Since we joined the Foreign Service, we have been lucky to be part of the IB (International Baccalaureate) school system -- our public schools in Falls Church are IB, Luanda International School was IB, and the International School of Latvia is IB. The teaching methods and curricula subjects are standardized across IB schools, and this has given us some much-needed continuity as we transition through our several domestic-to-foreign -to-domestic-to foreign assignments.
One of our favorite things about the IB-school approach is the fifth-year, end-of-year exhibition. The kids pick a subject with some topical guidance from their teacher, and then dig in and do all of their own research in preparing a presentation for their class and then a presentation to the school community including parents and their fellow students. We saw how much Thomas rose to this challenge with the subject of renewable energy in Angola, and we were excited for Savvy to go through the process. IB places a strong emphasis on having the kids do all of their own work with minimal parental and outside involvement, and it's fun to watch the kids dig in and do the entire thing from start to finish. To warm up to the exhibition and the research process required, the students did an animal project that they did on their own. Savvy picked for her project the Bottle Nosed Dolphin and, over a couple of months, became an expert on the subject. With just a little help from mom and dad, she researched and cited a paper, prepared an exhibit, and presented to her class and parents that came to see the presentation.
They also had to present a physical representation of their animal and it had to be made out of recycled things and have a movable part. Savannah was so excited about the hanger she used for the tail that moved up and down as well as the little fins.
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| Savvy with her good foreign service friends Abbey and Alanis and their presentations. A month later, Savvy started her exhibition project which was "Animal Protection," particularly the animals in Falls Church. She became really passionate during that time about having us drive more slowly in areas where we knew squirrels would be running around, as well as fox and deer. She did a great job and enjoyed the project and learning except that she was assigned to do it with two other boys that didn't pull their weight. Ahh, I well remember the joy of group projects in school!     |
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