The OCC Is Closing December 14, 2017!

The OCC will close in December 14, 2017, following the transition of resources and forums to the programme resource centre, communities, and the workshop resource centre within My IB. The IB Coordinator will not be able to help you access the OCC or other subject materials unless you register with MyIB. 

DP examinations on-screen

DP coordinators will soon receive an email from the Education Policy Improvement Centre who are conducting research about the future of on-screen examinations. Your expertise and valuable insights will help us develop innovative examinations that harness the benefits that technology can bring to education. Please look out for their email.

Programme standards and practices

Programme standards and practices (PS&P) have been reviewed and the new model will be launched in 2020.

March 5th – 9th 2018 Mock Exams

Here is the March 2018 Mock Exam Schedule and list of students: Mock Exams 2018 and Seating Charts.

YEAR 2 IB PREDICTIVE GRADES – December 1st

SSIS will continue to gather data to provide to both students and parents as we began to do so last year. All IB teachers will need to provide their Year 2 IB students with a Predictive Score (1-7) in PowerSchool by OCTOBER 16th for all EA/ED students. ALL students in IB need to have their Predictive Grades into PowerSchool by December 1st.

Encouraging More Job-Alike Participation By Offering Home-Stay For Teachers & Facilitation

This idea was discussed last Saturday at the VLMC IB DP Coordinator meeting held at American International School. Some schools do not pay anything for Job-Alike PD while some schools may pay only a flight. One way to encourage more teacher participation is for a hosting DP Coordinator to ask staff who would be willing to host a visiting teacher. It would be by volunteer basis, so it would not be an expectation. SSIS is not scheduled to host a Job-Alike 2018-2019, so you may have the opportunity to stay for free in some other country.

Also, to encourage more teacher involvement, a facilitator need not treat the day like an IB workshop. The DP Coordinators are working on an agenda that has IB workshop elements, but also includes other important aspects of teacher, learning and resourcing.

IBDP Students to Collaborate within the VLMC Region

Another idea that was discussed at the meeting was to create a network for DP students to collaborate on larger projects, whether CAS, Music, or Visual Arts. If you have ideas for DP ‘projects’ where students can meet and collaborate, please do share with the DPC.

Additional Time for ELL Students on IB Assessments

Language additional learners – IB

Although the expected numbers may not even exist here at SSIS at the moment, IB is making policy for allowing greater accessibility to the Diploma Programme for non-Native English speakers. The policy does all for school flexibility, but we will have to be cognizant of these changes in Group 3-6.

Candidates With Assessment Access Requirements (updated August 2017)

CAS Updates

DP Subject Guide Changes 

Group 1
Language A: Literature
Language A: Language and Literature

First teaching: August 2019
First assessment: May 2021

April 2017 Language A Lit & Lang & Lit curriculum review: Second report to teachers published.

By January 2019, publication of new guides for language A Lit, Lang & Lit and Lit & Perf., specimen papers and teacher support material on MYIB.

From February 2019, Subject specific seminars will begin.

The current PLT and 55 PLAs will be replaced by a single multi-language reading list, an online resource
accessible via the new studies in language and literature course websites.

The PLT will be eliminated.

Current Lang A: Language & Literature assessment

External Assessment (70%)
Paper 1 (textual analysis) 25%
Paper 2 (essay) 25%
Written Task 20%

Internal Assessment (30%)
Individual Oral Commentary 15%
Further Oral Activity 15%

Current Language A: Literature assessment

External Assessment (70%)
Paper 1 (guided literary analysis) 20%
Paper 2 (essay) 25%
Written Assignment 25%

Internal Assessment (30%)
Individual Oral Commentary 15%
Further Oral Presentation 15%

New Assessment

External Assessment
Paper 1 (A comparative analysis of two unseen texts)
Paper 2 (An essay based assessment)

Internal Assessment
Individual Oral Presentation Students will keep an electronic journal in which they will explore the relationship between the texts they study and a larger global, social or artistic concern. A final oral assessment of 13 minutes at SL and 18 minutes at HL.

BIG CHANGES

• No Written Tasks / Assignment
• IOC (& FOA) replaced with IOP which includes journaling

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Group 2
Language B HL/SL
Language B ab initio

First teaching: August 2018
First assessment: May 2020

May 2017 Language acquisition curriculum review: Third report to teachers published.

By February 2018, publication of new guides for language B and language ab initio, exemplar material,
assessments and teacher support material. This is only available on MyIB.

