IBARMS

As we kick off the new year, we are excited to share the latest updates, insights, and opportunities within our organization. February brings with it a fresh outlook, and we’re thrilled to continue working together as we make meaningful strides in our goals. In this issue, you’ll find highlights from recent events, upcoming roundtables, and valuable resources to help support your continued growth and success.

We hope you find this edition informative and engaging. As always, we encourage you to reach out with any feedback or suggestions—we value your involvement and look forward to collaborating in the months ahead. Thank you for being a part of our IBARMS community! We look forward to seeing you at our next quarterly meeting on Friday, February 7!

Warm regards,

IBARMS Board

Please plan to join us for our last two IBARMS meetings of the 2024-2025 school year; one will be in-person, the other will be a virtual meeting.

• Friday, February 7 - Adams 12 Conference Center, 1500 East 128th Avenue, Thornton
• "Education By Design: Co-Creating High-Quality Education"
• What does it take to redefine the future of learning? In "Education by Design: Co-Creating High-Quality Education," we explore the transformative power of collaboration in shaping educational experiences that truly resonate with students, educators, and communities alike. In this engaging session, Phil Evans will share innovative strategies and practical frameworks for fostering a culture of co-creation in education. Discover how to empower stakeholders—from teachers and administrators to students and parents. With a focus on inclusivity and creativity, this address will challenge traditional paradigms and inspire you to imagine a more dynamic, responsive educational landscape. Together, let's build a brighter future—by design!
  
  Phil Evans is a Senior Schoolwide IB Strategist at the International Baccalaureate (IB), a global non-profit organization. As a career educator, he first started teaching in Australia and moved to the United States in 2008 to teach and lead in IB schools in both the public and private sectors in Virginia and around Washington D.C. Phil joined the IB in 2016 and now develops and leads the Schoolwide IB Strategy to advance the pioneering work of IB schools who have been opening access to the DP and CP for all students in comprehensive high schools across the United States and Canada.
  
  In his creative role at the IB, he learns alongside schools to design and scale new services, resources, and the support schools need to do this work. Phil's greatest hope is "to be proactive in bringing the community together to learn from each other, and for the IB to have a greater impact for more students in schools by addressing inequity and including
  all students because everyone should have access to high-quality education, and it is through our collaborative innovation and transformative work, that is made possible."

• For more information and to register for the upcoming meeting, click here.

• Friday, April 4 - 9:00-11:00 - Virtual meeting - More information to come.

It's not too late to join IBARMS for the 2024-2025 school year! Membership gives you access to the entire IBARMS network of support, that includes IB coordinators and administrators in public and independent schools in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Utah! Click here to join today!

• PYP Language Acquisition
• February 19: 10:00-2:00 - International School of Denver, 7701 East 1st Place, Unit C, Denver, 80230

• Do you have an excellent additional language teacher at your school? Is your school interested in offering additional language instruction or acquiring additional language curriculum? Does your school feel a need to enhance or improve its additional language instruction? Does your school struggle to fund or retain an additional language teacher?

  This roundtable is designed to support PYP additional language teachers and PYP IB Coordinators with relevant professional collaboration. PYP additional language teachers can find themselves on teams of single subject teachers, but without elementary district-wide departments like their art, music and physical education teaching counterparts, so IBARMS would like to offer this chance to collaborate.

  IBARMS schools offer instruction in a variety of additional languages, in a variety of formats, and through a variety of schedules so the roundtable will be structured with differentiated opportunities. Additional language teachers can share the richness of their experiences, uplifting and supporting one another in their practice. The Round-table will be facilitated by Robert Roy, PYP Coordinator, Alpine Elementary

• Please direct any questions about the content of this roundtable to Esther Croak: ecroak@psdschools.org.

• To register for this event, click here.

