The mission of TIBS is to advocate for access to an IB education for all and provide support to IB World Schools through professional development, curriculum planning, program implementation, and scholarship programs.

Dear TIBS Community,

Welcome to the 2023 Spring eNewsletter.

We are hoping that this 2022-2023 school year has felt a little more normal, though we recognize that certain things in our world and in our schools will never be the "normal" they were prior to the pandemic. What we always know at TIBS is that administrators and teachers press on and go beyond reasonable expectations on behalf of the students. We will focus on some of those good stories in our newsletter.

Thanks so much to those of you who responded to our request for articles. We were impressed with the things you had to share. We are also going to share good stories from our February coordinators meeting and from the return of our in-person college fair.

This edition brings an interesting array of information to your inbox. It is always our hope that sharing accomplishments and good things that have happened will either inspire you or confirm that you, too, are doing good things. Please let us know what other kinds of items you would like to see in this eNewsletter in the future.

We are grateful for your continued support and truly appreciate your inspiring community and classroom work. Don't forget to keep us updated with your stories, photos, and videos! We can't wait to see them this fall.



Best regards, 

Karen Phillips, TIBS Executive Director

Courtney Smith, TIBS Associate Executive Director

• Scholarship Winners
• Grant Winners
• Recently Authorized Schools
• Global Conference
• 2023 College Fair Report
• February Meetings
• Summer Training
• Good Things Happening in our Schools
• Announcements
• Contact Us

TIBS DP Scholarship Winners:

Ivanna (Ivy) Beltran Lopez (Westwood High School)

Michal Epstein (Plano East Senior High School)

Dana Garibaldi Saenz (Lamar Academy)

Maria Guerrero Gallegos (McAllen Memorial High School)

Rhea Kanuparthi (Allen High School)

Jimmy Liang (Allen High School)

.

TIBS Innovative Grant Winners



Timothy Weber (KIPP University Prep): IB Visual Arts Digital Art Requirements

Thomas Schubert (Garland High School): AVID Media Composer Student Certification

Rebecca Miller (Lamar High School): Social Emotional Learning Certification with Breathe for Change

Nadia Elatrash (Brighter Horizons Academy IB World School): PYP Training

Erin El-Tawill & Ernesto Cuevas (IDEA South Flores College Prep): Ceramics in Group 6 Visual Arts Course

Clarissa Lopez & Samuel Lopez (Meridian School): The ‘Midicine’ in Musical Artistry

Annette Flores (KIPP University Prep): Folklorico & Flamenco Dance

Congratulations to our newly authorized schools in Texas! 

We are very proud of all of your hard work. If you are not on this list and have been authorized, please let us know.

• Ezekiel W. Cullen Middle School (MYP)—Houston
• Johnston-McQueen Elementary (PYP)—Longview
• Vernon Middle School (MYP)—Harlingen
• Ware East Texas Montessori (PYP)—Longview

TO BE ANNOUNCED

Education for an inclusive Future

Toronto, July 27-30, 2023

Texas IB Schools will be in attendance at the IB Global Conference in Toronto in July. We hope many of you will be able to attend.

Here is the link to registration information at the conference.

https://ibo.org/ib-global-conference-toronto-2023/registration/

We know that at least two groups from Texas are presenting at the conference. Below is the program description for Longview ISD:

Session title: What do East Texas, disadvantaged students, and prosthetics have in common? Learn how "IB for all" changed a school district.

Co-presenters: James Brewer, Margaret Davis, and Karen Phillips

Description

With three authorized programmes, Longview Independent School District (ISD) observed how an International Baccalaureate® (IB) education changes the lives of individual students. This observation led the District to consider the impact of an IB education for all students. As a result, the District and Board made the courageous decision of IB for all. Located in the Piney Woods of East Texas and serving primarily disadvantaged students, many of whom had never traveled outside Longview, the District was not an obvious choice for this innovation. Nevertheless, the District, led by a visionary Superintendent committed to providing PYP, MYP, DP, and CP on the thirteen campuses. The results reached far beyond Longview. This session will explore not only the journey and the amazing outcomes for economically disadvantaged students, but also how this decision is providing artificial legs, water wells, and education around the world.

