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https://inquiryintolearningblog.wordpress.com/2017/04/01/how-split-screen-helps-students-learn-what-why-and-how-they-learn/

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https://www.pypteachingtools.com/tuning-into-ib-pyp-concepts-with-picture-analysis/

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Tuning into IB PYP Related Concepts with Picture Analysis

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A key part of tuning into the IB PYP unit of inquiry is unpacking those related concepts that our investigations will be based upon. I've spoken a lot about ways that we can provoke the children's curiosity and invite their questions into the inquiry. This article goes a little deeper into this...

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https://www.pypteachingtools.com/how-ib-pyp-social-skills-inspire-taking-action/

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The IB PYP Approaches to Learning Skills are naturally used across the disciplines and one of the keys to our transdisciplinary approach. (thus they used to be called the Transdisciplinary Skills) As co-planners of the inquiry, we want to be intentional when identifying our focus skills that will align best with the primary purpose of our unit of inquiry. (organisation, expression, investigation etc.) You want to ensure that you plan your learning experiences to give the children a targeted experience with your focus skills. The sub-skills within the IB PYP Approaches to Learning Skills are in themselves actions. We, as facilitators, provide opportunity for naturally inspiring action that can fall within all categories of our IB PYP action.

I have some ideas taken from real-world examples from the various schools I have taught within across the world. I hope you are inspired by a few. 🙂

As you read through this article, take a few minutes to identify the ATL skills within the stories shared and also the categories of action taken.

The Friendship Bench

This was a beautiful idea from our Student Council ( a group of students representing the body of the school from grades 1-5.) The children had been noticing that quite a few children on the playground were being left out of games and seemed to be lonely.
INSPIRING ACTION THROUGH OUR MATHS INQUIRY: Health & Wellbeing
My grade 4's, as part of our inquiry into Healthy Body, Healthy Mind (link to that complete unit of inquiry here.) created a survey for the school to find out about social feelings and problems on the playground.

As we analysed the data from each grade level, this survey was eye-opening to the say the least, as we discovered many children were experiencing mildly unsettled feelings such a loneliness or feeling left out all the way to bullying. Upon reflection, this was a WOW moment for my class as we discussed the attitude of empathy in connection with our Learner Profile attributes.( see books for the article with Brilliant Books for the Learner Profile here).

It was decided that we had to bring our results to the Student Council and thus the Friendship Bench idea was born.

One of the benches in our school playground was going to be a very special bench. It was going to be used as a FRIENDSHIP BENCH. The idea was that children who felt lonely or left out or simply looking to be part of a game, would sit on this bench. It was to become a beacon for our community to raise awareness that this was something that EVERYONE could help with. The children came up with possible outocmes:

Children could just sit on the bench and chat with each other, making new friends.

Children could sit on the bench to let others know they were feeling these feelings.

Other children would take initiative to approach these children and invite them to join their group or game.

Teachers would be aware of those children who needed support socially

The bench was painted bright yellow as a welcoming beacon and a friendly reminder to all in our community, that this was a place of friendship. After the initial novelty inevitably wore off (where it seemed like our entire school was sitting on the bench, friendless and lonely! Lol!!), it gradually became a part of the school, with the message clearly conveyed to everyone (including in our newsletters and welcome packet) that this bench was created through student's empathy for their school mates.

I do LOVE a bit of drama to bring the ATL skills into action. Drama circles are great for getting the children up and out of their seats, listening mindfully and thinking both critically and creatively. I created this drama circle as part of an inquiry into Human Rights and Responsibilities. (check this complete unit of inquiry here: Human Rights & Responsibilities) It began as a fun way to raise awareness of what bullying can look like and ended as an inspiration for the children to bring this awareness to the rest of the school through their initiative. I have since included this imitative within the drama circle activity that can be found in my store.

My grade 5s worked collaboratively to bring this No Bullying In our School initiative to the school through presentations to each of the grade levels, school wide posters and a before and after reflection for the upper grades kiddos.

This bingo tool was created for lower grades children to develop an awareness of the ATL Skills and what they LOOK-FEEL-SOUND like in action. Easy to support agency, to involve the learning community as a class task or to send home to work with parents. ￼

PYP BUDDIES: A Collaborative Community Hopscotch

I'm sure you've seen some of those lovely pictures of creative playground hopscotch that are found on the internet. Well, long before we recorded everything with digital cameras and smart phones, our PYP Buddies came up with a great idea! Our PYP Buddies programme involved our upper grades classes pairing with a lower grade class and together they would work on a variety of activities throughout the year. It is a fabulous way to promote responsibility, ownership and agency amongst the children. This particular group of students came up with the idea to create our boring hopscotch template into one that raised a growth mindset in our students and could be used for lots of different imaginative play ideas. The children came up with:

Positive affirmations

Passing out complements

Setting intentions based on the word you landed on.

Community reflections after play

It was commissioned and created by one of our graphic designer Mums in the community and our art teacher took the project on board to include the children. This isn't the exact picture of OUR playground hopscotch but it was pretty similar.

If you're looking for a good starter to PYP buddies, this reading activity i s a lovely step in the right direction, with big kids supporting younger buddies.
LOCAL PROBLEMS, A COMMUNITY MARCH
The last example for today is our community march take by our grade 5s in Denver. This was a part of our inquiry into Human Rights and Responsibilities. It began as an activity to design a t-shirt to support activism for a cause you believe in and ended as a 200 person march on our capitol building in the city centre! Phenomenal experience without a doubt! We had so many real-world, LOCAL causes that the children grouped together to investigate the issues:

Unfair Healthcare

Homelessness in Denver

Boycotting Circuses with Animals

Supporting LGBTQ in schools

Black Lives Matter

Indigenous People in Colorado Awareness

The picture speaks for itself. And the social skills touched upon were many as we planned, prepared and implemented this action.
The chart below shows how we did this together, allowing the students to come up with their own ideas, encouraging action and putting the skills into practice meaningfully.
From this short list of examples of student-led action, you can see that the opportunity to inspire can come from the simplest activities. We need to begin by bringing an awareness to the children of what taking action looks like in its multiple forms.

And this can begin with our youngest learners, learning what it means to BE-THINK-DO-SAY-FEEL as action takers.

I have another post that goes further into that. You can read more about inspiring student-led action in this article of the same: Inspiring Student Led Action.

Don't forget to grab your FREE action posters above! Just add your email and they will be sent to your inbox immediately! (Please do check your junk mail as sometimes they end up in there for some reason. )

Enjoy!

P.S. If youre looking for more complete units of inquiry, take a look at my collection in my own store. Many of which are exclusive to PYP Teaching Tools.

FOLLOW ME HERE, FOLLOW ME THERE.....

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How IB PYP Approaches to Learning Skills Inspire Taking Action

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The IB PYP Approaches to Learning Skills are naturally used across the disciplines and one of the keys to our transdisciplinary approach. (thus they used to be called the Transdisciplinary Skills) As co-planners of the inquiry, we want to be intentional when identifying our focus skills that...

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https://www.inspiringinquiry.com/learning-community/professional-learning/blogswebsites

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(Focus: All aspects of the PYP)
Link: Sharing PYP Blog
This blog is a global platform with the purpose of deepening understanding and furthering the implementation of the PYP. It hosts all the essential updates, news, links to resources and publications to keep you fully informed. The blog articles

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https://makinggoodhumans.wordpress.com/2021/01/05/reimagining-the-poi/

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https://makinggoodhumans.wordpress.com/2015/02/21/concept-based-unit-mapping/

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https://blogs.ibo.org/sharingpyp/2020/10/12/a-transformational-journey-by-single-subject-teachers/

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This blog article captures the journey of transformation during online learning as experienced by single subject teachers. They travelled from the stage of disruption to adaptation, and to growth.
By Vandana Parasher

"While everyone figured their way out, we realized that open sharing of ideas, reflections and experiences helped everyone through."

With Covid-19 spreading around, forcing educators to leap out of their comfort zones without much prior warning and expecting them to transform their educational practices overnight, we were left with no option but to 'comply' to this sudden change- ironically, in the times when we were all talking about 'Agency'!

These times reinforced the value of Approaches to learning (ATLs) and IB Learner Profile, such as risk-taker, balanced, inquirer, thinker, being resilient, open-minded and principled. Teachers around the world stretched their boundaries and like true brave-hearts plunged into the unknown, in the search of possible ways to make authentic and relevant learning happen through technology. While everyone figured their way out, we realized that open sharing of ideas, reflections and experiences helped everyone through. We also reflected on our journey with single subject teachers (specialists) who worked their way through different phases.

Here's an account of how our specialist teachers rediscovered themselves through a process of inquiry, action and reflection.

"We could see ourselves gaining confidence by the end of this phase."

Phase of Disruption:

This phase brought a lot of anxiety, fear, resentment and uncertainty amongst the teachers, especially the Specialists. We were flooded with so many questions, doubts, wonderings related to the medium, curriculum, learning etc. that it became a bit unsettling.
Wonderings:

What should be the structure of a virtual lesson for my subject?

How can I teach 'skills' virtually?

What will happen to the planned curriculum- standalone and Transdisciplinary integrations?

How will we teach without the requisite tools/equipment?

How will we engage the children effectively?

What about exploration, inquiry and collaborative learning?

What if technology turns out to be a roadblock?

Phase of Adaptation:

The adaptation phase was a learning zone for us which started with 'acceptance' of the situation and gradually led to the desired 'change'. It saw us engaging with all our wonderings, thinking of possible ways to address them one by one and taking 'action'. We could see ourselves gaining confidence by the end of this phase.
Action:

In collaborative planning sessions with specialists the first week, we identified the learning outcomes which were simpler to execute virtually.

We mainly looked at some standalone engagements in all subjects

We had to tweak part of our written curriculum to suit the virtual learning demands. E.g., in PE, in place of swimming and soccer we had to look at yoga and aerobics for Grades 2 to 5, and recreational exercises aiming at motor coordination for EY

To begin with, we explored the asynchronous way where all the Specialists (dance, drama, music, visual art and PE) created simple tutorials which could be followed at home, and student work could be uploaded on the e-portfolio platform Seesaw

These tasks were posted every day with a clear learning objective, steps and success criteria so that they were self-explanatory and would require least parental involvement

Teachers reviewed the work on Seesaw and shared feedback to feedforward in the form of voice notes and text

Students engaged with the feedback effectively and produced a second draft wherever necessary

"Students were also seeking one-on-one connection with the single subject teachers where they could learn something in real time."

Reflection:
It was a comfortable and assuring beginning for all the specialists because student responses indicated some level of engagement at home; however, there were concerns with 'check for learning/understanding' which could happen in a synchronous way but not so effectively in asynchronous mode. Students were also seeking one-on-one connection with the single subject teachers where they could learn something in real time. So, with this reflection, we moved towards planning Synchronous lessons after 2 weeks of asynchronous work.

"This phase saw us stretching beyond the obvious."

Phase of Growth:

This phase saw us stretching beyond the obvious. The single subject teachers tasted some success with their asynchronous structure and felt ready to move towards the Synchronous lessons.

