by Lu Gerlach International MindednessMany moons ago, I received a one year Rotary Cultural Ambassadorial Scholarship to study abroad for one year in Melbourne, Australia. This was one of the best gifts I’ve ever received, because I found myself in Melbourne and began the process of discovering the wonder of international mindedness. I was fortunate to finish my bachelor’s degree at Melbourne Uni and I had an internship/work experience in St Kilda 2-3 days a week. On the way to my internship, I passed the most amazing place called Wesley College. I was fascinated by the grounds and buildings and imagined what it’d be like to go there instead of Melbourne Uni. The thing that perplexed me every day as we stopped, tons of children would get on in purplish blue and white gingham uniforms. I must have kept my head down in winter, because I don't remember it, but I knew a blazer was involved somehow. Each day, the fascination with the place grew to the point that I began researching Wesley College. I quickly learned that it wasn’t an American version of college, but a preparatory academy for college. It was private and IB. At that time, I wasn’t remotely interested in education, but I heard of the IB through my many foreign exchange friends through high school. Wesley College is an example of building international mindedness. I don’t think of it as a singular action, but an openness to the ways that people do things differently around the world. International mindedness is seeing differences and responding through wonder, respect, and questions. We are so curious about this new thing that we want to explore every nuisance to compare and contrast to our own experience. Then, look at the merits of it on its own. Finally, we make connections how this difference influences the beliefs and values of another. Wow, imagine if everyone in the world lived like this and how it would change the way we look at power, freedom, and equity. Building International MindednessThis was definitely not my first experience with international mindedness, but merely an aha moment. My entire life was built on internationally minded experiences from my South Korean mother who learned to speak English by watching American television and my American father who explored the world to find himself. We become more internationally minded by the little things we engage with during the day and how we choose to react. It builds over time to create a disposition about how we think and how we react to the world around us. Living abroad will not make you internationally minded, but being open to other cultures and ways of doing things will. We will explore more about how we do this in our next podcast and blog. Using the Learner ProfileThe learner profile has a magical relationship with international mindedness. It is through the language of the learner profile that we are able to express our feelings and ideas about international mindedness. Here are some possibilities of how to use the learner profile to build more connection with international mindedness.
Using the language of the learner profile to discuss deeper issues about cultures and values will help your students to see beyond the superficial level of food, music, the arts, and traditions. Culture has been compared to an iceberg, where we must go beyond the superficial level to discover some of the richer components such as beliefs and values, norms, roles, relationships, and so much more. It takes intentional planning to scratch beyond what we can see. The learner profile helps us to explore the richer characteristics and systems of most concepts and ideas. What are ways you can embed the language of the learner profile to build up international mindedness in your classroom or school?
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by Lu Gerlach The number one mistake I made as a new coordinator was building the curriculum framework first. If you are a coordinator, please heed the call. Do not follow in my footsteps, because it cost me at least six months and polarized my staff. Here’s what I’d do instead. If I had to do it all over again, I would ignore the pressure from my school leadership to begin building the curriculum framework and focus on building a new school culture. Remember, the foundation of our PYP house is the learner profile. Shared CultureA school’s culture is at the heart of what they believe and what they do. As a new coordinator, I struggled to assess the needs of the campus culture, because I was new to the campus and I was not a part of the Black American subculture. I underestimated the power of building culture in the process of laying the foundation of the PYP. Why is this important? Imagine how you’d feel if a stranger came into your school that you love and you were told that how you’ve been teaching is changing. There is going to be a new curriculum framework put in place that will change how you teach, what you teach together, and the order in which you will teach it. That’s a lot of change for more teachers to take on. This is why establishing a strong culture based on the learner profile matters. If I were to do it again, I would have spent at least six months going into classrooms and chatting with students and teachers. Assess the ideas that are already working in the campus that align with the PYP. Present these to the staff to calm their fears about taking on a “new program” again. Then, I’d work with developing the learner profile attributes with the entire school community through modeled teaching, co-teaching experiences, and student-led teaching opportunities. This is the way to get your team to buy into the new culture of what is coming ahead. Shared VisionAround the six month mark, I would begin to talk with the primary stakeholders (students, parents, teachers) about the vision of the PYP through the learner profile and how it will enhance the programming of the school. Together, we would create a shared vision of what the PYP will look like at our campus, since the needs of our students are different. By creating a shared vision, we are ensuring that all stakeholders have buy-in to the process. They are sharing their passions, hopes, and dreams about what the PYP will look like in the future. We will use the learner profile attributes as the vehicle for getting there. Shared LanguageHaving a shared language is vital to the success of any program. Around the three month mark, I would have started using the language of the learner profile to describe ideas in my modeled lessons, my conversations with students and staff, and how I describe the current state of the campus. This would have established a certain set of criteria of how we speak in relation to the PYP. How do we do this authentically and meaningfully? We don’t want to say things that we don’t mean, because they will fall flat. Here’s some examples of sharing the language of the learner profile. Chatting with students: I see you demonstrated open-mindedness by trying to solve that division problem using a new strategy. Modeling ELA lesson: How did Yoon (from My Name is Yoon) communicate how she was feeling about moving to America through her drawings? Chatting with staff: I noticed that Ms. Smith’s bulletin board used real-life food containers to help students to develop a deep conceptual knowledge of US customary liquid measurement. Taking time to lay the foundation of the learner profile will save you a lot of heartache and grief. It took a long time for my staff to trust my judgement, because I didn’t get to know them first. We are still struggling to lay the foundation of the learner profile, because it’s not a part of their natural way of teaching.
