IB PYP Growth Mind-set with Attitude!
A scavenger hunt with attitude! That’s what’s going on here. IB PYP attitudes to be more precise.
As the term growth mind-set sweeps across the educational world, I’d like to point out that we within the IB PYP have been promoting such mind-set for a very long time. 
With an emphasis on developing an “I CAN” attitude, growth mind-set promotes courage, confidence, independence, tolerance, enthusiasm, integrity, cooperation, open mindedness, self management and so on. You get the picture? Character education is just another part of the PYP’s comprehensive approach to teaching and learning that focuses on the development of the whole child.
With the newly enhanced PYP being released this year (2018), the IB Attitudes will become a part of the descriptors within the Learner Profile, as the focus on the Learner shifts towards enabling greater student agency. Understanding one’s personal development through the Learner Profile and the underlying attitudes is paramount to developing self efficacy and voice for each and every child.
In the words of Making the PYP Happen,
“by deciding that attitudes need to be an essential element of the programme, the PYP is making a commitment to a values-laden curriculum.”
With 12 attitudes and 10 Learner Profile attributes, it is easy to recognise how, in conjunction with the Approaches to Learning skills, the concepts and knowledge, that the development of a good attitude, not only towards oneself and one’s own learning but also other people, different situations and the environment, ultimately leads to the whole development of a globally minded citizen. When we have a heightened awareness of a positive mind set, we have a greater sense of autonomy in our world.
Explicit & Authentic
To help children to develop their own set of values around the teaching of the IB Attitudes soon to be embedded in the Learner Profile, we have to be explicit with our teaching and modelling of the attitudes .They should become an authentic part of daily classroom life.
- always model – what do these attitudes & attributes look like?
- interpret each attitude/attribute with books, pictures, examples
- raise awareness of when those attitudes are displayed
- discuss the attitudes of characters in books, film, articles
- use your classroom posters often for easy reference
- refer to the attitudes & attributes in reflections
- reward children when they show the attitudes in everyday situations.
- incorporate explicit activities that focus on the attitudes
- add a few attitudes to your daily learning objectives
- focus on Learner Profile attributes within your UOI
I have a selection of books that I like to use throughout the school year, to explicitly teach each attitude. There will be a blog post about those books coming soon and how it will all connect with the Learner Profile. Stay tuned. You can link to another post about books that I’d recommend for teaching and reinforcing the Learner Profile here.
Learning Experiences for Promoting A Positive Attitude
I want to share a few activities that focus on raising an awareness of our own attitudes as well as reinforcing the children’s knowledge of each specific attitude and what it looks like around them.
With a check list of challenges such as “Creativity – design a trap that will catch a fairy unharmed.”or “Tolerance – A kid keeps taking your pencil, how will you deal with this?’ this is a fun, interactive activity that requires the children to look for each attitude within themselves and their day to day lives. I love to use this at the beginning of the school year as a community building type of getting-to know-you activity. I’ve also used it throughout the year when we need to regroup and focus our attention on a particular attitude. ( often tolerance or empathy!! haha! ) It is also great for a reflective review before and during our IB PYP Exhibition. ( namely commitment and cooperation 
) And kids LOVE it when it is handed out as homework too! It really is an all round winner. Click here to check it out.
Less About Perfection. More About Recognition.
As we know only too well, we all have strengths and challenges and not everyone is adept with every attitude, all of the time. It is very important that the kids also know that to err is 
human! Having a growth mind-set is less about being perfect with every attitude all of the time and more about being aware of our attitude and how it can best serve not only ourselves but others as well .
A Round of Drama-Getting to Know the IB Attitudes is a drama circle activity. With a script that demonstrates the importance of having a positive attitude for the good of ourselves and others, it allows the children to act out the attitudes with much hilarity!
If you aren’t familiar with drama circles, check out this post right here. Drama really is a brilliant catch all when it comes to the Approaches to Learning Skills.
Guess the Character Traits Bingo is a superb literacy activity that reinforces what each attitude looks like within different scenarios. Read the text aloud, the children have to identify the attitude of the character within the text and play bingo too. Double fun!
Finally, a week long focus is a great way to reinforce what the attitudes look like for each individual student. With a cute booklet to record their reflective thinking, I use it daily at the beginning of the school year as a way to introduce the attitudes to new kids and to reinforce when we might use each attitude.
With the enhanced PYP coming soon, we have more opportunity than ever to really dive deeply into guiding children towards understanding themselves as very normal human beings interacting with an unpredictable world.
I am planning to create a brand new set of classroom posters specifically for our enhanced PYP. I would love to hear what you’d like. All input welcome, as always!
