IB Matters

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of IB Matters we talk to four outstanding members of the Minesota IB community who will share their reactions to the murder of George Floyd in our State and in our local community here in Minneapolis. Anne Lalonde Laux, Chad Owen, Jenny Magdal, and Angela Wilcox are each IB coordinators representing the full IB continuum. Each has a very personal reaction to the ev...

Send us Fan Mail In this unique episode we talk to Jason Reagin, the host of another IB-centered podcast called “Design Cast”. His podcast is focused on aspects of design curriculum in an IB context and includes very practical information for IB teachers. We are also joined by our MNIB president, Kurt Carlson who, like Jason, is a very experienced member of IBEN - that’s the IB Educator Network an...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of IB Matters we talk to Asnaha Farheen in Bangladesh. She is an experienced PYP coordinator now guiding a new PYP candidate school through authorization.  We had intended to talk when her visit was completed to see how it went. However, we recorded this podcast during the shut down of schools world-wide in the wake of the COVID-19 virus and as a result her journey...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak with Adrian von Wrede-Jervis. He is an experienced coordinator in an IB continuum school and he has done quite a lot of writing and sharing of his research regarding education in general, and IB education specifically.  We reached out to him recently to have him speak to us about making conceptual teaching more relevant as students progress through the pro...

Send us Fan Mail We talk with Toddle Co-founder, Deepanshu Arora and colleague Chris Overhoff about the PYP support platform and how they are adapting to online learning in this time of the COVID-19 outbreak. They describe the many ways Toddle supports PYP teachers as they transition to online learning. We also talk briefly about the recent Toddle Planathon where over 450 unit plans were submitted...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of IB Matters we talk to Julie Stern and two members of her training team, Trevor Aleo and Kayla Duncan. They recently published an Online Learning Template for teaching online that ensures teachers consider a conceptual framework when using distance learning. They walk you through the template and also share many great ways to think about effective teaching and le...

Send us Fan Mail As we record this episode, thousand’s of schools around the world are closed and teachers and school leaders are scrambling to create the means to teach students of all ages in remote settings. In this episode we talk to Sara VanDerWerf, a national leader in math education and a former IB teacher, about how to use modeling to prepare students for learning from videos - a common pl...

Send us Fan Mail Why would a Head of School want to add IB? We hear from a new high school principal, with IB experience, describe the advantages he sees in leading an IB school. We were recently at Rockford High School to help them record a podcast for their local community about becoming an IB school and I had a chance to meet their new principal, Paul Menard.  Administration changes are inevita...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of IB Matters we talk to Jenny Magdal about maintaining students’ wellness as they try to balance the IB Programme, extra-curriculars and their active social lives. Jenny has led several workshops in her own school and district and for the MNIB on this topic and we think you’ll find her ideas applicable not only to Diploma students but to younger children and even...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of IB Matters we speak with Trevor Aleo whose recent post was featured in the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Blog.  After reading his post called,  “Reading the World: The Case for Multimodal Literacy” we reached out to see if he would speak to us so more of you could hear about this intriguing trend in literacy teaching. Trevor also does work in su...

Send us Fan Mail This episode of IB Matters was originally recorded at Rockford High School for the benefit of the Rockford Schools community. We edited this version to serve as a more universal example of how families see the role of IB as part of a comprehensive education which still dovetails with traditional expectations of parents and students for the entire high school experience. If you hav...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of IB Matters we return to speak with Humera Riyaz of Eastern Public School in Bohpal, India. Humera was a guest in our 12th episode several months ago and we are bringing her back to share the highlights of her recent article in IB World Magazine on Design Thinking in the PYP. You’ll get some practical ideas from her and you can learn more by checking out the arti...

