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Developed by experienced educators, Toddle streamlines curriculum planning, projects & portfolios, assessments & reports, and online learning - all from one place!

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Transdisciplinary theme, descriptor, related concepts, and your central idea!

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Videos about the IB's Programmes (Katryna)

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Videos about the IB's Programmes (Katryna)

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Videos for each IB Programme: https://ibo.org/digital-toolkit/videos/

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Parent Brochure

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IB Informative Newsletter (Gloria Gamboa, Glorimar Rodriguez)

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Read the following sections from the digital resource Learning Community/International-mindedness
Group 1

Developing international-mindedness

Fostering the development of international mindedness

Group 2

Providing professional development

Making provisions for language learning

Infusing international mindedness within the PYP framework

Group 3

Expanding cultural understanding to extra-curricular activities

Celebrating diversity

Engaging with and building relationships in the school community

Be prepared to discuss this with your group using the Compass Points thinking routine. Post your thoughts in this column.

E = Excited: What excites you about this idea or proposition? What’s the upside?

W = Worrisome: What do you find worrisome about this idea or proposition? What’s the downside?

N = Need to Know: What else do you need to know or find out about this idea or proposition? What additional information would help you to evaluate things?

S = Stance or Suggestion for Moving Forward:What is your current stance or opinion on the idea or proposition? How might you move forward in your evaluation of this idea or proposition?

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Dance as a Truly Transdisciplinary Experience

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Discover ideas and learning experiences to make dance a truly transdisciplinary experience for your students.

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Nothing can replace the power and impact that a carefully designed provocation has on student learning. I've devoted the last several years to better understanding how provocations can be improved on and designed in ways that help students make stronger connections to the big ideas in a unit. A rich and meaningful provocation can:

Although I understand what a good provocation is, a couple of years ago, I challenged myself to better articulate what I truly believe makes for a rich and meaningful provocation. I spent a few hours really thinking my way through different considerations I have when designing provocations. In order to do this more effectively, I decided to create a 'Provocations Design Question Checklist' that zeroes in on important criteria related to designing effective provocations. Once I had created the first draft of this document, I teamed up with well-known educator and author, Trevor Mackenzie, to refine this checklist further. I'm thrilled to be able to share this document, which reflects the work of both Trevor and I.

I rarely like to take a stance on things as I like to remain open to new ideas. However, I found that taking a stance on what I believe to be the key building blocks to designing a rich and meaningful provocation helped me to clarify my own thinking. I wanted this checklist to stimulate teachers' thinking on the power of provocations and what makes a good provocation. At the same time, I hope that teachers can use this resource to create more meaningful provocations in the units that they teach in the single subjects.

Delivering Provocation With Intention and Purpose

In my Toddle Talks webinar, I focus on multiple ways in which a good provocation can impact student learning, especially at the beginning of a unit. Through careful design, a rich and meaningful provocation can help to create strong emotional hooks that grab students' attention. As well-known research John Hattie says, "We have to put students in a receptive frame of mind to help them focus on important outcomes that will guide their learning."

In my webinar, I also present a specific framework for using the initial provocation to help unpack the big ideas and concepts that the unit is focused on. This process involves students co-constructing important success criteria in a unit in order to make learning outcomes explicit and clear. Further, through the use of a driving question, the teacher applies specific strategies to unpack student thinking and make this thinking visual within the learning space. It is essential that teachers create visuals that will help to guide learning the rest of the unit. These visuals can be used for both peer and self-assessment and as a reminder to teachers about what they are observing throughout the unit in regards to student learning and progress.

The example below is from an Athletics unit that I taught when I was teaching PE at the Nanjing International School in China. I broke the main provocation down into three separate parts in the first lesson. Each part of the provocation was used to get students thinking about what important ideas/concepts are important to focus on. My goal was to help them understand the two main ideas for the unit- personal excellence and resilience. The driving question used to unpack the big ideas/concepts was: What are the ingredients for success in Athletics? I designed a provocation that was used across different lessons in the following ways:

Lesson 1:

We watched two different videos and I also had the students take part in a powerful learning experience outside on the oval running track. These three experiences combined allowed them to unpack and discover what the important ideas/concepts were in the unit.

Lesson 2:

Using student ideas, I created a visual that was then used to spark further discussions about the learning outcomes.

Lesson 3:

It was now time to make learning outcomes super explicit and clear with the help of this visual. I also created a checklist of success criteria based on important learning outcomes from the Personal, Social, Physical Education Scope and Sequence (PSPE). This checklist was created in student friendly language and was then used for peer and self-assessments as well as teacher observations and student reflections throughout the unit.

This entire process was only possible because of the rich and meaningful provocation that was identified to help students tune in to the unit. Many teachers understand the importance of a strong provocation at the start of a unit. The provocations I have seen teachers use are generally good, but oftentimes happen in isolation as a one-off activity, meaning that nothing further is done with the provocation.

The framework that I present in my Toddle Talk focuses on enabling students to make deep connections and involving them in co-constructing important success criteria. We also focus on using provocations that can and should be revisited throughout the unit because a good provocation lives on, and has continued power not only in the unit but long after the unit finishes.

Hope you find value in the Provocations Question Checklist and check out the webinar to make the most of provocations in your classrooms.

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The Power of Provocations in IB PYP Single Subjects

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Create more meaningful provocations while teaching single subject units in your IB PYP classrooms through this resource.

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Most educators understand the importance of differentiating their instruction and task expectations in order to meet the diverse needs of their learners. They also understand that voice and choice are an important part of the teaching process. However, putting these things into action is not always easy. Being explicit and specific about how students can find their own entry point into learning in a unit requires a carefully thought-out plan by teachers.

The power of entry points to learning

Whether it be visual art, music or physical education, teachers must consider creating powerful learning opportunities that match where the students are at and where they need to go next in regards to their learning. Learning opportunities that help students self-differentiate requires a distinct shift away from having all of them working on developing the exact same skills in the exact same way. As students have different levels of skills and abilities, setting up the teaching and learning environment in a way that encourages students to explore, discover, and self-differentiate gives them ownership of their learning in the single subjects.

Self-Determination Theory supports differentiation

Self-Determination Theory has proven that there are 3 fundamental human needs that must be met in order for people to be intrinsically motivated in their life to do the personal and professional work that they set out to do. These three needs are:

1. Autonomy: The need to feel ownership of one's behavior and actions

2. Relatedness: The need to feel connected to others

3. Competence: The need to produce desired outcomes and to experience mastery

It's worth considering how these three needs also interact in the teaching and learning space in order to better understand the importance of differentiation when designing units. At the heart of this approach is helping all students flourish in regards to their learning journeys in the single subjects. Therefore, it is very important to create the conditions for students to be intrinsically motivated to learn and to do the work necessary to make progress in visual art, music and PE.

Making personalization happen in single subject classrooms

When I work with single subject teachers, we often talk about what their biggest hopes are when teaching their subject area. The majority want their students to find a love of the subject area and develop the skills necessary to explore and discover what is possible. However, the traditional delivery of single subjects has often been a top-down approach. Taking on this type of approach can stifle autonomy, slow down the development of skills, and have a negative impact on the relationship between teachers and students.

