The International Baccalaureate

United World College in Montezuma, NM

The summer trip back to the United States began with a weekend in NYC and then a week long conference in Montezuma, NM.  I was there for an International Baccalaureate (IB) training seminar.  The new school I'm teaching at, The American Overseas School of Rome, is an IB school.  Never heard of IB?  Neither had I. For most American high school students who desire to go to a institution of higher learning in the United States, a diploma from a accredited American high school is sufficient to enroll. However, for students who go to high school abroad (and in many cases sons and daughters of American citizens living abroad) having and IB diploma is what they need show that they have achieved a certain level of proficiency.  Well, it turns out, an IB diploma blows an American high school education out of the water.

How does it work?  After what is the 10th grade year, any student at an IB accredited school can elect to enter the diploma program.  For the next two years, they take six two year classes.  1) English 2) Foreign Language 3) Humanities/Social Science 4) Experimental Science 5) Mathematics (there are three levels, but a student must take a Math course) and 6) Elective.  Along with this, there is a Theory of Knowledge (TOK) class required as well.  To earn a diploma, a student must write a TOK paper, a extended essay (research paper) and pass all six exams (two or three parts each) to be taken in May of their senior year.

Even though it was not in my contract to teach IB, I asked the school to take on the challenge. I have been assigned to teach the 2nd year of the highest level of Mathematics.  It is essentially BC Calculus, but there I must also prepare the students for the exam and review all the material they learned in their first year.  One challenge is that in their first year, there were topics taught (mainly Vectors and Advanced Matrices) that I have never taught.

The Montezuma Castle originally was a resort built in this area because of the natural hot springs.  Purchased by the World College, it was converted into the main school building of the school in the early 1980's.

The conference itself was a bit underwhelming.  Many of the 9 sessions were things I could have learned in a handout.  I wish we could have spent more time working on teaching techniques and practice problems.  And where is Montezuma, NM?  It's an hour outside of Santa Fe.  The conference was held at the Armand Hammer World College of the Americas.  What was strange was that usually at the these conferences I find my "crew" to hang out with, but for some reason it didn't happen this time.  It's so high school, but it's always nice to know there is someone to each lunch/dinner with, but I usually just spent time with my Math group by default.

After the conference, I took a trip to Taos, just because I've heard so much about it.

The Taos Pueblo

The Taos Canyon

The Taos Canyon Bridge, which is the 5th highest bridge in the United States

After Taos, I spent a great weekend with my friend Jay H., who was kind enough to host me for the weekend.  We ate good New Mexican fare, saw a play, a movie and before taking off for the airport, he and I took a tour of many of the sites where they film the show Breaking Bad.

(FYI, this is the first post I am making without using HTML code, but actually posting pictures using the Insert button.  Thanks, Marl!)