C26: Using the Learner Profile to Build School Culture

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 Culture

​A 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 Vision

​Around 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 Language

​​Having 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.  

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