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Welcome to the ninth episode of our specialist and supporting teachers series.  I’m super excited to talk more about the learner profile attributes.  This is one of the most underused tools alongside the approaches to learning in the IB programmes.  This is a bold statement to say, I know.

I’m just tired of people using the learner profile attributes as character traits.  They are SKILLS required to create a DISPOSITION. 

More than ever, we need young people who know how to think, feel, and act.  The only way that we will get them there is by using the language of the learner profile in our practice everyday.  You heard me, every single day.

Take a listen to one of my shortest, but equally powerful episodes of how to make the learner profile work for you as a specialist and supporting teacher.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com

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Welcome to the eighth episode of our specialist and supporting teachers series.  We are going to spend our time unpacking the learner profile in a new way.  Oftentimes, the learner profile are reduced as a way to connect with behavior and they are much more than that.   

As specialist and supporting teachers you have a possibility to use the learner profile as a set of skills that create a learning disposition in your classes. It won’t take too much planning, but it requires you to have them in your mind while you plan.  I hope that makes sense. 

Let's get cracking and have some fun!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social.

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Welcome to our seventh episode in our series for specialist and supporting teachers.  This has been a passion project that has been frequently delayed with my return to the classroom, a school-wide adventure camp, International day, the IB global conference, a trip to London (my favorite city in the world like so many others), and a workshop in Dubin, Ireland with the Nord Anglia school.  As I go through this list, I am excited, yet invigorated at the same time.

One of the things that surprised me within the past few months is the connectivity this podcast has given some people.  I met several people at the global conference who mentioned how much this podcast has meant to them.  Thank you for sharing.  This has always been a passion project to help others and it truly warms my heart when I hear your stories.

These interactions made me curious about the reach of the podcast today and I was quite surprised by the results. Here are the top five cities within its reach of all time.

Melbourne, Australia
Sydney, Australia
Singapore
Mumbai, India
Dubai, UAE

As I looked through these locations, it really warmed my heart.  Melbourne is where I learned to find my voice as an adult.  The place where I discovered my unique self and found mates who I will forever cherish like Kelly Thong, Angel Trudgeon, and Greg Woodford.  Singapore was my main stopover for many years and I came to love their Dr Scholl’s massage parlor and day trips into the city.  India is where I learned about the beauty of color and the continual celebration of life through gratitude.  Dubai is where I found the educator within me.  It’s the safe place that helped me to grow and try out new things, even if I made mistakes.  I dusted myself off and tried again.  Thank you lovely listeners.  Your cultures truly helped me on my life’s journey and I can’t wait to return to create new memories.

Next school year, I would like to return to the region to share ideas with fellow educators.  If you are interested in participating or hosting, please contact me via my website https://www.thinkchat2020.com/

As we finish going through this series, I would like to weave in some tidbits that I’ve learned along the way and apply it back to your role as a specialist or supporting role educator.

This episode, we are going to take a moment to pause and reflect on what we have explored so far and take it a step deeper.  This challenge will focus on what we know about agency and inquiry in the specialist and supporting role.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social.

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Welcome back to our specialist and supporting teachers series!  This is our sixth
episode leaning into inquiry for our supporting teachers, particularly the inclusion specialist. 

In specified roles that support learning and behavioral development, the challenge is there isn’t a set curriculum you are following.  This is how the PYP can help you the most, because it’s full of approaches to help bring about the best in the learners that you support.

This can be a challenge, but it’s totally worth it when you see learners finally making meaning of the content or process they are trying to master.  As a supporting teacher, this is at the heart of your role. 

Take a few minutes to listen to this episode and hopefully it will help you in your role as an inclusion specialist.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social.

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Welcome back to our specialist and supporting teachers series!  This is our fifth episode zooming into inquiry for you fabulous teachers. 

In this episode, we will explore how we might infuse more inquiry into our practice through think, chat, create, particularly in the PE classroom.  This will be a fun exploration of how we might ask some thought provoking questions to bring about more local and global inquiry into our practice. 

For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! We are going to launch some webinars and extra challenges soon. Let's have some fun!

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social.

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Welcome to the fourth episode of our specialist and supporting teachers series. 

