IB in Profile: Learning Through Books

Teaching about Caring from the ashes of 9/11
As an IB school, we strive to be internationally-minded and to live the IB learner profile which is represented by ten attributes. These attributes describe a broad range of human capacities and responsibilities that go beyond academics. Together, they imply a commitment to helping JS students to develop a sense of self through learning to respect oneself, to respect others and to respect the world in which we live.
The Learner Profile aims to develop learners who are:
  • Inquirers
  • Knowledgeable
  • Thinkers
  • Communicators
  • Principled
  • Open-minded
  • Caring
  • Risk-takers
  • Balanced
  • Reflective 
In the Junior School, one of the ways that we foster this learning is through our Learner Profile Book-of-the-Month. Each month, every class in the JS receives a book that highlights one of the learner profile attributes. The book helps to illustrate the learner profile attribute and provides for a provocation to discuss, explore, and connect students to their developing learner profile. 

This month’s book is Fireboat: The Adventures of the John J. Harvey by Maria Kalman. It has been twenty years since the events of 9/11. That day and the weeks and months that followed showed the many shades of our shared humanity and this story has helped many people remember and focus on the connection, care and love that the people of New York showed one another during the aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center.

Fireboat touches on the events of 9/11 in age and stage appropriate way. It is about how the people of New York came together and how the fireboat, the John J. Harvey was brought out of retirement to help fight the resulting fires during the aftermath. 

We have chosen Fireboat to help demonstrate the learner profile attribute, CARING and we know the story will help our students connect the many ways we care for one another including family, friends and strangers, alike. 
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