Academics
The “IB MYP” stands for International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme.
- Why IB? Our goal is to challenge our students to be open-minded and critical thinkers who can see through a world lens.
- Anwatin Middle School has been an IB school since 2010
- Click here for a slideshow for more information about IB MYP at Anwatin!
All students at Anwatin Middle participate in the IB MYP - an educational model that promotes curiosity, critical thinking, joyful pursuits of learning and service, and prepares our young people to be balanced, culturally conscious and principled leaders and members of an interconnected global society. Students and families can expect units of study that promote depth and complexity in learning, themes that connect between subjects, across communities, and the world.
Six reasons why we believe in the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme at Anwatin
1. Learner Profile / Approaches to Learning Skills
At the center of our IB International Baccalaureate (IB) programme is the Learner Profile. These qualities, such as caring and open-mindedness, are intentionally taught, explored, and modeled by students and staff.
Students are explicitly taught the skills necessary to be successful in life, such as communication, social, self-management, research, and thinking skills.
2. Concept-driven curriculum
Concepts are the big ideas of life, and we teach the standards and how they fit into the big ideas. Concepts connect the student’s experiences to new learning and deepen their understanding. The students use their personal experiences with the concepts to connect the familiar to the unfamiliar.
3. Assessment
Students show their learning progress throughout the MYP Baccalaureate by truly showing what they know. IB asks students to apply their learning to different situations and in a variety of ways.
Assessment in IB allows each student to see where they are at, and where they are going, based on universal, explainable measurements. Students can show learning through writing, speaking, creating, and performing.
Grading at Anwatin will be based on principles of Standards-based grading that help ensure that our assessments and student grades are a direct reflection of student learning. Grading practices will be consistent across the building to support clear communication. These practices include
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70% of students' grades will be based on summative assessments, which include things like tests, projects, essays, and lab reports that show what students have learned.
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Students will almost always have at least 1 opportunity to retake or redo a summative assessment like a test or project within 2 weeks of teachers returning it to them. Students should expect that teachers will ask them to complete additional learning or practice before they redo. (Exceptions include the last week of the grading period and some assessments in AP, IB, CTE, or college classes.)
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All assignments will be graded with a score of 0-8 so that scoring and feedback is consistent across classrooms. The chart below shows what each of the numbers will mean in each classroom.
4. Multilingual Development and Global Awareness
Students will learn a second language, and will learn about their own local and global communities. Through the learning of their own and others’ languages and cultures, students find their place in the world and develop the empathy and open-mindedness necessary to positively interact with, and contribute to, the world in which they live.
5. Inquiry Instruction
Takes students’ natural curiosity to ask questions of how and why and helps them find the answer to those questions. Inquiry instruction moves away from the worksheet to students exploring on their own. For example: instead of just memorizing that Columbus sailed in 1492, students will know why we even care about that guy today, and the impact of his arrival to our country.
6. Community Service/8th grade Community Project
Anwatin has a long tradition of embedding service into our classes and advisories, either through awareness, action, or reflection.
Students across all International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes get to explore something they are interested in at a much deeper level. Eighth grade students get to have fun, build project management skills like teamwork, and plan over an extended period of time as they work to solve a problem in their community. They also get to reflect on the project and what they learned. The Community Project runs through the 8th grade Advisory class, with Anwatin teachers and staff acting as project supervisors for student projects.
For more information about IB or Anwatin, please contact Colleen O'Brien IB Coordinator, at Colleen.OBrien@mpls.k12.mn.us or 612.668.2450.
Additional Online Resources from the IB: