SOUTHRIDGE HIGH SCHOOL

IBCP – PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

SYLLABUS 2019-20

Ms. Mullen

Email: tamara_mullen@beaverton.k12.or.us Phone: 503-356-2890 ext. 6854

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Personal and Professional Skills (PPS) is designed to introduce students to life skills and to help students operate in a variety of contexts, now and in the future. The PPS course will not only develop skills, but also attitudes. In the context of the IBCP, the term “attitudes” refers to dispositions or attributes. In addition, the PPS course aims to develop personal qualities and values as exemplified in the learner profile.

The purpose of PPS is to support students in their career-related studies, link the core components together, and to provide students the skills necessary to become active lifelong learners.

COURSE AIMS:

The aims of Personal and Professional Skills (PPS) are for the student to develop:

• good intellectual habits

• practical problem-solving skills

• self-awareness and an appreciation of identity, individual strengths and individual limitations

• an appreciation of ethical issues relating to his or her personal, social and work experience

• an awareness of his or her own perspective as one of many perspectives, and one that has been shaped by contingent cultural factors

• intercultural awareness.

• the skill of communicating clearly and coherently

• personal and interpersonal skills for the workplace and beyond

• the skills of reflection and critical thinking in personal, social and professional situations

• an understanding that many questions, issues or problems do not always have simple right or wrong answers.

• Information Technology (IT) skills and building your technological literacy.

PPS COURSE MODEL:

At the heart of the model is the learner. The learner uses a range of skills to make sense of the world. These skills are strategies or tools that are used to help explain our experiences in the different contexts of everyday life. Crucial to the model is the ability of the learner to reflect on the effectiveness of the skills used.

Learning is about change. It involves acquiring new knowledge, developing new skills and recognizing more about oneself and others. Learning involves active participation by the learner. It is not a passive process. Listening, reflecting, questioning and communicating are just some examples of strategies adopted by the lifelong learner.

READING MATERIALS:

IBCP Core Guide (Available to you online, hardcopy in our class for review)

Career-related Certificate

International Baccalaureate, 2016

Language portfolio (Available to you online, hardcopy in our class for review)

Career-related Certificate

International Baccalaureate, 2016

Reflective project: Student guide (Available to you online, hardcopy in our class for review)

Career-related Certificate

International Baccalaureate, 2016

CLASSROOM EXPECTATIONS:

• Come to class each day prepared and on time. Necessary disciplinary action will take place if you are chronically tardy.

• Treat everyone with respect—no foul or insensitive language. Respect the personal space and personal property of others.

• Email or make an appointment to see the teacher if you are having problems in class or stop by before or after school.

• Cell phone policy. In the interest of everyone’s time, please leave your cell phones off/silent, and in your pocket/book bag. No charging of phones in the classroom please.

ACADEMIC HONESTY (AUTHENTICITY):

All students must understand the basic meaning and significance of concepts that relate to academic honesty, especially authenticity and intellectual property. Student work submitted for assessment must be entirely their own.

Cheating includes, but is not limited to, copying another person’s work, turning it in as your own, and committing plagiarism. Plagiarism is using the words or ideas of others without giving them credit. This includes taking material from the Internet or another student and using it as your own.

TOPICS/UNITS OF STUDY:

Personal and Professional Skills (PPS):

The PPS course aims to develop the personal qualities, values and skills of the IB learner profile. It fosters responsibility, practical problem-solving, good intellectual habits, perseverance, resilience, an appreciation of identity and perspective, and an understanding of the complexity of the modern world. Emphasis is on the development of global competence and the transferable skills needed to successfully navigate higher education, the workplace and society, as well as the learner’s ability to reflect on and improve such skills.

The PPS course focuses on five key areas: personal development, thinking processes, effective communication, applied ethics, and intercultural understanding. These areas are explored within the four global contexts of: technologies, communities, environments and workplaces.

Community and Service:

For community and service, students work with community members/organizations to undertake service activities that satisfy identified community needs. The concept of community may be viewed from a local or global perspective. The component is based on the principle of service learning, whereby service is a vehicle for new learning of academic value. The emphasis is on developing local knowledge, civic responsibility, social aptitude and personal growth.

Community and service provides students with opportunities to use their existing skills and knowledge in real-life situations, while developing learning, responsibility, practical and social skills and caring for others. This component is usually directly related to the student’s reflective project, and activities are ideally linked to the student’s career-related studies. Community and service is ongoing, and occurs regularly, throughout the IBCP programme with a minimum of 50 hours outside class time devoted to it. These hours must be properly documented, and SRHS reports to IB whether each student has satisfactorily completed the community and service component.

Language Development:

Language development develops students in the areas of oral, visual and written linguistic and communicative abilities through a focus on receptive, productive and interactive skills. This component ensures that all IBCP students are exposed to an additional language that will increase their understanding of the wider world. Students can undertake language development with an extension of DP group 1 or 2 courses, a school-designed course, an externally provided course, or monitored self-directed study.

Each student is required to maintain a language portfolio, (PPS binder/website), to chart their progress in the course. The IB may require SRHS to provide samples of language portfolios as evidence that this component has been satisfactorily implemented. Language development runs concurrently with the other IBCP core components and a minimum of 50 hours is required. SRHS reports to the IB whether each student has satisfactorily completed the language development component.

Reflective Project:

The Reflective Project is an in-depth body of work produced over an extended period and submitted towards the end of the IBCP programme. It is the product of the student’s own initiative and is designed to draw together the student’s DP courses, the other three components of the IBCP core and the student’s career-related studies. Through the reflective project students identify, analyze, discuss and evaluate an ethical dilemma associated with an issue from their career-related studies. This work encourages students to engage in personal inquiry, intellectual discovery, creativity, action and reflection, and to develop strong thinking, research and communications skills.

The Reflective Project can be submitted in different formats including, but not limited to, an essay, electronic presentation, short play or film, or storyboard. However, the following features must be included and are assessed: an explanation showing knowledge and understanding of the issue and its context; awareness of the ethical dimension of the issue and its impact on the community; research that supports differing viewpoints and critical evaluation of those viewpoints; reflection; articulation of the student’s own evidence-based viewpoint; supporting evidence from a variety of sources including proper references, citations and bibliography; the effective use of language; and formal presentation of the work. Depending on the format, the maximum word limit is between 1500 (with accompanying material) and 3,000 words.

For more information, or to address any concerns about the IBCP programme, please see Mr. Grimm in the Southridge Library, or e-mail him at wayne_grimm@beaverton.k12.or.us

PERSONAL NOTE:

If all of this seems overwhelming, take a breath. It is common for students at the outset to have some anxiety toward this two-year course. If you are a student who can think, feel, and reflect then you can and will do well in this class. Often, we will work together to raise questions, and to solve problems.

Your main focus in PPS is to successfully document in your PPS binder the various components of the IBCP programme. These include the Personal and Professional Skills, Language B Development, Community Service, and the Reflective Project.

Your Reflective Project is the capstone assessment for the program and you will have to submit it to your Supervisor and PPS teacher during your senior year in December.

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