Christelle Thompson's Blog (10)

Yesterday we had the last mentor meeting, that mostly consisted of the students presented their complete project to their mentors, as a mock Exhibition and a practice for the big day.  It was truly amazing to see how far along some of the groups had come and that they are solidified their understanding of their topic and were able to articulate it to an adult audience. 

The mentors used the oral presentation rubric and gave their group feedback, including the positive and the points…

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The mentors will meet their groups again tomorrow. Each week I’ve been sending them an agenda and this week is not different, asking them to go over the various components their group needs for a complete Exhibition.

 Action Plan; what they intend to do at a local level from what they’ve learned to actively make a difference

 What type of display will they use

 Oral Presentation

 Performance they will include in their Exhibition.



The mentor should question…

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Wow, we’re only 10 days away, and counting today 8 full school days until Exhibition. To say that the students are feeling the pressure would not represent the reality of things. They are, for the most part, finished with their research paper and are now busy working on their display, use of technology, action plan and presentation skills. Most of the class time for the next 8 days will be fully devoted on their Exhibition, with groups dividing the task among their members and breaking up the… Continue

For the past several weeks, the students have been involved in researching their topic, narrowing down their focus by developing key concept questions and now they are writing the research paper highlighting what they have learned, the answers they’ve found and the action plan they will develop or put into place. 

It’s interesting to see the different approaches the students have taken.  Some groups developed their key concept questions, and then all members decided to research each…

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We have finally started the process of Exhibition full steam ahead.  It's only 5 weeks away (plus a week of break)!  The students met their mentors for the second time on Wednesday and it was again a positive meeting.  The mentors were happy to see that the students had acquired much more information on their topics and were now able to discuss what they were researching and even framing their inquiry around key concept questions. 

We all keep emphasizing the central idea and having…

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The first mentor meeting already came and went.  In an odd coincidental manner, we were able to schedule all the meetings for the students on the same day, at three different times.  In this way, as PYP coordinator, I am able to go drop in the meetings, the homeroom teachers have an easier time organizing their day and the mentors all know it's always going to be on the same day, except when they decide to meet more.

Actually, I reluctantly decided not to be a mentor this year, in…

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One thing we learned from last year's students was that they would find articles, books, resources, print them out/mark the pages...but they would not always read them!  So, this year, we are making sure that the students READ what they are finding as soon as they are finding it, making notes, using sticky notes to jot down ideas/questions... 

The process of finding information is only valuable if the students read what they are finding and are critical about it.  Soon, we will ask…

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Earlier this week I held a mini "mentor training" over morning coffee.  It was a nice way to touch base with the mentors who are all teachers at the school and volunteered during their off time to work with a group of students.  I valued their help and them giving up some of their planning time, as you know, there is never enough time in the day to do everything needed at school. 

So, each mentor received their Mentor Log, , a collection of information; what is the PYP Exhibituion,…

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Right after Exhibition last year, after students completed their reflection and their planners,  I sat with the grade 6 teams and we did our own reflection, for our own planner. We went over the good, the bad and the ugly, made notes for this year's exhibition as well as went over the resources we used, the organization of Exhibition day...

So, fastforward to start of the school year and we picked a day for the Exhibition, that would be the 5th unit of inquiry for the year and…

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Hey there!  This is a new thing for me, to blog about my role in the PYP exhibitionl.  I'm going to try and keep this going throughout the process this year.  My role as PYP coordinator is different from the Grade 6 homeroom teachers, as I don't usually have daily contact with the Grade 6 students nor do I spent the majority of my time with them.  But, I am part of the Exhibition and help the students and their teachers very regularly. So, in a way, I am backstage, away from the spotligths…

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