This blog post is devoted to sharing a framework for delivering teaching and learning in a way that helps students find their own challenges and, ultimately, their own entry point to learning the units in the single subjects. It is very much based on research and evidence supported by Self-Determination Theory.

Making personalization come alive in PE

I will now outline what this process looks like first through an example from physical education.

1. Starting with a rich and meaningful provocation

A great provocation, coupled with a focused driving question, helps begin the process of students identifying not only the skills needed to be successful in the unit, but also the challenges that they might need to overcome in order to find success. When pitched right, a meaningful provocation can really set the scene for great learning to take place in the rest of the unit. Teachers can record students' thinking about the big ideas of what success looks like and what they feel their biggest challenges might be.

The example I share here is from a grade 5 cycling unit that I had run for the students at my current school. The provocation itself was about road safety and how safely they could ride on the roads in our community. However, rather than sending them off riding their bicycles on the roads around our school, we opted to have them meet on the outdoor basketball court and ride on the lines of the court as safely as they could. With other cyclists riding around them, they had to maintain space and distance and were required to use hand signals to show how they can safely signal to stop, turn left and turn right on the court.

Once we could see that the students could safely do this, they were then allowed to ride their bikes around different areas around the basketball court, on the grass, between the tennis courts, over rocks and soft ground. This was not only an initial pre-assessment of their skills, but also a way for us all to identify what was difficult for them to do. It was going to be through this pre-assessment where the success criteria for the unit was drawn out through student thinking.

The driving question used during the provocation was:
What are some challenges you experienced when riding your bicycle?
2. Exploration and challenge

The exploration and challenge phase usually takes place in the first couple of weeks of the unit. This phase is about getting students ready to do self-assessments using a specific assessment strategy.

Based on the provocation, teachers should have posted and made visual the skills needed to be successful and/or challenges that the students have identified as standing in the way of them being successful.

Once these challenges have been posted, students can begin to explore different activities/tasks on the bicycle in order to experiment with what they find easy, what they find too difficult, and what might be 'just right' for them based on their abilities and interests.

3. Red, yellow, green dot self-assessment phase

Depending on the class and the students, this self-assessment task is done in weeks 2-4 of the unit. Using a colored dot system, the students begin to self-assess themselves in relation to the different challenges they are exploring.

In this style of self-assessment, the color 'Red' means 'impossible at this point', the color 'Yellow' means 'not too difficult, not too easy', and the color 'Green' means 'easy for me to do'.

The students will choose the challenge that they have explored, pick the best color that applies to them and their learning, and then write their name on the colored dot and place it on the poster on the appropriate challenge they had tried to do. As you can see below, the poster will begin to fill up with self-assessments as the lessons progress in the unit.

As teachers, we planned for students to really understand that yellow is a good zone for them to be in as this is a 'just right' challenge. So, if something is too easy for them, they can choose to 'level up' and explore a more difficult challenge. If something is too difficult for them, they can choose to 'level down' to find a more appropriate challenge.

Showing Progression: This self-assessment is a great way for the students to show progress in regards to their skills. When they are ready, they self-assess on their own. The students are not required to self-assess all the time, but when they feel they are ready to do so. At times this takes some prompting from the teacher, but the Red, Yellow, and Green Dot self-assessment strategy is not done in just one class, but instead throughout a series of lessons from weeks 2-4 in the unit. See the example below of the layering of dots which shows that the student may have started with Red (Impossible to do) but made progress to Yellow (Not too easy, not too difficult) and then to Green( Easy to do, mastered). Once they get to Green, they level up to a more difficult challenge, but this is based on their choice (Autonomy in action!).

By helping students to identify their just right entry point into learning, they can focus on the tasks and activities that they need to in order to challenge themselves at the right level. Not only do behavior management problems drastically decrease, students stay more focused and on task.

4. Narrowing the focus (or not!)

This part of the unit usually happens from the 4th week till the end of the unit. Once the students have really explored what's possible in the unit, they can make a decision to narrow down the focus of their learning and really concentrate on this area of their development.

In our cycling unit, the students were allowed to choose multiple different areas to narrow their focus on. Some chose distance biking to work on their level of fitness, some chose racing with their peers, some chose riding up and down difficult hills, and some chose trying to ride over rocky, bumpy ground to practice off-road cycling. We still had some that wanted to keep practicing how to use proper hand signals as well.

At this point in the unit, it was about giving them autonomy over their choices in order to help them find joy in the experience. However, in saying this, some students still wanted to do a bit of everything. We call these types of students 'dabblers'. Rather than force these students to narrow the focus, we allowed them to continue to explore and try out a variety of tasks as this is what they wanted to do.

We took the students off campus for this part of the unit to a big, wide open area where they could do lots of different types of riding. However, they still had to self-assess, but this time using Red, Yellow and Green cards that we brought with us. At the end of each class, they had to show how their learning went in that class by choosing the most appropriate card that matched their learning.

5. Final reflection

At the end of the unit, students had to do a reflection to show what they learned, how they learned it, how they did, what they liked about the unit, and what they wanted to continue to work on.

Exploring this framework in music

Although this blog post showed a specific example from physical education, we use this exact approach in music and visual arts as well. Our music teacher likes to use a 'just right' challenge scale with his students, as you can see in the photo below. Rather than a red, yellow, green dot system, the teacher has students stand under the appropriate section of the challenge scale to reflect how easy or difficult a task is for them. If something is too easy or too difficult, the teacher gets them to either level up or level down.

Another music teacher offers different leveled songs to play on the ukulele. He provides three choices to students and allows them to either work alone or with a partner. Through exploration, they figure what is the 'just right' challenge song for them to learn on the ukulele so that they can continue to learn basic chords in a way that suits their ability and skills.

In another example in music, students have a choice of instrument and can explore basic chords. The number of chords explored will increase as the unit progresses.

Exploring the framework in visual art

In visual art, we like to create opportunities to explore and experiment with different media before having students narrow their focus and choose one media that they want to use to create a piece of art. We are very explicit about this and make it visual so that the learning journey is captured on the walls of the visual art space. In week 2-3, after exploring and experimenting, students narrow their focus. The artwork produced is all very different and unique, testament to how allowing students diverse entry points supports their learning journey.

In the photo above, you can see that the art teacher has provided different choices of media to the students based on what they have explored and experimented with. This allows them the opportunity to select the media that works best for them based on their skills and interests. Once the students start working on their final piece, the art teacher then gets them to focus in on the elements of art that will help them produce their best work.

In conclusion

The framework for delivering student learning in the single subjects is very much rooted in the evidence and research around the Self-Determination Theory. Allowing students to find their own 'entry point' to learning in the unit, encourages more intrinsic motivation to work on the skills necessary to get better at their chosen pursuit. By providing students with autonomy, we not only build our trust with them but also strengthen our relationship with them.

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The Importance of Differentiation in the Single Subjects

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Plan for differentiation in the single subjects to meet the diverse needs of your learners and help them find their own entry point into learning.

