IB Americas enewsletter December 2010

IB Americas December enewsletter Sixth Edition Welcome to the December 2010 edition of the IB Americas enewsletter Dear Educator, Welcome to the December edition of the IB Americas enewsletter.

As we end a year full of change, I would like to thank each and every one of you for your ongoing support and patience throughout the year as we settled into our new home-the IB Americas Global Centre-in Bethesda, Maryland,USA. I assure you that we continue to be focused on providing more high-quality services to you and your school community. As such, I am pleased to announce that the IB has recently updated its authorization and evaluation processes in order to make the processes simpler to understand, consistent over time and across the IB world, and to further enable schools to have the support they need throughout their relationship with the IB. This edition of our enewsletter contains inspiring stories from IB communities in the United States, Argentina, Mexico and Ecuador. For the Primary Years Programme (PYP), we learn about St. Andrew School’s journey toward PYP authorization in Florida, USA, and how that journey has created a more cohesive faculty, better prepared to serve the learning needs of their students. St. George’s College North in Argentina gives us a more in-depth understanding of how to integrate interdisciplinary learning within the framework of the Middle Years Programme, and demonstrates the final product via video. Instituto Jefferson de Morelia in Mexico shows us how creativity, action, service (CAS) projects enable Diploma Programme students to reach out to the less fortunate within their communities. Finally, Colegio Británico Internacional in Ecuador explains how the implementation of the continuum of all three programmes supports internationalmindedness, inquiry, and cooperation in the interest of creating a more peaceful world.

My hope is that this enewsletter will serve as a resource for you in implementing and offering IB programmes to your students.

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© International Baccalaureate Organization 2010

As always, I welcome your feedback and your ideas. Please do not hesitate to contact me at iba.director@ibo.org.

We wish you a joyous holiday season and look forward to supporting you in the new year.

Warm Regards, Drew Deutsch IB Americas Director

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IB Primary Years Programme: The Journey

By Duncan Hossack, Head of Lower School, Saint Andrew's School, Boca Raton, Florida, USA When we first began to investigate the International Baccalaureate programmes, their suitability for our school and the path to authorization, we spoke with many people at different schools and in diverse roles. One word that kept reappearing was “journey”. In the context of our Lower School we were advised “Be patient. Look upon this as a journey to understanding”. Teachers tend to like things to be well planned and well understood in advance and this concept did not sit well with all. As I write, our Upper School has received authorization for its Diploma programme, and the Middle and Lower Schools are well along the path to authorization for the Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Primary Years Programme (PYP). The word “journey” now seems most appropriate for where we have been and where we are going. In this article I will review some of the highlights of our PYP journey in the hope that it will give encouragement to those schools about to undertake a similar trip.

Saint Andrew’s is a leading independent school located on an 85 acre campus in Boca Raton, Florida, USA. Founded in 1962 by the Episcopal School Foundation, Saint Andrew’s enrols 1300 students- approximately 600 in Upper School (9-12), 240 in Middle School (6-8) and 460 in Lower School (JK-5). We are fortunate to have 100 upper school resident students from around the world living on our campus.

Our most recent strategic plan was unveiled in 2008. One of the strategic issues that we believed should drive us over the following four years was “Educating students to understand and engage with an ever changing world”. That driver led to the development of one of our three strategic goals: “Inspiring Excellence. Saint Andrew’s School will discover, develop and promote forward thinking JK-12 teaching and learning practices that equip and inspire students to become engaged and responsible participants in a diverse and ever changing world.” The pursuit of this strategic goal led us to IB and the journey began from there.

Our first job was to visit other PYP schools to see what the programme was all about. We were welcomed by both public and independent schools in our South Florida neighbourhood, and we visited a number of schools in Canada to provide us with a broader perspective. We noticed that the PYP was flexible and could be successfully adapted to different demographic and academic settings. Our next job was to arrange training for all 60 of our Lower School faculty members. We sent teachers to Tampa, Boston, Miami and Los Angeles. Our most successful training was an onsite session in which we were mentored by two excellent trainers who tailored their teaching to our particular experience.

In selecting a PYP coordinator we weighed the advantages of hiring an experienced PYP educator from another school or developing an internal candidate. We went with the second option and selected a candidate who was widely trusted and respected by the school community.

