And We're Back....
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And we're back..... I hope you all had a long, relaxing, and enjoyable summer, and that wherever you are in the world, the beginning of the new school year is off to a great start. Sofía and I certainly made the most of our summer. We just returned from a 42-day road trip traveling along the coasts of Italy, France, and Spain. It was absolutely incredible, and I'm sure I will find a way to work a few stories from the trip into these newsletters over the coming months. But for now, we're back home, back to work, and really excited about the year ahead. Welcome to Our New Teachers! The 2026–2027 school year actually got started for us at the end of July with two exceptional New Teacher Workshops. First, Sofía and I hosted the Theory of Knowledge New Teacher Workshop, which brought together 15 teachers from eight countries across five continents. This was particularly exciting because it represented the launch of an entirely new part of our work, providing workshops, resources, and support specifically for TOK teachers. A couple of days later, we welcomed another 10 teachers from around the world to my IB Economics New Teacher Workshop. This was the seventh year in a row of this workshop, and one of my favorite parts of this work is helping new teachers step into their classrooms feeling organized, prepared, and confident about the year ahead. So, all told, to the 25 teachers who joined us in July, welcome! We are thrilled to have you as part of this growing community, and we wish each of you an exceptional first year teaching your new courses. And those workshops are just the beginning. Coming Up This Semester... We have five live workshops scheduled over the next few months. On September 18th and 19th, Sofía and I will once again host the Theory of Knowledge New Teacher Workshop. So, if you weren't able to join us in July, we'll be running the workshop again in September. It's a two-day practical introduction to the purpose and structure of TOK, the Exhibition and Essay assessments, and strategies teachers can immediately take back to their classrooms. On September 20th, I will host Effectively Supervising the Extended Essay in Economics, specifically designed to help Economics teachers confidently guide students through the new Extended Essay. On October 3rd, Kurt and I will offer The Cohort Model for the Extended Essay, where we explore how schools can create a structured and cohesive Extended Essay experience across an entire cohort. The model is built around a simple idea that has become increasingly central to my work with schools, and that is that highly functioning adult systems create excellent student experiences. This is a model that can be transferred to any context and any school around the world. On October 10th, we turn back to Economics, where I'll be hosting the Teaching the Internal Assessment in Economics Workshop, working through the entire Internal Assessment process, from selecting strong articles to applying the mark scheme and helping students produce exceptional commentaries. Then finally, on November 7th, we will host what has become by far our most popular workshop, Effectively Supervising the Extended Essay in Any Subject Area. We had over 120 individual enrollments last year, and with the new Extended Essay now fully upon us for the Class of 2027, we will explore the new framework, pathways, mark scheme, subject-specific guidance, and share with you our four-step approach to effective supervision. Custom Trainings and Teacher Mentoring For the IB Coordinators and high school principals reading this, if you are thinking about professional development for your faculty this semester, we'd love to hear from you. One of the most rewarding parts of our work has been developing custom trainings around the particular context and needs of individual schools. Our fall calendar is already filling up, but we still have some availability. I will share much more about these trainings in next week's newsletter, but if you're interested, simply email brad@bradcartwright.com and we can begin the conversation. We are also continuing our IB Economics Teacher Mentoring, which provides individualized support for both new and experienced teachers with planning, pacing, assessments, and whatever challenges arise throughout the year. And for the first time, we are launching the Theory of Knowledge Teacher Mentoring Program, which will be offered by Sofía. Teachers can choose a single individual session or a more comprehensive mentoring program spread throughout the school year. And Specifically for IB Economics Teachers... For teachers who prefer to learn on their own schedule, we also have five On-Demand Workshops covering the Internal Assessment, IB Assessments, Effectively Teaching Macroeconomics, Teaching Market Power, and Teaching the Global Economy. There is also the IB Economics Teacher Membership, which includes approximately 450 videos, along with slides, notes, vocabulary lists, practice questions, and 50 downloadable teacher resources for planning, pacing, writing structures, the Internal Assessment, and more. And finally, the IB Economics School Membership provides access for up to 100 users, including approximately 450 IB-specific videos, more than 1,000 pages of instructional materials, teacher-exclusive resources, student review materials, and comprehensive coverage of the entire IB Economics syllabus. The School Membership continues to grow each year, with new schools choosing to make all of these resources available to their students. The resources are also available via an app on any device. So, if you're interested, let us know. More than anything, thank you... There's a lot going on but as we begin the year, what I really want to say more than anything else is simply thank you. It's hard for me to believe that this little project that began in my mind in 2018 has now been growing ever since. What began as a way to share a few IB Economics videos and resources has turned into something that has allowed me to connect and work with thousands of teachers in hundreds of schools around the world. And for that, I will forever be grateful. Of course, we never take that for granted. We're incredibly grateful for your support, feedback, encouragement, trust, and all of the relationships that have emerged along the way. And as they say in Chile, we're specifically grateful for all of the buena onda that so many of you have sent our way over the past seven years. Thank you so much. We are incredibly excited about everything ahead, and we wish you an exceptional start to this new school year. Good luck and be good out there. See you next week. Brad Cartwright |