IB Matters

Send us Fan Mail We are releasing several quick casts featuring presenters at the IB Global Conference in Washington D.C. July 25-28, 2024   Use the hashtag #IBGC2024 to see what's happening on social media Towards school-wide adoption: increasing access for all students.       This session is on Saturday, July 27th at 11:15 a.m. in Archives M4 Our guest, Melissa Cuculich, summarizes her sess...

Send us Fan Mail Vikas Pahwa returns to talk about the many roles we play in our careers as educators. From teacher, mentor, colleague and leader to parent, learner, and counselor, we wear many hats throughout our lives. Vikas shares much of what he has learned about finding balance and trying new ways to be effective both in and out of the classroom. Email IB Matters: IBMatters@mnibschools.org In...

Send us Fan Mail Judy Imamudeen shares her experiences making connections with teachers around the world through her popular blog and educator book club. She also talks about the upcoming changes in the PYP and how to keep yourself healthy as you help young people reach their potential.   Links from Judy https://judyimamudeen.com/ Six AI Techniques for PYPC The 2024-2025 Book Club Guidelines and R...

Send us Fan Mail The PYP, like all IB Programmes, is a dynamic and evolving framework of best practice. Our guest, Cindy Blackburn is well placed to guide us through the ins and outs of the Primary Years Programme in her role as a leader at Toddle.  Toddle is a global platform for IB teachers helping them organize and collaborate to improve their teaching an d to streamline some of the processes w...

Send us Fan Mail In April of 2019, we set out to offer information about the IB for a Minnesota audience. Little did we know that it would grow to be heard in over 170 countries and become a labor of love for all things IB and a celebration of the global educational community! As we begin what we're calling 'Season 4' please join us in helping to use this podcast as a tool to improv...

Send us Fan Mail in this episode we talk to Nate Samuelson from Korea International School about his project called The Snapshots Project and a course he created called ‘Design Your Impact’. Not only will your students be invited to participate, you are encouraged to replicate Nate’s ideas in your own school or region. Imagine a school district or an IB regional association creating their own vers...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we return to speak to Novadene Miller - this time we talk about making effective transitions when changing schools or changing roles within a school. But our conversation ranged widely from teacher skill sets in IB and international schools to how to better include new teachers into the culture of a school. Novadene shares many of her personal experiences as a Jama...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we talk to six students and their CAS coordinator from Exeter College in Devon County, England. As the third in a series of interviews with IB students around the world: first in the US (here in Minnesota) and then in India and now the UK, listeners will hear the similarities and the differences in how IB schools introduce CAS and then support students in this core...

Send us Fan Mail This is part one of a series of episodes exploring the role of AI in the future of education. AI is here to stay and we need some tools and a plan to make the most of this transformative technology. A ruj Khaliq from Pakistan shares great ideas to start us on this journey! In this recording Aruj lays out the challenges but also the potential for AI to transform our schools. We dis...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we return to talk to Vikas Pahwa from Shiv Nadar School in Gurgaon, India - but we are actually featuring some of his students who are sharing their CAS experiences. If this sounds familiar to regular listeners, that’s because we are going back to back with CAS related podcasts. Last episode it was students from my backyard in Minnesota. This time the students are...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we talk to four IB Diploma candidates about their CAS (Creativity, Activity & Service) experiences. Evan Whipple , Jynx Taylor , Lolu Ogunleye , and Audrey Mochama are all seniors at Champlin Park High School in Minnesota. CAS includes both sustained and one-time experiences. As you'll hear, these often lead to unexpected benefits for both the community a...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we return to talk to Sonia Singh , a school principal at Sreenidhi International School in Hyderabad, India about her school’s initiative to focus on high quality learning. While this may seem like an obvious goal of any school, Sonia has some great advice and suggests a road map to ensure your school, like hers, keeps everyone focused on this critical work in the...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we talk with John Moore from Shaker Heights, Ohio. The Shaker Heights City Schools have made the choice to de-track their schools in an effort to better prepare all their students for success in high school classes, including their robust IB Diploma Programme. Theirs is a pre-K through 12th grade IB district and John speaks eloquently about the need to be true to t...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we talk to our MN Assc of IB World Schools (MNIB) President, Sarah Wernimont, about the process we used this past year to develop our MNIB mission statement. You’ll hear it was a journey that I found challenging but very rewarding in the end. While we have just begun implementation of the new mission, we are both excited about the path that has been created by this...

