This week I was given the opportunity to visit an IB public school and move around a variety of classrooms. It was really good for me to see how IB was displayed in the school in general as well as in the classrooms. I have attached some pictures which showcase some of my observations.
I also noticed that most of the classrooms had an “action cycle” on the walls. It is based on the simple idea of: Choose – Act – Reflect. This theme was shown throughout the classrooms in the public IB school while the focus in my practicum school is on the profiles and attitudes.
The one thing that I really enjoyed about visiting the school was to see all the grades and their learning levels. I went down from the 6/7 class down to Kindergarten by each grade level and got the chance to watch their capabilities each year. The interaction with the students has reaffirmed my decision to become a teacher and makes me wonder which grade level I would eventually like to teach (if I am even given the opportunity to choose in the current job market). I really interacted well with the older grades and had a bunch of good connections within the 5/6 split class that was taught by my IB cohort colleague.
I also got more exposure to the different environment in regards to parental involvement, special needs students, unions, and funding issues.
I really enjoyed this trip to an IB public school. IB has in the past been tarred with the ‘elitist’ brush and only for expensive independent schools. It was great to see how the core principles of IB were seen in a different school setting. While there were differences from my own practicum school – the key signs were there like you’ve pointed out – action cycles, programme of inquiry, even down to the language with the learner profile attributes commonly heard in teacher and student conversations. I look forward to visiting more IB schools to see their own takes on implementing the IB model.
As Fraser mentioned, IB has often been referred to as an elitist programme. However, if one were to consider the statistics of IB schools in the IB Americas region, one would find that an IB education is offered more in the public arena than the independent. An IB education is for all learners and it is the hope of many IB teachers in Canada that the PYP and MYP becomes more wide spread across many of our schools. It is teachers like you that can become advocates of the programme and share your experiences and insights. I am glad that you were able to see the many commonalities between schools. Those five essential elements will be present in every school, yet their expression may be different due to context. I had an opportunity to view the programme in several schools in Africa and it was reaffirming to see the same commitment to implementing the philosophy and pedagogy of IB. Look for a link to a paper I wrote on IB in the global context that may shed further light on this issue.