IB teachers share their plans, hopes and aspirations for the year ahead
From finding new ways to engage students with the IB Learner Profile to creating a more exciting learning environment, IB teachers are already thinking about how they can improve learning and teaching over the next 12 months.
“I want to make the classroom a place where the excitement of learning never ends and somewhere that caters for their individual learning styles. I’m aiming for my classroom to develop into a place where there are countless learning opportunities to be had.”
– Pritika Chandiramani, Homeroom Teacher and Primary Years Programme (PYP) Coach at EtonHouse International School, Singapore
Sarah Clancy
“The first goal is to make sure my students and I are being balanced, caring and reflective – this helps me as much as it helps them. Currently in my IB Diploma Programme (DP) Literature class, my students take 5 to 10 minutes at either the beginning or end of each class to meditate using deep-breathing techniques. This either focuses us for the class or gets us prepared to face the rest of the challenges that the day will bring.
“I will also continue to send students’ parents or guardians positive feedback about them over email, with specific examples of their great contributions to our learning community. This engages students with the IB Learner Profile attributes, and reiterates that there is more to an IB education than its academic aspects.”
– Sarah Clancy, Middle Years Programme (MYP) Language and Literature Teacher, and DP English Literature Teacher at the International Academy, Okma Campus, Michigan, USA
“My goals are to embed the IB Learner Profile attributes more specifically by getting history students to design their own learning outcomes and their own mark schemes based on the attributes.
“At the International School of Toulouse, we are experimenting in the humanities department with a new approach, which allows students to design their own mark schemes so that they can be measured against the qualities and criteria that they think will reward their efforts to best advantage.”
– Russel Tarr, Head of History at the International School of Toulouse, France
Rafaela Menoscal de Guerrero
“I aspire for my students to acquire strategies that help them reflect on their learning, and to create a space that is somewhere for them to learn in a community. This could be in the classroom, online or using technology, or in places that students study in their own time. My biggest ambition for my students is that aspects of this ‘space’ that I help create will be of use to them through their entire lives.
“I am also aiming for students to understand that the TOK course will give them tools to reflect about how they learn in the different areas they study.”
– Rafaela Menoscal de Guerrero, Theory of Knowledge (TOK) Teacher at Unidad Educativa Bilingüe Delta, Ecuador
Sana Noor
“Because the world is ever-changing and increasingly reliant on technology, my goal is to keep pace with every new development and try to stay on par with schools across the world.
“In 2017, I want to digitalize portfolios across the primary school and introduce coding on a larger scale. Rather than restrict this to the hour-long lesson that students have currently, I also aim to use technology more for field trips and make use of virtual trips through Skype.”
– Sana Noor, Primary ICT Teacher at Pathways School Noida, India
“I saw a quote on Twitter that read: ‘If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow’ [John Dewey, 1915]. I started thinking about our classroom and whether it is outdated for the future? Probably! So for 2017, I am going to consider with PYP students whether our classroom is a good place to learn for the future.”
– Gail Metcalf, PYP Teacher, International School Basel, Switzerland
What are your classroom goals for the year ahead? Email editor@ibo.org and let us know or tell us here!