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From Clare Landrigan

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I would like to look into one of our units of inquiry with our group and discuss how we could add more connections.

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I would like to look into one of our units of inquiry with our group and discuss how we could add more connections.

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I would like to find more clear and direct connection with some of the units of inquiry and the counselling themes

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I would like to find more clear and direct connection with some of the units of inquiry and the counselling themes

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Text sets can be super useful. Already use a wide range, but might be interesting to look deeper into the upcoming unit sharing the planet

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Text sets can be super useful. Already use a wide range, but might be interesting to look deeper into the upcoming unit sharing the planet

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Take a unit and plan it out with connections through the different subject areas. 

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Take a unit and plan it out with connections through the different subject areas. 

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Include vocabulary that is not only technical but also that could support the understanding of big ideas

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Include vocabulary that is not only technical but also that could support the understanding of big ideas

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We need a unified and consistent year curriculum document, where everyone (single-subject teachers, counsellors, and other specialists) could collaborate

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We need a unified and consistent year curriculum document, where everyone (single-subject teachers, counsellors, and other specialists) could collaborate

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I'd like to look into creating text sets for Grade 5 for our next unit, esp using audio tools such as podcasts, and wordless books, including considering how to use translanguaging for our students with EAL.

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I'd like to look into creating text sets for Grade 5 for our next unit, esp using audio tools such as podcasts, and wordless books, including considering how to use translanguaging for our students with EAL.

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Gots: Connecting the dots analogy.
Wants: Transdiciplinarity!

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Gots: "just in time" instead of "just in case" 

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Gots: "just in time" instead of "just in case" 

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Gots: Thinking about staggered learning, what do they need ahead of learning? what can be left for later ?

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Gots: Thinking about staggered learning, what do they need ahead of learning? what can be left for later ?

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what we know will be covered by teacher

Wants The time spread of the UOI's to allow for this. So overlap of some UOI's?

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Gots: "It's hard to connect the dots if there are no dots." The importance of teaching discipline specific areas of ELA language to equip chn for TD learning

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Gots: "It's hard to connect the dots if there are no dots." The importance of teaching discipline specific areas of ELA language to equip chn for TD learning

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Wants: to explore how to do this while responding to children's progress (planning-in-the-moment approach).

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Gots: The balance between "teaching in time" vs "teaching in case" lessons

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Gots: The balance between "teaching in time" vs "teaching in case" lessons

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Wants: How to choose topics for counsellors' classroom lessons more effectively and more integrated into units of inquiry?

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To identify a mechanism to provide these Mini-inquiries as year-long opportunities to build up content knowledge

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To identify a mechanism to provide these Mini-inquiries as year-long opportunities to build up content knowledge

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Gots: Thinking about timing is important

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Gots: Thinking about timing is important

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Wants:
How to make sure not to "overload" students.

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Gots: subject specific knowledge is necessary for inquiry to take place. 

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Gots: subject specific knowledge is necessary for inquiry to take place. 

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Wants: How do we get to the point where students are willing and able to take action within the units?

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by Chris Gadbury

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IB PYP

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IB PYP

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EKC

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EKC

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natashya@erinkentconsulting.com

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EKC Connections

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Honoring All Languages in Literacy Instruction

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Honoring All Languages in Literacy Instruction

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DisruptED TV

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Connect with educators around the world!

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Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

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François Grosjean

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François Grosjean
University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland

A number of myths about bilingualism are discussed in my new book, Bilingual: Life and Reality (Harvard University Press, 2010). They are summarized here.

Bilingualism is a rare phenomenon. WRONG. It has been estimated that more than half the world's population is bilingual, that is lives with two or more languages. Bilingualism is found in all parts of the world, at all levels of society, in all age groups. Even in countries with many monolinguals, the percentage of bilinguals is high. For example, one can estimate that there are as many as 50 million bilinguals in the United States today.

