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Sciences: Implementing the MYP Curriculum – Gamze Pultz

Reflection

Before I attend this course, I was thinking that course is going to be the duplication of Science Subject Guide and is not going to be efficient for my teaching practice and I regretted not to apply category 2 course. However, I was wrong. On the contrary of my expectations, the course was so stimulating for me. First of all, I was the “most experienced MYP trainee” with my 8-month teaching experience in the group, other teachers were from non-MYP schools who are willing to join MYP or they just started to apply MYP curriculum in their schools. This is why, I had a chance to contribute to my group, to understand what I have learnt in the last 8 months by practice at IICS and  to do connections in between what we do at school and  MYP science curriculum. Everything that we do at school (lesson plans, assessments, projects etc) started to make more sense in terms of MYP taught/written/assessed curriculum, ATL and IB profile.

During the training, we have had chance to work in groups with different teachers all around the world for preparing unit plans, assessing tasks and preparing assessments. It was very inspiring to work with different people because they were basically non – MYP teachers and we all have different ideas but we compromised in the direction of MYP curriculum and even in a limited time, we managed to prepare good products.  

Although, course was on MYP sciences, most of the information could be applied to MYP Math, especially after reading MYP Math Subject Guide.

Action Items

After this course, I am willing to take active role for preparing unit and lesson plans and even assessment tasks for different subject fields.

  1. I will prepare one unit plan for 7th Grade Science Unit: Healthy Living and 7th Grade Math Unit: Angles, Lines, Parallelism and after that I want to share those with subject teachers to get their feedback.
  1. Be more involved in planning process especially for interdisciplinary units.
  1. Check OCC MYP Science and Math Documents to explore more about MYP.
  1. Ask library for PD resources to broaden my knowledge.
  1. Search about Eden Project and inform Science Department.
  1. Apply Category 2 Course Science and/or Math

Improvable areas for our school

During the conversations and sessions, I realized some points that we do not do or we do not do efficiently at our school. Of course, those points are discussable. However, I wanted to share those points with you as well.

  1. While talking with the teachers and the instructor I realize that the other schools have “the host country’s language” as a compulsory lesson for MYP. I think that this is what we miss at school and it avoids kids to be more integrated into community in Turkey.
  1. We need to assign more time for unit planning and interdisciplinary unit planning.
  1. It was a bit confusing for me since 6th grade is MYP 1st year but it is PYP at our school. There is nothing wrong with it but we need to plan science/math subject units aligned with PYP for avoiding any duplication or missing part in MYP curriculum.
  1. There should be more time for both horizontal and vertical planning.
  1. Applied trainings for new teachers. 🙂

Beneficial Documents (Especially for Biology)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1t5f-Eo3SHORWhmeDNRZi1QM0k?usp=sharing

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CEESA AC/AD Meetings & CEESA Conference – Dave Johnson

In mid-March, I had the opportunity to travel with Paul to Sofia to get a head start on the planning and networking required for the Athletics and Activities at IICS. The meetings were productive and involved a lot of discussion regarding the appropriateness of home stays and giving choice in terms of competition and sites for CEESA tournaments. It was also a great opportunity to get to know some of our Turkish counterparts in Ankara (BLIS) to start planning on how we can collaborate more with them and others in our host country as a way to have more competitions and experiences for our students.   Afterward, the conference itself also offered a range of workshops related to coaching and advising. Specifically, Lynn Kachmarik ran sessions that got at the heart of what we teach in our co-curriculars: resiliency and grit. While her workshops were focused on athletics, her ideas were easily translatable to the classroom and any competitive environment. The focus on holistic teaching and learning, or how to instil the values of hard-work, humility, and teamwork (not just athletic skills!) addressed a lot of what we’re trying to do at IICS. It was easy to make connections to how all of this fits with our Approaches to Learning and Learner Profile as an IB school.

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CEESA Learning Support Job A Like – Vivian Huizenga

This PD was a chance for me to compare IICS’s Learning Support structure with other CEESA schools. My goal was to have a 5 Year Plan prepared for how we can best meet the learning needs of our diverse student population. Main take-aways: 1) We will have a tier system next year with all tier 3 (high need) students placed first in the schedules. Tier 2 where there is space. Tier one takes place in the classroom. 2) Bigger school have more formalized systems for children to access learning support. 3) All teachers do their best and are highly flexible in meeting the needs of students.   Best sites:

