Niko LewmanAfter every workshop I lead, I find myself sketching out a ‘director’s cut’ in my mind. It’s a familiar process for any facilitator, I’m sure. You reflect on the moments of genuine breakthrough, the sparks of collaborative energy, and you think, “How can I capture that magic and make it the core of the experience next time?” The PYP Exhibition workshop, a cornerstone of our practice, is a space ripe for this kind of refinement. It’s not about discarding what works, but about polishing the experience until it truly models the inquiry, agency, and collaboration we champion for our students.
Pedagogical Adaptation vs. Official Guidelines
Of course, this raises a crucial question: How do we balance this desire for pedagogical adaptation with the official guidance to follow the provided materials? We are asked that the planner guidelines and PowerPoint be followed as presented, as they have gone through a global review. However, the IB’s own documentation provides scope for professional judgment. The “Category 2 workshop session guidelines and planner” explicitly states, “As workshop leaders, you may choose to modify learning engagements, should it be necessary for workshop context and cohort.”
The modifications I’m suggesting here aren’t about replacing core content but rather enhancing it—a practice that aligns perfectly with this guideline. They serve to actualize the IB’s own “design values” for professional learning. By shifting from direct presentation to co-construction, we model re-balanced learner agency, where educators actively produce their PD experience. Routines like an “Action Sort” or a “Chalk Talk” foster collaborative learning ecologies and demonstrate the power of collective intelligence. And by focusing on creating maps and timelines, we ensure participants leave with useable knowledge artifacts they can immediately apply in their schools.
This isn’t just about delivering content; it’s about crafting a narrative. Our goal is to guide participants on a journey that moves from understanding the ‘what’ of the Exhibition to embracing the ‘how’ of fostering a truly student-led, collaborative inquiry. Based on my recent reflections, I want to share a refined narrative for the workshop, one that prioritizes collaborative routines and transforms key moments from passive listening into active, collective construction of meaning.
Setting the Stage: From Definition to Agency
The first session is our chance to establish a shared understanding and, more importantly, a shared philosophy. We often start with the question, “What is the Exhibition?” But we can immediately elevate this.
Modification in Practice: Instead of just presenting a definition, let’s create a richer, more nuanced understanding from the outset. I’m now using a new slide that acts as a conceptual anchor. It contrasts what the Exhibition is (collaborative, self-directed, process-driven) with what it is not (a science fair, a competition, product-driven). This simple act of clarification dispels common misconceptions and sets a professional, focused tone.
Immediately following this, I introduce what has become my most crucial slide. Imagine this: a clean, powerful visual that cuts through the jargon with a simple, potent equation: Voice + Choice + Ownership = AGENCY. This isn’t just a slide; it’s the workshop’s thesis statement. Introducing it on Day One frames every subsequent conversation. We are not just organizing a project; we are building a culture of agency. For more thoughts on fostering this culture, you might find my post on creating agentic learners a useful companion piece.
Deepening the Inquiry into Action Through Collaboration
Student action is the heart of the Exhibition, yet it can be one of the most abstract concepts for teachers to grasp and facilitate. To make this tangible, we need to move beyond mere discussion and into active, hands-on sorting and evaluation.
A New Collaborative Routine: One of the most effective additions to the workshop has been the “Action Sort” activity. I prepare a set of cards, each with a brief description of a student action. In groups, participants first categorize these actions—lifestyle choices, advocacy, social justice, etc. This provides a shared vocabulary. But the real learning happens in the second step: they debate and rank these actions on a sustainability scale, from “Very weak” to “Very strong,” using the powerful metaphor of “giving a fish vs. teaching how to fish.” The room comes alive with professional dialogue as participants defend their reasoning. It’s a powerful, collaborative routine that builds a deep, practical understanding of what makes action authentic and meaningful.
To anchor this activity in a global context, I now introduce a slide showcasing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This visual framework helps participants see how student passions can connect to real-world issues, a concept I explored further in my reflections on the 2023 PYPX. It’s about showing, not just telling, how local inquiries can have global significance.
Mapping the Journey with Practical, Visual Tools
As facilitators, we know the power of making thinking visible. Why should our workshop be any different? Instead of just talking about the Exhibition journey, we must provide the tools to map it out visually and collaboratively.
From Abstract to Concrete: On Day Three, before asking participants to create their own “map” of the Exhibition journey, I now present a foundational slide: “The 5 Mandatory Parts of the Exhibition.” This isn’t just a list; it’s a visual summary linked to assessment. I show snippets from various SOLO rubrics for the research process, the oral presentation, and the interactive display. This ensures that when participants design their own school’s timeline or “map,” it’s grounded in the PYP’s official requirements and a robust understanding of assessment.
Making it a Handout: To make this even more practical, I provide a handout that showcases different visual timelines. One example is a simple four-column chart labeled “Done,” “Doing,” “Now,” and “Later.” Another is a student-created timeline from a process journal, showing their week-by-week plan. These concrete examples serve as scaffolds, inspiring participants to create a map that is not only comprehensive but also practical for their specific context. We then use a “Chalk Talk” Visible Thinking Routine, where groups silently walk around and add ideas to each other’s draft maps, creating a rich, crowd-sourced pool of implementation strategies.
A Call to Continue the Conversation
Refining our workshop practice is an ongoing, collaborative inquiry, much like the Exhibition itself. These are the adjustments that have deepened the learning and engagement in my recent workshops, shifting the focus towards building a shared, collaborative narrative. By embedding these routines, we don’t just talk about the principles of the PYP; we live them.
The beauty of our IBEN community is its collective wisdom. These ideas are a starting point, a contribution to our ongoing professional dialogue. To that end, I’ve shared many of the resources from my workshops in this Google Drive folder. I invite you to use them, and if you do, please let me know and share back anything new you create!
What routines have you found most effective in your workshops? How do you spark that “aha!” moment when it comes to student action or agency? Share your successes, your challenges, and your own ‘director’s cut’ moments in the comments below. Let’s build our collective toolkit together.
Additional Prep Work Needed 🛠️
The “Session guidelines and planner” document outlines several tasks you need to complete before the workshop begins.
Materials and Digital Setup
- Physical Materials: You’ll need chart paper, markers, and sticky notes for various activities.
- Create “Action Sort” Cards: For the new activity in Session 3, you must prepare a set of cards, each describing a different student action. (Available here)
- Prepare Handouts:
- Print slips of paper with the persona narratives for the activity in Session 4.
- Create handouts of the Persona and Empathy Map templates for Session 5.
- Prepare a handout showing different examples of visual timelines for Session 9.
- Set Up Digital Tools:
- Decide on and prepare digital platforms like Padlet or Google Docs for collaborative tasks.
- Ensure you have a plan for the Session 7 interview activity.
- The planner specifically calls for a Padlet to be created for the student planner activity in Session 8.2.
Content and Facilitation
- Check for Updated IB Resources: The planner mentions that an exhibition video and updated journal templates were expected to be released. Check the Workshop Resource Centre (WRC) for the most current versions of all TSM documents and resources.
- Gauge Participant Experience: Be ready to adapt your facilitation based on the group’s prior knowledge. You may need to provide more foundational context on concepts like agency if participants are new to the PYP.
- Plan Grouping Strategies: Decide in advance how you will form groups for the various activities to ensure a good mix of participants from different schools and roles.
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