare generations for an unknown future.

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Excited - Today has been great. Great cohort to work with and a great number of resources to read and use.

Worried - Not at all

Need To Know - Nothing yet

Stance - I have a much much better understanding on how to go about planning and prepping for my subject.

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I am very excited to learn what other schools are doing in their classroom and how they are implementing and integrating new concepts into their classroom.

The biggest thing I would love to know is how the EY teachers integrate specialist teachers into their planning or if it's common for everyone that it doesn't happen on a regular basis?

I would also love to know what kind of applications or school systems they are using to do their planning, evidencing etc.

It is very exciting to keep on learning from others and of course keep an open mind to new ideas.

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E : A lot useful resources and templates from Alissa, thank you xx
W: Need time to digest these information and think of implementation in my current curriculum. Suggestion to my coordinator.
N: Need to see more transdisciplinary curriculum examples
S: Teachers' voice and agency to evaluate which tools are better fit my school's curriculum.

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Excited to have access to lots of resources and the opportunity to discuss ideas with teachers from different schools

Need to know more about how to plan a transdisciplinary unit

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E- Enjoyed new learning and sharing W- No at all                                             N- Looking forward to knowing more examples for classroom applications.                                           S- None   

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E- Enjoyed new learning and sharing W- No at all                                             N- Looking forward to knowing more examples for classroom applications.                                           S- None   