NUACHTÁN MIDDLE SCHOOL | May 2022
Welcome to another issue of our newsletter, this time Miss Mayela Sosa, MYP (PAI) and Personal Project Coordinator, shares with us key points to understand the importance of the Middle Years Program (Programa de Años Intermedios) and the skills that our students develop throughout their stay in Middle School.
In the same way, Miss Patsy Luna, CAE Coordinator, on this occasion talks about self-control in teenagers, a topic that we must work with them permanently due to their constant changes.
ACADEMIC ASPECTS
María Mayela Sosa Rodríguez | MYP and Personal Project Coordinator
The MYP is a program that challenges students in academics and in the development of communication, social (collaboration), self-management (reflection, organization and affective), research (information management, media literacy) and thinking (critical, creative and of transference) skills, which are fundamental for the lives of students between 11 and 16 years of age. At this stage when students are establishing their identity and consolidating their self-esteem, the MYP can motivate them and help them achieve the best results in their academic and daily life performances. It also allows them to continue to develop their skills and face challenges in subjects in which they may not excel. The MYP offers students the opportunity to develop their potential, explore their own learning preferences, take appropriate risks, and develop and reflect on a strong sense of personal identity.
The MYP is guided by three principles that are inspired by the IB mission statement: holistic learning, intercultural awareness, and communication. These fundamental principles provide a solid foundation for teaching and learning in the MYP.
Holistic learning, intercultural awareness and communication are implicit in or are part of the IB learning community profile, especially in the attributes «balanced», «open-minded» and «good communicators».
As teachers working with the MYP, we focus on how best to meet the needs of adolescents, who face an enormous variety of often bewildering choices in a complex and ever-changing world. Attention to the development of higher-order thinking skills offers students opportunities to explore their concerns and their growing awareness of themselves and the world in ways that enable them to develop good judgment.
In the MYP, the center of the model is the learner and around the learner are described the program features that help learners develop disciplinary (and interdisciplinary) understanding, which are:
- Approaches to learning: key component of the MYP for developing skills for learning.
- Approaches to teaching: emphasize MYP pedagogy, which includes collaborative learning through inquiry.
- Concepts: emphasizes the use of a concept-based curriculum.
- Global contexts: demonstrates that the best way to learn is in context.
- Inquiry-based learning can lead to student-initiated action, which may include service within the community.
- The MYP culminates in the Personal Project (for fifth graders).
- The MYP organizes teaching and learning through eight subject groups: Language and Literature, Language Acquisition, Individuals and Societies, Sciences, Mathematics, Arts, Physical and Health Education, and Design.
- In many cases, within a subject group it is possible to teach and assess several separate or integrated disciplines, for example: Geography or History within Individuals and Societies, or Biology, Physics or Chemistry in the Science group.
- The distinction between subject groups is blurred to indicate the interdisciplinary nature of the MYP. The subject groups are also connected through global contexts and key concepts themselves.
International Baccalaureate (2022). The Middle Years Programme: from principles to practice. Available at: https://resources.ibo.org/data/m_0_mypxx_guu_1405_5_s.pdf
DEVELOPMENT OF OUR TEENAGERS
Psi. Patsy Luna Espinosa | Coordination of Student Activities CAE
Self-control
Self-control is such a simple word that carries a whole meaning behind it, it is one of the most important actions in the homeostasis of a person. Self-control is understood as the human being’s ability to regulate their emotions, behavior, thoughts and actions accompanied in turn by the will and not always assertive decision making, although self-control should occur anywhere, we will focus on the importance of maintaining self-control at school, coupled with it to generate a safe space and healthy coexistence. Adolescents tend to be more vulnerable to impulsive actions, decision making under social pressure and acts that lead them to lose control in the classroom. There are different ways of losing control, not always in an explosive, defiant, verbally, or physically violent way. It can also occur in an inhibited way with the loss of control to such a degree that they withdraw and are not able to defend themselves, express their opinion or express themselves when their rights are being violated.
There are different techniques that will allow to regulate a situation when an individual is out of control, next, I will name some of them with the purpose that adolescents have easy and useful tools that they can carry out and identify which of them adapts more to their personality. You can start with the regulation of slow breathing until tranquility is achieved. Another technique is ‘time out’ which consists of leaving the place that is causing you tension, insecurity, sweating, fear, anger, etc., in order to help your body regulate its emotions and be able to detect that you are in a safe space. Another technique that works for adolescents is self-verbalization. With this technique you are able to stay calm by saying certain phrases such as: «calm down, don’t get upset, everything will be fine, it’s not worth it, breathe, etc.». It is extremely important to give them the freedom and confidence to express their emotions without feeling guilty or thinking it is silly, because these are factors that cause adolescents to fail to identify when they are in a situation they do not like or do not feel comfortable with, and are likely to be subjected to a negative reaction. We must learn to normalize the expression of emotions and make it known that there is no gender in them, in this way we generate a new way of thinking that can help us to make a conscious decision.
Bibliography: María Besada Montenegro. (March 30, 2005). Self-management manual for the adolescent. April 2022., from Psicopedagogía.org Website:
https://psicopedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Manual-de-Autocontrol-Adolescentes.pdf
DATES TO REMEMBER
• MAY 5th – NO CLASSES
• MAY 9th – Mom’s open class for 7th grade students | 7:20am
• MAY 10th – Report Card release
• MAY 11th – Open class for moms of 8th graders | 7:20am
• MAY 13th – Open class for moms of 9th graders
• MAY 13th – Short Day | Teacher’s Day Celebration
• MAY 19th – Hybrid Literary Café | 10:00am
• MAY 21st – First Certificate 9th graders
• MAY 25th – Parents Making a Difference
• MAY 26th – Student’s Day Celebration
• MAY 27th – CTE
