Background
I currently teach at The John Dickinson School in Wilmington, Delaware in the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP), which has been in existence for eight years. The middle school is located within the high school building in a wing of its own and was created as an extension to the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme for grades 11 and 12. The Diploma Programme was initiated at Dickinson five years prior to the inception of the Middle Years Programme. MYP was implemented to encourage more students to participate in the Diploma Programme. In its first year, MYP included grades six, seven, and eight; it has recently expanded to include grades nine and ten. A continuous sixth through twelfth grade International Baccalaureate Programme will be established at Dickinson in the near future. Our MYP is made up of just over 300 students.
Students must apply to participate in MYP. To be eligible, students must be motivated to learn. I am currently the only Spanish teacher in MYP teaching Spanish 1A (Grade 6), Spanish 1B (Grade 7), and Spanish 2 (Grade 8), meeting with my classes for ninety minutes every other day.
Inquiry is one of the ten attributes included in the IB Learner Profile. To be considered inquirers, “We nurture our curiosity, developing skills for inquiry and research. We know how to learn independently, and with others. We learn with enthusiasm and sustain our love of learning throughout life.”2 In order to be successful inquirers, my students need opportunities to immerse themselves in meaningful experiences. As learners, we rarely experience with a single sense. Our senses work together to give us a total picture of our experiences. My plan is to use multisensory and place-based learning, incorporating nature journaling, to foster my students’ understanding of their interconnectedness with nature while developing their Spanish language skills and vocabulary.
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