Bilinguals acquire their two or more languages in childhood. WRONG. One can become bilingual in childhood, but also in adolescence and in adulthood. In fact, many adults become bilingual because they move from one country (or region) to another and have to acquire a second language. With time, they can become just as bilingual as children who acquire their languages in their early years (minus the native speaker accent). In general, people become bilingual because life requires the use of two or more languages. This can be due to immigration, education, intermarriage, contact with other linguistic groups within a country, and so on.

Bilinguals have equal and perfect knowledge of their languages. WRONG. This is a myth that has had a long life! In fact, bilinguals know their languages to the level that they need them. Some bilinguals are dominant in one language, others do not know how to read and write one of their languages, others have only passive knowledge of a language and, finally, a very small minority, have equal and perfect fluency in their languages. What is important to keep in mind is that bilinguals are very diverse, as are monolinguals.

Real bilinguals have no accent in their different languages. WRONG. Having an accent or not in a language does not make you more or less bilingual. It depends on when you acquired your languages. In fact, some extremely fluent and balanced bilinguals have an accent in the one, or the other, language; other, less fluent, bilinguals may have no accent at all.

Bilinguals are born translators. WRONG. Even though bilinguals can translate simple things from one language to another, they often have difficulties with more specialized domains. The reaction people have is almost always, "But I thought you were bilingual!". In fact, bilinguals use their languages in different situations, with different people, in different domains of life (this is called the complementarity principle). Unless they learned their languages formally (in school, for example), or have trained to be translators, they often do not have translations equivalents in the other language.

Mixing languages is a sign of laziness in bilinguals. WRONG. Mixing languages such as code-switching and borrowing is a very common behavior in bilinguals speaking to other bilinguals. It is a bit like having coffee with milk instead of just straight black. The two language repertoires are available in bilingual situations and can be used at will. Many expressions and words are better said in the one or the other language; mixing permits to use the right one without having recourse to translation which simply may not do justice to what one wants to express. This said, in other situations, bilinguals know that they cannot mix their languages (e.g. when speaking to monolinguals) and they then stick to just one language.

Bilinguals are also bicultural. WRONG. Even though many bilinguals are also bicultural (they interact with two cultures and they combine aspects of each), many others are monocultural (e.g. the inhabitants in the German speaking part of Switzerland who often acquire three or four languages during their youth). Thus one can be bilingual without being bicultural just as one can be monolingual and bicultural (e.g. the British who live in the USA).

Bilinguals have double or split personalities. WRONG. Bilinguals, like monolinguals, adapt their behavior to different situations and people. This often leads to a change of language in bilinguals (e.g. a Japanese-English bilingual speaking Japanese to her grandmother and English to her sister). This change of language has led to the idea that bilinguals are "different" when speaking the one, or the other, language. But like monolinguals, it is the situation or the person one is speaking to which induces slight changes in behavior, opinions, feelings, etc., not the fact that one is bilingual.

Bilinguals express their emotions in their first language. WRONG. Some bilinguals have grown up learning two languages simultaneously and hence have two first languages with which they will express their emotions. And for the majority of bilinguals who have acquired their languages successively-first one language and then, some years later, another-the pattern is not clear. Emotions and bilingualism produce a very complicated but also very personal reality that has no set rules. Some bilinguals prefer to use one language, some the other, and some use both of them to express their feelings and emotions.

Bilingualism will delay language acquisition in children. WRONG. This is a myth that was popular back in the middle of the 20th Century. Since then much research has shown that bilingual children are not delayed in their language acquisition. This said, one should keep in mind that bilingual children, because they have to deal with two or more languages, are different in some ways from monolingual children, but definitely not on rate of language acquisition. As for bilingual children with language challenges (e.g. dyslexia), they are not proportionally more numerous than monolingual children with the same challenges.

The language spoken in the home will have a negative effect on the acquisition of the school language, when the latter is different. WRONG. In fact, the home language can be used as a linguistic base for acquiring aspects of the other language. It also gives children a known language to communicate in (with parents, caretakers, and, perhaps, teachers) while acquiring the other.