Send us Fan Mail This is the fourth in the “Becoming an IB School” series. We were at Rockford High School to record another set of parent questions with Rockford parent, Maris Ehlers , and Dr. Matthew Scheidler - the IB coordinator. But we were also able to capture an interview with one of Rockford’s experienced teachers who is just beginning his own IB journey. Ben Pennings , formerly a Middle s...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we talk to Peter Muir of Melbourne, Australia. Peter is currently an MYP coordinator but he also has extensive experience with CAS - that’s Creativity, Activity, Service - a key component of the Diploma Programme core. We focus on the role of CAS in developing the Diploma student’s awareness of themselves beyond their academic capabilities and more on developing t...

Send us Fan Mail This is a sponsored episode with Toddle , a new PYP-focused platform that provides resources and a place for PYP teachers to collaborate. We speak with Deepanshu Arora - one of the co-founders of Toddle who tells us about the many ways Toddle supports teachers and students in the PYP Programme. Toddle just launched in early 2019 but is already becoming a leader as a PYP resource o...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is another example of the global reach of the IB. Here, we talk to Loredana Giovanelli of the Beijing World Youth Academy (BWYA), a continuum school which includes the MYP and the DP. It is one of the oldest IB World Schools in the Asia/Pacific region. Our discussion focused on the Service as Action (sometimes referred to as SA) component of MYP.  Loredana has some gr...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we talk to Asnaha Farheen in Bangladesh.  Asnaha is the Head of Primary and the PYP Coordinator at Abdul Kadir Molla International School - a PYP candidate school in Narsingdi, about 50 km outside the capital city of Dhaka. We talk about the process of training the entire staff in the common practices found in all PYP schools across the globe. We think you'll...

Send us Fan Mail This sponsored episode serves as the launch of a new partnership between MNIB and Kognity; an excellent online platform for teaching and learning that provides real-time resources for IB students and teachers. Kognity is an award-winning digital publisher that combines the power of technology and textbooks to create a vastly elevated learning experience. We speak with Karin Bjerde...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of IB Matters we return to speak with author and conceptual teaching and learning workshop leader, Julie Stern. Julie was featured in an earlier podcast focused on conceptual teaching and learning. In this episode we turn our attention to assessment and Julie helps us see how we can use assessment of conceptual learning in our classrooms at all grades and in all su...

Send us Fan Mail This is the third in an ongoing series of episodes featuring a local Minnesota school (Rockford High School) as it goes through the IB authorization process to become an IB World School. They are currently a candidate for MYP, DP, and the CP. This episode is actually a question/answer session recorded as a podcast for the local parent Facebook group. We weren't intending to m...

Send us Fan Mail Chantell Wyten is one of the most experienced Career-related Program educators in the entire IB network. She started implementing the CP at a high school during the trial period before it was even an official part of the IB. She now works for the IB in their global office in The Hague, as a senior curriculum manager for the CP. It is particularly gratifying for her, and for us, to...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes one good idea acts as a magnet for other good ideas. Such is the story told in this episode of IB Matters. We talk to Irena and Howard Burton who have taken an unconventional path to their work with the IB Diploma Programme. They do not come to the IB as former Diploma Programme teachers or school leaders. As filmmakers and academics from the areas of law and theoretical...

Send us Fan Mail ManageBac, a very IB-oriented vendor, has partnered with IB Matters to produce an exclusively ManageBac centered episode, making this the first sponsored episode in our brief history as a podcast.  You may have a heard us talk to Kari Davidson briefly at the IB Global Conference in our IB vendors podcast (episode 20). Here, Kari has the chance to expand on that discussion and tell...

Send us Fan Mail This is the second episode of a special series of podcasts which will take you through the IB school authorization process. We have a nearby district working to add multiple IB programmes to their high school. Rockford High School, located about 40 miles west of Minneapolis is a medium sized rural school adding the MYP, DP, and the Career-related programmes all at once to their 9-...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of IB Matters we talk to Asheesh Misra and Tim Kane about their work helping Diploma Program teachers build their DP courses in such a way as to give all their students the best chance to succeed. In other words, they show teachers and coordinators how to significantly improve Diploma scores.  They are both experienced IB teachers with a long track record of doing...