Why IB?

Why IB?

IB supports the education of the whole child.

In the IB framework, the students are at the center of each ring, and this is because student learning is the focal point of an IB education. Students in the MYP program at Saint John Paul II will learn content materials guided by the Diocese of St. Petersburg Standards and Benchmarks and the Florida Core Standards, but students will also learn new skills, seek new perspectives, work to solve global issues, and invest themselves in the real-world around them, not just the things that occur in their classrooms. This is because the IB philosophy of education places the emphasis not on classroom content, but on skills and the real world.

IB encourages global learning and service in communities.

Students in the IB community make connections between the content matter in each class and real-life situations outside. IB assessments, which occur frequently throughout the year, ask students to think about the six global contexts that guide their learning. Students are frequently assigned work that encourages them to research and investigate other parts of the world. The MYP program also encourages service learning, in which students learn by doing things in their community rather than reading about others partaking in service activities. Eighth grade students partake in the annual community project in which they investigate needs in communities, and through their own service, work to meet those needs during a year-long service project that culminates before their eighth grade graduation.

IB teaches students skills that will carry them beyond the classroom walls.

MYP students are exposed to Approaches to Learning skills. These skills fall into five categories and are taught explicitly throughout the year in each of the eighth subject groups. Some skills are content specific, such as how to differentiate primary and secondary sources, while others are broad and non-subject specific, such as negotiating effectively. These skills prepare students for secondary school, careers, and life beyond the classroom. 

IB promotes hands-on, project based learning

Students in the MYP program at SJPII engage in hands-on learning throughout the three year program in each of their disciplines. This means students are often assessed using project-based learning objectives in lieu of or in addition to traditional classroom assessments. Students may track their diet and caloric intake and outtake for tens day to learn about adding and subtracting integers in Mathematics, or they might create a family crest during their research unit in Language and Literature, or impersonate a famous Latin American figurehead in Spanish. Each subject in the MYP curriculum has its own criteria, and these criteria require students to learn through projects that elevate learning to new innovative levels and encourage students to pursue their creativity and critical-thinking skills. 

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