Our coordinator learned on the job as she led the preparation of application A. We were also given a consultant who has proven valuable to us. She has been responsive to our reports and advised us when we needed direction.

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We have spent the past year working together to write our planners. We have tried to be creative in offering planning time to our faculty, and the teachers have gone above and beyond.

Throughout this process, our six teachers at each grade level have greatly improved their cooperative planning skills. One positive aspect of the planning is that all teachers learned a consistent educational language. When we speak of transdisciplinary units of inquiry or international-mindedness, we share a common understanding of the words and their implication for our practice.

We chose to study two books together over the year. While most of us had read Wiggins and McTighe’s Understanding by Design a decade ago, we reread it in the light of our PYP training and saw the connections. We read John Barell’s Why are School Buses Always Yellow?, which focuses on teaching for inquiry in the elementary school. As a part of our faculty meetings, we asked faculty to get together in groups to present their findings. These presentations were one of the highlights of our year and, beyond promoting understanding, served to further a sense of teamwork and togetherness.

At the outset we had decided that we wanted to spend two years in preparation between applications A and B. We are confident that our students will be well served by the longer and more in depth preparation time that we have dedicated to putting our PYP journey.

We are aiming to submit application B in the spring of 2011, and to have an accreditation visit in the fall of 2011. I do not therefore know whether all of our work will lead to successful authorization, but I can assure those of you contemplating this process that it has proven to be a journey characterized by high energy and hard work. The journey had its bumps and unseen diversions, but has been a journey in which expert guides are always available to keep us on the right path. With their guidance, we are emerging as a more united and cohesive faculty, even better prepared to serve the learning needs of our students.

IB Middle Years Programme: Interdisciplinary understanding in the context of learning

By Raul Pittavino, Secondary School Principal, IB Middle Years Programme, St. George’s College North, Buenos Aires, Argentina Interdisciplinary understanding has emerged as one of the most effective methods of building new ways of learning, contributing as well to extending the disciplinary contexts that are contained within it. However, for a number of reasons, the concept of interdisciplinary learning is more widely accepted in research circles than it is in the field of education, which prompts us to reflect deeply upon the current state of teaching, how it is structured, and what it means in light of the demands of the modern world.

What does interdisciplinary understanding do for learning contexts? Interdisciplinary understanding makes it possible to integrate content, methodologies, and specific languages that were previously disconnected and, by doing so, expands the processes of synthesis which, more often

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than not, stretch beyond the schooling process itself. To be able to understand a phenomenon as complex as the evolution of Latin American identities and their rebirth at the verge of the bicentennial may actually be unachievable within traditional learning contexts. However, integrating ways of thinking from different disciplines makes it possible to generate a deeper understanding of these matters and, more importantly, makes it possible for even more in depth questions to be posed.

How is an interdisciplinary unit created? An interdisciplinary unit needs to serve a purpose; it must respond to a need. The central theme of the unit has to be multifaceted and one needs to have a multidimensional understanding of these facets to decide which areas of interaction will provide the necessary data that, together with the learning organizers, will ultimately create an ideal learning experience.

The Port Cities of Latin America (Ciudades Puerto de LatinoamĂŠrica) project was created within the framework of the Middle Years Programme with the intention of establishing work spaces in schools for the interdisciplinary understanding of these phenomena to later transfer the experience to the educational communities developed in other large coastal cities in Latin America. First of all, we ask ourselves to what extent our students know the city they live in and to what point a port city in Latin America represents a cultural and historical synthesis. These are complex questions, and it is clear that all of the answers cannot possibly come from a single discipline.

Which disciplines should be integrated? To begin with, those knowledge access points which require specific information—for example, city planning or immigration processes—need to be clearly established. Then, once those elements that can be creatively extended and the necessary research and its application through analysis and related techniques are identified, the various disciplines will begin to make their own naturally balanced connections.

For example, in an earlier project called Latin American Cultures (Culturas latinoamericanas), the disciplines fell into place around the construction of an indigenous musical instrument. While physics provided the calculations necessary to tune the instrument, music, through the application of the pentatonic scale, and visual arts, through the study of Andean iconography, made the instrument functional. The historical and social contexts were defined by contributions from history and geography. Methodologically, applying the creative cycle, which back then was the same for arts tasks and technology and design technology projects within the framework of the IB Middle Years Programme, was very important in establishing a work dynamic.

