A school should make room for different ways of learning
What helps you do your best work: talking an idea through, sketching it or reading quietly? Students do not all begin in the same way. In our project week, teams could choose how to plan before presenting one shared outcome. Some groups began with discussion; others used diagrams. The important point was not the format itself, but the chance to explain an idea clearly.
Choice still needs structure. A useful task has a clear goal, shared criteria and a way for every student to contribute. When those are in place, different starting points can lead to rigorous learning. Let us build lessons that offer choice and expect thoughtful evidence.
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IB English B
One school, many ways to learn
Article · SL + HL writing pack
SL/HL: adapt the scope and development to the assigned word limit and course task; analyse audience, purpose, register and conventions.
Read like a writer · SL + HL
Model for school community
Task: SL/HL: adapt the scope and development to the assigned word limit and course task; analyse audience, purpose, register and conventions.
1Orient the reader
2Develop the key point
3Close with purpose
Purposeful lexis
What helps you · In our project week · The important point · When those are in place
Grammar and register
Headline and hook, direct reader address, contrast, conditional conclusion
Teach the lesson
Notice, rehearse, write and review
Try it tomorrow
SL/HL: adapt the scope and development to the assigned word limit and course task; analyse audience, purpose, register and conventions.
- Students mark who will read the text and what that reader needs.
- They select two useful linkers from the model and explain their job.
- They write a new response with original details, then use the checklist to revise.
Success criteria
- Purpose and audience are clear from the opening.
- Each requested point is developed with a specific example or reason.
- Linkers express a real relationship between ideas.
- The ending suits the text type and reader.
Teacher language
Useful language choices
What helps you · In our project week · The important point · When those are in place
Questions that draw out detail
- What does your reader need to know first?
- Which example makes this point convincing?
- What relationship does this linker show: contrast, cause, sequence or addition?
- Does the register fit the reader and purpose?
Feedback focus
Give one response on task coverage, one on organisation and one on a language choice that the learner can use again. Avoid treating a memorised phrase as evidence of control.
Adapt it by level
More support
Rehearse the ideas orally, use a three-box planning frame and offer two optional sentence openings. Keep the model visible while the learner plans.
Greater independence
Remove the frame, change the audience or purpose and ask learners to justify their choices of structure and register.
Course fit
SL and HL adaptations with model, register, purposeful lexis and transfer practice. Follow the current course task, audience, word guidance and assessment criteria. This teaching model is not an official examination response or awarded grade.
Check transfer
Use a fresh prompt and look for the same purposeful decisions expressed in the learner’s own words.