If there's one thing I loved about the way we did things at TBA for this year's In service, IT is this: we got ourselves curious and freed our minds through a great idea of the Big History Project. I said to DoF.."Funny how you manage to turn things upside down.." Every time there's a 'hard line' being drawn by the what we perceive to be as what is being asked of us by IB (when actually it isn't), she does something to turn it around. Like a driver on bus, she makes kabig, major major, just when we thought we have arrived at our destination. Slight confusion seems to me more like a brain adventure-- and watta good brain exercise. And in Mailin's gifted way, she simply does this instinctively and smoothly, and we simply have to enjoy this ride, and just trust ourselves that we will get somewhere. After all, she wasn't named "Dyosa" by Wordlab fans for nothing.
After having gone through IBO PYP, and getting out to test practices in my own school, and coming back, but this time at IBO MYP-DP, I saw how quickly I can buy into IB prescriptions, especially at the DP level where the pressure to deliver is much greater due to looming IAs and Paper formats, which though make sense, can sometimes make one's teaching and learning quite predictable, and yes, to some extent test driven for college preps. Yes, there's a side to my brain that works that way and then it sometime battles with how I think about my MYP Philo where I can practically play around, but within the boundaries of Criterion A, B, C and D.
Teaching during my first year @TBA is somekind of MYP vs DP battle, only to find out that if in fact I do conceptual teaching and inquiry at the MYP level, it should naturally connect to DP, and I should no longer worry whether students do in fact think conceptually because they will. And if they don't, the fallback would be the ATL's. Now for this 2nd schoolyear, I started my In service with that kept safely in my brain. Then comes this Big History Project!!! Unsettling but in an exciting way =) because now I question what I have safely arrived at ergo unsettling. Exciting because like wowwwh, may I have a Philippine Big History project?! But then hellow Aleta, back to earth, start with small steps and you'll get somewhere somehow. It doesn't have to be here and now @TBA.
So this year will be sandbox mode for me to witness how teachers will make it happen and own it. This time, I will try to immerse differently and need not be in the thick of it, but I'll be a bystander to see how DoF, and ALL the willing teachers make something out of it.
But how did we chance upon this BIGGIE anyways. Thanks to technology--which keep us connected 24/7, 365 days a year. Mailin goes, it came to her inbox through an email sent by Mr Oshima, Alexis' dad. Mailin didn't look much into it back then. Then finally she did navigate it...then she learned Alexis was pretty excited about it (and such an interesting presence she can be, esp during health check ups).
"This is Alexis' idea", Mai says. So, BOOM=there you go...another gifted teacher is around. This should be FUNNN. Suuuuweeet.
