Before we dive into today’s topic, I would like to share my experience with the Problem-Based Learning approach during my IB teacher training in the Teacher Preparation Program. This happened in 2009 in Mombasa, Kenya, and the man on the cover picture with me is Dr. Tom Abuto. When I arrived in Kenya he organised our schedule in a way that we would have 12 lessons per week and had 3 days a week for Problem based learning. The PBLs were amazing, each day we had a set, and we would decide who would be the chairmen,  who would lead the session, a Scribe who would write everything we would discuss, and the timekeeper, who would control the time. Each week we would rotate the responsibilities. We did this for a year, and we would change to the next set after a week. If for any reason Dr. Tom Abuto felt that we had not researched enough, we would continue the following week with the same set. All sets were about real situations that happened in the school community. 

Having the opportunity to learn using PBL is like being prepared for the future, it gives you resources to face a variety of situations with confidence because you already talked, or researched about them from different perspectives. 

Whenever I face a challenging situation, I remember the PBL sessions where we used to discuss everything, and for our article today, I created a set for you to learn about how to deal with genders in class. I am not giving you answers for this topic but a lot of questions that I want you to reflect on. 

That is what Dr. Tom used to do after giving us a set, he would leave the room having left us with a lot of questions. While I was creating this set he was on my mind. Because of his way of teaching, I became a lifelong learner, and I want to contribute so that new IB teachers can also become lifelong learners. If you are an experienced teacher, please share more questions so that we can help the new teachers. 

SET – PHE

An MYP 1 student recently changed from a male name to a female name but the student is not associated with either women or men. During a PHE lesson, the teacher has been calling the student by name to avoid using the wrong pronoun, which in this situation is They. But one day during class discussion while the teacher was introducing the unit used the pronoun ‘he’ to address the student. The student immediately leaves the lesson crying and goes to the restroom. Two students wanted to follow the student and the teacher stopped them and said: I will not be the first person who will make the mistake, “he” needs to learn how to deal with this situation. And the students said, not “he”,  “THEY”. The lesson continued and the students who were close friends with the affected student who just left started to show different behaviour (Ignoring the instructions, and lowering the level of interest in the class) which worried the teacher. At the end of the lesson, the principal and the head of the department found the teacher crying at the office. 

Probably you have had similar issues and you are like the teacher who struggles to remember the correct pronoun to use to avoid putting the student in an uncomfortable situation. I would like to share some strategies you can use to accommodate these students, especially for teachers who come from countries where these situations are not common but find themselves in a different environment where they must adapt to the challenge. 

For teachers that have been dealing with these cases, please share in comments your experience so we can raise awareness and support teachers that are dealing with such a situation for the first time, or might deal with it in the future.

Being an international educator you will increasingly find yourself dealing with situations that challenge your culture and beliefs because you are working with teachers and students coming from different countries, each one of them with their own culture and beliefs. And with this rich diversity, it is key that you are equipped to accommodate all cultures and beliefs. The school policies in international schools try to respect all cultures and tend to be inclusive, embracing the community and welcoming different people with their beliefs and cultures. 

You are not only contributing your knowledge or skills to your school, but you also have to be open-minded to respect and understand people’s choices in the community that you find yourself in. The students have to feel safe and comfortable with you in order to be ready and willing to learn, you need to link your teaching philosophy with the school’s values and mission to ensure success in your teaching practices. 

Example: Your teaching philosophy can be: You believe that teaching is about maintaining a good relationship between you and your students. Improving this relationship with the students has important and positive implications for academic and social development. A good relationship with students contributes to better communication, and students are likely to trust you more, show more engagement in learning, behave better in class and achieve a higher level academically. Positive teacher and student relationships lead students into the process of learning and promote their desire to continue learning. 

Let’s go back to the SET shared at the beginning of this text and I want you as a teacher to come up with lines of inquiry about what you think happened or may happen about the situation. 

Why did the student run to the restroom? What made the teacher use a different pronoun this time? why did the teacher consider that he made a mistake? What is a mistake? What made the teacher cry? How did this situation affect the other students in class? How would the teacher handle the situation in a better way? What was the impact of sharing with the kids that the kid may face in a similar situation in the future? Why did some students change their behaviour after the teacher used a different pronoun? Why did the teacher not allow the students to follow the kid when the kid ran to the restroom? What is the background of the teacher? Which country does he come from? Does his background contribute to him using different pronouns when addressing the student? What is the possibility for this to happen again? How can the school help handle these situations? How does this situation affect the teaching and learning process for this specific class?

We might not have the answer to all questions but I would like to hear from you. I would appreciate it if you could share your thoughts about this SET  so we can help other teachers and raise awareness about different situations that happen in class. 

It is very difficult to deal with some situations if it is your first time, but if we share our comments here we will be able to help new teachers be prepared for such situations. 

Feel free to share a different or similar situation you went through during your lessons.