Reflections for IB Music DP Training

IN THINKING - MARCH 2021

1. What are your most significant takeaways from

the course? The importance of the journal and the
musical process. (Trev) guys, did someone type ↑ this as an
answer or is it part of the question? See underlined. I’m confused!

Peter: Well,I have a much better comprehension of

Marcos: I am quite new working in DP so it has been really interesting to

know better how it works and possible ways of delivering the CV.

Mihai Bizgan - Because it was something new for me. I was quite
impressed to see all the things. I am enthusiastic about this workshop
and I look forward to the possibility of implementing all the things in our
school . I am happy to have knowledge now in the area of AOI’s

Sarah: I now feel as though I broadly understand each of the

assessment tasks, the role of the components and the AOIs.

Murray: Clarity about the 4 components and confidence to apply the

assessment criteria

Dimitris: So many questions in so little time!!!!! I feel that now I can

teach the new course. But I still have many many questions!!! I hope Jim
will keep on his great work and he will give us his knowledge and
support
Trevor - I can compartmentalise each section (exploring, experimenting,
presenting). I get the general ethos of the course, but above all, that my initial
instincts about the course were correct, that’s a relief!

What intrigues you most about the new curriculum?

Peter:
 Mihai Bizgan: New challenge to achieve with my
students everything that I learned in the course.

Sarah: I am particularly excited about the Experimenting and CMM tasks.

Murray: Putting the student in the driver’s seat and looking forward to
unexpected outcomes (of a positive nature - ie students who pleasantly
surprise with their creativity).

Dimitris: CMM is the most challenging one. I will have to work hard with my
students.
Trevor - The CMM is the most intriguing thing for me, although I will not be doing this
for at least 2 years.

I feel excited about the new curriculum but I think that I have a lot of work to do to be
confident dealing with this new plan.

What do you think your biggest challenges may be? How

do you see yourself addressing these challenges?
Trevor - Confusing elements of each segment! e.g. confusing the creating exercise
in the exploration portfolio with experimentation. I shall need to carefully frame things
separately to avoid this.
Peter:
Sarah: Developing scaffolds to help students break the tasks down and finding
samples of quality work to show them what each task may look like.

Murray: Finding the required time to set up an engaging and rich course. As a
Department Head I am pulled in many directions and want to make sure I am
tehre 100% for the students, so that worries me.

Dimitris: The biggest challenge is to meet the criteria. Exploring and

experimenting are quite tricky

Marcos: It is going to be difficult to explain each component to my students in

a way that they can understand and succeed in each of them.

4.What would you want to see in your initial plans for the
course? For the unit? For the first semester? What would
your initial objectives look like?
Trevor - For my DP1 students, my initial objectives are: outlining the process of the
Exploration portfolio and starting with the first stage of Experimentation (extract 1 of 3) in a
chosen genre. Students will complete a sort of exemplar exploration that I run through with
them - showing them how to do it. My final objective would be to create a partial
PRESENTING programme of potential pieces.

Sarah: Have students clearly understand the course outline, the role of the
AOIs, the components as structural tools and the assessment tasks they are
working towards.

Murray: Establishment of the journal as the backbone. In Semester 1, the

students would have a good understanding of the journey ahead so that time
is not wasted and the value of resources understood over the full two years.

Marcos: This year I only have DP2 students apart from my MYP ones and I
want to establish a plan for the presenting component that I’m going to be
preparing with them (I am co-teaching them only ⅓ of the time so we have
decided that I will be preparing the presenting part with them)

Dimitris: Try to present the course as clearly as possible. Try to be “to the
point” of each element

5. What would you like to see in your students upon the

completion of the Course?

Peter:
Trevor - something they can use as a portfolio for entering uni/the industry. Continued
interest in the subject and a heightened passion.

Sarah: A genuine self-driven inquiry based approach from each student, a high
level of research, performance and creating skills and self reflection skills.

Murray: A genuine engagement with music and a desire to stay connected to

music throughout their lives, even if they don’t pursue it in any formal
capacity. Also, that the student who had a focus in one particular area (ie
performance) now has an equal appreciation of all three areas (perming,
creating and researching).

Dimitris: enjoy music, any kind of music, as a creator, performer or listener

Marcos: I would like to see them more autonomous, capables of working,

improving and succeeding in the music industry by themselves.

Mihai : Enjoy what music has to offer.

6. How would you know (what evidence) would you
anticipate in reaching Objectives? What types of evidence
would you hope / like to see?
Trevor - completed exploration work and initial extract 1 of 3 of experimentation, and a
completed potential presenting programme (perhaps with choices of pieces rather than a
finalised programme)

Murray: Self motivated students who are willing to inquire without (too much)
teacher encouragement. It would be a compliment if students would
encourage younger peers to undertake the course based on what they gained
by completing DP Music.

Sarah: I would use formative assessment and casual observations to ascertain

student understanding.

Dimitris : Experiment a lot and always having the criteria next to me trying to
cover each and everyone of them

Marcos: Developing a plan with them to establish clear explanations about how to
develop their components successfully.

7. What concerns / thoughts do you have regarding the

new IB Music DP Course?

Trevor - I am concerned about being so far off with the CMM (my marking difference with
Jim was 10%). The emphasis that this is above all a collaboration seems misleading to me.
My case is perhaps unusual in that I need to squeeze a two year course into 7 months (with
DP2 students how have very little work from last year), it feels a little like crisis
management!

Because we are starting to know this new curriculum it is a little bit frightening to walk this
path because of a lack of references and previous examples and models to follow and
understand what my students have to do to achieve the highest standards possible.

Mihai: Thank you Jim for all the precious information. You are a very kind person. See you
soon.

Thank you Jim. I hope to see you in future workshops. I wish you all a successful academic
year.

Sarah & Murray: A lack of supporting resources, excellent exemplars and

student work samples at this early stage, plus a lack of grade boundaries etc
to support the generation of Predicted Grades - overall, not knowing if we are
doing it well enough and guiding our students to meet the assessment criteria
at the highest levels.

THANK YOU, Jim - It was a fabulous workshop! Thanks too to all the other
participants. We learned a lot from working with you all.

Trevor: Yes, thanks Jim. It was very reassuring.

Dimitris: I couldn’t agree more with Sarah and Murray. The Australian wine is
speaking!!!!!!! (just a joke)
Murray and Sarah: Keep drinking it - we need to boost our economy! But we
agree, it’s a good drop. Cheers!