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Learning Diversity and Inclusion in IB Programmes

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Learning Diversity and Inclusion in IB Programmes

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Learning Diversity and Inclusion in IB Programmes

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-I challenge students to be thinkers, reflective, and knowledgeable (at the MYP level).
-I do not offer a traditional PE program (pull out balls to play, run laps, glorified recess), but rather a program with thought and intentionality, linking with PYP and MYP programmes.

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-I can do a better job at challenging students to be risk takers, rather than doing things the way they should be done.
-I can do a better job at being open minded to change and not getting stuck in the mentality of doing things the way they have always been done.

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-I desire to serve all students, both in the PYP and MYP each day by being able to give them my best effort and a physical education that will inspire them to be a lifelong learner.

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-I teach 7 classes per day (117 students), both in the PYP and MYP, while in my first year of teaching; to say I am exhausted is an understatement.
-I desire to educate students in a way that is catering to all students, regardless of their mental, emotional, and physical abilities.

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I believe we teach to engage and build the child in every way at the PYP level. We are here to cater to the differences by meeting students where they are and to promote their achievements. The PYP programme is best practice, put into action, for all students. With every inquiry and every opportunity to take the next step toward independence students become life-long learners.

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My science classroom is designed with constructivist and inquiry based activities in mind. I allow my students to express their creativity when demonstrating their science knowledge. I establish opportunities for students to connect with their strengths in interests by providing choice in summative assessments.

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I can grow in areas of formative assessments-particularly lab stations. Many labs are designed with the traditional thinking of the scientific method for all to follow. I need to consider how can I scaffold these experiences more completely for students.

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I currently teach 6 classes and three disciplines of science: Earth, Life & Physical. While I have experiences teaching all 3, at a new school I have to spend a significant part of my planning adjust plans and then grading for meaningful feedback.
I also teach science but not in a science lab. I have to reach out to the lower and upper school for supplies since I do not have storage in the middle school, and have to wait certain days to do labs so that my students have the appropriate space.

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It not only is my responsibility, but my passion to create meaningful learning opportunities for students. This reflection allows me to consider how I can incorporate more inclusive strategies into my instruction.

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I believe that I challenge students to think beyond what they are doing in class and to see how it applies to the larger community. I try to continually ask why something is the way it is or how it relates to another concept or situation. I also believe that I help students view math in a variety of ways - that one can get to the answer in more than one way...as long as it is authentic.

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I can definitely grow in the area of thinking outside the box in terms of assessments. Devising strong assessment s9Formative an summative) that actually assess what I want and are not strictly formula based is the hardest.

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As an administrator, I want to help teachers in a variety of subject areas develop rubrics that adequately reflect what is being taught and that continue to challenge the students to grow. Knowing what to ask teachers to help them clarify what they want assessed is hard - as is finding the tie to have those meaningful conversations.

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I really want teachers to love what they do and find joy in their classrooms. And although it can be a lot of work, creating an atmosphere that allows for students growth can help produce that joy. I also strongly believe whole heartedly that every student has the capacity to learn. It is my goal to learn and discover a way to help him or her find that learning success - and love to learn!

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I try to teach empathy and open mindedness as much as possible. I like for students to think outside the box and acquire a multicultural mindset to gain knowledge of their own cultural practices, values, and beliefs ,

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My goal is to create a fun environment for students  to learn and appreciate different a language through culture, traditions and values

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I can do a better job managing the time I spend on adjusting, reinventing and/or adding content to a previously created lesson

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Strengths-I believe that I seek to include all learners and truly believe each learner is unique and an asset to the group in the understanding that they can provide; I try to make them comfortable to share this and to provide opportunities for via teaching and learning for their growth, sharing, and development.

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Weaknesses-When it comes to concrete and varied strategies, I would like to continue to develop my toolbox as I, especially lately, have felt I am relying a bit too much on old tricks and not continuing to diversify my skillset as an inclusive educator and practitioner.

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Threats-While I recognize the value and importance of implementing more learning experiences and teaching strategies for increasing student access, inclusion, and achievement, the time available for planning these and the shared community experience that might come from making this a future focus for the year are currently lacking.

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Opportunities-Many teachers have been trained in UDL and are implementing its practices in content, process, and product; if we could provide opportunities for sharing and/or pairing/grouping with other teachers for exchange and planning, we could begin to develop our institutional competency in delivering a more inclusive education for all students.

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As a Special Educator it is my job and belief that all students be included and valued for their strengths. I promote and encourage teachers to remove barriers that make it difficult for students to learn. I write Learning Support Plans that provide teachers with some of the ways to remove barriers for individual learners and collaborate with teachers who may need ideas on additional ways to differentiate their lessons and assessments and provide better access to learning for students with learning differences.