Successfully implementing the curriculum:

PE: For transdisciplinary integration we went ahead as per the curriculum map and integrated well with Grade 4's unit on the Interconnectedness of human body systems (Who we are). PE teachers co-planned and executed an inquiry along with the form tutor and guided the children to collaboratively prepare a project on "Strengthening different body systems by adopting a fitness routine" for a certain sport of their choice. Students got together for live discussions using Zoom- breakout room feature and worked on shared slides to create their presentations.

Visual Arts: An inquiry into Graffiti as a form of 'communication' (How we express ourselves) in Grade 4 enabled students to express and share a positive message for the community at the time of Pandemic. Certain online tools used by them were Weave silk and Tate paint which allowed students to create digital art work. Students were introduced to different art forms and artists through virtual tours.

Finally, all the work that was done during the 11 weeks of lockdown was showcased through a Virtual art exhibition- Seher: A dawn of creativity. This is an annual art event for the school but this time we explored an app called Exhibbit which provided us with a virtual gallery space to showcase and celebrate student work at a very nominal cost. The entire school community took pride in this showcase.

Ceramics: Having no access to natural clay and sophisticated tools at home, our ceramic specialist explored an alternative called "Salt dough" which provided a similar experience and outcome.

Drama: An inquiry into Monologue for the unit on 'Sense of Self' (Who we are) in Grade 5 enabled students to give a voice to their feelings and emotions through this troubled phase. They learnt to write a monologue after responding to and understanding its characteristics. Drama teachers took on the role of language teachers and helped children develop their monologues as a part of the creating Students performed their monologues as well as engaged in a peer-review exercise as an audience.

Dance: The Indian classical dance teacher focused on expressions, postures and mudras used on Bharatnatyam (Indian classical dance form) through her lessons, enabling children to appreciate the nuances of this dance form. The western dance teachers helped children explore Jazz Pirouettes, Tutting and encouraged them to create their own choreography.

Music: The teachers gained confidence as they worked on the online music creation tool called ChromeApp Lab. Students explored various rhythm patterns and musical notes through this tool. Parent collaboration was a high point for music department and you can read more about it here.

"Having come this far, our specialist teachers are feeling proud of their journey and accomplishments."

Having come this far, our specialist teachers are feeling proud of their journey and accomplishments. Being certain of their capability to adapt, unlearn and relearn, they are now looking forward to the next phase of blended learning after the summer break!
In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson- "A mind, once stretched by a new idea can never regain its original dimensions". This holds true for all the teachers who stretched themselves and grew in this process!

Acknowledgement: The idea of categorizing the entire virtual learning journey into 3 phases- disruption, adaptation and growth was used by Amit Pawar - Microsoft Asia Pacific, in a webinar on "Opportunities and challenges of remote learning - How will this shape the future?" organized by EduTECH Asia Virtual.
Vandana Parasher is the PYP Coordinator at Pathways School, Noida. She has been a primary educator for over 17 years in international schools from New Delhi to Tokyo. She believes in constantly engaging with the latest research and innovation in education that leads to rethinking and questioning the existing norms. Passionate about self-directed learning and collaboration, she works towards empowering children with the right tools and mindset that keeps them excited about learning and life. You can follow her on Twitter @Vandysays and her school @PathwaysSchools.
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A transformational journey by single subject teachers

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This blog article captures the journey of transformation during online learning as experienced by single subject teachers. They travelled from the stage of disruption to adaptation, and to growth. By Vandana Parasher "While everyone figured their way out, we realized that open sharing of ideas, reflections and experiences helped everyone through."

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https://blogs.ibo.org/sharingpyp/2018/09/25/deepening-transdisciplinary-learning-through-conceptual-connections-a-single-subject-approach-to-exhibition/

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In looking for a way to deepen student understanding of concepts, while still maintaining fidelity to the single subjects, this article shows the work of the physical education (PE) department to create conceptual connections while focusing on knowledge, skills and conceptual understandings pertaining to PE and beyond.
How do we integrate single subjects into the units of inquiry while maintaining the integrity of the discipline and not creating thematic units? We, as a school, felt we were missing opportunities to create conceptual connections through subject-specific central ideas, which could support and deepen student conceptual understanding. For the 2017-2018 Primary Years Programme (PYP) exhibition, we decided to try out a conceptual connection central idea in PE with the aim of deeper learning, more engagement throughout the exhibition and increased choice while simultaneously maintaining fidelity to the discipline.

This year's exhibition central idea was: "Humans shape the future through their actions". Transdisciplinary planning began with a specialist/homeroom collaboration where we asked, "What does this look like in PE?" rather than, "How can PE support this?" One of the grade 5 teachers began thinking aloud about how sport is a great way to fight for social justice. With that, music, art, language, PE and homeroom teachers were discussing a PE connection and our creativity was sparked! After much discussion, we settled on the PE central idea: "Sports can be an avenue to promote social justice and change". We hoped that students would see how humans can shape the future through their actions by focusing specifically on sports, social justice and change.

Our provocation had to grab students' attention and make them uncomfortable enough to want to make a change. Having just finished a games unit in which students learned basketball, we thought a Basketball Challenge was perfect. All was well until, without warning, boys' points were worth 5 while girls' were worth 1. "It's not fair!" and "What is this!" were statements thrown around the court. Suddenly, one team got their basket lowered while the other remained in place. The next blow came when the two strongest players on each team were banned from shooting or scoring. "You can't do this!" someone yelled. As the rules changed, the level of frustration rose for those students feeling the injustice and they wanted to make a change! The game was followed by a class discussion on students' feelings and an introduction to the unit.

The provocation provided the tiniest taste of injustice which allowed students to begin to empathize with our case studies who had experienced larger injustices and used them as an impetus to make big changes in the world. With each case study we used a different visible thinking routine to both deepen and assess understanding. Below are a few examples.

Jackie Robinson showed us the fight for racial equality in major league baseball. We used the visible thinking routine Circle of Viewpoints and students wrote down interpretations of two pictures without knowing the background. They were shocked to find out that what they assumed was happening in the pictures was actually the opposite. This routine allowed us to see their perspectives before and after gaining new knowledge about a historical event. The questions and conversations which this sparked were immense and some students made personal connections to racial discrimination.

Basketball players Bilquis Abdul-Qaadir and Darsh Preet introduced us to the right to express religion through clothing while playing sport. We tweaked the Zones of Comfort protocol to help students identify their feelings about disallowing people to wear certain clothes while playing sports and then the debate began.

Brazilian football player Marta was our springboard to gender inequality. After learning about Marta's fight students completed the below Venn Diagram.

In addition to the above mentioned case studies, students explored:

With each new case study, students expanded their perspectives and deepened their understanding of the exhibition's central idea. They became more confident in taking and defending positions, and listened to varied perspectives with open minds. Some began to independently inquire into other change makers (see below).

A presentation about Katherine Virginia Switzer, the first woman to run the full Boston Marathon in 1967.

Questioning why women cannot play football in home nation (Pakistan) followed by discussion.

Researching athletes who fought for social justice in home countries.

Designing and documenting engaging assessments was a priority. Students were asked to research and write a speech about someone who had used sports to make a change or to fight for social justice. This could be based on one of our class case studies or the athlete of their choice ( see student checklist here). During the unit students would also be preparing for a Mini Olympics and enhancing their skill set in high jump, long jump and 60 meter sprint. Initially we thought it would be great for the medalists to present their speeches at assembly; however, in the end, there were two passionate students (non-medalists) who were our speakers. Athletic skill would be assessed through a Mini Olympics and conceptual understanding would be assessed through the content (not delivery) of the speech. We were looking for students to show:

Knowledge about facts from the time

Understanding of how their case study promoted social justice or change through their actions

Personal connection with the subject of their case study.

Students and teachers used the same checklist to assess understanding and knowledge of the central idea. It should also be noted that throughout the unit, teachers documented learning through the collection of anecdotal notes, pictures, and the collection and presentation of visible thinking routines.

We felt that the combination of the Mini Olympics for enhancing and assessing skills, as well as the presentation and research of case studies related to social justice and change, would allow us to maintain the integrity of PE while deepening their thinking of the homeroom central idea.

The learning which took place in PE was evident in many exhibition projects demonstrating that the understanding of change and social justice had transcended PE. The grade 5 PE teacher stated, "It gave me a fresh perspective on teaching PE. We were able to go deeper into conceptual connections and they (the students) could see how athletics pertains to the real world." While there are improvements to be made, we are excited about the potential of this unit and creating other transdisciplinary units based on conceptual connections.

Works Cited

"April 28: Muhammad Ali refuses Army induction." This Day in History, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/muhammad-ali-refuses-army-induction. Accessed 18 July 2018.

"Circle of Viewpoints." Project Zero, Harvard School of Education, www.pz.harvard.edu/resources/circle-of-viewpoints. Accessed 18 July 2018.

Comaneci, Nadia. "Special Olympic Athletes Are Making History." Huffington Post, 8 July 2015, www.huffingtonpost.com/nadia-comaneci/special-olympics-athletes_b_7753014.html?guccounter=1. Accessed 18 July 2018.

"Jackie Robinson." History Channel, www.history.com/topics/black-history/jackie-robinson. Accessed 18 July 2018.

Litsky, Frank. "Ruth Langer Lawrence 77, Who Boycotted '36 Olympics." The New York Times [New York], 6 June 1999. The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/1999/06/06/sports/ruth-langer-lawrence-77-who-boycotted-36-olympics.html. Accessed 18 July 2018.

Mendonca, Duarte, and James Masters. "'Female Pele' Marta seeks fair deal for women's soccer." CNN, 9 Aug. 2013, edition.cnn.com/2013/08/07/sport/football/marta-pele-brazil-pele-football/index.html. Accessed 18 July 2018.

"MPower Change: Muslim Grassroots Movement." MPower Change, act.mpowerchange.org/sign/fiba-let-them-play. Accessed 18 July 2018.

"Zones of Comfort, Risk, and Danger." School Reform Iniative, www.schoolreforminitiative.org/. Accessed 18 July 2018.
Courtney Hughes is the PYP Coordinator at the American International School of Bucharest. She has been at the school for 9 years. Courtney is originally from the United States where she began her teaching career in New York City Public Schools. She sees the power of transdisciplinary learning and believes that children can do anything. Courtney is a full-time mother, wife and educator. When she has a spare moment, she enjoys working out, eating and traveling to kid friendly locations. She could never have written this article without the support and dedication of Alex Sota and Svetlana Akhundova (the grade 5 PE team). You can follow her on Twitter @cbeishline.

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Deepening transdisciplinary learning through conceptual connections: A single-subject approach to exhibition

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In looking for a way to deepen student understanding of concepts, while still maintaining fidelity to the single subjects, this article shows the work of the physical education (PE) department to create conceptual connections while focusing on knowledge, skills and conceptual understandings pertaining to PE and beyond.

