London Theatre Trip

A trip to the mountains in the first week back at school obviously wasn't enough, because I'm about to leave again. Next up in my Calendar of IB Events is a three day trip to London to see three shows and have a look around. We're going to see

• Hamlet,
• The 39 Steps (last year's school play, now we're seeing a pro production of it),
• and One Man, Two Guvnors.

Should be a really good trip, in part because we have one of the school's most awesome teachers leading it. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), my English teacher is also going, so I'm sure there'll be a conversation or two about what imagery I saw in a particular play and what choices the director made that really emphasized a certain plot point or character trait.

The students on the trip are from grades eleven and twelve (because we're the only lucky ones who the trip was open to), and there's a blend of IB and AP students, which is nice, since the two groups don't otherwise get to mingle that much.

The only downside to this trip is that there appears to be no wifi at the hotel we're booked into, so I won't be posting until Monday, at least. But once I'm back, expect a nice long entry about the trip, with lots of photos.

I have to be up at a horrendous hour tomorrow morning, so it's well time I got some sleep.

TOK Links

I'll be updating this post as I find more links, but for now, here are some good ones.

Lancaster School Theory of Knowledge - One of my favourites, contains a lot of excellent resources and discussions. It also has advice and tips for the essay and presentation, plus separate tabs for various Ways of Knowing and Areas of Knowledge.

Theory of Knowledge - Another really good TOK blog, similar to Lancaster's, again lots of interesting material to provoke discussion.

IB TOK Tutor - Excellent if you need help on any TOK assessment, as well as your Extended Essay. They'll proofread and give feedback on essays and presentation scripts, as well as doing Skype consultations, each for a reasonable fee.

Theory of Knowledge (2) - Quality blog with posts on relevant issues of today, such as homeopathy, global warming, Creationism vs evolution, etc. Only one post per page on this blog.

Richard Lagemaat's Twitter - Author of the Cambridge University Press Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma, Lagemaat tweets some interesting links to new issues.

How do we know we exist?

To start off my first real week back at school, I had my first TOK lesson of the year, where my teacher told us that technically, we're just waves floating around in space, since we're all made of atoms containing electrons, which are teeny tiny waves. TOK is one of those subjects where I have a love/hate relationship. Advice to students just beginning the IB, or thinking about doing it next year: if you go into a TOK class with a narrow mind, you're going to have a bad time. Take TOK as an opportunity to explore the way you see and think about the world - it benefits you in so many ways.

Last year, in our first major class discussion, we somehow began trying to disprove our own existence. I can't remember what the guiding question was, but by the time we walked out of the room, many of us felt very unsure as to whether or not what we were seeing was real. Another example that gets used a lot is the colours red and green. How do we know that we believe to be green is actually green, when others may see it the way we see red, and vice versa. TOK makes you question everything, doubt every piece of information you're given, which makes you a better critical thinker, which the IB just loves. Also, this way of thinking is brilliant when you're researching for your Extended Essay, because you unconsciously read information with a more wary eye.

Although a lot of people tend to write TOK off as a subject where you can wing everything, pay close attention. Take good notes. Try to use the TOK style of thinking in everyday life. When you come to do your TOK presentation and essay, you'll find it a hundred times easier if you have a really good grasp of the concepts and thinking behind the material.

Most of all, have fun in TOK. It's a class where you can joke around more than usual, and go off on tangents that you don't get to discuss in other subjects.

First week back

It's Sunday night after our first week back at school...first week in the last year of the IB.

In that whole week, I've actually only spent one day at school. The school year started on a Tuesday, so I was there for that. Then Wednesday I was helping out at an IB Introduction Day for the junior class, which not only gave me an opportunity to give advice to them, but made me reflect on my first year as an IB student - what I did well, what I would do differently if I could do it again. And from Wednesday night to Saturday night, I've been in Wengen on the Environmental Science/Biology/Geography field trip.

Already, the IB senior class has been slammed with our deadlines for this semester, reminders about CAS, Extended Essay, TOK Essay and IAs, homework assignments, and most of us haven't even been there more than two days.

Tomorrow, we get up early, and the hard work continues. 248 days until the first exam.

Welcome!

I created this blog to share my experiences of the IB with anyone who's interested. Throughout the next year, I'll be posting about my life at school, tips for surviving the IB, helpful hints for general schoolwork, and the occasional personal anecdote.

Feel free to get in touch with me at any time, I'm more than happy to answer any questions from anyone, and I'm always open to feedback.

Let's have some fun.