Riverstone Attends IB Conference

Riverstone representatives attended an International Baccalaureate (IB) Conference and Workshop in Los Angeles, CA. Pete, Jane and Damon each attended conference sessions targeting towards their own areas of expertise. Below are vignettes from each of their experiences during the Conference:

Jane Kaserman, ELL and International Student Coordinator: “With over 600 fellow IB educators, there were great opportunities for networking, sharing, and learning. I had the chance to talk discuss second language learning for native English speakers and explore how to best support our second language learners. What I love about attending conferences is the chance to share what we are doing at Riverstone. Inevitably, people are surprised to learn about an international school in Idaho and that we have been successfully implementing the IB program for 10 years. Having the chance to learn from the mistakes and successes of other schools provides fresh ideas and helps me learn about some of the pitfalls that schools encounter so we can avoid doing the same. However, the best part of professional development is the sense of community and the collective understanding that we are in our profession because we believe we can improve education for all of our students.”

Damon Brown, Music teacher and MYP Coordinator: “My session was specifically for MYP Curriculum Coordinators. We focused on supporting and coaching teachers in teaching the MYP. My favorite take-away was learning how to identify which learning skills are required for complex tasks. This way we can do a better job of helping students see how their skills at school can transfer to “real-world” applications.”

Pete Burton, Gr 2 teacher: “My area of focus at the Conference was on concept based learning. There were over 600 attendees and my category included about 25 Administrators, Primary Years Programme (PYP) Coordinators and Grade Level Teachers. The main goal of our professional development was to evaluate our Units of Inquiry and determine if we had a topic-based unit or if we had a more conceptual unit. We went thought several strategies and activities that gave us ideas and strategies for implementing a more concept-based approach in our Units of Inquiry for each classroom. It was amazing to collaborate with different schools from around the United States and make connections with fellow educators. The big take away for me was to continue to have an open mind and to continually reflect on our Units of Inquiry so that they are not only concept-based, but also allow for the students to understand the key concepts at a deeper level of understanding.”