Canadian International School (CIS), Bangalore, hosted South Asia IB Schools Association (SAIBSA) Event on campus which attracted close to 400 IB teachers from 43 schools across India to participate.
SAIBSA has, for over two decades, been a movement for IB collaborative learning and professional development. Apart from in-school sessions like the one at CIS, SAIBSA connects IB educators virtually too from other regions. There are WhatsApp groups in PYP, MYP & DP ensuring that the collaboration is sustained seamlessly for our IB life long learners.
The SAIBSA Job Alike Session at CIS was a wonderful knowledge sharing platform where the 26 facilitators from the attending IB schools led sessions on how to structure unit plans, share best practices and collaborate to find new ways to enrich student learning experiences.
The day started with an opening ceremony where dignitaries participated in lighting the lamp. Following this, there were short speeches by Canadian International School's senior education team as well as the SAIBSA president where they touched upon SAIBSA, learning, well-being and how the day was planned to nurture, challenge and empower all present. The teachers then dispersed into subject-wise sessions.
Mr. Jay Langkamp, High School Principal, CIS commented on the event saying, "At CIS, we strive to create opportunities for our students to become socially responsible and dedicated voices for positive change. We were happy to be able to host this event, which brought so many teachers to our campus to exchange ideas and work together. I am hopeful that the collaborative work will impact the lives of young people who we all serve."
"Many teachers contributed their time and expertise to make this event a success. There was a great mix of both new and experienced teachers. It is a testament to their dedication to our profession that they were willing to give so generously and freely. We are hopeful that the connections that we made will result in increased opportunities for the students that we serve to work together to continue to have a positive impact on our communities." added Mr. Jay.
Mr. Kaiser Dopaisi, President, SAIBSA said, "It's been a very engaging and joyful moment for all the collaborators to meet and connect. That's been the principle message of SAIBSA. A teacher-led event, I have seen it grow from competitiveness to collaboration, and collaboration is indeed the way the world is running where learners will be active, passionate, lifelong learners. Ideas don't have a name and place to them. They are there for sharing. And it is this aspect of crosspollination of ideas that we are seeing here at Canadian International School."
SAIBSA is a great platform for new IB teachers to build their knowledge of the curriculum, teaching methods and to interact with veterans in the field. Together, teachers collaborate to get exposure to technology, resources and curriculum in IB.
Ms. Roopa Simon, teacher at CIS, commented, "It was really wonderful meeting so many people from across India and many Bangalore schools. I think when teachers work together and share ideas, resources, challenges and ways to overcome these, it's the best way for us to motivate ourselves and feel good about what we're doing. It's been a great experience at CIS hosting so many people."
Overall, the feedback from attending teachers was overwhelmingly positive. They shared how the event offered them insights into leveraging AI in learning, strategies for unit planning, the benefits of horizontal interdepartmental coordination for well-rounded student learning among other poignant topics.
