MYP: a Refutation

lifeisnotsobad · Post by **lifeisnotsobad** » Thu Nov 04, 2010 3:02 pm

Sorry kevinmulqueen, but you have lost me now...so which programme are you actually arguing for...or is it simply an absence of a programme...or just a shifting set of criteria for assessment? Mmm...I can see that being a positive experience for the students...is all the work worth it? Perhaps we are getting to the heart of the question here...and maybe the question should actually be are the students worth it?

calciodirigore: I am pretty sure that the study was carried out by University of Bath (UK) but will check on that for you...unless somebody else out there knows?

wherenext: thank goodness I am not alone here :-)

lifeisnotsobad · Post by **lifeisnotsobad** » Thu Nov 04, 2010 3:05 pm

Oh and Mike...your argument continues to be as solid as ever...well done you!

one2many · Post by **one2many** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 12:48 am

lifeisnotsobad · Post by **lifeisnotsobad** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 8:23 am

one2many: I think if you look at Mike's profile you will see a common thread. It was nothing personal it is just that we have heard little from Mike other than MYP 'Sucks'. Doesn't really add much to an otherwise interesting forum...

You claim my response to MYP criticism is 'all too familiar'. I have offered an argument based upon what I believe...from experience of teaching the programme and from my own children's experience of being in it. I had not realised that this was a thread only for those who are critical of the MYP...

kevinmulqueen · Post by **kevinmulqueen** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 9:07 am

I prefer IGCSE to MYP any day. Some schools have developed their own excellent pre-DP programmes e.g. JIS in Jakarta.
The whole basis of my antipathy towards MYP is that is wastes the time of the students. They deserve better than 5 years of tedious brainwashing.

lifeisnotsobad · Post by **lifeisnotsobad** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 9:53 am

Kevin (if I may be so bold): I don't brainwash my students - far from it...As you have stated critical thinking is alive and well outside of the MYP, and I would never be so presumptuous as to dispute that. I am curious as to why anybody else would then presume that critical thinking is not alive and well within my classroom...

one2many · Post by **one2many** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 5:37 pm

ichiro · Post by **ichiro** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 12:28 am

deleted

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 5:59 am

My argument seems to have picked up a bit of steam...... I'm not the only one in my boat. Perhaps my tired old comments are felt by the majority of teachers in international schools.

lifeisnotsobad · Post by **lifeisnotsobad** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 6:18 am

Mike: whch argument would that be?

ichiro: damned if you do...damned if you don't. We have one2many claiming that you are not allowed to be critical of the MYP...and yet if the IB (or Bath University - still haven't looked into this one) carry out a critical study evaluating whether the programme has real indicators of success they will be accused of fixing the results...

one2many: Please don't worry about offending me...I wasn't and I in turn don't mean to offend.

One of the things that I do enjoy about the MYP is that it is a constantly developing programme and that it is teachers who have the opportunity to be part of that development - and from experience I do know that many of them get involved precisely because they are critical of the MYP.

Regarding the question 'are the students worth it?'...I have worked with many wonderful teachers in both the (I)GCSE and the MYP and I have also worked with many in both programmes who clearly would not put that question first in their list of priorities.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 11:46 am

the argument that MYP isn't that great, and not well liked and not doing a very good job of teaching children.

lifeisnotsobad · Post by **lifeisnotsobad** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 4:53 pm

mike: sorry - in my classroom it is - tell me why in yours it isn't?

MamfeMan · Post by **MamfeMan** » Sun Nov 07, 2010 6:58 pm

I worked in an American system for ten years teaching middle school before starting MYP this year. When looking for jobs, one of the first questions I would get is, "Do you have MYP experience?" and -quite frankly- I found it insulting. I figured a decade of working with middle school kids gave me a pretty good understanding of how they learn and what constituted good teaching practices. Regardless, MYP hasn't changed the way I teach. So for those saying they are successul within the context of MYP or out of it, its a non-issue. A programme doesn't need to be mandated by a mysterious operation in Geneva to ensure good teaching practices. In that sense, MYP can be a bit ludicrous.

That being said, the community service aspect of the program is great, but I find the rest of it to be completely confusing. It is a program- in my opinion- that works in international schools, in some ways, because these students are generally coming to us with a strong support base. In other words, the kids survive in spite of the MYP, rather than because of it. I find there is a tremendous lack of consistency across the board. In science you may be assessed on six criteria on a six point scale. In humanities, English, math it is completely different. There is no reason a 10th grader, who has been in this program before, should ask me "How many points is this out of?'. But they do. Even the kids don't understand how they are being assessed.

Plus I have a real problem using a rubric to grade tests. ;-)

xmakisr46 · Post by **xmakisr46** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 7:18 am

I don't like the MYP Interact 'workbook' for Year 6/7 students. Reminds me very much of a 'My First Bible' or something, indoctrinating kids into thinking that the world really is divided into the Areas of Interaction and suggesting insidiously that if teachers are not following the IBO . line, they're not 'good' teachers. And how about the goobledeegook of converting everything into a score out of 8 (for Language B) then eventually it becoming a score out of 7, but you don't really have to use it until kids are in Year 10?! I agree that the mantra of the Areas of Interaction and Significant Concepts get in the way of real teaching and learning. But let's not forget the bigger picture here folks- IBO accreditation looks very good on school letter heads when promoting to parents, it provides a career ladder for classroom refugees who can't DO, but who want to make a cushy career out of travelling and telling teachers how to do their jobs, and the real purpose of course behind the IB (MYP and DP) is to funnel a VERY lucrative Asian/European student body into Western Universities. At the end of the day you can work and exist in a MYP environment, but don't EVER think it's THE way to educate kids, it's just ONE way that's happened to corner the market. And VERY lucrative for the companies that run and operate international schools.

lifeisnotsobad · Post by **lifeisnotsobad** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 3:14 pm

...and it was claimed earlier that my defense of the MYP was all too typical...this thread has reached a point where reasoned and interesting debate has just disappeared out the window...

'the real purpose of course behind the IB (MYP and DP) is to funnel a VERY lucrative Asian/European student body into Western Universities'...too funny, it just has to be time to sign out on this one...