How does interdisciplinary education fit within a traditional disciplinary context? The current system of teaching is not prepared for interdisciplinary learning, operating instead within a discipline-based organizational structure. Before starting, all elements that might be able to be transformed into suitable contexts for interdisciplinary learning need to be identified.

In Latin American Cultures, workshops were set up to make an indigenous musical instrument in which students worked alongside teachers from various disciplines. In Port Cities of Latin America, in addition to two trips with exploratory itineraries led by teachers from several different disciplines, there will be three library research sessions in which interdisciplinary links will be reinforced.

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Why is it advantageous to teach and learn in an interdisciplinary context? An interdisciplinary focus gives meaning to teaching, allowing teachers and students to develop a special interest in the object of study. Students are able to handle more content from several different disciplines and use it to solve problems, create or recreate objects, and answer crucial questions. When these elements are put together in a balanced context, the practices that follow usually guarantee a positive experience for the students.

Interdisciplinary knowledge is a new concept, as are the flexible disciplinary relations that lead to it. Therefore, interdisciplinary knowledge adds a different dimension to the teaching discipline, while also guarding against the repetitiveness that can result from the fractioning of learning contexts.

How many disciplines should be involved? It is best to address the knowledge access points and to bear in mind the research and expansion needs of the central theme. Note that in order to propose an interdisciplinary understanding context, it is important for the theme to be connected to a relevant issue. It is also important to clearly establish what the logical deductions and what the disciplinary statistical inferences will be, as well as to outline the creative extensions that will take place throughout the unit. These elements will indicate which disciplines, when joined together, will be capable of solving the multifaceted problem at hand.

Does interdisciplinary knowledge exist? When the unit on Latin American Cultures was taught, we created a very interesting environment in which we were able to achieve interdisciplinary understanding. The interdisciplinary classes mentioned earlier allowed students to work with each and every one of the subject teachers as they moved towards building a new type of understanding. Through this learning context, they were able to work on creating a folkloric musical instrument while building their integrative understanding, ultimately allowing them to see how knowledge is interrelated, one of the objectives of the Middle Years Programme.

Is interdisciplinary learning a discipline? The way teachers teach is also considered content. An interdisciplinary perspective helps obtain a multidimensional focus because of the number of knowledge access points involved and is, therefore, an effective methodology to answer the questions and solve the problems of the modern world. Once teaching goes beyond disciplinary learning, integrative understanding is built. In Latin American Cultures, constructing a cultural object made it possible for us to find meaning in its esthetic, technological, and anthropological synthesis. In Port Cities of Latin America, integrative understanding helps us interpret a culture created in different social-historic stages.

How do we know that interdisciplinary learning is taking place? Without entering into a debate on current assessment practices, we will try to answer the questions that many teachers have about how an interdisciplinary unit is assessed.

To begin with, and in compliance with the requirements of our current teaching system, teachers need to make their assessments within the flexible disciplinary context of interdisciplinary understanding.

On a deeper integrative level, the unit coordinator needs to propose demonstrations of understanding that show whether interdisciplinary learning has been achieved.

Interviews, multimedia presentations, essays, exhibitions at educational fairs or school assemblies, or written tasks have proven to give the best results.

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The Latin American Cultures and Port Cities of Latin America interdisciplinary units were developed in collaboration with the Harvard Graduate School of Education within the framework of the IB Middle Years Programme.

The teachers who took part in the development of the interdisciplinary projects at St. George’s College North are: Fabricio Cardozo Massa (Technology) – María Alejandra Pérez (Arts) – Sebastián Jaroszwicz (Physics) – Karina Perone (Physics) – Jorgelina Rodríguez Becerra (History) – Enrique Rodger (Community and Service and Technology) – Carina Zabaleta (Geography and Environments) – Giles Hopkirk (Geography) – Raúl Pittavino (development and coordination).

IB Diploma Programme: The gift of smiles

By Selenne Yunnuen Piñon Esquivel, Coordinator, IB Diploma Programme, Instituto Jefferson de Morelia, Morelia, Mexico In Mexico, El Día Del Niño is the day in which we celebrate all children, regardless of their social or physical circumstances. Children are considered Mexico’s future, and for this reason it is very important that we provide them with an education based on the development of their whole being.

