School Visits as Professional Learning

The Primary Years Programme (PYP) of the International Baccalaureate (IB) is a comprehensive and complex program. All those in candidate and authorized schools participate in professional development that assists them in deepening their understanding of this international program. Being able to visit other PYP schools is a rich form of professional learning that all Pedagogical Leadership Teams should consider when building their five-year PYP action plans.

Last spring, I had the great fortune of visiting a couple of different PYP schools. These visits helped me better understand the diverse ways of implementing the PYP and gave me ideas that we potentially could use at my own school.

In March 2019, on a personal trip to Germany, I was able to visit the Berlin Cosmopolitan School. About a month later in April, I visited a couple of PYP schools just up the road from where I live in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, USA. During these visits, I was able to engage with other PYP professionals and see the PYP in action, giving me ideas of how we could further develop the PYP in my own school. See photos below from both of those visits.

Later in the school year, I took a team with me to visit schools implementing two math curricular resources we were looking to adopt. In addition to learning extensively about the resources on our own and having teachers try out the materials at our school, visiting schools where experienced teachers could demonstrate the resources' full potential was some of the best professional learning we experienced during our curriculum review process.

Whether you're in a PYP school or not, visiting schools both near and far allows you to see how others "do school". School visits must be an essential part of any school's professional learning plan.

The leaders at the Berlin Cosmopolitan School generously hosted us for several hours during a school day to show us around and allowed us to meet with teachers.

Berlin Cosmopolitan School's vision and mission signage stands out with the inclusion of students' artistic interpretations.

Berlin Cosmopolitan School's principal Mark Johnson told us that students walk a couple of blocks to this adventure playground that may seem a little bit more dangerous that a typical playground, but gives its students the opportunity to assess risk for themselves and shows them they can keep themselves safe.

The following photos show flexible seating in one of the classrooms at Stevenson Elementary in Fridley, Minnesota, USA. Students in Andrea Erichsrud's classroom have lots of seating options as they learn during the school day.

Thank you to Orlando Pola-Rivera, PYP Coordinator at the Berlin Cosmopolitan School in Berlin Germany for hosting me and letting me sit in on one of his collaborative team meetings. I also greatly appreciate Veronica Westerman, PYP Coordinator of Stevenson Elementary in Fridley, Minnesota, USA who not only hosted me during the visit but also sent me the pictures above when I neglected to take my own on the visit.

*UPDATED* PYP Placemat

Since the enhanced Primary Years Programme documentation was released in October 2018 (PYP: From principles into practice), I have been updating the PYP placemat I previously created for teachers and students at Kaposia Education Center, an IB World School to support their implementation of the PYP.

Some changes were easy to make. I took out reflection as a key concept. I removed the action cycle and replaced it with the five different forms of action articulated in the new documentation.

However, the back of the placemat proved more difficult to bring up-to-date. I was able to easily replace the new ATL sub-skills, but defining them in student-friendly language seemed like a difficult task to do alone. So, I waited until yesterday when I was able to work with the amazing Kaposia educators to create definitions of all the ATL sub-skills (and sub-sub-skills) that even our youngest learners will be able to understand.

The following is the product of our work together. My hope is that the teachers and students at Kaposia, along with others at authorized or candidate PYP schools, are able to use this PYP Placemat to help them more deeply implement the robust international Primary Years Programme of the International Baccalaureate.

Click the images below to be linked to the PDF version of the placemat that can be printed and copied.

Student in ACTION: Bringing Corn Snakes to South St. Paul

Did you know that residents of South St. Paul, Minnesota were not allowed to keep corn snakes as pets? Recently, one of our third grade students, Soreal, worked to change that. Learn about her story below. But first, some reflections on action in general in the Primary Years Programme of the International Baccalaureate.

Prior to the release of PYP: From principles into practice, little guidance was given to schools on action, an essential element of the PYP.

In Making the PYP Happen, the action cycle (figure 10 shown below) represented the suggested steps students go through as they contemplated what action they could take as a result of learning. Voluntary action, be it grandiose or simple, individual or collaborative, was to be initiated by the student.