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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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"Personal, social and physical education (PSPE) is concerned with the individual's well-being through the promotion and development of concepts, knowledge, attitudes and skills that contribute to this well-being. Well-being is intrinsically linked to all aspects of a student's experience at school and beyond. It encompasses physical, emotional, cognitive, spiritual and social health and development, and contributes to an understanding of self, to developing and maintaining relationships with others, and to participate in an active, healthy lifestyle."
- International Baccalaureate - PSPE Scope and Sequence, 2018
Well-being in the present context

We have joined the present lockdown environment with wonder and caution at times, fearing our well-being but overall getting excited about the opportunities that were lying ahead. Yes, opportunities! If not now when could we harvest a better time for exploration and learning? Dimensions of well-being are the same as the health dimensions, they are similar with the Physical education/Physical literacy dimensions: physical, social, emotional, cognitive (spiritual included in some frameworks). My children and I have made four posters on the wall, each representing one of the dimensions mentioned above. As the weeks and days unfolded (over 100 days), we have acknowledged various activities and inquired about what dimension they fit it: creating home workouts, cooking, doing puppets show, watching birds or a rainbow, knot making, visiting museums online, sock wrestling, bowling, making sushi, creating shadow stories and more. The posters got filled up quickly and every week or so we built the habit of reflecting, comparing and contrasting them in a quest for a continuous higher purpose.

The entire lockdown experience made me wonder and think about some of the essential aspects of learning connected fundamentally to physical education. I have inquired further about well-being and Keyes' (2002) perspective caught my attention: "Well-being is more than just happiness. As well as feeling satisfied and happy, well-being means developing as a person, being fulfilled, and making a contribution to the community".

Exercise as a key factor in attaining well-being

The Australian Health and Physical Education Curriculum states that "the priority of the physical education teacher is to ensure that students are provided with learning opportunities to practice, create, apply, evaluate the knowledge, understanding and skills". Our goal is to provide ongoing and explicit learning about movement. When we exercise complex motor movements, such as throwing a ball or a gymnastic roll, we are activating the areas of the brain involved in cognitive functions. To strengthen the communication between nerves the brain will fire signals to the same group of cells, which in turn will strengthen their connections. Cognitively, exercising improves learning in three different directions: improves alertness, motivation and attention, encourages brain cells to connect with each other facilitating information retention, and increases the development of new nerve cells (Ratey and Hagerman, 2010). Furthermore, exercising is getting us moving naturally, which stimulates the brain's activity and gives us extra energy, engagement and motivation. By its very nature and name, physical education should be understood as an essential activity that engages students physically, mentally, socially and emotionally.

Remote learning and daily exercise

In the current context, we are presented with the needs to adapt to a new environment and to design learning experiences that lead to meaningful learning. We have to consider the fun element in this process and connect it to exercise. The most important challenge is to connect these exercises to the planned learning process. With this in mind, I found Toddle's platform very helpful in facilitating this process, enabling teachers and students to navigate purposefully in this environment.

PE experiences can be designed for students geared at supporting them with skills and mindsets they need for life-

1. Supporting Goal Setting

Goal Settingis the first thing a self-regulated learner does when taking on a learning or problem-solving task. The need to project yourself into the future, to have something to work toward is mentioned by Bandura (2006) in his social cognitive theory where human agency is defined as "the human capability to exert influence over one's functioning and the course of events by one's actions."

The S.M.A.R.T Goal Setting learning experience invites students to set goals, monitor, evaluate and reflect on their learning. This activity will help students to identify what they want to achieve, if what they want is realistic then they will determine a time frame for it. Students use a template that they can submit after completion on their Toddle Student App.

2. Exercise Routines and Energizers for Motivation

Exercise routines and energizers are intended to encourage students to start their virtual mornings strong and spend active breaks by using movement while also increasing their physical literacy.

Experiences like Animal Walks and Gymnastics and Mobility are designed to support students in identifying ways to live a healthier lifestyle, improve the range of motion of joints and enhance body awareness and posture.

In the Quick Chair Exercises, students have to inquire about possible ways to exercise by using a chair. Once they identify various moves they are required to practice them and compile them in a short video that will have to be uploaded on the Toddle Student App.

3. Sharing Feelings and Emotions

Sharing feelings and emotions through movement is an essential element of students' development. Action quizzes like Have You Ever will help students emphasize the emotional element of their well-being. In this activity, the students are prompted with various questions - Have you ever slept in a tent? Have you ever exercised before breakfast? Have you ever told a lie? and their answer is a movement they are suggested with and have to perform. By performing 10 squats instead of saying "Yes" students use non-verbal communication and describe positive feelings that result from participating in these physical activities.

4. Nurturing Team Building and Collaborative Mindset

Activities like Two Truths and a Lie encourage students to value interaction, playing and learning with others, using not only movement but also their communication and social skills. In this activity, the Teller says two truths and one lie. The objective of the game is for the other players to guess which statement is the false one. If the guess is incorrect the players have to do an exercise chosen by the Teller.

Personal reflection and essential learnings

Being able to use the diversity of tools that the Toddle platform lays for its users helped me create a holistic learning experience to foster physical wellness in students. Be it formulating learning intentions, phrasing the students' instructions with clear and concise language or even using flexible assessment options and teachers' notes that invite collaboration, my experience went from accommodation to assimilation very quickly. The need for connecting with other educators that are part of Toddle Community highly engaged me in pursuing my goal of attaining equilibration in planning, collaboration and teaching while using Toddle's tools. Join me in this learning journey so that we can all interact, grow and experience success!
References:

Bandura, A. . 2006. Toward A Psychology of Human Agency. Perspectives on Psychological Science.

Keyes, C. (2002). The mental health continuum: From languishing to flourishing in life. Journal of Health and Behaviour Research, 43, 207-222. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3090197

Ratey, J. J. and Hagerman, E. SPARK. 2010. The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. Quercus. London.

Watch Mihai bring these ideas to life in his webinar.

Liked this resource? Here are a few more you might like to explore:

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Physical Education in a Virtual IB PYP Classroom

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Explore PE for remote learning and gain best practices to design effective PE Learning Experiences through a webinar and blog with Mihai Catrinar.

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I can't believe that it's been over three years since I created PYP PE with Andy. My original intention in making the website was to help with job recruiting as I realized that I had no way of really showcasing my instructional in PE. I felt as though I was doing good work, but with no real means of showing potential schools my style of instruction. It wasn't long before I was interviewed at my present school , g International School and ultimately accepted a position teaching PE there. Working at NIS has been a highly rewarding experience for me professionally and an equally wonderful place for my boys to go to school.

Although I had found a new job and my website proved to be useful in this pursuit, I began to get a few emails from PE teachers around the world letting me know that they found use in what I had been documenting on PYP PE with Andy. This motivated me to continue to document, with regularity, my instructional practice in teaching and assessment. It didn't take me long to realize what an amazing experience blogging can be in terms of deepening my own understanding about the vision that I have for PE. Maintaining my website has challenged me to think deeply about what good teaching means.

With over 100,000 visits to my website, I know that I am on the right track and that people find value in my work. This in itself is very rewarding to me, but more importantly, I have been able to connect with so many great teachers around the globe and for that I am eternally grateful.

