Reflecting on my MYP Category 2 Course: International Mindedness

I recently finished my certification course for the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program, Category 2.

As a teacher new to the MYP, it was a rewarding experience that helped to ground me in the principles of the IB, while having the opportunity to interact with other teachers who were learning the MYP framework of unit planning and delivery. Having access to this network of teachers was valuable, in that it created a space for us to work together to create units and discuss the philosophical and theoretical foundations of IB education.

Our online course started with the bedrock of the IB, International Mindedness. This section of the course was particularly interesting to me, because it reframed the way I've thought about the topic for a long time. I've always understood that living abroad gave me a global perspective that is different than if I never left the United States. It has always seemed like an exciting "side benefit" that we get for living abroad and traveling. I have always tried to pass that value on to my students. However, the online chats and readings in the course talked about Intercultural Understanding as a "declining ego-centrism" and "decentring from our own perspective." I used to think this was a natural outcome of exposure (at least for myself - when people ask where I'm from I flippantly respond that "I am a citizen of the world."). Now I'm thinking about decentring as a stated outcome of intercultural understanding, which is making me wonder about how I can more explicitly teach my students how to do it, instead of just recognizing that it's happening.

On our course message board, I wrote:

For me, international-mindedness (IM) is the ability to conceptualize of, examine the consequences of and empathize with the world's population in respect to ever-increasing globalization. Our world is more connected than ever and continues to be. In order to effectively participate as citizens of the world and contribute to its improvement, IM is perhaps the single most important skill we can cultivate in ourselves and our students.
In my school (LCS, Ghana), as in most international schools, the effects of globalization are obvious by looking around the room. We have a diverse student and staff population that comes from all over the world. While sometimes we make overt and specific references to that diversity and celebrate it (International Day, UN Day), it is usually more subtle and in the moment references that show application of IM in the classroom. A quick example might be discussion of the punctuation of dialogue rules in English class. Acknowledgment of the fact that my Italian students and Spanish students have different rules, exposes everyone in the room to the possibility that there are multiple "correct" ways of doing things. 

Of course, something more formal, such as anchoring our units in Global Contexts and referring back to them throughout our teaching is valuable as well. 

But, perhaps a more Middle School-centered anecdote tells the IM story best.

I have witnessed violent shouting matches as to what the sport where everyone kicks a ball into a net is called. Football! Soccer! The back and forth is endless, and in the mind of a sixth grader, truly black and white. There is only one answer. I always use this fight as an opportunity to teach IM. There is no "right" answer. As an American living and playing football/soccer abroad, I rise above the futile attempt to pigeon-hole the name of the sport. Neither is right and neither is wrong. Everything is contextual. When I'm in the US, I say soccer. When I'm around my colleagues from the Commonwealth, I say football. If anything, I appreciate and enjoy the fact that I get two ways to talk about something I love.

That said, I'm wondering how to best leverage these small moments, the overt and specific references and explicit teaching to help my students learn how to decenter in order to fully embrace the concepts of international mindedness and intercultural understanding. Please leave your ideas in the comments and we'll continue the conversation!