Dear Parents,
What a great week of thinking in both MYP and DP! We have moved well beyond simply learning words and structures this week. Students have been observing, questioning, making connections and, occasionally, discovering that one good question leads very quickly to another ten. My kind of classroom!
Grade 9s are diving into their travel unit and learning how to look at an image and actually say something meaningful about it. Using our Visible Thinking routines, including “I see, I think, I wonder”, they are learning to move from observation to interpretation and discussion. These little steps matter. They are already building the habits they will eventually need for their Grade 10 oral and, later, the DP Individual Oral.
Grade 10s have begun exploring the big questions behind our mental health and wellbeing unit. What challenges affect teenagers? What role does empathy play? How much responsibility belongs to schools, families, communities, or even governments? There are no one-word answers here, and that is rather the point. We are learning French, yes, but we are also learning how to discuss something that genuinely matters.
Grade 11s have been exploring Language and Identity, and the questions have been fascinating. If someone is born deaf, what language do they think in? Does the language we speak shape our culture and identity, or do our culture and identity shape the language we use? Once you start pulling at that thread, it becomes very difficult to stop!
Grade 12s remain firmly focused on their upcoming Individual Oral, refining ideas, practising, questioning, and getting themselves ready for this important final piece.
And perhaps that is my favourite thing about this week. Good learning does not always leave us with more answers. Sometimes it leaves us with better questions.
If our students leave school curious enough to notice something, brave enough to question it, and thoughtful enough to listen when somebody sees it differently, we are doing something worthwhile.
Keep the questions coming!
Warm wishes,