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Smashing Stereotypes in Synchronized Swimming

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Brave Squish Rabbit by Katherine Battersby

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Brave Squish Rabbit by Katherine Battersby

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Profile: Risk-Takers

This book relates to risk-takers because at the beginning the rabbit is afraid of the dark but at the end takes a risk and steps out into the dark night.

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Reflective or Principled, Open Minded, Risk takers really all of them....

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The Good Egg

Profile: Balanced
He is always helping others, but not taking care of himself. He learns to balance and give himself some self-care.

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I Really Like Slop by Mo Willems

LP: Open-Minded, Risk-Takers
Age group: KG1-Gr2

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How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers

IB Learner Profile: Inquirers, Risk Takers, Thinkers

Age group: Early Years - Grade 3

A book about nurturing your curiosity, adventure, and exploration. This story promotes having a growth mindset - trying your best and taking risks.

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When you look at your community, what do you see, think, and wonder?

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When you look at your community, what do you see, think, and wonder?

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What did you See Think and Wonder about your school?
If you wonder….Can you make changes alone? Is it a short term or long term strategy? How will you know it is working?

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If you teach or lead in an IB PYP school, the chances are there is pressure on you to be transdisciplinary. You likely feel that it is is high up on your agenda. You view transdisciplinarity as a sophisticated, trendy form of integration. You find yourself in conversation scoffing 'thematic approaches' and insisting 'integration should always being authentic'. However, explaining how transdisciplinarity differs from other forms of integration is more challenging and perhaps you are not completely sure if you are doing it right. If any of this rings true - read on. I'm now finally at peace with transdisciplinarity - I'm untangled.

INVESTIGATE A SHARED CONCEPT: E.g. uncover the concept of fractions through music, (e.g. beats in a bar, quarter notes) at the same time you are investigating fractions during mathematics. Or investigate the concept of persuasion through personal & social education (e.g. peer pressure or internet grooming) and at the same time investigate how us.

Students at Tokyo International School investigating a shared concept

APPLY LEARNING TO : E.g. Use literacy (discussion, inference, note-taking skills) or mathematics (e.g. counting, measuring, surveying skills) or science (observing, fair testing, sampling skills) to investigate another subject or unit of inquiry.

APPLY LEARNING TO e.g. Using your writing proficiency to summarize your findings, using mathematical data handling to present your findings or representing your understanding through dance or visual art.

APPLY LEARNING TO TAKE ACTION Applying what you have learned to a real life purpose you are invested in and have ownership of. E.g. using your skill of persuasive writing to persuade your parents to turn up to Sports Day, debating with your principal about the gender stereotype colours currently featured in the student toilets.

Students at Tokyo international school applying learning to find out, sort out, and to take action.

ENHANCE LEARNING It helps students make connections between concepts. If they learn about rhythm in poetry, and rhythm appears again in their physical education (dance) or music lesson, they make a connection! If they learn how to handle data during mathematics and they use this purposefully thereafter in other subjects (or in the world outside the classroom), it provides meaning, purpose and is therefore motivating. This aids learning.

PREPARATION FOR LIFE The real world is transdiciplinary. In the big, wide, world students will have to draw upon their knowledge from disciplines.

EFFICIENCY It allows teachers to 'kill two birds with one stone' reinforce one another's learning, creates space in the schedule and thus makes learning more efficient.

I've seen the circles. I've read up, pondered and critiqued; interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary are the same thing. Scholars Nicolescu and Beane would argue otherwise. But they are brainier than I am. Letting it go feels good, and makes no practical difference to your planning and teaching. Worry about global warming instead.

LOOK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX TO INVESTIGATE SHARED CONCEPTS

Students at UNIS, Hanoi take interest in their programme of inquiry - photo Christopher Frost

There's a general obsession in the PYP with the transdisciplinary programme of inquiry being the sole place for integration. Yet there are so many purposeful opportunities for integration outside the transdisciplinary unit. Investigate symmetry with your art teacher alongside maths in the homeroom. Investigate character traits during your reading, along side child protection lessons or personal and social education. If integration is helping students to make connections and learn, you are allowed to think outside of the programme of inquiry box.

many subjects share the same concepts

Languages share almost all the same concepts and skills, so if you have two 'native' level languages at your school bingo - purposeful, authentic integration ready to go:

Near native level Japanese and Literacy language learners at Tokyo international schools investigate the same concepts, skills and strategies in their English and Japanese classes.

