1. The role of an educator is to be empathetic, and to care about the education and well-being of their students. Good educators aim to find a balance between being an authoritative figure in the classroom, and being someone who students are comfortable speaking to. A good educator will be passionate about their subject area, and carry out engaging lessons that make students ask questions and want to learn more.
2. The role of the student is to synthesize the information that their teachers present to them. More importantly, the role of the student is to ask questions and not just simply accept information that is given to them.
3. As a teacher, the IBDP education is significant because it allows the teachers to grow along with their students, and challenges the teachers to continuously update their own knowledge to keep up with the pace of the changing world and new students. An IBDP education is significant for students because they are not expected to simply absorb the different subjects they enrol in. Students are taught how to learn, and they are also given direction and guidance that helps them to develop life skills that will hopefully allow them to become more successful later in their educations.

The IB Programme orientation today was definitely a refresher about what the IB diploma programme was all about, and it brought back a lot of memories of what my own experience with it was like. However, I also learned a lot of different things that I did not know about IB prior to the orientation.

I had previously heard about the MYP programme before, but this was the first I had ever heard about the PYP programme. It was interesting to learn about the different aspects of each, and about how they are designed to cultivate creativity and individuality in students.

Prior to going through the orientation, I had initially only thought of teaching IB as creating another opportunity to find a job, or to teach overseas; however, my perspective has slightly changed. After listening to the different coordinators and IB teachers speak about their experiences with teaching IB and working with the students, it seems like a great opportunity to support students in their curiosity for learning. In my experiences tutoring, it was always rewarding to see my students have that “A-ha” moment when they finally understood a difficult task or were starting to actually become interested in a topic. I really want to be able to experience that on a larger scale, with a class full of students who are engaged and excited to learn more that what is required of them.

I am really excited to start learning about how to become a better teacher. Although it’s definitely going to take a lot of hard work, I will try my best!