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https://blogs.ibo.org/sharingpyp/2016/10/25/how-to-make-units-transdisciplinary/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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- from the US, CA; 20 yrs teaching; reading, travel, food, wine, current G3 GLL Chadwick International

- calm, organized

- see the bigger picture, explain the "why", empathize with team

- leadership comes in many forms, collective thinking/contributions makes for a better outcome

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https://blogs.ibo.org/sharingpyp/2021/02/01/an-inquiry-through-clay-exploring-a-new-language/

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"As natural inquirers, the children used their senses to investigate..."

Clay has been a precious resource for humans throughout history. Pottery has been used since ancient times and it provides a record of past civilizations. Its malleable qualities invite children to become inquirers and explorers; they instinctively pin ch it, poke it and squeeze it.

Our early years group were inquiring into the transdisciplinary theme "Who we are" with the central idea of "Being aware of our uniqueness, interests and abilities allows us to develop an identity". This was an inquiry into:

Our physical, social and emotional characteristics

Our personal abilities and interests

Culture and traditions that shape our identity

Our key concepts were form, connection and perspective . We decided to kick off our school year by talking about how unique and special we are to provoke our children to think about their physical characteristics, interests and cultures when they are starting to build their identity.

Through our initial provocation, the children began a student-led inquiry on what makes them special. During our discussions and learning engagements, we talked about what special means and what is special to them. Their parents were also involved , and the children found out why their parents chose their names and the special meaning of each name. This was followed by talking about our physical and emotional characteristics.

Using different languages, the children were able to inquire about their own and their friends' physical characteristics. They were invited to take photos of their friends, draw their friends as well as draw their self-portraits. We read different books, such as ' Jabari Jumps ' , by Gaia Cornwall and ' Why A m I M e? ' , by Paige Brit, to talk about what makes us who we are. After this investigation, it was time to explore a new language to continue their inquiry: clay.

Initially, the children explored dry clay. As natural inquirers, the children used their senses to investigate dry pieces of clay and clay sculptures. Then they used mortars and pestles to grind and crush the dry pieces of clay as well as sieves to separate the big pieces. Through research, the children made interesting discoveries, including finding out where clay comes from.

"It's good to use clay as it's harder and it doesn't break your model.  If you leave it outside and it starts raining it won't go soft!" R., 5 years old

But how can we make the clay soft?

"First it might be all dried up then it mixes with water for soft clay.  When the rain comes down.  You can take some and put it in a bucket." S., 4 years old

On the following day, they experimented with water and found out that the dry clay becomes soft and malleable, therefore it is easier to manipulate and make models. Using their hands and their feet, the children explored soft clay and made new discoveries.

Now it was time to work with our hands using clay. The children were encouraged to use soft clay to make small bowls, cups and plates. We explored the concepts of "flat" and "3D". After experimenting with different tools and techniques, it was time to go back to our initial inquiry and think about how we can now apply our knowledge on who we are and physical characteristics through the language of clay.

The children were then invited to make a sculpture of a friend. Using the photos they took of their friends and their drawings, we talked about what makes their friends unique. After our discussions, the children were happy working on their models. Through this activity, it was clear how knowledgeable the children had become after this inquiry and we could see this knowledge imprinted in their clay models.

Clay offers infinite possibilities - it can be transformed and reused and explored again. That is exactly what inquiry is all about: a cycle of provocations and discoveries that can be revisited, allowing children to continue to be curious, explorers and lifelong learners.

The  Hundred Languages of Children : the Reggio Emilia Approach to Early   Education. Norwood, N.J. : Ablex Pub. Corp., 1993.

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An inquiry through clay: exploring a new language

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"As natural inquirers, the children used their senses to investigate..." Clay has been a precious resource for humans throughout history. Pottery has been used since ancient times and it provides a record of past civilizations. Its malleable qualities invite children to become inquirers and explorers; they instinctively pin ch it, poke it and squeeze it.

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Think with - connecting with others. Sharing ideas and best practices.
Think about- Appreciate the action plan document.
Think Beyond- Collaboration and better implementation of LP within the EY.

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Connect: Leadership treats and that we all have the same challenges.

Extend: The 7 leadership intelligence

Challenge: How can I implement this in my practice and implement it in the school.

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My name is Allison. I teach Grade2 and am a GLL for G2 at Chadwick International School in Songdo, South Korea. I love hiking, camping, and being around animals. I would love to work on a farm one day :)

As a leader, I am calm and open-minded to others' thoughts, opinions, and feelings.

As a leader, I believe that everyone has a voice and should be heard

As a leader, I can help others feel comfortable and safe to share their ideas

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https://blogs.ibo.org/sharingpyp/2019/04/16/ways-to-facilitate-language-development-through-concept-based-inquiry/

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

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Connect
It was great to be connected with like minded educators with various leadership roles and experiences today.  It was also great to share some of the characteristics, belief, and value as leaders and to find that we share lots in common.

Extend
Looking at IB Standards and Practices three three different learning opportunities (students, professionals, systems) was a new activity and thinking for me.

Challenge
How to apply my learning into my daily teaching at our current school.

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The leader in me is completely being passionate and compassionate.

As a leader, I set a role model, and where there is flexibility too as per circumstances.

I believe the SWOT brings the beauty of being a leader as you can strategize your do's and don'ts.
Leadership is I believe is bonding and making new connections in the field of pedagogy.

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https://blogs.ibo.org/sharingpyp/2014/02/11/language-learning-calp-and-making-the-move-from-disciplinary-to-transdisciplinary/

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Join two PYP educators as they join a language and learning working group to create teacher support materials, and have their 'aha' moment...
As PYP educators, Elizabeth and Sabrina were invited to join a CALP Language and Learning Continuum working group, developing teacher support materials, alongside MYP and DP colleagues. They were asked to look at the task at hand looking through the lenses of mathematics and social studies.

If you are not familiar with the terminology CALP, the cognitive academic learning proficiency (CALP) framework is based on the work of Jim Cummins and is intended to scaffold the planning and teaching of academic language, ie language skills needed by students for language learning in the classroom .

The process includes developing literacy and communication skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), collaboration and social skills (interacting) and thinking skills (evaluating evidence, critically reviewing evidence, and analyzing and interpreting data).

Rolling our sleeves up, we discovered that creating teacher support materials, which would demonstrate integration of language in other areas of the curriculum, is a four-step process:

1) activating background knowledge

2) scaffolding for new learning input

3) acquisition of new learning through practice

4) demonstrating proficiency.

We questioned whether two separate documents─one focusing on math and the other on social studies─would align with the PYP transdisciplinary pedagogy?

Hmmm...

We began by identifying the academic language required to teach the social studies and mathematics content of a 2 nd grade unit of inquiry focusing on the related concepts of location and orientation.

As we created our list of target vocabulary─and it got longer and longer─we realized that although there were transdisciplinary links, the two disciplines each have their own academic language and, as our starting point, we needed to address them separately.

Back to the drawing board.

We developed four learning engagements for social studies before moving on to develop the ones for mathematics.

As we started to write the third learning engagement for mathematics, we had our "aha!" moment.

Authentic links between the two disciplines became obvious and we could see clearly how our learning engagement for mathematics and social studies could indeed be the same for activities 3 and 4.

We had made the move from disciplinary to transdisciplinary.

Did we also make connections with the DP and MYP? Yes, but that is another blog story.

-

Sabrina is a PYP coordinator and a MYP/DP Individuals and Societies teacher, a workshop leader and an online course facilitator.

Elizabeth currently teaches elementary music and has worked across a number of curricula and student support roles in the UK, Japan and Thailand.

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Language learning, CALP and making the move from disciplinary to transdisciplinary

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Join two PYP educators as they join a language and learning working group to create teacher support materials, and have their 'aha' moment... As PYP educators, Elizabeth and Sabrina were invited to join a CALP Language and Learning Continuum working group, developing teacher support materials, alongside MYP and DP colleagues.

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Sphere of control: EY students, Team Leaders/Advisors, and Curriculum Leaders, teachers, the EY learning. My pedagogy/approach to teaching and learning

Sphere of influence: DP's, EY teachers, Curriculum Coordinators, parents.

Everything else: ELT (leadership team), School-wide decisions, School regulations & policies.

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New Initiative: Sharing this session with the curriculum leaders and team leaders. Sharing the action plan and think about other implications we didn't think about it.

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Understanding my own sphere of influence greatly helped with putting ideas into perspective. The tools, such as the action plan, made it easier to put ideas down about teaching, learning and assessment that I can share back to school. Today I engaged more in reflective practice and how I can make bring my learning back to share with my colleagues.

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Connect - I was able to relate to the context of some members when they did their sharing. The presentations allowed me to have a good idea of what it looks like, feels like and sound like.
Extend - The learning strategies helped me to put into perspective how an approach look like and the information on leadership and putting these ideas into action made me think about how it will actually look like in reality
Challenge - How do I inspire my team to share the same goals to meet school vision without coming across as toxic positivity, especially now after the pandemic when things can feel overwhelming.

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Who  - I am a Kindergarten grade level team lead

As a leader, I am - organized. I apply strategies and skills I learned to lead by example to inspire individual growth in my team.

As a leader, I believe I should be a listener to guide my team to achieving goals and coming to an agreed consensus.

As a leader, I can - support my team by setting clear intentions and goals.

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https://blogs.ibo.org/sharingpyp/2020/08/04/skills-and-dispositions-in-online-learning/

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In this article, we will reflect on our role as teachers making inroads into the virtual learning environment. We have applied our IB learner profile attributes in each learning experience proposed and we have adapted the lesson plans according to the new requirements for the benefit of our students and the community. Let's enjoy our journey!
During the Covid19 pandemic, from one week to another, we have suddenly passed from meeting our third-grade students in the different spaces of the school, to listening and meeting them through virtual applications. In our first week of change, we decided to take it slowly to understand the implications of the challenge of teaching through technology and in a virtual classroom. It was of great importance to us to get an idea of how we could continue our inquiry units, promoting students' curiosity, engagement, and agency. But we must confess, we were afraid we would lose the inquiry process, as we also had the idea 'they won't be able to explore and develop all the conceptual understandings this school year'.

We did not know if all of our students would be able to meet with us through a computer or cell-phone device and we didn't want them to spend hours in front of a screen, so at the beginning, we only planned a few learning experiences in guides that we shared with all the students to be done at home. We encouraged them and their parents to develop organization and self-management skills, which even for us, was a great deal. For staff, handling home and work tasks, as well as organizing time to spend with our family members, now 100% at home, was a great challenge.

This made us imagine how our students would be dealing with similar things in their homes, adding to the emotional states they might experience while getting to understand this new situation themselves, their parents and their whole community. As a consequence, our staff were actively involved in the process of creating a synchronous and asynchronous schedule, in which students had learning experiences divided between online sessions and individual home work. This has been very positive in that we have been able to improve our collaborative planning as we are all concerned together about making our students, and their families feel comfortable with this new experience.

