sad ramble about lost effort
I’m bummed out. I put a lot of effort into this interview for becoming a Lanterna tutor and.. I got rejected :(
I reflected a crap ton, and I thought I might as well put it up here so that I can look back and laugh (or sob, not a psychic can’t see the future) about the way I talked about myself fresh out of the IB and high school.
**If you could do something different with regard to your IB revision, what would you change? ***
I would change how organised and prepared I was. I believe that at the beginning of Grade 9, I was not as involved with keeping on topic with all of my subjects. This means that I wouldn’t take time to read over the textbook, compile review materials and fully understand the content from a lesson before going into the next one. This continued into my Diploma Programme years and I was falling behind on being able to fully recall and properly use content. This was especially noticeable in classes such as History HL and ESS SL. Luckily for me, I was able to use the summer of 2020 to prepare myself for my final year in high school. With researching, focusing and honing in on the structure of review I could have, I had organised and compiled a lot of previous studies and notes to easily review over before classes, so that any content I was learning was fresh and understandable. I believe that what set me back and what I wish I changed earlier on in my IB Revision was the level of clarity I was maintaining through my organisation and planning. I hope to be able to provide this to students in the future, so that they can feel as confident as possible going into their exams.
**What did your favourite IB teacher do that made him/her especially good? ***
My two favourite IB teachers had the same thing in common, and this is what made them especially good - their ability to help students learn how to ace their assessments. Though it seems like all teachers have the same goal to help their students pass their exams, there are two types of ways I witnessed this being taught. The first way, the way in which I personally found as not the most efficient: the theoretical and lecture based lesson. This is opposing the method that I felt both my English A Language and Literature teacher as well as my TOK teacher approached their lessons with: an application and exercise based lesson. As an example for both teachers, essays were part of the final assessment. Both teachers accepted as many practice drafts from students, helped hone in on specific parts of the assessment (introductions, conclusions, thesis statements) and finally, provided detailed markings on both the criteria as well as verbal and bulletpoint feedback. I believe this helped me much more than having a teacher lecture all of the content in a single class, followed by exclusively peer-marked assessments, up until a major assessment. I felt like I would not be hitting the criteria as perfectly as I could have, unlike in my other classes. I also do feel like this properly showed on my final IB results seeing as the “preferred method” allowed me to achieve a 7 in English and a B in TOK. The other method allowed for me to achieve a 5 in both ESS and History. However, in teaching a student, since I’ve witnessed both styles of teaching I could adapt to what the student is comfortable with and make sure they feel as efficient as possible with their review methods.
**Give us a short description of yourself and what you hope will characterise you as a Lanterna tutor! ***
I would describe myself as the type of person that is always curious and never bored. From the more simple way to characterise how much I love learning, being the 5 languages I speak and the two grades I skipped- to the extremely bizarre level to which my music taste starts in the 50s, to the way in which I can detail each scene from 2001 a Space Odyssey. I just love learning no matter what the angle. Another main characteristic when it comes to my personality and the way I carry myself, is the balance between the humour and the blunt honesty I always maintain. When talking to me I will always dispense the rational facts first, and then humor the imagination for a more amusing and light time. I think this balance is essential to maintain a level of interest in not only a person, but more specifically in considering classes with me. Additionally, after going through the IB, I believe I have become a more organised person than I ever was, and I would love to dispense all of the hacks, tips and tricks I’ve learned to ensure that students can really build their confidence levels up and maintain the efficiency needed to achieve their goals. I really do hope I have the opportunity to become a Lantern tutor, because as mentioned earlier, already having been a student under Lanterna, all I would love to do at the moment is give back and help more students.