Extended Essay May 2017: the final countdown

This time of year is stressful for history teachers: we tend to have a lot EEs, we are trying to mark and enter our IA grades and we have to determine predicted grades.  We are also still teaching our classes, trying to finish the syllabus and also help students revise for the IB exams.  Just when we think everything is going well, a student raises her hand and asks, “What exactly is paper 1?”

Well, at least the EE is drawing to a close.  For those of us in the northern hemisphere, the Extended Essay process for our students taking exams in May is drawing to a close, as is the current Extended Essay session.  (Our colleagues in the southern hemisphere still have 6 more months with the session.)

Many students and teachers dispatched of their EEs months ago, but there are always the stragglers: those who somehow slipped through all the cracks and are, as I write this, trying desperately to get everything completed.   With some students no amount of cajoling, consequences or threat of no Diploma seem to have any effect.  As teachers, we stand by, hoping that no one is paying attention to whether or not our uploads have been completed, wondering what happens if we don’t meet the March deadline.

At this point you should be aware that all Extended Essays are now uploaded.  The yellow folders that included the supervisor’s report and candidate declaration are now gone, replaced by a more sustainable but less iconic electronic report.

It is also the time of year when our IBIS codes become incredibly important.  Do I remember my password?  How about my PIN?  Do I need to request a reset?

If you have completed everything, pat yourself on the back and breathe a sigh of relief.  If you are still trying to complete everything, just breathe.  We all have that student who is promising the EE any day now.  If you have a draft, that can always go in, and is a clear consequence you can present to those students to urge final completion.

Of course, it is also time to get moving with the DP Year 1 students, so it doesn’t really end, it just changes.  And, the changes will be substantial this year: new objectives, new assessment, new forms.  Isn’t nice to know that we cannot be lulled into complacency?  New ideas, new students, new enthusiasm!

Then again, no one expects the Spanish Inquisition…