For that reason, we continue with a variety of learning experiences in which students are able to develop a balance among their spiritual, mental, physical and emotional well-being. In our virtual encounters, we had the chance to propose different activities in which students could interact with each other. As well, we guided them in their process of learning through the IB learner profile attributes and they have recognized the importance of demonstrating these in their learning. We have given frequent feedback on the skills and attributes developed, seeking to create strong cooperative bonds. For example, we played Kahoot games and at the end of the activity, we reflected on the time management, empathy and perseverance to be able to recognize their aims and those of others. In addition, we had different spaces in a summative assessment in which the students had the chance to give feedback to each other focusing of the positive aspects of their peers' work, and giving suggestions in a respectful way to improve their performance.

Helping students and parents to develop organization and self-management skills is a continuous challenge, but it has been a very pleasant process, as in time we have seen students' agency growing stronger while they assume more autonomy in this new situation, their schedule and the development of their work. We also involve self-management skills, especially time management and completing tasks effectively, in our lesson plans through different strategies. We started using one E-learning weekly planner, which we included in the lesson plan shared with each student.

Completing this planner has been beneficial for each student, as they were able to plan their weekly tasks, not only with their homework but being able to recognize the importance of developing other activities to maintain their well-being. Such as taking breaks during the day, being grateful, exercising and spending time with their families. In addition, we have researched some applications to incorporate into our virtual meetings so that our students can focus on their units of inquiry and develop multiple skills. Using different applications for encouraging students to learn, explore and share their knowledge and conceptual understanding have been very helpful for us. For example, the students were challenged to design a graphic organizer by themselves using different tools or apps such as PowerPoint, Popplet, Word, Padlet or Excel, in which they shared their prior knowledge of their understanding of the central idea "Earth changes because of natural events and human influence". They also reflected on the key concept of change and responsibility. (Photo 2 and 3 )

At the same time, students have shown great enthusiasm with these tools, as they can interactively apply their knowledge and share their ideas with the whole class. For example, we created a Padlet shared with the students, to work cooperatively answering different questions about the unit, asking their own questions, and suggesting ways to explore or find out more information about their inquiries.

This is our fourth week of online learning and we feel we have improved a lot and we have learned to feel more comfortable with this new teaching approach. As well, our students have shown enthusiasm and commitment to our virtual encounters. They like to participate in the learning experiences we propose and we continue to help some of our students with personalized attention to clarify doubts.

Most importantly to us is to see how our students have demonstrated their agency when organizing their work successfully, for example by creating their own schedule and sending tasks on time. Also, they find solutions to problems such as a good internet connection, learning to receive, send and attach documents, solving issues with web cameras and microphones, managing their emotions and persevering in working through adversity.

Finally, we realized the importance of following our inquiry process, especially in our lesson plans because we have designed interesting learning experiences to boost the learning of our students. To make it happen, we included our inquiry cycle as part of the titles for each experience. For example, at the beginning of the unit we start with "engagement and connection" where we explore the student's previous knowledge and expectations about the unit. Further in the inquiry process, we included sections such "building and sharing knowledge" where students had opportunities to share their thoughts, ideas and research findings. In the last part of our cycle "action and reflection" the teacher and the students talked about their strengths and weaknesses in the inquiry process, and we reflect on possible ideas to keep exploring. It is important to emphasize that in each step of our process, the students have multiple ways for self, peer and teacher's assessment.

It is our challenge to take make the most of our role in guiding each student in their learning, encouraging them in the desire to continue learning through virtual classes, and help them to think deeply about their process of learning and the ways in which they can adapt to our current world.
Deysi Johana Barón has worked as a PYP teacher for three years. She currently works at Gimnasio Los Portales School in Bogotá, Colombia. She holds a master's degree in education from Pedagogica University. She believes in the importance of hearing students´voices for establishing an environment of trust and safety. She tweets @ BarJohana1 Patricia Pardo Pachón has worked as a PYP teacher for almost 6 years at the Gimnasio Los Portales School in Bogotá, Colombia. She is a professional in Languages and Sociocultural Studies from the University of Los Andes. She believes that encouraging students' self-esteem and creativity will help them explore all the treasures of their being. She tweets @PatriciaPP12

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Skills and dispositions in online learning

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In this article, we will reflect on our role as teachers making inroads into the virtual learning environment. We have applied our IB learner profile attributes in each learning experience proposed and we have adapted the lesson plans according to the new requirements for the benefit of our students and the community.

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Eugene (Thinking through the lens of my new position next year as Head of Primary)

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Eugene (Thinking through the lens of my new position next year as Head of Primary)

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My Sphere of Control:
- Students/Parents/Staff
- Especially with non-negotiables, policies, law and regulations

My Sphere of Influence:
- Students/Parents/Staff/School Board/SLT
- Ideas for school improvements, pedagogy, learning methodologies

Everything Else:
- School Board/ Head of School/ Parental decisions/ External climate in Singapore and the region/ Licensing and Accreditating bodies e.g. CPE/MOE/IB/CIS, etc.

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I can use what I put in the action plan as a new initiative in planning for my grade level. This will be helpful to have everyone on board to share the same goal. I will go back to my school and share with my leadership team. : )

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Our job as leaders isn't just to motivate but also sustain. Being able to follow through is a huge part of crafting a vision that has buy in from all stakeholders.

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Planning- Process and systems have to be in place.
Focus on the how and not on the what.
Clear goals/ the Why.
Everyone involve/ agency
The role of the leader

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Think with: I enjoyed the 'speed dating' activity where we shared how we demonstrate various LPs in our classrooms. A few of the ideas shared by group members I would like to use in my own class :)

Think about: I think it's important to have  effective collaboration with colleagues and even students. Also, having documents more accessible.

Think beyond: Help my team utilize our time effectively for collaboration. To try and get documentation in a localized place for community members

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https://www.seisen.com/connect-link/news/setagaya/~board/ib-pyp-at-seisen/post/solo-and-vocabulary-lists

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Link to the Elementary Programme of Inquiry.

All students in Kindergarten and Elementary have begun their Units of Inquiry. The SOLO Taxonomy is designed to take students on a journey from first developing surface level knowledge-based learning outcomes and progress to connecting and extending their knowledge in order to take action. This enables students to 'go deeper' and process their knowledge to develop conceptual understanding. This is scaffolded and guided using an inquiry process illustrated in the image, below.

Below you will see the possible assessment criteria developed through the SOLO Taxonomy for this unit of inquiry. It is important to note that in alignment with the Enhanced PYP, students may develop the SOLO taxonomy by co-constructing this with their teachers. This is to provide students with agency - choice, voice and ownership throughout the process of their learning. Therefore the SOLO co-constructed by students may look slightly different this one. This learning progression and vocabulary list is developed so you can support your daughter's learning at home. These can also be found on each individual Grade Level Blog and hard copies are located near the Cafeteria Display. Please feel free to come and take one.

Grade 1:

Grade 2:

Grade 3:

Grade 4:

Grade 5:

Grade 6:

If you have any experience or expertise with the content of these units of inquiry, we would love to hear from you! Please contact our PYP Coordinator (ssmyth@seisen.com) or your daughter's homeroom teacher.

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Link to the Elementary Programme of Inquiry. All students in Kindergarten and Elementary have begun their Units of Inquiry. The SOLO Taxonomy is designed to take students on a journey from first developing surface level knowledge-based learning outcomes and progress to connecting and extending their knowledge in order to take action.

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Core Value
Collaboration, Curiosity Creativity, Generosity, Respect

Vision
Understanding the potential of every individual so they can own their future

Mission
Engage, Enlighten, Empower

Six Word Memories - our purpose
Understanding the potential of every individual

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Still curious to just know more :) I'm sure I will have questions tomorrow!

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Today's session reaffirmed some of my own thoughts about leadership. I appreciated the pacing of the day and it was nice to hear from the other group members as we collectively shared our thoughts.

Looking at leadership from a systemic lens was an extension for me. I also was not familiar with the 7 leadership intelligences.

My challenge is how to directly apply this knowledge to my role in school. I have this new knowledge and resources about a framework, but how can I use this to better lead my team?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G8LAiHSCAs

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Forest Birdsong Nature Sounds-Relaxing Bird Sounds for Sleeping-Calming Birds Chirping Ambience

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Chanakya the great!
He uses his calmness to reach the inquiry.

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I have been an ELL specialist in PYP for over 16 years. I believe in collaboration and has been working with homeroom teachers and subject teachers to enhance ELLs' learning and achievement. I am flexible and open-minded to hear different opinions and ideas when our purposes and goals are the same. I value developing school values, culture, and mission together with students, teachers, and community.

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Making the approaches to learning happen

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This article explores one school's journey to ensure the approaches to learning, an element of the PYP, are planned for in order to strengthen the transdisciplinary nature of their programme. A few years back I shared a post on the PYP transdisciplinary skills, including reflective questions on the role of these skills in your school's programme.

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Sphere of Control- What is beyond your control?
What are your worries/ anxiety?

1. Taking or implying decisions where it would have been a boon to the learners and the community, but as you say decisions that happen from the system you cannot change. (Structured policy)

Sphere of influence- Who and what are under your influence?
1. My sphere of influence acts upon the learners as it not only impacts but also reflects in their actions.
2. Parents and teachers are also highly influenced by the strategies you use and imbibe and share the same in outside classrooms. They use it with their peers as well as their relations.

Everything else- Who and what are under your control
Well, I believe first we need to be in control, and as and when we achieve that through various ways, our learners and our team who shares and create ideas are under your control!

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I used to think: the goals cannot be in the learner assessment.
Now I think: that it can be included as its learners personally selected responses.

What?
The initiative:
I can take and initiate assessment policy using different strategies as the wall of learning.

So What: Its significance
It will evidence the learning and teaching community.

Now what?
Next steps:
Takeaway and implement the same in the school and outside school

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Leaders keep student learning in the middle and as the focus

Making learning, and teaching, visible for students

Leaders promote the learning agenda and manage conflict if/when resistance happens

Leaders create coherence when they focus on the big picture

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System thinking - a successful organization

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System thinking - a successful organization

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All members needs to be involved in
- open to new ideas
- be able to communicate effectively each other
- understand the organization
- form a vision shared by all members
-work together to achieve that vision

People have agency and each member of an organization needs to see the whole together.

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Sphere of Control
my students, planning and teaching

Sphere of influence
my team, grade level teachers and students, some of the lead teachers and heads of the department

Beyond my control
School policy and systems
Worries - when you know that something is not right, but the school has already decided to go one way...

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Think with
Lots of sharing and discussions today with my school teams and with other schools on IBStandards and Practices;culture, environment and learning.  I especially connected with the importance of having the common understanding on values and IBLP.  Also the importance of reflection in our own teaching and learning.

Think about
Today's session made me think of what I can do to move forward with ideas and suggestions that came up in our meeting.  If we do not think of how to make forward and take an action for it, nothing is going to happen.  I like the actions plan we came up with (admission process, co-planning with the shared curriculum)

Think beyond
Not leave the action plan on paper, but make it happen.

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https://www.seisen.com/connect-link/news/setagaya/~board/ib-pyp-at-seisen/post/solo-and-vocabulary-lists-updated-for-grade-1-to-6

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Link to the Elementary Programme of Inquiry.

Below you will find links to the updated SOLO Taxonomy and Vocabulary Lists for Grades 1 - 6. It is important to note that in alignment with the Enhanced PYP, students may develop the SOLO taxonomy by co-constructing this with their teachers. This is to provide students with agency - choice, voice and ownership throughout the process of their learning. Therefore the SOLO co-constructed by students may look slightly different this one. This learning progression and vocabulary list is developed so you can support your daughter's learning at home. These can also be found on each individual Grade Level Blog and hard copies are located near the Cafeteria Display. Please feel free to come and take one.
How can I use the SOLO at home?
You will now see a row underneath the possible assessment criteria titled 'Possible questions to discuss'. These are teacher guided questions that help to direct the unit of inquiry. You may wish to use these questions to begin a conversation with your chid about their unit of inquiry at home.
How can I use the Vocabulary Lists at home?
The Vocabulary Lists are a guide for the possible vocabulary that may be explored throughout the unit of inquiry. It is encouraged that you explain and explore the words within this list with your child in their mother tongue. Perhaps you may talk about the concept of some of the words in English and also in your home language in order to deepen their understanding of them.

GRADE 1

Grade 1's year long unit of inquiry is How we express ourselves - Celebrations. They are exploring the central idea Celebrations and traditions can express shared beliefs and values. This involves investigating and exploringreasons why people celebrate and key features of celebrations.
HWEO - Celebrations: SOLO Taxonomy HWEO - Celebrations: Vocabulary List
Grade 1 have recently begun their unit of inquiry Sharing the planet - Living Things. They are exploring the central idea Living things adapt to their habitats to survive. This involves investigating and exploringways living things are suited to their habitats, ways living things interact in their habitats and how people can interact with habitats in a safe and responsible way.
STP - Living Things: SOLO Taxonomy STP - Living Things: Vocabulary List
GRADE 2

Grade 2's year long unit of inquiry is How we express ourselves - Artists' Journey. They are exploring the central idea Artists interpret and respond to the world around them. This involves investigating and exploringhow art conveys a message, the choices artists make to convey messages and the stages of the creative process.
HWEO - Artists' Journey: SOLO Taxonomy HWEO - Artists' Journey: Vocabulary List
Grade 2 have recently begun their unit of inquiry How the world works - Forces & Motion. They are exploring the central idea People apply their understanding of forces and energy to simple, compound and complex machines. This involves investigating and exploringdifferent types of forces, how machines function and the impact of machines on our world.
HTWW - Forces & Motion: SOLO Taxonomy HTWW - Forces & Motion: Vocabulary List
GRADE 3

Grade 3's year long unit of inquiry is Sharing the planet - Plants. They are exploring the central idea Plant diversity can affect the wellbeing of people and other living things. This involves investigating and exploringthe conditions plants need to grow, the interrelationship between plants and other living things and the importance of plant diversity.
STP - Plants: SOLO Taxonomy STP - Plants: Vocabulary List
Grade 3 have recently begun their unit of inquiry How we organise ourselves - The Marketplace They are exploring the central idea Marketplaces depend on the ability to produce goods and supply services that can be exchanged. This involves investigating and exploringthe role of supply and demand, the distribution of goods and services and responsible production and consumption.
HWOO - The Marketplace: SOLO Taxonomy HWOO - The Marketplace: Vocabulary List
GRADE 4

Grade 4 have recently begun their unit of inquiry How the world works - Weather Systems. They are exploring the central idea Understanding climate and weather patterns informs decision making. This involves investigating and exploringthe relationship between weather and climate, measuring and predicting weather and the impact of and response to extreme weather events.
HTWW - Weather Systems: SOLO Taxonomy HTWW - Weather Systems: Vocabulary List
GRADE 5

Grade 5's year long unit of inquiry is How we express ourselves - . They are exploring the central idea People can create or manipulate messages to target specific audiences. This involves investigating and exploringhow the elements of messages can be used to influence target audiences, the power and impact of media and critical evaluation of messages presented through media.
HWEO - Media: SOLO Taxonomy HWEO - Media: Vocabulary List
Grade 5 will soon begin their unit of inquiry Sharing the planet - Peace & Conflict. They are exploring the central idea Reaching a resolution to conflict can be influenced by the actions and reactions of all involved. This involves investigating and exploringcauses of conflict and strategies used to resolve conflict and their consequences.
STP - Peace & Conflict: SOLO Taxonomy STP - Peace & Conflict: Vocabulary List
GRADE 6

Grade 6's year long unit of inquiry is Who we are - International Mindedness. They are exploring the central idea Understanding the beliefs and values of different cultures can promote international mindedness. This involves investigating and exploringwhat constitutes culture, the varying beliefs of different people and how they develop and promoting international mindedness.
WWA - International Mindedness: SOLO Taxonomy WWA - International Mindedness: Vocabulary List
Grade 6 have recently begun their unit of inquiry How we express ourselves - People we admire. They are exploring the central idea People we admire can influence our actions, values and relationships. This involves investigating and exploringthe characteristics/traits of people we admire, how individuals develop character traits to empower others and how my actions and choices affect myself and others.
HWEO - People we admire: SOLO Taxonomy HWEO - People we admire: Vocabulary List
If you have any experience or expertise with the content of these units of inquiry, we would love to hear from you! Please contact our PYP Coordinator (ssmyth@seisen.com) or your daughter's homeroom teacher.

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SOLO and Vocabulary Lists Updated for Grade 1 to 6

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An update of the new SOLO Taxonomy for current and year long units of inquiry and vocabulary lists to support your child at home.

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Unleashing the potential of every learner

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Adding clear goals of the day/ Aim of the day - would help me to know what I will expect/learn during the day.

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Connect: We are all connected with different ideas and strategies to reach the same learning and teaching goal. The idea of getting learners to know Monroe's sequence was a great connection.

Extend: The different learning strategies were an extension for me as there is a lot of inter-transdisciplinary learning.

Challenges: How one responds to different strategies in the learning styles.
The different areas on how leaders take up in the phase of curriculum and etc.

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Why we need a grade level attached ELL and LS teachers

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Who?
- My dad and late grandma
- Everyone I've interacted with in my life
- My principals/teachers in the past
= Bad leaders I have worked for

What?
- My journey as an IBPYP and IPC educator
- My time as a school consultant who have visited numerous schools in APAC

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Who? I'm from Venezuela. I am an EY educator and one of the Deputy Principals for the EY division at Stamford.
As a leader, I feel I am always learning
As a leader, I can relate to others
As a leader, I believe trust is essential to lead teams.

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https://blogs.ibo.org/sharingpyp/2020/04/28/a-transdisciplinary-approach-to-a-grade-4-unit-of-inquiry/

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The article focuses on building a transdisciplinary approach to a unit of inquiry and how multiple perspectives enhance student understanding. Some initiatives towards including elements of the enhanced PYP are also detailed in the article.
In this article, my attempt is to focus on the transdisciplinary approach to a unit of inquiry along with some of the enhanced PYP features we have attempted to include. We have taken small steps and seen the difference; primarily in the way students have started getting involved in their learning - voice, choice and ownership being at the heart of it. I have attempted to share some of the ways in which we have tried to inculcate the spirit of the enhanced PYP into our classes - focusing on student agency, international mindedness, framing success criteria, co-constructing a unit with students and of course enhancing transdisciplinary learning.

At the outset, while planning the curriculum for the term, all the specialists and form tutors associated with the grade level (Year 4) collaborated to discuss the possibility and scope of integration for the units to be covered in the first term. While discussing the central idea 'Evidence of past civilisations can be used to make connections to present day societies', scope for a transdisciplinary approach through a subject focus on art, music, ICT and math was explored and agreed upon. The subjects would be the instrument and a resource for students to explore the various aspects of civilizations (the relationships between and the interconnectedness of individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspectives).

Ideas for a transdisciplinary approach towards this unit were collated and further learning engagements were documented in the planners. The specialists and form tutors would collaborate once more during the unit to plan the learning engagements in detail.

Whilst exploring under the transdisciplinary theme, 'Where we are in place and time', students inquired into

Characteristics of civilizations and societies - Form

Connections between past and present - Connection

Processes involved in collecting, analysing and validating evidence - Function

Students were introduced to our unit on civilizations through a display of artefacts in the class. They observed these artefacts and discussed their features and significance with peers and made connections with different cultures. This developed international mindedness through an appreciation of the impact that other cultures have had on ours. A few examples that students researched - the origin of the Olympic games in Greek civilization, the drums we use today were developed during the Inca civilization, study of the stars since the Mayan civilization, the advanced drainage systems since the Indus valley time. All of these examples demonstrate the influence the past civilizations have had on our modern-day societies.

Students then deconstructed the central idea that 'Evidence of past civilizations can be used to make connections to present-day societies' and brainstormed key words to create their own definition of civilization.

In Information and Communication Technology classes, students applied their knowledge of Minecraft to construct a virtual civilization using different blocks of grass, stone, wood etc. They effectively used different tools and built a detailed structure showcasing different aspects of a civilization. Through this engagement, students developed their thinking skills - generating novel ideas inspired by exposure to different experiences and resources.

In their art classes, students connected to the unit as they explored artefacts of different civilizations. Then they chose a civilization and gained knowledge on the clay artifacts of their chosen civilization through research. Students used different clay tools and applied the learned clay technique to create an earthen artifact of beauty or utility.

In music classes, students inquired into how music genres and instruments have evolved over the years - thus making connections between the past and present (the second line of inquiry). They then applied their knowledge of math concepts to create a timeline of the evolution of music - either on paper or using an online tool (student agency)
Math during the unit - focus on integration, success criteria, ATL reflection and grouping.
In Math classes, the scope for integration with the ongoing unit was evident in the concepts of timeline, Roman numerals, measurement, 2D and 3D shapes, and area and perimeter.

As students started exploring civilizations, in math classes they plotted these civilizations on a timeline thus integrating the concepts of timeline and civilizations. The students developed their thinking skills through this engagement - as they transferred knowledge and skills of timelines to gain new perspectives on civilizations - as they were able to compare visually and at a glance the duration of various civilizations.

Moving on to the concept of measurement through a simple activity, students understood why non-standard units are not an accurate way to measure objects - measuring the length of their tables using their hand-span and observing the variations in their answers.

Students were amazed to learn about the advanced and standardized tools of measurement used in the Indus Valley Civilization, which demonstrated the precision in measuring, even without the use of standard tools.

Students measured the length and the breadth of the area (planned in the unit to get a feel of an archaeological dig) they were going to excavate. This activity gave students a real life experience of using standard tools of measurement (inch tape) and helped them divide the area to be excavated.

For the concept of area and perimeter, in stand-alone math classes, students framed success criteria for themselves:

I can differentiate between area and perimeter

I can calculate area and perimeter

I can apply area and perimeter as appropriate in given situations.

Students initially inquired into why area is calculated in terms of square units through a group activity using cut-outs of circles and squares to measure the surface of their table/chair. The students using the squares could count them and state the area of the table top exactly. The students using the circles realized that they could not cover the table top completely without leaving any gaps - thus concluding that circles (or any other shape) could not be used as a standard unit for measuring area.

