What is IB and MYP?

From the MYP Coordinator

-Lindsay Allen

It is a rewarding profession being a teacher in the Channing Hall Middle Years Program.  We provide our students with a challenging academic IB framework that involves all students in their own unique learning processes.  This encourages students to make connections between school and the real world, and helps them become critical and reflective thinkers.  We see our students grow more confident in themselves and their abilities, and we see them mature into thoughtful, compassionate adolescents. 

We have worked for several years to meet the rigorous standards set by IB, and to prepare for our authorization visit, which should take place this spring. The students and parents are as much a part of this process as the teachers.  Because of this, we wanted to share information with our (Channing Hall) families about the International Baccalaureate program.  It is our hope that in this newsletter, you will gain a clear perspective of the mission and vision of the IB program, and understand how we as teachers in the Channing Hall MYP are excited to be a part of this innovative and rigorous educational program. 

The International Baccalaureate (IB) Program is a non-profit educational foundation, motivated by its mission and focused on the development of a balanced student.  International Baccalaureate was founded in 1968, and is currently being taught in 3,463 schools in 143 countries to approximately 1,050,000 students. The program is the most widely recognized pre-university educational program. In fact, five IB World Schools in the United States were featured in the “Top 10 of Newsweek’s 2011 High School Rankings”.

The Middle Years Program is taught between grades six through ten, for students between the ages of 11 to 16.  The MYP was started in 1997 and is now offered by 980 World Schools.  Channing Hall was officially accepted as an IB MYP candidate school in 2011, and hopes to become an authorized IB MYP in 2013.  

It 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.  IB promotes intercultural understanding and respect, not as an alternative to a sense of cultural and national identity, but as an essential part of life in the 21^st century.

We Are Thankful For.....

What are YOU THANKFUL for?  We interviewed some of our students and staff to see what they were thankful for. Take a look at the video. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

From the Channing Hall Board of Trustees

Channing Hall's Veterans Day 2012

This year for Veterans Day, each grade did something different to celebrate and acknowledge our veterans. Some had Veterans come in to speak to the classes, while others wrote letters to their Veteran relatives or to soldiers currently serving. Other classes learned about the meaning of the day and reflected on what Veterans have done for us. For some of our students this was very personal due to family members currently serving in the forces. See the video for some examples of how our students experienced the day. 

We are having technical difficulties with the video upload. Please check back with us later

As a Channing Hall community, we want to Thank our Veterans for their service to our country. 

THANK YOU.

Channing Hall 8th Graders Score 100%

In 2010, the Utah State Office of Education moved the Direct Writing Assessment requirement from the 9^th grade to the 8^th grade.  For the 2^nd year in a row (which are the only two years the school has given the exam to 8^th graders), Channing Hall’s 8^th grade students have scored 100% proficiency on Utah’s Direct Writing Assessment (DWA). To put that in some context, only three other Utah schools earned a perfect score in 2011. The state average is 81% proficiency. 

The academic achievements shown in the middle school’s consistently high test scores confirms the success of the program, but high test scores only demonstrate a part of Channing Hall MYP’s accomplishments .  The true success of the program is seen through the development of the student’s character, otherwise known as the Learner Profile.   It is what makes an education in the MYP a truly individual and unique experience.

The IB Learner Profile is the mold we use to craft lifelong, internationally minded learners who reflect a desire to affect an ethical impact on the greater community with positive ideas and interactions.  We shape the students with this framework according to the principles the IB learner strives to exemplify.  We demand that our students take risks, communicate, and keep an open mind to various ideas.  We push them to explore their knowledge, inquire, and think critically about a varied array of concepts and ideas.  We drive the students to be principled, caring, and balanced in their thoughts and actions while reflecting on their successes and struggles.  Students cast in this mold are tempered and patterned as a whole person with emphasized intellectual, personal, emotional, and social competencies that will serve them as lifelong, internationally minded learners and leaders.

Channing Hall’s MYP program actively prepares students for a lifetime of writing success.  The “Communicator” piece of the IB Learner Profile demands that students “understand and express ideas and information confidently and creatively, in more than one language, and in a variety of modes of communication. They work effectively and willingly in collaboration with others.” 

Lindsay Allen next to her "wall of the IB Learner profile"

Lindsay Allen, the 7^th and 8^th Grade English who has been with Channing Hall since it opened seven years ago, explains her success. “Being an educator at Channing Hall is such a rewarding experience; I don’t just teach students core material to prepare them for a test, I instill in them the skills and confidence needed to be successful in life.  At the heart of a student’s confidence is his or her ability to express themselves in a self-assured and eloquent manner.  This is done through a mastery of fundamental skills in a variety of approaches, methods, and even in other classes (students often write essays in History, Science, and occasionally Math).  I’m able to have the flexibility and freedom to truly allow my students to experience what I teach.  For example, each spring I take the 8^th graders on an ‘Etiquette Fieldtrip’, which after over a month of studying table manners, handshaking skills, interview skills, and proper etiquette for formal situations, we go downtown to watch a ballet performance at the Capitol Theater, tour the Utah Museum of Fine Art, and attend a catered luncheon and awards ceremony in a ballroom at the Radisson Hotel.  It is my belief that if a student is able to first learn the importance and purpose of the material being taught, and then able to connect the material to other subjects, to their own life, and to the real world, the material becomes ingrained and meaningful.  Test scores validate the hard work that has been put in each year, but my greatest reward is seeing my students, year after year, graduate from Channing Hall as kind and compassionate adolescents, who hold their heads high knowing that they feel prepared to succeed in the next chapter of their lives.”     

A recent College Board study found that “people who cannot write and communicate clearly will not be hired and are not likely to be considered for promotion.”[1] Thanks to Mrs. Allen and the rest of the Channing Hall faculty, our students are graduating as confident Communicators ready for continued academic and professional success.

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[1] Survey of 120 major American corporations, employing nearly 8 million people, cited by The College Board’s “National Commission on Writing: Writing: A Ticket to Work…Or A Ticket Out”