International Baccalaureate Workshop

The Modern School, the only school in Lucknow to have International Baccalaureate (IB) programme going on, held an ‘IB Primary Years Program (IB-PYP)’ workshop on November 2 and November 3, 2012. The workshop was for teachers of grades nursery to fifth.

The school also has been among a very few schools of the country to start IB. (See list of some well known IB schools here.)

IB authorized trainers came from Hyderabad to impart training to The Modern School teachers.

The workshop that opened new gates of wisdom for the teachers was very interactive and informative.

The workshop leaders- Rima Singh and Subbalakshmi Bulusu—guided the teachers to comprehend that “IB is not a curriculum for International schools. Rather it is an international curriculum for schools.”

There were numerous activities held to help the teachers understand the concept-driven approach of the IB-PYP programme. For instance the ‘Body Part’ grouping activity in which the teachers danced to music and were clubbed in different groups.

The event inspired teachers to be ‘internationally minded’ and threw light on the importance of being so. Being internationally minded is the real purpose of the IB curriculum.

The workshop leaders explained the relevance of six trans-disciplinary themes of IB-PYP programme in the real world. The teachers described themselves in the context of these themes that are as follows: Who we are?; Where we are in place and time?; How we express ourselves?; How the world works?; How we organize ourselves?; and Sharing the planet.

The workshop enthused the teachers to imbibe that conceptual learning is far more important than just gaining knowledge.

The workshop leaders were extremely obliging to the questions and cross-question from the curious participants. The trainers emphasized on the importance of planning and advised the teachers to plan each and every thing on an advanced basis and to keep it as close to the real world as possible.

Many interesting videos played by the workshop leaders removed various doubts in the minds of the IB teachers.

At the end of the workshop, the teachers appreciated the hard-work put by the workshop leaders in making this event a success and were very thankful to them for sharing their knowledge with such a great conviction.

“Several new things  were taught to create new inquisitiveness in students as well as in the teachers. The activities were framed in a manner which aimed at involving the students to the utmost level.” –( Apoorva Mishra, Grade 5 Classteacher)