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I can't believe that it's been over three years since I created PYP PE with Andy. My original intention in making the website was to help with job recruiting as I realized that I had no way of really...

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When it comes to color, we all know they can evoke powerful emotions and convey subtle messages. Whether it's the calming effect of blue or the energy of red, colors play a significant role in our daily lives. And what better way to introduce this concept to our students than through vibrant color theory posters that incorporate art history (available here) ! Let's explore the meanings associated with different colors. Remember, this is where creativity and imagination can run wild! Red: The color of passion and energy. Red can symbolize love, strength, and excitement. It's like a sizzling fire that grabs our attention Blue: A serene and calming hue. Blue represents tranquility, trust, and stability. Think of it as the color of a peaceful ocean or a clear summer sky Yellow: The color of sunshine and happiness. Yellow is associated with optimism, joy, and creativity. It's like a burst of golden rays on a bright day Green: A color that brings nature to mind. Green sym

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Princess Artypants: Choice Based Visual Arts in the PYP

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life and lessons from PYP art room on a paradise island

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Ways to facilitate language development through concept-based inquiry | SharingPYP Blog

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The library should be one of the most exciting places in the school: the hub of learning, reading, research, discussion and collaboration. I try and create this at Tokyo International School (TIS). As a teacher-librarian working in the PYP and MYP, I begin the year discussing with the students how the IB learner profile and PYP attitudes influence life in the library. Being a risk-taker means experimenting with a variety of genres, both fiction and non-fiction and taking books that challenge you as a reader, and not being afraid to use new technologies. Being principled means committing to trying your best to finish a book. A balanced reader takes a variety of new reading materials. Communicators recommend books to others and talk about stories with others. We discuss with students how we can put these into action.

As a teacher-librarian I collaborate with classroom teachers to ensure that the collection in the library supports the units of inquiry. Research skills are introduced to the students early and slowly built upon as the students progress to higher grades. At TIS students are introduced to our school-wide research model: The Big3 (for grades K-3) and The Big6 (grades 4-8). This ensures that all students are using the same skills to successfully find, evaluate and use information. I meet with the PYP and MYP curriculum coordinators, and classroom teachers, to decide which units include a research component and focus on these throughout the year.

The teacher-librarians in Japan have a very strong network. We meet to discuss initiatives such as the Sakura Reading Program as well as receive professional development.

Last year, we initiated an 'adopt-a-shelf' program in which parents are invited to come in any time throughout the day to organize their shelf. This not only ensures that our books are always in order, but promotes a positive attitude towards the love of literature amongst the whole school community. Students love seeing their mum or dad's involvement in the library.

Authors visit the school to talk to our students about topics related to our units of inquiry. Recently Holly Thompson, a locally based author, talked to our grade 4 students about healthy eating and Wakame, a type of Japanese seaweed. This created an important cultural link to the unit of inquiry on the transdisciplinary theme Who we are. Adam Gidwitz visited us from New York to provide links to our reading and writing workshops with the emphasis on the writing process. The students now realize that when teachers ask them to revise their work a few times, it is not so bad after all!

We have several library assemblies throughout the year in which parents, teachers and members of our community promote reading. The after-school dance club performs book-related dances such as We love to read.

As a teacher-librarian, I am always trying to come up with new initiatives to get the students to read, think creatively, share their learning and be responsible learners. Reading has truly become a part of our culture here at the school and we keep our mission alive at TIS: "The library - everyone's second classroom".
What is the role of the teacher-librarian at your school? How is your library the same or different from the one described here? This is John's second year at Tokyo International School and he has implemented a number of new initiatives to promote reading, research and collaboration amongst the school community. He has experience as a classroom teacher and has lived in Japan since 2000. John enjoys sharing his ideas on twitter @johnkolosowski.

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The library should be one of the most exciting places in the school: the hub of learning, reading, research, discussion and collaboration. I try and create this at Tokyo International School (TIS). As a teacher-librarian working in the PYP and MYP, I begin the year discussing with the students how the IB learner profile and PYP attitudes influence life in the library.

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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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In this article you will read about how the Teaching for Artistic Behavior framework has enabled an art teacher to authentically encourage and support student-led inquiry every minute of every day in the art room. Students worked independently and in small groups to discover how art was connected to every other aspect of their lives.
Two years ago, I was reflecting on my practices as an IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) art specialist. I was a well-oiled machine: introducing and directing art projects, and making connections to every single grade level planner. In a way, I was comforted because I knew the connection was there; I was at the very least exposing students to these connections while they improved their skills. However, I found myself mostly disappointed, because I found it difficult to get the students to care about those connections with me. I started admitting to myself that those were my connections, they only made the most sense to me, and that forcing those connections onto the students was not helping their own inquiry process.

At about the same time, I began hearing about Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB) from other art teachers on social media. Like any lifelong learner, I was curious. I started asking questions, reading books and visiting TAB classrooms nearby. I learned that through this philosophy the teacher facilitates the art room as a studio space while the students drive the inquiry and the learning.

The TAB approach consists of three essential statements:

What do artists do?

The child is the artist.

The art room is the child's studio.

Practitioners of TAB employ the framework Studio Habits of Mind, designed by Project Zero of Harvard. The Studio Habits are a structure that reminds me of the scientific method as it is a natural process a growing artist lives and breathes. The habits are:

Develop craft

Engage and persist

Envision

Express

Observe

Reflect

Stretch and explore

Understanding art worlds.

The results of my inquiry encouraged me to make the biggest, most meaningful change I have ever made professionally. I flipped my art room to reflect studio practices and relinquished control of the projects.

Now when students come to class the only first five or ten minutes are mine. I may do a quick demo on a skill or technique. I may introduce an artist, movement or cultural tradition. I may set out their current projects and have students constructively critique with each other. Anything I choose to do is in reaction to observed student needs or a connection to the unit of inquiry. After that, students have the rest of class to be artists.

The older students write plans with art-making goals and sketches in their sketchbooks. When their plan is approved by me, they work on that project until it is complete. Once it is completed, they write an artist statement and reflect on their initial art-making goal.

The younger students are in centers where they practice art making skills, expose themselves to different materials, and learn about art from other places and times. This center structure has positively impacted engagement and behavior.

For each unit of inquiry in each grade, I will write a challenge on the board to help students make a connection. If kindergarten is learning "People celebrate who they are" under the transdisciplinary theme of "who we are", I will challenge them to make an artwork celebrating their individuality or their culture. We will read books about the importance of celebrating yourself. I will introduce them to self-portraits.

If fourth grade is learning "The distribution of resources presents challenges and opportunities" under "sharing the planet", I will challenge them to create an artwork bringing awareness to an issue. We will look at art with a voice, analyzing the artist's choices and message. I will introduce the importance of graphic design if employing lettering within an artwork. Students are introduced to art connections but are not limited to my connections, they have the freedom to create their own.

Every day is wonderful chaos. Every class surprises me with variety, creativity and capabilities. The amount of joy, curiosity and expression coming from each student has rejuvenated my own wonder. Making this monumental shift was not at all terrifying, because I knew it was what needed to be done to provide the students an authentic art experience.