And from Huppertz Elementary in San Antonio ISD:

Session title: The Power of a Book Study: How one campus journeyed through concept based inquiry

Co-presenters: Patricia Luna, Brenda Sanchez and Janelli Rodriguez

Description

Concept Based Inquiry in Action written by Rachel French and Carla Marschall provides practical strategies for teachers to use when implementing inquiry in their classrooms. Huppertz Elementary, San Antonio, Texas, US, used this book to conduct a book study with their teachers throughout the school year. Participants will learn how Huppertz Elementary structured their monthly collaborative book study groups, how teachers implemented what they learned from the book study, and how their scholars responded to the strategies. Participants will also hear from teachers about how the book study helped them understand concept based inquiry and suggestions on how they can start a book study at their school. For all teachers to include grade level and specials teachers engaged in this process. 

If you are attending the Global Conference, please check out these sessions. We know they will be excellent.

Coordinator Meeting

February 23, 2023

Texas IB Schools Change a Life

When the February coordinators' meeting convened in Dallas in February, Trevor Bergman from We Help Two was there selling socks. It was a very cold day, and many socks were purchased. In fact, successful sales that day allowed Texas IB Schools to assure Esther's school tuition in Uganda. Esther was a part of the school many years ago but was taken out by her father and forced to work to make money for the family. Because of the generosity of TIBS, she is now able to return to school and pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. Included here is a note from her, as well as a video of her thanking you for your generosity!

Thank you, Trevor, for always reminding us that a group of people working together can change peoples' lives. If you are looking for service projects for your students, Trevor is a great resource.

Here is the link to Esther's video: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qjNcAH0EDsM

SUMMER TRAINING 2023

The Texas IB Schools staff will be busy this summer, as we are offering several trainings.

Here is where and when our trainings will be in the summer of 2023:

DFW Area: June 9-10

McAllen Area: June 12-13

Austin: July 24-26 & 27-29

Houston Area: August 2-3

Longview Area: August 7-8

Registration for the two Austin workshops is on our website. Registration for the area workshops is handled through your IB Coordinator.

Our thanks to Courtney Smith for the wonderful job she does organizing so many trainings each summer.

We hope to see many of you during the summer at one of our trainings.

Lone Star Language Academy Helps

Buckner's Shoes for Orphan Souls

In supporting the unit of inquiry Sharing the Planet, with the central idea of "humans work together to share the world's resources," Lone Star Language Academy's third grade students collected 32 pairs of new shoes and volunteered at Buckner's Shoes for Orphan Souls where they wrote encouraging notes and placed them in each pair of shoes and helped sort and box shoes to be mailed.

Students also learned and shared with others that one pair of shoes for one child puts a child on a path to health (protecting against disease and infection), education (lowering barriers to school attendance), and hope (demonstrating worth).

Submitted by Julie King, PYP Curriculum Coordinator, Lone Star

Academy, (PYP Candidate School)

Collaboration in Action

On a beautiful Saturday morning, students, parents, teachers and staff from Woodlawn Academy in San Antonio gathered to beautify the school’s courtyard. The community wanted to create an outdoor learning space to connect students with the outdoors and enhance their experience and notion of where learning can take place. This space would also serve as a place for serenity and reset during a busy day. 

Everyone got their hands dirty that Beautification Day: students shoveled soil into plant beds; Nurse Senter could be seen putting her green thumb to use by pruning plants; flowerbeds were built by parents and students while our Head of School, Mr. Luis De La Garza, did the heavy mulch lifting. What is a garden without a touch of art? Our art teacher, Mrs. Evie Sperry, led a rock painting station to ensure that the garden was also a place of self expression.     

The collaboration did not end there; with a little encouragement from our instructional coach, Ms. Destinie Uriegas, our 5th-grade teacher Mrs. Diana Proscelle secured a $10,000 Sustainability Project grant from San Antonio Solid Waste Management for Woodlawn Academy. These funds will support the continued design of this outdoor learning space for Woodlawn’s Eagle scholars. 

Furthermore, by attending the Texas A&M AgriLife Youth Gardens Educator Training, our 1st-grade teacher, Ms. Paola De Dominicis, was granted various plants that were used in the garden including tomatoes, kale, yellow squash, fragrant rosemary, parsley and flowering plants for pollination. Her hopes for her students: to cook and prepare simple recipes using harvested vegetables. 