• DP Language & Literature Roundtable (with focus on schoolwide adoption):
• February 20: 9:00-2:00 - Northfield High School, 5500 Central Park Blvd, Denver, 80238
• This roundtable is for Language & Literature teachers, as well as coordinators/admin working on the schoolwide adoption process. This roundtable will focus on schoolwide adoption of Language and Literature (i.e. "IB For All) with an eye to vertical alignment and the challenges and benefits of such an approach. Time will also be provided to look at Language and Literature assessments and share best practices for supporting students on these assessments, so even teachers at schools not currently pursuing schoolwide adoption can benefit. This roundtable will be facilitated by Calarri Cox, Stephanie Cohen, and Julia Catalini.
• Please direct any questions about this event to Peter Wright: peter_wright@dpsk12.net.
• To register for this event, click here.

• MYP Approaches to Teaching & Learning with a Focus On: Inquiry, Global Concepts, Conceptual Understandings
• February 26: 9:00-2:00 - Douglas County Legacy Campus, 10035 S. Peoria Street, Lone Tree, 80134

• Join us for an engaging roundtable designed to support IB MYP teachers and coordinators in implementing Approaches to Teaching and Learning. Together, we’ll explore key elements of Inquiry, Global Contexts, and Conceptual Understanding. The conversation will focus on practical strategies for integrating these principles into your classroom.

  The discussion will also focus on overcoming barriers to supporting the Approaches to Learning (ATL), addressing challenges, and sharing best practices.

  Lunch will be provided, creating a relaxed and collaborative atmosphere to connect with peers. Whether you’re new to the MYP framework or looking for fresh insights, this event offers the tools and peer support needed to enhance your teaching and learning practices. This roundtable will be facilitated by Erin Gilbert and Rita YoKell, Mesa Middle School and Mathew Webster, Douglas County High School.

• Please direct any questions you have regarding this event to Erin Gilbert: elgilbert@dcsdk12.org.

• To register for this event, click here.

On January 22, IBARMS hosted Steve Bollar, aka Stand Tall Steve, for a 1-day special workshop. Steve is an educational leader and master motivator. He was engaging, funny, and energetic, and those in attendance left excited to take new ideas back to their buildings around improving culture and climate. If you weren't able to attend, but want to learn more about his message, check out his website!

IBARMS hosted an MYP Unit Planning roundtable at Harrison High School on January 16. The pictures below capture some of the fantastic professional development that took place that day!

Join us in beautiful Keystone, Colorado in June 2025 for official IB training! We will have session offerings for PYP, MYP, DP, CP, IB Leadership, and IB Education. Click here to see the workshops that will be offered this summer!

Rocky Mountain PYP Coordinators,

What’s important to know now? As far as program developments are concerned, there are four new publications available, all of which are designed to support the school's implementation of the new transdisciplinary theme descriptors. As a reminder, the timeline expectation for implementation is by 2027. A transdisciplinary programme of inquiry, PYP Transdisciplinary theme descriptors FAQ, TSM Transdisciplinary themes: Analyzing the new descriptors and including student voice, and TSM Transitioning to the new transdisciplinary theme descriptors, are the four new publications. Always refer to the Program Resource Center for updated, dynamic information, and use these links to static shared pdfs for immediate access without navigation.

The next association meeting will once again provide time for professional learning, collaboration and support. The topic we will explore is supporting collective and individual student agency in today’s classroom environment. In conversations I have with IB elementary educators, student behavior and classroom management seem to be impacting teacher’s feelings of efficacy in regards to providing opportunities for agentic learning. Our breakout session will explore how we can bridge the gap between how our shared IB philosophy describes agentic learners, and the dimensions and constraints faced by the teaching teams planning the learning.

If you missed the December meeting, please find the notes here.

PYP IBARMS learning opportunities that you can share with staff include an upcoming PYP Second Language roundtable for which registration is now available. IBARMS is delighted that Bob Roy, IB Coordinator and Spanish Language teacher from Alpine Elementary will facilitate on February 19th from 10am-2pm at the International School of Denver campus. Coordinators and second language teachers will explore how to find and retain second language teachers, develop outcomes for second language learning, and evaluate curriculum and delivery models for second language learning.

