Category Archives: Assignment 2 – Week 2 Work

LIBE 477B Week Two Notes:

LIBE 477B 951 Special Topics in Library Education:

ICT (Information, Communications, technologies)

Aka Media & Technologies – Digital Technologies

Prof: Jenny Arntzen

Class Notes

Monday July 8, 2013

Class thoughts – where we are now – upper most in our minds – 3 sentences…

• Being responsible to our students
• Final project needs direction
• ICT Vision statement needed for self & school
• Use of iPads in classroom
• Enjoying self exploring in class
• Role of library in inquiry based learning
• Student driven curriculum… peer teaching
• Promoting reading – via blogging
• ICT committee – need of policy, vision or mission statement
• Blooms Taxonomy & ICT handout blend
• Overwhelmed by amount of ICT out there
• Parents & communication – how to use ICT…
• Applicability of ICT
• Building community
• Classroom blog or website
• Professional Learning Network
• Connections to nature and people
• Revolution!
• Picking appropriate ICT for the class
• How to communicate with parents when not their full time teacher via ICT
• What does research say?
• Making world connections with ICT
• Movement of ICT… SMART boards to iPads… (Fad vs. research/plan)
• Reading levels of ICT (local & provincial info-resources)
• Disconnection in schools, only using ICT as tools, what is the purpose?
• How to teach the new literacies via social media?
• Learning Commons versus traditional library role
• Inspiration by “pintrest”
• Made for school library ICT!

Groups of common interests – inquiry based learning

Whole class mindmeister for our group (via twitter & imbed the link on my blog)

15 minutes of fame:

Sophia: pintrest… “pro-ana” (pro-anorexic) if looking for pix of skinny girls, there u be. Make boards on topic. Add visuals from all over. Can “pin” things you like. Can be added to your blogs. Trend of text cluttering.

I enjoyed Sophia’s presentation and her first hand knowledge of the website. I tried it out and unfortunately I was not impressed. Upon signing in I had to automatically choose 5 Pintrests to follow. I deeply resented this, I have never been on the website and did not know what to choose or where to go to find something of genuine interest. Once I realized that I could not circumvent this step, I then had to choose. I explored a few categories, and to be honest I felt insulted. I did not appreciate being labeled in the “Geek” category. Why is Tolkien and Star Wars geek? Why is it predominately considered a male category too? I felt that this was a “needle in a haystack” website, where I will have to shift through a TON of stuff only to find something so small. Plus I am deathly allergic to cats, I do not cook, and I do not feel that I can use this site which is “pro-ana” since I teach and am a role model for middle school girls. Over all I do not think that I will be using this website. I will though pass it onto the 2 visual arts teachers at my school, in case they are looking for another online way to document their classes artwork.

Amy: social bookmarking (easy to use, able to organize, able to annotate, able to share it, needs to be pretty/visual). “zootool” http://zootool.com/ “educlipper”  https://www.educlipper.net/   “draggo” http://draggo.com/  “delicious” https://delicious.com/

I enjoyed Amy’s presentation and her knowledge and flexibility about so many different websites, I’m never going to use these though, as I already have too much to do already, and my school has me on all things Google and Powerschool. This is just another thing to do and password to remember. I am quite capable of managing my bookmarks bar and files. I also use hyperlinks in my e-documents! I also prefer paper to mind map on, as I can put it up on the walls and use that to create  “an environment of learning.”

Jorden:  “Genius Hour” students pick a topic – “passion projects” 20 minutes a day, an hour a week, teacher chooses. (Structure? Free-range inquiry based – what are the results? How are they assessed? Where does this fall into curriculum? As a CCA?)

I enjoyed Jorden’s presentation and her enthusiasm for her topic. However I was seriously concerned about how unstructured this was. I’ve been in Inquiry Based programs for the last 10 years and I was very surprised at how lenient this was. I had many questions to ask Jordens’ peers who run this. Is this just a “free period” once a day or week? What are the results? How is the knowledge shared? Is this assessed? If so, how is it assessed? Does this go onto the repot card? If so under what subject? Where does this “Genius Hour” fall under for curriculum? Would this be better as an after school club or activity? Where are the unit planners to back up this idea? Where are the scaffolding documents to support the learners? How would a teacher keep track of the students and 20 some odd different task? Where is the task sheet? What is the end goal? How will the teacher document the “baby steps” or formative assessments, which the students take along the way? How does one recognize if this is a success or failure?  I do love inquiry based learning, but not like this “free range” approach. Inquiry based learning is a bit more labour intensive but the results can be phenomenal! I do not think that I could support this idea with out a better understanding and documentation.

