The Cultural Autobiography assignment completed by all 11th graders at School Lane is an example of the type of academic experience which is particularly important to School Lane as an International Baccalaureate school.
The course is taught by Language and Literature teacher, Amanda Weiksel, who explained, "For Unit 1, students created Cultural Autobiography Scrapbooks, exploring how the different groups and communities they belong to have influenced their values, beliefs, and perspectives. Students quickly learned that we all see and interpret the world around us a little differently, based on sometimes similar, and sometimes vastly different, 'lenses.'"
Through a challenging and provocative assignment like this, School Lane lives its mission to recognize and celebrate the rich international flavor of School Lane students and families. Students were asked to identify three topics to examine in a quest to understand their own experience and share it in a meaningful way with others. 11th grade student, Gabriel Fortune, chose, “Being a middle child, Haiti and the sneaker community.” Gabe spoke honestly about his own growth, “Once my brother left the house for the first time to go to college I realized that I am the big brother now. After I got over the fact that my siblings look up to me and not my older brother, I had to change my lifestyle to aid my little ones in the things they need.” The assignment gave him an opportunity to reflect as he said, “I think it was important that I was able to share this because it allowed me to get the ins and outs of being the "oldest" and what it takes to be a good one at that. I am glad I can share a little something with people.”
This October, the 2022 IB Global Conference meets at The Hague with workshops and seminars led by teachers, educators and thought leaders around the idea of Embracing Innovation. Inspiring Action. Director General of the IB, Olli-Pekka Heinonen, acknowledges the many problems in the world and the hope that the younger generation will have the creative and innovative spirit to improve lives around the world. As he says, "Now is not the time for playing it safe. If our global youth (and our planet) are to have the opportunity to thrive they deserve, then we have to face up to some hard questions. This means courageous inquiry, critical reflection and creative action. The IB was built on such pioneering spirit.”
In a little corner of Bensalem Township, School Lane IB Campus doesn’t just give young people the skills and knowledge to be successful. As an IB school, School Lane works to persuade the students they can, will and must take their talents out into the world to make a difference.