Today marks the end of my first ver online IB PD workshop! It was a workshop that consisted of four separate modules, each module running for one week. I thoroughly enjoyed this workshop, particularly how it was structured as well as the learning activities that we were assigned.
The first week focused mostly on introducing the IB DP Economics Course Guide and Syllabus, and getting us as teachers to reflect on the IB Philosphy and the IB Learner Profile.
The second week focused more on the Syllabus content, and making us become more familiar with the four sections of the syllabus through a Jigsaw activity where we were divided into four groups and each group had to summarize the main outcomes of their assigned section for the other groups. There were also lots of other discussions about teaching strategies and tools.
The third week focused on the Assessment: internal as well as external. We had to create a Wiki summarizing the main expectations of external assessment, as well as mark sample papers and compare our marks to the Examiner’s marks. We were also assigned to create an outline for a sample IA commentary and find suitable articles for IAs.
The last week focused mainly on resourcing the IB DP Economics classroom, and explored different resources: textbooks, e-books, Web 2.0 tools, YouTube videos and many more!
I have to admit I enjoy online PD a lot more than face-to-face PD workshops, because I prefer to work at my own pace and I have the self-discipline and self-motivation to stay on top of the workshop assignments and activities. Also, I used this online PD workshop as a chance to look up several other Economics teachers on Twitter and LinkedIn and to connect with them, so I also built a PLN with which I can collaborate in the future!
Mohamed El-Ashiry's Teaching Portfolio 