We are continuing our journey with agency through the lens of the specialist teacher, in particular the librarian.  All other specialist and supporting teachers should be able to find ways to modify the strategies over the two episodes to help their practice.  It's about look at practices and our content through a different lens.

This episode is dedicated to Kerry Darby, a passionate librarian at the Lawrence School. I met Kerry a year ago and shared my vision of a learner-driven library that promotes agency.  Without a clear vision of what it would look like, she volunteered to beta test the process.  She is that librarian…one that has a growth mindset.  Everytime I chat with Denise, she always mentions Kerry’s passion to redesign the library space to reflect more learner agency. My kind of people.

Before we move forward, I want to clarify that these ideas are my personal opinion and not necessarily of the IB.  You need to confirm everything with your IB consultant and/or IB world school manager.  The ideas I am about to share are based on my experiences and observations.  Now let’s get to it!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social.

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Welcome to the third episode in our specialist and supporting teachers series. If you haven’t listened to the series so far, consider going back to the beginning, because we are getting into the nitty gritty about your roles in each part of the PYP.

Agency is a huge push in the PYP, but I rarely hear it being discussed in the role of the specialist and supporting teacher role.  It may have to do with your hectic schedule from 30-60 minutes per week to incorporate meaningful experiences. This can be quite a pressure.  On the other hand, if we don’t allow agency to happen in our practice, then our learners will struggle to make independent decisions.

In this episode, we will explore a method to bring about more agency in your role as a specialist and supporting teacher.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social.

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Welcome to the second episode of my new series to support specialist and supporting teachers.  I just want to let you know that in this space you are so valued.  The work you do makes the rest of the school more complete.  Never forget this my friends as you try to navigate your role within the PYP framework. 

Before we begin, I want to honor the contributions of my friend Yuni Santosa who gave me so many ideas for this series.  She is a fabulous educator who is so passionate about the PYP and creating meaningful learning.  Yuni works as a PYP teacher at the International School Ruhr and is also an IBEN member and concept-based trainer.   Yuni provides many contributions online through Toddle App and beyond and I’m so thankful to have her in my professional network.

Before we move forward, I want to clarify that these ideas are my personal opinion and not necessarily of the IB.  You need to confirm everything with your IB consultant and/or IB world school manager.  The ideas I am about to share are based on my experiences and observations.  Now let’s get to it!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social.

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Welcome to our new series about specialist and supporting teachers.  I have been thinking a lot about this series over the past couple months, especially during a visit to Le Jardin Academy in Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii.  I had a candid chat with the specialist team and it made me think that other specialist and supporting teachers might appreciate the same guidance.

This episode, we will review some of the common misconceptions about the role of the specialist and supporting teachers within our schools.  We will begin to discuss how we might support their roles, so they feel more part of the planning and teaching process.

I want to clarify that these ideas are my personal opinion and not necessarily of the IB.  You need to confirm everything with your IB consultant and IB world school manager.  This is based on my experiences alone. 

For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social.

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This is the final week of our exploration of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain.  We will explore how to build more intellective capacity with Zaretta Hammond.  At my age, I feel like this capacity is waning, so I hope to pick up some tips!

The chapter begins with a quote by Benjamin R. Barber, a political theorist. He states, “I don’t divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures, those who make it or those who don’t.  I divide the world into learners and non-learners.” 

As I read this quote, I thought about how many people view success in life based on financial status, fame, and acquisition of stuff.  The more that they have, the more successful that they feel.  We don’t often think of the person that has repeatedly failed as a winner.  Yet, the experiences and understanding they have gained by losing is probably worth more than all of the accolades from their peers.

I connect this to success in school. The accolades that schools often seek from learners are grades.  If they fail, it means the school was a failure too.  Since many schools are funded by the government or private investors, it’s difficult to justify that failure is a good thing. 

If we look at every success story of every genius that walked the earth, they often talk about all of the failures they had.  These experiences spurred them on to finding the correct solution or inventing a tool that would better mankind.  Embracing failure is vital in this process. This is what independent learners do.


For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com

Thanks for listening! Please find us on X @thinkchat2020, LinkedIn @lugerlach, Instagram @thinkchat2020, Threads @thinkchat2020, and Bluesky @thinkchat2020.bsky.social.

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