Business Management Category 1 - October 2017 by Paul Clark

A Journey

khisal_mka — 2017-10-30 18:05:19 UTC

It has been a journey. I learnt a lot from the posts you all made, and the positive feedback you gave on mine. As someone who is only starting out in the IBDP stream, every idea, every suggestion and every experience you shared has been invaluable to me. For that I thank you all.

Paul's advice, clarifications and explanations of the different aspects of this course have made this workshop every bit worthwhile. We are fortunate to have been led by such an experienced and resourceful person. The knowledge and experience he has shared will benefit us and our students for a long time. Thank you sir!

Working as a group with Marcelo Perez Benitez, Daniel Thomas, Sandra Geritts and Kyle Paffhausen has been a true pleasure, and a learning experience. Thank you all for the effort and shared resources and experiences.

If I were to pick and choose among the things I learnt here, I would definitely consider the resources and the teaching methodologies shared by Paul and all the participants to be the most valuable. There is always a learning curve and spending time with such an experienced lot simply bumps that curve higher. Thank you all for being so generous with your experiences.

Learning experience

2017-10-30 19:28:46 UTC

When I started with IB it was difficult for me to completely understand the program.
Now I have a good idea of new ways to learn myself sharing with my students different points of view.

Learning about how to work as a team, about different ways to learn and share, helping when something unexpected happens and feeling supported is required to learn better and to get over with anxiety.
I am grateful with Paul for guiding me, and with Justin, Linda, Vickey and Caty for making of a big challenge a great experience in approaches to learning. This is a great thing to make me feel that my students must go through this same experience so we can share the same enthusiasm.
What a wonderful ride!

The ‘concept-based approach’ is something that I have grown to develop a love and passion for in a very short period of time. I currently work in Australia, where we indeed use an industrial-age education system, where there is content to be taught, assessment to be completed and rigidness with how it is taught. The focus is solely on students demonstrating their knowledge and understanding of a specific topic, with some real-world relevance, however, there is no bigger picture (concepts) considered.This concept-based educational approach has taught me that whilst it is very easy for our teacher minds to fall back into the same old teaching ways, that I now have to understand and accept that the brains of the youth of today, are far different from the brains of the youth from 50 years ago. I have always been a teacher who pushes students to inquire on their own, rather than relying on me to give them the answers to everything, but the IB Learner Profile has given me a clear graphic representation of what is really important for a student to graduate with upon leaving High School. One specific trait of an IB Learner which has really struck a chord with me is the ‘risk taker’. Too often, we find it so easy to play in the safe zone and keep our students there with us, as we may get anxious to go outside our comfort zones as teachers. But by doing this, we cripple our students from doing the same. Taking risks is what life is all about, so applying that concept to learning is something that I promise to do for my students in the future, but also myself. Another trait of an IB Learner that we often discuss and assess in Business at our school is communication, however, we don’t actually teach students ‘how’ to be better communicators. Sure, we tell them what the textbook or latest says about being a good communicator, but we very rarely actually focus on improving the students’ communication skills themselves. We are too busy focusing on content!Knowing and understanding the CUEGIS concepts and how to apply them in an inquiry-based classroom will change my teaching for the future. IT IS VITAL that an IB teacher understands these concepts, along with being able to implement them curriculum wide. Consistently going back to these concepts and relating them to everything we do in class will give everything full substance and a deeper meaning. For the future, I am going make sure that my sole focus is on ensuring that the students who graduate from my classes have the characteristics of an IB Learner, and are ready for the real world. I am going to make sure that I know the Business Management Guide back-to-front and inside and out, so I can ensure my students have the absolute best opportunity to succeed. I will also make it my duty to be able to implement the CUEGIS concepts in as many ways as I can, as it gives meaning to everything we do in IB.I have thoroughly enjoyed this course and I have learnt so, so much! The best part was to work with a bunch of amazing people in module three!