Here is how a transdisciplinary unit it might look in terms of a central idea, related concepts and conceptual understandings from your curriculum. I have additional blog posts describing the practicalities of planning which may be of interest

This is a fictitious unit. Conceptual understandings & the related concepts embedded in the conceptual understandings, need to be age appropriate - based on a school's curriculum. For example, if this were a Grade 2 unit at Tokyo International School the language looks about right, but the child protection concepts and associated conceptual understandings drawn from our curriculum would be unsafe secrets and safe touches - not grooming, manipulation and control.

A shared concept means you would learn 'about' that concept in both subjects. You would do this even if the subject was taught stand alone. For example students likely learn about shape and symmetry in gymnastics, art, and mathematics, including when our teachers teach them in isolation. So these concepts are shared between subjects. If unsure ask yourself this question: Is ' insert concept' featured in our ' insert subject' curriculum? If it is - and you can point to it - great. Now check another subject.

People sometimes confuse this. They think if they are teaching recycling or sustainability in social studies then they can use recycled materials in physical education. They think this entails investigating a shared concept. If you open your physical education curriculum you would find, collaboration, defense, endurance, balance but not sustainability. So sustainability in not a shared concept between social studies and physical education.

Don't get me wrong, that doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't use recycled materials in physical education. Is is just that this is not investigating a shared concept. The problem arises when you compromise your own subject curriculum for transdisciplinarity's sake. Remember the aim is not transdisciplinarity, the aim itself is learning!

Just because the word (the concept) appears in more than one subject curriculum document does not mean it is worth pursuing as a shared concept. Concept based learning expert Lynn Erickson sums this up beautifully. Only pursue it if it is benefitting learning.

Remember why we apply our learning ( 02 ) ' it provides meaning, purpose and is therefore motivating'. Reading and writing about your unit of inquiry is a purposeful, application of what you have learned in literacy. It can ' make learning more efficient'. However, writing an invitation to Granny for the school musical may be even more meaningful and motivating to the child. It may also be efficient use of time. Remember too, we have a new PYP boss in town: 'agency'. Agency is at odds with transdisciplarity in this sense. Agency argues that students should be reading and writing about what they chose. Transdisciplinarity argues they should be reading and writing about the unit of inquiry. The answer is probably not one or the other but a bit of both - stay chilled.

Integration does not need to focus on subject content - what we learn. It can also be how we learn. You may be learning completely disparate content in mathematics, science and art, but you can still focus on the same learning-to-learn skills to knit things together. Or incorporate the same thinking routines or learning structures across the curriculum. This reinforces learning and makes learning more efficient.

Students during a mathematics lesson investigate 'collaboration' a learning-to-learn concept and skill. Their teachers remind them where collaboration has been a recent focus across the curriculum including their reading workshop lessons.

The term 'thematic' has been looked on with distain in PYP circles over the years. But in the early years, there is nothing more natural and exciting as a topic or project as a means of knitting together a unit and sparking curiosity and inquiry. There is nothing (necessarily) conceptual about a pond, supermarket or a garden as a theme for a unit, but such projects are absolutely appropriate in the early years. This is an age when the most important thing in education is instilling a love of learning, learning dispositions including their natural curiosity. Lilian Katz in the red (early) version of the Reggio book - Hundred Languages of Children makes a beautiful point, she mentions that the sorts of understandings our youngest learners construct they would come to understand regardless by the time they are 7 years old: just by being alive!

(The 'teacher' in this video frantically trying to tackle transdisciplinarity is my own son)

The IB is all about quality learning. Transdisciplinarity takes time. The organization wants commitment from its schools to transdisciplinarity. Commitment does not mean it has to happen immediately. Establish a shared vision, a shared understanding, a timeline and facilitate collaboration and discussion. Year after year, with reflection and action your transdisciplinary practice will develop and shine. Resist the pressure to move too fast and choke on the transdisciplinary tangle.

Clipart of tangled teacher from http://cliparts101.com/free_clipart

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THE TRANSDISCIPLINARITY TANGLE If you teach or lead in an IB PYP school, the chances are there is pressure on you to be transdisciplinary. You likely feel that it is is high up on your agenda. You view transdisciplinarity as a sophisticated, trendy form of integration.

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Stuck On An Escalator - Wake Up and Go After Your Dreams!

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What does it mean to be an inquiry teacher?

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One Minute PL: The Inquiry Cycle by Kath Murdoch: Tuning-in

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One minute PL: The Inquiry Cycle by Kath Murdoch: Finding Out

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One minute PL: The Inquiry Cycle by Kath Murdoch: Sorting Out

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One minute PL: The Inquiry Cycle by Kath Murdoch: Going Further

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One minute PL: The Inquiry Cycle by Kath Murdoch: Taking Action and Reflection

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Description in UOI (old version)_250427_225915

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A room with a view to learning | IB Community Blog

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What would you like to see included in the language policy?

