Extended Essay Workshop: Completion and Certification

My certificate of completion arrived last week. This was for the IB Workshop I attended last year, on the Role of the Supervisor in the Extended Essay. Like in any workshops, I take the experience as an eye opener. There is so much to learn and learning is indeed lifelong.

In case you missed it, here are the reflections I had in the workshop.

The EE and Pedagogical Support 

The World Studies EE and Approaches to Teaching and Learning

Reflections on REFLECTION

Where do I go from here?

I will continue blogging about the EE and my adventures in research. As a school librarian servicing young adults, otherwise known as teenagers, I take my role as teacher of skills very seriously. One way for me to continuously improve and grow is to document my experiences in journey.

If you have anything to share, or if like me, you are a high school librarian too, drop a comment below. I always reply to my readers.

IB Online Workshop: The Road Goes Ever On!

I will focus my reflection on two things: the process I went through towards the finish line and the products I made and my take away from the workshop.

I came in the workshop with the confidence of someone who has an experience working in a school that has been running the DP program for seven years. Attending this online workshop was not my first so this experience added to my confidence. I was excited to participate and engage with peers and colleagues to share practices that worked and challenges we face in implementing the EE. During the first module, I found common ground with seasoned IB teachers and colleagues new to the IB. 

I found myself moving a step ahead in module 1 like posting a question that is more appropriate for module 4 and identifying an action plan to help teachers supervise the EE with their students. When module 2 began, I was overwhelmed with the content and coverage that I had to pause and step back so I can find my center, gather my thoughts and strategise a manageable time and space to jump back in the learning engagements.

I appreciated John's email prompting me to participate everyday since learning engagements lead to deeper thought and distillation of content covered in module 2. Indeed, the posts of the participants lent insight and pushed me to look at my own including my pacing and time management.

Mid-way in module 3, I fell ill and was confined for three days in the hospital. Once again, I am appreciative of everyone who reached out and made an effort to reply to my posts late in the module. Catching up was a lot of work and I feel that, till the end, I am still trailing behind. A slice of humble pie never tasted this good!

Also, there goes the lesson to keep one's self healthy at all times. It is time to take seriously this concept of work-life balance and how to make it really work for me.

I have attended face to face IB workshops in the past with good results, but an online workshop has its advantages. The discussions boards and forum will be open for six months. This will give me enough time to review, look back and recall discussions, answers to my questions and back read on posts I missed.

Of the four module, I am most affirmed and validated in module 2. Reading the posts of participants saying how valuable the librarian is in the EE journey inspired me to further assert my role in the school. Not everyone in my learning community recognise the relevance of librarians in the EE and in teaching and learning in general. But, knowing I have the support of my DP Coordinator and Dean of Faculty is already a platform I can work on to spring board more ideas, services and programs to help teachers in the supervision of the EE.

Modules 3 was a lot of work, especially that there are no grade boundaries to work on in the new guide. Nonetheless, I felt and learned how a year 11 student would feel and think at the beginning of the EE. The student-supervisor relationship must be strong and the school must really set up a support system for this relationship to flourish. I look at the EE supervision not just an administrative job, but a formative and teaching job that goes beyond the expected job description.

Feedback and reflection are two of the important concepts that I will carry with me back to the Academy when I discuss my PAP with my school leaders. Plus, the learning of the WSEE. Module 4 was the most challenging! 

And so, I conclude this workshop with a revised Personal Plan of Action that includes a personal development to write a WSEE by August 2018. I resolve to actualise the plans I have in my PAP and I will start by sending a copy of it to my DP Coordinator and Dean of Faculty. They have something to think about the rest of the holidays. :-)

I thank everyone who patiently answered and replied to my posts, to John most especially for answering all my Burning Questions!

This online workshop reaches an end of a journey, but I begin another one back in the Beacon Academy.

Have a meaningful holiday everyone! A grace filled New Year to all!

IB Online Workshop: Reflections on Module 4 - The World Studies EE and Approaches to Learning

I am sharing once more my reflections on the learning engagements I do in the IB Online Workshop.

This module is the most challenging for me because of the newness that the World Studies EE posses. Coming up with a topic and RQ for a WSSEE requires macro-micro levels of thinking, and vice-versa, apart from a good grasp of global issues. As a librarian, I am challenged very much to review the information and intellectual systems and structures that will support the student who is working on a WSEE. Sourcing of data, records and information sources is one of the important factors that spells the success of a WSEE.

What resources can you suggest to your students who may be interested in a world studies extended essay?

I will first recommend titles of books in assessing and developing one's thinking skills, especially critical and creative thinking skills. I will make available in the library the resources, print and online, that tackle global issues. The Day, New York Times are two media and news source outlets that come to mind. For specific global themes and issues, I will collect a directory of experts, scholars and researches that specialise on subject specific topics. Government agencies, foundations, non-government organisations can also be of help when searching for resources.