In addition to developing future professionals with a high level of education, the International Baccalaureate at Instituto Jefferson seeks to develop the students’ social and humanitarian awareness in the communities where they live.

With this in mind, our school organized La Feria de los Sueños (Dream Fair). Various organizations were invited to bring their children to the event to enjoy a day dedicated exclusively to them.

The students in our school community raised the funds necessary for the fair to take place.

Students dressed as characters from animated films welcomed visitors from each of the organizations to the fair. The children were encouraged to play and enjoy outdoor activities that had been planned for them, including a raffle, moonbounce, horseback rides, fishing, and soccer.

The children who we work with in our creativity, action, service (CAS) activities (children with cancer, children living in extreme poverty, and children with disabilities) were present thanks to organizations such as Ayuda Inmediata, Banco de Alimentos, Programa Lazos, and Apac.

The event concluded with the projection of the animated film Madagascar, sponsored by the Cinépolis group, who also gave away hats and t-shirts to everyone in attendance.

Once again, the Jefferson family was pleased to have achieved its goal: giving the gift of smiles to those who need it most.

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IB Continuum: Improving education to create a more peaceful world

By Benjamín Tobar, Head of School, Colegio Británico Internacional, Quito, Ecuador At the Colegio Británico Internacional, we have had years of experience getting to know the philosophy and attributes of the Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme, and Diploma Programme. One characteristic that has stuck out to us throughout our time involved with the programs is the strength of guidance given to IB World Schools by the International Baccalaureate. Over the years, we have seen just how much the IB World Schools share the mission, the vision, and the objectives of Colegio Experimental Británico Internacional, of which I am honoured to be Head of School.

Though this process of understanding, we have been able to use various technical tools in an effort to support internationalism, inquiry, and cooperation in the interest of creating a peaceful world that protects the ideals of childhood, youth, and of society in general.

When architects are hired to design a home, they understand the needs of their clients, offering them the best options to, in the end, create a design that fits both their vital necessities and the demands of the modern world, regardless of where the home is located.

The International Baccalaureate deserves a great deal of credit for having assumed a most demanding and complex task—to design and build three programmes that seek to improve the quality of education in every school on every continent. The continuum pyramid is a simple design that is well-organized and which capitalizes on the experiences gained in the three programmes in order to successfully and continuously improve education around the world.

Logically, I see the Primary Years Programme (PYP) for children aged 3 to 12 as the groundwork for the solid foundation that supports the Middle Years Programme (MYP), whose areas of interaction perform an indispensable methodological role. Reaching the top of this pyramid guarantees pre-university preparation for students, giving them a head start to in-depth research work, the scientific notions of six subjects, and the complementary theory of knowledge and creativity, action, service (CAS) programme which allow students to carry out actions that emphasize multiculturalism and the unique characteristics of different communities and peoples.

Colegio Experimental Británico Internacional is currently authorized to offer the PYP and the MYP, and is a candidate school for the Diploma Programme, having complied with the necessary procedures and requirements thus far. Our authorization visit is scheduled for the end of 2010 which means that we are very confident that we will soon be able to offer the full continuum, which I believe is the ultimate goal of all IB World Schools.

Professional Development Highlights IB Diploma Programme subject specific seminars Subject specific seminars introduce curriculum changes to experienced teachers. The faculty will

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include master teachers and those involved in the curriculum review. Staff from IB’s curriculum and assessment centre will be available to answer questions.

For 2011, groups 1 and 2 and economics are the revised subjects, with teaching beginning in September 2011 in the northern hemisphere, and February / March 2012 in the southern hemisphere. Subject specific seminars for groups 1 and 2 will take place in early 2011. A summary of changes to the curriculum is detailed in the document “Guidance for Language Provision in Groups 1 and 2” which can also be found on the occ.

The new guides for group 1 and 2 courses (first teaching September 2011) which were developed during the recent curriculum review, will be published in December 2010. To support the launch of these guides and provide valuable professional development for experienced teachers, each IB region will be hosting subject specific seminars in early in 2011. Subject specific seminars are unique category 3 workshops which are designed to address the curriculum changes to Diploma Programme courses as part of the review cycle.