If parents want their children to grow up bilingual, they should use the one person - one language approach. WRONG. There are many ways of making sure a child grows up bilingual: caretaker 1 speaks one language and caretaker 2 speaks the other; one language is used in the home and the other outside the home; the child acquires his/her second language at school, etc. The critical factor is NEED. The child must come to realize, most of the time unconsciously, that he/she needs two or more languages in everyday life. This is where the one person - one language approach often breaks down as the bilingual child quickly realizes that the weaker (often minority) language is not really needed (the caretakers or other family members often speak the other, stronger language, to one another, so why keep up the weaker language?). A better approach is that all family members use the weaker language at home, if at all possible, so as to increase the child's exposure to it and mark the language's "main" territory.

Children raised bilingual will always mix their languages. WRONG. If bilingual children interact in both bilingual and monolingual situations, then they learn to mix languages at certain times only. When they are with monolinguals (e.g. Grandma who doesn't speak any English), they quickly learn to speak just the one language (communication breaks down otherwise). It is important though that the situation be truly monolingual (and not a "pretend situation" in which a bilingual parent pretends not to know the other language); children will make an effort to speak only one language if they feel it is vital for communication. Thus, caretakers will want to create natural monolingual environments where children will need, and hence use, just one language.

For further reading click on the following links:

1. François Grosjean's new book Bilingual: Life and Reality (Harvard University Press, 2010)

2. A short text, "What parents want to know about bilingualism", by François Grosjean

3. An interview of François Grosjean on bilingualism

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Francois Grosjean - Myths about bilingualism bilingualism

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Francois Grosjean, François Grosjean, Grosjean, psycholinguistics, language processing, bilingualism, biculturalism, sign language, aphasia, applied linguistics, BIMOLA, language processing in aphasics, prosodic structures, second language grammar checking, Life with two languages, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition

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IB Librarians - What makes them so unique? People in India, often have an image of a librarian with glasses, stern and someone who hushes you to be quiet. But a librarian at an international school or IB librarians are dynamic and have a growth mindset to learn.

IB Librarians learn how to connect the IB learner profiles, transdisciplinary skills and concepts to stories and the Units of Inquiry. They are often found using technology tools and various apps to help students share their learning. IB Librarians connect through read-aloud sessions keeping in mind - Reading with a Purpose, and five keys to storytelling, supporting Literacy. With computers in the hands of the children, it's important to teach them DigitalCitizenship (Commonsense Media Guidelines) as a part of the library classes. Of course, all of the resources are guidelines to suit your patrons and learners.

Librarians in IB schools wear many hats: one of a curator of resources both print and digital information, they collaborate with teachers to build the collection, they co-teach with classroom teachers, maintain the library, work with the technology department and use technology tools to sharpen students understanding.

They usually have the digital Library platform where they share library news, resources, and information with their learners. Now, librarians are bringing content to students by using Virtual Reality (VR) and Google Expeditions to the units.

Librarians who join international schools are often perplexed about teaching and often ask about a library curriculum. There is no stand-alone curriculum for librarians. However, I guess you will need to create one that combines the ATL or the Transdisciplinary Skills or the AASL or ISTE Standards to match the Units of Inquiry and find various ways and strategies to enrich literacy. These guidelines can give librarians accountability and direction. Many librarians are creating different planners. I was at a conference last November 2017 and the presenter - Doug Johnson recommended adopting ISTE standards. I looked at them carefully and found them to be relevant and robust, precise and attainable. Keeping the standards in mind, you can create engagements to match the Units of Inquiry.

Yes, that's a lot of work, but I guess when a couple of librarians come together to collaborate and support each other, they can create a unique curriculum that works for their school. There is no "one size fits all" formula at International Schools. Each school is exclusive and therefore forming guidelines/engagements/ standards-based or skills-based structures to suit your learners is something for each librarian to ponder. Collaborating with your curriculum head or coordinator helps give direction. Feel free to email me for a good discussion.

