Reflecting out loud: Change Begins with Me

Reflecting out loud: Change Begins with Me

I don’t write blogs as much as I used to, and I have wondered why.  Writing used to be a joy, something I looked forward to. I loved waking up early on Saturday morning, making a cup of coffee, and writing about something that inspired me from that week. But Covid changed that, and I …

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PYPC Book Club: Opportunities for “The Fun Habit” in Team Collaborative Meetings

PYPC Book Club: Opportunities for “The Fun Habit” in Team Collaborative Meetings

In April 2020 I needed to find an antidote to my seclusion.  Not only was I physically isolated but also felt lonely professionally. Although there were lots of webinars and free professional development out there to help us execute online and hybrid learning, there wasn’t a lot that really supported my role as a coordinator …

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Navigating Transdisciplinary Learning: Empowering Students in the PYP

Navigating Transdisciplinary Learning: Empowering Students in the PYP

How do we know our PYP programmes are truly transdisciplinary? This blog post offers 4 “directions” we can go in so that we can improve student learning and student agency.

10 Ways to Use ChatGPT as a PYP Curriculum Coordinator

10 Ways to Use ChatGPT as a PYP Curriculum Coordinator

Are you resisting Artificial Intelligence (AI), afraid it’s going to lead to the destruction of our humanity, eliminating our jobs and withering our brains? Stop that! No, really that kind of thinking stifles creativity and innovation, and if you are a pedagogical leader, then you have an obligation to embrace emerging technologies. We are guiding …

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Parents-Friends or Foes during the PYP Exhibition? (#PYPX)

Parents-Friends or Foes during the PYP Exhibition? (#PYPX)

I don’t know about you, but school just hasn’t been the same since COVID. There have been numerous accounts of parents overreacting to curriculum and over involvement in school. I don’t quite understand the roots of polemic attitudes towards school, but so many educators face skeptical families who feel like every classroom lesson contains a …

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Press Start, Pause or Stop? 3 Ways We Can Approach Launching a Unit of Inquiry

Press Start, Pause or Stop? 3 Ways We Can Approach Launching a Unit of Inquiry

Bewildered by my outburst, my sleeping dog popped up her head and twitched her ears when I giggled out a “hmmm”.  But I couldn’t help it. I was so immersed in a recording of the Town Hall discussion with fellow Google Trainers. They asked a question about concept testing that made me make a connection …

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The Role of the PYP Coordinator: 5 Dos and Don’ts When Working in International Schools

The Role of the PYP Coordinator: 5 Dos and Don’ts When Working in International Schools

It’s a time of year that we are always prone to reflect and come up with wish lists for the new year. There are projects that remain unfinished, books you want to read, and pedagogical challenges that we continue puzzling over. Often this time of year we renew our enthusiasm and commitment to at least …

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When is Inquiry not “Best Practice”?

When is Inquiry not “Best Practice”?

My co-teaching partner leaned across her desk and asked, “So at what point do we stop ‘inquiry into this’ and start teaching them something?”. I responded with nervous laughter because her question sounded like blasphemy. It was an absolutely valid question though and has lingered in my mind for ages, particularly since I am aware …

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Above and Beyond: 3 Things that Teachers Must Do to Get “Good” at the #PYP

Above and Beyond: 3 Things that Teachers Must Do to Get “Good” at the #PYP

As a PYP Coordinator, I am involved in the recruitment of teachers and their subsequent professional development. I’m always designing and redesigning the “induction” of new teachers into the PYP, reconsidering what it is that teachers need to get “good” at in order to become successful in understanding and delivering our framework.. You see, I …

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Putting Theory into Practice: How to Develop Student Agency through a Translanguaging Approach.

Putting Theory into Practice: How to Develop Student Agency through a Translanguaging Approach.

I was so captivated that I think I leaned in so much on my laptop that my face was barely on the Zoom screen. It was hard not to get carried away when Eowyn Crisfield talked about multilinguistic pedagogies. I was really reluctant to spend the last week of my school holiday taking a course …

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