jhint20 — 2017-10-30 20:54:54 UTC

Linda Wilson I Get To Be A Part

2017-10-30 23:03:09 UTC

Through this work shop I have come to see that there is a vast and accessible world of resources for teaching that I never knew existed. I knew about only a few of the resources posted and it has filled me with hope and excitement as a teacher. I have always been an excellent sage-on-the-stage because of my sense of humor and methods of delivery including dancing around the room! But I’ve known for some time now that times have changed (or are in process of changing) and I did not have opportunity or understand until now, how to move in the direction I’ve been wanting to move with my teaching.
The key concept that has hit my consciousness in a flood of information is change: change in my approaches to learning, change in my content, change in my assessments, and change in my resources including new colleagues. It has turned me upside down and back again and it’s a really good thing!
The cool thing about conceptual learning – and this class is a supreme example – is that it will now begin to permeate everything I teach – from IGCSE Business Studies to Supplemental English to Reading Comprehension and to IB. It would not be possible for me to have experienced this depth of understanding and then not apply it in every class at least to the extent permitted.
This is especially possible because our whole school has the IB Learner Profile as our school’s banner that we hold up for all to see . It says this is the kind of student we want to see come out the other side of education with us. And !Wow! I get to be a part of all that!
First step is to have a meeting with the director of our school to thank her for sending me to this workshop! And then to share some of the work we’ve done in it, and what the impact is going to be on the classes I teach. This, of course, will have an impact on the whole secondary and IB because I have classes with every secondary student.
Second step is to re-arrange my lesson plans to begin with concepts. As I do this, I plan to set them up for maximum student involvement and input. I can’t wait to see their faces when we begin the new year! For some it will be their third year with me and they know how I’ve been teaching. They like it, but lately they’ve been asking for more and different. Now I know they’ll get it. Richer, fuller, more alive and more interesting than ever.

Final Thoughts....

kpaffhausen — 2017-10-31 01:09:29 UTC

This course was a huge help and sometimes an information overload. I do love the fact that I am able to access all the great information in this course for the next six months, and for that, I greatly appreciate it.

My goal is when the school year slows down (over the holiday break) I will go back through this workshop and take the many great tools and apply it to my IB class. Right now I have a lot of tools that I have added to the toolbox, however I feel like I may have missed a few. I found that there is a vast amount of resources for the both the IB teacher and students to ensure that they can be successful.

There is a lot to reflect on after taking this workshop. I feel like the pedagogy taught throughout the IB model is beneficial not only to students taking IB courses, but also for our students in regular classes.

Enriching Experience (Catalina Villanueva)

catyvillanueva — 2017-10-31 03:31:22 UTC

This course was definitely an extremely enriching learning experience for me. I really enjoyed every single one of the modules, for each one of them opened my eyes and taught me many things that will definitely help me become a better teacher and a better guide for my students. If I could choose one vital learning point, which is honestly quite hard since the course is extremely enriching, I would pick the resources provided on this course. I am amazed at the amount of valuable resources the IB has to offer - I had no idea they were so vast and enriching! After I started taking this course, I also have constantly in mind the CUEGIS concepts and apply at least one of them consciously in every one of my lessons. The Module I enjoyed the most, even if it was in my opinion the hardest one regarding time and content, was Module 3. I got to work with a great team, that are really an inspiration to me on their knowledge, the way they share their experiences and the way we always helped out each other and organized ourselves. I even got to see some beautiful pictures of the cities they are currently living in.
Looking back, I cannot believe I was actually giving IB courses without having taken this course first. It has taught me so so much and helped me as a teacher. One of my students told me last week: "Miss Caty, we have loved the class activities we have been doing for the past month!" It automatically made sense for me, it is thanks to this course. My next steps? Applying in class everything I learned here, and of course, looking forward for Module 2!

💡What an experience

vicky_harris — 2017-10-31 06:54:14 UTC

This has been from not knowing what to expect to being part of a group of like minded individuals.

From the sharing of ıdeas and experiences, cultural and international perspectives, resources which align with the IB Learner Profile of; inquiry, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced and reflective. What a great team!

From a Maori worldview, I have filled my basket (Kete) of knowledge. I have just started my journey into the world of IB.

My next step is to go back over all what I have learnt and intergrate my learning and resources into my teaching practice. I also would like to use our yearly plans that we have developed together as a basis for my next year's course plans.

Lastly I am looking at signing up to a face to face Category 2 module in either Doha in January or Paris in February - excited!

Thank again to each and everyone of you and I wish you well on your IB Journey.

Joseph Finnin Student Centered Learning

2017-10-31 07:17:37 UTC

I would have to say that the student centered learning approach is definitely something new for me and at first I was not really sure how this should or could work, but now I feel that this is definitely the way I want to teach from now on. I am really excited about teaching the IB Business program and this Category 1 course has definitely left me wanting more, I am planning on taking the category 2 course in the near future.