External Supports Lighthouse programs–residential summer programs for LD children International Diagnostic Solutions online speech therapy, counselling, evaluations SEN teacher supports John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth  www.jhcty.org online and summer programs www.maximumpotential.eu  Mel Randall OT   Online Resourceswww.smarts-ef.org  executive functioning www.hoagies.gifted.orgwww.teachhandwriting.co.ukplanbook.com  on line lesson and plans smithsonianeducation.orgteacherspayteachers.comteacherspet.comMathwww.studyladder.com khan academy exemplars.orgaleks.com  assess what kids need ixl.comExecutive Functioningwww.attainmentcompany.com apps: timers, reminders, focus Executive Functions Curriculum   Organizationswww.theptc.com Eastern European SEN teachers facebook page NASP ASHA ISPA   Literacy open dyslexic dyslexie realspellers.org Sitton spelling whole language type spelling cengage.com  ELL, MS and HS academic language, grammar in context series reading vocabulary focus great writing series studyladder.compebblego.com Fontas and Pinnel reading intervention worworkskingston.com reading simplified saddlesback publishers www.sdlback.com  high interest low level reading Reading Eggs  great for EAL learners Newsela.com —azargrammar.com   news articles for kids,  can choose lexile levels Verbalizing visualizing Lindamod Bell Wilson Foundations

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CEESA Conference – Gary Percival

The title of the 27th annual CEESA conference in Sofia was ‘Transforming Education Through Communities’. In order to accommodate more flexibility, and to facilitate attendance at a wider variety of sessions, the conference was structured differently this year. In the first instance, there was no keynote speaker, and, instead, far more speakers and workshops were made available. As well as the more formal talks and presentations, we were encouraged to choose from a series of short workshops (anything from 20 minutes to half an hour in length), which were running simultaneously.

The concept of ‘community’ that was explored during the conference was very broad, as made evident from the scope of talks, workshops and presentations. For example, I attended the following: ‘Language Arts Team Discussions’, ‘Building Bridges: Building Communities’, ‘Learning Communities in the Literacy Classroom’, ‘Tired of Your Jive – Teaching Language Variation’, ‘Help for Refugees’, and workshops on multi-sensory learning and creating reading groups. One of my favorite sessions was by an IICS parent, Judy Saruhan, who explained ‘The Power of Empathy: Moving from Argument to Understanding and Collaboration’. The following is a selective sample of the many other sessions on the program: ‘PLC’s at Work in International Schools’, ‘Creating Communities of Inclusion’, ‘Collaborative Facilitation’, and ‘The Science of Mindfulness Practice in the School Setting’ by Tim Burns. Unfortunately, I had to miss some of the more intriguing – such as ‘Building Community Through Morning Announcements’ – owing to engagements elsewhere.

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The Reggio Emilia Approach To Education Study Group – Greta Hazlett & Charaine Poutasi

The Loris Malaguzzi International Center, Reggio Emilia Italy

Infant-toddler centres and preschools as privileged contexts to encounter and to know, along with the families, children with special rights.

  • Visits to municipal schools and infant-toddler centres and opportunities to meet with the Reggio educators in order to focus on their approach to support the development of children who learn differently.

Our essential questions include:

  • What values, beliefs and assumptions drive our work in becoming more inclusive?
  • What specific skills do we need to further develop as we become more inclusive of children with special rights?
  • What concepts to we need to understand or perhaps rethink in order to embrace the learning of all children?

The program involves an interweaving of theoretical talks and presentations of documentation of the experiences carried out in the Municipal Infant-toddler Centers and Preschools of Reggio Emilia, along with days set aside for visits to the municipal educational institutions.

During the evenings the NFI facilitators will lead reflection sessions focusing on what we are learning from Reggio children and how these learning’s may complement and/or challenge pre-existing beliefs and assumptions.

2 IICS teachers attended this Study Group Tour and conversation. It was an intensive 4 days of collaboration, observation and insight into one of the world leading education centres based on The 100 Languages of Children and the Reggio Philosophy. Along with Reggio educators, NFI (Next Frontier Inclusion) facilitators were part of the study tour headed by Kevin Bartlett (-a curriculum designer, initiator and early leader of the IB Primary Years Programme.) Teachers were involved in a daily forum led by Reggio educators focusing on the inclusion of children with special rights.

What are the principles and rights in internal context?

Focus: Concepts: Transfer and Reflection were the big ideas reflected on

How do these concepts affect education looking at inclusive, social and political rights for children?

How are these transferrable to any age from early education to high school?

How does the state education system become involved?

How are early child services made available to promote children with special rights?

Reggio Emilia: History and Background

Picture1

Recognition of Rights/Pedagogy

Marvel and discovery of rights as one with science, emotion and reasoning.

Discoverthe world and relations to the world

The child: Rights of the child and ways of children and the ways to learn: The 100 Languages of children

History of Reggio: 1860 unification of Italy

Education conderns the entire community.

Visibility of Children

Concepts related to this:

Rights

Parents

Network/Community

Intelligence

Responsibility of community

Differences: Starts from differences/VALUE

Value and subjectivity of each child

Relationships: more than 1 teacher-co-present with a group (Community concept) Adults can multiply opportunities for children

Daily: Multipilicity of Learning

Active: Ateleierista Multiple possibilities to entrance points to children

Different shapes of knowledge

Interdisciplinary: Greater possibility of construction of learning.