Blog tonight: what will my final project be?

I am still undecided but I am more than happy to help the “Inquiry Based Learning” group. I could look into some of the upcoming changes in the IBO MYP as my “aside” if need be…

Tuesday July 9, 2013

Final project group check in – inquiry based learning

Group discussion: “structuring an inquiry”

What is structure? For problems…

Process: model, design cycle, framework

Participants: we love them, relationships, composite unity, prior knowledge, experience already known, creating more than 1 meaning.

Purpose:  authentic piece of assessment, playing to strengths, self motivation, motivation & participation (intrinsic/extrinsic), being engaging, a safe environment, pushing kids out of their comfort zone, emotion & trust, ever changing goals, evolution of the task.

BC ministry blog conversation, No grades, Use of rubrics http://rubistar.4teachers.org/

Institutional isomorphism (DiMaggio & Powell)

• Self-shaping the institution as a living organism
• Made up of people who bring it to life
• Philosophy, perspectives, practices are expressed inside of it
• Can sustain it’s own existence
• Not all things are in a policy – explicit
• How much change can happen? Resource variables
• Recreating the conditions a mind sets that sustain it
• Inquiry based learning changes the power balance, more towards teachers/students
• Less curriculum- grade driven
• Conveyed through normative practice, coercive practice, and mimetic
• http://faculty.babson.edu/krollag/org_site/org_theory/Scott_articles/dimag_powel.html

Conservative Dynamisms (Dynamic Conservatism)

• Larry Cuban “oversold & underused”
• Transmitting knowledge, usual methods on new technology  (lecture 2 ppt 2 online notes)
• Important topics rendered dull
• Teacher directed learning and in charge
• Cynical passive – aggressive response to ICT
• Ignores responsibility to students
• http://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/dynamic-conservatism-and-stability-in-teaching/
• http://larrycuban.wordpress.com/

Socio Cultural Homeostasis (Antonio Domasio)

• Human cognition
• Interconnectedness as people
• Feel first, then think, then rationalize behaviour
• The ways we use words., invoke responses in others
• Using words to make connections between people
• Things that stay the same
• How things stay the same
• Cultural and individual change
• How to maintain that change
• Pressure from our Socio Economic Cultural status to NOT change
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_25uUpippE
• http://www.ted.com/talks/antonio_damasio_the_quest_to_understand_consciousness.html
• http://discovermagazine.com/2010/dec/17-art-science-peer-into-the-mind#.Udxfgj6gl8s
• http://www.usc.edu/programs/neuroscience/faculty/profile.php?fid=27
• http://dornsife.usc.edu/cf/faculty-and-staff/faculty.cfm?pid=1008328&CFID=8833770&CFTOKEN=98808467

15 Minutes of Fame…

Kristine – homeroom blog on word press. Loved the human touches, tried/failed experiences, offering insight and inspiration, homework page, schedule.  1 blog per class or add pages? “Keep It Simple Sweetheart.” Policies that govern student www usage. How to get the students involved in the blog…

Karen & Sandy – weebly making a website.  Keeping track and organized.  Getting students making a website, proof reading skills & responsibility from gaining a true audience.  Ensure www etiquette.  High expectations & guidelines are needed.  Can be free or paid for, more storage space & features if paying. Step by step with sandy.  Drag and drop techniques.  Can collaborate and add people.

Wednesday July 10, 2013

Fostering cultures of reading (library and digitally) as we share our learning

Cultural change in our schools with the library and the teachers we work with

Yesterdays how & why things are not changing in the current system

The cycle of the old mentoring the new with old school knowledge or skills

Today how we can support teachers with their ICT skills

Tomorrow the ideas of what it means to have networked or worldwide libraries… a chance to implement change!

