“The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. 

To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment. 

These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.”

 

 

At first reading, the IB Mission Statement, indubitably, sounds almost ideal. However, a closer analytical inspection will show ideological biases do exist even in this carefully drawn statement. 

“The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.” I would say ideological bias is implicitly perceivable as it is easy to envision such an idealistic goal; but in reality – in the turbulent world we are living in, especially in the regions with conflict, how practical is it to nurture “intercultural understanding and respect” amongst students who may have already been prejudiced or victimized? 

Ideological bias is discernable in the sentence – “the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.” “Governments” can be corrupted or autocratic – some “international organizations” can serve a region with vested interest. In such scenario, developing “challenging programs” in joint collaboration with such nefarious agencies shows ideological bias. The term “rigorous assessment” is also charged with ideological bias. “Should students be rigorously assessed?” - is a highly debatable question which this statement has not taken into consideration.   

“These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners” - the ideological bias here is based on the belief that these programmes will ultimately lead to all of these positive changes “across the world”. 

2. IB Learner Profile:

They develop their natural curiosity. They acquire the skills necessary to conduct inquiry and research and show independence in learning. They actively enjoy learning and this love of learning will be sustained throughout their lives. 

They explore concepts, ideas and issues that have local and global significance. In so doing, they acquire in-depth knowledge and develop understanding across a broad and balanced range of disciplines. 

They exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to recognize and approach complex problems, and make reasoned, ethical decisions. 

They understand and express ideas and information confidently and creatively in more than one language and in a variety of modes of communication. They work effectively and willingly in collaboration with others. 

They act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect for the dignity of the individual, groups and communities. They take responsibility for their own actions and the consequences that accompany them. 

They understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, and are open to the perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and communities. They are accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of points of view, and are willing to grow from the experience. 

They show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings of others. They have a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment. 

They approach unfamiliar situations and uncertainty with courage and forethought, and have the independence of spirit to explore new roles, ideas and strategies. They are brave and articulate in defending their beliefs. 

They understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional balance to achieve personal well-being for themselves and others. 

They give thoughtful consideration to their own learning and experience. They are able to assess and understand their strengths and limitations in order to support their learning and personal development. 

The dominant reading of this text can be delusional as it suggests all students who opt for IB will be trained to sustain a lifelong natural curiosity, empathy, compassion, respect, integrity, honesty and commitment to service. They will be exploring concepts and ideas that have local and global significance; exercising thinking skills critically and creatively; expressing ideas confidently; approaching uncertainty with courage; appreciating their own cultures and personal histories while being  open to the perspectives, values and traditions of others. In a nutshell, every IB student will turn out to be an ideal human being who will lead the future. 

An oppositional reading is – no matter how lucrative the IB Profile may sound; in the real world apart from their academic encircling, students are also influenced, often affected, by parents, siblings, extended families, friends, societies, geo-political surroundings and other factors - such as conflicts and discriminations.

Studies in language and literature aims to:

Assessment objectives:

Know, understand and interpret:

Analyse and evaluate:

Communicate:

 

 

 

The tone is rather serious to formal. Instead of writing in paragraphs, the author uses bullet points - to keep the readers focused on the vital points in a straightforward manner. 

 

 

 

 

 

 Create/created/creative/creativity: The word ‘create’ (in many forms) has been repeated multiple times in the text which demonstrates the ideological perspective create/creativity at the of this text  is creativity of the students.
connection/connections: Repeated twice in the last paragraph the word “connection(s)” demonstrate the ideological perspective in the sense that connection between the individual and community is at the core of CAS.
 raise awareness: The phrase “raise awareness” also demonstrates ideological perspective in the sense that individuals who earned knowledge on a particular field can be beneficial to other individuals in the community if they run successful awareness campaign and share their personal experience and knowledge with others. 

 

 

- I am in the profession of teaching for the past 16 years. What I like about this profession is – it involves a lot of learning as well – especially with the IB programmes. Currently, I teach in Cambridge High School, Amman. As mentioned earlier, I have been teaching senior MYP Grades so far; but in the new school year apart from teaching MYP, I am also looking forward to get involved with IB English A Language and Literature. I am super thrilled to have been selected to this position. I also feel challenged which is definitely a positive attribute in my profession. 

 

2. What is the most pressing question you have about the Language A: language and literature course? 

 

 

- Coming with a bag full of experience from MYP, the most pressing question I have about the Language A: language and literature course is – how similar or different things are between MYP and DP. Are the approaches to teaching and learning similar? 

 

3. How can you develop positive online professional relationships for the workshop and beyond?

- Developing positive online professional relationships is very important at the present time and age. I believe, by regularly communicating, giving feedback, praising work - or even giving constructive criticism when needed – preferably, with alternative suggestions - a healthy relationship can be maintained between colleagues and cohorts. Above all, we must deal with others with an open mind and try to understand and respect other perspectives. 

 

 

4. What does a successful outcome look like for you after this workshop? List three things you want to achieve.

 

- For me, a successful outcome after this workshop will be having a clear vision of IBDP in general – course design, learning outcomes and assessment policies.  

In my understanding, all of the Approaches to Teaching are important. It was rather challenging to place them in order of importance. 

I placed inquiry based teaching at the top because the process of inquiry is seen as involving the development of students’ natural curiosity. Moreover, another significant aspect of inquiry-based teaching is that students are actively engaged in their own learning, constructing their own understandings of interpretations and issues.

I placed assessment based teaching at the end, not because it is less important. In fact, formative and summative assessments, paired with appropriate feedback, can be powerful tools to improve student learning. 
However, in most teaching environments, assessments are usually adopted as an approach to teaching only after other teaching approaches were actively introduced in class.  

Again, all five of the skills are vital to learning, and it is extremely challenging to place them in order. After much debate with myself, I have decided to place self- management skills at the top - followed by thinking skills; which is a key feature of the constructivist approach to learning.

Perseverance and resilience are key elements of self-management that can establish students as successful learners. Learning to manage themselves is important for all students. They should demonstrate initiative, perseverance and a strong willingness to learn independently.
Thinking skills can thrive only after self-management skills such as organizational skills, goal setting, and time management as well as affective skills such as managing state of mind and motivation are in practice.

To be able to understand the perspectives of others, to form good relationships and to gain an awareness of how one’s words and actions have an impact on other people, students need to develop their social skills. Social skills are not less important than other approaches to learning - but perhaps it is more important to share or transfer knowledge after other approaches to learning skills have been introduced.