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IB Librarians - What makes them so special? - Heeru Bhojwani

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IB Librarians - What makes them so unique? People in India, often have an image of a librarian with glasses, stern and someone who hushes you to be quiet. But a librarian at an international school or IB librarians are dynamic and have a growth mindset to learn. IB Librarians...

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Wildlife Game - Sustainable and Resources

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Wildlife Game - Sustainable and Resources

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Really useful to have the time  to explore connections in our own UOI!

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Really useful to have the time  to explore connections in our own UOI!

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It's great to walk away feeling more sure of what I'm going to do tomorrow, and to have continued an ongoing conversation with my team.
We do need to continue to have real time with the wider school team to make these connections across our curriculum. There's so much power in plotting out the dots for children to make more connections and the learning is authentic.

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It was great to talk about the next unit! I think we might have brainstormed some new pathways.

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It was great to talk about the next unit! I think we might have brainstormed some new pathways.

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Got me thinking about; researchers workshop and word conscious kids!

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Got me thinking about; researchers workshop and word conscious kids!

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Focusing on key concepts rather than specific content makes better connections with different disciplines

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Focusing on key concepts rather than specific content makes better connections with different disciplines

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It was great to find connections that can be applied at school

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It was great to find connections that can be applied at school

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Liked the time to meet specifically, like the idea of authentic connections rather than trying to bend what we already do.

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Liked the time to meet specifically, like the idea of authentic connections rather than trying to bend what we already do.

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Wants: more time to plan in and across teams

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Wants: more time to plan in and across teams

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no 15-minute sessions every now and then

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Gots: short time slots are enough to brainstorm

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Gots: short time slots are enough to brainstorm

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more time needed to plan properly

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#1 Collaborative Teaching: Year Level AND Subject Teacher

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#1 Collaborative Teaching: Year Level AND Subject Teacher

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Example 1 Collaborative Teaching year level and subject

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#2 Collaborative Teaching: Year Level OR Subject Teacher lead

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#2 Collaborative Teaching: Year Level OR Subject Teacher lead

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Example 2 Collaborative Teaching- Year level OR Subject

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#3 Collaborative Teaching: Alongside Each other

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#3 Collaborative Teaching: Alongside Each other

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Example 3 Collaborative Teaching Alongside

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Collaborative and transdisciplinary planning become more authentic when homeroom teachers and subject teachers and/or counsellors plan and work together in a unit from the beginning, rather than trying to fit in an already planned unit.

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German teachers have to be part of the unit planning processes of units we join with some groups.
Unit timeline alignment.
German workshops across German levels for students to teach/learn from each other (language, communication, responsibility, ...).

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Teaching 'just in time' not 'just in case', need for disciplinary knowledge - we can't connect the dots if we don't have the dots!  Been wonderful to connect with colleagues and grow our ideas together!

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You need disciplinary skills to work interdisciplinary to connect the dots. Love the idea text sets too, and Marti and I know where we will be going with our sharing the planet unit next year. Thank you!

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You need disciplinary skills to work interdisciplinary to connect the dots. Love the idea text sets too, and Marti and I know where we will be going with our sharing the planet unit next year. Thank you!

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Working with subject specific teachers to make so many powerful connections! 

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Working with subject specific teachers to make so many powerful connections! 

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The skills and knowledge are important to connect the dots. You can't connect the dots without any dots!

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The skills and knowledge are important to connect the dots. You can't connect the dots without any dots!

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Really enjoyed working with a group from across the school. Love the visual of the dots.

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Really enjoyed working with a group from across the school. Love the visual of the dots.

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Having time to discuss with some grades during these seasons motivated me truly to find meaningful connections between the SEL content and the different units of inquiry. It is challenging but, when the connection is established, very rewarding. Thanks!