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What would you like to see included in the language policy?

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What would you like to see included in the assessment policy?

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What would you like to see included in the assessment policy?

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PPT Policy Workshop for K&P teachers (13.06.23) (5)

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ATL – Approaches to learning

STP - Sharing the planet

WWA - Who we are

HWEO - How we express ourselves

HTWW - How the world works

WWPT - Where we are in place and time

LE – Learning Engagement

POI - Program of Inquiry

LT – Learning and Teaching

LP – Learner Profile

PRC – Primary Resource Centre

CI - Central Idea

LI - Lines of Inquiry

PYP – Primary Years Programme

TSM – Teacher Support Materials

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I am very much looking forward to working with the teachers at Odyssey. I have served as an IB PYP and MYP coordinator and have developed expertise in both educational and school management areas over the past 14 years. My roles have included Head of the English Department, Assistant to the Headmaster, Deputy Manager, as well as IB PYP. and MYP Coordinator.

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I am very much looking forward to working with the teachers at Odyssey. I have served as an IB PYP and MYP coordinator and have developed expertise in both educational and school management areas over the past 14 years. My roles have included Head of the English Department, Assistant to the Headmaster, Deputy Manager, as well as IB PYP. and MYP Coordinator.

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North : I NEED to learn more about the school and about you as part of the team, so that I can better support both you and myself on our PYP, MYP, and overall school journey.

South - My STANCE is to achieve school authorization within 15 months while also walking alongside you throughout the journey.

East - I am EXCITED to share IB resources and philosophy with you, and to exchange ideas and experiences about what you have already accomplished at the school.

West : I am WORRIED that you might feel overwhelmed or nervous, but please remember that the IB is a journey, and growth happens step by step.

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North : I need to learn about IB

South: My stance is to achieve the IB curriculum and apply into my teaching English and Vietnamese at school and bus manager role.

East : I am excited to work as a team to learn new things for my teaching and managing role for school bus.

West : I am worried that for a bit short term , for me to be adaptable

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North: I need to learn more about the implementation of the IB program and PYP into the early years.

South: My stance is to be open-minded to learn and implement the IB program.

East: I am excited to exchange ideas and work as a team.

West: I am worried about the amount of extra time needed to implement the IB program.

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I am quite comfortable with change and see no issues with IB going forward.

N - to learn

E - to start

S - to listen

W - to implement

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Informed by the values (enquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced and reflective), an IB education:

• centers on learners

• develops effective approaches to teaching and learning

• works within global contexts

• explores significant content.

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IB thoughts:

I used to think IB is very similar to IPC teaching and learning methods. Now I think it is familiar with a higher level of offering the learners and teachers a better chance/ freedom to be creative in the curriculum.

At the centre of international education in the IB are students aged 3 to 19 with their own learning styles,strengths and limitations. Students of all ages come to school with combinations of unique and shared patterns of values, knowledge and experience of the world and their place in it.

Multilingualism and intercultural understanding

For the IB, learning to communicate in a variety of ways in more than one language is fundamental to the development of intercultural understanding. IB programmes, therefore, support complex, dynamic learning through wide-ranging forms of expression. All IB programmes require students to learn another language. Intercultural understanding involves recognizing and reflecting on one’s own perspective, as well as the perspectives of others. To increase intercultural understanding, IB programmes foster learning how to appreciate critically many beliefs, values, experiences and ways of knowing. The goal of understanding the world’s rich cultural heritage invites the IB community to explore human commonality, diversity and interconnection

Multilingualism in Education:

Improved Cognitive Skills

Enhanced Academic Performance

Greater Cultural Awareness

Increased Career Opportunities

Stronger Foundation for Learning Additional Languages

Improved Socio-Emotional Development

While challenges exist, multilingual education can be a powerful tool for creating more inclusive and effective learning environments.

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I used to think that IB was a brand new idea of education , kind of revolutionary in the way of thinking the approach of teaching and learning.Now I realise that it is the values and goal that I alway had in my mind, my ideology of teaching. The only thing is now how to achieve those in the reality of a school, how to develop effective approaches  in order to reach those ideals.

The main points I founds in this document, resonating a lot to me  are:

IB aims to cross disciplinary, cultural, national and geographical boundaries

United team, working collaboratively

Choosing significant content

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I see many of these practices from the learner profile in place in the school.

I think I could focus more on reflection for the children.

I wonder if though more reflective thinking practices they will find better solutions and ideas eg designs.