In this first MYP Core newsletter for the 2018-19 academic year I would like to take this opportunity to introduce, if you are a new MBIS family, or refresh you, if you are already a MBIS family member, with who we are and the purpose and philosophy of our approach.
Who are the Core members?
The Core classes are taken by Isabel Martin (Core Leader), Shambhavi Singh (Primary/secondary School Counsellor) and Sunita Malekar (Secondary Media Centre Librarian). We also collaborate with other members of staff when we require their expertise. Arif Shaikh (EdTech Coach) will be often an important collaborator, helping us address topics regarding media literacy such as cyber bullying, research skills and digital citizenship.
Our purpose
The purpose of the MYP Core Program is to guide students, through an integrated approach, to develop essential skills that they need to prepare for the world of today and tomorrow. Through MYP Core, we endeavour to equip students with the skills that empower them to become agents of change in their life and in the lives of others.
The approach integrates concepts from Personal, Social and Emotional Learning and Approaches to Learning (Self-Management, Communication, Thinking, Research and Social skills). These areas of learning are deeply rooted in the IB philosophy.
The MYP Core programme is goal-oriented and informed by student’s needs. While the program is structured, it allows space for flexibility based on student’s voice and experiences. The conceptual understanding developed in the MYP Core Program allows students to transfer their skills to other learning contexts.
Our philosophy
Moreover, The Core Programme includes the development of various skills that are hereby defined:
Social Emotional Learning: As is stated in Edutopia in collaboration with The Aspen Institute “SEL are the skills that the students and the adults have in order to be Lifelong learners. These are: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Relationship skills, Responsible Decision-Making and Social Awareness. SEL is really about knowing who we are as individual and giving us the skills that we need to interact with other people in an emotionally healthy way”
Research skills: those skills allow students to think critically when searching, analysing and evaluating various sources as well as become content creators who consider relevance, reliability, currency, purpose and audience.
Keeping this in mind this academic year MYP Core will continue reinforcing Self-management-affective & reflecting- skills highlighting topics such as Self-worth, Mindfulness…etc. and Research-Information Literacy- skills.
We would also like to focus on Thinking-Critical thinking-Analysing and evaluating issues and ideas-skills.
Every topic in Core is taught in a very interactive manner where students are allowed to participate, contribute, collaborate and listen to other students’ perspective while they have the opportunity to express theirs.
Respect is a vital skill that students learn through debate and sharing opinions.
Furthermore, our topics in MYP Core for this month are transition and organisation. The Transition topic has many perspectives and we are exploring them by realising that not just new students are in transition but also for example students who will be in a different academic year.
Organisation, as in managing your time, is definitely the one that will help our MBIS students to kick start the year strongly, smoothly and steadily.
On this topic we are exploring for example the difference between goals and habits. We are looking at the importance of setting goals and at the best ways to organize wisely our time at home etc.
Hence it would be great for you to grasp this opportunity and support your child/children at home by asking them questions to guide them in the process to get themselves organised. Perhaps, starting setting time for different tasks would be advisable and helpful. Also, showing them how you organise your time. Maybe there is a schedule that you follow that they could take on board as their guidance. Share with them your strategies to be on top of your busy life.
Overall, during the year MYP Core will communicate through articles in the newsletter that will be mostly written, with my guidance, by the students on the topic learnt in class.
Written by I.Martin
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