In the enhanced PYP, action is still meant to be authentic, meaningful, mindful, responsible and responsive. However, much more guidance is provided to PYP schools around this core element of our international framework. I see three big ideas emerge as I digest the Action section under The Learner.

Action is an integral part of the learning process

• Action can be taken at any point during an inquiry cycle and is itself a part of learning.

Action can take on many forms

• In the new digital resource, the PYP outlines five types of action: participation, advocacy, social justice, social entrepreneurship and lifestyle choices. They also provide concrete definitions and examples of each type.

Adults must support action

• Although action can be initiated by students, the PYP has now provided a framework that guides adults in ways that they can support students taking action. Figure AC03: Supporting Action from PYP: From principles into practice (shown below), shows different ways that adults and students can collaboratively work together to plan, carry out and reflect on meaningful action that is integrated into the learning process.

Now, back to Soreal.

In the fall during the unit of inquiry How We Organize Ourselves, third graders explore the balance of rights and responsibilities that citizens have in a democracy. Students inquire into the function of government and the responsibilities citizens have to identify problems and to work to solve them by communicating with local, state and nationally elected leaders.

The embedded video below shows Soreal in action at our community's city council meeting. We're very proud of students like Soreal who work collaboratively with adults to initiate positive change in our community.

Soreal at the South St. Paul City Council Meeting

Soreal got her corn snake!

Enhanced PYP Treasure Trove

In January 2019, PYP teachers in South St. Paul, Minnesota, United States read sections of the new digital resource, “PYP: From principles into practice”. 

To share our understanding of the enhancements with others in our local and global PYP communities, we created digital content: infographics, mind maps, presentations, blog posts, videos and a hyperlinked word cloud that summarized the contents of "PYP: From principles into practice".

Our digital creations (THERE ARE OVER 70!) can be found using this link. They are organized in the same way as the enhanced PYP and you can use the table of contents (the third slide of the linked slide deck) to navigate to different sections. In each section, click on the thumbnails to be linked to the original digital content to see it in bigger detail.

Table of Contents

Here are just some of the digital creations creatively made by PYP teachers in South St. Paul, Minnesota. Click on any of them to go to the vast Treasure Trove of digital creations that summarize the new PYP digital resource.

Nothing is a substitute for reading the original content from IB, but we hope our digital creations inform, inspire and provoke you to act and learn more!

Note for PYP Coordinators and other organizers of professional development: If you'd like to replicate or adapt what we did in South St. Paul as a way to help your teachers dive into the new digital resource, "PYP: From principles into practice" here are the steps we took:

• Learning Engagement 1 (teachers had the option of doing this ahead of our January professional development day and then coming in for Learning Engagement 2 halfway through the day)
• Build background (all resources available on the Programme Resource Centre)
• Read The Overview
• Watch:
• The learner
• Learning and teaching
• The learning community
• Getting started
• Read one of the sections from "PYP: From principles into practice"
• Create digital content in response to what you learned. We provided the Success Criteria for the digital content.
• Suggestions:
• Voice-over screencast using Google Slides & Screencastify (≥ 5 minutes)
• Podcast using Anchor.fm (≥ 5 minutes)
• Video blog using Flipgrid (≤ 5 minutes)
• Infographic using Google Draw (minimal white space)
• Mindmap using Google Draw, Mindmeister, Creately (minimal white space)
• Presentation using Google Slides (≥ 5 slides)
• Blog post using Google Doc to draft, to be posted as a guest blog here (≥ 300 words)
• Examples (using the Learner Agency section)
• Learner Agency in 7 different ways
• Digitally submit what you created
• Learning Engagement 2:
• Explore:
• Review others' digital creations and ask:
• What’s important to remember? What comes up again and again?
• What’s new? What’s different? What’s changed?
• Did someone interpret the enhanced content differently than you?
• Reflect:
• First individually, then with a partner and finally with the whole group, reflect on what was learned about the enhanced PYP after looking through your colleagues' digital creations.
• Act:
• Using a Google Form, submit ideas for what our PYP should do now. These ideas will be added to our action plan.

