The International Baccalaureate program (IB) for students is a very controversial topic. Some students love the curriculum and some students hate it. IB teachers, however, rarely express their opinion on whether they love the program and the curriculum or not.
If an IB class is hard for a student to understand, it can be equally hard for the IB teacher to teach it. The IB teachers at Sequoia know the amount of work it takes to maintain a good grade in any IB class, and especially understand the struggle of maintaining multiple IB classes at once. That being said, teachers also feel that IB is good preparation for juniors and seniors to prepare them for college and real life.
“the IB is very authentic […] The IB program is gearing students up for being critical thinkers in an ever-evolving society and the way the program is set up and structured is focused on innovation and improvement and growing with the world,” IB English Y1/Y2 teacher Justine Rutigilano said.
It’s no secret that IB has many expectations that must be followed for both teachers and students. The quality of work that IB expects from students is very challenging to achieve, and requires students to work harder. This often causes stress, but teachers see this as a good thing as it forces students to think deeper, engage in more class discussions and be involved with the class.
“It’s difficult and I think that difficulty can be interpreted in different ways. It’s a philosophy about what you think school is supposed to be. Of course we all want rigor, we all want students to think more deeply […] The IB itself is something that’s appropriate for the level of rigor that is expected from juniors and seniors,” IB English Y2 teacher Jedd Bloom said.
The IB program over the years has adjusted the course of the IB english department and their assessments over the two years of IB english. Teachers mention how much they appreciate the act of IB making this change and how they feel it’s much more manageable for not only teachers but also for students.
“The last iteration there were eight assessments over the two years [of IB English] now we have four as the eight was too much for students and teachers. We couldn’t do it and so IB listened and adjusted the whole program so now there’s only four assessments over the two years… I think that’s a very manageable expectation,” Rutigliano said.
The IB teachers at Sequoia feel lucky to be a part of the IB community, as they feel like the program gives students a lot of freedom to express themselves in their work that other higher level classes/programs (ex. Advanced Placement (AP) classes) don’t allow.
“[IB] is a good advanced program, it’s got its merits but with AP the answers are much more prescribed so there was a specific right answer, it’s very right or wrong […] the IB is very authentic,” Rutigliano said.
By being a part of the IB program, teachers love seeing their students’ perspective on the reading material taught in their class. Even though it takes focus and time to read through all their students’ work and their papers, they enjoy reading their students’ work.
“I would have never been able to sustain myself for 24 years if I didn’t love [my job as an english teacher]. I love the students, I love your ideas, I love our discussions. Our discussions are important ,” Rutigliano said.
They even enjoy struggling with their students and putting pieces together on the difficult material being taught.
“It is a challenge and it’s humbling that as a grown man who has a degree in English, I also, along with my students, struggle to understand things and I have to give it a second and third read,” Bloom said. “I tell my students that I am right there with them in terms of trying to figure things out but also provide the inspiration and the encouragement that we will figure it out, it just requires a little bit of digging.”
IB teachers even struggle to teach books in their classes.
“Beloved is a hard book to teach, it’s controversial for a lot of reasons, it confuses kids every single year but that’s by far the most difficult work that the kids do over the two years. [It is worth it],but it takes a lot of planning and thinking and trying to keep you guys engaged […] when we’re going over that book together in class I envision all of us holding a rope going through water, we’re all trying to stay together,” Rutigliano said.
The IB program for teachers is something that they enjoy full-heartedly. It gets stressful for them, but they enjoy that they can struggle with their students. It might not be the same struggle for the teachers compared to the students, but the teachers love engaging and teaching the IB curriculum to their students.
“I was given IB to teach […] I have had a really nice experience teaching IB. The curriculum is filled with literature that is thought-provoking and ripe for discussion for students who are going into ‘the real world’ next year […] I’m grateful for the spot I was placed in to be able to engage in meaningful discussions,” Bloom said.