Students reflected on the above activity using the strategy 'I used to think...Now I think...' to express how their thinking has changed.

In the following classes students engaged in a think-pair-share activity to derive the formula for area and perimeter. They drew squares/rectangles on a centimetre grid paper and first calculated area and perimeter by counting the squares inside the shape and adding the total of the 4 sides respectively. Students then discussed and tried to derive a formula for area and perimeter, as they realized that it is not feasible to count squares for larger spaces. Some of the groups were able to conclude that since multiplication is repeated addition, they could multiply the length and the breadth to calculate area.

Students developed their research skills through this activity - information literacy (formulating and planning) as they were aware of what they needed to find out and could select appropriate tools/sources to help them derive the formula for area/perimeter.

Students reflected on the success criteria they had framed by placing themselves in any one of the quadrants below based on their own confidence of understanding (Student agency). They then had to justify their position in the quadrant by solving a sum of easy / medium / challenging level and articulating their thinking - this activity also served as the formative assessment.

Students thus had a choice in directing their own learning with a strong sense of identity and self-belief, and an awareness of the opinions, values and needs of others.

Students expressed their prior knowledge about shapes by observing images of different civilizations and annotating the 2D and 3D shapes they could recognize in the image itself. The grouping strategy here also was integrated with the unit - the features/images of different civilizations were matched to form groups.

It has been my endeavour here to demonstrate how the transdisciplinary and concept driven curriculum of IB broadens and at the same time deepens student understanding. Students explored various subject areas which are distinct, yet interconnected and thus transcend into a more holistic learning experience. Understanding how genres of music have developed over time, making timelines of civilizations and having fun while creating their own Minecraft civilizations or artefacts from different civilizations - all of these helped consolidate student understanding of how our we can use evidence of the past to understand how it has impacted us.
Sonia Trakroo is teaching mathematics at DPS International, Gurgaon, which is an IB continuum school in India. She has 4 years' experience as a form tutor and mathematics specialist. Sonia enjoys planning strategies to empower students with learning skills. She is passionate about student engagement in the learning process and wants to develop a love for the subject in every student within the framework of the PYP. You can follow her on twitter @soniatrakroo.

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A transdisciplinary approach to a Grade 4 unit of inquiry

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The article focuses on building a transdisciplinary approach to a unit of inquiry and how multiple perspectives enhance student understanding. Some initiatives towards including elements of the enhanced PYP are also detailed in the article. In this article, my attempt is to focus on the transdisciplinary approach to a unit of inquiry along with some of the enhanced PYP features we have attempted to include.

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Control:
Ss in my classroom
Intern in my classroom
Teachers/Interns on my team
Myself

Influence:
Teachers on my team
Ss in other classes at my grade level
Other grade level leads
PYP coordinator
Classroom parents
Principal/Asst Principal

Beyond Control:
Admin decisions
Schedules/Systems/Policies
Principal
Parental decisions/opinions/communication

Worries:
I have a team which is relatively new to teaching. I worry about whether I am leading my team in a way that's moving us forward while still supporting their teaching and learning needs?

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New initiatives
Review assessment rubrics
For BML students, especially subject like Math, students may have good understanding and skills, but they just do not have the language to read the instructions and show the process to solve the problem.  How can we acknowledge that? (math concepts and understanding vs. Language)

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Leading the learning is...

1. imparting purpose
2. systemic
3. student learning focused
4. collaborative and being accountable
5. making connections

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- organizations exhibit characteristics to meet new challenges
- focused on 'how' not 'what'
- people integrating into the system and the inter-relatability of various parts
- the commitment to staff growth
- development of reflection and inquiry skills

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I will

Align people and the organization behind a set of shared values

Support the learning community to come together to achieve better outcomes for students

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I connected with the need/importance of a establishing a clear purpose and culture within a school...and more specifically on my team.

I think it's important to have clear and documented expectations that people are aware of/can easily refer to.

I would like to help establish clear and documented assessment guidelines for my team/school that are aligned with IB philosophy.

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https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/raft

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RAFT is a writing strategy that helps students understand their roles as writers, the audience they will address, the varied formats for writing, and the topic they will be writing about. By using this strategy, teachers encourage students to write creatively, to consider a topic from a different pe…

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Lifelong learning
Inter and cultural diversity
Integrity
Globally - betterment of the world community.

Implementation
Cultural diversity
Festivities
Educreative experience through VCA in events.
Celebrating their learning
Pypx
Drives for cause
Passion project
Across classes and the world....

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I really enjoyed when you shared the unit planner with the example of the action. I was wondering if you could share some more real examples like this unit planner tomorrow. Its great seeing things in action in schools :)

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Connect - It has been nice meeting others and sharing about our schools, making those connections with one another. Understanding the struggles we may have/share and learning how other schools handle different programs or activities. I enjoyed the elevator pitch activity and hearing from the other educators.

Extend - Seeing the 4 areas that the IB now focuses on - purpose, learning, cultural, environment

Challenges - I'm curious to know how I take this back to my team and use this directly with my current role.

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-A few leaders in my teaching career
-China, Singapore
-When I joined IB and current
-How my voice was heard and respected
-the knowledge and expertise that my leaders shared with the team
-students at the centre of our learning and teaching and valued our PD and growth
- inspired to be a better educator and life-long learner

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Hello,
My name is Jessica Wallace and I'm the Grade 1 English Lead at the Canadian International School.

As a leader, I am a careful listener.

As a leader, I can lead by example.

As a leader, I believe everyone brings unique strengths to a team. You must harness, appreciate and grow these passions.

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https://blogs.ibo.org/sharingpyp/2020/06/02/what-does-pink-sound-like-a-collaboration-between-visual-art-and-music/

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This article is about a collaboration between music and visual art at IS Ruhr. The aim was to increase students' conceptual understanding of the arts by exploring and connecting elements used in visual art, music, and dance. In this process students' ATL skills and the IB learner profile were deepened.
After many conversations about the arts and our approaches to teaching, we, the music and art teacher at IS Ruhr, discovered a lot of overlaps in our fields and decided to collaborate.

The idea was to deepen a conceptual understanding of elements used in both art forms and their connection with each other, and in this transdisciplinary process achieve a new perception of the arts in general. These thoughts lead to the following central idea and lines of inquiry:
Central Idea
Connecting key elements in visual art and music transforms the way we perceive the arts.
Lines of Inquiry

Exploring the reciprocal influence of music and visual art

Using Elements of Art (EoA) and Principles of Design (PoD) in visual art analysis and Elements of Music (EoM) in music analysis

Connecting EoA/PoD with EoM

Creating and refining art based on new perspective

Key Concept
Perspective, connection, form, reflection
Related Concept
Self-expression (dance, play/improvise, draw/compose), exploration
A.T.L. skills
Thinking, communication, social
Learner Profile
Open-minded, communicator, balanced, thinker, knowledgeable, risk-taker, reflective
What and how students learned
Our main focus was to explore the way pieces of art are put together in our subject areas and to what extent components can be connected with each other. We followed the circle of inquiry collaboratively developed by the IS Ruhr PYP staff to structure students' learning:
Invite
Students observed pieces of music and paintings, and expressed their thoughts/ideas/feelings about them.
Explore
Students explored EoA, PoD, EoM, learned to use them in describing visual art/music, and made connections between them.
Create
Students created drawings and improvisations in the process of acquiring a deeper understanding of the way visual art/music is built.
Review
Students discussed and refined their drawings/improvisations.
Share
Students have started compiling evidence of their learning on a website.
Learning steps
Step 1 (invitation): Focus on Wassily Kandinsky's artwork
Questions (Provocations):
What do you see?

What do you hear?

What do you feel?
Selected student answers:
"I see moving lines.", "The red circle is humming.", "It feels like the shapes and lines are growing.", "It's like a foggy landscape. Blue is cold.", "It's a song!"

Students express their thoughts/ideas/feelings referring to the guiding questions, making connections to music (without prompting by the teacher).

straight lines = musical notation, strings from instruments, keys, tabs

curved lines = movements from conductor, of sound in space

interacting values = beats, expanding/fading sounds

repeating shapes and lines etc. = rhythm, dance
Step 2 (invitation):
Students listened to Arnold Schönberg's atonal Three Piano Pieces Op.11 and expressed their feelings and observations. They learned about the friendship between W. Kandinsky and A. Schönberg and how they influenced each other's art.
Step 3 (exploration/creation):
Kandinsky studied photographs of dancing poses, and invented new compositions, a line management capturing motion and expression of the dance.
Dynamic Pose (in Pairs)
Take pictures of each other dancing to your favourite music.

Transfer the digital image into an abstract drawing according to the examples below.
Step 4 (exploration/creation):Visualize a piece of music
Take your favourite tune (pop song, classical piece etc.) and create abstract lines and shapes to represent it. Think of rhythm and melody, instruments that appear, the way it makes you move etc. Use Kandinsky's paintings [01) & 02)] for inspiration. Combine this with the drawing of Step 3.

These abstract drawings were brought to the music room where students transformed them into sound.
Step 5 (exploration/creation): Read drawings like a score
Transform your own or your classmate's drawing into music by reading it like a score. Use an instrument of your choice and play together in a group. Describe the music you imagine before you play.

Questions: What kind of sounds do you imagine when looking at various EoA or PoD in the drawing? In what way would these elements/principles affect EoM used in your playing?

Selected Answers: Students made the following connections:

long lines = long, steady sounds (duration)

dots = short sounds (duration)

bright colours = high sounds (pitch)

dark colours = low sounds (pitch)

faded colours = quiet sounds (volume)

repetition of shapes = repetition of sounds (form)

a lot of squiggles = "chaotic" sounds (texture)

First students described the sounds in words and then improvised as a group.
Problem:
Even though students enjoyed playing together they were unhappy about the music not matching their imagination; probably due to a lack of communication in terms of when to play which element of the drawing.
Solution:
Play solos or duos: This alteration of the original task resulted in a musical outcome that was closer to their expectations.
Step 6 (creation/review)Improvise, influenced by the drawing
Work alone or with a partner. Choose a drawing. Look at the drawing for a minimum of 30 seconds silently. Then close your eyes for 10 seconds. After that play and listen attentively to the sounds you are making.

Focusing on a more sensual approach students were encouraged to absorb the drawing by looking at it without analysing it in a specific way and then listen to their own playing attentively. Students should move away from the idea of reading the drawing like a score and rather let the art itself do the work.
Students' response:
Students responded to this approach with enthusiasm and wanted to repeat the activity many times.
Step 7 (sharing):
Collaboratively create a website (with the help of the music teacher and art teacher) with recordings, images, photos of your drawings, comments and verbal explanations.

At this point our collaboration is not completed, but we are excited to see where it will take us.
Possible next steps:

Share the website with a selected community (e.g. parents, other classes) and receive feedback.

Perform improvisations and exhibit drawings as a school event.

Explore the topic further with visits to museums, installations or concerts.

