I was talking recently to a Head of English who was scratching his head having received a huge spreadsheet of data on this year’s IB results from his school, including graphs showing results from the last 5 years, predicted versus awarded grades, component breakdowns, grades by class and by teacher, gender comparisons, and much, much more. The stated and well-intentioned aim of all this data is that it is to help him and his department analyse these results and see what they can change and implement in tems of their future teaching of the IB courses.

This HL Written Assignment is a response to Yukio Mishima's dark and disturbing novel, The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea. It is a great text for this part of the course as it is short and accessible while also having a richness and complexity that prompts varied and original responses from students. This sample essay is one such response: while its overall argument doesn't always convince, there is no doubt the student is engaged with the novel at a deep level, and is seeking to convey an ambitious, rigorous and original exploration.

This poem was set for the May 2015 exam. The candidate's response below is of a generally good quality, although there are a number of things your students might find the means to critique. One of these, perhaps, is the issue of lengthy, slightly meandering paragraphs; structure in any essay presents a challenge, and you could perhaps ask your students to 'provide feedback' to this student: how might s/he have constructed more paragraphs, perhaps, around more clearly defined topics?

This sample essay is an excellent example of a student engaging in extensive and high-level research (as will be evident from a quick look at the works cited), and integrating this research skillully into an engaged, mature and personal response to the above topic. The essay began life as a comparison between Antony and Cleopatra and Romeo and Juliet, but once the student started delving deeper into the many books, essays and articles written about Shakespere it became clear that she would be spreading her ideas too thin if trying to deal with two plays. Furthermore, she discovered that the ideas she was most interested - as captured in the title - were more fully formed and more interesting in Antony and Cleopatra, the later work. Romeo and Juliet is referenced briefly, along with several other plays, and the essay works very well as an in-depth exploration of one text. As such, this essay not only demonstrates how far students can go with research, but also how less can be more and how rigorous, thoughtful research can help a student adapt and refine the focus of their essay.

The Language A: literature course is one of 3 types of courses that students can study in Group 1 of the IB Diploma Program. This group is defined by courses that develop the students’ ability in their mother tongue. The 3 available courses are: a. Language A: literature b. Language A: language and literature c. Literature and performance (Standard Level only) Our course, Language A: literature...

'Lower' and 'Higher Order' Thinking Skills In order to encourage awareness of the differences between so called ‘lower’ and ‘higher’ order thinking skills, try to highlight some of the following simple principles with your students. 1. The difference between Fact and Opinion: talk for one minute with a partner about a movie you saw recently. Listen carefully...

Coming to the IB programme for the first time can be something of a daunting experience, and it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the volume of information with which you are initially presented. Many teachers have reported that it is not until you have taught the two year programme at least once that things properly 'click'. And it is also true to say that one of the wonderful things about...