IB Diploma Programme News
January 2021
Inside this issue
- Teacher spotlight- Mr. Eby
- Returning to in-person instruction in January
- Awarding IB Diplomas/Graduation- January 7
- Juniors to begin Extended Essay
- DP recruitment for next year
- Yappy Hour chez Mme. Orgeron
Teacher Spotlight- Mr. Eby
Q: How long have you been teaching at Jayem and which classes do you teach?
A: 1st year at JM, teaching IB Psychology, General Psychology, and Adv. World History and World Geography II.
A: I feel as though my teaching is based on building relationships, which has obviously been difficult this year. Normally I have opportunities to chat with students and really get to know them.
Q: Which attribute of the IB Learner Profile do you most identify with? (Reflective, Open-minded, Inquirers, Caring, Risk-taker, Principled, Communicators, Knowledgeable, Balanced, Thinkers)
A: Even beyond the IB program, I identify most with open-mindedness. I consider myself to be receptive to the ideas and needs of both my students and the people in my life outside of school. Nobody knows everything but being able to listen will get us all closer.
Q: What is your favorite unit, lesson, or activity?
A: I love cognitive psychology. Our ability (albeit limited ability) to understand how our minds work in terms of processing information and responding to our environment has been a fascination of mine since my first psychology class as a student. The complexity of our minds in terms of function and process is incredible.
Q. Briefly describe your IB course. What is the aim of the course, what are the assessments like?
A: IB Psychology seeks to understand, describe and predict behavior and mental processes. In the course we focus on three major perspectives (Biological, Cognitive, and Sociocultural) to guide our questioning. The assessments include SAQs (short-answer questions) IA (Internal Assessment) and ERQs (Extended response question)
Q: What do you think is the most valuable feature of the IB and why?
A: In psychology at least I am excited that students have an opportunity to replicate research (IA). This gives real world practice and can be a great introduction to perusing psychological research at the next academic level.
Q: If you won the teacher lottery, and could buy any one thing for your classroom or instruction, what would it be and why?
A: I would pay guest speakers in various psychological fields to come and talk with my students. Although I have a high level of interest and do my own research, I am not a classically trained psychologist or psychiatrist so having experts at my disposal would be a lot of fun.
Q: Words of wisdom for IB Students
Class of 2020 IB Graduation/Awarding Diplomas- January 7
Current DP students are invited to the IB graduation ceremony for the class of 2020. The graduation ceremony is scheduled to take place at the Jayem auditorium at 2:30 pm on January 7. RSVP to Mr. Pope
Due to seating constraints, only current DP students are invited to attend.
Returning to School- Hybrid Instruction
All students will begin learning synchronously and virtually with their teachers on January 4. Beginning January 19, students have the option to attend in-person instruction two days per week. Full details are available on the school website: https://jmhs.fxbgschools.us/
Please contact Mr. Pope to arrange an appointment if you would like to discuss the return to school plan. >jpope@cityschools.com
A few reminders for all students:
- Make sure you continue checking in with your homeroom teacher each day.
- Now is the time to adopt a more structured routine (if you haven't already).
- If you opt to come in for in-person instruction, don't forget to bring your laptop and charger each day.
- It is strongly encouraged that you turn your camera on during your synchronous/virtual days. It is difficult to interact synchronously otherwise.
- All students should have less asynchronous/homework. They should still expect to have more homework than non-DP peers.
- Pacing and sequence of work is more important on a synchronous schedule. You must turn in assignments by the assigned due date. The structure of the rest of the year will be much more traditional and synchronous and asynchronous work fit together. If you wait until the end of a LAP now, you will fall behind. Unlike during the first semester, you won't be able to catch up.
Juniors to begin the Extended Essay
The Extended Essay is a required feature of the IB Diploma Programme. Juniors will begin working on this in January and will finish early in their senior year. The completed EE is about 12 pages of the student's research and analysis.
To manage the work and learn the skills necessary to successfully complete the EE, we have divided the assignment into parts. The first step is to settle on a topic that is interesting and personally relevant. Many of these components will be assigned a grade in TOK. Because of the shift to synchronous instruction and the nature of the EE, it is vital that you turn these in on time.
Mr. Blosser, the Extended Essay Coordinator, will provide more details over the next few days. He has coordinated with Ms. Gompf to use some time in TOK to work on some of the aspects of the EE. Students will have to do most of the work outside of class time. For a complete calendar of due dates for the EE (and all other IB due dates) see the IB Canvas course shared at the beginning of the school year.
In the meantime, mark your calendars; he will work with ALL juniors virtually on Teams on January 12 at 2:30 pm.
DP Recruitment for next year
Spread the word! We are working to recruit sophomores into next year's DP cohort. This will be a little more challenging than usual, so we need your help.
Here's how you can help: spread the word to your friends, team-mates, and anyone you think would benefit from an IB education. Tell them to contact Mr. Pope for details or attend one of the IB DP Virtual Open Houses scheduled in January and February.
"Yappy Hour" chez Madame Orgeron
Make yourself a cup of hot chocolate and come show off your fur babies (that means dogs...cats can serve as a suitable substitute in a pinch).
Madame Orgeron recommends you make yourself this hot chocolate recipe.
Pamper your pooch by making the Fleas Navidad Nibblers dog biscuit recipe below beforehand. (Note: they actually look pretty good for human consumption, too). Recipe comes from Three Dog Bakery. http://www.threedog.com/.
Topic: Yappy Hour chez Madame Orgeron
Time: Jan 13, 2021 07:00 PM Eastern Time
Join Zoom Meeting
https://cityschools-com.zoom.us/j/88002303288?pwd=UStrbCthMVBjSzhsWFc5cm5CdHNvZz09
Meeting ID: 880 0230 3288
Passcode: 613961
Wednesday, Jan 13, 2021, 07:00 PM
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