Reflections and Outlook
We enjoyed the transdisciplinary aspect of our collaboration and believe that our enthusiasm as teachers and artists had a positive impact. We accompanied our students' learning with our own desire to acquire more knowledge about our colleague's art form. We are still in the process of this inquiry and have a lot of ideas where it could lead. But we wouldn't be part of the PYP if we weren't prepared for the unexpected.

References and sources:

1. line, color, shape/form, space, value, texture: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-are-the-elements-of-art-182704

2. movement, rhythm, variety, composition, balance, unity, pattern, emphasis, proportion, contrast: https://artclasscurator.com/principles-of-design-examples/

3. pitch, timbre, texture, volume, duration, form, spacial location: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elements_of_music

4. https://interlude.hk/music-art-schoenberg-kandinsky/

5. To the right: drawing by Noyan (ISRuhr, Grade 4)

6. Image 3 - Wassily Kandinsky, "Dance Curves: On the Dances of Palucca" (1926) Dancer and choreographer Gret Palucca (1902-1993)

Karin Schistek studied the piano and pedagogy at the University "Mozarteum" in Salzburg and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. She has been an active pianist and teaching music for over 20 years in Austria, Scotland, and Germany. Since 2017 she is the music teacher at IS Ruhr in Essen.
Daniel Niemann teaches visual art and is CAS coordinator at IS Ruhr. He studied visual art education and art therapy at Dortmund University. Apart from artistic activity he worked at different art museums, for arts festivals and has been teaching art for 20 years.

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What does pink sound like? A collaboration between visual art and music

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This article is about a collaboration between music and visual art at IS Ruhr. The aim was to increase students' conceptual understanding of the arts by exploring and connecting elements used in visual art, music, and dance. In this process students' ATL skills and the IB learner profile were deepened.

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https://www.inspiringinquiry.com/the-learner/pyp-overview/learner-profile

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Who and what are under your control
-My class
-My team of 5 teachers and their students

Who and what are under your influence?
-Fellow grade level leads
-Coordinators
-Parents of my class
-Teaching assistants (IA's)
-VP's
-Specialist teachers

What is something beyond my control
-Level 4 senior admin
-Elementary principal

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I'd really like to to looking into creating better assessments and adjusting our assessment criteria using SOLO Taxonomy.

I think this will help give my team a clearer understanding of our teaching goals as well as help us better moderate expectations to be on the same page.

My next step is to discuss/share this idea with my team and coordinator and look at how we could start with this for our last units this year.

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Lead the learning:-
1. strategies to be planned well.
2. Empathy and compassionate created classroom.
3. To lead the learning is about setting up goals co consttructivrly.

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Leaning organisation encourages and facilitates continual learning so that it can adapt and transform itself not only to survive but to excel in rapidly changing

environments.

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As a school leader, I aim to
- Create a positive school culture that values learning, diversity, and inclusivity
- Build the capacity of myself, my leadership team, colleagues, students and parents
- Enable learning so that the focus is on helping learners learn

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Think With: I really connected with the ways our group shared to develop compassionate life-long learners. I enjoyed the opportunity to share in the 'rotating circles'

Think about: Communication and how we collaborate not only in our team but vertically. This is not only important for teachers but our students too.

Think Beyond: Intentionally thinking about my sphere of control. This was really powerful for me, especially when I'm in such a big school.

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https://alisonyang.com/grasps-assessment-design-and-student-metacognition/

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The WHY of GRASPS assessment design

GRASPS is a model advocated for by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe to guide teachers in designing authentic performance-based assessment. It's a form of assessment that engages learners to employ their thinking skills and demonstrate application of essential knowledge, conceptual understanding, and skills acquired throughout a unit of learning.

Wiggins defined authentic assessment as "...Engaging and worthy problems or questions of importance, in which students must use knowledge to fashion performances effectively and creatively. The tasks are either replica of or analogous to the kinds of problems faced by adult citizens and consumers or professionals in the field." (1993, qtd. by Jon Mueller).

The main takeaway for me is that teachers can use the GRASPS assessment model to:

engage students through contextualized learning;

provide simulations of real-world situations or challenges that adults might encounter;

create opportunities for students to practice transfer of learning;

foster curiosity and building experiences of students;

develop project management skills of students.

The WHAT of GRASPS assessment model

To help educators construct authentic assessment, Wiggins and McTighe's came up with GRASPS model. GRASPS is an acronym for teachers to:

Goal: establish the challenge, issue or problem to solve;

Role: give students a role that they might be taking in a familiar real-life situation;

Audience: identify the target audience whom students are solving the problem for or creating the product for;

Situation: create the scenario or explain the context of the situation;

Product/Performance and Purpose: paint a clear picture of the WHAT and of the product creation or the performance;

Standards & Criteria for Success: inform students how their work will be assessed by the assumed audience.

Is the GRASPS assessment model misunderstood?​

A set of sentence stems has been provided to help teachers construct a performance task and often is introduced in IB workshops. It might be because limited time was allotted for teachers to explore thoroughly the designing principles of using the GRASPS assessment model; therefore, the summative task is sometimes described in the format of a GRASPS performance task but fails to illustrate an actual real-world problem or issue that can inspire students to take authentic or simulated action on.

An example might be:

Goal: Your goal is to write a short story.

Role: You are a middle school student.

Audience: Your target audience is your teacher, and students and parents in our school community.

Situation: You have been asked by your school community to write a short story. (This section is sometimes omitted by teachers as a clear situation is not identified.)

Product/Performance and Purpose: write a 800 word short story to entertain others.

Standards & Criteria for Success: You will be assessed against criteria B, C and D.​

It might look good at first by framing the assessment through GRASPS model, but it's like déjà vu all over again. It is definitely a step-up when teachers begin to use this model when creating a summative assessment task. However, this is still very much like a traditional assessment task. First of all, the range of the target audience is too big. The way an author writes to entertain young children, teens, or adults is very different. The situation described above is unlikely to happen as it is vague and more details are needed.

Another issue that needs to be addressed is that MYP teachers often inform students that they will be assessed against criteria B, C, and D. But what do criteria B, C and D mean? If we want students to organize, produce text, and use language (MYP Language and Literature criteria BCD), wouldn't it be more effective for teachers to clearly specify the criteria and engage students in understanding the assessment objectives and strands? We can't expect students to develop assessment capabilities without explicitly involving them in developing assessment literacy.

Develop student metacognition through GRASPS

In my humble opinion, through the use of the GRASPS assessment model, we can also create opportunities for students to develop their metacognition. In order to create a product or solve a problem effectively and efficiently, students first need to clarify the task, identify their strengths and weakness, set appropriate, challenging goals, analyze the context, chunk the big task into small subtasks within the timeline, seek feedback for improvement, and self-evaluate their work against the success criteria before the final submission. During the process of product creation, teachers provide both explicit and implicit feedback and guide students to monitor their progress. Frequent check-ins are essential. It should never be the case that teachers give students a big project and only find out that students have not addressed a requirement one or two days before the due date.

Refocus GRASPS implementation

Teachers and students can both benefit from the use of the GRASPS assessment model. In this poster design, I refocused the use of the GRASPS assessment model and created essential questions respectively to guide teachers in designing the GRASPS authentic assessment, and students in developing their metacognition through conducting the GRASPS assessment.

As mentioned previously, teachers do not always set up a clear situation for the assessment task. In the MYP framework, when illustrating the situation or creating the scenario for the task, teachers can refer back to the MYP global context exploration predetermined. It is also through the careful design of the scenario or situation, students can be challenged to think about intercultural communication and thus develop international-mindedness.

This poster can be downloaded as a PDF file by simply clicking on the image below.

Reference

Mueller, Jon. "What Is Authentic Assessment?" Authentic Assessment Toolbox, jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/whatisit.htm#definitions.
Spencer, John. "Five Structures for Helping Students Learn Project Management." John Spencer, 20 Aug. 2019, www.spencerauthor.com/project-management/.Quigley , Alex, et al. "Metacognition and Self-Regulated Learning." Education Endowment Foundation, (Education Endowment Foundation), 27 Apr. 2018, educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/tools/guidance-reports/metacognition-and-self-regulated-learning/.
​基于整体表现的GRASPS评估设计与学生元认知

如果希望閱讀本篇文章的中文版，請拜訪 www.sohu.com/a/403764639_120362876
​謝謝IB教學研的翻譯。

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GRASPS Assessment Design and Student Metacognition - alisonyang.com

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Help students develop assessment capabilities by explicitly developing students' assessment literacy through the GRASPS assessment model.

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Inspiring students to create their unique future academically, socially and as ecologically literate citizens in our culturally diverse world.

Core values - Compassion, Ingenuity, Courage

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What would professional and system learning opportunities look like for a grade level leader?

What are some specific strategies/real life examples I could use as a grade level lead to help move my team towards creating more engaging student learning opportunities?

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3 Good Things
-We have an open acceptance policy
-We make it clear what we can support in terms of support
-Even tho its a rolling admissions we have a 'welcome Wednesday' which supports teachers.

Further development
-Cultural mix that is more than nationality on passport.
-Are they trained to make a judgement on academic and social ability
-VP's and principals need to have more an involvement.

Suggest improvement
-Confidential Recent teacher reference.

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Connect: It is a good reminder that while leadership can be a matter an individualistic style, that there are some common fundamentals of good leadership skills.

Extend: The 7 leadership intelligences. That was something new to me.

Challenges:  (1) I am still trying the follow the train of thoughts for this workshop. (2) I wonder how and question if we can truly make any positive changes in our schools, considering we (individually) are just a small part of the school; hence, my question about whether it would more beneficial if this workshop is done for all the leaders within the same school.

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https://blogs.ibo.org/sharingpyp/2018/05/22/managing-meetings-as-a-coordinator-and-school-leader/

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This article shares some strategies about managing meetings with a team of middle leaders, to help facilitate collaboration and save time.
Staff meeting time. The team all get together in one room. Teachers, assistant teachers, leadership, all sitting looking at the front of the room. Devices are powered on and logged in, ready to discuss the agenda for the next hour. Every school I have been in feels that staff meetings are an important part of a teacher's week, yet staff meetings can often leave teachers feeling like they survived another session that should have been an email.

As well as being a PYP coordinator, I am also an aspiring entrepreneur (that is, I have lots of ideas, just not the time or finance to make them real yet). I love reading about the business world, about start-ups that succeed and that fail, looking to learn what I can about their successes and how I can apply it to the world of education.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, has a "two pizza rule" for meetings. Never have a meeting where two pizzas could not feed the entire group. Elon Musk, entrepreneur and businessman, questions anyone in a meeting who does not contribute to the discussion.

I love these ideas. They remind me of how we operate in a classroom - get to the point, share an objective, ask questions with one another, devise a strategy to solve the problem or investigate further, but as far as I have seen, we as teachers do not work like that. We take comfort from our one-hour staff meeting which allows everyone to listen to everyone else, and by the end of the hour there has collectively been a small number of ideas contributed, often with nothing meaningful being done at the end of it.