ENVIRONMENT

  • Curiosity
  • Inviting
  • Marvel
  • Wonder
  • Nature
  • Materials
  • Collaboration
  • Tools
  • Choice
  • Autonomy

What are the unexpected encounters?

How does movement become an exploration?

What are the strong relations between inside and outside?

What is the choice of relation and time?

What different points of view are created?

How does potential and choice impede capacity?

WORKING GROUPS: FOCUS ON TIME AND PROFESSIONAL DESIGN

  • Dialogue with parents
  • Documentation
  • Reflection
  • Parents of all children: Building community concept
  • Projects
  • Well-being of the child
  • Knowledge processes-intuition of research/thinking
  • 120 centres around the world
  • Council
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Association for Music in International Schools (AMIS) – Hannah Qualls & Andrea Spackman

The American School of Warsaw hosted the annual conference for the Association for Music in International Schools (AMIS) in November. During each block, there were sessions geared towards all types of music educators; vocal, instrumental, and general music. In addition, there were round table discussions about general music and performing ensembles in the IB.   I personally felt that the most meaningful workshops were presented by Samuel Wright, currently teaching in Vienna, on incorporating world music and technology in the classroom. His sessions on composition emphasized the importance of using the Orff, Dalcroze, or Kodaly approaches before introducing the technological components. This ensures that students have exposure to ideas that will inspire their work, and that the development of musical skills is still at the core of the tasks.

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Child Protection Workshop – Brenda St.George

I attended the Child Protection Workshop organized by the Council of International Schools. It was one of the four repeat workshops being offered during this academic year to help get schools up to speed with the new accreditation requirements in this area. It was attended by 115 teachers, counselors and administrators from all over the world.

It was a very useful two days with lots of current information relevant to international schools.

The Keynote on the first day was: Defining and Understanding the Causes and Practices of Sexual Abusers. It was delivered by Dr. Joe Sullivan who is a forensic psychologist and the Director of Behavior Analysis & Forensic Psychology. On the second day he addressed the topics of Managing Allegations and Investigating Abuse in a School Community.

The remaining time each of the two days was split between sessions for administrators and teachers/counselors.

I attended the following:

Comprehensive Sexuality Education delivered by Susie March, a registered nurse. She discussed the importance of having a sexual education program in the school as a preventative measure.

The next session I attended was led by Jordan Greenbaum, a doctor from the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children. She talked about Identifying Abuse and handling Initial Disclosures.

Another worship I went to was divided into three parts: Part One was led by Tim Gerrish, Founder of International Child Protection Advisors, and dealt with issues around Virtual Abuse: Risks and Realities. Part Two was about Inclusive Comprehensive Sexuality Education and Part Three addressed Working with Families in Diverse Cultural Settings to Discuss Abuse. I wish there had been more time for this last part as it was definitely relevant to international schools.

The final Keynote was given by Dr. Doug Walker, a clinical psychologist who discussed the Impact of Child Trauma on Learning: Describing the Long Term Impact of Abuse on Educational Outcomes and Adult Life.

The final talk I went to was on Current Best Practices in the Treatment of Child and Adolescent Traumatic Stress.

It was a great networking opportunity and I was introduced to a number of good resources, some of which I have included in a folder on Google Drive – link below:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/16E03AZQ58WEEP7EFL7S0gKFwVhvXqFauH-b_MjXNRgg/edit?ts=583fcf90

Brenda St. George, Secondary Counsellor

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IB Cat 2 Economics – David Dachpian

I recently attended an IB category 2 Economics workshop in Brussels. I found the workshop to be highly productive and valuable as we discussed current and upcoming changes to the IB economics curriculum. The assessment moderation portion of the PD helped assure me that I was marking my students assessments correctly and not inflating their grade, accurately preparing them for the IB exam in May. Making connections and networking with other economics teachers, sharing and trading resources, and exchanging contact information in case I needed help or had questions was worth the entire trip.

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Environmental Systems and Societies – Maqbool Ahmed

I attended Environmental Systems and Societies workshop this month at Warwick University, England. It was one of the most productive PD sessions I attended so far this year. This workshop helped me to better understand the new curriculum and changes to the assessments. It was also a great opportunity to learn from other participants and exchange many useful resources. I am looking forward to put those wonderful ideas into practice and share with my colleagues.

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CEESA Business & Facility Managers Job a-like – Icten Arikan & Coskun Karakas

On the first day of the meeting, a detailed school tour was done. Facilities Managers have been told the technical and physical features of AISB.  We have visited classrooms, kitchen, labs, gym etc. FMs have asked a lot of questions to each other. Similar and different points have been shared with the advantages and disadvantages among the schools. Different points of views are very important to find a better way.