Reflections

sandra_gerrits — 2017-10-31 07:48:32 UTC

Thank you all for making this course such and interesting and worthwhile learning experience. Not only have I learned much more about the Ib than I think I would, you have also all shared your experiences, insights and resources with me and I can't thank you enough for that.

Paul, thank you for being such a great example of a guide on the side. It is one thing to learn concepts in theory but you have been an excellent role-model in guiding us towards insights. I'll definitely will look over this course again but from a meta point of view and review it for ways I can use the course and the way it was set-up as a way to improve my own teaching/guiding.

Team 3: thank you all for sharing your experience and creating our year plans together. I am in the process of setting up my course for next year and this is invaluable.

I'm very glad the course will be online for another 6 months. Even though I've learned a lot, I know there are many resources that I need more time to look at. I also need time to collect all your great ideas and insights and create something that I can use for a long time to come even if it is just to browse through and get new ideas. My head is a little full right now.

My next goal is to create lessons that will leave my students reflecting on their learning in the same way. I want them to feel and know that they have surpassed their own (and hopefully their teacher's) expectations. Again, thank you all for giving me such a headstart on my way to achieve this goal.

Anouk Studer "BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD" Gandhi. This course has been a fantastic opportunity to not only get up to speed in the delivery of IB BM just a few weeks after starting to teach it, but also in exchanging, building collaboratively and learning with incredibly passionated educators who are fully dedicated to building a new generation of leaders who will be actors of change for a more sustainable world. My concrete learning points are:-always keep CUEGIS in mind when I design my course and activities. -be crystal clear on the IB assessment requirements -look for opportunities in other courses to reinforce BM topics.My concrete next steps: 1) adapt the Year 1 & 2 plans to Del Mar Academy schedule2) build a clear IB assessments table/document that regroups all assessment parts (5W for each) & explain/share with students3) get the students to read the article about the height building calculation to illustrate4) revisit the IB BM course forums and regroup best tools/activity ideas into useable documents 5) get students to start a Business English Glossary & liaise with English teacher6) set up an assessment schedule and plan that can serve both IB and MEP diplomas7) investigate about Kognity or similar materials as I urge to lower my course design preparation time

anoukSAJ — 2017-10-31 10:21:28 UTC

Thank you Paul, thank you everyone!

A different approach to teaching and learning

marcelo_perezbenitez — 2017-10-31 12:14:19 UTC

Marcelo Pérez Benítez

Teaching has always been a challenging activity and one that in many countries is poorly recognized. That is why undertaking such an innovative approach to teaching and learning can really make a difference and a profound impact in the youth we are molding today to become the future leaders of tomorrow in a world that is not only fast-changing, but also always teeming with uncertainty and unpredictability.

Integrating concepts and content through context (C3) is the only way I see for students to fully grasp their role as active players in their schools, at home or in their communities.

It's very encouraging to know that after this course there is a wealth of information available from inputs by all the participants which can be put to good use throughout the course. I'm very grateful for that!

It has been an honor to work with you all throughout this past month and wish you all the best in your present and future endeavours. Hopefully, we will meet again for yet another challenging and fulfilling experience.

Clarity amongst the mayhem

pdalli — 2017-10-31 13:08:27 UTC

The course has really helped me understand a lot more about the IB and how to enable learners to make the most of their time studying for their diploma. Like everyone else, I have been snowed under adapting to teaching the IB and my new job. Thankfully this course has enabled me to gain clarity and many ideas.

I too am looking forward to a bit of downtime to be able to checkout all the resources posted on the course site, and ultimately to enable me to put into practice many of the ideas I have noted down and the ideas floating around my head. Roll on Christmas!

My next goal is to create resources and to test them out with my learners, and then to improve them. I will leave a Cat 2 course until I am more experienced and have more to share.

Over already?!

2017-10-31 14:57:56 UTC

Before starting this course I had been delivering IB BM for around 6 weeks. Lessons had been going well and I thought I had a good understanding of IB BM. How I was wrong.

I was naive to think that IB was just an international version of British A Levels. Learning about concepts, learner profiles, IA's, assessments and the list could go on, has shown me that teaching does not have to be vigorous but insightful. IB has made me think of different ways I can teach all my lesson not just in IB DP.

I hope everyone on the course has found this course as insightful as me, although sometimes I may have seemed like a 'silent' member of this course I was always very impressed by all participants posts.

