IB DP
Teaching Philosophy:
IB focuses on developing inquiring, knowledgeable and caring people to become active, compassionate lifelong learners. This is achieved by placing a strong emphasis on international-mindedness, acceptance of diversity, maintaining a community focus and being an all-around well balanced learner.
I submit to this philosophy fully and extend it to my own teaching practice in numerous ways. I place great emphasis on students doing meaningful work both in and out of the classroom. This will foster a love of learning that will last long after the years of formal education are completed and create people who are learners for life.
I believe global awareness starts with self awareness which can be demonstrated by showing respect to yourself and creating a respectful and cooperative relationship with others in your class. That awareness can then be extended to the entire school, the community at large, your country of residence and the world in its entirety.
IB Core:
The IB core is comprised of Theory of Knowledge, CAS (Creativity, Action, Service), and Extended Essay. These all support the IB philosophy and mission statement and help IB learners expand their knowledge beyond base curriculum subject matter.
Theory of Knowledge is a key component to building open-mindedness, promoting the awareness and acceptance of diversity, enabling deeper analysis of subjects and encouraging higher level thinking.
CAS: Creativity requires students to actively participate in the arts in a manner that is outside their core areas of study so as to expand their understanding and appreciation of something new. Action speaks to the mantra of “healthy bodies, healthy minds” and informs students of the importance of caring for their physical state as a way of respecting themselves. Service requires that students serve their community where needed in an effort to expand their learning beyond the classroom and help put their own lives and priorities into perspective.
Extended Essays provide students with an opportunity to build a lifelong skill. Their work in conducting research, using analytical thinking, working with an advisor and writing a formal thesis-like report will serve them well in their post-secondary studies and beyond.
Teaching Strategies:
Concept Based Learning involves selecting an overarching idea as the central theme from which units and lessons are designed. The central theme can bridge ideas across different fields of study and help develop a sense of connectedness across content areas and give real world meaning to the lessons.
Understanding By Design requires teachers to start lesson planning by identifying the end goal. Once the desired learning outcomes have been established then the assessment tasks can be defined. As a final step, the instructional activities are designed with the assessment criteria and learning goals in mind.
Inquiry is a teaching strategy which is student driven. By independently formulating questions and investigating their answers students build new knowledge and understandings that is more meaningful to them. The results are a deeper understanding of the material and a development of problem solving methods that are transferrable to many other life scenarios.
Mindshift converts students from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset by focusing on the learning instead of their performance, stressing the importance of hard work and perseverance, and learning how to work through difficulties and setbacks as they occur. A growth mindset gives students the confidence to tackle new challenges with a positive attitude and know that their mistakes will serve as learning opportunities.
Project Based Learning allows for the implementation of real world working environments. Through a collaboration with their peers students engage in critical thinking to seek answers to questions or conduct research. The process is student centred, interactive and produces better knowledge results than would be available by a single teacher.
Why Teach IB?
It is my desire to teach IB because its philosophy correlates closely with my own in producing lifelong learners who identify as global citizens and value diversity. IB students identify themselves as a learning community and that community of learners is something I want to be a part of and help to nurture. The challenge and rigour of the IB curriculum also attracts a more serious-minded student who is vested in their education and that is the type of student I can help to elevate and mould into a responsible global citizen. Finally, the opportunities to connect to the global community are readily built into the IB methodologies and I am keen to join them.
Reading Reflections: AQ Teacher’s Guide to Learning Inquiry:
Chapter One: Building a Culture of Inquiry
I have only experienced inquiry-based learning once in a research class I had in my human geography undergraduate class. In the first week of class we were taught about research strategies and picked topics of our choice for a semester long project. After that we were in the field, we didn’t even have to come to class- only weekly seminars that reviewed methods of research and encourage peer feedback. We had to deliver a report on the last day of the semester with original research on anything that was human geography related. I will always remember this project because I was so nervous to be responsible for my own learning. Yet, it turned out to be an awesome opportunity to engage in the world in an academic and inquiry-based way. The statement in chapter 1 ” research suggests that using inquiry-based learning with students can help them become more creative, more positive and more independent” rings very true my experience with inquiry, especially as it relates to becoming a more independent learner. I have always been successful in traditional schooling, so it was a hard adjustment for me to own the responsibility of my education. However, self-responsibility of the assignment became the most meaningful aspect to me because it opened my eyes to the possibility of post-graduate studies.
This chapter also highlights that success with inquiry-based learning often means a shift in school culture. Over the last couple of months visiting different schools around Vancouver I have definitely been able to see the difference from one school to the next regarding attitudes to inquiry-based learning. At Mulgrave, for example, inquiry-based learning is a priority and a point of pride for the students and teachers, while many other schools are still very traditional with lecture based classrooms. Having many teachers on board with inquiry makes the shift from tradition to inquiry a much smoother transition.