From February 2018, subject specific seminars will begin.

Language Acquisition….

Will be delivered through the use of five prescribed themes (related to the PYP transdisciplinary themes and the global contexts used in the MYP).

Language B and language ab initio prescribed themes:

• Identities
• Experiences
• Human ingenuity
• Social organization
• Sharing the planet

Current Language B assessment

External Assessment (70%)
Paper 1 (receptive skills: text-handling) 25%
Paper 2 (writing) 25%
Written Assignment 20%

Internal Assessment (30%)
Individual Oral 20%
Interactive Oral Activity 10%

Current Language B ab initio assessment

External Assessment (70%)
Paper 1 (receptive skills: text-handling) 30%
Paper 2 (writing) 25%
Written Assignment 20%

Internal Assessment (25%)
Individual Oral 25%

New Assessment

External Assessment (75%)
Paper 1 (writing) 25%
Paper 2 (receptive skills: listening & reading compr.) 50%

Internal Assessment (25%)
Individual Oral 25%

BIG CHANGES

• No Written Assignment
• No Interactive Oral Activity in Language B
• Paper 2 will include both listening comprehension and reading comprehension, though these two skills will be assessed separately.
• (Each syllabus will include 3 listening comprehension exercises and 3 reading comprehension exercises).

Note regarding removed assessment components 

Although the written assignment and the interactive oral have been removed as assessment components, this does not imply that these should be eliminated from classroom practice. Teachers are encouraged to continue to incorporate these and to use them in formative assessment as appropriate.

Onscreen and off-screen assessment.

It is expected that subjects with smaller candidatures will be assessed via onscreen only.
It is envisaged that the off-screen version of assessment will be discontinued for all language acquisition courses during the life of the next syllabus

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Group 5
Mathematics HL/SL
Math Studies

First teaching: August 2019
First assessment: May 2021

April 2017 DP Mathematics curriculum review: summary report to teachers published.

January 2019, publication of new guides for, specimen papers and teacher support material

From February 2019, Subject specific seminars will begin.

BIG CHANGES

• 2 new subjects replacing the current 4 subjects
• It is intended that by offering two HL mathematics courses this will provide a coherent structure and a greater choice to support a larger number of able mathematicians within the Diploma Programme
• To bring DP mathematics in line with other subjects within the diploma the SL content will become a complete subset of the HL content in both subjects.

Mathematics: Analysis & approaches (MAA)
Aimed at students who will go on to study subjects with substantial mathematics content such as mathematics itself, engineering, physical sciences, or economics for example:
MAA SL ~ Maths SL
MAA HL ~ Maths HL

Mathematics: Applications & interpretation (MAI)
Aimed at students who enjoy mathematics best when seen in a practical context. This subject is aimed at students who will go on to study subjects such as social sciences, natural sciences, statistics, business, some economics, psychology, and design, for example:
MAI HL = new
MAI SL ~ Math Studies SL
60 hours of common SL content in MAI & MAA.

MAA SL ~ Maths SL HL ~ Maths HL
MAI SL ~ Math’al Studies HL = new

120 hrs of SL content
30 hrs of investigation, inquiry and problem-solving activities including IA
90 hrs extra for HL (no options)

60 hours of common SL content in MAI & MAA.
This will allow schools to be more flexible in their timetabling.

It may also assist teachers who teach SL and HL students together in one group or schools where both subjects may be taught in the same classroom

External Assessment
MAA SL

Paper 1 non-calculator
Paper 2 will allow the use of a graphical calculator
Each paper will consist of a section A (short questions) and a section B (long questions).

MAI SL

Paper 1 will consist of short questions
Paper 2 will consist of longer questions
Both require a calculator

Paper 3 for HL in both

Internal Assessment

• IA task will be the same for both HL and SL
• Based on the current Maths SL & HL exploration model.
• Same assessment criteria (based on the current Maths SL and HL criteria).
• Regardless of which subject students are following they may produce an exploration suitable to the other subject.

If you have any questions about the proposed changes, do check out the Program Resource Center on MyIB.

 IB Regional Event at UNIS Hanoi November 2-4 2018

This will be a 3 programme themed event: “Using the Sustainable Development Goals for impact in IB Classrooms”. The VLMC Network is working to have a major IB Regional Event each year with Saigon/Hanoi rotating hosting duties. Updates will be provided once released.