Specialists Splendour

Often playing like an underdog team, the splendour of specialists often goes under-utilised in most IB schools around the world. Having begun my journey as a language acquisition specialist in a progressive IB school seven years ago, I soon realised the potential specialists bring with them in designing truly transdisciplinary learning experiences. I am going to start a series of short blogs to highlight the multi-faceted nature of the specialists programme and my wins as a specialist. Hope this series will inspire specialists to make their way to the forefront of learning at schools by being not just the 'integrator' but the 'initiator' of learning experiences and demonstrate the magic of Arts, Design, PE and languages in making learning more meaningful and transferable to real life. Try your hand at it and feel free to post any questions you might have. I'll try to answer them to the best of my abilities.

Photo Attribution - Valeria Boltneva from Pexels

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Let's begin by busting some myths.

Myth 1 - What do specialists know about homeroom teaching?

Specialists operate in classrooms that are inspiring, thoughtfully designed and cater to multiple age groups and learning requirements. Differentiation and scaffolding is what they master quickly without even realising it. In fact they have very valuable experiences across grade levels and very often they have seen a number of students over a number of years in the school. They know what has worked for them in terms of social emotional requirements, behavioural plans and academic support. So before you design any new plan for your student or put support in place for them, make time to check in with them to save you valuable time and effort. They have a broad and deep toolbox of strategies to support students. It's totally worth it.

Myth 2 - Specialists should stick to their subjects. What do they know about inquiry?

This myth incorporates one more myth. Inquiry based learning is a pedagogy and not a homeroom topic. It transcends classrooms and spaces. Specialists subjects can make inquiry come to life. Yes, because the real world does not present itself to our learners compartmentalised into subjects. To understand how arrows drawn on roads facilitate traffic discipline, a student will require the knowledge of angles from Geometry, the study of lines and colours from Visual Arts along with the ability to empathise and care for co-drivers and commuters from PSE. This is only one small example. There is a reason why the STEAM approach is gaining popularity worldwide.

Myth 3 - Specialists should stick to teaching subject specific skills.

Yes, that is a crucial but not the only component of specialists subject focus. Music requires notation writing skills and rhythm, which is closely related to patterns in Mathematics. Language gives words and meaning to cultural studies and art, the design thinking process helps problem solving almost anywhere and these are just some creative ways of looking at interdisciplinary connections. Thoughtfully designed conceptual questions/lines of inquiry not only enhance the understanding of the speciality but often lead to a more in depth understanding of the central idea or essential question.

Myth 4 - Specialists are more free. They have more gaps in the schedule.

While homerooms generally plan for the 18 to 20 student-classrooms in level teams by sharing responsibility, specialists may be planning individually for as many as 200 to 300 students single-handedly sometimes. It's like being a multitasking Ninja. What makes the execution of their schedules even more challenging is that most schedules are designed for the maximum benefit of the homeroom. Time required for cleaning a class and resetting for another level with completely different materials and/or seating requirements and the brain switch required for teaching four year olds to eleven year olds and back to seven year olds can be very draining. This requires brain breaks to function at optimum levels. In most cases specialists work alone unlike homerooms supported by co-teachers. Try making a schedule from the specialists perspective and see how much you can open it up for specialists to support inquiry even more. We've just done that! It's possible.

As mentioned earlier, I am going to keep it short and simple. I look forward to hearing your views and if you have suggestions on what you want me to write about where specialists are concerned, please do let me know. Thanks!