I don't have it, so I have a few questions.
1. Is working in an IB school so drastically different than a non-IB school? Most IB schools seem so intent on making sure their hires already have it. Why so unbending?
2. Why are so many unwilling to hire non-IB teachers and just train them? I get the impression that most would prefer, say, a teacher with two years IB experience over a veteran teacher with ten. Is it such a huge paradigm shift that a competent teacher couldn't adapt?
3. What does the official training look like?
4. Why is it so hard to get in on a training? Last I read, you couldn't get trained unless you already had an IB job. That doesn't seem to make sense, even from a business standpoint for IBO.
IB experience ?
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shadowjack
- Posts: 2140
- Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am
Trojan,
I had at least three interviews with IB schools where they were quite willing to train me. I am going to a full IB school where they have already told me I will be sent for training.
Don't think that you MUST have IB experience.
Also realize that the big IB schools will NOT take you without the experience and training...but the smaller out of the way schools will happily take you and train you if they feel you are a good fit and you will stick around for awhile...
I had at least three interviews with IB schools where they were quite willing to train me. I am going to a full IB school where they have already told me I will be sent for training.
Don't think that you MUST have IB experience.
Also realize that the big IB schools will NOT take you without the experience and training...but the smaller out of the way schools will happily take you and train you if they feel you are a good fit and you will stick around for awhile...
Disagree a bit. IB schools usually want experience, but they don't always get it. Sometimes there aren't enough candidates. Sometimes the IB newbie has better qualities than the IB experienced grump. Big schools can train you as easily and maybe easier than the little ones.
Go for it. If newbies didn't keep getting hired, the IB wouldn't have to keep offering training to hundreds of newbies every year.
Go for it. If newbies didn't keep getting hired, the IB wouldn't have to keep offering training to hundreds of newbies every year.
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jbiersteker
- Posts: 121
- Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 10:38 am
Reply
Your going to get a lot of different and varying answers because a lot of those answers "depend" on the school, program, country, and other factors.
The rule is no amount of training equals any amount of experience.
While there is an IB "Guidance Document" for IB training, the authorization agreement with schools requires the school to provide sufficient training in the IB. That statement is open to a lot of interpretation, and means a lot of different things depending on a lot of factors. Even within the IB training needs vary greatly. MYP is night and day to PYP. You could use small group activities in your classroom and by some definitions that would be fine for MYP and very "IB". Even DIP is very different, and sometimes described as "exam cram". Sometimes MYP doesnt prepare students very well for the rush and rigor of DIP.
Different schools do training differently. It depends on the school. If your at a school that only had a couple of new hires, training might consist of "heres your OCC login information, read up on it" and having a mentor teacher in your department available for questions. There might not be any formal structured training. If its small a school they may schedule a sit down session with you and the trainer during school hours. If its a small group training it might be after school for an hour. You dont usually see the long weekend training sessions except during the start and ending of a school year/term, in which case its more school wide training.
You dont need an IB appointment to train, you can go to the IB website and find both online and F2F training workshops. The online ones are actually very flexible as far as time commitments.
http://www.ibo.org/events/
remember IB training doesnt equal any amount of experience. A couple reasons for that. The training doesnt teach you how to teach IB, is the main one. Training introduces you to the philosophy, the language and structure of IB. Its very much a technical seminar. It doesnt show you how to run an IB classroom, and the general audience workshops really cant. How IB is implemented in any school is going to differ, and as an IB coordinator, I hate hearing from new hires "Well this is how I learned it", or 'This is how I was taught". In some ways a blank slate is easier to work with then having to unlearn a new teacher. Still many things you have to learn on the job and in that schools classrooms. Your first year in PYP is really a training year, with all the differences you learn, and thats the problem its a slow process. Experience in the classroom takes time. You cant cram someone through a week long seminar and have them master IB learning and instruction.
