What Middle School Teachers Are Saying About International Baccalaureate (IB)
July 7, 2011
These remarks are from “Beyond IB Puffery, a work in progress”, a compilation of news and blog articles, quotes, and commentaries about the International Baccalaureate program. (Used with permission. Emphasis added by compiler.)
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IB Middle Years Program (MYP) – remarks by IB teachers
“MYP: a Refutation” Author: Kevinmulqueen
The International Schools Review Forum | Oct 31, 2010 1:34 pm
http://internationalschoolsreview.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1322&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Excerpts: MYP was vastly unpopular at my school in Vietnam, although we did have one or two MYP evangelists (it suited their personalities – made them feel important). MYP is just as unpopular at my present school in Ghana.
Most teachers grimly accept MYP and quietly pay lip-service to it. If you sign a contract to work in an MYP school, you have to play the game. Personally, I have played the game by attending the required MYP meetings and by doing the bare minimum of Unit Plans. However, I have also felt compelled to speak out about the essential uselessness of MYP.
[ . . . ] Why is MYP so unpopular with teachers? Either it is intrinsically flawed or else the way it has been implemented is wrong. Or a combination of both.
This is my seventh year at an MYP school. During this time I, and all the other MYP teachers, have been subjected to endless after-school MYP indoctrination sessions. To compound the agony, when a new MYP coordinator takes over – it’s happened to me twice – many things are changed, meaning more meetings and more bureaucracy.
Now let’s get to the heart of the matter. In my opinion MYP has no educational value – even if it is implemented skilfully.
[ . . . ] MYP . . . is very very intrusive all through the 5 years of its existence (grades 6-10). (In passing, I’ve often wondered why, if it is so educationally important, MYP suddenly stops in Grade 10. There is no articulation between MYP and IB Diploma; MYP is completely forgotten!). When an MYP teacher teaches a topic or a book, he is supposed to frame the topic in terms of the 5 MYP ‘Areas of Interaction’: Approaches to Learning, Homo Faber (pretentious Latin for ‘creativity’), Community, Health, Environment. UNDER MYP, AN ENGLISH TEACHER IS NOT FREE TO TEACH PURE ENGLISH. I am supposed to genuflect before these 5 sacred areas and not only mention them to the students but also fill up a form showing where I have used them in my teaching. In Viet Nam I was also supposed to send MYP ‘task assessment’ forms home to the parents, indicating what MYP things the students had been doing.
The following by IB MYP teachers are excerpts from comments to the above:
“My current school is not MYP and it’s an improvement. . . .” . . . “MYP started out as a good idea but has not delivered what it promised, neither has it listened to suggestions for improvement. There are contradictions between coordinators and moderators and there is a vagueness to the assessment criteria, a one size fits all in some cases. Question the merits of MYP and you’ll be labelled as dated, a bad teacher or someone who just doesn’t get it. The model answer to criticism is usually “maybe you need to go on a workshop”. — Nov 3, 2010 12:17 am
“ . . . My issue with it [MYP] is that it’s not properly aligned with the Diploma Programme.” . . . “Take for example the Personal Project: a rather interesting assigment that allows students to explore interests, connect with the real world, and produce something of their own for all to see. Great, no? But as a culminating MYP type of activity, shouldn’t it really tie all things IB together and provide that bridge toward the DP? . . . The MYP, however interesting in theory or even practice (depending on your school/leadership/whatever), doesn’t really provide the opportunity to hone the skills needed to be successful DP students.” — Nov 4, 2010 3:26 am
“. . . I have yet to come across a moderator or a coordinator who will be a critical thinker towards MYP. I suspect deep down they are but their jobs depend on it. MYP might include critical thinking in their repertoire buzz terms but the underlying message is clear DON’T CRITICISE MYP. If you do then you will be open to being misinterpreted, suffer patronizing comments or suggestions you don’t have the students interests at heart.” — Fri Nov 5, 2010 10:37 pm
[Note to readers: “AOI” (mentioned below) refers to “Areas of Interaction”]
“MYP, at the basest level, is a money-making scheme. And that is where the big issue lies. I don’t think people who are ‘defending’ MYP are actually defending the program itself. What they are defending is good teaching practice. I’m not sure why schools need to pay money for that.
I am new to this program, I am not a dinosaur, nor am I resistant to change. I have been trying to wrap my head around it for three months. I have attended the school-based PDs and will be going to another one in Europe next week. What I find is that even the veteran MYP teachers nod their heads in tacit agreement when I get off on one of my rants. Its not the ‘teaching philosophy’ that I object to. Its the practicality of having five AOIs, with 6-content based criteria (assessed on a 6 point rubric) and then converting that to a 7 point scale. At that point, what do all of those numbers even mean to a 12 year old kid? Or a 16 year old for that matter?“ — Nov 9, 2010 1:45 am
These remarks are from “Beyond IB Puffery, a work in progress”, a compilation of news and blog articles, quotes, and commentaries about the International Baccalaureate program. (Used with permission. Emphasis added by compiler.)
