Secondary SCHOOL news

Dearest Global Jaya Community,

Before I get into my thoughts about the IB Learner Profile, I want to thank students, parents, teachers, and all other members of the GJS community for your flexibility, risk-taking, and open-mindedness with HBL. As the saying goes, ‘The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry’ and without the support of the entire community, it would have been quite easy for all of our plans for HBL to go to ruin. Instead, due to tremendous efforts from our community, HBL is going well. That is not to say it is perfect, however, and we will always welcome your feedback and thoughts for improvement.

Regards,

Steve

Last year, I set out to write one article about each of the ten IB Learner Profile attributes. With the combined March/April and May/June issues of Kontak, I was only able to address six of the ten. This year I will address the four remaining attributes, beginning with Communicators: We express ourselves confidently and creatively in more than one language and in many ways. We collaborate effectively, listening carefully to the perspectives of other individuals and groups.

I am from the United States and, while my country has always had its flaws, those flaws are currently being laid bare for the whole world to see. Social media, 24-hour news coverage, and instant reporting have made it impossible to hide the US that we Americans knew existed all along. We have a president who, like the IB Learner Profile says, expresses himself confidently, although he often does so in order to insult others. He is creative in his speech but, according to most fact-checking agencies, his creativity often pushes the boundaries of truth, to put it lightly. Watch any US news channel and you will see political experts confidently speaking about how they are 100% right and their opponent is 100% wrong. So confident, yet so impossible! That same misguided confidence has inundated and divided society. Where did we go wrong?

I think we went wrong when we stopped paying attention to the second part of the IB’s descriptor of a communicator: We collaborate effectively, listening carefully to the perspectives of other individuals and groups. When I was a kid, I hated watching news debate shows because it was just a bunch of people with boring voices calmly discussing the issues of the day. Even when they disagreed, they said things like, ‘I understand what you’re saying, Bob, but don’t you think . . .’ or ‘Have you ever considered, Susan, that the policies of Ronald Reagan are based on . . .’ and then Susan would respond with, ‘Yes, Bob, I have considered that and let me tell you why I still support Walter Mondale.’ I long to be so bored again!

The US of that era was not perfect; far from it. But at least people in the media listened and had conversations. Political discourse in the United States has been reduced to cheering for your favorite team. Republicans support Republicans, because that’s their team. Democrats support Democrats, because that’s their team. The goal of both is to win at all costs, usually by expressing themselves confidently about how right they are, creatively slandering their opponents and blatantly disregarding collaboration, listening, and consideration for others.

Before this completely devolves into a political rant, let me bring it back to Global Jaya School and Home-Based Learning. Advances in technology have afforded us the ability to instantly communicate with one another, regardless of where we are. HBL would be impossible without these advancements. However, the ability to communicate is not the same as the ability to communicate effectively. We must be confident, but not arrogant; creative, but realistic. We must not only listen, but truly hear and consider the perspectives of others. We must work together to ensure all are given the same opportunities to succeed. Lastly, we must be honest with, and respectful of, ourselves and others.

Students in Years 7-11 are about to begin writing their own Term 1 report comments (Year 12 reports will be written by teachers). This process requires students to reflect on their past learning, and then to effectively communicate that reflection via their reports. In order to do so, they will need to carefully consider their own abilities, along with the feedback they have received from their teachers. The end goal is to craft a carefully considered, confidently constructed, creative communication of their plan of action to achieve their goals this school year. This is as much an openly communicated promise to themselves as it is a declaration of intentions for their parents and teachers. We all need to be effective communicators, listening carefully to their needs and working collaboratively to help them achieve those goals.