C43 (Intro): Evaluating Transdisciplinary Learning

Welcome to the final transdisciplinary overview!

​Thank you for returning after last week.  I know it was a lot and probably blew your mind, but this is the process of becoming a more transdisciplinary educator. I was told recently that nothing worth having comes easy.  If it were easy, then more people would be doing it.

You will see how your efforts come about in different ways.  There will be times you put the pieces to create a beautiful cake.  Other times, it will look terrible, but taste great.  This is the process of becoming better at our craft. 

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​In this final transdisciplinary challenge, we will focus on evaluating our practice even deeper. To prepare for that experience, we are going to explore simple steps to evaluate your daily practice.  If you are not ready to complete an entire school or grade level evaluation, these may be easier steps you can take to reach your goal. 

​Is Evaluation Needed? 

​Everyone on this planet needs continual evaluation of their progress, so they can grow and develop in new ways. I’m currently taking an online facilitation course, because I stink at leading online webinars where no one engages.  My first presentation was this week and my rubric made my heart sink.  At second glance, it outlined clear areas of growth and targets for the next step that I can achieve this week.  When I stopped having a pity party for one, I realized that this feedback was super relevant and necessary for my development. Now, I actually feel excited about this week, because I know I can do better and I will have experience on my side. 

How do we evaluate our transdisciplinary practice? 

In the challenge, we will go over specifics on how to evaluate your school on transdisciplinary learning as a whole, so you might make an action plan with the next steps. It won’t be a lot of steps, but it will require an open mind. 

During the past few weeks, we have started this process by focusing on ways to improve our transdisciplinary understanding through: 
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• Gauging what transdisciplinary learning looks and feels like
• Delving into our theme descriptors to anchor our curriculum mapping
• Examining ways to look at our regrouping our standards differently
• Including our specialist and supporting teachers into the planning process

Along the way, you’ve had a chance to reflect upon your individual situation and evaluate your schools progress in those areas.  This has been the heart of the transdisciplinary challenge, because it requires an openness to change. As we know, change is very difficult for many people, especially if they think the planning is perfect as it is.  So how do we get around these obstacles to move our program forward? 

​POI Rubric

As the PYP program has evolved, the IB has been strategic in putting in safeguards to ensure that the program of inquiry is continuously being evaluated and modified to meet the current needs of the school community.  The POI rubric is a tool that will take the heavy lift in ensuring your learning is more transdisciplinary and conceptual. 

The three sections in the POI Rubric are: 

• The Central Idea
• The Lines of Inquiry
• Balanced Articulation of the Themes

If you reflect back on our journey through the transdisciplinary challenge, you will see that we have covered these ideas in-depth.  Hmm....I wonder if it happened by accident or if I’m a genius?  I let you decide. 

To get your own copy of the POI Rubric, you can search on the Program Resource Center (PRC) or Google. 

Well my friends, you now have the background knowledge to move forward with the final transdisciplinary challenge.  Yay!