Hochstetler Heirways: Catching Up and IB Training

I know it has been ages since I posted. I sort of even forgot about blogging. I started this blog before I attempted to get my Master of Arts in Teaching Special Education. One of my last post was to tell you all about the Tabitha Centers.
Since my last post which was on the 10th and 11th Tabitha Centers, I have seen by daughter become a member of the Mission, Evangelical Free Church of America, that runs the Tabitha Centers. She is the communication person and helps to create items that the girls can sell to people. It is exciting to see the ministry grow. (The photos in this blog are all taken by Emily Hochstetler and have to do with the Tabitha Centers.) There are now over 200 Tabitha Centers in Kinshasa.
I on the other hand, have completed my MAT. I taught for a year at the American School of Kinshasa (TASOK) in their Middle Years Program as an English and Individuals and Societies teacher. It was very challenging and I wanted to teach a second year just to conquer the challenge but this great opportunity came along where I could be the Primary Years Program Learning Support teacher. I get to do the job I trained for! I am thoroughly enjoying it.
I am now taking a course to understand the International Bachelorette (IB) Primary Years Program (PYP). This was my first week of training and we have been learning about the IB PYP and the learner profile which was also very big in the Middle Years Program (MYP). The program really stresses teaching students to be internationally minded and to be inquirers. As I think about this, I have raised four children internationally but it is still easy to get caught up in our own way of doing things and not understand others. The goal of the IB program is to help students become open to understanding other people's world view.
I am growing to really like the concept of students being inquirers. I have always seen children have such curious minds and have seen where school can actually squelch the curiosity. The goal with inquiry is to encourage children to ask questions and explore. I like the fact that children are given hands on opportunities to find out about issues and facts in the world around them. For example the third grade began exploring Right to clean water and how the Congo River is being polluted. This led to them exploring the fish of the Congo River. They have studied the anatomy of the fish and are comparing the basic anatomy to the hundreds of species in the Congo River. They have even made contact with an ichthyologist from America who is specifically studying fish of the lower Congo River.
Caring is another profile I appreciate. This is something that is growing in the TASOK community. For example, the fourth grade in our school were exploring China this past unit while the fifth grade were exploring human rights. When the 5th grade presented the Right to Citizenship and how children in the DRC are not all given this right, the 4th grade made the connection with children in the era of China that they were reading about.
Next post may be on my next week of this PYP Workshop or it may be on the differences between the old syllabus shock versus online school stress of getting lost on the internet.