PYP Exhibition in Junior School

Grade VI is the most crucial year for a student of PYP. Besides being their final year in the junior school, it is also the year where they cumulate all that they have learned and display it to their teachers, parents, and friends and to the world at large.  It is time for them to show to the world, what all they have learned, understood and experienced all this years as a PYP student, including all the profiles of an IB learner. This display of their knowledge and understanding is conveyed to others in the form of an exhibition, where they are exposed to various issues that concerns the world and asked to choose any one of them to work upon, incorporating all the skills, attitudes and profiles of an IB learner.  Hence like all other years this year also the preparations for the exhibition have started in full swing in Grade VI. All the teachers, coordinator, HM and the students are looking forward to the ‘D’ day that is scheduled on 21^st and 22^nd November, 2012. However it is not so easy to put up a cumulative exhibition of such a large scale and requires a lot of planning, organisation, management and research. Thus work for the exhibition starts way before. This year the theme descriptor of the exhibition is “An inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with other people and with other living things; communities and the relationships within and between them; access to equal opportunities; peace and conflict resolution.” There are eight broad issues selected and identified for the exhibition which are as follows:-

• Animal rights
• Global Warming
• Water Scarcity
• Natural Disaster
• Waste Management
• Child Labour
• Conflict Resolution
• Hunger

Preparation for the exhibition began by showing the children various videos relating to the theme, so as to sensitize them about the issues, which would later help them select any one of them for the exhibition. Then on the 5^th of October, 2012 the children were taken on a city tour to help them experience and witness the problems that is prevalent in our society. On the basis of this the children were asked to select any two issues they wished to work on and give a short explanation for selecting the issues. They were also asked to write about their observations and reflections during the city tour. After the kids selected their issues they were allocated one issue, out of the two they had selected and clubbed into groups depending upon the issues they had selected. Each group was assigned a mentor teacher to help the student in their work. On 12^th of October, 2012, the children had their first meeting with their mentor. As soon as the attendance was taken and GCC steps entered, the children were advised to find out the group they had been allocated to and go to the room of their respective mentors. In the meantime the mentors were all prepared with videos, talks, discussions and topics to discuss about during the first meeting. They were fully prepared to arouse more interest and enthusiasm among the students on the issues they had selected. They spoke about the issue in detail, watched videos on the same and chalked out a plan to execute the exhibition successfully. One of the most significant features of this exhibition is that the role of the mentor teacher is just to empower, guide and facilitate the students in their actions and not to ask students to follow what she or he wishes to do. The exhibition is about how the children want to execute it, not how the teacher wants to. He or she is just there to ensure that all the guidelines are followed and rules are adhered to. Rest it’s the students who take the call. Adhering to these guidelines the mentors asked the students their takes, ideas and suggestions on the issues they had selected and how they want to move forward.Students came up with awesome innovative ideas to implement and showed great enthusiasm and interest on the topics. They explained their understanding of the issue and what they wanted to do. Some of their ideas and suggestions were profound which left even the mentors surprised. The children exhibited a high level of interest which was very encouraging for the mentor. All in all, the first meeting was highly successful and signalled a great start of the grand exhibition that will unfold on 21^st and 22^nd November. Everyone is geared up for the exhibition, from the students to the teachers and even the parents. Everyone will get to see the brightest illumination of our children’s knowledge, care and concern for the world on the D day. We all are eagerly waiting for that proud moment.