As PYP coordinator, I am responsible for running meetings with our middle leadership team: the year group leaders, our house coordinator and our head of learning support. I have tried a number of strategies with the team to try to make things work as well as they can, so that they can do their jobs in the best way that works for the whole school.

First, we looked at how we work. Over a term, we tried out Trello, Slack, Google Hangouts, Boomerang for Gmail, all kinds of efficiency tools that we have played with to find what works for us. As with anything, there are differing opinions on what is most effective but we have found that Trello is ideal for creating agendas and updating members on progress. We have also settled on a Google Hangout group, which acts as a quick space to ask questions or to semi-seriously complain about things. This is important; we have found the grumblings of middle leadership can be the symptoms of much bigger issues that need to be raised with whole school leadership or can be quick fixes for the team to address.

With regards to our middle leadership meetings, we introduced four rules.
Rule 1. The meeting starts and ends on time. If you are late then you are not coming in.
We have this rule to make sure we do not waste what time is available.
Rule 2. You do not attend without having read through Trello, responding where appropriate, so you understand the agenda and have considered the talking points.
We start with everyone up to speed on the topic, and having contributed ideas and information before the meeting.
Rule 3. We have prioritized items with colour labels. Use and respond to them appropriately.
One colour for things that are just for your information - things that could just as easily be put in an email but they sound better coming from an actual person, so the meaning is not lost. Another colour for things that you are seeking an answer to. Anyone can tag questions they would like to ask and people can come with answers or at least part of answers, ready to the meeting. Another colour again for things that we want to discuss. This could be new initiatives, ideas for curriculum development, house events etc.
Rule 4. If you have read Trello and do not feel you have anything worthwhile to add, you do not have to come to the meeting.
Our teachers can decide if they wish to attend a meeting. They can read the notes on Trello after the meeting, so they are up to speed.

I am not saying it is a perfect system, but it is helping with teacher agency, enabling us to work faster and better together, and achieve more in the little snippets of collaborative time we have. We have used these rules in conjunction with the IB learner profile to improve our meeting etiquette and make sure everyone gets the most out of our meetings. Our teachers have commented that it kept meetings tight, it helped quieter members of our team, who might not speak up in a meeting, to add comments via the agenda, and it gave them freedom to work in a way that best suits their needs.
David Bremner is the PYP Coordinator at New Cairo British International School and a member of the Primary Leadership Team. He leads the primary school's Middle Leadership Team, sharing vision and ideas as well as giving them projects to work in. You can follow him on Twitter @MinotaurDave.

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Managing meetings as a coordinator and school leader

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This article shares some strategies about managing meetings with a team of middle leaders, to help facilitate collaboration and save time. Staff meeting time. The team all get together in one room. Teachers, assistant teachers, leadership, all sitting looking at the front of the room.

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There have been many who have influenced but when I came across reading a variety of books, I found David Kolb's the strategist, which not only talks about abstract designing but also focuses on the learning cycle.

Well in terms of geography, I love to travel and I feel when you meet people from around the world, you are adapting different styles of leadership that may aid you in the near future.

Own sphere connects with the time of life for me as and when you reflect and jot down all your SWOTS and analyze the same with time, I guess you polish yourself from what you were.

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Who?
- Singaporean
- Bilingual Educator at Canadian International School Singapore
- School Leader for 10 years (Head of School, VP, Curriculum Coordinator) for K to 6
- IBEN PYP Asia Pacific for 15 years
- L-Plate Father of 2 young sons

As a leader, I believe ...
- Quality education is the best gift we provide every child
- Future-readiness/Global competencies/Cultural sensitivity/Self-Awareness/Active citizenship/Service leadership
- It takes a village to raise a child
- Focus should learning

As a leader, I am
- a people-person
- a team player
- shared leadership

As a leader, I can
- effect change through a shared vision
- ensure accountability
- get my hands dirty
- be humourous

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Learning in the PYP goes beyond the boundaries of traditional subjects and uses knowledge, conceptual understanding, skills, dispositions and actions to help students explore the relationships between disciplines ( From Principles into Practice).

Transdisciplinary learning is at the heart of the programme! As an IB PYP team leader and consultant, my goal is to find ways to make these relationships between disciplines stand out. While PYP schools focus a lot on transgressing the boundaries of academic subjects, most of us still organize our days using fixed compartments for our disciplines. Today, I would like to share with you my perspective on timetables, the most rigid component of the school since its inception.

I have seen schools struggle to find a balance between fixed timetables and inquiry-based learning. Since constructivism and inquiry underpin all the IB programmes, everything we do in our schools, including extra-curricular activities and school events, keeps these at the centre. Everything, except for our timetables! Often, schools schedule a specific time in their planners for 'inquiry sessions', 'Unit of Inquiry time' or 'PYP sessions', but aren't students engaging in inquiry and PYP practices, all day, every day? I believe that we need to think of a way to find ways to make our days more 'fluid'. My goal for this blog is to push your thinking and help you re-image timetables.

This is an example of a traditional weekly planner. In this timetable, we see a balance between subjects, there is enough time allotted for in-depth inquiry, as well as specific time for collaborative planning by teachers. On any given day, this timetable meets the IB PYP requirement by ensuring a balance between disciplines and has adequate time for inquiry. This team has also scheduled time for students to work on their passion projects during 'My Time', which provides yet another space for student inquiry and action.

Now let's imagine a specific day in this school. On Monday, a student spends their day as follows:

I'm now going to reimagine this timetable to make it conceptual. As a teaching team, we could identify conceptual understanding and dive into specific teacher and student questions every day. Using conceptual questions will help make learning truly transdisciplinary and will allow for in-depth inquiry, throughout the day! While planning on Toddle, teachers can map learning goals, key questions and learning experiences from their unit and single-subject planners to their weekly schedules. This allows teaching teams to keep conceptual questions in mind while planning their units and learning experiences.

So Monday could look something like this:

Let's take this even further! What if we created mixed-aged classrooms and found ways to make learning personalized? What if we added optional subjects and gave students voice and choice from a younger age to choose these subjects based on interest?

Toddle classroom gives teachers the agency to differentiate learning and make it meaningful for each student. Teachers can assign learning experiences to specific students and can also assign the same task to students across classrooms.

Time to Act

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed educators across the globe to be creative and come up with innovative ways to make the PYP happen. Whether in virtual, hybrid, or in-person classrooms, education does not look the same anywhere. The current situation has, therefore, provided us with creative opportunities like never before. This is the perfect time for us to work with our learning community and engage parents, students and teachers in this exercise to re-image our school day. Think about the need for inquiry, opportunities at home, the balance between synchronous and asynchronous learning and what your school day could look like. So, how would you re-imagine your timetable?

The Power of Collaboration

It takes true collaboration to make inquiry rich transdisciplinary learning come alive in a school. Intentional collaboration brings teachers within and beyond grade-level teams together to foster learning that can surpass the boundaries of Programmes of Inquiry. As your one-stop solution for all your PYP teaching and learning needs, Toddle strives to provide you with tools that supercharge collaboration in your schools. On Toddle, you can collaboratively build your Programme of Inquiry, yearly plans, unit plans, and weekly plans- all in real-time, no matter where you are! Want to learn how? Schedule your personalized walkthrough today!

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Revamping PYP Timetables for Transdisciplinary Days

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Discover how you can make your timetables truly transdisciplinary with a focus on conceptual learning.

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https://blogs.ibo.org/sharingpyp/2018/03/27/fostering-learner-profile-attributes-through-collaborative-planning/

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"I was caring because I took a two-year old to his classroom when he was in our play area. He could have had an accident," said one of my kindergarteners during circle time. It was the beginning of an interesting and spontaneous conversation about applying the IB learner profile attributes. The students were motivated to share more examples and eager to learn from each other. While listening to them, I reflected on how easy it is for children to understand and develop some attributes and how many concrete and explicit examples they need to understand others. That is the case of the attribute balanced.

The IB offers the following definition for the attribute balanced: "We understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional balance to achieve personal well-being for themselves and others." ( IB learner profile, 2013)

What opportunities can we create for learners to see an attribute, to feel it and live it? How can they contribute in the learning and teaching of attribute balance? How can we intrinsically motivate students to develop an attribute so that they can make it their own?

These are questions that opened a reflection on the importance of developing a more student-centred learning environment. Through teacher collaborative planning, we reflected on how to set up meaningful learning opportunities where inquiry can also include learner profile attributes. However, it was our observations and engaging in student's interactions that gave us important insights on the matter: What if they joined our collaborative planning every week? It would be an opportunity to see how balanced their suggested activities would be.

During our circle time on Thursday, we told the students we needed their help with activities for the next day. They were surprised and wondered if they could do any activity they could think of; we told them that they just needed to take into account our unit of inquiry ( How people interact and care for the natural environment). The students talked to their partners, brainstormed ideas together and then shared them with the whole class. It was an active and interesting discussion where the students explained to each other how fun their ideas would be. After listening to their exchange of ideas, it was time to make one list with the whole class:

paint on a big poster board

make paper flowers

make jungle leaf garlands

play "musical chairs"

dance

write on walls

make posters and write "do not throw rubbish on the floor."

make a cake

We noticed how intertwined their ideas and the central idea were. We acknowledged their collaboration and started sorting out their suggestions by using a graphic organizer. The web map helped them to see a variety of activities such as writing, art and recreation that can contribute to their understanding of being balanced. Through the activities, they were not only nourishing their minds but also their hearts. They noticed writing activities did not necessarily involve pencil and paper for them to learn to write; that art is not only about painting but also about making crafts and dancing. They were aware of how collective and individual activities could also be enjoyable.

The next thing we did was to brainstorm the resources we were going to need for each activity. While completing the list of resources, some learners proposed having the Friday class outdoors. They called it Fun Friday and when it arrived, students freely visited the areas and engaged in their suggested activities. That first Fun Friday gave the students the opportunity to have their voices heard through direct and active participation. In addition, it helped them to be aware of how keeping a balance of activities could strengthen their well-being, learning and growth. Furthermore, it gave us, the teachers, the opportunity to trust learners' choices and help them to nurture their understanding of the learner profile attributes needed for building intrinsic motivation.

Many Fun Fridays have followed that day and every Thursday learners remind us to plan for it. Since then, they have developed positive attitudes towards learning activities, shared their points of view confidently, and supported balanced activities when choosing from a myriad of options. Now, students can confidently share examples of being balanced because they have experienced and enjoyed it.

Reference:

IB learner profile: http://www.ibo.org/globalassets/publications/recognition/learnerprofile-en.pdf
Rossana Quiroz is currently teaching kindergarten at Fleming College in Trujillo Peru. She is passionate about providing opportunities for children to develop their innate curiosity and enjoy learning. She previously taught ESL in language centers and charter schools in the USA. She holds a TESOL certificate and a MA in Linguistics. She believes teachers should be lifelong learners, too, that show their students the way to make their goals come true.

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Fostering learner profile attributes through collaborative planning

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"I was caring because I took a two-year old to his classroom when he was in our play area. He could have had an accident," said one of my kindergarteners during circle time. It was the beginning of an interesting and spontaneous conversation about applying the IB learner profile attributes.