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Reflection #1

Heyo!  I am Wes Staton, currently teaching at Colegio Alberto Einstein in Quito, Ecuador.  I relocated here last June with my wife and two children, ages 9 and 6.  My wife and I were volunteers in the U.S. Peace Corps in Peru between 2007-2009, so it is nice to be back in the northern Andes!

A unique situation about my IB experience here is that I am the sole Language and Literature teacher for 9EGB all the way through 3BGU - so I stay fairly busy with planning. Also, we are a secular Jewish school in a very Catholic country, so our students have varying belief systems and cultures.

Speaking of different cultures and belief systems, I think it will be fairly easy for a group of literature teachers to find a common ground, and create what Module 1 refers to as a CoP

That being said, the most pressing question I have about the program itself pertains to the assessments; what papers work best with which corresponding parts of the course?

That is actually a direct lead in to my 3 pressing questions:
1. What papers work best with what parts of the course?
2. My new question is about the learner profile - Has this been implemented in other places and how effective was it?
3. This is not a question, but more of a comment - looking forward to the interchange of ideas with other IB educators to gain different different prespectives and ideas.

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Reflection #1

Heyo!  I am Wes Staton, currently teaching at Colegio Alberto Einstein in Quito, Ecuador.  I relocated here last June with my wife and two children, ages 9 and 6.  My wife and I were volunteers in the U.S. Peace Corps in Peru between 2007-2009, so it is nice to be back in the northern Andes!

A unique situation about my IB experience here is that I am the sole Language and Literature teacher for 9EGB all the way through 3BGU - so I stay fairly busy with planning. Also, we are a secular Jewish school in a very Catholic country, so our students have varying belief systems and cultures.

Speaking of different cultures and belief systems, I think it will be fairly easy for a group of literature teachers to find a common ground, and create what Module 1 refers to as a CoP

That being said, the most pressing question I have about the program itself pertains to the assessments; what papers work best with which corresponding parts of the course?

That is actually a direct lead in to my 3 pressing questions:
1. What papers work best with what parts of the course?
2. My new question is about the learner profile - Has this been implemented in other places and how effective was it?
3. This is not a question, but more of a comment - looking forward to the interchange of ideas with other IB educators to gain different different prespectives and ideas.

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Textual Analysis of IB Documents:

The first ideological bias that exists is the assumption that through intercultural understanding and respect creates a more harmonious environment.  I agree with the sentiment, but I grew up in North Dakota (very conservative), and I cannot say a lot of my old neighbors would. The other ideological bias which pops out is the thought that we the students will understand others, with a different opinion, can be “right.”  This assumes 1) the student believes themself to be correct and 2) Everyone can be “right.”
The dominant reading of the text would provide that the IB learner is going to save the world, possibly by next Tuesday.  It assumes that all learners possess several, if not all, of the listed positive traits.  It assumes that all students are aware of their own cultural identity while simultaneously aware of other cultures they may be operating in, and further, are sensitive to the differences. It also claims they have zero to little bias in their evaluation of others.  The oppositional reading of the text could point out that no program could be so complete as to create a learner as well rounded as this one, at such a young age.
The tone created in the aims and assessment objectives is neutral while being direct and simultaneously objective. This tone was created by repetition of the words “develop” and “communicate,” throughout the document, as well as the use of Bloom's taxonomy words such as “know,” “understand” “analyze,” “evaluate” and “communicate.”  The tone, was created to develop an enviroment of positivity, and higher level critical thinking.
Some words within the IB Standards and Practices which have highly charged connotations are: celebrate, interplay, constructivism, and democratic.  The effect on the reader is to understand the goal of the IB, in practice, is to celebrate the acquisition and communication of new knowledge in a democratic setting.
Some of the words and phrases from the CAS experiences and projects text which demonstrate the ideological perspective of the program are: create, develop, plan, connections.  Through creating, developing, and implementing a plan, clear connections should be formed through the service action and the development of an empathetic individual.

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Textual Analysis of IB Documents:

The first ideological bias that exists is the assumption that through intercultural understanding and respect creates a more harmonious environment.  I agree with the sentiment, but I grew up in North Dakota (very conservative), and I cannot say a lot of my old neighbors would. The other ideological bias which pops out is the thought that we the students will understand others, with a different opinion, can be “right.”  This assumes 1) the student believes themself to be correct and 2) Everyone can be “right.”
The dominant reading of the text would provide that the IB learner is going to save the world, possibly by next Tuesday.  It assumes that all learners possess several, if not all, of the listed positive traits.  It assumes that all students are aware of their own cultural identity while simultaneously aware of other cultures they may be operating in, and further, are sensitive to the differences. It also claims they have zero to little bias in their evaluation of others.  The oppositional reading of the text could point out that no program could be so complete as to create a learner as well rounded as this one, at such a young age.
The tone created in the aims and assessment objectives is neutral while being direct and simultaneously objective. This tone was created by repetition of the words “develop” and “communicate,” throughout the document, as well as the use of Bloom's taxonomy words such as “know,” “understand” “analyze,” “evaluate” and “communicate.”  The tone, was created to develop an enviroment of positivity, and higher level critical thinking.
Some words within the IB Standards and Practices which have highly charged connotations are: celebrate, interplay, constructivism, and democratic.  The effect on the reader is to understand the goal of the IB, in practice, is to celebrate the acquisition and communication of new knowledge in a democratic setting.
Some of the words and phrases from the CAS experiences and projects text which demonstrate the ideological perspective of the program are: create, develop, plan, connections.  Through creating, developing, and implementing a plan, clear connections should be formed through the service action and the development of an empathetic individual.

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Sorting the Five Approaches to Learning

The following is how I prioritize the five approaches to learning:

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Sorting the Five Approaches to Learning

The following is how I prioritize the five approaches to learning:

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1. Social/Communication Skills - I combined these as I feel, and as pointed out by the text itself, these two are closely related.  I prioritize this specifically because of the different opinions students can have about the same text - and learning to voice your opinion while disagreeing (or agreeing) with another respectfully is a crucial skill to learn.

3. Thinking skills - Making connections between concepts is required before being able to do research on a concept/idea.

4.  Self management - Students need to be organized before they are able to do research.

5.  Research - Very important for their academic careers to be able to research effectively, but without the first four skills, research becomes a moot point.

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The following is how I prioritize the approaches to teaching:
1. Teaching developed in local and global context - Students' favorite subject is, themselves.  By making sure the work we are doing can be connected to their daily lives is a good way to promote intrinsic motivation.

2. Teaching focused on conceptual understanding - Going back to the developing student trying to figure out how they fit into the world at large, I believe concepts of identity and culture which characters are trying to solve the same questions about fitting in that students have make the information relevant.
3. Teaching based on inquiry - I feel learning through inquiry allows the students to engage on a critical level of thinking with the material being studied.  One of my favorite tools for connections to literature is historical role plays, forcing the student to look at the historical perspective of the content through a different lens.

4. Teaching focused on effective teamwork and collaboration - This is the easiest and most effective way to get my students to speak English with each other.  100% of my students speak Spanish as a first language, English as a second, making practicing speaking a priority.

5. Teaching designed to remove barriers - The most pertinent part of this approach, in my opinion, is timely feedback.

6. Assesments - I do not want to put this at number 6, as I am huge into informal formal assessments through class discussion, but I just felt the others were more important.