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One of my weaknesses include lack of knowledge on the many technological resources available that can help remove the many barriers that students face in education. Another weakness of mine is balancing the high expectations of critical thinking, problem solving, self directed learning and the overall challenging program of IB while still helping my students with learning differences feel successful. These skills are difficult for many students with special needs.

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The biggest obstacle for many educators is time. It is hard to find the time for collaboration, professional development, and learning about the many technological resources available for students. Money is also an obstacle. Professional development and resources needed to provide optimal learning environments can be costly and not always available. Commitment by the school community on the Inclusion of all students in the classroom and removing the many barriers to make it successful for all.

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My goal as a special educator is to continue to help other teachers remove barriers through differentiation of lessons so that all learners are being exposed to teaching and learning that reaches them as individuals. I want to do what I can to help our classroom teachers create learning opportunities that enable every student to feel success in meeting their personal learning goals. I want to become more familiar with the many technology resources available to educators and begin using them to help any student with barriers to learning.

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I think educators lack time in the school day, when pulled in many (sometimes unexpected) directions, to get everything done. Some things getting lost in the shuffle or skimming the surface is necessary move forward because of timelines. Sometimes I think we try to do too much with too little time.

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I think we have the opportunity to help one another within the school because we are blessed with very talented educators. We must reach out and make it a priority to seek knowledge from many whose life's work has been in the realm of helping include and diversify learning for every student.

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I think that because teachers are so busy trying to get students from point A to point B we lack the intentionality it takes to make inclusion and diversity a priority. It involves effort and dedication and that doesn't happen when "we keep doing what we've been doing."

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The strengths of the inclusion and diversity in IB policy document starts with the list of barriers to inclusion. I felt this was a great starting point in that it looks at the structure of the school, the culture that permeates the school and how those policies or underlying structures can really hinder the inclusion process. If structures put into place are inflexible, or if teachers do no see themselves as teachers of all students, including those with learning differences it can stop inclusion from happening. I also thought the list of ways to create optimal learning environments for all learners was really helpful, again to have those maybe hidden barriers to inclusion removed.

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The weaknesses in the document is that it is very idealistic, such the individual learning plans. In a perfect world with more resources available to us, I know it would beneficial to create plans like these for our students with learning differences, I just don't think it is practical. We do create learning plans for students, and it is individualized to a point, but not with the detail listed, and with the follow up needed to keep these plans up to date.

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I certainly agree with many people above that time is the greatest threat to a meaningful and well executed inclusionary practices. With so much on our already full plates, I know that many teachers, and administrators feel stretched to do what is required of them and just don't have the time to design and collaborate with others the way we know we should. Maybe because we are such a small institution, sometimes this feels like more of an issue for us, as the amount of work and tasks we have to do seems multiplied. The work load is very nearly the same if you have 15 students or 30, and we are expected to wear multiple hats because we only teach the 15, which of course makes inclusion difficult.

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We do have a great opportunity to grow and make inclusion the priority. Our new structure, as far as learner variability and how we work to meet the needs of more learners, I believe is a good start toward this goal. Many of our barriers, as outlined in the document have been removed with this new push in/ limited pull out model we have instituted.

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Strengths for inclusion: Create a safe and respectful atmosphere for learning; Create opportunities where students can contribute their own thoughts and perspectives on content and issues; attempt to infuse creative and artistic elements into learning tasks to increase the approachability of scientific content.

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Weaknesses for inclusion: Although I offer different types of formative and summative assessments within a unit or semester (i.e. labs, projects, etc), I struggle with creating different formative/summative assessments for selection by the student. Whether for ease of planning/grading or concern that one is more/less rigorous than another, I find this difficult to do and evaluate.

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Threats to inclusion: difficult to plan for and evaluate a variety of different assessments for selection by the student.  There certainly is no time during the school day and when the summer rolls around I feel like I'm either planning new courses or catching up on life's work that was put on hold during the school year.  I guess time is always a factor and I need to learn to manage it better.  The way I've tried to get around it is by using other teachers' resources on Teachers Pay Teachers, but I've spent a small fortune of personal funds doing that.

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Opportunities for inclusion: To get around the time issue, I'll continue to seek out and use teaching resources that are already available because I do love it when I see the kids picking and choosing based on interest and levels of difficulty. It is clear they enjoy that too. I'm challenged to help them select tasks that require they "grow" or stretch themselves as a learner.

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Strengths; I believe that I create a safe and respectful environment. I also celebrate student learning, creative problem solving, and diverse opinions.

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I could do a better job reflecting at the end of the unit and making adjustments prior to teaching it again that would better support inclusion and diversity.

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I think the major threat for all teachers is time.

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I think that students present an interesting opportunity for growth in all areas. I often have my students reflect on various aspects of our units/lesson activities. I have found that students are the untapped resource in crafting purposeful and meaningful experiences.