Definitions of the PYP attitudes

In my class with 5-6 year old students we talk about the learner profile a lot. In my first years as a PYP teacher I found myself focusing mainly on the learner profile attributes (being Balanced, Caring, Communicators, Inquirers, Knowledgeable, Open-Minded, Principled, Reflective, Risk-Takers and Thinkers). Not only did the students need to learn the vocabulary, I had to get used to using these words myself.

Now that I have even started to use these words in my daily life outside the school walls, I have started to incorporate the attitudes as well in my daily teaching and assessing. In our current unit we focus on the attitudes of Empathy, Appreciation and Creativity. This week I had my students working on definitions of these words. This is what they came up with:

Empathy
- You think about other people's feeling.

- Caring about other people's feelings.

- You have to think about what you say, if it's good or bad.

- You think about what you do before you do it.

Creativity
 - Using your own ideas and put them into action.

- Try to make something new.

- Use it to make beautiful drawings and paintings.

- Use it to make sculptures.

- Think of new experiments.

- Think of new stories and jokes.

Appreciation
 - Something you like or love.

- Show is by telling people you like them or what they do.

 - Show it with your body (hugs, kisses, tickles)

- Show it by making cards.

- Show it by taking good care of things.

- Show it by taking care to do things properly.





These definitions didn't just fall from the sky into their heads. Before this activity, we had read many story books that had characters in them who demonstrated these attitudes. We had discussed these books and made connections to our own lives as learners. And now they were ready to describe these attitudes in their own words. We did this as a whole class activity, which was OK as I had only 15 students present that day. (In a class of 20 or more, I would have split them into smaller groups, tackling one attitude per group). All I had to do now, was write what they told me to write. And I put the comments in a more logical order after the students had given me their input.

I usually like to give the students credit for their work by writing their names next to their comments. On this blog however, I have blacked out the names for privacy reasons.

The learner Profile in Books: How my parents learned to eat

How my parents learned to eat
by Ina R. Friedman


Transdisciplinary theme:
"Where we are in Place and Time"


Central Idea:  
"Knowing about our family histories enables us to discover our cultural origins and develop historical awareness."


Key concepts: Form, Change, Perspective
Learner profile focus: Communicator, Risk-Taker, Open-Minded
Attitudes: Empathy, Appreciation, Creativity

Short synopsis of the story
This book tells the history of the parents of a little girl. They met when her mother was a Japanese schoolgirl and her father was an American marine stationed in Japan. They walked and talked every day, but the marine felt shy to ask his girlfriend out to dinner, as he was not able to eat with chopsticks. She was afraid he was not asking her out because she didn't know how to use a knife and fork. They both decided to learn each others way of eating and finally they went out to a Western and a Japanese restaurant. Years later, their daughter knows how to eat with knife and fork and with chopsticks. 


In Class
I read this book to my class of 5-6 year old students and asked them if they could make connections between the key-concepts of our unit, the learner profile and attitudes. These are the things they came up with: 
Change

• First they couldn't eat the other way, now they can.
• After the story they got married and had a daughter.

Perspective

• In America it is normal for people to eat with knife and fork, but in Japan it is normal to eat with chopsticks.
• In America people shake hands when they meet, in Japan they bow their heads.

Open-Minded

• The parents were Open-Minded because they wanted to learn the different way of eating.

Risk-Taker

• The father was a Risk-Taker by going to the Japanese restaurant all by himself to learn to eat with chopsticks.

• The mother was a Risk-Taker for trying to eat with knife and fork with her Great Uncle.

Empathy

• The mother and father were both thinking about what the other person was feeling or thinking about them.

Appreciation

• The mother and father did all those things because they loved each other.