International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years... thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Can someone whose child is in this program or someone who opted not to pursue a school with this program share their thoughts about it?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

My kid is at Robinson. This seems kind of pointless in MS - all the kids are “in it” so it can’t be that much of a challenge.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, my impression is that it’s basically a couple assemblies a year where they talk about IB learner traits etc

[Anonymous]

So it’s not actually more work?

[Anonymous]

Oof. I taught at an IBMYP school for a few years. It is a TON of work from the teacher side of things if you are doing it authentically. All assessments have to be redone, all assignments rubric based, multiple interdisciplinary projects every quarter.

From the kid side of things, it probably didn’t seem that different, as I’m not sure they were all that aware of how/what/why things happened.

I now am at a different IBMYP school and they do none of the above, just post the character traits on the wall and go about their traditional lessons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So it’s not actually more work?

It’s supposed to be a whole school philosophy more than anything else. It’s not something a students opts in/out of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oof. I taught at an IBMYP school for a few years. It is a TON of work from the teacher side of things if you are doing it authentically. All assessments have to be redone, all assignments rubric based, multiple interdisciplinary projects every quarter.

From the kid side of things, it probably didn’t seem that different, as I’m not sure they were all that aware of how/what/why things happened.

I now am at a different IBMYP school and they do none of the above, just post the character traits on the wall and go about their traditional lessons.

So how do you find out which type of IBMYP school it is? Would you send your child to this program?

[Anonymous]

My kids went to an IB MYP middle school. The noteworthy differences vs the non-IB MS in the district...

World language required all three years and a wider variety of languages offered
Community service hours required in 6th-7th and a community service project in 8th that was then presented to the younger grades
A lot of emphasis on writing "reflections", that is writing about what your learned or performed and how you can continue to improve. These were done in all classes including PE and band after a unit of study was completed or, for band, after a major performance.

We didn't seek out the school, it happened to be what we're zoned for but I think it was a good program. My kids hated the "reflections" but I do think that process is worthwhile. There was also a lot of emphasis on character and my kids, at least, did have a nice group of friends and I did not hear of any bullying complaints.

[Anonymous]

If done correctly, IB MYP is much better than a traditional education. Lessons are inquiry-based and students are assessed on 4 different criteria each with their own rubric for each class. For example, in math students are assessed on knowledge and understanding, investigating patterns, communication, and application to real world contexts.

Students also complete community service through the 8th grade community project.

[Anonymous]

Biggest differences:

Emphasis on world language. Regular schools have language classes as electives. IB schools require it every year.

Emphasis on solving world issues

Design component. Students need experience actually designing and implementing solutions to a problem. School handle this is in different ways. Sometimes it is part of science (engineering), sometimes scocial studies, or there may be a seperate elective set up for it.

[Anonymous]

The biggest difference is that they teach about critical thinking. So there isn't much of a difference in, say, classes or ECs but there should be a difference in the whole approach to learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Biggest differences:

Emphasis on world language. Regular schools have language classes as electives. IB schools require it every year.

Emphasis on solving world issues

Design component. Students need experience actually designing and implementing solutions to a problem. School handle this is in different ways. Sometimes it is part of science (engineering), sometimes scocial studies, or there may be a seperate elective set up for it.

Cool! This sounds amazing.

[Anonymous]

MYP in our school requires a project by 10th grade, with a reflection on what they learned.

[Anonymous]

Also important to know that IB started in the High schools. But that organization now requires any feeder ES or MS to follow the IB programme.

IB was originally started by the French to allow a cohesive learning experience for French expat families moving around from different countries to different school every few years. Caught on in the US over 20 years ago. Now it is everywhere, but has been a bit too inclusive and watered down. But for families planning to move to another country it is helpful to go from one IB school to another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oof. I taught at an IBMYP school for a few years. It is a TON of work from the teacher side of things if you are doing it authentically. All assessments have to be redone, all assignments rubric based, multiple interdisciplinary projects every quarter.

From the kid side of things, it probably didn’t seem that different, as I’m not sure they were all that aware of how/what/why things happened.

I now am at a different IBMYP school and they do none of the above, just post the character traits on the wall and go about their traditional lessons.

This is interesting. Obviously as a parent I have even less understanding of what’s going on than my kid but I appreciate the info