So far, the courtyard has already been put into use, and the school community is loving it! Students are able to observe interactions between plants and animals in real time. They are also given the opportunity to put into practice environmental stewardship which we are all called to carry out.

Beautification Day at Woodlawn Academy Video: https://youtu.be/F7QbJ1JOf8E 

Submitted by Ana Femath, PYP Coordinator, Woodlawn Academy,

San Antonio ISD

Rewarding Service at Hutchinson Middle School

Hutchinson Middle School is committed to instilling a passion for service in all of their students so that they become caring, open minded, compassionate, life-long learners who care about the world around them. Hutchinson would like to recognize three students who received the service award this year. These students began their project in 6th grade, selling bracelets to raise money for our local UMC Children’s hospital.

In 7th grade they donated their earnings to help children affected by war in Ukraine, and this year they raised money to help send a girl to school overseas. Their dedication and passion for service should inspire every one of us to do more. Congratulations to Roshni Banda, Addysan Williams and Sannvi Sharma for receiving the Tom Brown Service Award for 2023!

Submitted by Toby Klameth, MYP Coordinator, Hutchinson Middle School, Lubbock ISD

Westlake Academy Continuum Exhibition

In April, Westlake Academy was excited to showcase the PYP Exhibition, MYP Personal Projects, and DP TOK Exhibition as one event. This was our first ever continuum exhibition allowing the community to see the connections between the programmes and experience the work of students at different points along their IB journey. The grade 5 students, sophomores and juniors presented side-by-side, creating a wonderfully rich and varied event. We look forward to continuing this new tradition. Here is a short video of the event:  https://youtu.be/hGyCUBhOW08

Submitted by Alison Schneider, PYP Coordinator, and Sarah Stack, MYP Coordinator, Westlake Academy

Submitted by Xochitl Gonzalez, MYP Coordinator, Woodlawn Academy, San Antonio ISD

Woodlawn Eighth-Graders Involved in Cultural Exchange Program

In the Fall semester, a group of Woodlawn Academy’s 8th-graders became the first middle school cohort in the San Antonio Independent School District to participate in Culturingua’s Global Social Entrepreneurship Journey. Through this virtual exchange program, our students collaborated with students at the International School of Benghazi in Libya to develop a solution to one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG). Our students utilized the Design process to investigate the problem, create sustainable business solutions, and evaluate the outcomes of their ideas.

Over the course of two months, the virtual exchange involved conversations about everyday topics. Students introduced themselves through Flipgrid and communicated via Microsoft Teams and Zoom on a weekly basis. Along the way, our students were introduced to Libyan culture by learning common Arabic phrases and inquiring about teenage life in North Africa. In the end, they found commonalities and eventually communicated creative ideas for solving some of our world’s biggest problems. These ideas were then workshopped with the help of teachers and moderators who used inquiry to tease out the best ideas for students to include in their slideshow presentations.

When it came time to share their findings, our Woodlawn students and their Libyan counterparts presented jointly via Zoom to a panel of judges in both locations. Participants were questioned on the process and product of their virtual collaboration and asked to justify their ideas. Everyone met anxiously at this virtual roundtable and left with a sense of accomplishment.



As we chatted later over mint tea and baklawa, our Woodlawn students reflected on the unique opportunity they experienced and expressed hope that they can continue to build multicultural understanding on their path toward global citizenship.

Thomas Jefferson Students Also Participate in the

Culturingua Program

Thomas Jefferson IB World school Year 5 students participated in their last year of the “Culturingua Program” which is considered a global social entrepreneurship journey. 

The program is a project-based learning experience and competition where students from San Antonio and Benghazi, Libya work together virtually in small teams to develop a solution for a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal. These students use the design thinking process to create a solution that addresses a global challenge, such as affordable and clean energy, quality education, and good health and well-being. Students develop cross-cultural communication and collaboration skills while building an innovative, entrepreneurial mindset to solve real-world problems. 

After a 5 year tenure, the program has come to a close through the Steven’s Initiative, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, with funding provided by the U.S. Government, and administered by the Aspen Institute. The Stevens Initiative is also supported by the Bezos Family Foundation and the governments of Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. Pictures shown are the winners of this year’s competition.

Submitted by

Jennifer Love, DP Coordinator, Thomas Jefferson High School, San Antonio ISD

w.texasibschools.org