2011 Dates and locations for subject specific seminars are as follows: 13-14 Jan, Monterrey, Mexico 17-18 Jan, Mexico DF, Mexico 20-21 Jan, Medellin, Colombia 3-4 Feb, Guayaquil, Ecuador 10-13 Feb, New Orleans, LA 18-21 Feb, Portland, OR

Dance - New group 6 course Dance will be offered as group 6 subject starting in September 2011, with first exams in May 2013. To support the transition from pilot to mainstream subject, there will be professional development opportunities in February 2011 (Category 1, New Orleans 10-13 February). Any school interested in offering dance should consult the online curriculum centre to review the guide and supporting materials, as well as the workshop descriptors that highlight participant expectations.

Global Professional Development team visits IB World Schools in Lima, Peru In September the IB Global Professional Development (PD) team travelled to Lima, Peru for an opportunity to visit IB World Schools and hear first-hand from heads of school, faculty, and students. The team enjoyed learning more about the International Baccalaureate in the context of Peru. The most important priority that resulted from the meeting was the need to clearly and regularly communicate the IB’s global alignment, improvements to current PD offerings, and new PD products and services.

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New Category 3 Workshop proposal process coming in 2011 In early 2011, we will begin rolling out the application process for new category 3 workshops. If you have considered developing a category 3 workshop for experienced IB practitioners, now is the time to begin thinking seriously about submitting a proposal. We will keep you informed about the launch of this new process, and we hope you will consider sharing your innovative ideas and perspectives with teachers around the world.

Workshops in Spanish The IB continues to add more workshops in Spanish, both face-to-face and online. Visit our website to download our 2011 calendar of online offerings. For information on face-to-face workshops, please visit ibo.org/events.

Announcements New application and authorization process The IB has recently completed a review of its authorization and evaluation processes. The new set of authorization and evaluation forms on the IB public website reflect the new processes. Key features include:

a long-term relationship with a consultant, to support schools all the way from the application for candidacy (formerly part A) to the application for authorization (formerly part B) a thorough reading followed by a written report (that your school will receive) of both applications and the evaluation self-study questionnaire by experienced IB practitioners application documents organized according to the Programme standards and practices guides to school authorization that identify practices and programme requirements that must be in place at authorization, helping schools prioritize their work clear professional development requirements linked to the authorization and evaluation processes in the case of the Diploma Programme, introduction of visits for programme evaluation to a number of schools every year a thorough and professional quality assurance process so that schools may feed back to the IB about both the authorization and the evaluation experience, allowing us to study and to improve our processes a simplified billing system

The changes are aimed at making the processes simpler to understand, consistent over time and across the IB world and most importantly further enabling schools to have the support they need throughout their relationship with the IB. There will be a period of transition towards the new processes. Further information can be found

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on the IB website at http://www.ibo.org/become/index.cfm and on the IB Americas webpages at www.ibo.org/iba/become.

Visual identity for IB World Schools

The password protection on the visual identity for schools pages on the public website has been removed. They are now freely accessible pages. Please use these pages to find information on maintaining the IB visual identity for IB World Schools, as well as to download IB World School logos, jpgs of programme models, computer and video screensavers, videos of the IB learner profile, and banners for your school’s website.

Diploma Programme courses online - update A total of eight different Diploma Programme courses are available online to students attending IB World Schools. Pamoja Education, in partnership with Virtual High School and Florida Virtual School, developed the following courses, delivered in September 2010: ITGS HL/ SL, math HL, business and management SL, economics HL/SL, Spanish ab initio and psychology SL. This course development and delivery initiative forms part of the Diploma Courses Online project that seeks to support delivery in existing IB World Schools and also to reach out to new communities of students who cannot physically attend an IB World School. Pamoja Education is responsible for working with interested IB World Schools to enrol students in the online course offerings. For more information about this opportunity, please visit the Pamoja Education website.

Further developments within the Diploma Programme Courses Online project are centred on initiating the Pilot IB Open World School project. An IB Open World School is an existing IB World School, which is additionally authorized to register and support, at a distance, external students who are unable to attend an IB World School. IB Open World Schools will provide access to online Diploma Programme courses, through IB approved course providers, to external students who will register for the online courses. Schools that become IB Open World Schools have the opportunity to “open their doors” to students outside of their school and to collaborate with other schools or communities in support of students’ education.

