"Selma is very balanced. She doesn't eat her snack unless she had her veggies first."

Happy Hump Day!!

At Dwight (and all IB schools), the goal is to "develop internationally minded people who, recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world."  In order to reach this goal, there are nine "attitudes" that students strive for (known as the IB Learner's Profile):

Inquirers: Develop natural curiosity

Knowledgeable: Explore concepts, ideas, and issues that have local and global significance

Thinkers: Exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively

Communicators: Understand and express ideas and information confidently and creatively in more than one language

Principled: Act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice, and respect

Open-Minded; Understand and appreciate their own culture and history and are open to the perspectives, values, and traditions of others

Caring: Show empathy, compassion, and respect towards the needs and feelings of others

Risk-Takers: Approach unfamiliar situations and uncertainty with courage and forethought

Balanced: Understand the importance of intellectual, physical, and emotional balance

Reflective: Give thoughtful consideration to their own learning and experiecnce

Each Friday, my third grade students record in their learning logs.  They take the opportunity to reflect on their week and identify their favorite activity they participated in, something new they learned, and a burning question they have going into the next week.  In addition to this, the students fill out an "Amazing Attitudes" section.  Each student selects a peer that they think demonstrated one of the Learner Profile attitudes.  They record their thoughts in their journal and then move that student's bug to the new attitude flower.  Afterwards, they confront the person and congratulate them for demonstrating good character.  Most of the students take this task very seriously, but a few of them say the cutest, goofiest things.  My favorite from last week (not on the picture): "Miguel is tolerant because we are still friends even though I sometimes wear two different colored socks." -Akash

Although the students don't always exemplify the nine attitudes, they try their hardest each day.  I would LOVE to use something like this in my future classroom to promote a positive atmosphere :)
-Megan