Learner Agency

In January 2018, the elementary teachers in our district's two PYP schools set out to explore the enhanced PYP content that make up the document "PYP: From principles into practice." Many thanks to elementary principal and guest blogger, Mike Fugazzi, for authoring this post on concepts in the PYP.

In an effort to further support PYP schools, the IB released additional resources through the digital, “PYP: From principles into practice”, this past fall. The online resource is designed to help learners (adults and children) foster a deeper understanding of the PYP’s framework and how to implement the program.

The PYP: From principles into practice, organizes the PYP under the concept of Agency, which is directly in support of the self-efficacy of learners. The concept of Agency is not new to the PYP, nor the world of education. It has always existed in the PYP as what we’ve usually referred to as student “voice, choice, and ownership”. Agency and self-efficacy are also at the forefront of Visible Learning research, underpinning Collective Teacher Efficacy and Self-Reported Grades, the top two influences on student learning (Hattie 2017). The strong research backing of the impact of Agency and self-efficacy further reinforces their importance to learning in the PYP.

Agency, as supported by the PYP, “enables people to play a part in their self-development, adaptation, and self-renewal with changing times” (Bandura 2001). Self-efficacy in the PY is described as an individual’s belief in their “capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce give attainments” (Bandura 1997). These two are interconnected, as a strong sense of self-efficacy directly influences the agency an individual will engage in.

Students are able to show agency when they:

• are aware of their learning goals
• direct and adjust their individual learning
• express interest
• make decisions about their learning
• are able of voice opinions
• ask questions

Students who use their own initiative and will, and take responsibility and ownership of their learning are demonstrating agency. The impact of doing as such is a strong sense of identity and self-belief. This can fosters a community and awareness of global citizenship.

Teachers are able to support agency when they:

• Build relationships
• Personalize learning based on student interest and need
• Extend student voice
• Provide open ended tasks
• Allow student to be creative and take risks
• Use assessment data to inform teaching and learning
• Reflect on student needs and provide feedback and intervention 
• Help students set high expectations for their learning
• Help students set and monitor goals for their learning

Recommendations for educators:

• All members of the school community should be familiar with agency and self-efficacy.
• Learning leaders should shift to more coaching and less teaching. Teachers can help guide and coach students to take agency over their learning.
• Educators should look for ways to include student voice and choice in the classroom community. This can, and should be, supported in partnership.
• Students should understand their current levels and work with teachers to determine goals and next steps to reach them.

Action that I will take:

• I will help design professional development for staff that promotes adult agency and self-efficacy.
• I will work with teachers to understand assessment data and how that can be used with students to raise self-efficacy and agency.
• I will foster a school culture of agency where staff can be risk-takers, just like the students.
• I will find additional ways to include student voice in decision making for the school.

A Transdisciplinary programme of inquiry

In January 2018, the elementary teachers in our district's two PYP schools set out to explore the enhanced PYP content that make up the document "PYP: From principles into practice." Many thanks to elementary teachers and guest bloggers, Paulette Spafford and Dianne Spannbauer for authoring this post on a transdisciplinary programme of inquiry.

A Transdisciplinary programme of inquiry

Through the use of a transdisciplinary programme of inquiry, students in a PYP setting will be offered a balanced learning experience rooted in conceptual understanding and given opportunities to explore human commonalities. Teachers will work collaboratively to develop and continuously improve the six transdisciplinary themes in their programme of inquiry. The goal being that students will revisit the six transdisciplinary themes throughout their years in school and be provided an opportunity to extend their understanding on the themes.

Teachers in a PYP setting should be familiar with the six transdisciplinary themes. They are:

Transdisciplinary themes	Description
Who we are	An inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships, including families, friends, communities and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human.
Where we are in place and time	An inquiry into orientation in place and time; personal histories; homes and journeys; the discoveries, explorations and migrations of humankind; the relationships between, and the interconnectedness of, individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspectives.
How we express ourselves	An inquiry into the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values; the ways in which we reflect on, extend and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic.
How the world works	An inquiry into the natural world and its laws; the interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human societies; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the environment.
How we organize ourselves	An inquiry into the interconnectedness of human-made systems and communities; the structure and function of organizations; societal decision-making; economic activities and their impact on humankind and the environment.
Sharing the planet	An inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with other people and with other living things; communities and the relationships within and between them; access to equal opportunities; peace and conflict resolution.

