International Baccalaureate Program

Educating for Excellence

 

Rigor + Relevance + Relationships = Educational Excellence

MYP in the Classroom

Northside Blodgett

MYP Unit Pillowcases for Troops

Instructors Elisha Mashanic

In spring 2007, seventh grade Family and Consumer Science classes at Northside Blodgett Middle School completed an International Baccalaureate (IB) unit to create pillowcases to send to United States soldiers serving in Iraq.

The seventh grade classes designed and produced nearly 60 hand-made pillowcases that were sent to troops related in some way to the students or school

“The students knew it would be a huge undertaking to complete all these pillowcases, but did not want to leave anyone out,” said teacher Elisha Mashanic. “The school purchased the fabric for the first 40 pillow cases and students brought in their own donations to complete the rest.”

MYP courses in the academic area of Technology are designed to stimulate students’ ingenuity and encourage them to combine intellectual talents and practical skills. This subject area is valuable for reinforcing and integrating skills learned in other disciplines, especially in the presentation and handling of data and the processes involved in the design and manufacture of a product. Successful units provide a balance between three key areas: systems, information and materials — and students are encouraged to display ingenuity and creativity in devising practical solutions to given tasks. Students use the “design cycle” to investigate, design, plan, create and evaluate.

As part of the Northside Blodgett Consumer Science unit, students first completed an investigation in which they researched various articles relating to the war and determined they wanted to do something to support the U.S. troops in Iraq. They carefully planned and created the pillowcases, writing and reflecting on their work each step of the way in Process Journals. At the end of completing each pillowcase the students evaluated their work using both classroom and IB-related criteria. In addition, the students wrote letters to each soldier that will receive a pillowcase.

“This unit was extremely relevant for these hard working students,” said Mrs. Mashanic. “They are representative of the caring and thoughtful students here at Northside and in the Corning Painted Post Area School District.”