If you are interested in learning more, please check out "Engaging Learners Through Artmaking: Choice-Based Art Education in the Classroom" (2018, second edition) by Katherine M. Douglas and Diane B. Jaquith and "Studio Thinking from the Start: The K-8 Art Educator's Handbook" (2018) by Jillian Hogan, Lois Hetland, Diane B. Jaquith, and Ellen Winner.
Julia VanOudenhoven has been the PYP Art Specialist at Jefferson Lighthouse School, USA since 2007. She enjoys helping students find joy in art, self-expression and making transdisciplinary connections. You can follow her art room on Instagram @jls.art.

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How to support student-led inquiry through "Teaching for Artistic Behavior"

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In this article you will read about how the Teaching for Artistic Behavior framework has enabled an art teacher to authentically encourage and support student-led inquiry every minute of every day in the art room. Students worked independently and in small groups to discover how art was connected to every other aspect of their lives.

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Learner agency is a key feature of the Enhanced PYP. As a community of educators, many of us are still working to create environments that support student agency. Recently, I've been imagining leaner agency, as the tip of an educational iceberg - that is, the visible evidence of empowered learning - but not the whole picture of what facilitates autonomous, mastery-driven learning.
It's complex!
When my classroom starts buzzing with rich, student-led inquiry, I know that learner agency is high. I'm also aware that many other things are also going right. Provocations have sparked curiosity, invitations (cognitive and interpersonal) have been accepted, collaboration has been fruitful, and teacher guidance has been "goldilocked" (pitched at a just-right level to keep students striving for understanding).

Honestly, learner agency is not visible all day, every day. And it's not the children, with strong opinions and giant questions, who lack motivation! I'm the reason that learner agency is not always unleashed. In my well-intentioned lessons, I miss their divergent comments, I offer a provocative question but rush their thinking time, or I give a factual answer when we should really marinate in confusion. Creating a high agency environment is a complex quest.
False Dichotomies
But complexity is good. Creating truly empowering classrooms should be challenging and even elusive at times. It's complexity that protects us from the trap of false dichotomies. For example:

Student choice OR teacher direction?
It's often a negotiation between an empowered learner and an invested teacher that creates a partnership supportive of agency.

Student voice OR teacher voice?
It's a constant, robust dialogue: a mix of questioning, explaining, critiquing, affirming, interjecting and listening that steadily helps learners to advocate for their needs and articulate emerging theories.

Student-owned learning OR teacher-owned learning?
It's a mess of collaboratively constructed understandings, during which nobody remembers (or cares) who led whom to deeper, richer realisations about the world.

These dichotomies often spark debate. However, they are of little consequence to classroom educators, working with children who need responsive, personalised guidance.

And they are never present in the documentation provided by the IB. (See The Learner, from Principles into Practice. The language of " moving away from/moving towards" supports teacher agency in making complex pedagogical choices.)
So...what supports learner agency?
Underpinning high agency environments are a host of not very new, not very innovative...but very important...educational practices. Here a few:

curriculum knowledge - Agency occurs when teachers know the curriculum so well, they can say "yes" to student-led inquiries because they are confident in making curricular connections and guiding conceptual learning.

For example, if I know that students need to understand "environmental adaptation (change)", one student might investigate the biological defences of cephalods while others map the behavioural migrations of birds - wherever their curiosity takes them!

assessment - Teachers who continually collect and analyse information about what students know and how they learn, are well-equipped to provide just-right, just-in-time guidance to sustain student-led inquiry.
For example, if I know each learner's current understanding of 2D space, I might invite one student to develop a mathematical proof
for alternate angles, while another spends several days constructing and measuring angles in a phase exploratory play.

psychological safety - Students advocate for their own learning when they trust that their mistakes are valued and respected by their peers and teachers.

For example, displaying mathematical working that contains errors or written drafts that have been abandoned communicates the message that errors are integral to learning. Developing communication protocols for posing conjectures, building on peers' ideas, and disagreeing with each other helps to build habits of respectful collaboration.

feedback (and feedforward) - Students exercise agency when they know the next steps to take on their journey of personal growth.

For example, when assessment data is shared with, and owned by, students, they can tell me what their goals are! They gradually become assessment capable learners who are co-designers of success criteria. One student will say, "I'm working on topic sentences in my paragraphs" while another says, "I'm working on replacing adverbs with more powerful verbs".

challenge - Only when students are challenged beyond current levels of understanding, do they experience the frustration and dissonance needed to ask questions, test theories and start investigations of their own.

For example, when students begin to ask "Is that always true?" or "Is that the only way?" or "Why did that happen?" or "I don't agree with that", I know that the learning experience is sufficiently challenging, confusing and engaging to be stretching their current schema, causing them to seek deeper understanding. If everyone's nodding, they probably knew it already.

And many more! My iceberg is an attempt to capture the complexity of supporting learner agency.

When we witness agency in classrooms, it is truly thrilling. Students are alive with purpose, passion and confidence. We should perhaps remember that many unseen, but important, factors support autonomous learning.

Beneath the iceberg, lies some powerful pedagogy.
Shannon O'Dwyer is the Deputy Head - Academics at The King's School (Preparatory School), an IB World School in Sydney, Australia. She enjoys the synergy of collaboration and the wisdom of teams. Shannon is inspired by great teachers and inquisitive children, every day. She loves to talk but usually retracts her first idea. Shannon tweets at @S_ODwyer and blogs at http://shannonodwyer.com.

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What Lies Beneath Learner Agency? Exploring the pedagogy that supports learner agency

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Learner agency is a key feature of the Enhanced PYP. As a community of educators, many of us are still working to create environments that support student agency. Recently, I've been imagining leaner agency, as the tip of an educational iceberg - that is, the visible evidence of empowered learning - but not the whole picture of what facilitates autonomous, mastery-driven learning.

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What does it mean to be an inquiry teacher?

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What are your learning goals???

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I would like to have a better understanding from a teacher's perspective, so that I can support teachers in their practice.

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1. Develop the skills to support to initiate and engage in their own inquiries.

2. I will select teaching approaches, resources, technologies, learning experiences and assessments that are inclusive and effective for diverse students.

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My learning goals touch on selecting resources/materials appropriate for my diverse (read: all) learners and teaching transdisciplinarily.

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My goal is to "situate learning in global contexts that support students' understanding of human commonalities" with learning experiences that are inclusive, coherent, and effective.

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Integrate transdisciplinary and disciplinary concepts, knowledge, and skills in a way that supports a coherent learning experience for students.

Promote student reflection and action in response to their learning.

Select teaching approaches, resources, technologies, learning experiences and assessments that are inclusive and effective for diverse students.

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My learning goal is to be able to select teaching approaches, resources, technologies, learning experiences and assessments that are inclusive and effective for diverse students.

# data[].attributes.body
I will support students to initiate and engage in their own inquiries

I will promote student reflection and action in response to their learning.

I will integrate transdisciplinary and disciplinary concepts, knowledge, and skills in a way that supports a coherent learning experience for students..

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I will establish, engage and maintain collaborative relationships that support the well-being of the learning community. I will also familiarize myself with the PYP to inform my future choices. Currently, I don't teach in a PYP school.