30 minutes for final projects…

Connecting the train of thought

• Autopsies
• Self creating
• Living organisms
• Property living entity
• Ecological beings
• Connections
• Structural coupling
• Autonomic
• Continuity
• Consciences
• Human being as a biological, cognitive, cultural, technology
• Linguistic cognitive domain (tones & connotations)
• Being thoughtful about the ways we communicate in our lives (personal & professional)
• Participation vs alienation
• Supporting cultural changes in schools
• Change of belief systems & knowledge levels
• Change is hard
• The drive for connectivity
• Solving issues
• Arts… important, evolving, hands on
• Teachers role
• Need to be “live”
• Online (minority on love with it) vs face to face (human nature)
• Online: MOOC, instructors’ presence or preference…
• “EQ” practice
• Conversation practice
• Online technical issues…

15 minutes of fame

Michelle Sprintzios – book trailers: Windows moviemaker, imovie, power director, ppt, animoto (30 secs for free).  Practice voice & timing, music choice,  written summary for the dialogue. Copyright issues – discussion.. can scan book codes and add kids’ trailers to it (destiny)

Karen Shigeno – Bookmarking via diigo

Janet: Global Learner at MontRoyal School experiences – strong Arts faculty. New younger admin & teachers, began the process… Lunch & Learns, every 2 weeks workshops. Explore multiage groupings, collaboration, fine arts, and starting with ICT.  3 themes of exploration (children of the world, leaders & leadership, global stewardship).  Forgot to document and archive their achievements! L

Thursday July 11, 2013

Today – Module 8 Developing World Libraries

• Grade level differences (needs & demands)
• Explore the development of world libraries (diigo compilation)
• Discuss the significance of world librarians on the context of our school libraries (school level clusters & discussion forum postings)
• Discuss the significance of world libraries in relation to your inquiry topic (topic inquiry clusters & blog posts)
• Group work (middle school) discussion over our end vs over there. Mother tongue vs English language, tech available, NGO works in Africa, need for infrastructure, cost of infrastructure, initial setup of paper vs plastic, looking for articles…
• http://www.worlib.org/index.shtml
• http://www.publiclibraries.com/world.htm
• http://www.lib-web.org/
• http://www.wdl.org/en/

Break

Meet in final project groups

10 minutes of fame

Cherise – Google Chrome Apps. Google reader & iGoogle about to be discontinued.  Edutopia http://www.edutopia.org/ & mindshift

Lisa – shelfari & goodreads.com 

Christine – padlet with stickies notes, can be embedded, can be blogged, no connections (mindmeister) tweet deck to view all accounts at once (professional/personal) “data smog” being overwhelmed & time sucking…

Wrapping up for today: why XYZ, how to get XYZ, and what are we going to do to enrich, enable, and enhance the experience?

Friday July 11, 2013

Module 9 Where you were when you started, where are you now, where you see yourself going…

Objectives for today: synthesize developing world libraries, share learning journeys, share ICT possibilities, and connect learning journeys

Tweet questions during 10 minute Summations…

Sophia: scoop it! http://www.scoop.it/

Brianne: Memes in class…

Kate:  light bulb moments…

Janet: summation of her journey…

Jorden: summation of her journey…

Sandy: review of her final project… www.archive.org

Karen: reflection on her learning journey… the new blooms!

Kristine: LOTR journey reflection…

Michelle: Padlet review of her learning…

For the blog tonight:

Comment on people’s blogs…

Ketchup:

1 Terrence lim

2 Lisa Lindquist

3 Julie mason

This week:

1 Anna-Marie McGinn

2 Brianne mlnyk

3 Kate Mosley

Ted talk Sugata Mitra

http://video-subtitle.tedcdn.com/talk/podcast/2010G/None/SugataMitra_2010G-low-en.mp4

For various reason good schools do not get built and good teachers cannot or do not want to go

Good places where teaches won’t go to places where they are needed the most

New Delhi slum – computer experiment all over India and worldwide

Noticed children will learn to do, what they want to do, no matter who or where they are

