PYP updates
Collaboration
Collaboration is a key feature across the College and connects directly with the IB Mission of creating a better and more peaceful world as members of the school community learn to work together in respectful collaborative relationships. Collaboration is supported between teachers, teachers and students, students, as well as with families and the wider community.
Collaboration demonstrates a commitment to the common goal of supporting and reflecting on a transdisciplinary learning experience and improving student outcomes. Teachers are continually inquiring into and reflecting on learning and teaching as they collaborate with each other and with their students (Claxton, Chambers, Powell, Lucas 2011). A collaborative approach involving sustained dialogue and reflection helps teachers to grow as professionals. They reach deeper levels of understanding together as they inquire, reflect on and make decisions about the process of learning.
This collaborative approach is apparent at a school-wide level as well as in day-to-day and moment-to-moment learning and teaching. The learning community collaborates in policy development, resource planning and allocation, learning space design and culture-building. Collaboration may vary in response to the local context and the needs of the learning community.
At Del Monte, we support collaboration within our community by:
- providing time for teachers to work together on planning, teaching and assessing learning
- making connections with specialist subject areas in units of inquiry
- structuring opportunities for students to work collaboratively with partners or small groups
- explicitly teaching our students how to work collaboratively
- responding to students’ interests, curiosity and preferences when planning for learning
- engaging in conversations with families about learning
- reflecting on the effectiveness of our learning programs and making decisions together in order to continually improve these.
Our current Units of Inquiry
This term, our students in all grade levels began new current units of inquiry. For more detailed information about how our students are engaging in these units of inquiry, please visit our grade pages on Veritas Online.
Our Year 4 students were inquiring into ‘What makes us happy?’ They thought about what we need to keep us physically, mentally and socially happy and categorised their ideas.
Our Year 3 students examined a range of structures and decided if each one was a Beauty or a Beast. They justified their opinion with evidence.
Our Year 2 students investigated some images of a range of environments that had been impacted by natural events or human actions. They observed the changes in the environment and formed hypotheses about what had happened to make this change.
Karen Campbell
Curriculum (PYP) Coordinator