This article shares one school’s continuing journey to unpack, define and support learner agency. Over the past three years we explored LEARNER AGENCY in an effort to develop an understanding of: what agency looks like in action what it does to a child what teacher dispositions nurture it what curriculum structures honor it, and what […]
Archive | approaches to learning
The magic of role-play
Discover the magic of role-play and how it helps promote student agency in the early years classroom. Role-playing is a powerful way of enhancing student agency that fills our classrooms with magic and wonder! It allows a child’s imagination and creativity to soar, whilst developing an array of valuable skills; inquiry, thinking, social-emotional, communication and […]
The power of nature
A reflection on the power of imaginative play in diverse natural learning environments. Imagination, curiosity, wonder, joy… all of this is present in the everyday moments of free play within the nature wonderland that is the small bush garden and play area at my IB PYP school in Canberra, Australia. After two years living and […]
Getting students’ feedback to feed-forward
This article is about the ways a PYP school in Turkey uses students’ feedback to enhance the current school practices related to curriculum, learning and teaching. Feedback to feed-forward – crucial for progress. As educators we keep records of our students’ progress throughout the year and give written and oral feedback in order to identify […]
Yoga – an essential element?
This article explains the relevance of yoga in a child’s education, and how it aligns with PYP philosophy and practice. When practised every day, yoga not only benefits children physically, but also plays an important role in the ongoing development of wellbeing and mental health. Yoga offers a holistic fitness array of […]
Design thinking for school leaders to drive change
This article shares a process of how PYP school administrators and their change team used design thinking to adapt the primary school’s curriculum to stakeholder needs – including students, parents and teachers. The outcome of using this methodology included significant changes to both school culture and curriculum. Driving school change during PYP candidacy is a […]