A teacher who can be replaced by a machine, should be

If children have an interest than education happens

Stuff on Google, so why stuff it into your head

Self taught & encouragement improved grades

Photographic recall due to group work and collaboration

Scores go up as students continue and return to researching topic

“Granny cloud” 1 hour a day, once a week via Skype

Self Organized Learning Environments (SOLEs), big screens, in groups, 1 computer per group, or interactive with a Granny

A structure appears without outside influence, and it does the unexpected

Education is a self-organizing system, where learning is an emergent phenomenon

My 3rd period class was cancelled today, and I went home to blog. Feeling uninspired to write, I decided to read first instead. I read a Danah Boyd Article. I started reading it and was surprised that it was from 2007. As it started with the history of social media, I was highlighting along when I realized that I had no idea what DB was talking about. I skipped to the conclusion and then I decided to go hunt down the websites as “research.”  I was also being a good “digital native” by multitasking as I was listening to music on YouTube. I was curious about Benjamin Britten http://www.britten100.org/home for my upcoming winter Xmas season with my beloved choir IFC http://www.singaporeifc.org/ 😀

True to her words Friendster http://www.friendster.com/ was uber popular in SE Asia and that made me laugh as I have been to many of the cities sited. MySpace https://myspace.com/ was odd at first glance as there was a video of people flipping their hair and it was rather off putting and slightly nauseating actually. Then I was sliding through photos of people on MySpace, and there were only “older people” or 20-30 something’s and most looked like to be musicians, and then I spotted Jay Z & Justin Timberlake. DB was right again as MySpace had transcended into a musician website. I then went onto Facebook to see what changes they have made since August (it’s blocked at school at & I go offline at 6pm daily to have some human time.) While on FB I put a few status questions up for my monkeys (my term of endearment for my students), which I also found funny as DB mentioned social grooming (with monkey photo) in her Harvard video clip! 😀 How apropos!

After that I was sidetracked by two advertisements for http://www.justmillionaires.com/ and http://www.jdate.com/ I signed up just for fun to see what would happen and if any money was required. No money is required to date a millionaire so it seems, but to get access to people on jdate you do have limited access unless you want to pay. In addition, I think I recognized three men from my hometown! :O Personally I don’t believe in online dating, as people can lie even easier from behind their screen. That being said I do have friends who swear by it. I guess I have earned my “old & bitter” badges over the years of “live dating.” Is that even a term now? (Sigh.)

I will chalk up this experience and “whatever happens” to my experiment with Social Media for the day. Overall I did enjoy reading Dr. Danah Boyds’ article and I am becoming a fast fan of hers as I like her way of speaking, her creative bluntness when writing, and her personable presence when public speaking.

Now I must return to THIS class and blog out my feelings about Inquiry Based Learning. Wish me luck! …

Inquiry Topic Blog Post 3: Developing a rationale for a lesson that incorporates ethos and system – what kinds of things need to be included to satisfy different philosophical, curricular, and pedagogical interests?

Unit title

Teacher(s) involved

Subject & grade level

Time frame and duration

Stage 1: Integrate Significant Concept, Area Of Interaction, and Unit Question

Area of interaction focus:

Which area of interaction will be our focus?

Why have we chosen this? (Approaches to Learning, Environments, Community and Service, Human Ingenuity, and Health and Social Education)

Significant concept(s):

What are the big ideas?

What do we want our students to retain for years into the future?

MYP Unit Question:

This is usually an open-ended question or idea to be discussed in class.

Assessment

What task(s) will allow students the opportunity to respond to the unit question?

What will constitute acceptable evidence of understanding?

How will students show what they have understood?

Which specific MYP objectives will be addressed during this unit?

Which MYP assessment criteria will be used?

Stage 2: Backward planning: from the assessment to the learning activities through inquiry

Content

What knowledge and/or skills (from the course overview) are going to be used to enable the student to respond to the unit question?

What (if any) state, provincial, district, or local standards/skills are to be addressed? How can they be unpacked to develop the significant concept(s) for stage 1?

Approaches to learning

How will this unit contribute to the overall development of subject-specific and general approaches to learning skills?

