Triple A Learning IB Blogs

The blogging team for the Diploma Programme is a high quality group of experienced IB DP teachers and examiners. They include:

Biology: Stephen – Stephen has been teaching IB biology since 1997 and an examiner for the HL paper 2 since 1999. He has worked in England, Singapore (UWCSEA) and Austria (VIS) and is currently teaching the diploma in Toronto, Canada (Branksome Hall) where he is biology co-ordinator.  Stephen is a diploma workshop leader and currently completing his Masters in Education in the UK.

Business and Management: Paul Clark – Paul has been involved with Business and Management since 1985 when he worked at UWC in Singapore and the subject was still called Organisation Studies. He has been a teacher of B&M, Economics, TOK, Psychology and Geography and has been a Director of IB in the UK. He has examined for the IB since 1991, becoming Chief Examiner in 1995, and is still principal examiner for the HL internal assessment. He co-authored the IB Business and Management Companion textbook for OUP. He joined Triple A Learning in September 2009 as Development Director (DP)  and  workshop mentor. He lives in Dorset, UK.

CAS: Steve Money -  Steve leads an educational consultancy called ‘the currency of ideas’. He facilitates on-line workshops and he’s co-authoring two new IBO CAS publications. He believes that sharing and exchanging current ideas is a path to best practice, and he invites you to join the ‘CAS Conversations’ on the triplealearning platform. Steve’s work in international education spans over 25 years – firstly at Jakarta International School (JIS) for 23 years, and then at Sinarmas World Academy (SWA). He was twice chosen by the IBO to serve as the Asia Pacific teacher representative on curriculum review committees, one for the revision of Language B (English), and the other for the most recent CAS Guide. He assisted in the design and creation of Teacher Support Materials for both programs and he’s a senior examiner for English B and IELTS. Steve has led workshops in the Asia Pacific region for the IBO, the Australian Council of Educational Leaders (ACEL), and the East Asia Regional Council for Overseas Schools (EARCOS).

Chemistry: Dave is currently working in sunny England as a Chemistry teacher. Previously, he worked at the United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA) in Singapore from August 2000 – July 2008. There, he taught HL & SL Chemistry, STS SL (school based syllabus) and TOK. Other responsibilities included Head of Year and Assistant Houseparent. His IB work entails being an examiner for SL or HL Chemistry Paper 2 or 3 and a moderator for the internal assessment.

Design Technology: Alan Perkins is currently the Assistant Principal and IB Diploma Coordinator at ACS Egham International School, Surrey, England. He has been at the school for 5 years also fulfilling the role of Head of Technology – teaching IB Diploma Design Technology, MYP Technology and Information Technology in a Global Society. He has also worked in International Schools in Egypt and Mexico. His IB work involves being an IB Authorisation/ Evaluation visitor for the MYP IB Program and an Examiner for the ITGS Diploma course for both the Internal Assessment and Paper 3 component. Alan has finished a Masters in the use of Technology to enhance learning focusing on the use of online tools and blended learning techniques and has recently co-developed the IB Diploma / Pamoja online ITGS course and has also taught online. His enthusiasm for Technology to enhance learning includes new developments in facilitating the introduction of a 1-to-1 iPAD program and is looking forward to the introduction of 3D printer technology within the Design Technology department at his current school.

Economics: Peter Anthony- Peter hails from Australia, but has spent the last 20 years living and working in Asia. He was Academic Director at Taylor’s College (Advanced Education) in Malaysia and Head of Social Science at Ruamrudee International School Thailand. He also taught in Shanghai American School and is currently employed at Canadian Academy, Kobe Japan. He is a strong advocate of utilizing technology in the classroom. He has a long-standing interest in Asian history and culture.  In 2004 he was awarded a PhD in International Relations from the University of New England.

English: Linda Olson – Linda holds a US passport, but grew up in East Africa and holds it in her heart as her ‘emotional home’. She has grown to be spoiled by living in Hong Kong with amazing  infrastructure and constant contrasts.  She enjoyed returning to the classroom as a student at the University of Hong Kong and completed a Masters in Comparative Literature there in 2007. She has taught (IB) English courses on and off since the mid-80s, working in Tanzania, Turkey and El Salvador. She now works at Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong, where she has been since 1993. Here, she has taught IB DP English A1, A2, and B as well as a World Literature class (in support of A1 Self-Taught students). She has been teaching ToK since August 2009. In addition to this, she is the Head of House for a residence of 64 students and six staff.  She co-leads an environmental service which monitors the health of corals and other life in a local marine park and is a Faculty Consultative Committee representative.

Environmental Systems and Societies:  Nigel Gardner

Film: Stan Hyde – Stan has been involved with the I.B. Film program since it’s development stage and through the piloting of the program.  He teaches I.B. Film and Theatre at Sir Winston Churchill School in Vancouver, and is Deputy Chief Examiner for I.B. Film.  He has conducted workshops for both Film and Theatre, and is also an examiner for I.B. Film.  When he gets a chance to relax, he may be found reading magazines about films, building and painting model figures that are inspired by films, and yes, often watching films as well.