Lastly, thank you to Group 3!! the time difference has made it crazy to work with you guys. Whatsapp messages at all hours of the day has certainly kept me on my toes throughout the later part of the course.

شكرا
Daniel Thomas

ROBIN WARGINGER Final thought!

2017-10-31 15:19:43 UTC

Starting the course feeling lost in a new school teaching a new subject, and actually my first online course, I didn’t know what to expect. I had hundreds of questions in my head leaving me feeling overwhelmed not knowing where to start.

The tasks in the course gives you focus and sends you in the right direction to find the answers to the questions you have, and also helps you see what to prioritise and to structure all this information. That has been a big deal for me with this course, I feel I know what I need to do now whereas only four weeks ago I was completely lost!

The other great thing for me was all the help, ideas, activities and advice I got from my course colleagues and Paul, the course teacher. I have loads of things I can try in my classroom now, whereas before this I felt really uninspired.

I definitely think that the more you give of yourself in a course like this, the more you get out of it. I definitely learnt more in the tasks where I made more effort than in the tasks I didn’t spend as much time on. That’s a valuable lesson for any future online courses I might take.

A big thanks to Paul, and to all my colleagues, I have learnt a lot and I feel a lot calmer and a lot more inspired now!!

XUE LIU, AN UNFORGETTABLE IB JOURNEY

xueliu142857 — 2017-11-01 01:51:55 UTC

At the beginning of the business management (category 1) of this workshop, I wrote these words in my entries about this course: “The IB mission focus on building students’ intercultural capacities, enlightening their minds and souls, broadening their horizons and recognizing their common humanity. For the purpose of achieving the IB mission and creating a better and more peaceful world, today’s college students need to develop a set of attributes that appear in the IB learner profile. They should be equipped with some consequential skills which can change their thinking methods and impact their future lives in a positive way, such as the capacity to learn with enthusiasm, the courage to face challenges and transforms, the ability to analyse and solve the complex problems, balance the different aspects of social community and take responsibility for their own actions. By adopting the IB learner profile in IB World School, the students will be more open-minded, confident, thoughtful, inventive and independent, and be able to understand their strength and weakness, collaborating with others in order to benefit the progressive society.”

At the end of this course, after finishing all the 4 modules, it seems to be more clearly these ideas and I would like to use all I learned from the course to make good preparation for the following lessons of business management. I would learn to balance the difference between the oriental and western students in multicultural groups and try to find their weakness and pair them with other ones who might have strengths in their weaker areas. Without the help, guidance, encouragement and facilitation of Paul, all the new suggestions and contributions of other great IB educators in this workshop, these initial goals will not be achieved. And I would like to gain more experience to create lessons that will leave positive reflections on our students and direct them in the correct way to make sure the compliance of IB mission.

Conclusion

2017-11-01 03:11:25 UTC

Analia Villagomez

I really enjoyed this workshop, it was very useful for me especially because I am new to teaching and all the conversations, forums, blogs, readings that we have used in this month have helped me learn much more about the BI and especially to understand techniques that work very well within the subject that I taught. It has been an intense month of hard work and at the same time of being students but every moment that I have used in this course has helped me to improve as a teacher and above all, to learn about different points of view from other countries, other cultures and other ways to teach and for me that is the most valuable thing of this course.

A big thank you to you Paul, for you guidance and patience in all this process; especially for sharing your knowledge and tools with us.

My personal reflection

monagansosa — 2017-11-01 22:08:54 UTC

My personal reflection

monagansosa — 2017-11-01 22:10:34 UTC

I think one of the most outstanding lessons during this past month was to become more knowledgeable about the IB Business Management workshop eas the way of assessing our students within the classroom and appreciate the effort they are doing to teach themselves and become the authors of their learning process and we as teachers with a new image, the facilitator. I mentioned the assessment because I believe that in our school we still need to break paradigms about evaluation. What has been the results of an old fashioned evaluation system? A lot of frustration, despair and disappointment among our students because the results were low grades. the internal assessment and evaluation will give them an opportunity to have not only one memorized answer to a question it will show them different possibilities to answer and interpret the question. I love the example of the barometer a great lesson for close minded teachers. Now they will become critical thinkers, perform self- evaluation, risk-takers and transfer their skills to others, and when time comes to make decisions without the fear of failure because failure is considered a part of their process of learning and gaining experience for the rest of their lives and survive in an ever changing world that every day is more developed and globalized.
It was a great experience sharing with all the participants and with Paul.