=======================================================
IB Middle Years Program (MYP) – remarks by IB teachers
“MYP: a Refutation” Author: Kevinmulqueen
The International Schools Review Forum | Oct 31, 2010 1:34 pm
http://internationalschoolsreview.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1322&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Excerpts: MYP was vastly unpopular at my school in Vietnam, although we did have one or two MYP evangelists (it suited their personalities – made them feel important). MYP is just as unpopular at my present school in Ghana.
Most teachers grimly accept MYP and quietly pay lip-service to it. If you sign a contract to work in an MYP school, you have to play the game. Personally, I have played the game by attending the required MYP meetings and by doing the bare minimum of Unit Plans. However, I have also felt compelled to speak out about the essential uselessness of MYP.
[ . . . ] Why is MYP so unpopular with teachers? Either it is intrinsically flawed or else the way it has been implemented is wrong. Or a combination of both.
This is my seventh year at an MYP school. During this time I, and all the other MYP teachers, have been subjected to endless after-school MYP indoctrination sessions. To compound the agony, when a new MYP coordinator takes over – it’s happened to me twice – many things are changed, meaning more meetings and more bureaucracy.
Now let’s get to the heart of the matter. In my opinion MYP has no educational value – even if it is implemented skilfully.
[ . . . ] MYP . . . is very very intrusive all through the 5 years of its existence (grades 6-10). (In passing, I’ve often wondered why, if it is so educationally important, MYP suddenly stops in Grade 10. There is no articulation between MYP and IB Diploma; MYP is completely forgotten!). When an MYP teacher teaches a topic or a book, he is supposed to frame the topic in terms of the 5 MYP ‘Areas of Interaction’: Approaches to Learning, Homo Faber (pretentious Latin for ‘creativity’), Community, Health, Environment. UNDER MYP, AN ENGLISH TEACHER IS NOT FREE TO TEACH PURE ENGLISH. I am supposed to genuflect before these 5 sacred areas and not only mention them to the students but also fill up a form showing where I have used them in my teaching. In Viet Nam I was also supposed to send MYP ‘task assessment’ forms home to the parents, indicating what MYP things the students had been doing.
The following by IB MYP teachers are excerpts from comments to the above:
“My current school is not MYP and it’s an improvement. . . .” . . . “MYP started out as a good idea but has not delivered what it promised, neither has it listened to suggestions for improvement. There are contradictions between coordinators and moderators and there is a vagueness to the assessment criteria, a one size fits all in some cases. Question the merits of MYP and you’ll be labelled as dated, a bad teacher or someone who just doesn’t get it. The model answer to criticism is usually “maybe you need to go on a workshop”. — Nov 3, 2010 12:17 am
“ . . . My issue with it [MYP] is that it’s not properly aligned with the Diploma Programme.” . . . “Take for example the Personal Project: a rather interesting assigment that allows students to explore interests, connect with the real world, and produce something of their own for all to see. Great, no? But as a culminating MYP type of activity, shouldn’t it really tie all things IB together and provide that bridge toward the DP? . . . The MYP, however interesting in theory or even practice (depending on your school/leadership/whatever), doesn’t really provide the opportunity to hone the skills needed to be successful DP students.” — Nov 4, 2010 3:26 am
“. . . I have yet to come across a moderator or a coordinator who will be a critical thinker towards MYP. I suspect deep down they are but their jobs depend on it. MYP might include critical thinking in their repertoire buzz terms but the underlying message is clear DON’T CRITICISE MYP. If you do then you will be open to being misinterpreted, suffer patronizing comments or suggestions you don’t have the students interests at heart.” — Fri Nov 5, 2010 10:37 pm
[Note to readers: “AOI” (mentioned below) refers to “Areas of Interaction”]
“MYP, at the basest level, is a money-making scheme. And that is where the big issue lies. I don’t think people who are ‘defending’ MYP are actually defending the program itself. What they are defending is good teaching practice. I’m not sure why schools need to pay money for that.
I am new to this program, I am not a dinosaur, nor am I resistant to change. I have been trying to wrap my head around it for three months. I have attended the school-based PDs and will be going to another one in Europe next week. What I find is that even the veteran MYP teachers nod their heads in tacit agreement when I get off on one of my rants. Its not the ‘teaching philosophy’ that I object to. Its the practicality of having five AOIs, with 6-content based criteria (assessed on a 6 point rubric) and then converting that to a 7 point scale. At that point, what do all of those numbers even mean to a 12 year old kid? Or a 16 year old for that matter?“ — Nov 9, 2010 1:45 am