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I will promote student reflection and action in response to their learning.
I will support students to initiate and engage in their own inquiries.

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My learning goal is to ensure I am equipped with the appropriate skills, knowledge and understanding to ensure full engagement of each students. Making sure their learning journey is as individual to them as possible.

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I have chosen these 2 because...

-I will promote student reflection and action in response to their learning.
= Reflecting upon learning is an effective way to either learn from our mistakes or to delve deeper into the understanding of a concept. Learning to reflect is a vital skill that applies to life and learning.

-I will select teaching approaches, resources, technologies, learning experiences and assessments that are inclusive and effective for diverse students.

= Making sure that the approach, resource or experience is inclusive makes sure that all are able to enjoy learning and not feel defeated. Incorperating these into lessons help all achieve and be learners independant or otherwise.

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Promote student reflection and critical thinking skills

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My learning goals:

I will support students to initiate and engage in their own inquiries.

I will promote student reflection and action in response to their learning.

I will establish, engage and maintain collaborative relationships that support the well-being of the learning community.

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Kathryn B.

-Supporting inquiry with my kindergartners
- Helping to establish a learning community that supports well-being and social emotional health

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I will support students to initiate and engage in their own inquiries.

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Learning Goals:
Support (and encourage) students to initiate and engage their own inquiries. I want students to be curious and to want to learn more.
Promote student reflection and action in response to their learning. I think reflection is important and helps promote a growth mind set.

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Cayley Benedict                                     1. "I will promote student reflection and action in response to their learning".                                            2. "I will establish, engage and maintain collaborative relationships that support the well being of the learning community".

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-I will situate learning in global contexts that support student's understanding of human commonalities.
-I will establish, engage and maintain collaborative relationships that support the well-being of the learning community.
-I will support students to initiate and engage in their own inquires.

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I feel its essential for students to reflect on their thought processes and build a strong foundation of critical thinking skills

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I will establish, engage and maintain collaborative relationships that support the well-being of the learning community.

I will promote student reflection and action in response to their learning.

I will integrate transdisciplinary and disciplinary concepts, knowledge, and skills in a way that supports a coherent learning experience for students.

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My learning goals are:

To integrate transdisciplinary and disciplinary concepts, knowledge, and skills in a way that supports a coherent learning experience for students.

To  promote student reflection and action in response to their learning.

To select teaching approaches, resources, technologies, learning experiences and assessments that are inclusive and effective for diverse students.

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My learning goals are promoting student reflection and action in response to learning, and establish, engage, and maintain collaborative relationships that support the well-being of the learning community.

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Cayley Benedict                                1. I will promote student reflection and action in response to their learning.                                          2. I will establish, engage and maintain collaborative relationships that support the well being of the learning community.

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We agree to...

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We agree to respectfully explore, listen to, and reflect upon each other's ideas to improve ourselves and become more knowledgeable.

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-We agree to listen attentively, share ideas, ask clarifying questions and respect each other's ideas

-We agree to intentionally notice our classmate's nonverbal cues and actively invite one another into conversation

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We agree to think creatively, allow for questions and reflection, celebrate learning with enthusiasm, celebrate diversity, and share information to help create a safe learning environment.

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Group 3--Akim, Alex, Brenda, Kathleen, Ty 

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Group 3--Akim, Alex, Brenda, Kathleen, Ty 

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We agree to

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Coretta Scott King Magnet School Mission Statement

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Coretta Scott King Magnet School Mission Statement

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As members of the CSK Family, we strive to exemplify the IB Learner Profile. We wonder, reflect, and make mistakes. We respect and value others' thoughts and differences. We take action to make a difference in our world.

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TO BE AN OUTSTANDING LEARNING COMMUNITY THAT IS INTERNATIONALLY-MINDED, INSPIRING ALL MEMBERS TO ACHIEVE THEIR POTENTIAL.

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A Reform Jewish day school committed to providing academic excellence in a nurturing community.

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Our mission is to develop inquisitive and internationally-minded lifelong learners who feel loved, challenged, and prepared to think globally and act compassionately to create a more peaceful world.

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International Community School Addis, Ethiopia 

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International Community School Addis, Ethiopia 

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Brenda Brown/Shepherd Elementary School PTA

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Brenda Brown/Shepherd Elementary School PTA

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Mission Statement: Our mission is to develop inquisitive and internationally-minded lifelong learners who feel loved, challenged, and prepared to think globally and act compassionately to create a more peaceful world.

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Cedar International School, British Virgin Islands

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Cedar International School, British Virgin Islands

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The mission of Cedar International School, a non-profit private school, is to provide all students we serve the opportunity to achieve their academic best with an international curriculum within a culturally diverse environment; to encourage leadership, character, and creativity; to foster a culture of international mindedness and community service; and to nurture inquiring minds and caring personalities in all students.

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Mission statement: Each day, we challenge and inspire girls to love learning and to shape a better world.

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Education for a better world:
Our ethos is student-centred and personalises learning for every student in a respectful environment so that all of our students are safe, secure and successful.

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Each day we challenge, and inspire girls to love learning and shape a better world.

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Our ethos is student-centred and personalises learning for every student in a respectful environment so that all of our students are safe, secure and successful.

At GEMS World Academy - Dubai we have a deep and unequivocal commitment to provide an education that is unsurpassed anywhere in the world.

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Cedar International School Mission Statement

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Cedar International School Mission Statement

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The mission of Cedar International School, a non-profit private school, is to provide all students we serve the opportunity to achieve their academic best with an international curriculum within a culturally diverse environment; to encourage leadership, character, and creativity; to foster a culture of international mindedness and community service; and to nurture inquiring minds and caring personalities in all students.

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The Lawrence School is an inclusive community that supports and values the academic, social, physical, and emotional development of every student through an engaging and relevant transdisciplinary curriculum that fosters students as collaborators, communicators, thinkers, and global citizens.

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Our mission is ‘Education for a better world’. This captures the sense of optimism and determination to succeed that permeates throughout the Academy. We aim to develop resilience in our students, and the ability to be tenacious in their quest to be the best that they can be in all aspects of their lives. We treat every student as an individual. We know them all well. We respect them all. We draw out their individual talents and rejoice in their personal achievements and their individual contribution.

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Being internationally-minded means being open-minded and respectful of all cultures while being willing to collaborate - which most importantly means listening and trying to truly understand other perspectives (others with their differences can also be right) - and taking action to make the world a better and more peaceful place.

Malala has been an activist since she was 11 years old, writing a blog about her life. After she was attacked, she continued her activism without an attitude of hatred and used this experience to bring awareness to the importance of the right to education for all, specifically women and children, on a global platform.

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His capacity to forgive, to communicate, and unify was unbelievable and profound! This enabled him dismantle apartheid and foster reconciliation. He had such capacity to change others. His achievements are so impressive, from combating poverty and his charity work (HIV and Aids). His campaign was not only national, it was global. He recognized that Africas problems were not unique but part of the larger world!

