Secondary Newsletter 14 – November 1, 2019

Dear Parents,
Please enjoy this newsletter which contains some great snapshots of learning in our school this week. Well done to our IISSAC Football teams and our Girls’ Champions.

‘ALMOST, MAINE’Senior Drama Production 2019

Featuring Grade 9, 10 and 11 actors and supported by a fabulous backstage crew, we are excited to invite you to see ‘Almost, Maine’. 

Almost, Maine’ by John Cariani, is a vignette duologue play featuring a series of slightly offbeat characters who find (almost) love in the coldest and strangest of corners. Love is lost, found, and confounded. And life for the people of Almost, Maine will never be the same.

Tickets will be on sale from Monday 4th November! Don’t miss out on our very first Senior Production! 

Please note the performance starts at 6pm – just enough time to grab a bite to eat in Sanur beforehand! The expected running time is 1 hour and 20 minutes. Any questions, please email salborn@baliis.net

MYP Corner

MYP Session Resources

 For those of you who attended the Parent Session on Wednesday titled “How the MYP Assessment Works”, please find the presentation along with associated resources here.  Thank you again to all who attended this important session.

Individuals and Societies Grade 8 

For our Extreme Environments unit, students had to design, create and name their own animal that could adapt itself to a hot desert environment. It had to be their own creation but be inspired by 3 existing animals that have various adaptation methods. The criteria included the following: a way to catch/obtain food, defend itself from predators, collect/store or find water, stay cool during the day, and stay warm during the night. 

As the final product, students had a choice in the method they chose to present their animal; most chose poster but one student created a model. Both had to have annotations to showcase the adaptations. Students then had to present their animal to the class with a slideshow discussing the animals that helped inspire them and how they use the surrounding vegetation and landscape to survive in. This task assessed using criteria A: Knowing and Understanding and Criteria C: Communication. Here are some of the creations by grade 8 students: 

Nadia Winkler – this is now on display in the library

G7 Language & Literature:

Students began a new unit this week: Communicating Rights & Responsibilities.  In this unit, we will read a historical fiction novel, The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine.  To activate prior knowledge, students created a US Civil Rights Timeline as a formative activity. They worked in small groups and pairs to choose 10 important events that happened during this influential time in American history to add to their own civil rights timelines.

DP Corner

Extended Essay 

The Extended Essay [EE] is an independent, self-directed research project which is submitted in the form of a 4,000 word essay. It is part of the IB DP Core and in combination with a good Theory of Knowledge score it could add up to 3 additional points to the students’ overall point total of 45. If any of this sounds confusing to you please visit the DP Expo on Saturday, November 16, 10:00-12:00. 

The EE is completed in one of the students’ six selected subjects but no subject time is dedicated to the research or writing of the EE. The students are given direction and planning time during DP Hour instead. Therefore, the EE not only relies on their research and writing skills but other ATL skills vital to successfully completing a long term project that prepare our students confidently to deal with the demands of university. The EE therefore distinguishes IB students from students in other educational systems.

The Grade 12 students submitted their final Extended Essay on Thursday afternoon in DP Hour and gave a short presentation about what their title and research question was, what they enjoyed, what challenges they overcame and finally gave one piece of advice to the Grade 11 students. This is a major milestone for Grade 12 students and they can now fully focus on the other components of the Diploma Programme. Congratulations Grade 12s!

CAS Corner by Dina Okazaki

Competitive Matches Against Dyatmika on the 4th of September, 2019.

Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively:

Today, we had two competitive matches against Dyatmika 1 and Dyatmika 2. The first game against Dyatmika 1, the team agreed that they would prioritize the winning chances and put the strongest players on during the first half and if they wished, the second half. The positions that were set during the game against Dyatmika 1 were:

  • Kaspar (Goalkeeper)
  • Nathan (Striker)
  • Jacob (Midfielder)
  • Yuto (Midfielder)
  • Nick (Defender)
  • Andy (Defense)

During the first match, Dyatmika 1 was a very strong team, however, I had confidence that the BIS 13-15 Boys would work together and do well as I put very talented and skilled players on during the first half. We pulled through as a team and managed to beat Dyatmika 1 by 2-1 and I was very proud of the cooperation skills being shown on the field. Andy, kept up an especially strong position as a defense today and managed to block many shots from the opposing team to then pass back to Nathan to get across the field. Jacob kept up a consistent pace and I was very impressed at his stamina as a midfielder. This game, I was already seeing much more progress and they were starting to rely on each other as a team. Kaspar put up an especially strong position as Goalkeeper and made sure to look before shooting back to an opponent of an open spot. For the second match against Dyatmika 2, the positions for the first half were:

  • Nathan (Striker)
  • Josiah (Midfielder)
  • Agus (Midfielder)
  • Lachy (Defender)
  • Adi (Defender)
  • Kaspar (Goalkeeper)

Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth:

An area of improvement that we could work on during tomorrow’s training session would be working to aim well when under pressure or in stressful environments. The team enjoys to practice shooting drills rather than defensive drills and from today’s game, I believe we don’t really need improvements in defense for now rather than the performance of the front center for example. Therefore, tomorrow during training, I will let the boys practice passing and shooting drills from the middle of the field to the goal. Here are some of the shooting drills I researched during my free time:

  • Soccer Shooting Agility Drill (This soccer shooting drill focuses on agility and check-runs after the pass.)

Counselor’s Corner