Association of IB World Schools in Italy – MYP Best Practice Committee. Focus: Assessment
Date: 21st February 2014. 9am – 15pm
Place: IS Bologna
Chair: Jane Whittle
Recorder: Jane Whittle
Present: Jane Whittle (ISB), Dean Glorioso (IST), Helen Turner (ISC), Mark Edbury (Del.)
Apologies: David Henrikson IS Treviso
Agenda Item
Explanation of how and
why the committee was
formed - Jane
Conclusions
(Actions Taken and Deadlines)
Discussion of the constitution of AIBWSI and
the need for a committee for MYP with time
to feedback at the next AGM.
Person(s)
Responsible
We discussed that assessment is an important
area to focus on but as to are transitions (PYP
– MYP1, MYP3 – 4, MYP 5- DP)
Dean introduced us to Alan November
(learning.com) who considers the concept of
students being creators not consumers of
learning.
Introductions from each
coordinator – teaching
background, school
background, why you love
coordinating the MYP! All
Discussion of the longevity
of the committee: how
can we continue this
work? How will we
disseminate our work? All
We discussed how it was important to share
experiences and understand who to contact
within the group for different support with the
MYP.
We agreed these meetings were invaluable
and we would aim to have two a year and
develop links through Skype and email
throughout the year.
We felt it was important to spend days in each
other’s schools, to compare our work on the
Next Chapter, to compare ways of managing
the Terza Media and ways of managing the
MYP on top of a teaching load.
Dean and Mark offered for us to visit their
Personal Project Fairs: April 16th and May
20th/21st (TBC)
MYP The Next Chapter –
what are we excited about
in general? What are the
challenges for us? Are
these challenges
something we could work
on together? Formulation
of an action plan on how
to work together as an
Association on changes to
the MYP – All
Both Genova and Torino will use ManageBac
to plan their Next Chapter and for assessment.
Helen explained that at ISM teachers gave up
a year of PD to put the money towards
ManageBac instead. (FYI: Cambridge
University Press are putting together their
own version of ManageBac to be ready for
2015 and they promise to be cheaper!)
We all agreed the new assessment criteria
were a positive change to the MYP.
We all plan to have our key and related
concepts planned out by June.
The Italian teachers from all our schools will
Jane to create a
contacts sheet for
the Standardization
process.
Jane to email
Heather Lapper and
disseminate reply.
meet in May to go through the Language B
guide.
We agreed that it would be interesting to
have Standardization in November and
February across our schools to support each
other as we are relatively small schools.
We had some questions regarding the new
guides: 70 hours at MYP4 and 5, objectives
over assessment criteria. Jane will approach
Heather Lapper about these.
We discussed the academic rigour of MYP4
and MYP5 and Mark explained a service
learning project in MYP 4 they run in Genova
to complement the programme.
Sharing good practice on
assessment – what does
‘good practice’ look like in
the MYP? – each
coordinator to share what
works well in their school
with MYP Assessment.
Can we find similarities to
create a document of
what good practice looks
like across our MYP
schools in Italy – to be
disseminated at the next
AGM - All
What does good practice in the MYP look like:
Shared experiences of Standardization twice a
year
Internal Standardization
Making criteria explicit through the TSC
Students taking ownership of the learning
process
Across all our schools we do not accept
dishonesty or plagiarism and an instant zero is
given. We all help students to understand
what plagiarism means.
Mark explained the benefit of ManageBac as
is ensures you use the MYP Criteria accurately.
It takes the subjectivity out of the grades.
Mark also runs two teacher workshops a year
on ManageBac.
Assessment in the MYP
Next Chapter: what can
we take from this good
practice into the 2014
changes?
E-Assessment and EPortfolios – feedback from
Jane on the Association’s
actions regarding Italian.
Discussion of the small
sample language group.
How many of our students
are affected? What can
we do for them? – All
We agreed the consistency in grading across
subjects is the best part of the MYP changes –
we can transfer all other best practice.
