Steps Toward Becoming and IB School

Last week all the fifth graders spent their science and religion classes learning a little about reasons and ways to reduce food waste in order to create presentations about our school wide snack composting program to bring to all of the other classes in the building. They were excited to do research for their presentations and include facts and statistics from their research to take into the other classes. This was mostly a student driven inquiry process where I gave them some parameters, grouped them, and then did my best to stand back and offer support only when they asked for it, or it seemed necessary to help them get over a hurdle in order to meet our goal of having the program ready to be up and running for next week. Some of the students were apprehensive about approaching other teachers to schedule their presentations and others were nervous about presenting to the much younger or older grades. But everyone was engaged in the process and most were reflecting on their past food choices with an eye for making different ones going forward. One boy told me, "I feel bad about what I've done before and I think I need to talk to my mom about how we can compost at home." After reminding him that he doesn't need to feel bad about his past behaviors, especially before he knew about food waste, he started gathering information on how he can better deal with food waste in his own home going forward. Student initiated action based on their learning in the classroom is the best!

We also spent a couple of class periods coming up with our Essential Agreements for the new school year. These are the International Baccalaureate's version of classroom rules, and are meant to be student driven, set the tone for collaboration, and create shared expectations. Students were given the opportunity to discuss classroom expectations and then independently write down their top five classroom expectations for consideration in our Essential Agreements. The complete list was compiled and we came up with seven common ideas. I'd really prefer to have five or fewer ideas, but the students were reluctant to combine the remaining ideas, even when they saw overlap within them. So seven it is.  One girl said, at the heart of our Essential Agreements, is the idea that "we want everyone to feel safe and like they belong at school."  I think they're understanding important IB ideals already! 

Here are our Essential Agreements for the 2016-2017 school year:

• Take responsibility for your actions.
• Be considerate and respectful of others and their property.
• Be prepared with needed materials.
• Adjust your volume and actions to meet the activity.
• Listen to the speaker without interrupting
• Follow directions.
• Include and help others. 

Look closely at the idea on the board and then the boys in

the middle. I think they are already practicing this one!