One of the trends in library services today is the staging of the Human Library. It is an event where experts and stories of resource persons are discussed to break down the walls of prejudice and to take in new perspectives of the world. There was one academic library in Manila that had a Human Library session about Martial Law. Human rights victims told their stories about abuses of power during Martial Law in the Philippines during the rule of Ferdinand Marcos. Another Human Library session was about the Lumads of Mindanao, an indigenous group, who experienced abuse from authorities and were driven away from their ancestral lands. The Ifugaos of Northern Philippines have a similar experience back in the 80s over a dam to be built in the mountains. How these things happen in the 21st century was a good discussion in the Human Library session. 

This is something I can consider doing in our school through the library's programs and services.

What else can be added to your personal action plan?

I have added teaching strategies on reflective teaching and learning, as well as Thinking skills as important components of the EE and research writing in general.

Can ATL (Approaches to Learning) in your classroom be extended to the extended essay? How?

This remains a challenge in our school. While teachers identify ATL in their unit plans to be taught and facilitated to students in the MYP, skills need to be strengthened in the DP still. This goes to show that the EE is a learning experience that is connected to the Personal Project, thus, a continuing development of ATL must be recognised. Not all learners come to the DP with fully developed ATL.

IB Online Workshop: Pedagogical Support for the EE

The two concepts that stood out to me after reading the Pedagogical support for the extended essay were the Reflection and the EE and the Student-Supervisor Relationship.

The Reflection and the EE

This concept stood out to me because this is new in the EE. To devote a criterion for reflection only goes to show how important this is. Besides, Reflective is one of the ten qualities in the list of the Learner Profile.

Previous to working in the Beacon Academy, I was a school librarian in a Jesuit school. As a lay partner of the Jesuits in educating and forming men and women for others, it was there, among Jesuits and their lay partners where I first encountered the relevance of reflection in a person's life. I learned from them the cycle of Experience-Reflection-Action. This permeates the teaching and learning practices of the learning community.

Back to Beacon. In my first year, I attended the IB Workshop and Training required of newly hired faculty and there I met the words Reflection, Action and Inquiry. Somehow, I did not feel entirely foreign to the IB as I have prior knowledge and experience to latch on new things that I will learn from peers and colleague who were IB trained. Over the years, my colleagues have been supportive of this continuous process of learning and some of them have become good friends. Oh boy! It has been unexciting ride as there are new things being incorporated in the IB within two or three years time.

In this journey of learning continuously in the IB, reflection remains at its core. The PYP is grounded on inquiry based learning and statements of inquiry are essential parts of unit plans. To reflect on process in the EE journey in the DP, as I take it, manifest as the capstone skill in year 12.

I believe in reflective teaching and learning. I enjoy reflection even though it is difficult to do at first and it is not akin to the Filipino psyche and culture. Reflection is something we need to consciously learn and teach. Despite the challenge, there are techniques to use and apply to help students (and teachers) become reflective learners. Once reflection becomes a habit, it is a life skill that can help a person push farther and further on in life.

This is where I find the TSM helpful, especially the section on Pedagogical support for the extended essay, because it has a slew of activities and strategies that prompts, helps and aids supervisors and students reflect in the EE. There are many things to unpack and set in place. In my plan of action, I included a Research Writing (RW) workshop for EE supervisors. I will add activities and points for reflection in the RW workshop that I will design with the help of my DP Coordinator and Dean of Faculty. I will definitely select and use the recommended activities in the TSM’s Pedagogical support for the extended essay.

The Student-Supervisor Relationship

Working with students in the EE for the past two years made me realise that I am building a relationship with them that is grounded on trust and mutual respect. Below is the description of what makes for a good student-supervisor relationship and the primary role of the EE supervisor. 

Taken from the Pedagogical support for the extended essay, I will keep these statements to heart:

A good student–topic–supervisor fit is likely when the supervisor:

• knows the student well

• shares the student’s excitement and curiosity about the topic

• is comfortable establishing a clear work plan with the student

• follows up with timely feedback.

The supervisor should:

• mentor the student with advice on the skills of undertaking the research process

• encourage and support the student throughout the research and writing of the EE

• guide the student in formulating a well-focused research question that satisfies appropriate legal and ethical standards

• ensure that the student understands the importance of using credible/accurate sources.

Implementing policies and procedures of the EE may appear as highly administrative. But, beyond these administrative layers, a school community needs to work together and each member has a role to play. School leaders create the learning environment and systems, supervisors teach, administer and form students as knowledgable, inquiring, principled and reflective learners within the EE journey, and parents are needed for support at home.