Geography: Trevor Cole – Trevor has a BSc Hons in Geography and Environmental Science and has been teaching IB Geography since 1988 and an IB examiner since 1990. He has worked in SE Asia, West Africa, Italy and is currently the Head of Upper School and IB co-ordinator in Sandford International School in Ethiopia.  He has led workshops in all IB regions over the last 10 years and is currently the Deputy Chief Examiner.  He is a team leader for the current paper 2, marks extended essays and is the principal moderator for Internal Assessment.  He has also been involved in the curriculum review process for the new program.

History: Alexis Mamaux - Alexis teachers History HL and SL at the United World College of the American West in Montezuma, New Mexico.  In addition, she is a workshop leader, online course mentor and IB examiner.

ITGS: Barbara Stefanics – Barbara has been involved with ITGS since 1989 when the proposal for ITGS was first drafted. She has been active in ITGS through teaching ITGS, ITGS curriculum development, OCC faculty mentor, online trainer for examiners, Principle Examiner (Extended Essays, Projects and Paper 2) and currently Chief Examiner. She has conducted ITGS workshops since 1998 both face-to-face and online. She also initiated the development of the online resource, ITGSopedia, to support students and teachers.

Mathematics:

Mark Bethune – Mark is currently the Head of Mathematics at a new IB World School in Jakarta, Indonesia. Mark and his family arrived in Indonesia after having completed 15 years at three international schools in Bahrain, Munich and Hanoi. He is currently a Deputy Chief Examiner for Math SL, Deputy Principle Moderator for IA, and workshop leader. Mark has worked with the IB since 1995 and presently enjoys looking for ways to enhance learning through the use of Web 2.0 technologies.

Gabriel Solari started teaching Mathematics in 1988 and his first contact with the MYP was in 1998 when he started working in St Xavier’s College in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Gabriel claims to have immediately fallen in love with the MYP philosophy; he claims there were many reasons but mainly “… to show that Mathematics is alive and connected with real life.”

In 2000 his school started with the IB Diploma and this gave him the opportunity to teach in both programmes. In 2004 he was appointed as coordinator of his school’s international programmes: the MYP, the IB Diploma and IGCSE. During the last decade Gabriel has led workshops in Latin America and in Spain, and in the OCC as the Spanish-speaking faculty member for Mathematics.

Gabriel lives in Buenos Aires with his wife and three children.

Music:

Matthew J. Gonzales – Matthew  is currently the Assistant Principal and MYP Coordinator at City High Middle School in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  He is also a guest instructor at Oakland University (Michigan, USA) where he co-teaches an Action Research course in the IB Teacher Award Program. Matthew is  a workshop leader, site visitor, consultant, and Deputy Chief Examiner for Music and leads DP Music workshops in the Americas and the Asia-Pacific regions.  His consulting duties focus on assisting DP candidate schools.  His  marking responsibilities include Extended Essays, Listening Papers, Musical Investigations, Solo Performance moderation, and Composition moderation.  Matthew is currentlyworking on his dissertation at Oakland University.

Dr. Sergio Espinosa is probably the only case in the IB Examining Board who has held twice the position of Chief Examiner in the same subject (2001-2006 and 2008-2009).  In addition to this position, Dr. Espinosa has been Principal Examiner for the Music Listening Paper since 2001 and Principal Examiner of the Musical Links Investigation since 2011. Dr. Espinosa has led more than 30 Teacher Training workshops in English and French in different cities such as New York, Vancouver, Hong-Kong, Winnipeg, Los Angeles, Denver, Houston, Portland, Pittsburg, Calgary, Montezuma, etc. In addition, he has also led online IBCA Examiner Training Workshops for the Listening Paper and the Musical Links Investigation and Online Teacher Training (IB Prescribed Works) for Triple A Learning.

During his formation years Dr. Espinosa studied in Mexico, Switzerland and the United States. He also played in professional orchestras in Mexico, USA, France, Spain and Portugal and a six-week stay performing and conducting in Italy. During these years he was exposed to different approaches of teaching and performing music in diverse countries gaining sensitivity to this aspect of music making. Dr. Espinosa is currently associate professor at the University of Texas Arlington (strings music education). He also directs and conducts the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Irving.

Dr. Espinosa lives in the Dallas, Texas area with his family. His wife Maria (a former IB examiner) is a music educator (Orff specialist). His two daughters sing in a choir and play violin since early age. However, on Saturdays Dr. Espinosa forgets about music to play soccer. He promises to keep playing soccer for as long as he can move…

Philosophy: Dr Jean-Marc Pascal – Jean-Marc is Master of Philosophy at Sherborne School (Dorset) where he has been teaching the subject for over 20 years. He was associated with A level Philosophy from its very inception and worked for various examining boards, as an Assistant Examiner and Senior Examiner. He is now preparing students for both the IB Philosophy examination and the TOK component of the IB Diploma. His original interests in ethics and political philosophy have been given a new impetus by the teaching of IB topics associated with the impact of globalization on political institutions and cultural practices. Jean-Marc studied at the Sorbonne and the State University of New York before receiving his PhD at University College London. He is an IB Philosophy examiner.

