INSIGHTS
Reflections from classrooms, leaders, and learning communities
Embracing the process: rethinking curriculum coordination
For the first time in several years, I am not beginning the academic year in a school. Although it is admittedly a little bittersweet not to be planning my first lessons or decorating my classroom right now, I am also enjoying this “reset” and the chance to focus on…
Synergising IB ATT & ATL
Consider this Part 2 of my recent post on the IB Approaches to Teaching (ATT). This time, I am reflecting on how our practices as teachers directly impact student learning. I decided to look to the ATLs for this and wondered if I could map the ATLs against the ATTs….
What about ATT (Approaches to Teaching)?
When I started teaching within the IB system in 2009, I remember feeling pretty well out of my depth for at least the first year. A colleague reassured me early on not to worry because “you’re still teaching the same content”. I’m sure that she was trying to be…
Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills progression
I’ve seen lots of ATL skills maps. Like many other MYP Coordinators around the world, I’ve created ATL skills maps (because the IB doesn’t provide them). But what I haven’t seen much of is a skills progression. The IB provides the following framework for identifying…
Reflecting on the process of understanding
I’ve been writing — and sharing — a lot of conceptual understandings, or generalizations, recently, which has gotten me thinking about the process of understanding. Lynn Erickson defines generalizations as “significant, transferrable, and conceptual ideas that…
Moving beyond verb-driven objectives in the MYP
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about traditional objectives. These verb-driven expectations often assume an understanding from students, but without an intentional and structured approach, this understanding can be superficial. Earlier this term, I shared a scaffold…
Project-based learning in the MYP
A few months ago, we were discussing ways to improve our “Core” programme in the MYP when our Personal Project Coordinator observed that out of all of the criteria in the MYP, the Projects criteria are perhaps the most “foreign”. The subject criteria remains the same…
On the job: interdisciplinary learning in action
© James E. Petts Monday morning, I accompanied my eldest daughter on her first commute into central London for a week of work experience at an architecture company. And this is where the personal and the professional converge, because on the way home all I could think…
Core 2.0: reflections and refinements
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…
On professional development: individual agency within systems
I’ve been in professional development mode for a couple of weeks now. Over two days last week, I led 5 faculties at my school in a workshop on concept-based learning. Later this month, I will be delivering an MYP workshop for a school in the candidacy phase in Cyprus….
Harnessing teacher agency with Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction
Many of the details from my early days of teaching have become hazy over the past two decades, but I have a very clear memory, in one of those first days navigating all of the induction activities I was required to complete, of my Department Chair handing me a fat…
Making time for the MYP Core
As each new school year approaches, teachers everywhere start to measure time in semesters, quarters, terms, half terms, weeks, or even individual lessons/periods. Our lives are planned according to the academic calendar, always either counting down to the next…