Blog
May & November 2022 announcement: no paper 2 Free
No Paper 2 for May and November 2022 examination sessions The IB recently announced changes to the components and examinations for May and November 2022 sessions. The announcement included the following...
Course Assessment
HL Essay: final checklist
HL Essay: final checklist for students before submission This page is designed for students as a guide for a final check of their essay before submission. These guidelines can also be downloaded as...
Course Assessment
HL Essay: a guide for self/peer review
A guide for self/peer review This page is designed for students as a guide to help them review their essay, or for peer review of essays before submission. These guidelines can also be downloaded as...
Blog
May 2021 - what we do and don't know Free
As we start a new year, those of us teaching in May session schools still face some uncertainty about what lies ahead for our DP2 students. With examinations being cancelled in some countries such as...
Teaching and Learning resources
A lesson on the poetic line
As with all literary texts, students of poetry need to have a heightened awareness of what makes poetry distinctive from the other forms of creative writing, as well as a good knowledge of the different...
Assessment
Higher Level coursework essay: a student guide
A page and download for HL students... The notes below are designed to give you some guidance with preparing and writing the coursework essay. There are also some links in the text to other areas of this...
Blog
Reading for pleasure Free
If the state of play in the school at which I currently work is anything to go by, students are reading independently less and less – particularly as they progress through the school. Yes, they read for...
Teaching and Learning resources
A lesson on diction
When teaching skills of close analysis, it is important to encourage students to consider overall meaning in and through attention to details. All too often responses are hampered by an immediate desire...
Teaching and Learning resources
A lesson on dialogue
Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 2 So starts Hamlet's advice to the group of visiting players as he seeks to outline the importance of what is said in drama and the importance of this being heard and enjoyed by the...
Teaching and Learning resources
A lesson on narrative voice and perspective
This is a fundamental question - arguably the fundamental question - when faced with any prose text, as David Lodge explains: “The choice of the point(s) of view from which the story is told...fundamentally...