Figure POO1: Transdisciplinary themes

Our Recommendations:

1. In planning and preparing for the units, teachers and stakeholders in the community, should reflect on their current community of learners to better plan units that will meet the needs and honor the experiences of the learners. The teachers must also plan the units collaboratively, either vertically or horizontally.

All six units in the POI need the following:

• Transdisciplinary Theme 
• Central Idea 
• Key Concepts 
• Related Concepts 
• Lines of Inquiry

2. Teachers must know that they are required to review and adjust their units at least annually. During the annual review process, teachers should be prepared to refine the central ideas and find ways to make them more balanced and  interconnected to the scope and sequence documents or to the local/national curriculum.

While planning and revising units, keep in mind that units should try to make connections with a global perspective. Consider finding connections in the following ways:

• Culturally 
• Ecologically 
• Politically 
• Economically 
• Technologically

3. It is recommended that specialists and other members of the learning community are included in each step of the planning and review process.

4. Teachers need to help students understand that there is a connection between all subjects and teachers can support that by:

Moving from	Moving towards
Subjects as collections of related facts and isolated skills	Subjects as collections of key and related concepts, skills, theories, methodologies and examples that contribute to an understanding of how a subject connects to the central idea
Stand-alone subjects as the sole driver for learning	Subjects as part of transdisciplinary learning
Teaching subject-specific lessons in isolation from the unit of inquiry	Making connections between one subject and another in planned, spontaneous or incidental ways through units of inquiry
Subject-specific knowledge, conceptual understandings and skills viewed through the lens of age-specific development	Assessing prior knowledge and the needs of students before the selection of subject-specific conceptual understandings, knowledge and skills
Measuring students’ abilities within a subject only	Monitoring, documenting and measuring students’ capacity to understand and apply subject-specific knowledge, conceptual understandings and skills within authentic contexts

Figure POO6: Transdisciplinary learning across, between, and beyond subjects

Our Actions:

After reading through, “A transdisciplinary programme of inquiry” of the IB Document, “PYP: From principles into practice”, our personal action steps will be to:

• Continue to meet regularly with our team and PYP Coordinator to reflect upon and plan for the units of inquiry 
• Look for ways to integrate the new math curriculum (possible start date of Fall 2019) into our six transdisciplinary units in hopes of creating a better balance and understanding of connectivity for all students 
• Advocate for more vertical planning and planning with specialists to better serve our learners

In summary, we wish you well on your journey of collaborative planning and reflecting as you attack with vigor and courage the new, enhanced PYP.

Exhibition

In January 2018, the elementary teachers in our district's two PYP schools set out to explore the enhanced PYP content that make up the document "PYP: From principles into practice." Many thanks to fifth grade teacher and guest blogger, Robbyn Wincentsen, for authoring this post on concepts in the PYP.

Do the thing you think you cannot do. It’s the quote I display in my classroom to start off every Exhibition Season. That’s what I think of Exhibition as now, after more than ten years of being a final year PYP teacher. It’s a season. While students in other grade levels are winding down the year, looking forward to their end of year picnic, fifth graders are gearing up to share the biggest project most never even dreamt they could accomplish.

It’s a love-hate relationship that I have with this thing many misspeak and call Expedition. Really, the misnomer isn’t completely wrong. According to Webster Dictionary, the definition of an expedition is: a journey or voyage undertaken by a group of people with a particular purpose, especially that of exploration, scientific research or war. There are days during Exhibition Season that I honestly feel I’ve been through a battle. So the misnomer is fitting, not to mention the other keywords journey, group, particular purpose and research. Furthermore, it’s a much more appropriate word substitute than the one I made up after a particularly tough day of battle.