IBARMS Keystone Summer Conference registration is also available now. Spending time focused on PYP learning amidst the pines in the subalpine region of Keystone has typically served IBARMS member schools well. This year’s PYP workshops are: Building your IB program, Developing your learning community, Evidencing learning, Leading the Learning, Learning and teaching for conceptual understanding, Local and global inquirers, Making space for learning, Planning for programme evaluation, The role of the coordinator, and The role of mathematics. In addition, the following continuum workshops are being offered for those interested in learning alongside MYP, DP and CP educators: Agency, action and engagement, Building teacher competencies, Multilingualism: philosophy, policy and practice, Principles of equitable and inclusive education, and Social and emotional learning. Find all of the workshop course descriptions in the IBO’s Workshop and Services Catalog.

Please do not hesitate to reach out with any ideas or questions.

ecroak@psdschools.org

Kindly,
Esther

Dear IBARMS MYP Coordinators,

We wanted to express our sincere gratitude to all of you who have participated in or sent teachers to our recent IBARMS professional development events! The turnout for the Colorado Springs IB Unit Writing Roundtable was fantastic – the largest we've seen in years. We were also thrilled by the strong MYP representation at the Stand Tall Steve special seminar.

If you haven't already, please check out the details for our upcoming MYP Approaches to Teaching and Learning Roundtable on February 26th in Douglas County. We're excited about the growing momentum within our regional IB community!

Our next IBARMS Association Meeting is scheduled for February 7th at the Adams 12 Conference Center. Don't forget to register if you haven't already! If you missed the December meeting, you can find the notes here.

Several schools are currently participating in the beta trial of Enhancing the MYP. Erin and Rachel from Alameda International have kindly prepared an informational resource for those interested in learning more. If your school is planning to participate, we've created a group for IBARMS MYP coordinators to share their experiences. If you'd like to join this group, please fill out this form.

Registration is now open for the IBARMS Summer Workshops at Keystone! These workshops will be held in beautiful Keystone, Colorado, from June 22nd to 25th. IBARMS is committed to providing high-quality instruction, and we're confident you'll find the workshop leaders engaging and insightful.

Please review the registration information for details on MYP, Leadership, and IB Education workshops, as well as lodging and conference logistics. Don't miss out on the early registration discount! Enjoying the cooler temperatures of Keystone in the summer is a definite highlight.

You can find all workshop course descriptions in the IBO's Workshop and Services Catalog.

Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or ideas.

Alex (Armstrong_Alex@svvsd.org) and Emily (emily.heinrich@asd20.org)

Hello, CP and DP coordinators! Welcome to 2025!

It was great to see so many of you at the Stand Tall Steve Seminar. During our breakout, I'll share some of the resources we received there and an overview of the day. If you ever get a chance to see him speak, I highly recommend it.

Exam supervision update: click here to read IB's new guidelines for exam supervision for May 2025. It's a slight change from what was published in the fall. We'll discuss the implications of this and how schools are managing at our February 6 breakout.

Phil Evans will also be at our general IBARMS meeting and in our breakout to talk about the IB Schoolwide Adoption Project, among other topics.

New guides coming any day now! Psychology, Extended Essay, Visual Arts, Design Technology, Computer Science, and the ENTIRE CP core. Check the PRC to learn more.

IA season is almost upon us...IBIS is open for submissions! Let me know if you need any help with IBIS, predicted grades, uploads, etc.

As always, please reach out if you need anything at all!

See you on the 7th,

Melissa

melissa.knight@asd20.org

Executive Director: Jan Lotter

President: Holly Davis

President Elect: Paul Schkade

PYP Level Rep: Esther Croak

MYP Level Reps: Alex Armstrong and Emily Heinrich

DP/CP Level Rep: Melissa Knight

Member at Large: Elzbieta Towlen

Engagement and Outreach: Hope Forgey

Secretary: Sharon Muench

Treasurer: Elzbieta Towlen

Bookkeeper, Registrar, and Assistant to Executive Board: Veena Kumar

Senior IB World School Manager: Kelsey Day