Physics: Andy Cockburn and Stefan Merchant

Andy graduated from the University of Glasgow and after 2 years teaching in Scotland decide to apply for an exotic overseas post.  This took him to Kenya for 2 years, followed by 2 years in Grimsby, England. Andy has taught Physics at the United World College of South East Asia in Singapore since 1990.  He was previously Head of Physics and is currently Head of Science.  Andy is also an assistant examiner and moderates coursework for the IB.  For the past 5 years Andy has been a workshop leader running Physics workshops in the Asia Pacific region for IB.

Stefan completed an Honours Physics at the University of British Columbia in beautiful Vancouver, Canada and then was fortunate enough to get a job at TRIUMF, the world’s largest cyclotron.  After two years, he yearned for a job with more social interaction than scientific research so he went back to school and got his teaching degree.  He taught for seven years in the public system in Vancouver and then took a year off to go traveling.  Not ready to go back home just yet, Stefan took a job at UWCSEA in Singapore.  He is currently the Head of Physics at UWCSEA and is also an assistant examiner for Physics and TOK.

Social and Cultural Anthropology: Laura Fulton – Laura has a passion for international education. She has taught a variety of subject areas with children, youth and adults in a range of settings. She is a trained teacher and holds a Masters degree in education. She has also acted as a school administrator and has ben a leader in residential education. During the past ten years, Laura has taught IB Social and Cultural Anthropology at Lester B. Pearson United World College on Vancouver Island, Canada. She has been involved with the IB in a number of ways including acting as Deputy Chief Examiner for Anthropology. She takes pleasure in many aspects of teaching, including working with youth, developing curriculum, and collaborating with colleagues.

Theatre: Fenella Kelly – Fenella has been teaching Drama for eighteen years to students and adults. She is also a dancer, director and actress that has performed all over the world in several languages. She has set up Drama programmes in schools across the globe and also taught IB Theatre and IGCSE Drama. She is an IB Theatre examiner and teacher trainer. During her career she has taught full-time in Portugal, Turkey, Brazil, Greece and Egypt. Her work with ISTA has taken her to numerous other parts of the world to teach. Recently she returned from India where she was learning Kathakali dance theatre and Chenda drumming, intensively. Currently Fenella is head of theatre at St. Julian’s school in Portugal. She has a B.Ed hons with Drama from Homerton college, Cambridge and an MA in Drama and Theatre in Education from Warwick University.

TOK: Chris White – Chris is the IB DP Coordinator at The Friends’s School, Tasmania having previously worked in a number of national and international schools, including United World College of South East Asia. He also work in Cardiff for the IB at the Curriculum and Assessment Centre as a senior manager in the Professional Development Department. He teaches the Diploma in Philosophy, TOK and History. He is an senior examiner and examines in TOK, Philosophy (Paper 1 and 3) and Extended Essay. He is also an experienced  Workshop Leader having led workshops and INSET across Australia and Asia. He currently is a member of the Standing Committee for the Australasian Association of IB Schools.

TOK meets global citizenship: Eileen Dombrowski  – Eileen started teaching TOK in 1988, and has been hooked ever since. She has also been a TOK examiner for nearly 20 years, including a term as Deputy Chief. On leaving the classroom in 2006, she co-authored the TOK course companion for OUP and shifted attention to developing and mentoring online courses in TOK for the IB and Triple A Learning.  Her companion interest to TOK has long been active citizenship, developed through CAS activities and living residentially for nearly 30 years with international students of the United World Colleges (mainly Pearson College in Canada).  At present she teaches Global Citizenship (Sociology 430) online for the University of British Columbia.  In her blog, she aims to bring together her companion interests through engaging TOK thinking with the world.

Visual Arts: Andrew Vaughan – Andrew started teaching IB DP Art in 1984, at the International School Moshi, Tanzania after which he taught at schools in the Far East (Japan and Taiwan) and Europe (the Netherlands), before returning to the UK after twenty years of teaching overseas. He has been a workshop leader for IBDP visual arts since 2004, and has presented at numerous workshops both in the UK and elsewhere. Andrew became a visiting IB art examiner in 1989 and is currently Deputy Chief Examiner for Visual Arts; he is also Head of the Visual Arts Department in an IB World School in the UK.

Web 2.0 in the IB Classroom: Barbara Stefanics – In addition to ITGS, Barbara’s main focus, is the integration of ICT across all IB programmes and “Web 2.0 in the IB Classroom”. She co-authored the online workshop by the same name and also is the OCC faculty member for this area.  Additionally she has been involved in the Continuum through the development of the IB Learner Profile wiki and is a member of the IB Virtual Community faculty mentors group – two new IB initiatives in using web 2.0. Other projects include integration of ICT technologies with mobile devices in the IB classroom which blends well with ITGS, Web 2.0, 21^st Century Learning, Flatclassroom projects and travel.