IB Programme at Howard Middle School
PROGRAMME OVERVIEW
Middle Years Programme Coordinator - Helen Hamel
If you have questions, please contact the school at 352-671-7225.
HMS IS AN IB WORLD SCHOOL
Howard Bulls are principled students who act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice, and respect. They take responsibility for their own actions, and the consequences that accompany them, to maintain the highest standards of academic honesty.
Howard Middle School has been authorized as a three year programme to offer the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP). All students enrolled at HMS participate with the IB programme methodologies and philosophies at various levels. All students will receive and use the HMS IB-MYP Quick Reference Guide within all of their classes.
Both the HMS and IB Mission Statements aim to facilitate maximum academic achievement, develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect as they become lifelong learners.
For additional information regarding the International Baccalaureate Organization and its programmes, please visit http://www.ibo.org/.
MYP General Regulations - This document describes the regulations that apply to those schools that have been authorized as IB World Schools to offer the MYP.
MIDDLE YEARS PROGRAMME
The Middle Years Programme (MYP) consists of eight subject groups integrated through five areas of interaction that provide a framework for learning within and across the subjects. Students are required to study their mother tongue, a second language, humanities, sciences, mathematics, arts, physical education and technology in each year.
IB GLOBAL CONTEXT/ LEARNER PROFILE / DESIGN CYCLE / IB JOURNALS
The aim of all IB programmes is to develop internationally minded people who, recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world.
GLOBAL CONTEXT
Global contexts direct learning towards independent and shared inquiry into our common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet. Using the world as the broadest context for learning, MYP design can develop meaningful explorations of:
- Identities and Relationships
- Orientation in Space and Time
- Personal and Cultural Expression
- Scientific and Technical Innovation
- Globalization and Sustainability
- Fairness and Development
Global Context
LEARNER PROFILE
IB learners strive to be:
- Inquirers
- Knowledgeable
- Thinkers
- Communicators
- Principled
- Open-minded
- Caring
- Courageous
- Balanced
- Reflective
Learner Profile
DESIGN CYCLE
The Design Cycle is the central tool used in MYP Technology and it is also used in other MYP subjects
to help students design, plan, create and evaluate products or solutions in response to challenges.
IB JOURNALS
As part of the IB-MYP, all students are reminded to keep their IB Journals up-to-date. This may be a spiral notebook, composition book, electronic documents, or papers stapled together labeled IB Journal. Students should use it to write down their reflections or feelings after completing an IB lesson, activity, or community service event. The same IB Journal should be used for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade.
Service As Action
- A requirement of being an IB-MYP School is that HMS students participate in Community / Volunteer Service activities.
- Community / Volunteer Service is defined as hours that students do not receive a grade nor compensated (paid) for completing.
- Hours required:
- Year 1 (6th Grade) Students - 2 hours
- Year 2 (7th Grade) Students - 4 hours
- Year 3 (8th Grade) Students - Community Project (See Below)
Please click on the following link to view the complete Service as Action Log sheet:
Service as Action Log Sheet
Do you need help with trying to figure out what you can do to volunteer? Here's a link on how you can help your community:
60 Ways to Better Your Community
HMS MYP COMMUNITY PROJECT
Continuing with this school year, all 8th grade students enrolled at HMS will complete a community project as an IB requirement.
ASSESSMENT IN THE MYP
There is no external assessment provided by the IB for the MYP and therefore no formal externally set or marked examinations. All assessment in the MYP is carried out by teachers in participating schools and relies on their professional expertise in making qualitative judgments, as they do every day in the classroom. In line with the general IB assessment philosophy, a norm-referenced approach to assessment is not appropriate to the MYP. Instead, MYP schools must follow a criterion-related approach. This means that students' work must be assessed against defined assessment criteria and not against the work of other students.
It is expected that the procedures for assessment and the MYP assessment criteria are shared with both students and parents as an aid to the learning process. Listed below are the links for each subject group assessment criteria at HMS.
As an IB World School, Howard Middle has the responsibility to ensure that students are assessed according to their own, individual achievement against the assessment criteria.
The teacher decides which level best represents your child’s final standard of achievement. As shown in the IB Grade Descriptors Table, this is not a Pass/Fail Grade.
To gain a better understanding, please click on the following link to view the Assessment Policy.
Along with the MCPS report card, students will also be issued a HMS International Baccalaureate report card at the conclusion of each semester and it will display the Achievement Levels earned by each student within all of their classes.
WHY HAS HOWARD ADOPTED THE IB-MYP?
Howard Middle School has adopted the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme because this is a program that supports preparing students for a technological, information-rich, and ever-changing world. Today’s students must learn how to retrieve information, critically review that information, and make informed decisions.
In addition, students must be prepared to live in a culturally diverse society. Adopting the IB-MYP will provide structure to best prepare our students for success in today’s society.
WHAT CAN PARENTS DO?
Parents are encouraged to discuss the Learner Profile characteristics with their child and provide support to increase knowledge and attributes of the Learner Profile. In addition, parents are encouraged to dialogue with their child about real-world issues and how it may impact them presently and in the future. Parents are encouraged to join and participate with the School Advisory Council (SAC), and learn as much as possible about the IB MYP by visiting the IBO website and attending information meetings at the school.
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE IB MIDDLE YEARS PROGRAMME
The IB Middle Years Programme is a programme of international education designed to help students develop the knowledge, understanding, attitudes and skills necessary to participate actively and responsibly in a changing world. The International Baccalaureate® Middle Years Programme (MYP) is designed for students aged 11 to 16.
This period, encompassing early puberty and mid-adolescence, is a particularly critical phase of personal and intellectual development and requires a programme that helps students participate actively and responsibly in a changing and increasingly interrelated world. Learning how to learn and how to evaluate information critically is as important as learning facts. Curriculum documents are published in English, French, Spanish and Chinese but schools may offer the programme in other languages.