Send us Fan Mail in this episode we return to talk to Novadene Miller . She was a guest in season 2 (episode 18) but she has now moved to a high school in Geneva and speaks about the connected IB classroom. Novadene has a PhD in physical geography, and is an active researcher in her professional field. She brings the world into her classroom and the students into the world. She does this through a...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we talk to author, and IB high school assistant principal, Brad Sever about his new book, ‘ Sustainable Project Based Learning ’. Brad’s experience in an IB school makes him an excellent resource to help us navigate the intersection of the IB framework of learning and project based learning.  Brad’s book provides a sustainable roadmap for teachers to ensure student...

Send us Fan Mail in this episode we talk to Cody Alderson from the University of New Brunswick in Canada. Cody is the director of the IB Educator Certificate Program at UNB. Cody and I talk about the many aspects of this great partnership between global universities and the IB. If you are looking to get a head start on becoming an IB teacher, or to expand your already awesome IB teaching skills, t...

Send us Fan Mail When a school makes the effort to become an IB World School through a years-long period of reflection and self evaluation, the entire school agrees to embark on a continuous journey of self improvement.  In this episode, we talk to Jaya Sharma , an experienced IB school leader about the school improvement plan required of all IB schools. Jaya shares highlights from her school’s pl...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we return to talk with Bhavna Mathew from India about the role of action in the IB. As Bhavna says, Action is BIG! It is through action that we come closest to realizing the vision of the IB founders when they imagined a better and more peaceful world. If you would like to inspire students to take action as a result of your teaching, listen to what Bhavna shares in...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of IB Matters we return to talk to Vikas Pahwa from India. Vikas is an experienced DP History teacher and great person to talk about how he implements the ATL skills in the high school. While we often think of ATLs in the earlier grades, Vikas makes a great case for their natural inclusion in higher level courses. We even talk a bit about how teachers should be rea...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we talk to Afroza Kazi from Dhaka, Bangladesh about her role as a Diploma Programme teacher. While she specifically teaches Language B - English, we get a better understanding of what makes the IB work for so many students. That is, how we put the international in International Baccalaureate. Afroza makes several great suggestions for how to prepare students of all...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of IB Matters we talk to Rezuan Chowdhury from Daka, Bangladesh. Rezuan, who is a returning guest, has recently moved to a new school as an assistant PYP coordinator. We follow-up our popular ATL series from this summer with some specific ideas from Rezuan. His examples bring the ATL's into focus for those of you working with younger children. Links shared by...

Send us Fan Mail The IB student experience is much more than the Diploma Programme student completing exams and heading to university with a strong resume of academic accomplishments. The entire IB framework begins preparing students in pre-school and continues to use age appropriate practices to encourage life-long learning, inquiry, conceptual understanding, and global awareness. Our 14 year-old...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is the eighth and final episode in a series of podcasts we are doing on the IB Approaches to Learning Skills (known as the ATL’s) which are at the core of all four International Baccalaureate Programmes.  This episode is a sort of panel discussion looking at the big idea of using approaches to learning as a framework within IB to deliver the promise of an IB education...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is the seventh in a series of 8 podcasts we are doing on the IB Approaches to Learning Skills known as the ATL’s that are at the core of all four International Baccalaureate Programmes. It is our goal to give you a coherent, sustainable, values aligned strategy to implement ATL Skills in your school. This episode features teaching Self-management Skills . In the podca...