Dear Parents,
Sometimes learning is spectacular. Sometimes it is simply hearing the same thing for the tenth time and suddenly thinking, “OH. Now I get it.”
That idea seemed to follow us everywhere this week.
In MYP Advisory, students worked on something deceptively simple: reading instructions properly. How often do we actually know the content, but lose our way because we rushed past one word in the question? Slow down. Read. Check. Then act. It may not sound revolutionary, but it is one of those habits that can completely change an assessment.
Grade 9s completed their Criterion B summative, rather successfully, I might add! They received both their grade and meaningful feedback, then used it to reflect and decide what comes next. This is the MYP Self-management, Reflection ATL: “identify strengths and weaknesses of personal learning strategies”, followed beautifully by Self-management, Organisation: “set goals that are challenging and realistic.” Assessment is much more useful when the grade is not the end of the conversation.
Grade 10s have been analysing the conventions of a WHO mental health report. Why is it formal? Who is speaking? Who is the audience? What makes it a report rather than simply a piece of information? And yes, we are still practising something they have heard before: when you justify an interpretation, use evidence from the text. Quote it. Point to it. Show us how you know! They have also now finalised their e-Portfolio choices, so a big congratulations to them, and thank you to families for supporting those conversations and decisions at home.
Grade 12s have completed their mocks, and I am sure many of you have already heard how well they went. All that preparation is paying off. Now we keep building towards the final Individual Oral, worth 25% of their final French B grade, with the aim of going one step further again.
And perhaps that is the real lesson this week.
Learning works a little like compound interest. One correction seems tiny. One practice task does not transform us. One reminder to read the instructions, make the cultural connection, quote the text, structure the answer, or try again can feel almost insignificant.
But then we do it again.
And again.
And again.
Until one day, the thing that required enormous concentration has become something we simply do.
The tenth time might be the one that makes the difference.
That is true for a Grade 9 student learning to justify an answer. It is true for a Grade 12 student preparing an oral. And, actually, it is true for all of us, whatever our age.
So here is to repetition, reflection, small improvements, and trusting that the work we put in today is quietly accumulating into something much bigger.
Warm wishes,
Miss J