Technically, the exhibition is an authentic, student driven culmination of the Primary Years Program. In layman’s terms it is a collaborative, research-action based project that is presented. That’s how I explain it to people who ask what exhibition is but don’t need to know all of the dirty details. In reality, it’s so much more. Like how it’s an experience where students gain conceptual knowledge (using key concepts as a guide). Like how students use transdisciplinary skills and attitudes they’ve acquired along their PYP journey. Like how students initiate the learning and have lots of support from their classroom teacher, mentors, and usually an expert in their topic area. This is TMI for most.

Because of my logical sequential nature, I think of Exhibition as five main phases:

1. Topic selection- Students choose a globally significant issue related to one of the PYP themes. 
2. Becoming an expert- Inquiry/guiding questions/key concepts/gain conceptual knowledge
3. Central Idea and lines of inquiry- Focus inquiry and continue becoming an expert
4. Action
5. Presentation- Share and reflect on learning, attitudes and the overall exhibition journey

Exhibition is messy and complex and busy and crazy and difficult and wonderful and mind-blowing and overwhelming and rewarding. It’s probably a lot like running a marathon. There always comes a point during Exhibition Season that I say, “That’s it! I’m going to a different grade level because I don’t ever want to do Exhibition again!” Then, I look at my students and how far they’ve come. I see them solving problems, their creativity, the knowledge they’ve gained. I see so many of my students burst with pride because they did the thing they thought they could not do. Then I say, “That was hard, but it was so worth it. How could I ever not do this again?”

The personal action I take and will continue to take is to remember what the end looks, and feels like. Through the reading I was also reminded that Exhibition can be guided, student-led or somewhere in between. I do the somewhere in between (with the most capable groups nudging the student led type) which is why it’s messy and hard. There are anywhere from 5-8 different groups (and topics) in a classroom which contributes to the messiness and level of difficulty to manage as a teacher. I could simplify and do a class wide guided exhibition or use the elements of guided exhibition for struggling groups. I also need to remember the process is more important than the final product.

My recommendations for what PYP schools should do for a successful exhibition are:

• Elements of the PYP need to be focused on and mastered in prior grade levels.
• Keep Exhibition in mind with in every other unit of inquiry.
• Find mentors and experts for each group because these people make all the difference!
• Embrace the messiness of Exhibition...remember, it is magical to see your kids do great things and makes feeling like you’ve survived something like a battle or a marathon so worth it.

Concepts in the PYP

In January 2018, the elementary teachers in our district's two PYP schools set out to explore the enhanced PYP content that make up the document "PYP: From principles into practice." Many thanks to fifth grade teacher and guest blogger, Lauren Ryan, for authoring this post on concepts in the PYP.

As an educator in the fast-paced, digital era of the 2000s I feel fortunate to be a teacher at a PYP school where inquiry, curiosity and student-centered learning is celebrated. I remember seeing a meme on the Internet a few years back about how readily information is available to people in today’s world. It depicted a math teacher from decades ago saying to his class of students who were sitting in well defined, compliant rows, “Now you better memorize this because it’s not like you’re going to be carrying a calculator around with you in your pocket every day.” Enter a picture of a pocket-sized smartphone.

People today have access to endless amounts of facts and information at the click of a button, on a device that is regularly not more than a few feet from us at any given point. It makes me wonder what a teacher can provide to her students in today’s world that they can’t receive from a quick Internet search. The answer- a conceptually-based, inquiry driven curriculum.

The Primary Years Program says that “concept-based inquiry is a powerful vehicle for learning that promotes meaning and understanding, and challenges students to engage with significant ideas.” It is a way for learning to be built around big ideas that transfer across subject areas and can be applied to new situations. The seven Key Concepts defined by the PYP are form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective and responsibility. Teaching through these concepts allows me to help students construct mental models of how things work and connect throughout the world. It is a way to connect new, abstract, or complicated learning with things that students already know and to extend their learning to new ideas and topics.