Is IB different then non-IB. That really depends what the non IB schools your comparing them too is. Most teachers get exposure into inquiry based education, so its not that alien. You might have heard it described as student centered, or guided discovery. The basic philosophy is very much the same. Where the differences become great is in classroom methodology and pedagogy. if your an American Teacher the drill and kill direct teach method is going to be VERY different then IB philosophy. Its not uncommon especially in MYP for teachers to basically teach what they know or what their specialty is, and thats fine in IB (MYP). In primary the american approach of having distinction between language, math, etc is very different then the "trans-disciplinary" model in PYP which focuses all the individual curriculum elements into one module all around a central theme. If youve ever heard the term "reading across the curriculum", or "writing across the curriculum" well PYP is basically the "curriculum across the curriculum". For many teachers coming from more traditional direct schools of instruction and delivery, it can be a big change.
Thats part of the problem, is that ISs especially at the Diploma (DIP) level being only two years long, they dont have the time for you to learn from your mistakes. A year is half of a students class in DIP.
All that being said though its not rocket science, and different teachers adapt to the IB curriculum and the schools implementation of it at different rates, schools just dont know which one your going to be, and a teacher with the 2 years experience has already been tested and in the classroom. Its a far better indicator with much less risk involved going with a known and proven teacher.
The rule is no amount of training equals any amount of experience.
While there is an IB "Guidance Document" for IB training, the authorization agreement with schools requires the school to provide sufficient training in the IB. That statement is open to a lot of interpretation, and means a lot of different things depending on a lot of factors. Even within the IB training needs vary greatly. MYP is night and day to PYP. You could use small group activities in your classroom and by some definitions that would be fine for MYP and very "IB". Even DIP is very different, and sometimes described as "exam cram". Sometimes MYP doesnt prepare students very well for the rush and rigor of DIP.
Different schools do training differently. It depends on the school. If your at a school that only had a couple of new hires, training might consist of "heres your OCC login information, read up on it" and having a mentor teacher in your department available for questions. There might not be any formal structured training. If its small a school they may schedule a sit down session with you and the trainer during school hours. If its a small group training it might be after school for an hour. You dont usually see the long weekend training sessions except during the start and ending of a school year/term, in which case its more school wide training.
You dont need an IB appointment to train, you can go to the IB website and find both online and F2F training workshops. The online ones are actually very flexible as far as time commitments.
http://www.ibo.org/events/
remember IB training doesnt equal any amount of experience. A couple reasons for that. The training doesnt teach you how to teach IB, is the main one. Training introduces you to the philosophy, the language and structure of IB. Its very much a technical seminar. It doesnt show you how to run an IB classroom, and the general audience workshops really cant. How IB is implemented in any school is going to differ, and as an IB coordinator, I hate hearing from new hires "Well this is how I learned it", or 'This is how I was taught". In some ways a blank slate is easier to work with then having to unlearn a new teacher. Still many things you have to learn on the job and in that schools classrooms. Your first year in PYP is really a training year, with all the differences you learn, and thats the problem its a slow process. Experience in the classroom takes time. You cant cram someone through a week long seminar and have them master IB learning and instruction.
Is IB different then non-IB. That really depends what the non IB schools your comparing them too is. Most teachers get exposure into inquiry based education, so its not that alien. You might have heard it described as student centered, or guided discovery. The basic philosophy is very much the same. Where the differences become great is in classroom methodology and pedagogy. if your an American Teacher the drill and kill direct teach method is going to be VERY different then IB philosophy. Its not uncommon especially in MYP for teachers to basically teach what they know or what their specialty is, and thats fine in IB (MYP). In primary the american approach of having distinction between language, math, etc is very different then the "trans-disciplinary" model in PYP which focuses all the individual curriculum elements into one module all around a central theme. If youve ever heard the term "reading across the curriculum", or "writing across the curriculum" well PYP is basically the "curriculum across the curriculum". For many teachers coming from more traditional direct schools of instruction and delivery, it can be a big change.
Thats part of the problem, is that ISs especially at the Diploma (DIP) level being only two years long, they dont have the time for you to learn from your mistakes. A year is half of a students class in DIP.
All that being said though its not rocket science, and different teachers adapt to the IB curriculum and the schools implementation of it at different rates, schools just dont know which one your going to be, and a teacher with the 2 years experience has already been tested and in the classroom. Its a far better indicator with much less risk involved going with a known and proven teacher.