AISB has invested 150.000 Euro on the photovoltaic panels project. Head of BMS from Romstal Energy compan came and explain how the technology work, benefits of the project and the difference between solar panels and photovoltaic energy panels.

On the second day of the meeting a school tour was done again mostly for the technical rooms. Especially budget is the hardest problem for the FMs that must be overcome. Security issues were the subject and all the headlines were given below. Facility Manager of Bucharest is going to send a table to all FM in order to fill their school’s datas and facts. Two company representatives came from Building Control (Siemens) and Metrici. They have explained about ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) for security.

Headlines:

  • Most of the International Schools have the BMS (Building Monitoring System) which enables to control every part of the building for heating, cooling, lighting or any other issues.
  • A lot of pictures have been taken. All of them was attached to the report to have idea about the other International schools.
  • AISB has lots of solar panels on the roof which provides hot water and energy saving. As IICS we have 3G (Green. Global, Generous) but only a unit of solar panels made by a student as a project.
  • American International School of Bucharest (AISB) solved the darkness of the corridors by putting more lights, opening sky windows on the roof and they have also used shiny, light coloured tiles on the corridors (see photos of the corridors).
  • Music rooms are covered with nonflammable soundproof material (see photos).
  • AISB does not have any heating problem in the gym like us. Because they have a separate heating and cooling systems for each section / building. The gym is also covered with the isolation material from outside façade and the windows are not as huge as our old gym (see photos of the gym).
  • They have a divider curtain made of net. It does not provide soundproof just divide the gym into two parts (see photos of the gym).
  • AISB also has a system for the acoustic control (cream cubic materials hanging on the ceiling and grey soundproof materials on the wall) in the gym  (see photos of the gym).
  • AISB has auto irrigation system all around the garden and FM emphasizes the advantage from manpower and flexibility of irrigation.
  • AISB has a pitch of natural grass and an artificial grass pitch.
  • Secondary lockers are metal like ours but they have a different locker system than ours. All the lockers have a lock with code. They do not have the same problems with us (see photos of the lockers).
  • Primary lockers are made of wood and they are all white (see photos of the lockers)
  • AISB does not have any sand area in the playground. All the playing surfaces are covered with stone and small tiny stones instead of sand (see photos).
  • All the gutters are connected to the main water storage and they collect rain water to use. That saves a huge amount of saving in a year as total amount. You may see the photos.
  • Sewage pipes and water drainage system is incredible large and enough to get in when it is needed (see photos).
  • AISB has bunker (see photos) in the campus but they are not planning to use it since the parents come to campus in a short time. It is an obligation according to Romanian Law. But it might be a good idea for us, we had better to talk on.
  • All the windows are covered with myllar at AISB.
  • All the parent cars have sticker and the stickers are changed every year in shape and colour. Stickers have validity and number on and the expiry date is also written on the sticker (see the photos). The number of sticker and plate are checked randomly by the security.
  • Stickers are not given to the motorcycles since they are easily to be stolen and hard to see the sticker.
  • In case of emergency, the average of evacuation time is between 2 and 3 minutes at other schools.
  • Every classroom, on the ground floor, has a fire exit in itself.
  • Every classroom door has a window on it.
  • Reception area was built last year and the office is totally bulletproof. Covered with steel inside and myllar on the glass.
  • Lockdown is also in the safety procedure at Helsinki, Sofia. They keep the door keys in an envelope in a small bag, not on the doors. The envelope is also sealed. There is also a luminous vest for the teacher.
  • Some schools have magnetic (electronic) card systems for entrance and for some doors. The FMs are very satisfied with the card system and recommends to use.
  • US and British Consulates send patrol to school at AISB, at Sofia and at Serbia during the education year everyday at different times and randomly.
  • ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) system is very important for the schools and enhance the level of security. The system gives chance to find out that how many and which cars are in the campus at the present. Only the authorized cars are able to come in and the others have to stop and checked by security. Parents are asked to inform the school if the car is stolen or sold and the car is erased from the system by security. Although the car is authorized to enter the campus they are still checked with the mirror by security. The system keeps the records, gives statistics, shows how long the car stayed in the campus, etc. Authorized staff is able to reach the system via tablet, mobile phone, PC etc. Moreover, since you have data about the past it allows you to predict for the future (you can compare special days such as International Days, holidays etc)
  • AISB has concrete & steel barriers along the fences. Steel bars are full of concrete and the infrastructure is much more strong than it seems. The project was shared and explained by FM of AISB with the drawings.
  • There are also steel barriers in the entrance of the campus which allows to check more safety and directs the cars under the security control (See the photos)
  • AISB has the security inhouse and they do not have a CCTV guy to watch the cameras which the FMs are against actually.
  • AISB has a fire road all around the campus to let the fire department, ambulance etc come in campus in case of emergency. 10.2016
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