Some schools celebrate and learn the IB learner profile through the 'IB learner profile attribute (LPA) of the month'. It is an opportunity for schools to engage in a monthly whole-school shared exploration of the learner profile attributes. All the school community members are involved directly or indirectly to deepen their understanding of the learner profile attributes and, hopefully, be able to demonstrate them in different contexts.
Note that this LPA of the month is merely an added layer to the already existing practice of contextual and authentic development and demonstration of the learner profile attributes. Therefore, ensure that the learner profile attributes are developed and demonstrated in the contexts of our lessons and everything that we do.
Our school, Khartoum International Community School (KICS), has the LPA of the month to promote and deepen our understanding of the learner profile attributes. Below are some ideas for inspiration on doing it based on our school's practices in the primary section and my reflections.
1. Get buy-in from the teachers: This is the first and most crucial step if we want it to succeed. We can do this through a workshop to have a shared understanding of why we do it and get ideas on how to do it. It's also an opportunity to come up with essential agreements.
We can make follow-up conversations during planning meetings.
Below is a collated list of ideas from our teachers on how we can promote and deepen our understanding of the learner profile attributes.
2. Involve the students in coming up with ideas: It's about promoting and embracing 'student voice'. Include them in planning and generating activities on how they can deepen their understanding of the LPA of the month.
3. Set up a portal where teachers can share and access resources: The portal, like Padlet, serves as a bank of resources (video clips and literature books)that teachers and students can use to explore the LPA of the month.
4. Allot an LPA of the month bulletin board: It contains information about the LPA of the month and should be in a conspicuous area. Again, be creative and maybe make it interactive. It may also be great to alternately assign each year/grade level responsibilities in designing and populating the board.
5. Make connections: As much as possible, always connect the LPA of the month with your lessons, everything you do, international-mindedness, and approaches to learning (ATL). Doing these would ensure that students see how the learner profile attributes can be demonstrated in different contexts.
Our year 4 students sharing their definition of our LPA of the month (open-minded) and how their unit helped them become open-minded
Sample ATL posters that may guide our teachers and students in connecting the learner profile attributes with the ATL
Our students connecting our LPA of the month (open-minded) to our Peace Day celebration.
6. Share and learn from each other:
Teachers visit each other's classrooms and see how they are doing it.
Allocate a few minutes during meetings for teachers to share how they are doing it in their classrooms.
Take pictures of students' work and share (email) them to all teachers for inspiration.
Talk about it during planning meetings.
Samples from our year five and year six students
7. Turn students' output or ideas into school posters: It's a celebration of ownership and authenticity.
Sample posters around our primary section
8. Inform parents through the school's newsletters, social media and/or website: Apart from creative ideas regarding content, it's also essential to include different examples of what parents can do to support the development and demonstration of the LPA of the month at home.
9. Always remind the process: Teachers may need some reminding until it becomes part of their monthly classroom culture- the first three weeks are an exploration of the LPA of the months (like during morning meetings), and the fourth week is coming up with synthesis or generalisation.
10. Use it as a focus for assembly: Students present their unit revolving around or in the context of the LPA of the month.
These are just some ideas, and for sure, there are lots of better and more creative ideas out there. So hit the comment below and share how you are doing it in your school.
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