Teaching and learning MYP is very rewarding – sharing from a teacher
Teaching MYP is both a challenging and rewarding experience for any educator. The syllabus demands quite a lot from both students and teachers. Teaching MYP English for example, means more than just teaching grammar and spelling. It goes beyond reading comprehension and writing stories. MYP aims to develop a well-rounded student ready to take on the IB demands which means it really will push students beyond their comfort zones to really learn to appreciate the power of language.
I first met Amelia when she was in year 8. She had transferred from a local school to an international school and was studying MYP for the first time. In fact, she’d only begun to learn English a few years before. The struggles for her were more than average.
The major challenge was how her studies were always mixed. The MYP curriculum demands students think beyond each subject’s boundaries. In one term, she was required to describe medieval battle strategies and evaluate their effectiveness. In another she gathered data from her classmates using her own created questionnaire then proposed a business to fill a niche. As her tutor, the challenge was having to push my own boundaries, learning art jargon and business terminologies.
As she grew older and moved up grades, the challenges became more varied. There was the predictable need to write fictional narratives and analyse poetry but the twist was mixing biological knowledge into the story and factoring geography when analysing the poetry. As a teacher that meant scrambling to make sure my knowledge was solid, my suggestions were useful.
The reward was witnessing the growth of a young girl into a confident and extremely knowledgeable academic. One who had little problem understanding research papers, who could confidently write in academic language but also creatively to express her ideas. I especially appreciated how the MYP didn’t put too much emphasis on grammar and spelling which meant that while Amelia continued to make errors in tenses or syntax, she knew that mattered less than whether she was expressing her understanding correctly or organising her ideas to their best strengths. These are the skills that are important in IB which the MYP wishes to prepare students for and by reducing the focus on the nitty gritty and instead on the bigger and broader skills, it allows students to accomplish much more, to really find their strengths and utilise them to their full potential.
I continued to teach Amelia through her MYP journey into IB and could see how those difficult projects that she needed to accomplish in her middle years ultimately did prepare her for the rigours of her IB studies. She had gained not just the academic skills that are so essential but also other soft skills that are so often overlooked. A mindset of curiosity as well as perseverance. Good study skills that would help save valuable time and a resilience to withstand the pressures and stress.
Amelia ultimately achieved top grades but more importantly the experience prepared her for the challenges of the post academic world. As for me, she taught me valuable lessons in flexibility and adaptability.
