IB Highlights: Ides of March Deadline
SGS students in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme have to upload some major projects by a March 15th deadline, so today is a big day for seniors on the road to their IB Diploma.
CORE Highlight: The Ides of March
Teachers have internal dates for assignments, but the IB has dates that are set in stone when certain items must be uploaded. Monday, March 15 is the upload date for Written Assignments in the Language A HL courses, the essays from the Theory of Knowledge course, and the 4,000-word Extended Essays. They have all been uploaded for our current seniors who are in these courses! Congratulations to teachers and students for meeting the first benchmark and enjoying a much better Ides of March than Julius Caesar did. The next due date is April 20, where subject teachers upload predicted grades for students and the internal assessments from each course.
CAS Experience Highlights: CAS experiences for all of our Upper School students (in the US and in China) include baking cookies, painting super fan t-shirts, cross country skiing, and organizing an event called Escape from the Chamber of Secrets.
IB Question of the Week: How has SGS created a CORE class so that some of the extra work to earn a full International Baccalaureate Diploma can be completed within the school day?
The CORE class meets three times a week for full diploma candidates and is built into their schedule. Theory of Knowledge (TOK), Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) and Extended Essay (EE) share time in this CORE class so students can get a lot of the work done during school hours.
> CAS Project: Our full diploma students complete CAS projects that follow an 18-month portfolio, full of reflections. The CAS coordinator (Melanie Mildrew) begins meetings with the students in Semester 1 of their junior year during the CORE class time.
> EE: Starting second semester of junior year, full diploma students begin meeting during the CORE class time and researching and writing a 4,000-word essay on a topic of their choice. Deadlines are set, and students are given time in this class to do their work. The Extended Essay will culminate at the end of Semester 1 in their senior year.
> TOK: Starting second semester of junior year, full diploma students begin meeting for the Theory of Knowledge class during the CORE class time. The TOK essay and exhibition will culminate at the end of Semester 1 in their senior year.
IB Overview: The Diploma Programme (DP) curriculum for grades 11-12 is made up of six subject groups and the DP core, comprising Theory of Knowledge (TOK), Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) and the Extended Essay (EE). Please refer to our IB webpage and to the IB Resources page in PowerSchool Learning for detailed IB information.