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Martin Luther King Jr.
An Internationally Minded Person:

Respects and values all cultures

Knows that they can learn from other perspectives

Open enough to be influenced

Is inclusive in their community

Embracing differences

Open minded

Takes action

Demonstrates leadership

Martin Luther King Jr.  is our selection because he exemplifies our definition of what an internationally minded person should be. He demonstrated this by advocating for civil rights in peaceful manor. He took action in a way that was inclusive within his community. He showed exceptional leadership.

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Malala's thirst for knowledge and wonder for what was beyond what was expected of her as a female in Pakistani culture exemplifies one of our characteristics of an internationally minded person. She defied societal expectation in order to create access and opportunities for young girls in education.
Malala used a traumatic event as the impetus to make education activism her life work; that is incredibly positive and exemplifies the mindset of an internationally minded person.
She knows her rights (i.e. she is knowledgeable) and is teaching others so that they, too, can join in educational advocacy.
Characteristics List: empathetic, inquisitive, curious, respectful, knowledgeable, open-minded, perspective-taking, positive, tolearnt

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Attributes of an internationally minded person.

Open-minded

Accepting of others and other cultures

Curious

Respectful

Collaborative

Reflective

Appreciating others for our similarities and differences

Empathetic

Takes action

Learner

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OUR MISSION

Students are supported in a caring environment and given opportunities to learn about themselves and to take action in areas in which they are passionate.

Our students and teachers come from diverse backgrounds and we connect globally with our other campuses to learn about the world, from the world.

We inspire and teach students about global issues by connecting ideas and stories locally. We strive to use our environment as a tool and a canvas for learning and action.

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To challenge and inspire our students to act with purpose as compassionate, knowledgeable, and principled global citizens.

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Question 1:
Are we as educators expected to guide the students in a way where they can connect all 6 concepts together on every topic?

OR

Are we to figure out which concepts are most relevant to said topic and try to connect the concept words chosen based on the statement that concepts are usually represented by one or two words?

Question 2:
How do we go about introducing the concepts effectively in any subject area?

And

Do we introduce the concepts at the beginning(first class) of the topic lesson?

Question 3:
How do special subject teachers go about teaching these concepts in classes such as art, music , Spanish/french or P.E. while staying in line with the unit of inquiry?

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JPPS-Bialik is committed to providing academic excellence within a 21st century learning environment. Our students are responsible young individuals who are committed to lifelong learning and to becoming productive citizens within the Quebec, Canadian, and global communities.

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Excited: I am excited about how cultivating international-mindedness is a means to developing empathy and one’s sense of self as a global citizen.

Worrisome: Does a focus on human commonalities set the stage for minimizing (rather than celebrating) differences? Does it lend itself to people believing they can empathize with another person’s experience when they really haven’t had common experiences? (e.g. a person with refugee status vs. a person who got teased for wearing off-brand clothes…they’ve both been mistreated and made to feel unsafe and less than, but it’s not the same thing or, likely, had the same impact).

Need to Know: When speaking about embracing multilingualism, does the PYP recognize nonverbal communication, such as art, dance, body language, fashion, augmentative communication, etc.?

Stance/Suggestion: The learner profile attributes, the balanced approach of reflecting on interpersonal and interpersonal interactions, and the process-oriented approach come together to create the ideal framework for life-long learners. One strategy I look forward to trying is cultivating reflection through regularly engaging my students in developmentally appropriate mindfulness practices.

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Our mission is to provide high quality education to prepare citizens with strong Jewish identity who are internationally minded, through the development of academic skills and universal ethical values.

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1. Who creates the central ideas?
2. How do we meld this framework with state standards and principal-assigned content area schedules?
3. Is there room to use the key concepts when creating learning opportunities around social/emotional learning?
4. Are related concepts subtopics? A point of focus within the larger, broader concept?
5. Would there be a time when you focused on sequences as the unifying theme but applied it in vastly different content areas? (e.g. story telling/B/M/E and life stages of a plant) throughout the day?)
6. Is there still a place for learning facts while delving into broader concepts? For example, when exploring “Over time, living things adapt to their unique environments”, would it be appropriate for a student to learn specific examples about evolution, augmentative communication devices, and innovation?

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Expanding cultural understanding to extra-curricular activities

Excited= I am excited about the opportunity to involve the learning community to further broaden our cultural understanding. I would love to invite guest speakers and take trips when possible so students can gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the many cultures present in our own learning community.

Worrisome= I am worried about the limitations of utilizing the learning community and extra-curricular activities during the pandemic. Last school year, our district did not allow any field trips, classroom visitors or co-mingling between classrooms. I know these ideas can be replicated virtually to some extent, but I worry it won’t have the same impact on the students.

Need to Know = I am curious as to how my school could further involve the learning community in authentic ways this upcoming school year.

Stance or Suggestion for Moving Forward = With our school being new to the PYP, I would suggest that in addition to the traditional “Open House”, that we also organize a PYP Open House where school staff, parents, and students are introduced to the idea of a learning community and how that would look in our school community. By including everyone in this Open House, I think it would allow for parents to feel more involved and comfortable in volunteering and providing extra-curricular activities.

Celebrating diversity

Excited = I am excited because this idea really speaks to me as an educator. I like to look at my students -no matter the age- as future adults and I always try to teach to really celebrate diversity, not just tolerate it. I believe that if our students are raised with these ideas, we are on our way to a peaceful, more compassionate planet. So much of our current world is divided and it gives me great hope to be a part of the solution to such a huge problem.

Worrisome = What makes me so excited about celebrating diversity is also what makes me nervous about teaching to these ideas. Without even knowing my students and their families yet, I am very wary that not everyone will agree with the internationally minded values and dispositions outlined. I was always told how important it is to keep your values and viewpoints out of the classroom and this suggests the opposite. I do worry of being accused of indoctrinating students by parents who share different viewpoints than my own.

Need to Know = I am curious to learn if our school has a protocol on discussing difficult topics and/or our own values/viewpoints with students. I am curious if this is something our principal shares with families.

Stance or Suggestion for Moving Forward = This is a topic I would like to discuss with my principal. I understand that at my grade level (first grade) we are not delving too deep into difficult topics but I do want my discussions to be authentic while still being age appropriate.

Engaging with and building relationships in the school community

Excited = I am excited about the idea of the reciprocal process involving families, students and teachers. It is important to me that my families know I am on their side and want to work with them hand-in-hand for the betterment of their child. I do not want my students or families to have the “us-versus-them” mentality, I want us to work collectively as a team. I love that the PYP recognizes that importance and helps facilitate those relationships.

Worrisome = While I am all about family involvement, I worry about boundaries being crossed. I do like that parents have agency, I just worry that some may abuse that and overstep. While I do want to consider their viewpoints and values, I do not want that to completely override my teaching.

Need to Know = I am curious to see what family/community involvement will look like this year as we are still dealing with the pandemic. What will we be able to do? Can these ideas be replicated virtually?

Stance or Suggestion for Moving Forward = This is another topic I would like to discuss with my principal in terms of how we are approaching family/community involvement this year.

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How do we incorporate concepts with state standards?

If assessments are student driven, what criteria do we use when assessing students?

How do we monitor and track growth/understanding?

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E = Excited: I am excited to critically considering inequalities and power dynamics in inquiry, action and reflection—recognizing the factors that influence the challenges faced by different groups (for example, women, youth, marginalized populations) —These discussions go so well at the Grade 4/5 level. My students get really passionate about such topics.

