What is your order of importance for the approaches to teaching?

1. Teaching developed in local and global contexts

2. Teaching designed to remove barriers to learning

3. Teaching focused on conceptual understanding

4. Teaching based on inquiry

5. Teaching informed by assessment

6. Teaching focused on effective teamwork and collaboration

   
   

What is your criterion behind some having a higher or lower priority?

I need my students to understand that the topics in class do not exist in a vacuum. Global issues, internal struggles, moral dilemmas; these are world-wide and local situations that occur every day. This is the forefront of my teaching in order to create global citizens who are both aware and ready to make changes in society.

What is your order of importance for the approaches to learning?

1. Thinking skills

2. Self-management skills

3. Communication skills

4. Research skills

5. Social skills

What is your criterion behind some having a higher or lower priority?

I've only been teaching for 3 years but I've noticed this passivity in my students, as if they are waiting for information to be regurgitated to them. Hence, my priority is making sure students move beyond just sponges that absorb and instead are able to think beyond just what I tell them.

Being able to then create something from that thinking requires them to be organised.

• Individualist vs. collectivist societies may have different understandings of where change should be made; in the personal or social or global sphere, therefore the IB has an assumption that all students and teachers have the same solutions/goals for the globe.

• There is an inference that schools, government and international organisations will each operate with the intent to support students in the IB, however, there are bound to be groups that are oblivious to what the others are doing.

• There is an assumption that those who disseminate the IB course all share morals, values and beliefs. In reality, the upbringing, background and societal raising of said individuals will have an impact on how they view fairness.

These analyses were made my background of living in relatively individualist society in Melbourne, Australia. In government and non-government schools, the culture, values, goals, and understanding of each school differs and so while many schools respond to the same curriculum, the way in which they teach, learn, and create empathetic students varies.

What is the dominant reading of this text and what might be an oppositional reading of the IB learner profile?

• Dominant Reading: IB learners demonstrate the inquisitiveness and resilience to learn about the world, themselves, and ideologies. In doing so, they develop communication, critical thinking, ethics, and collaboration. The IB learner is humble, has positive goals and expectations, and can become a fierce individual that can bridge their distance to other cultures, thinking, values, and personal improvements.

• Oppositional Reading: The IB learner profile suggests that a student is both well-centred and suitable for a range of environmental contexts. There is an implication that IB learners are relied on to be accurate and consistent at all times during a period of time when many teenagers are experiencing psychological, physical, and milestone changes. The ability to juggle the self, the social, and the global in a sophisticated performance appears challenging.

What is the tone created in the aims and assessment objectives, how does the author create it, and why?

The author's tone is supportive and encouraging as demonstrated through the strengths-based language that highlights the potentials students can reach: 'develop', 'foster', words that indicate a progression that will take time but can be achieved.

The tone is also polite and formal, as by de-centering the student from the objectives, the author removes any chance for the student to evaluate their self; the emphasis is on action that can be achieved. There is a distinct lack of personal pronouns.

The intent of author perhaps may be to create a low-stake account of what students need to do and can do. By remaining supportive, encouraging and polite the author upholds the IB's values of creating a compassionate world.

What words or phrases have a highly charged connotation and what is the effect on the reader?

• 'Celebrates the many ways people work together': connotes the idea that it is only through collaboration and communication that individuals, and groups, can achieve success. The word choice celebrates undergirds the IB's significant focus on creating learners who can operate with others in any sphere of life.

• 'Lifelong learners': the implication of lifelong suggests that the IB wants students to learn the skills and thinking to continuously evolve themselves for the rest of their lives. It prompts the students of the IB to continuously absorb knowledge, reflect on performance, and strive to be or do better.

• 'Tenet': hints at this idea that the IB is an official, influential group because it has developed a shared belief. 'Tenet', with its religious or philosophical connotations, paints the IB as an organisation that has value because of its unwavering ideals.

• 'Open, democratic classrooms': open demonstrates the idea that learning is accessible to all and democratic reveals the Western influence of morality, encouraging teachers of IB to ensure that each participant is encouraged to have a say in their learning journey.

What words or phrases demonstrate the ideological perspective of this text?

• 'connections that might be established': networking is valuable in all situations

• 'mere participation in the tour would cover only activity': learners need to move beyond passivity

• 'raise awareness': to create empathy and compassion

• 'for the sight-impaired . . . for the librarian': working alongside people who are different, whether in body or expected role

  
  

• As others have mentioned, there are many minorities that have been excluded from the canonical discussions. Most of my schooling and teaching has been skewed towards a dominant demographic.

• Something that has been in the back of my mind is the slow shift towards acknowledging 'drawn and written literature' - graphic novels and manga. While there's been acknowledgement of their literary merit, I still feel there's a subconscious tendency to avoid such mediums and even some debacle over whether the truly have merit.

• I believe this is linked to the idea that literature has to be purely written - but if we limit ourselves to such a concept, then we also reject the power of text and image interplay. Images are a language that transcends all obstacles; refusing to acknowledging something that seems easily accessible is a slap in the face to creators who are trying to speak to us.

And so, is the notion of a canon helpful in the study and understanding of literature? How does a canon get established?

Canon has a place in literature; I think it helps us access a collective consciousness. If we can see what the world thinks, feels, what it recognises, we develop our ability to find our place in this community.

And what "canon" are you presenting to students in your literature choices? Why does that matter?

As I've inherited the class I am teaching now, I didn't have a lot of say on what canon is presented. But for little stand-alone pieces that I can share, I've been selecting pieces that resonate with me. I think we often are hung up on the value and ideas of a text, but we remove our emotions more often than not in order to meet the criterion of 'canon'. Not to say canonical literature doesn't procure emotion, but I find that there are many missed small works that are bringing something new to the collective.

• A recent focus in my teaching has been exposing students to a range of text types but also making sure they can distinguish these text types. Understanding how purpose, audience, context are influenced by text type is key to unlocking that 2nd inferential reading!

• Then when texts are studies years and years later, I feel as though the meaning solidifies - especially when its a commentary on society, with facets being mirrored in the current age.

What are the three things you want to make sure you do when you design your own course?

• Expose students to a variety of texts that, while use different forms and devices, perhaps share similar themes

• Develop student independence to think critically about themselves, the texts, and the work

• Ensure that each skill taught has cross-component merit

What two principles of course design spoke to you personally, why, and how will you use that to design your syllabus?

• Variety: Being able to read and analyse a range of texts resonates with me. I think moving beyond the 'typical' literary works and understanding how everyday language is used to serve a purpose is central to my passion as teacher and the IB's global-mindedness.

• Integration: I become really excited when students are able to take that extra step and apply their newfound skills to new areas in the course. This adaptability is what makes really strong thinkers.

What one question do you still have about the philosophy or the practicalities of designing a course syllabus?

• How can I best support student's critical thinking in a way that transcends beyond just the Language and Literature course?