Confessions of a PYP Teacher

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, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! We are going to launch some webinars and extra challenges in early 2024. Let's have some fun!

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, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! We are going to launch some webinars and extra challenges in early 2024. Let's have some fun!

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, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! We are going to launch some webinars and extra challenges in early 2024. Let's have some fun!

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, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! We are going to launch some webinars and extra challenges in early 2024. Let's have some fun!

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, and Instagram @thinkchat2020.

Join our Confessions of a PYP Teacher Facebook Group! We are going to launch some webinars and extra challenges in early 2024. Let's have some fun!

I can’t believe that we are almost done with Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond.  This book has reaffirmed that some things I am doing are reflective of cultural responsiveness and that there are many ways that I can still grow.  As we talked about in the last episode, it’s all about having a balanced academic mindset.  We know that tasks may be challenging, but with time and practice, we still attempt them with a belief that we can do it. This is a game changer for those tough times.

Join us for this episode as we explore how to support a positive academic mindset and how to support struggling learners.  This is a super-packed episode. The longest one ever!

For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.weebly.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 in early 2024. Let's have some fun!

Welcome back my friends to another episode of Confessions of a PYP Teacher.  This episode speaks directly to my heart and I hope it will resonate with you too.  Zaretta Hammond focuses on building deep alliances with our learners in chapter 6 of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain.  We will uncover some parts, but it’s not possible to unpack all of the ideas.  Have fun reading and finding your own nuggets of wisdom.  

The chapter begins with a quote by Rita Pierson, “Every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists they become the best they can possibly be.”

This sets the stage for ways to support our learners by building a strong alliance, so learners can build an academic mindset over learned helplessness. 

For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.weebly.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 in early 2024. Let's have some fun!

Something I’ve been thinking about has been learner relationships and why they are not the primary focus in many elementary classrooms.  Usually within the first month of school, teachers are building systems and routines of how the classroom will operate, but do they really take the time to get to know their learners personally?  Zaretta Hammond points out, “Too often though, we ignore the quality of our interactions with students and instead focus primarily on the curriculum.” 

In this episode, we will explore how to build more authentic relationships that help us to affirm and validate our learners.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.weebly.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 in early 2024. Let's have some fun!

In the past episode, we discussed our own role as a culturally responsive teacher and how it shapes our frame of reference when teaching a classroom full of learners from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, let alone language acquisition, disabilities, and gender identity needs.  This was compared to our understanding of surface, shallow, and deep cultural beliefs and ways we may trigger amygdala hijack without knowing it.

I don’t know about you, but my brain exploded.  This is completely normal, when we peel back the layers of our own cultural frames of reference and compare them with our learners.  Zaretta Hammond references a three part process for widening our own lens called description, interpretation, and evaluation.

I introduced it in the last episode to get you thinking, but this time, we are unpacking it to the fullest.  Are you ready for description, interpretation and evaluation?  I’m ready to get vulnerable and make changes in my practice.

For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.weebly.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 in early 2024. Let's have some fun!

Welcome to another deep dive into the fabulous book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond.  This week will be full of insights about ourselves.  Are you ready to go deep into your practice?  To be honest, this chapter left me with a feeling of being exposed, but that is the process of recognizing how our beliefs and behaviors shape cultural responsiveness or not.  Yikes, we went there already, but this is all part of our growth into becoming more aware educators while honoring the things we are doing well.

This episode will explore how culture has shaped our view of our learners.  Hammond asks some deep questions that have sparked my reflection and hopefully yours.  

For a written blog post and other resources, visit:   https://thinkchat2020.weebly.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 in early 2024. Let's have some fun!