I hope I’m not the only one who struggled with all the lingo when starting out as a teacher at an IB PYP school (International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme). Units of inquiry? Learner profile attributes? Transdisciplinary skills?
I was so bogged down by the extensive framework that partway through my first year, I may or may not have complained about, “all this IB crap.”
The key concepts were no exception.
I had a token key concept “parking lot” (laminated poster) at the back of my classroom, where we’d occasionally stick up questions for the unit at hand (that would often get forgotten until they fell off, littering the corner depressingly behind the door).
Worse still, whenever I would try to get my students to use the key concepts to ask deeper questions, I’d consistently wind up with the same hoop-jumping I was definitely modeling. ie, if the topic was “adaptation,” the questions just parroted the key concept guidelines with little to no real curiosity or connection behind them:
- Form: What is adaptation like?
- Function: How does adaptation work?
- Change: How is adaptation changing?
- Reflection: How do we know about adaptation?
And so on.
Over the years, I gained a much better understanding and appreciation of what the IB was all about. But I still struggled making those key concepts genuinely accessible.
That’s why it was with surprise and enthusiasm when it finally clicked for me as I’ve started writing provocation posts. After carefully curating resources to help inspire inquiry into bigger concepts, I write possible questions one can use for discussion with students.
That’s where the key concepts have come in. Not only do they help me consider questions, but they help me see the resources with different lenses.
For instance, in my recent “How People Get Their Food” post, the key concepts of perspective and responsibility made me think that it would be interesting to discuss why we should even consider why people eat differently around the world–I realized that with the resources provided, big concepts this question could elicit might include economics, geography, politics, nutrition, cultures, and more.
The key concepts are finally valuable tools for me to to unearth bigger concepts!
Zooming out from this experience even further, I can now see that it wasn’t even so much about the IB jargon; I needed to completely rewire my mindset about asking powerful questions, prioritizing student voice, and making room for the “unplanned.”
featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto
I stumbled on your blog in the last few months and am genuinely inspired. I love your authentic reflections. Are you active here any more?
Hi Vania, thank you for your kind words! Mary, the author of this particular post, is no longer active on this blog, she is busy teaching a 5th-grade classroom! I am the primary writer for this blog now. Mary left some amazing, inspirational messages in the years she wrote and has been missed by many.