by Lu Gerlach There is no magical tool to stop undesired behavior, just love for your students. When you don’t like your students, they know. Changing our MindsetMy last year in Dubai, I taught 5th grade with 18 boys and 10 girls. I had some of the naughtiest boys in the grade level. My mom who was a retired teacher was my sounding board. I remember calling her when I found out my class roster in a panicked tone. My mom’s response was priceless. She said, “I know you are receiving some challenging boys, but you must forget what their past teachers have told you. You must love them, set the boundaries, and remember that they are children who are still developing into good humans.” I followed her advice and focused on developing relationships with each child by giving them nicknames, holding regular class meetings, giving them responsibilities, and allowing them to demonstrate agency of their learning. This allowed them to own their mistakes and revisit their behavior. It was one of the best years of my teaching career. The learner profile was a huge part of my journey that year, because I allowed the students to take on many attributes on their own. How do we get to this point? Here are some suggestions that have greatly changed my relationship with my students. Building RelationshipsWe must build relationships with our students in order to get the best out of them. I know many teachers say this is important, but I’ve seen many missed opportunities for growth, because a relationship was not established. What do I mean by relationship? I mean that the child is able to see you beyond the role of the teacher, but as a daughter/son, a student, an artist, a dreamer, and a friend. When we are able to get to this point, we can unlock the magical potential within our learners. Begin slowly with the learner profile through shared experiences through writing prompts, class discussions, and paired sharing. Hold regular class or restorative circle meetings where we address current issues that are an obstacle to the learning. The class openly talks about it in a safe place and the teacher shares their vulnerability. This is a powerful tool that can open up the most reluctant learners. As we become more proficient, we can pose prompts centered around the learner profile, so students can make relevant connections to the attributes. Hold private conferences to gauge where students are at the moment: their needs, fears, hang ups, successes, and celebrations. Have students identify their needs using the learner profile. For example, “I want to develop more conceptual knowledge in fractions and apply them to real-life situations.” Allow students to have a bit more agency during portions of the day: individual or small group work stations can allow for choice and student-driven learning, reflections can be video, audio, blog, journal, etc., genius hour to investigate a passion project, and so much more. Have them identify which attribute they are using while developing agency in their learning. This will make the reflective process a bit easier and more enriching. Behavior GoalsIn my experience, behavior issues become more evident when students are bored or frustrated by the way we are teaching the content. Students act out to deflect the learning they don’t want to do, which heightens our frustration as the teacher. I’ve noticed the times I succumbed to outside pressures and taught according to someone else’s methods, my behavior issues rose exponentially. Here are some possible ways to set behavior goals and get the student back on track with the help of the learner profile attributes. Co-create learner profile behavior goals for a short duration of time. Have students reflect on the areas they see as needing improvement, so there is continued buy in of the process. Allow the student to create the goal length and co-create a success criteria that needs to be met to ensure the goal is achieved. Co-design a learner profile behavior chart that students use to self-monitor progress regularly. The duration is determined by the student (morning/afternoon, daily, every other day, or weekly). In the beginning, students may to to self-regulate more frequently, until they get a handle on the undesired behavior Meet regularly to discuss the progress of the learner profile behavior goals. Allow students to determine the meeting schedule, because this will ensure they are ready to take the next steps. Reflecting on BehaviorWe know that reflection is a vital part of the PYP, but are students regularly reflecting and owning their behavior? There is a simple tool we can use to help students take ownership of their mistakes and make goals for the future.
What did I do? - have students explain the undesirable behavior they demonstrated to someone else. This is a huge part of growing as a young person. Owning our mistakes takes great courage. Why did I do it? - now we are getting to the deeper issue of why the student performed the undesirable behavior. It allows students to self-assess their actions and own their mistakes. What can I do better? - ask students to reflect on alternative actions they can take and align it with the learner profile. For example: Next time, I will be more caring when I speak to others. By completing these strategies above, you will see a reduced number of off-task and disruptive behaviors in your classroom and feel more connected with your students. Are you willing to spend the time it takes to make it happen? by Lu Gerlach Now that we’ve established the learner profile in our school community, we can take the next step of explicitly teaching it in our units of inquiry. Let’s take a look at how we can wrap the attributes around the content areas to make it more meaningful. Attributes in LiteracyLearning about language structures can come alive by using the learner profile attributes as a lens of viewing and applying them.
In this picture, one of my teachers is connecting the attribute (Principled) with the book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. The usual connection might be perspective, since the story is told from the Wolf's point of view. Instead, she used principled to examine the Wolf's actions in the story and their effects. to edit. Attributes in Science and Social StudiesTo support the conceptual thinking in science, we can use the learner profile attributes to help us make meaningful connections to the ideas. It’s the stories and experiences that help us to remember the bigger theories.
To support deeper thinking in social studies, we can use the learner profile attributes to make historical events and geography come to life.
Attributes in MathTo support conceptual thinking in math, we use the learner profile attributes to collaborate with others. We listen to each other and express our ideas confidently and creatively.
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