For example:

• Organisation: time management
• Communication: literacy- informing others
• Collaboration: accepting others, respecting each other’s points of view
• Information literacy: accessing information- selecting and organising information
• Reflection: self awareness- self evaluation
• Thinking: generating ideas
• Thinking: planning- inquiring- applying knowledge and concepts- identifying problems- creating novel solutions
• Transfer

Learning experiences

How will students know what is expected of them?

Will they see examples, rubrics, and templates?

How will students acquire the knowledge and practise the skills required?

How will they practise applying these?

Do the students have enough prior knowledge?

How will we know?

Teaching strategies

How will we use formative assessment to give students feedback during the unit?

What different teaching methodologies will we employ?

How are we differentiating teaching and learning for all?

How have we made provision for those learning in a language other than their mother tongue?

How have we considered those with special educational needs?

Resources

What resources are available to us?

How will our classroom environment, local environment and/or the community be used to facilitate students’ experiences during the unit?

Ongoing reflections and evaluation

In keeping an on going record, consider the following questions. There are further stimulus questions at the end of the “Planning for teaching and learning” section of MYP: From principles into practice.

Students and teachers

What did we find compelling?

Were our disciplinary knowledge/skills challenged in any way?

What inquiries arose during the learning? What, if any, extension activities arose?

How did we reflect—both on the unit and on our own learning?

Which attributes of the learner profile were encouraged through this unit?

What opportunities were there for student-initiated action?

Possible connections

How successful was the collaboration with other teachers within my subject group and from other subject groups?

What interdisciplinary understandings were or could be forged through collaboration with other subjects?

Assessment

Were students able to demonstrate their learning?

How did the assessment tasks allow students to demonstrate the learning objectives identified for this unit? How did I make sure students were invited to achieve at all levels of the criteria descriptors?

Are we prepared for the next stage?

Data collection

How did we decide on the data to collect? Was it useful?

Inquiry Topic Blog Post 2: Assessment Conditions – what are the levels that students are expected to achieve as benchmarks for passing to the next level? How do IB educators reconcile traditional standards based educational systems and inquiry-based authentic learning ethos of IB program?

Like any curriculum framework, the IBO has set up it’s own set of standards and benchmarks. There are also Aims and Objectives that are unique to each subject. Each time you teach a subject, you are provided with a subject guide. In that guide it will explain to you the framework to which you are to work in.

The subject guide will also then go on to explain to you’re the objectives for each criterion. Each subject has several criteria. For example currently as I teach Language A English I only have three criteria to assess throughout the year Criterion A) Content, Criterion B) Organization, and Criterion C) Language style & use. While in performing Arts – Drama I have four criteria: Criterion A) Knowledge & Understanding, Criterion B) Application, Criterion C) Reflection & Evaluation, and Criterion D) Artistic awareness & Personal engagement. Yet in Science I believe that they have six criteria to ascertain.  Coming soon, the IBO will standardize all of the MYP subjects, so that they will all have only FOUR criteria each, and this will effect some more than others.

After the criteria explanations, the subject guide moves on to the skills and resources explanation.  After the skills there are the Areas of Interaction (AOIs) that are explained. The AOIs are a set or values that are incorporated into each unit as an overhead theme or connection to the world at large. There are five AOIs: Approaches to Learning, Environments, Community and Service, Human Ingenuity, and Health and Social Education.

Assessment is the next and most intense section in the subject guide, as it deals with: the rubrics, how to assess students with rubrics, how and when to alter the rubrics language, formative assessment, summative assessment, and moderation. Moderation is when a school will send in samples of students work to assess the quality and appropriateness of the teachers’ set tasks for that unit or work.

At the end of the MYP there is an inquiry-based assessment called the “Personal Project.” This is a project of the students’ own choice, and a reflective essay to be written about the process and success or failure of the made project. The Personal Project has it’s own guidebook, guidelines, and regulations.

The MYP is a continuum in the subject guides. For the alternate years (1 – grade 6)  (3 – grade 8) and (5 – grade 10); there are always examples of work, examples of assessments, and goals.  These are some of the checks and balances that the departments or subject teachers use in order to plan out their units. Currently the focus on unit planning is by both “understanding by design” and “backwards planning.”  We therefore know where we want our students to be at the end of the MYP, the end of the yearly goals, and end of the unit. With the final assessment task and skills in mind, we then go back and plan the unit with our: guiding questions (big ideas), significant concept (real world ideas), AOIs (real world connections), and formative assessment (tasks along the way).

