General Interest, Block 1: Friday 11:15 to 12:45

Room: Columbus A&B

presented by Lorne Young, Director of CAS, Upper Canada College

The Synergetics of Student Success workshop integrates the most ancient science from the East with the most recent science from the West. This synergy creates a system of innovative, realistic and practical techniques and strategies that teachers can employ in their classes to help our students achieve success both inside and outside of the classroom. These strategies improve attention and focus, transform stress, positively impact academic achievement and lead the way to the development of character, leadership, integrity and compassion. Research on students in all grade levels has shown significant and measurable improvement in these areas. Teachers and students describe this system as "exciting, life-changing, fun, transformative". In this workshop participants will be actively engaged in the practice of this system and be given the opportunity to join the expanding SyRF (Synergetic Redesigning of Fitness) Systems Research team.

Room: Michigan A and B

presented by Stephen Lewis, ,

Noted humanitarian, Stephen Lewis, will pick up where his general session left off, facilitating a dialogue about winning the battle against poverty and disease in the developing world. This session will give members of the IB community a chance to discuss issues and share ideas with Mr Lewis, covering a broad range of topics including issues relating to HIV/AIDS, economic development, international cooperation, and myriad topics in the realm of international politics and policies.

Room: Erie

presented by Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, Director of Religion, Chautauqua Institution

When I turned 75 last year, my 17 year old granddaughter asked me how it feels to have more years behind me that ahead of me. After the shock of the question, I attempted to answer her profound question for myself. My musings are the subject of my sharing with the community of IB educators.

My life has been devoted to healing the brokenness of our world. There have been many disappointments, many promising starts that sputtered out in the face of old fears and hidden agendas. But my hope for the future survives, even strengthens, as I get older. The journey has taken me around the globe and has introduced me to women and men, familiar and unknown, who share this hope. In this session, we will work together to discover the sources of strength that can sustain us in all our life long journeys toward justice and peace.

Room: Ontario

presented by Jeffrey R. Beard, Director General, International Baccalaureate

Every organization must evolve over time, and so must the IB. IB's growth rate means doubling our size every five years, and today's infrastructure was not designed for such large scale growth. Join the Director General as he describes his 2020 vision and some of the challenges of change. He will focus on ways we plan to meet the growth challenge while assuring consistent quality across schools. He will touch on some of the planning and groundwork already underway to meet these many challenges, including the re-alignment of legal, governance and management structures across the organization. There will be ample time for questions and for dialogue.

Room: Superior A

presented by John Barell, Consultant/Author,

How do we challenge students to ask good questions and continue with solid investigations? The answers to these questions depend, in part, on our understanding of what fosters inquiry and stimulates thinking. Using research from cognitive and developmental psychologists (Berlyne, Sigel) and educators (Dewey) we will engage in a variety of activities challenging us to identify what in our environments leads to our asking questions, what propels us to think critically and creatively. We will then apply these understandings to developing problematic scenarios that can serve as unit initiating experiences as well as summative assessments.