Curriculum Expectations (Quick Overview)

International Baccalaureate

Goals:

·         Promote international education

·         Enhance cultural understanding

·         Collaborative working environment

·         Improve international education

Direct Instruction:

Principles:

·         Students can learn if taught correctly

·         Teachers are responsible for students’ learning

·         Students are not to be blamed for failure to learn

·         More work in less time

Project-Based Education:

Learning Process:

·         Apply a variety of skills

o   Collaborative learning

o   Projects that simulate the real world

Technology:

Laptops and Internet:

·         Advantages vs. disadvantages

Differentiated Instruction:

Flexibility:

·         Not all students learn at the same pace or in the same way

Classroom Management:

Strategies to Discourage Misbehavior:

·         Reinforcement

·         Punishment

·         No immediate consequence

Internship Reflection

Senior project is a class that seniors take to prepare them for the professional work world. The class lasts one semester with twenty hours of interning. Our internships determine if the field of study that we are interested in is suitable for our individual talents. In addition to an internship, we are required to complete a research paper, assemble a product, and partake in a panel presentation. My specific field of interest is education and my specific topic is comparing curricula. My product is a blog geared towards parents and students searching for an effective curriculum. This internship suits me because I want to become a science professor and by observing high school classes I can determine whether this career is appropriate for me.

Senior project and interning challenged my usage of 21^st Century Skills. Flexibility and adaptability was the most frustrating skill to utilize. The teachers that I tried to correspond with either never responded to my emails or did not reply in a timely manner. I constantly had to cancel and reschedule internship days because of my mother’s schedule and the teachers’ schedules. My social skills were tested repeatedly. As a shy person, I had to step out of my comfort zone to interact with the students and teachers at my interning sites. Productivity was also a difficult 21^st Century Skill to exploit. Careful observations were required catch specific elements of the different teaching methods.

The major problem throughout senior project and my internship was connecting research about curricula to real world experiences and observations. Researching a topic and writing a paper is one thing. Actually applying that information to compare and contrast different teaching methods and curricula is another. This was especially difficult because I had to know the different curricula and teaching techniques inside and out in order to make accurate observations pertaining to my thesis. Eventually, I made a mental list of characteristics of each curriculum and made my observations based on that. This method of study allowed for more insightful and accurate observations.

Many 21^st Century Skills were incorporated into senior project, including flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self-direction, social and cross-cultural skills, and productivity, accountability, and responsibility. I had to be very flexible in order to work around the schedules of the teachers that I interned with and my mother who was my source of transportation. I had to take the initiative to make the initial contact with teachers who I wanted to intern with. Also, it took initiative and self-direction to keep in contact with the mentor and other teachers. Interacting with teachers and students to gather information and make observations took social skills, while understanding other cultures took cross-cultural skills. Senior project relies largely on students’ individual work ethic, exercising productivity, accountability, and responsibility. These 21^st skills include quality work, staying on task, and getting tasks done on time. All of the aforementioned skills were used throughout my senior project.

            If I could start from scratch and begin my senior project today, I would change my topic to comparing International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement as well as observe at least two classes of each curriculum. A written checklist of expectations to aid the direction in which I make observations would be very helpful throughout my internship. I would recommend this internship to another student with the following three characteristics. The student needs to have an abundance of patience and researching skills. The student would need to be interested in the education field as a career choice. The student would need to have exceptional social skills in order to make the necessary interactions. All in all, a student with a strong work ethic and an interest in education would be the perfect candidate for continuing my internship and expanding on my observations and conclusions.

Thesis Defense and Conclusion

The thesis did not correlate to all observations at the internship; however, much of the thesis was found to be accurate. A school’s curriculum influences a teacher’s choice of instructional delivery in a given class. With the International Baccalaureate program observed, teachers mainly apply differentiation and project-based education. In the traditional education courses that were observed, teachers mainly apply direct instruction, technology integration, project-based learning and classroom management. Both of these curricula prepare students for the professional work world with different approaches.

Throughout the internship, the observations made were very similar to that of my research paper.  International Baccalaureate’s goals are to understand other’s points of view, promote international education and understanding, and expand critical thinking and open-mindedness. The goals demonstrated in the IB class include understanding other’s points of view as well as acceptance of other cultures. Teachers who teach the within the IB program are expected to introduce main ideas and act as a mentor, not a teacher to do everything for the students. During my internship, the International Baccalaureate teacher fulfilled both of those expectations as well as kept students on task and guided student’s questions to prompt them to think critically. The students in the IB program are expected to be advanced and self-motivated. Their participation in IB allows for students to expand their knowledge and direct their own learning while adopting a global understanding. While watching the International Baccalaureate class, the students proved to be independent, critical thinkers who brought their individual experiences to class discussions.

The goal for traditional education is to do more in less time by teaching concepts that give the main ideas. I observed students being taught material through lectures and minimal assignments. Teachers within traditional programs are responsible for their students’ education, and “if the learner hasn’t learned, the teacher hasn’t taught” (Marchand-Martella, Martella, and Ausdemore). Lessons are taught sequentially and are repetitive to instill concepts.  My internship showed teachers lecturing repeating material. Teachers used simple concepts to explain complex concepts and used technology to explain main ideas. Students are expected to take notes and work both individually and in groups, which is what I observed during my internship.

A recommendation for further study regarding the differences in traditional education and the International Baccalaureate program is to observe at least one of each type of curriculum. Also, have a check list of expectations so that observations of the different curricula are more focused. The topic of comparing and contrasting different curricula could be expanded by comparing Advanced Placement courses to International Baccalaureate classes. After interning for almost two months, I have began to wonder how successful each curriculum is with different types of intelligences and how that would be measured.

I would like to thank several people for their efforts in my senior project; I could not have gone this far without them. My senior project teacher, Dr. Simpson, found a mentor for me, helped me contact teachers to intern with, and answered all of my questions. My mentor, Ms. Saunders, gave me an overview of the International Baccalaureate program that prepared me to view an IB class, and was a great help. I interned with three teachers at Riverdale High School- Ms. Hale, Ms. Murphy, and Ms. Pontiff. Ms. Hale is a Biology teacher who gave me many insiders about traditional education and allowed me to visit her class whenever I visited Riverdale. Thank you, Ms. Murphy, a social studies teacher at Riverdale who allowed me to watch her class. Ms. Pontiff teaches IB English IV and was a wonderful help in my interning process. She welcomed me warmly and provided many International Baccalaureate texts that aided my researching process. Ms. Pontiff has helped me more than I could thank her for and I hope to keep in touch with her. Thank you, Ms. Pontiff! Ms. Guillory, the only teacher that I interned with at East Jefferson High School, deserves many thanks.  She is a higher math teacher and readily answered any questions I had. She is a very sweet, smart lady who was willing to go to great lengths to aid me. Last, and definitely not least, I would like to thank my mother, Susan Nguyen, for transporting me to and from my internship sites. She gave up her days for two months just so that I could intern. Thank you, mom!