Ms. Kim Colossale, IB Coordinator
IB stands for International Baccalaureate. The aim of an IB education is to create a collaborative, global community united by a mission to make a better world through education.The aim of all IB programmes is to develop internationally minded people who help to create a better and more peaceful world. IB encourages students to become active, compassionate, lifelong learners. An IB education is holistic in nature—it is concerned with the whole person. Along with cognitive development, IB programmes address students’ social, emotional and physical well-being. Druid Hills Middle is a part of IB Middle Years Programme. The IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) is a challenging framework that encourages students to make practical connections between their studies and the real world.
Druid Hills Middle MYP is a whole-school endeavor and is inclusive of all students. We aim to develop students who are active learners, internationally minded, able to empathize with others, and have the intellect and skills to pursue lives of purpose and meaning in life beyond the classroom.
What are the advantages of the IB Middle Years Programme?
Using the existing DeKalb County curriculum, the Middle Years Programme is designed to help students recognize the connection between what they learn in the classroom and the world around them, to tie the various subject areas together, and eventually to help students see knowledge as an interrelated, coherent whole. Students in MYP analyze and evaluate issues, generate new ideas and consider new perspectives. MYP empowers students to develop a sense of community through service to others, while encouraging international-mindedness through appreciation and inquiry of other global cultures. Overall, students will become creative, critical and reflective thinkers (ibo.org).
Why is there a focus on Community and Service?
The action component of the MYP can involve service in the widest sense of the word: service to fellow students and to the wider community. This can be both inside and outside the school and can meet an authentic need, becoming meaningful service—working with people rather than for them. Through such service, students are able to grow both personally and socially, developing skills such as cooperation, problem-solving, conflict resolution, and creative and critical thinking. These actions are ways in which the students exhibit their commitment to the attributes of the learner profile.