Lastly, the selling feature of inquiry-based learning for me is the transferable skills that are obtained during the process. Through “learning to learn” students develop a foundational set of skills that can be taken with them throughout their educational and personal lives. The content of the topics taught in classrooms becomes less important while the processes of developing questions, generating topics, and participating in self-reflections increase in value. Inquiry-based learning neatly fits within my personal philosophy of teaching and what I deem best practice in education.
Reading Reflections: AQ Teacher’s Guide to Learning Inquiry
Chapter Two: A Model for Inquiry
This chapter was useful for me because it explicitly broke down the core components of the Inquiry Model, including evaluating, sharing, planning, creating, retrieving and processing an inquiry project. The model walks teachers through scaffolding questions, giving instructions, gauging student’s feelings, and speaking in a common language of inquiry. I found the teaching tips such as “teaching students how to compare, contrast and synthesize data helps them through the disorder that can occur in this phase” in regards to the creating phase or “teachers build on their students’ feelings of confidence and teach the skills and strategies that enable students to narrow down or focus their creation” in regards to the sharing phase helpful as a new teacher because it lets me prepare for the sorts of challenges I can expect in different stages of inquiry. Learning the inquiry process and model, helps teachers and students develop a broad and open view of inquiry, rather than a very limited and narrow version. Inquiry is not just about finding the answers to other people’s questions for teacher satisfaction, rather inquiry is the process of being puzzled about something, generating your own questions/ ideas and using information to satisfy their own interests. The inquiry model is based on feed loops that dig deeper into the topic rather than simply acquiring knowledge in a top-down, hierarchical way.
Reading Reflections: AQ Teacher’s Guide to Learning Inquiry:
Chapter 13: Professional Growth
On January 16th, the pre-practicum visit day, I realized how important it is to consider the cognitive development of students. My grade 9 summative assignment is an inquiry-based group project that encourages abstract and critical thinking. However the teacher-librarians walked me though this assessment and discussed the importance of scaffold inquiry, especially before grade 10. I think it is easy to misunderstand the level of abstraction that students can handle especially as a new teacher teaching multiple classes at different grade levels. While it is a natural for students to experience feelings of confusion and frustration during the inquiry process it is not suppose to be a negative and defeating experience. As a new teachers I feel like I am better prepared to use and practice the inquiry model/ concept based learning because I am in the IBDP cohort, however I think it will take more experience in the school setting before I am truly comfortable and able to make creative concept based lessons.
I liked this set of readings because it looked at inquiry as a process with steps and stages, rather than just a concept to be put into practice. This chapter explains that “constructivist learning theory supports a view of inquiry-based learning as an opportunity for students to experience learning through inquiry and problem solving, characterized by exploration and risk taking, by curiosity and motivation, by engagement in critical and creative thinking, and by connections with real-life situations and real audiences ”. As we have focused on our own personal teaching philosophy this week I feel like this chapter has highlighted many of the elements that fit with mine. Inquiry engages learners, asks them to think about their learning process and fosters critical and creative thinking- this is what I believe underpins good teaching practice.
Reading Reflections: AQ Teacher’s Guide to Learning Inquiry:
Chapter 4: Designing Inquiry Activities
Chapter 4 discusses the process of inquiry- from the beginning stages of planning to accepting the final product. I found this chapter helpful because it emphasized the role of teachers to participate in collaboration with each other in the inquiry process. While at my practicum school I realized how important it is to collaborate with teacher-librarians in particular- especially as a new teacher. The inquiry process asks students to find their own resources and generate their own questions therefore it is important that students are able to access good resources with ease, particularly for younger grades when the inquiry process is new and already challenging.
When reading this chapter on the inquiry process I kept thinking “oh, in geography we could do this, that and the other!” however in social studies (which is not my area of expertise yet) I had a harder time thinking about how I could integrate inquiry skills into the curriculum. The reading suggests that teachers need to understand the skills involved in inquiry, be committed to student-centered learning, plan for the inquiry process and thinking skill development, be flexible in teaching styles, assess the inquiry skills that students have and need, are aware of children’s needs and capabilities, and adapt to new findings in learning theory and child development. While these are all helpful suggestions what I am most interested to learn is where the key entry point are in the social studies curriculum especially in grade 8 and grade 9. In my practicum I will be teaching about the Middle Ages in social studies 8, where I’m finding it hard to think of a meaningful inquiry project, however in my socials 9 course I am teaching the industrial revolution which I find it easy to incorporate inquiry projects, especially since we are now in a technology revolution in which the students can relate to. I think that all topics could be conductive to inquiry projects, for me however I have a much easier time creating them when I (as the teacher) know the subject matter well.
