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IB Middle Years Programme: Grades 7 - 11

What is the IB Middle Years Programme?

Overview

The International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) is designed to meet the educational requirements of students aged 11 to 16. The program encourages students to become creative, critical and reflective thinkers. These are important years for students, where they are developing their personal, social and intellectual skills. The model of the MYP places the student at the center, encouraging them to exemplify the attributes of the learner profile. The MYP places great emphasis on teaching the subject content through an understanding of broader concepts in a real world context – the global contexts. Approaches to Learning (ATL) are skills which are taught to students so they learn how to learn and how to critically evaluate information. The MYP places the importance of teaching these ATL skills, equal to teaching the content of the subject disciplines themselves. The MYP encourages teachers to provide opportunities for students to build meaning using students’ prior knowledge through structured inquiry.

 

The IB Middle Years Programme at Beurling Academy

  • Addresses holistically students' intellectual, social, emotional and physical well-being

  • Provides students opportunities to develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills they need in order to manage complexity and take responsible action for the future

  • Ensures breadth and depth of understanding through study in eight subject groups

  • Requires the study of three languages (English, French & Spanish) to support students in understanding their own cultures and those of others

  • Empowers students to participate in service within the community

  • Helps to prepare students for further education, the workplace

 

The MYP aims to help students develop their personal understanding, their emerging sense of self and responsibility in their community. MYP teachers organize the curriculum with appropriate attention to:

  • Teaching and learning in context. Students learn best when their learning experiences have context and are connected to their lives and the world that they have experienced. Using global contexts, MYP students explore human identity, global challenges and what it means to be internationally-minded.

  • Conceptual understanding. Concepts are big ideas that have relevance within specific disciplines and across subject areas. MYP students use concepts as a vehicle to inquire into issues and ideas of personal, local and global significance and examine knowledge holistically.

  • Approaches to learning (ATL). A unifying thread throughout all MYP subject groups, approaches to learning provide the foundation for independent learning and encourage the application of their knowledge and skills in unfamiliar contexts. Developing and applying these skills help students learn how to learn.

  • Service as action (Community service) Action (learning by doing and experiencing) and service have always been shared values of the IB community. Students take action when they apply what they are learning in the classroom and beyond. IB learners strive to be caring members of the community who demonstrate a commitment to service—making a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment. Service as action is an integral part of the programme, especially in the MYP community project.

  • Language and identity – MYP students are required to learn three languages Learning to communicate in a variety of ways is fundamental to their development of intercultural understanding and crucial to their identity affirmation.

 

Reflective thinking is also an important part of being an IBMYP student. Reflection allows students to learn from their mistakes and to grow as learners.

Reflective thinking may consist of:

  • Oral discussions about an assignment
  • Written reflections at the end of an IB unit
  • Written reflections, or completion of a checklist, as part of a formative or summative assignment 
  • Considering the statement of inquiry and the inquiry questions
  • Discussion of the Learner Profile and the Approaches to Learning Skills
  • Contemplating real world connections that were made to course content

 

In Arts courses students track their progress through the use of a developmental workbook. This records their investigation, planning, creating and reflecting during a unit of work.

The developmental workbook might include:

  • Notes and handouts by the teacher
  • Rubrics for evaluations
  • Steps taken by the student relating to how a piece of work was created
  • Techniques used during the process of learning
  • Feedback given by the teacher
  • Reflections by the student relating to questions they were asked, or to questions they came up with themselves