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 some of these things.

That said, whether this is your 1st year or 15th year of being in curriculum coordination, there are always things that come to mind as opportunities for improvement.  I think of these like Boomerangs, items of good leadership practice that I must return to if I had become sloppy over the course of the year. So I’d like to share the 5 Dos and Don’ts that I have to constantly check in with myself each and every year.

DON’T use acronyms, but DO create a common understanding of key principles within your program.

I think we can often assume that we all speak the “same language” in the PYP. We don’t. Using acronyms adds another layer of confusion for new staff (or even old staff who never got the jargon to begin with). Sometimes brevity is unhelpful. Here’s what I mean in a possible email to teachers:

Let’s meet in the LSR during CPT. We will work on our UOI’s KUDs and create SC. Ts need to add them to MB.

Maybe you know what the goals of the meeting are, or maybe you don’t. And that is the point! If you are left scratching your head, then maybe you need to inform what certain acronyms mean or just spell them out. Seriously, acronyms are not that much of a time saver anyway, and can really handicap some teachers who may not be native speakers of English (or whatever language dominates your school’s professional discourse). It’s better to be clear, especially in written communication.

Let’s meet in Heidi and Gustav’s learning support room (annex room 3). We will work on our upcoming unit’s KUDs–what we want our students to K.now U.nderstand and D.o; then we will create success criteria. Teachers need to record these in ManageBac (MB)

Until acronyms are internalized, it is better to write them out so that everyone is in “the know”. Moreover, when new teachers join the team, you will have to be mindful, even providing a “glossary of terms” for those brand new to the PYP of the jargon you use at your school.

DON’T solely have collaborative planning meetings but DO have a variety of focused planning sessions that have a purpose and goals.

Many schools have regularly scheduled meeting times such as a “late start” or “early release” days that are perfect to allocate for collaboration with grade level teams and specialists. These meetings with specialists are “tried and true” ways to promote collaboration for unit of inquiry planning, but they are not the only kinds of meetings that we can promote collaboration. Using these moments to discuss other topics such as assessment practices, how we are promoting student agency, or looking at inquiry practices can also help promote collaboration. Personally I have been thinking about flipping the focus of the collaboration meetings away from the homeroom teachers’ units and instead provide opportunities for specialists to be the focus for support of their non-integrated units. In that way, we can start broadening our ideation for agency and concept development in more supportive ways across our whole school, and in every subject.  Never the less, straying from doing “meetings-as-usual” could help foster creativity and innovation but it’s important to have the purpose of these collaborations clearly stated with intended goals communicated so that teachers feel that the time is well spent and helpful.

DON’T go into classrooms for “special moments” but DO create a schedule of classroom visits.

I realize that not all coordinators have time in their schedule to frequent classrooms, which is why I am suggesting that it gets built into one’s personal timetable. If it is baked into one’s personal calendar, then it is easy to get into classrooms. This could be a 10-minute walk through or you could spend a full period. Moreover, popping into a variety of classrooms is preferable, so this goal might be to visit certain classrooms on a bi-weekly or even monthly basis.

I also want to be clear the the purpose of these visits aren’t just to capture special learning moments (ex: guest speaker, end of unit activity, community action project, etc..) to post on social media, nor should they be “gotcha” moments to find fault with teachers. It should be an intentional moment to observe students during the learning. Write down notes about the conversations that they are having, or any interesting interactions you observe. Teaching is complex and there are lots of things that they don’t observe so having another educator in the room, no matter how brief your visit is, might unearth some data that could help teachers support student learning. It also might provide more helpful information when you sit down in the planning meetings. So, take notes or photos so you can capture some anecdotes to share with teachers later. If those anecdotes are useful to share in the larger learning community, that would be great, but it shouldn’t be the only reason why you come into classes.

DON’T assume you know how to support teachers but DO ask them how they would like to be supported.

You may read all the books and do all the trainings but you know the saying that  “to ASSUME it to make an ASS out of U and Me”– even though this wit and wisdom sounds cliche, it is something that needs reminding regularly. For example, there are times when you go into a classroom and you feel like you are being “supportive” but when you start “co-teaching”, it may be very disempowering or even insulting to the teacher to interfere with the lesson. I think it’s important to ask teachers individually and as a team what are some ways in which they can best be supported. And although you may have asked that question earlier in the school year, it’s important to ask it again in case the needs have changed over the course of the year. For example, I will definitely be asking teachers what needs to STOP, START and CONTINUE with the level of support I have given as we re-boot the school year after our holidays. And I want to add that this feedback will be communicated as their “wishlist” because I have to balance school priorities with their needs, but I will definitely do my best to meet their requests.

DON’T have too many initiatives but DO remind your team what goals were set for the year

Initiative overload is endemic in most schools across the globe. I think the new evaluation process is helping to transition our approach in our IB programs to action-research might alleviate this phenomena. However, it is not an easy habit to break. Wen we try to do too much in too little amount of time, I think the goals become shallow and not a lot of traction can occur. I don’t think it matters if you are a new-to-PYP school or an established school. Having a focus and remaining on track is vital to the long-term growth of your school’s development.

Personally, I have been thinking a lot about this as we jump into the 2nd term, and considering what milestones we might reach at the end of the year if we remain concentrated on the initiatives we set out at the beginning of this year. I want to share this vision with our teachers and get a sense of what their expectations might be as well. In that way, they can feel that they are making headway with their effort, as small changes can make a big difference in the trajectory of our students’ learning.

Although 5 things are hardly an exhaustive list, I do hope these Dos and Don’ts provide some inspiration and ideas to reflect on the ways you can improve and grow in your pedagogical practices. Did any other Dos or Don’ts come to mind as you read this post? Please share in the comments so this community can glean from your wisdom as well.

Wishing you a marvelous 2023!