IB DP
Teaching Philosophy:
IB focuses on developing inquiring, knowledgeable and caring people to become active, compassionate lifelong learners. This is achieved by placing a strong emphasis on international-mindedness, acceptance of diversity, maintaining a community focus and being an all-around well balanced learner.
I submit to this philosophy fully and extend it to my own teaching practice in numerous ways. I place great emphasis on students doing meaningful work both in and out of the classroom. This will foster a love of learning that will last long after the years of formal education are completed and create people who are learners for life.
I believe global awareness starts with self awareness which can be demonstrated by showing respect to yourself and creating a respectful and cooperative relationship with others in your class. That awareness can then be extended to the entire school, the community at large, your country of residence and the world in its entirety.
IB Core:
The IB core is comprised of Theory of Knowledge, CAS (Creativity, Action, Service), and Extended Essay. These all support the IB philosophy and mission statement and help IB learners expand their knowledge beyond base curriculum subject matter.
Theory of Knowledge is a key component to building open-mindedness, promoting the awareness and acceptance of diversity, enabling deeper analysis of subjects and encouraging higher level thinking.
CAS: Creativity requires students to actively participate in the arts in a manner that is outside their core areas of study so as to expand their understanding and appreciation of something new. Action speaks to the mantra of “healthy bodies, healthy minds” and informs students of the importance of caring for their physical state as a way of respecting themselves. Service requires that students serve their community where needed in an effort to expand their learning beyond the classroom and help put their own lives and priorities into perspective.
Extended Essays provide students with an opportunity to build a lifelong skill. Their work in conducting research, using analytical thinking, working with an advisor and writing a formal thesis-like report will serve them well in their post-secondary studies and beyond.
Teaching Strategies:
Concept Based Learning involves selecting an overarching idea as the central theme from which units and lessons are designed. The central theme can bridge ideas across different fields of study and help develop a sense of connectedness across content areas and give real world meaning to the lessons.
Understanding By Design requires teachers to start lesson planning by identifying the end goal. Once the desired learning outcomes have been established then the assessment tasks can be defined. As a final step, the instructional activities are designed with the assessment criteria and learning goals in mind.
Inquiry is a teaching strategy which is student driven. By independently formulating questions and investigating their answers students build new knowledge and understandings that is more meaningful to them. The results are a deeper understanding of the material and a development of problem solving methods that are transferrable to many other life scenarios.
Mindshift converts students from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset by focusing on the learning instead of their performance, stressing the importance of hard work and perseverance, and learning how to work through difficulties and setbacks as they occur. A growth mindset gives students the confidence to tackle new challenges with a positive attitude and know that their mistakes will serve as learning opportunities.
Project Based Learning allows for the implementation of real world working environments. Through a collaboration with their peers students engage in critical thinking to seek answers to questions or conduct research. The process is student centred, interactive and produces better knowledge results than would be available by a single teacher.
Why Teach IB?
It is my desire to teach IB because its philosophy correlates closely with my own in producing lifelong learners who identify as global citizens and value diversity. IB students identify themselves as a learning community and that community of learners is something I want to be a part of and help to nurture. The challenge and rigour of the IB curriculum also attracts a more serious-minded student who is vested in their education and that is the type of student I can help to elevate and mould into a responsible global citizen. Finally, the opportunities to connect to the global community are readily built into the IB methodologies and I am keen to join them.
Reading Reflections: AQ Teacher’s Guide to Learning Inquiry:
Chapter One: Building a Culture of Inquiry
I have only experienced inquiry-based learning once in a research class I had in my human geography undergraduate class. In the first week of class we were taught about research strategies and picked topics of our choice for a semester long project. After that we were in the field, we didn’t even have to come to class- only weekly seminars that reviewed methods of research and encourage peer feedback. We had to deliver a report on the last day of the semester with original research on anything that was human geography related. I will always remember this project because I was so nervous to be responsible for my own learning. Yet, it turned out to be an awesome opportunity to engage in the world in an academic and inquiry-based way. The statement in chapter 1 ” research suggests that using inquiry-based learning with students can help them become more creative, more positive and more independent” rings very true my experience with inquiry, especially as it relates to becoming a more independent learner. I have always been successful in traditional schooling, so it was a hard adjustment for me to own the responsibility of my education. However, self-responsibility of the assignment became the most meaningful aspect to me because it opened my eyes to the possibility of post-graduate studies.
This chapter also highlights that success with inquiry-based learning often means a shift in school culture. Over the last couple of months visiting different schools around Vancouver I have definitely been able to see the difference from one school to the next regarding attitudes to inquiry-based learning. At Mulgrave, for example, inquiry-based learning is a priority and a point of pride for the students and teachers, while many other schools are still very traditional with lecture based classrooms. Having many teachers on board with inquiry makes the shift from tradition to inquiry a much smoother transition.
