Theory of the firm (ToF) is hard. Well, it can be. (Hey, I just noticed ToF=tough. That can’t be a coincidence). The first year I taught IB Economics, my students really struggled with the diagrams and all of the memorization in this part of the course. But if there’s something I love it’s taking something [...]

“Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts” (Anonymous). This holiday I read two new books that have really challenged my thinking about how to equip children and teenagers for success. They are: Teach Your Children Well (by Madeline Levine, 2012) and How Children Succeed (by Paul Tough, 2012). [...]

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. -Dr. Seuss   Differentiation (diff-er-EN-she-AISH-en) is something every student should understand. It’s a powerful concept. In short it is about treating students differently. As Rebecca Alberg explains, “Equal education is not all students getting [...]

Here are my top tips for getting to top marks on your Theory of Knowledge essay.  All ToK essays are cross-disciplinary; they are never just about one way of knowing (perception, language, reason, emotion) or one areas of knowledge (mathematics, natural sciences, human sciences, history, ethics, the arts). In general you’ll want to include at [...]

Essentials You can download the new economics course guide here: 2013 Guide. And for those still on the old guide that one is here 2003 Guide. The IB Course Companion is written specifically for this course. It is very readable and easy to understand. The Economics for the IB Diploma book is also very good. It’s perhaps [...]

The following structure is a foolproof, step-by-step method you can use on any ToK essay to get very high marks. It really works. Before you can begin your real/final essay, you’ll need to take the title (something like: “What is it about mathematics that makes it convincing?” and come up with a KI that turns [...]

As you do your IB Community, Action and Service activities you’ll need to reflect on your learning. This serves as evidence of all that you have accomplished, but it also helps you to make sure you are learning as much as you can out of each activity. Writing is like that. William Faulkner said, “I never [...]

I have found that the biggest challenge my students are having, in terms of scoring the top marks in the Business IA, is related to their use of analytical tools. In general, you have a Research Question and you’re trying to arrive at your answer. A very common mistake is that students do a lot [...]

This is your lucky day. You are finally going to find out the secret time-management weapon which has only been known to a few wildly successful students. Until now. (WARNING: Do not read this unless you are prepared for incredible academic success! However, if ready to have your life completely changed, read on.) I have [...]

Sometimes (normally in 8-mark questions) you will be asked to evaluate. This is about going beyond the insights you have made from doing your analysis (your Dr Tests). But let’s make sure you are clear on the difference between analysis and evaluation. By analyzing in Business we mean giving your Defi­ni­tions, Expla­na­tions, Exam­ples and Development [...]