Junior IB Class

Every day for an hour and a half I have the pleasure of spending time with 11 gifted juniors. They are taking the first year of the IB* higher level math course, which covers Precalculus in the fall and Calc I in the spring. This is my second year teaching this course and I love it. Of course I love that my students are capable of doing advanced math problems and of asking questions that often teach me something new. But the main reason I enjoy this class is because we spend so much time together that we get to know each other very well. After three weeks of school I know next to nothing about the students in my other classes, but we are already sharing stories and joking together.

I also give these students a lot of credit for how they are handling the difficulty level of this class. Most of them are used to putting in minimal effort and getting A's on tests whereas now they could easily end up with a B even after studying. We have one question quizzes every day that could be on any topic that they have ever covered in math. We have a unit test almost every week. For part of every test I take away their calculators. Yet they still have a positive attitude and most seem to be thriving. I guess they must really love math!

* The International Baccalaureate program is a worldwide diploma program in which students take advanced courses in all of their subject areas. The emphasis is on applying and synthesizing knowledge. Based on their aptitutde, students pick which subjects they can master at a higher level (at our school most students go standard level in math - the higher level test is tough).