For further information please contact: dp.online@ibo.org.

Student Video Contest We are seeking to portray the ways in which the culture of an IB education fits in with the culture of your school community. How is the IB a part of your school culture? We invite you to submit videos of your students highlighting the culture of your school, and how that culture has been affected or enhanced by the International Baccalaureate. Videos should be under five minutes in length. The winning videos will be displayed on the IB Americas webpage.

Please send .mov, .mp4 or .wmv video files to iba.comms@ibo,org no later than 7 March 2011.

New IB World Schools in the Americas

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We are pleased to officially welcome schools that have been authorized to teach an IB programme between 1 August 2010 and 1 November 2010:

Primary Years Programme Colegio Alexander Bain Irapuato, Irapuato, Mexico Corwin International Magnet School, Pueblo, CO, United States Dr. Pablo Perez Elementary School, McAllen, TX, United States Fountain International Magnet School, Pueblo, CO, United States Frazier International Magnet School, Chicago, IL, United States Gimnasio Campestre Los Cerezos, Bogotรก, Colombia International School of Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY, United States Notre Dame Preparatory School, Waterford, MI, United States Palmdale Learning Plaza, Palmdale, CA, United States Richard J. Bailey Elementary School, White Plains, NY, United States The Woodlands Academy Preparatory School, Tomball, TX, United States Middle Years Programme Alameda High School, Lakewood, CO, United States Andrew G. Schmidt Middle School, Fenton, MI, United States Annapolis High School, Annapolis, MD, United States Annapolis Middle School, Annapolis, MD, United States Balmoral Hall School, Winnipeg, MB, Canada Baltimore City College High School, Baltimore, MD, United States Buist Academy for Advanced Studies, Charleston, SC, United States City High Middle School, Grand Rapids, MI, United States David Starr Jordan High School, Long Beach, CA, United States Deane Elementary School, Lakewood, CO, United States Discovery Middle School, Vancouver, WA, United States Elizabeth Hudson School, Long Beach, CA, United States Escola Americana de Belo Horizonte, Belo Horizonte, Brazil Fenton High School, Fenton, MI, United States Ferndale Middle School, High Point, NC, United States French American International School, Portland, OR, United States Green Lake School, Green Lake, WI, United States Jordan Freshman Academy, Long Beach, CA, United States Joseph E. Hill & Sampson L. Freedman Middle School, Philadelphia, PA, United States Kempenfelt Bay School Barrie, ON, Canada Kendrick Lakes Elementary, Lakewood, CO, United States La Citadelle International Academy of Arts and Science, North York, ON, Canada Lasley Elementary School, Lakewood, CO, United States

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Lexington Middle School, Fort Myers, FL, United States MacArthur Middle School, Fort Meade, MD, United States Meade Senior High School, Fort Meade, MD, United States Midlothian Middle School, Midlothian, VA, United States Mount Clemens High School, Mount Clemens, MI, United States Mount Clemens Middle School, Mount Clemens, MI, United States North Hills Preparatory, Irving, TX, United States O’Connell Middle School, Lakewood, CO, United States Otis L. Hairston, Sr. Middle School, Greensboro, NC, United States Owosso High School, Owosso, MI, United States Owosso Middle School, Owosso, MI, United States Patterson Elementary School, Lakewood, CO, United States Perry Lindsey Academy, Long Beach, CA, United States Rippowam Middle School, Stamford, CT, United States Saint James Academy, Monkton, MD, United States St. Michael’s Episcopal School, Richmond, VA, United States Stein Elementary School, Lakewood, CO, United States Tates Creek Middle School, Lexington, KY, United States The Codrington School, St. John, Barbados Wheatley School, St. Catharines, ON, Canada Wichita Public Schools - Gordon Parks Academy, Wichita, KS, United States William C. March Middle School, Baltimore, MD, United States Yorktown Middle School, Yorktown, VA, United States

Diploma Programme Colegio Fiscal 'Nueve de Octubre', Machala, Ecuador St. George's College, Lima, Peru Stockton Collegiate International Secondary School, Stockton, CA, United States

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