it's called grading on a curve. i don't know what subjects you teach, but i would guess high school? the bell curve is supposed to even out those types of inconsistencies between teachers.
i don't like it but i know some of my uni profs did it.
i wouldn't think you'd lose your license over it, but i'm sure it doesn't feel too clean.

professionally i would leave as is unless forced to. they could go in and change them as they see fit. unless you are getting serious heat, i wouldn't do a thing.

but from what little you wrote, your admin sounds pretty shaky OR you have some assessment issues within your grade/subject.

good luck.

v.

i don't think i've ever heard of a case where a zero would stand, anywhere, even at uni. it's percentage points per day. blanket zeros are pretty hard to defend as an educator - unless there is a recorded and consistent behavior and lack of work.

of course zeros were popular 30 years ago, but teaching has changed, assessment has changed, the "business" side is amplified and parents/students are more consumer-like than ever. seeing students and parents as consumers changes the dynamic quite a bit. my prime example would be korea. kids are committing suicide over c grades!

i suppose you could rely on professional judgement, but it's a rare thing where a zero would be allowed to stand unless you did everything you could to help that student.

from what i've seen, kids whose work ranks close to zeros have parents whose income include several zeros at the end!

my school certainly would challenge zeros and though i haven't heard a case of a zero being given (because of modern philosophy of education and assessment mostly) i doubt it would stand in the end. transcripts have been known to sprout different letters and percentages after the final exams.

v.

yeah it's pretty serious there...neon crosses, the moonies, lots of jehovah's witnesses, and all that jazz!

it's a strange mix because most koreans are very xenophobic.

v.

i would second the above poster. lebanon is definitely more liberal than any of the other middle east countries. lebs love their parties and EDM!
dubai and abu dhabi are alright too, but not as open.

v.

yeah at our school the pre-k's did some PYP stuff, but as you could imagine language changed quite a bit and concepts made in very kid friendly language. the k1's and k2's ssame thing but it's pretty impressive what they can do when you take a step back and realize these kids are 4 and 5 years old.

good stepping stone, good opportunity for training but i couldn't stay there in K for long!

v.

every country i've worked in has worked to get me the visa beforehand. in fact, they were waiting for me at immigration.

after you get in-country, there may be a few other things you need to do before it gets into your passport though.

i suppose it could be different for other countries, but i've not had that experience.

v.

if i was in your shoes, i'd sign up for tieonline.
it's cheap, it will serve your purposes, and likely a lot of the schools (some desirable, some less so) will have opportunities.
if it's SA you're looking at, i'm sure there would be some still fishing out there.
you have lots of experience, and can't speak to your motivations for leaving your current school, but it seems you'd be on the higher end of a salary scale though.
my wife and i haven't went to the fairs either and had no problem getting positions that we love(d).

good luck!

v.

i don't think it's impossible, especially for an admin. position.
a former IB counselor? do you still work in IB or at an international school?
you're so close to the end brother but you gotta do what you gotta do.
follow what your gut tells you. i wish i could say age wouldn't play a factor
but i seem to remember some countries have an age cap of 58 (singapore maybe?).

good luck either way!

v.

in ontario, you have to be registered with the college of teachers to teach in ontario. it has a $120 per year fee or something.

there's no card, or license, other than the one you get from the college of teachers, which has your teacher # on it. it's not a requirement to teach internationally, and your b.ed. will do just fine.....BUT!

they have recently changed it so that graduates of ontario teacher's colleges must register with the college of teachers, and do so before september of this year i believe. one of the possible ramnifications (fears, threats) that is going around is that if you don't, they could make you repeat it. now that it's a 2-year program, that would suck for a lot of people.

i know of some schools in asia teaching canadian curriculum (alberta, manitoba, ontario, nova scotia) where you had to have registered at the college (if from ontario) and be in good standing.

it's all unionized in ontario, so as long as you're paying your dues each year and remain in good standing, you can teach in ontario. as far as i know, your b.ed. is your teaching license.

v.

i see. i just missed the post where it said the school was a k-3 school. i'm a pyp teacher in a school without an myp, but a IBD program in high school. so when you wrote that, something seemed off...
my bad. i'll read more carefully next time.

v.

PsyGuy wrote:

> There would certainly be some advantages too offering a restricted PYP
> program. You dont have to worry about exhibition, and your portfolio
> continuity is not an issue unless students go on to another PYP school and
> in this setting they likely wont, so you can phone portfolio in.

PsyGuy - could a school even opt out of the exhibition? wouldn't you still have to do the portfolio to assuage and meet the PYP, even if there wasn't a PYP->MYP continuation?

i mean, in terms of PYP, the exhibition is the culmination of everything before it. how could a school get around that? just do it in years when accreditation is up?

curious.

v.

word of mouth. no one i know works there.
sorry!

v.

keep your chin up.
the reviews are good for a general picture of what a few people think, it doesn't usually encapsulate or describe the school fully.
if you're very selective on where you want to go that could make things more difficult.
this being your first year you should get some hits from SA, ME, and ASIA. if you haven't yet, you will.

good luck.

v.

we collaborate to create common assessments (within grade level) at my current school. each teacher will give the same summative assessment for each student. we also come up with prompts, unit plans, and lesson plans so that we are teaching the same material in roughly the same order.

in order to cross-mark effectively and draw conclusions, find solutions, improve the curriculum, a certain level of standardization should be implemented, imo. of course, we all do formative assessments a little differently, but in general we agree to have our classroom teaching points adhere to the standards that our curriculum is based on, so even our formatives are somewhat similar.

there is a little freedom in some projects or special assignments we create, and btw i can only speak for PYP, but in general you want the kids to have the same education, so standardization is kind of necessary.

we have processes and procedures in place however, for different abilities and learning styles. so, sometimes students can perform a skill in the same way another student can. we differentiate and find other ways for them to show knowledge.

hope that helps.

v.

i hear from colleagues it's a pretty fantastic school, good curriculum, and excellent facilities. i have no firsthand info on it, but within 10 years i think it will be a great place to work/live around. the island that it's built on is developing pretty fast.

sorry not that helpful!

v.