An example of this is when I taught first graders about addition through the concepts of change and balance. While addition can feel complicated and abstract for students, I was able to help students explore the idea that an addition sign will change a number by adding more to it or making it bigger. We also explored the idea of balance when thinking about the function of an equal sign. The equal sign is often thought of by kids as meaning “the answer”, which is a narrow way of thinking and has implications for future learning when it comes to more complex math topics, such as algebra. Additionally, we looked at the concept of balance so that students understood the idea that both sides of an equal sign had to be the same. Looking at addition through the lens of balance helped our students make the connection to the idea of “same as” instead of just “equal to”. For example, we read basic addition as 2 + 2 is the same as 4 rather and just 2 + 2 = 4. Now, as an intermediate teacher I value conceptual teaching even more as I see how much more successful a student can be when he or she is able to make connections to previous learning and transfer past knowledge to new situations.

In general, concepts help guide the way I construct learning experiences in the classroom and they help my students think critically about big ideas. They are a launching point for questions around a topic and help students develop their curiosity and understanding. When key concepts are too broad, related concepts act as way to explore concepts in more detail or to add depth to an area of study. Related concepts are narrower and more focused, often addressing content specific information, or standards that must be addressed on a more local level.

Knowledge is accessible nearly everywhere in today’s world, but true understanding of the world is the heart of what a PYP teacher’s role is in preparing students for success in school and beyond. Key and related concepts allow teachers in today’s age to root essential learning of skills, facts and knowledge in concepts that are deep, transferable, broad, abstract and not locked in place or time, so that students are able keep pace with a fast-moving world, full of complex systems and relationships.

As a PYP teacher I feel I get to address the evolving needs of students in an environment that encourages me to think about the enduring understanding I want my students to walk away with. An area of action for me is to be more intentional about teaching conceptually in stand-alone units or in content areas that do not align directly with a unit of inquiry. This might look like writing concepts on my “Learning Targets” bulletin board, or leading a lesson with questions about a topic that are concept driven. It might also look like backwards planning an ELA or math unit thinking about the long term concepts or deep understanding I want my students to understand and creating lesson content that will drive towards deeper conceptual understanding of a topic.

As a school, PYP buildings have a unique opportunity to provide students with common language that develops the skill of conceptual learning. All teachers, from kindergarten through intermediate grades, can teach students to recognize patterns in learning and talk about content in terms of key concepts. This can be supported through collaborative time for team teachers to plan units and lessons that align with concepts that will provide students with common and rigorous learning experiences and through vertical alignment of content so that conceptual understanding begins at a young age and is carried on through a child’s PYP experience. Furthermore, PYP coordinators can work with their teachers to develop skill as writers of curriculum and help craft lessons and units that are conceptually driven and be provided with support for developing inquiry opportunities that support students’ ability to access curriculum in a way that connects to their natural interest and prior knowledge.

Source:
The PYP Curriculum Framework. International Baccalaureate Organization, 2005-2018, <https://resources.ibo.org/pyp/works/pyp_11162-51681?c=2972d4b6>

Learner agency in physical education

In January 2018, the elementary teachers in our district's two PYP schools set out to explore the enhanced PYP content that make up the document "PYP: From principles into practice." Many thanks to PE teacher and guest blogger, Jen Friedges, for authoring this post on learner agency.



What I learned from this project is that I already do a lot of this that I don’t give myself credit for but it was a good reminder to make sure that I can continue to do this.

• Have a respectful welcoming culture.
• Kids know it is okay to fail, better to try and fail then never try at all!
• I establish routines and all classes K – 5 know and can demonstrate them whether I am present or not.
• I do let students make some of the decisions but need to get more comfortable with going farther with this.
• Continue to let them know expectations and why we are doing what we are doing.
• I also learned I am not very creative or patient and that I should’ve done a presentation instead of a mind map.

How I plan on adding more agency into Physical Education.

• Empower students to select environment they learn in as P.E. is performance based by letting students decide in some sport related units if they want to be at the recreational level or competitive and tailor their experience to what fits them best.
• Consider make some changes to the units that are taught that encompass state standards as well as students interests.
• Be mindful of students comfort level when “performing” in Phy. Ed. particularly in sports (volleyball, basketball, hockey, soccer and football) as well as the dance unit which is scary for most including myself as it is WAY out of my comfort zone.

Resources:

• Will Vreugdenhill, International School of Brussels, Belgium. July 2018. “Student Agency in Middle School Health and Physical Education.”
• Learner Agency, PYP From Principles into Practice