Worrisome: I sometimes worry about considering sustainable development in inquiry, action and reflection—recognizing that the living hold the earth and its resources in trust for future generations.  -I find this topic so important but I often feel like it is challenging to cover it in a meaningful way. This is partly due to my own lack of knowledge.

N = Need to Know: As a new comer, I personally need to develop my connections and learn more about sustainability in my community.

S = Stance or Suggestion for Moving Forward:I plan to research plants and sustainable practices in the community. My class will be building a garden. My principal has also said that he will set me up with a representative from the First Nations community as well.

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If conceptual learning is designed to be open ..how do you know when learning has been "achieved"...If every child is developing on his/her own terms, then what is the goal or is there a singular goal for all learners?

How do we tie is state-standards to such a fluid form of learning?

What the relationship between teaching and learning in the inquiry classroom?

How do we guide (agency) inquiries..what is the best practice?

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Do students support in identifying the central idea, or is it more common for teachers to share this at the beginning of the unit/lesson? Are there several central ideas in a unit? Or is it typical to choose only one?

I have previously worked in an IPC school and we had a unit at the beginning of the year to introduce vocabulary and concepts that we would be working with all year to ensure that students fully understood the teaching principles and approaches. Is it common to approach the key concepts in this way? Or do teachers generally introduce the concepts individually as they come up?

Are central ideas ever shared with the students in the form of a big question, rather than a big idea? I typically share guiding questions rather than big ideas.

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E = Excited: I'm excited about celebrating diversity in so many ways. Using the units of investigation, the schools enviroment, the students speech, visuals etc. We need to make the best use of daily opportunities that can help us teach and build good values with our students.

W = Worrisome:  Considering the topic "Engaging with and building relationships in the school community", I feel sometimes it is challenging to have the parents partnership. We need them to help us in many ways; like student's behaviour, helping their child with a hw or sending a request to the school. When we don't have them with us, it gets harder to achieve what we need with that student.

N = Need to Know: I think is always good to keep in mind ways to reach parents that are not so present or that need help to deal with their children, always trying different strategies to have them with us.

S = Stance or Suggestion for Moving Forward: I think reading about these topics will help me to keep in mind good ways to bring parents closer to the units of investigation and also to have daily good practises celebrating diversity (enviroment, visuals, conversations, role play, behaviour etc).

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Excited: I am excited that international-mindedness is considered a journey rather than a destination, which for me means that there's always room for learning and improving. I'm also excited about creating this sense of shared guardianship of the planet, because it is everybody's home, regardless of one's country, and we need to take good care of it.

Worrisome: How to make sure to include different cultural references in a meaningful way to groups which are homogeneous?

Need to know: I feel I need to have a deeper understanding of each learner profile attribute in order to support the development of international-mindedness of younger learners (3-5yo)

Stance or suggestion: I would love to move forward by exploring the concepts of 'reaching out' and 'reaching in', which were identified as promising practices in the study mentioned in the text.

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How do we work with concepts with 3/4 years old students?

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E = When Reading, the follwing sentenced called my attention: “Language is a window into culture”. I’m excited about the impact multilingualism has on cognitive and social development, specially as a mean to new and different ways of thinking.

W = It can be challenging to promote agency in a multilingual setting.

N = How to support students’ development of international-mindedness in a developmentally appropriate level and meaningful way to young children.

S = Moving forward, I want dive in and reflect with the group of teachers in my school about the best way to promote agency given the challenges our bilingual reality imposes.

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EXCITED: I’m excited to develop international mindedness in myself and my students by cultivating global engagement, intercultural understanding, and multilingualism.

WORRISOME: Personally, I don’t think there is a downside to internationally mindedness; however, I know that some members of the learning community might be reluctant.

NEED TO KNOW: I will find out more about the ‘promising practices’ by reading The international- mindedness journey, the 2017 IB- commissioned research project examining how IB World Schools conceptualize and implement international-mindedness.

STANCE: My current stance toward the proposition is extremely positive and I look forward to continuing my own internationally-minded journey by ‘reaching out’ and reaching in’.

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It is stated that in order to connect learning and support the transfer of knowledge we can create opportunities to reflect on concepts across, between and beyond subjects. Given time constraints and the demands to cover the required material, I often find that I don’t provide students with enough reflection time. Any suggestions that I can implement to help ensure I am providing students with the necessary and important reflection time that is needed?

How can this be aligned and incorporated  with state/provincial standards?

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As students bring prior knowledge and perspectives to the subject matter, and learning is student driven, how much structure/guidance is given by the teacher. How is this learning assessed?

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E- The idea that we can promote and expand international-mindedness through extra-curricular activities is exciting as these experiences offer opportunities to further explore cultural diversity.

Reading this section made me rethink how I think about the extra curricular activities I provide to the students and will help with my planning as I move forward. I hope to provide students with extracurricular activities that will enable them to learn about themselves and others. I also hope to provide activities that will help students see and hear diverse/varying perspectives.

W - It was noted that teachers play important roles in celebrating diversity through modelling internationally minded values and dispositions. I couldn’t agree more with this statement. I worry however that staff demographics limit our ability to reach this goal. I believe to truly achieve this, it’s important to have a diverse body of teachers. In schools, and often in privileged schools, diversity is lacking. In order to fully celebrate diversity and international mindedness, we have to model this celebration not just in action but also in our demographics.

N - It was stated that engagement with the school’s local community is an important expression of international-mindedness. It would be helpful to know how best to structure such engagement in order to foster a lasting connection with and appreciation for the community with whom we are engaging.

S - Moving forward it may be beneficial to ensure that we are constantly and accurately informed about how different stakeholders are experiencing their work toward building international-mindedness.

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E – I liked the quote: Language is a window into culture. Excited to grow my own understanding about how language can expand one’s understanding of the world around them.
W – Adapting the curriculum/creating meaningful experiences to meet the age and stage of my students.
N - "exploring global concerns at a developmentally appropriate level" – would like to expand my own understanding of this.
S – International mindedness is a valuable way to see the world around you. This is a conversation we began to have within my teaching team at school and I look forward to researching, sharing and implementing ideas/actions in the classroom.

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E - It is exciting to see the attributes and behaviors of 'international mindedness' laid out so explicitly within the IB community- and intertwined with all facets of school life. In placing so much emphasis on the modeling and celebration of these, I can see how the culture created would also fuel the growth of other IB profile attributes: taking risks, being open, caring.

W - Not a downside, but there are inevitable challenges to inviting and welcoming the opinions, ideas and input of all stakeholders into the decision making process. Not least of all that the process is valued and brings value through the actions it leads schools to take.

N - Making the leap from literature to practice can be the challenge- I would benefit from looking into how learning communities successfully celebrate diversity in a deep-rooted and meaningful way, and how they balance and value the opinions and needs of all stakeholders.

S - The role of the teacher is integral to the success of delivering on this vision. Teachers need to believe in their role as both internationally minded people, and activators of these attributes in others. The collective efficacy of ALL working within a learning community and committing to this journey is the most powerful outcome.