To whom it may concern,

I am writing this letter on behalf of Elena Mora, a colleague I have worked with in international school
contexts. The letter that follows is a brief statement of support for her application. However, I am more
than willing to speak further of Elena's suitability for this course based on my knowledge and awareness of
Elena's teaching and background.

Having worked with Elena, it is clear that Elena has a vision and direction for education in schools. When
we taught the Theory of Knowledge (ToK) course together, I relied heavily on Elena’s knowledge and
resources. By drawing on previous experiences in Jordan, Spain, and England, it was evident that Elena
was informed of current events, social media, political debates, cultural frameworks, and individual
differences, and utilized these contexts to discuss the underlying issues and ideas that form the essence of
a ToK course. In fact, these experiences helped shape the dialogue around knowledge and perspectives of
global events and led to active student engagement with social, political, cultural, and economic issues
underlying global events. For Elena, the global was local, and the local was global. As such, the approach
taken under her leadership was one of collaboration, requiring that we all brought an interdisciplinary
perspective to our planning and discussions. Furthermore, practical and relevant examples were used to
illustrate course concepts under Elena's leadership, with a clear focus on broadening the international
dimensions of our classroom conversations.

Regarding leadership, it was during this year that Elena took the principal role of organizing a bi-weekly
meeting of ToK teachers to ensure that we were aware of each other’s approach to the ToK course.
Additionally, Elena offered a digital medium by which we could contribute to the development of
resources, the posing of questions, engagement in debate, and curation of articles, to help frame our
conversation with ourselves and ultimately with our students. While not defining a singular approach to
ToK, Elena guided these meeting and provided a venue to debate and discuss a range of approaches and
strategies to engage students in the individual understanding of ToK concepts and frameworks. It is no
doubt her involvement in this forum that has allowed her to direct professional development workshops
both at the Association German of International Schools (AGIS) and an additional professional
development workshop at the Practical Pedagogies Conference at the International School of Toulouse, in
Toulouse, France. From my ongoing work with Elena, it is clear that she identifies opportunities to work
with students and help them better appreciate and actively engage in the complexities of the world. More
importantly, she is committed to understanding the implicit and explicit structures, functions, and
challenges of global events and how these aspects can inform and organically influence her teaching and
leading.

However, it is not only her encouragement and support of students and colleagues through these roles
and capacities that should be noted. In fact, it needs to be stated that Elena is a student herself. Elena has
participated in conferences from a student perspective, including most recently an IB World Student
Conference in Barcelona, where the focus was on technology and creative solutions to global issues. That
Elena involves herself in a range of conferences, workshops, online forums, personal development
courses, in-school professional development opportunities, and technology applications, reflects her
commitment to learning, developing, and leading others. That she can move between roles as a teacher
and student, from one language to another, from one region to another, furthers the perspectives she
offers and the international dimensions from which she draws material to inform her classroom. In this
regard, curiosity is key part of Elena’s worldview.

Additionally, Elena’s knowledge of many languages, including Spanish and English, as well as awareness of
German and Manadarin, further adds to her appreciation of the dynamics of linguistic perspectives when
it comes to an understanding of how individuals and groups construct knowledge and worldviews.
I am confident that Elena's ability to work with culturally diverse groups and her ongoing commitment to
global issues will be beneficial to the group, as she has consistently developed demonstrated a range of
perspectives on any issue having worked with an array of international individuals and communities. That
said, I strongly support Elena's application to the Geneva Summer School Programme.

Sincerely,

Brent McAvoy
Senior School Vice Principal – Academics
IB DP English Literature / Language and Literature Teacher
IB DP Self-Taught Literature Coordinator
International School of Basel
Fleischbachstrasse 2
4153 Reinach
Switzerland

+41 61 715 33 33 / +41 61 715 33 62

brent.mcavoy@isbasel.ch
www.isbasel.ch