In all honesty I did not find this a daunting change going from Manitoba to IBO. I was always given a BIG curriculum guide and the free reign and trust to get through it all. As long as I had covered all the material by June, how I did it and the way I did it was up to me. I have always enjoyed differentiating my class and having several math groups and lit circles going at the same time. It was often more out of need (class constitution & special needs incorporation) than necessity I guess. Therefore I was already used to the initial stress of planning multiple tasks and balanced instruction before “letting the students go.” Therefore all I had to do was learn the new jargon and unit planner format.

Inquiry Topic Blog Post 1: Ethos and System – embodied in educators, leading to entrenched oppositional positions – how to turn conflicted relationships into collaborative relationships – how are other educators addressing these ideas and problems.

Ethos in Educators: I am a big believer in the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). I really do believe in their strides to make a more non-violent, well rounded, open-minded curious student body, and future adult citizens. It appeals to my inner sense of self and moral code.

“IBO Mission 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. 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.”

I spent my formative years in a private secular school, and when I moved into the local public junior high, I was amazed at all of the different people in my class. Instead o f being afraid and “sticking to my own” I decided to learn all about the other peers in my grade. My mother was concerned, but knew that I was determined to do my own thing and go my own way and explore what others had to say and do. In the end she just had to trust that after thirteen years, I knew my own self and culture well enough “to come back into the fold.” I don’t know if I can blame Indiana Jones for this one or just my inherited from somewhere in the gene pool – free spirited self. I always wanted to learn about other religions and cultures. Moving overseas and seeing both China & India were dreams come true. I could finally get my questions answered. Who is the blue guy on the wall? Why don’t Hindu’s eat beef? How can I learn Chinese? What happened to the last emperor of China? How big is the Great Wall of China? I got to see all the sites first hand, as Nat Geo truly intended! Due to my “always swimming the wrong way in the stream” self, and love for “creative education strategies” or “controlled chaos” I have been welcomed into the IBO, and now I get to encourage my students to follow their passions and express themselves as individuals. It has been a great journey as I can now work on my craft of teaching and explore strange and exotic new worlds, like in Star Trek!

“IB Learner Profile The aim of all IB programmes is to develop internationally minded people who, recognizing our common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world. IB learners strive to be:

1)    Inquirers: 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. 

2)    Knowledgeable: They explore concepts, ideas, and issues that have local and global significance. I so doing, they acquire in-depth knowledge and develop understanding across abroad and balanced range of disciplines. 

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

4)    Communicators: 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.

5)    Principled: 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.

6)    Open-minded: 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.

7)    Caring: 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.

8)    Risk-takers: 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.

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

10) Reflective: 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.”

I try my best to role model these behaviors with my students by trying new things, working hard, playing to my strengths, and admitting when I am either unable or unwilling to do so. I feel that all of my positive energy and hope for them comes out in my classes. I prefer to have a loud and chatty class, or “controlled chaos” as I like to call it. I want the students to talk and enjoy my lessons; I want to enjoy my lessons! I am confident that learning will happen along the way, and indeed it does as my students are as successful as they want to be, my scores are good, their parents are happy, and my admin are happy, all but one. I know I am not perfect and I know that I can always do things differently or better, but my ONE and I do not agree on much.   At the root of all things I believe that we are just two completely different people, with very different training and ideas of the implications of the IBO. This shows in our methods and often lends itself into a personality clash.

Conflict into Collaboration: There is a giant difference between teaching the system you are told to do, and truly believing in the core values of said system. Over the last eight years I have observed many teachers from many different home countries (UK, USA, Canada, and Australia) and their educational systems, and have come to the following conclusions based on my observations and conversations.

Over that last eight years I have been in IBO schools overseas. I do not believe in absolutes, but I do believe in “most’s.” From my observations, most Canadian and Australian teachers that I have come across are having a great time within the IBO family. I have been incredibly impressed with the caliber of teachers that have worked with out of Australia and their training program sounds amazing! Canada and Australia also have a similar history with their Aboriginal peoples and immigration issues as well. From conversations and observations I believe that we have a more flexible education system with more goals or learning outcomes and are not so prescribed or regimented in our daily teaching lives.  I feel that this has enabled the majority of us to blend into the IBO world with great ease. Our multicultural backgrounds and work ethics are very similar to that of the IBO programs.