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shadowjack
- Posts: 2140
- Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am
To add to what PsyGuy said, there are three levels of IB training. The first level is about the IB philosophy, band marking, moderation, the overall theory of IB at a specific level (PYP, MYP DP).
The second level is more subject specific. If you have a fair grasp of IB prior to going to a school, this is the one they will send you too as it directly involves your subject area.
Hope this helps!
The second level is more subject specific. If you have a fair grasp of IB prior to going to a school, this is the one they will send you too as it directly involves your subject area.
Hope this helps!
Comment
Not really the level 1 workshops are introductory but they focus on specific subjects the "Introduction to [subject]" and "Implementation" workshops. The only real difference is which subject specific curriculum guide your going to use, which is a small part. Its basic pedagogy.
The level 2 workshops focus largely on assessment and methodology.
The level 3 workshops focus on leadership and research.
Most people get "sent" to level 2 workshops because by the time the break comes up that they would be going to the workshop, they have already obtained the level 1 workshop equivalency by experience and having access to the OCC.
The IBO has a project in the works to offer level 1 online training using iTunes University and an online OCC assessment, which would satisfy the basic training requirements of authorization. They have been getting a lot of resistance though from the various partner training organizations. Right now the project is developing the online webinars for training but without the certification process, which would essentially be a hands off, turn key solution for administrators, but the specific school administration managing the documentation. Basically the teacher would log onto the OCC, and have 4 modules that at the end they can print a certificate of completion to present to their admin, who may or may not have additional assessment requirements before certifying a teacher as "trained". Its due for a testing release when the new MYP program is released as an "instructional update" to current MYP schools. Depending on how well it goes, will be a strong factor in determining if the program as a whole gets released and becomes an option.
The level 2 workshops focus largely on assessment and methodology.
The level 3 workshops focus on leadership and research.
Most people get "sent" to level 2 workshops because by the time the break comes up that they would be going to the workshop, they have already obtained the level 1 workshop equivalency by experience and having access to the OCC.
The IBO has a project in the works to offer level 1 online training using iTunes University and an online OCC assessment, which would satisfy the basic training requirements of authorization. They have been getting a lot of resistance though from the various partner training organizations. Right now the project is developing the online webinars for training but without the certification process, which would essentially be a hands off, turn key solution for administrators, but the specific school administration managing the documentation. Basically the teacher would log onto the OCC, and have 4 modules that at the end they can print a certificate of completion to present to their admin, who may or may not have additional assessment requirements before certifying a teacher as "trained". Its due for a testing release when the new MYP program is released as an "instructional update" to current MYP schools. Depending on how well it goes, will be a strong factor in determining if the program as a whole gets released and becomes an option.
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shadowjack
- Posts: 2140
- Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am
I'll add a bit from my perspective (I teach at MYP level and have been doing so for over 6 years). At least from the MYP perspective I think that there might be a "potential" value added for experienced teachers in the sense of avoiding the "cultural shock" that the MYP and criteria-based assessment is for most teachers new to the MYP...
Just search around this very forum and will find tons of threads about how many people hate the MYP. I'm on of the few weird people that like it, but I learned to like it. Most people new to the MYP have a fairly significant cultural shock with it. Some overcome it, some just switch to a different school as soon as possible and never again take an MYP position... I think that at least at MYP level, that may be one of the reasons to "prefer" people with MYP experience; they know what they are getting into...
What looks differently in the classroom? I won't go there really, but there are things that maybe somewhat unique at the MYP that makes good sense to look for people who already know how to deal with them (organizing a sample that will be sent to moderation for example)...
Just search around this very forum and will find tons of threads about how many people hate the MYP. I'm on of the few weird people that like it, but I learned to like it. Most people new to the MYP have a fairly significant cultural shock with it. Some overcome it, some just switch to a different school as soon as possible and never again take an MYP position... I think that at least at MYP level, that may be one of the reasons to "prefer" people with MYP experience; they know what they are getting into...
What looks differently in the classroom? I won't go there really, but there are things that maybe somewhat unique at the MYP that makes good sense to look for people who already know how to deal with them (organizing a sample that will be sent to moderation for example)...