Hello everyone! Happy new school year (and happy mid-year to southern hemisphere educators).
I haven't blogged for a while, as I have been busy with my new job, my toddler and living in a new place. I've had a lot of requests to access various Google Drive folders, as I think the security settings on the old links changed, so I thought I would put them in a new post.

I always wanted to flag up Enhancing the MYP! As many of you know, all subject reviews are currently on pause, while we look at making improvements to the whole programme. The aims are to make it better for students, easier for teachers and more flexible for schools. While I love the MYP, I know it has a lot of rules, and can be quite a rigid system. The enhancments are aiming to put more power in the educators and schools hands. Also we are aiming to make it better for schools that don't have the full five year programme and schools that a lot of local/national requirements. While a lot of research has been done already to identify some of the problem areas, everything is still on the table! We are about to launch a series of basecamps (online forums), where educators can respond to some guiding questions an share their ideas. This is open to everyone, including teachers who are new to the MYP. If you want to get involved, please fill in this form. Please send to your colleagues/friends too! The more the merrier!

and now on to the links...
-Global Context Posters
​-Learner Profile Reader Posters (you could do a similar activity, where students create LP posters for your subject)
​-ATL Yeti Posters
​-ATL Posters
-More ATL Posters
-ATL specific skill posters (gathered from the internet - not my designs)
-Learner Profile Posters
-ATL self-assessment docs

Before joining the IB full-time, I was doing some work for Toddle. You can find all their MYP resources here.  They have loads of great resources, from printables to explainer videos!

Hope everyone is doing well! I am about to take my first vacation, not during school holidays! Italy here I come!

Full disclosure: I have just moved to the Hague and started a new job at the IB. Future blog posts will probably be flagging up resources the IB have created/shared OR non-IB specific posts (though still with a focus on conceptual understanding, inquiry, visible thinking...and all that good stuff)

The resources on the website are arranged by:

• Our wellbeing: This section provides resources that have been curated to support student well-being.
• Our learning: This section provides resources that have been curated to support learning.
• Our action: This section provides resources that address action as a response to crisis.
• Our community: This section provides resources that have been curated to support the school community in times of crisis.

Some of the interesting things you will find when you dig in:

• Using the learner profile to learn through and about crisis.
• Facilitating dialogue in the classroom
• Introduction to source analysis and critical thinking in times of crisis
• Understanding crises through text: how can we speak about, write about, crises?
• Responding to student behaviours during times of crisis: guidance for educators of young children and adolescents
• Taking action: locally and globally — Guiding learner action in response to crises

There have been a team of great people working on these resources behind the scenes. When I joined the IB a few weeks ago, many of these resources were almost complete. The only one that I helped with a little was: ​Adapting MYP units to learn about a crisis — Guidance for educators and schools.

The idea behind this resource is that you can look at your current/upcoming unit's concepts or global context, and then use the questions to make connections. This will help with transfer and and conceptual understanding. It is also a good entry point/tool for starting discussions with your students.

For example, if your unit is using the Global Context of 'Identities and relationships', and/or any of the following key concepts 'Culture / Identity / Relationships / Communities', you could reframe/pivot your unit around the following questions, or simple create space to pause and discuss:
​

• Who do we rely on in times of crisis?
• How are different members of our community impacted by a crisis?
• How can relationships help us through crisis?
• How might a crisis affect people's well-being?
• Is it important to look after ourselves before we look after others?
• Are we stronger together?
• (Action) How can we support our family, friends and community in times of crisis?

The suggested inquiry questions cover factual, conceptual, debatable and a question that could prompt students to take action. These are just suggested questions/examples!

• Facing History and Ourselves.  A fantastic website full of free activities, lessons, units, professional development and teaching strategies. The strategy 'class contracting' is useful before beginning conversations on difficult/sensitive topics
• Harvard Graduate School of Education: Making Space for Difficult Discussions. This resource was made in response to the Capitol riots, but it still useful/relevant. They also have their 'Making Caring Common' initiative.
• Learning for Justice (previously 'Teaching Tolerance), has many useful resources, including 'Leading Conversations After Crisis' and 'Toolkit for When Bad Things Happen 
• Toddle have various resources for crisis response, including 'What to teach during a crisis' and 'Leading Through and Out of Crisis – A COVID19 Focus' 

Know any other useful resources? Add them in the comments!

Ages ago I came across a great little tool for my students - ACCESS FM sentence starters and keywords. I believe this is the original source (message me if not, and I will update). I've used this often with my students and also had them add/suggest their own key words and sentence starters. I decided to make an updated version of this resource, with some additional vocabularly and prompts. Hopefully this is useful!  ALSO the ACCESS FM website seems to be down at the moment, but when it is back up and running, you should be able to find it here.

Direct link to the resource. Feel free to make a copy (File > Make a Copy). If you have any suggestions for improvements, send them my way!

This is something I had planned to do a couple of years ago, at the end of a digital illustration unit. However, we never got round to it! Maybe it is something someone else wants to try? Linkhere.

Reflection prompts for student portfolios.
Below are some prompts you can use with students to reflect on a unit/piece of work.  These can also used as exit tickets.

• How did I use research skills in this unit/for this piece of work?
• How did I use thinking skills in this unit/for this piece of work?
• How did I use self-management skills in this unit/for this piece of work?
• Who did I collaborate with and how in this unit/for this piece of work?
• How did I use communication skills in this unit/for this piece of work?
• Which IB Learner Profile attributes did I demonstrate or strengthen in this unit/for this piece of work?
• How might I take-action inspired by what I have learnt during this unit?
• What other perspectives did I explore in this unit?
• How did this unit/piece of work help me better understand the unit’s global context?
• How did this unit/piece of work help me better understand the unit’s key and/or related concept(s)?
• How did I help others during this unit/when completing this piece of work?
• What are the most interesting discoveries I learnt during this unit/when completing this piece of work?
• What surprised me most during this unit/ when completing this piece of work?
• What is the most important thing I learnt during this unit/when completing this piece of work?
• What moments am I most proud of my efforts in this unit/when completing this piece of work?
• What would I change about this piece of work or my contributions to this unit?
• What would I do differently if I were to approach the same unit/piece of work again?
• Could I effectively teach what I learnt in this unit to someone else? Why/Why not?
• How will I use what I've learned in the future?
• Based on this unit/piece of work, what do I want to learn more about?
• When did I feel more creative in this unit/when completing this piece of work?
• When did I feel most challenged in this unit/when completing this piece of work?
• What did I find most difficult in this unit/when completing this piece of work?
• What can I do with what I have learnt during this unit/when completing this piece of work?
• What was my favourite part of the unit/piece of work?
• How does something I learnt in this unit/when completing this piece of work that I can connect with something I already know?
• How can I apply something I learnt in this unit/when completing this piece of work to another class/subject?
• How can I apply something I learnt in this unit/when completing this piece of work to my life outside of school?
• How can I apply something I learnt in this unit/when completing this piece of work in the future?
• What questions do I still have about this unit?
• How would I explain what I learnt during this unit/when completing this piece of work to someone in the grade below?
• How would I explain what I learnt during this unit/when completing this piece of work to an adult?
• If I was creating a quiz based on this unit/piece of work, what two questions would I include?

I worked with Toddle to create a visual guide to the MYP. This will help educators understand the key elements of the MYP.  The document is easy to understand and has some teacher tips and activities for reflection throughout. You can download it here.