International Baccalaureate Mission Statement
The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programs of international education and rigorous assessment. These programs encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.
What is the Middle Years Programme?
The MYP is a program of international education designed to help students develop the knowledge, understanding, attitudes and skills necessary to participate actively and responsibly in a changing world.
Fundamental Concepts
An International Baccalaureate education is built on a strong foundation made of three fundamental concepts. These concepts—communication, holistic education and international mindedness—affect every student at every level of the program.
Communication
Communication—verbal and nonverbal—is paramount to learning and is a key objective in every IB class at Moore. Communication is a means of self-expression, reflection and is critical to showing understanding.
Communication has many different faces. In a single day a student might write an opinion essay in a Language A class, perform a skit or play in a Language B class, work through a word problem with a classmate in a math class, write a lab report in science class or do a silent team-building activity in FLEX. Not to mention all the communication that goes on in the cafeteria at lunch! IB recognizes that communication is everywhere—including the professional world—and therefore teaches students to successfully communicate in a variety of ways.
Holistic Education
The holistic education piece of the IB program focuses on helping student to realize connections of all kinds. Whether they make connections between different disciplines through the areas of interaction or between their school and the greater world or between existing and new knowledge, students understand that all knowledge is interrelated.
The “real world” is complex and problems are solved only by looking at them from a variety of perspectives. Interdisciplinary units at Moore like the House of the Scorpion Unit with 8th graders and the Weather unit in the 6th grade help students to make connections between their classes and the outside world.
Intercultural Awareness
Intercultural awareness develops student attitudes, knowledge and skills as they learn about both their culture and others’ culture. This fosters tolerance and respect through developing empathy and understanding. Promoting responsible global citizenship prepares students for their future as members of a global society.
At Moore, intercultural awareness comes from activities like Heifer International’s “Read to Feed” program and class discussions about diversity and different cultures’ influences on history.
Learner Profile
While there are many different, unique aspects of the continuum of International Baccalaureate education, the Learner Profile is the common element. Throughout all the programs—the Primary Years Programme offered in elementary schools, the Middle Years Programme in grades six to ten and the Diploma Programme in grades eleven and twelve—the Learner profile serves to engage teachers and students in constant reflection and self-assessment.
The Learner Profile is a list of 10 characteristics that we hope to develop in our students. It was originally part of the PYP but as the program developed it became evident that the Learner Profile was applicable and important for each level. The Learner Profile characteristics are: caring, knowledgeable, thinkers, principled, reflective, communicators, open-minded, risk-taking, inquirers, and balanced.
You might already know about the Learner Profile. Right now, there are posters for each characteristic in the cafeteria with an explanation of each. Some teachers have had discussions with students about their views on each of the characteristics.
Areas of Interaction
The Areas of Interaction (AOI) are a very important part of the Middle Years Programme. While the Leaner Profile runs through out the IBO, the Areas of Interaction are exclusive to the Middle Years Programme.
The areas of interaction are the lens through which students and teachers view curriculum that is already in place. They increase student learning and develop their ability to view curriculum from different perspectives.
The five areas of interaction are Environment, Approaches to Learning, Community and Service, Human Ingenuity and Health and Social Education. The AOI can be easily remembered with the acronym EACHH—created by our own Ms. Pruitt to help students at Moore remember them all! The information below should offer a clearer picture of the focus of each area.
Environment:Concerned with the interdependence of human beings and their surroundings and with sustainable development.
Approaches to Learning:Concerned with the development of thinking skills, strategies and attitudes and the ability to reflect on one’s own learning.
Community and Service:Concerned with developing awareness of groups of people and a sense of responsibility through assistance activities.
Health and Social Education: Concerned with mental and physical wellbeing and the interaction between the student and the community.
Human Ingenuity: Concerned with the evolution, processes and products of human creativity, and their impact on society and on the mind.
At JT Moore, we have several school-wide activities in which all students can “interact” with a specific area of interaction.
1. Teacher/Student Learning Surveys’ Cameo on WJTM News—Approaches to Learning
2. Heifer International’s Reed to Feed—Community and Service and Health and Social Education
3. American Heart Association’s Hoops for Heart—Community and Service and Health and Social Education
4. Arte de Moore—Human Ingenuity
5. Juice Box and Water Bottle Recycling Program—Environment