As I’ve mentioned I teach at an International Baccalaureate (IB) school. For a majority of teachers that I’ve met, the IB is something they have heard about in passing but have little understanding of what makes it differ from their experience within the public or charter schools system.
It is my goal to make my Thursday posts – IB related. I should start by saying that understanding a little of what the IB is about might help most teachers regardless of what type of curriculum they teach. Today I’m just going to tell you a little about the Primary Years Program (PYP).
The IB concept or goal (very simply put) is to develop young people who care and help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. The attributes of such a learner are listed in the Learner Profile. The Learner Profile is at the heart of what it means to be internationally minded.
IB leaners strive to be:
Inquirers
Knowledgeable
Thinkers
Communicators
Principled
Open-minded
Caring
Risk-takers
Balanced
Reflective
Along with concepts and tools the curriculum is planned to develop this type of student. It is a different approach to how I taught in my previous school. My students know these words and have known them since they were in pre-k. They know that they mean and they identify the type of attributes they believe they most represent.
When I have a visitor to my class I always have my students introduce themselves by sharing their name, age and home country as well as their learner profile. They usually pick two to three of the attributes to convey who they are.
The IB also believes it is vital that there is focus on the development of personal attitudes towards people, towards the environment and towards learning. Attitudes, that contribute to the well-being of the individual and of the group.
In PYP schools, students should demonstrate:
Appreciation
Commitment
Confidence
Cooperation
Creativity
Curiosity
Empathy
Enthusiasm
Integrity
Respect
Tolerance
These are words, again, that my students know and understand. I am impressed daily by their examples of these attitudes and I strive to always reflect them in my teaching.
What I think I’ll do starting next week is to break down one attribute or attitude at a time. That way we can open a dialog about how we help our students to internalize and embody these life long skills and attitudes.
Till next time!
Miss Pam
I can't wait to read more about this! I never knew there was an IB program for little people! I graduated from high school with an IB diploma.
ReplyDeleteMrs Poland @
Think, Wonder, & Teach
Wow, how great! It's really a wonderful program and has so much to offer to all teachers.
DeleteThanks for this informative post. I didn't know IB was for little people either!
ReplyDeleteI have a list of words I am teaching to my class too and each morning we go through the list and discuss what the words mean and how we can do/be these things. All of our words are "c" words though, because our class is called "2C". We are cool, creative, compassionate, caring, colourful, curious, considerate, clever, courageous, confident and Catholic (we are a Catholic school - the kids came up with the last one themselves so I thought it was fitting....)
My list is probably not as well-balanced and structured as the IB one but it works for us as a focus of what we are trying to do each day.
Jane
The Learning Curve