On the other hand, I have observed that many American (USA) and UK (Britain & Ireland) based teachers have had a harder time with the IBO system. Some, not all mind you. For many of those teachers they were raised and schooled in a very traditional, wrote learning, standardized test taking culture. Their training, treatment once teachers were quite harsh, exam results, and documentation took precedence over real life skills education. For those who were either used to or prefer a more scripted or prescribed form of teaching, the Inquiry Based model of education is quite daunting. Yet for some who are not impressed by what is happening at home, the IBO is a relief and oasis.  Like all people it varies, as some blossom (my amazing MYP coordinator in Cambodia) while others look like an extra in a Pink Floyd “The Wall” Video.

Currently I believe that I am constantly in conflict with a more rigid, insecure teacher, who prefers a quiet class with gadgets as opposed to my “late night with Conan O’Brian” classroom (and yes that was how I was described in an observation). I can actually live with that as it is quite true, I talk too much, I talk too loudly, and I am very entertaining. However since I have very happy students who do amazing work for me, I am hesitant to change my ways (let’s also add a dash of spite in there too, for honest measure ;D). Of course with the conflict between happy and successful students versus an ultra-conservative Head, there is forever a clash of wills and I am often extremely angry or upset. There is also a second battle over ICT usage, as I prefer to know where the analytical thinking and writing skills come in, when using ICT for summative assessments. Just using ICT because admin wants it, is not a valid reason for me. However if the documentation can provide a more legitimate reason and authentic writing experience, I am happy to use the ICT.  I also continue to work on more authentic ways to use my “2,000$ pencil.”

Addressing these ideas and problems: At the end of the day I have to compromise and use politics to find a solution that will make both of us happy, until my Head envelopes the IBO spirit more whole heartedly, and I stop being a rebellious angry thirteen year old girl.  I need to work on being more conservative or formal in order to calm the nerves of those around me. Again we are reminded of the digital literacies and “tones” when we appear either on paper or online.  Double dot the i’s and double cross the t’s.  Secondly all ideas will be aired in department meetings, so that others may join in the professional discussion and decision-making process as part of having a cohesive team. I am extremely fortunate to have three others on my team (also male) who all have over tens years of experience a piece, both teaching and in IBO (Australians & South African).  As an example of success, when reflecting on the year it was decided that I would be in charge of the documentation for a new Year 8 (Canadian Grade 7) “Autobiography” unit. I am to replace one “Tales with a Twist” that was too similar to the Year 7 (Canadian Grade 6) “Horror Stories.”  Plus another colleague is going to be in charge of finding new texts for the Year 9 (Canadian Grade 8)“Travel Writing” unit, as the current novella was unpopular by all.

By applying my thinking skills critically I was able to recognize and approach my complex problem, and make a reasoned decision (and not punching my Head in the face). I then communicated and expressed my ideas and information confidently in order to achieve an agreeable compromise. I worked effectively and willingly in collaboration with others on my team. I acted with principles, integrity, and honesty, with a strong sense of respect for my team and students learning. I took responsibility for my actions and the consequences that accompanied them. I was open-minded as I tried to understand and appreciate my Heads’ perspectives. I am willing to grow from this experience.

I decided to be the bigger person; and by using my inner IBO Learner Profile I was able to achieve some success, a positive end of year, and God willing (Enshalla) a good fresh start to the New Year this August. I love my school and would like to be renewed for another two years. Not to mention the fact that my Head has a serious significant other now, and I don’t think that I will be getting rid of him anytime soon.  Nod to God, with a big Buddha – Zen breath, my mother on speed dial, and a bacon cheeseburger from Dean & Deluca’s on stand by, all will work out well.

Dear Classmates,

I am still undecided about what to do for my final project. I am more than happy to help the “Inquiry Based Learning” group though. I could also look into some of the upcoming changes in the IBO MYP as my “aside” if need be…

Confused as ever

JL 🙁