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IB Asia Pacific Newsletter

Quarter Four, 2007

Middle Years Programme

Review of /Areas of interaction/ and /Implementation and development of the programme /guides

The /Areas of interaction/ and /Implementation and development of the programme/ guides have been combined to become one volume. This document will be known as /MYP: From principles into practice/. The cycle of review meetings was concluded in early 2007. The final document will be published on the OCC in mid-2008 and will be available for purchase from the IB store. Combining these guides will effect a major change in documentation within the MYP and within schools. The guide aims to clarify areas of planning and delivering the MYP so that it is easier for teachers and administrators to understand. One aspect of change is that the guide will include a draft unit planner and a clear planning sequence. The IB Organization will not mandate use of the planner, but will mandate the planning process. This process takes into account best practice and current thinking in teaching for understanding.

Interdisciplinary teaching and learning

MYP staff have been working in collaboration with Harvard Project Zero (part of the Harvard Graduate School of Education) to produce a document that gives guidance to schools in interdisciplinary teaching and learning. This document combines research from Harvard Project Zero with case studies from MYP schools. The final document will be published on the OCC in mid-2008. It will also be available for purchase from the IB store.

Modified objectives

The MYP department has produced example modified objectives for years 1 and 3 of the programme, in each of the eight subject groups. These will be aligned with the published year 5 final objectives for each subject group. These documents will be published in mid-2008 on the corresponding subject pages of the OCC.

IB Asia Pacific MYP Networks

MYP Networks in our region have been busy since the start of the new school year organizing events and meetings aimed at supporting schools in the development of their Middle Years Programmes. These networks play an important role in helping practitioners further develop their understanding of the MYP.

As a result of connections made at the regional conference in September the South East Asian Network and the South China Network have set up active online discussion forums to coordinate their activities. 

In October the Indonesian MYP Network organized a job a like session that had 149 teachers from 10 different schools attended.

The network in Singapore recently had a meeting and is planning to hold a job a like session on 3 December hosted by the Australian International School and the group has plans to set up an online collaboration space.

The South China group has organized two community workshops with the second to be held on 3 December .

We greatly appreciate being kept informed of the various activities organized by MYP networks and would be happy to attend when possible.  Please give us plenty of advance warning.

 

A Report on the Job – Alike Session conducted at GMIS, Jakarta

On 29 Oct 2007, a Job-Alike session for Indonesian MYP schools was organized for the first time in Indonesia by the Indonesian MYP Coordinator’s Network.  A one-day programme hosted by the Gandhi Memorial International School, Jakarta, it attracted 149 participants from 10 different schools.


The main focus of the session was assessments. The whole group was divided into 7 subject groups namely Language B – English, Humanities, Mathematics, Sciences, Technology, Arts and Physical Education. The sessions were led by seven experienced MYP practitioners.


At his welcome address, Mr A.P. Singh, the principal of GMIS,

Jakarta commented that assessment of a student’s progress is a

real challenge and endeavours like this (Job – Alike) are in line

with the spirit of IBO’s theme of shared humanity.

Since the guidelines for the group leaders had been given in

advance, there was uniformity in the topics discussed. The main

focus of the first session was assessment and each criteria was

discussed. There was also discussion about the assessment

tasks suitable for each criterion. Many of the participants found

this session beneficial as the session leaders also discussed the

different AOIs and how to relate each subject topic to the AOI.

The second session mainly focused on monitoring and

moderation. Samples of moderated/ monitored assessment

tasks were distributed and the participants were asked to grade

it. There were intense discussions.

This Job – Alike session was a great success. Teachers from

different schools could come together and share their ideas

which are very much essential for the  Middle Years

Programme. The salient feature of this session was the

compilation of various electronic resources contributed by the

teachers of different schools in to a CD-rom. This was

distributed to the participants.

Participation certificates as well as appreciation certificates were

also distributed. The session concluded with a consensus that

subject-specific online communities will be set up in order to

facilitate the exchange of ideas and resources.

The Indonesian MYP coordinators network will conduct another

Job – Alike session focusing on Personal Project in January

2008.

Ms Sreeja

Gandhi Memorial International School

Jakarta

 

Patrick Ritter, MYP Regional Manager

Curtis Beaverford, MYP Associate Regional Manager

Frances Chia, Personal Assistant

Email: ibapmyp@ibo.org

 


Snapshots

Job-Alike Session at GMIS, Jakarta

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