NB: Jane will attend the Small Sample
Language Group in the Hague on May 1st and
will immediately feedback to the group on
developments.
We discussed that in terms of recognition of
the MYP, the decision to not have Italian in
the E Assessments has a huge and detrimental
impact on the MYP in Italy.
Mark suggested an idea which we were all
very positive to trial. Following the meeting in
the Hague when we know more about the IB
Vision we will follow this up.
Jane to feedback
after May 1st
meeting.
AIBWSI to discuss
Mark’s idea at the
next meeting on June
22nd.
Mark suggested the idea of a Language
Certificate given from the Association. The
assessment would be written by our teachers
and standardised between us. This certificate
would be valid within AIBWSI schools proving
that students had a certain level of Italian. All
students would sit this exam at the same time
on the same day.
We loved this idea from Mark and think this is
a positive alternative which also helps to
validate the Association.
In responding to the IB on this point – the
AIBWSI would be setting something up to
make up for the deficit of the IBO in terms of
Language A and Language B Italian. We
agreed parents would also be positive about
this certification.
Status of the E
Assessments – how many
of us are going to trail
them in 2015? What is
our overall position on
these as a committee?
Are any of us going to be
grading them for the IB? –
Jane
Bologna is trailing these in 2015 and Jane will
feedback on the experience. IS Como will do
the E Assessment when they reach the MYP 5
years.
Terza Media – each
coordinator to explain the
logistics of their region on
the Terza Media and how
these impact on the MYP?
Can we find similarities
and ways to support each
other? - All
Each school shared their experiences:
Dean explained he saw some screen shots of
the E Assessments and they looked user
friendly.
Genova has a separate language policy for
Terza Media year in terms of using Italian to
teach elements of the curriculum. Students
have 6 lessons of Italian a week.
Torino have 10 hours of Italian and are taking
a concept based approach to the Tessine to
align with the MYP
Como have a bilingual programme for
Humanities, Science and Maths so have the
possibility for team teaching
Bologna have 4 x 50 mins of Italian and
provide support after school but this is paid
for by the parents
Reporting – each
coordinator to give a brief
overview of their
reporting system –are
there commonalities
across the schools? - All
We agreed that students need to have
ownership of their learning and who can help
them to gain this independence.
Dean to share Three
Way Conference
Planning Ideas
Each school shared their reporting processes.
Jane to send PPoint
from her Consultant
What else do we assess in
We all agreed that the teaching ratio
We agreed that part of our role is to spend
time explaining to Italian parents about the
out of seven grades and what this means –e.g.
it is fine to achieve a 5 out of 7.
Each coordinator to
the MYP? Discussion
between coordinators
about how we assess
Learner Profile and in
particular the Approaches
to Learning – how can we
support each other with
the changes to these in
the Next Chapter? - All
suggested by the IB for MYP Coordinators is
unrealistic and puts a lot of pressure on the
post holder.
The new unit planners are quite dense and
this will need unpicking.
In terms of AtL each school will work with
their staff on these.
Dean shared his organisation of the AtLs
where he writes when they will be introduced,
practised and consolidated.
In terms of the Learner Profile we discussed
how do we really know if the students are just
saying the words or if they really know what
they mean?
AOB
The Regional Conference:
do we want to ‘do’
anything as a committee
during Conference to
promote MYP? – Jane
How can we promote the
use of the AIBWSI
website?
Next Meeting: November 2014 – IS Como
Torino and Bologna have put forward students
for student involvement at Conference.
Jane has spoken to Tania at RIS regarding our
logins for the AIBWSI website – which we
must try to use more frequently. We agreed
we could add a link to the AIBWSI website
through our school websites.
Dean and Jane will make some badges for the
RC saying – ask me about the MYP in Italy.
AOB: Jane to share Vertical Planner, Dean to
share student lead conference materials,
Genova have offered for us to visit their
school for DP experience also.
The Chair
Jane Whittle
share their new AtL
documents when
they are completed