Spicewood Elementary School The PYP exhibition has a number of key purposes, one of them being “to unite the students, parents, and other members of the school community in a collaborative experience”.
At Spicewood Elementary, we have our teachers engage with our 5th graders as they embark on their final unit of inquiry, supporting them with questions, research, and reflective conversations as they delve into issues or topics they are curious or passionate about. The teacher mentors provide a unique perspective allowing our students to apply and reflect on their learning within the PYP as they embark on this exciting journey. According to the IB, a mentor’s primary goal is to act as a guide and resource for the students, assisting them in choosing a focus for their inquiry, setting goals, etc. Our students have spent the last two weeks meeting their mentors and group members, diving deeper into their student inquiry journals to begin to brainstorm ideas and issues that they are curious about.
Following that initial meeting, students explore the concept of action. They reflected on different ways that they have taken action based on their learning in the PYP program here at Spicewood, in addition to ways that they see others take action both here in our community and worldwide. With the central idea, “Creative expression can inspire people to take action”, students were able to further classify and discuss different types of action (indirect, direct, advocacy, informative, etc.). This reflective conversation gave students a deeper insight about this concept and how this ties back to their central idea.
We’re excited to see how these initial mentor meetings help focus the students as they choose questions and issues to further explore over the next six weeks. Follow along with us on Twitter, @SpicewoodPYP, as we continue to share more student work and action before our exhibition day, Friday, May 4th!