1. Your performance in the seminar
This concluding seminar of the unit focused on personal reflecting of our overall MYP learning journey, and I got a 7. I clearly shared my personal views targeting all discussion questions, including my recommended course reading materials, core gains from the Literature course.
2. The leaders’ way of managing the seminar
Anna and Ryan took charge of the entire seminar hosting and organization, they sorted and integrated the scattered questions in the workbook into open-ended core topics.
Additionally, they formulated a fixed speaking sequence for the discussion session. This standardized arrangement effectively avoided chaotic speaking order and ensured that every student in the group had equal and sufficient opportunities to express their unique ideas and learning insights, making the whole seminar orderly, efficient and inclusive.
3. Content
The seminar discussion revolved around four core reflective topics covering unit learning experience, reading recommendation, course harvest and curriculum recommendation.
First, the group exchanged views on the most impressive and favorite learning units of MYP. Although everyone’s preferred units varied ranging from Shakespeare’s works to poetry learning modules . Most students favored specific units due to enjoyable classroom experiences, and diverse and interesting assignment forms.
The second discussion topic was to select and recommend a classic book from the MYP curriculum for new students. I chose World War I poetry as my recommendation. I believe this series of poetic works is highly suitable for new learners’ in-depth academic analysis, as it contains rich and diverse poetic techniques, which can effectively help students exercise their literary analysis ability and meet the learning challenges of beginner stage.
Thirdly, we summarized the most valuable gains accumulated from the entire MYP Literature course. We shared different key takeaways: some mastered the three core persuasive methods: ethos, logos and pathos; many students also affirmed the great value of seminars . Among all, the PEAS writing framework (Point, Evidence, Analysis, Summary) is recognized as the most important learning achievement. This writing logic is applicable to various subjects and all types of academic tasks, serving as a basic and core tool for academic problem analysis and personal opinion expression.
The final topic focused on feasible improvement plans for the future ELL curriculum design. In my sharing, I put forward a targeted optimization proposal: the curriculum team can adopt standardized ABCD evaluation dimensions, configure clear and matching corresponding learning tasks for each assessment criterion, and fully inform students of the detailed evaluation requirements before or at the initial stage of each unit, so as to make learning goals more transparent and clear.