Three Fundamental Concepts in MYP

1. Three Fundamental Concepts in MYP Liberty Middle School IB MYP Program

2. Holistic Learning – Get to the Heart of the Matter • Transformative approach to learning • How can you trigger a student to transform • As opposed to coerce them to learn • Give them opportunities to expand/modify their points of view; habits of mind; and worldviews • Human beings are whole – Engage the whole child • Every human needs to grow intellectually, emotionally, socially, physically, artistically, creatively, and spiritually.

3. Simplify! • Holistic learning has to do with integration • Integrating to simplify… • Its tough at first because of the complexity • Show video (Charlie Rose - Twitter founder) • But you must edit and edit until it is simplified • Schools integrating video • It’s a team effort

4. Transdisciplinary (Beyond the disciplines) Inquiry • To capture the students mind and to make the lesson effective it needs to be significant, provocative, relevant, engaging, and challenging (that’s i+1) • So connecting the learning to something that means something to them is not only effective it’s easier • Start giving them the tools to self-regulate their own learning • Keep the curiosity alive • Foster a love of learning • Attention to experiential learning – many levels are engaged • Provides a framework for DEVELOPING links between the subject groups and between the subjects and real-world issues – so that students see knowledge as an interrelated whole

5. Children need to learn about (true curriculum)… • Themselves (self-respect, self-esteem) • Relationships (social literacy, emotional literacy) • Resilience (overcoming difficulties, facing challenges, ensuring long-term success, goals, responsibilities) • Aesthetics • Reverence (for each other, life)

6. Create a Sense of Community through Shared Experiences • Even plants grow when you give them attention • Sometimes you cant give each student the attention they need but with the CIF techniques it helps the kids give each other the attention (speaking, listening) to create a community of learners • Teach them how to engage with each other with topics they enjoy first before delving into harder issues • Every human needs to grow intellectually, emotionally, socially, physically, artistically, creatively, and spiritually.

7. Reflection • How is Holistic Learning different from traditional types of learning? • Where do you see holistic learning in your classroom? • How can you make your classroom more holistic?

8. Intercultural Education – Get yourself connected • Multiple perspectives are better than one • Freedom of biases and narrow feelings and sentiments • Freedom to explore other cultures and perspectives • Story of the 7 Blind Mice • Promotes equality, human rights, and challenges unfair discrimination • Allows one to make ones own choices in full awareness of what is out there

9. Intercultural Education- Freedom • Know your own culture – sometimes you cant know it if you don’t explore another • Celebrates the uniqueness of the individual and seeks to nurture elements of his/her life • Empathy with those discriminated against • It should be embedded in everything you do in the school; integrated with all subjects • Respects, celebrates, and recognizes the normality of diversity

10. Intercultural Education - Freedom • We want to encourage the child’s curiosity about cultural and social differences • Positive emotional responses to diversity • Intercultural capacity is more effective if it is done through talking with the child about his thoughts rather than simply telling him/her the right/wrong of the situation • Classroom talk comes in very well for this

11. Reflection • How have you helped your students connect to each other? What more could you do? • How have you helped your students connect their learning to the outside world? What more could you do? • How have you helped your students consider other perspectives? What more could you do?

12. Communication – Sharing is Caring • Communication supports understanding and allows student reflection and expression. • The learner profile describes a communicator as someone who can understand and express ideas and information confidently and creatively in more than one language • Mother tongue maintenance and development is considered essential

13. Communication – Sharing is Caring • Language is integral to exploring and sustaining personal development, cultural identity and intercultural understanding • It is a major medium of social communication, it is tightly linked to cognitive growth as it is the means by which meaning and knowledge is negotiated and constructed. • All MYP teachers are considered language teachers

14. Reflection • What do you do in your classroom to allow students to communicate to each other more? • What more could you do to promote communication?