Lastly, the selling feature of inquiry-based learning for me is the transferable skills that are obtained during the process. Through “learning to learn” students develop a foundational set of skills that can be taken with them throughout their educational and personal lives. The content of the topics taught in classrooms becomes less important while the processes of developing questions, generating topics, and participating in self-reflections increase in value. Inquiry-based learning neatly fits within my personal philosophy of teaching and what I deem best practice in education.
Reading Reflections: AQ Teacher’s Guide to Learning Inquiry
Chapter Two: A Model for Inquiry
This chapter was useful for me because it explicitly broke down the core components of the Inquiry Model, including evaluating, sharing, planning, creating, retrieving and processing an inquiry project. The model walks teachers through scaffolding questions, giving instructions, gauging student’s feelings, and speaking in a common language of inquiry. I found the teaching tips such as “teaching students how to compare, contrast and synthesize data helps them through the disorder that can occur in this phase” in regards to the creating phase or “teachers build on their students’ feelings of confidence and teach the skills and strategies that enable students to narrow down or focus their creation” in regards to the sharing phase helpful as a new teacher because it lets me prepare for the sorts of challenges I can expect in different stages of inquiry. Learning the inquiry process and model, helps teachers and students develop a broad and open view of inquiry, rather than a very limited and narrow version. Inquiry is not just about finding the answers to other people’s questions for teacher satisfaction, rather inquiry is the process of being puzzled about something, generating your own questions/ ideas and using information to satisfy their own interests. The inquiry model is based on feed loops that dig deeper into the topic rather than simply acquiring knowledge in a top-down, hierarchical way.
Reading Reflections: AQ Teacher’s Guide to Learning Inquiry:
Chapter 13: Professional Growth
On January 16th, the pre-practicum visit day, I realized how important it is to consider the cognitive development of students. My grade 9 summative assignment is an inquiry-based group project that encourages abstract and critical thinking. However the teacher-librarians walked me though this assessment and discussed the importance of scaffold inquiry, especially before grade 10. I think it is easy to misunderstand the level of abstraction that students can handle especially as a new teacher teaching multiple classes at different grade levels. While it is a natural for students to experience feelings of confusion and frustration during the inquiry process it is not suppose to be a negative and defeating experience. As a new teachers I feel like I am better prepared to use and practice the inquiry model/ concept based learning because I am in the IBDP cohort, however I think it will take more experience in the school setting before I am truly comfortable and able to make creative concept based lessons.
I liked this set of readings because it looked at inquiry as a process with steps and stages, rather than just a concept to be put into practice. This chapter explains that “constructivist learning theory supports a view of inquiry-based learning as an opportunity for students to experience learning through inquiry and problem solving, characterized by exploration and risk taking, by curiosity and motivation, by engagement in critical and creative thinking, and by connections with real-life situations and real audiences ”. As we have focused on our own personal teaching philosophy this week I feel like this chapter has highlighted many of the elements that fit with mine. Inquiry engages learners, asks them to think about their learning process and fosters critical and creative thinking- this is what I believe underpins good teaching practice.
Reading Reflections: AQ Teacher’s Guide to Learning Inquiry:
Chapter 4: Designing Inquiry Activities
Chapter 4 discusses the process of inquiry- from the beginning stages of planning to accepting the final product. I found this chapter helpful because it emphasized the role of teachers to participate in collaboration with each other in the inquiry process. While at my practicum school I realized how important it is to collaborate with teacher-librarians in particular- especially as a new teacher. The inquiry process asks students to find their own resources and generate their own questions therefore it is important that students are able to access good resources with ease, particularly for younger grades when the inquiry process is new and already challenging.
When reading this chapter on the inquiry process I kept thinking “oh, in geography we could do this, that and the other!” however in social studies (which is not my area of expertise yet) I had a harder time thinking about how I could integrate inquiry skills into the curriculum. The reading suggests that teachers need to understand the skills involved in inquiry, be committed to student-centered learning, plan for the inquiry process and thinking skill development, be flexible in teaching styles, assess the inquiry skills that students have and need, are aware of children’s needs and capabilities, and adapt to new findings in learning theory and child development. While these are all helpful suggestions what I am most interested to learn is where the key entry point are in the social studies curriculum especially in grade 8 and grade 9. In my practicum I will be teaching about the Middle Ages in social studies 8, where I’m finding it hard to think of a meaningful inquiry project, however in my socials 9 course I am teaching the industrial revolution which I find it easy to incorporate inquiry projects, especially since we are now in a technology revolution in which the students can relate to. I think that all topics could be conductive to inquiry projects, for me however I have a much easier time creating them when I (as the teacher) know the subject matter well.