Back in August, I wrote about a modification to our Wednesday timetable, aimed to provide more time for the MYP Core elements (e.g., the Approaches to Learning, Service Learning, IDUs, and MYP Projects). Now, as the school year comes to an end, I'll share our reflections and plans for refining the programme next year.
What has worked well?
- Many students have commented on how much they have enjoyed a "break" from the heavy academic work of the rest of the week. Having a bit of breathing space mid-week has reduced cognitive load and allowed for students to refocus their energy.
- Students (and parents) have really valued the Supervised Study sessions, so we intend to keep these, but they will not be officially timetabled in Grades 6-8; instead, we will use one of the Wednesday subject lessons on an alternating system (so Week 1 might be English, Week 2 Maths, Week 3 Science, and so on).
- Dedicated time for MYP Projects has helped students focus explicitly on the project objectives and achieve more balance, especially in Grade 10. It will be interesting to compare our results with previous years', when we had to "steal" time from advisory sessions and subject lessons and students had to complete the projects almost entirely outside of school. An improvement in results was never the main priority (our results have always been well above the world average), but I am curious to see if an increase in results is a by-product of a more structured approach.
- Although it has taken time to pick up speed, dedicating Wednesdays to "trip days" has helped reduce the impact on lost subject time.
What has NOT worked so well?
- IDUs in Grades 6-8 have worked well due to the project-based nature of the units, but it has been challenging for teachers who are not subject-specialists to deliver disciplinary content. Our Heads of Faculty have done their best to work around this by arranging for internal swaps of teachers, but this has, at best, relied on the good will of teachers and, at worst, placed a burden on the cover system. In Grades 9 & 10, where the emphasis has been on the four disciplines included on the Interdisciplinary eAssessment (Language & Literature, Individuals & Societies, Maths, and Sciences), it has proven much more challenging to deliver the IDUs outside of subject time by non-specialist teachers.
- Whilst well-intentioned, Service Learning as a stand-alone lesson has not worked as effectively as we had hoped. Students have benefitted from some structured time for planning and reflection, but we haven't needed as much time as we had anticipated. We have run some really meaningful grade-level "legacy projects", but ideally Service as Action would be integrated more meaningfully within the curriculum; setting it apart has not allowed for a consistent faculty commitment to developing service within MYP units.
What's next?
- Subject time on alternate Wednesdays will be brought back next year.
- The “Core” (ATLs, Service Learning, Projects) will be consolidated into one lesson, with an aim to be more project-based. We will use the Projects aims and objectives (Community Project for Grades 6-8, Personal Project for Grades 9 & 10) to structure the core projects. As our brilliant Personal Project Coordinator pointed out, all of the subject criteria remains the same throughout the MYP; even though the command terms increase in sophistication, the criteria itself does not change. However, students only become familiar with the Projects objectives when they encounter them, so by introducing these objectives earlier in the programme, and actually using them to structure inquiries, we can better scaffold students towards the independent inquiries required in the projects. (Incidentally, independent inquiry is a focus of our Programme Development Plan, so there is a nice cohesion with the Core.)
- IDUs will be reabsorbed by the subjects. Teaching teams will have agency and flexibility in determining when and for how long they occur – as long as there are at least two IDUs per grade per year.
- We will maintain the flexible philosophy of the Wednesdays and look to this day first when scheduling trips and events.
It's always a risk to implement any kind of change, but being open-minded and reflective means that we can lean into what has worked and improve on what hasn't to ensure that our students have the best experience.