Ever more kinked…

November 30, 2015

I have just revised oligopolies in theory of the firm (ToF) for HL students in IB2. I introduced the kinked demand curve a bit differently this time: I outlined the premises carefully, drew the market equilibrium point in a diagram and then asked the students to...

Syllabus order

October 26, 2015

I have written here about one of the questions facing IB schools and teachers, namely in which order one might best go through the syllabus. Naturally this is a question for all subjects yet the discussion here is confined to economics. Briefly recapitulating, I have...

‘That word…I don’t think it means what you think…’

June 17, 2015

It has been told to me that I have a bull-headed propensity towards taking things literally – something enmeshed in my father’s favourite childhood story. I was about five and we were living in Panama City. My father was working for the ILO and living the...

IA – ‘Internal Affairs’?

May 19, 2015

If there ever was a time the economics colleagues need to raise a questioning eyebrow, now might be the time. A colleague returned recently from an IB workshop having been told that Internal Assessment (IA) portfolios were to be graded differently for HL – e.g....

Under pressure – the jugular dance

April 23, 2015

Increasing old age and an inherent disposition towards cynicism caused me at one point the other week to fell the following pithy comment to one of the heads here at school: “Final grades are like sausage. You may or may not like the final product but, whatever...

Diminishing returns – maybe…

April 13, 2015

Here’s something you don’t hear a teacher say often: “Some of my students need to start studying less and enjoying life more!” Yes, I actually said that, eyes focused vacuously in middle-distance, in handing back the mock exams. It’s like...