C A S U P DAT E
Developing Habits of Mind While a significant proportion of school life is spent on academic learning, Kristin’s focus on getting the students ‘Future Ready’ emphasises the importance of learning as a personal journey of selfdiscovery, which takes it far beyond learning in classrooms. Creativity, Action and Service (CAS) enables students to enhance their personal and interpersonal development through opportunities for self-determination and collaboration with others” (IBO.org, 2022). It was wonderful to see the enthusiasm of our new Diploma students exploring different CAS opportunities, and the usual hustle-and-bustle return to our Year 13 students’ co-curricular commitments. Appreciation of CAS as a counterbalance to the academic pressures of the Diploma Programme, alongside an incredible set of academic results, attests to the quality of the holistic education Kristin provides. We recognise that learning is not just about academic content but it is about how we approach life as lifelong learners. An important part of this is the capacity to reflect, a skill set that our CAS programme is designed to teach to enable its expansion into other areas of learning. A framework we have introduced to teach the students how to reflect is “Habits of Mind”. For each cycle, students are introduced to a Habit of Mind (such as persisting, listening with understanding and empathy, thinking about thinking, thinking flexibly), encouraged to think about it in all aspects of their lives, even out of school, and given opportunities to reflect on it. It is also a chance to get students more familiar with unpacking IB Learner Profile attributes and Approaches to Learning. I have the huge pleasure and privilege of being able to read the reflections of our IB Diploma Programme students: a wonderful insight into their commitment to learning, the experiential learning journey they are on, and their consequential growth, which ultimately is what CAS is all about. I wish I could share so much more of these reflections in all of their glory; enjoy the snippets of Habits of Mind reflections from a handful of Senior School students this year.
L I S T E N I N G W I T H U N D E R S TA N D I N G A N D E M PAT H Y
"This week was quite busy with assessments but I took time to listen to the feelings of others who must have been feeling stressed. Even though I had my own worries and pressures, I listened empathetically and gave them encouragement. I understood how they were feeling because I had felt the same before. I didn't draw attention to my own struggles at that moment but comforted them. Doing this actually relieved some of my own worries as the words of support I was telling them were applicable to me as well.” PERSISTING
“For this cycle, it was important to persist in my studies and extracurriculars, especially in physics and chemistry, of which tests are upcoming within the next week. The physics content has been difficult to adapt to, and I often found it discouraging when my answers were not correct. However, I realise it takes practice to regulate this, and I practice every day to maximise my improvement. Unfortunately, this sounds a lot easier than it actually is. In future, I would like to learn to ease the pressure I put on myself for making mistakes, as this appears to be the hardest response when practicing persistence.” T H I N K I N G F L E X I B LY
“Last week, I thought I lost my AirPods. Because I was so determined on my logic of last seeing my AirPods at school, I thought I've lost it at school and someone had taken it from where I've left it. But I couldn't find them anywhere. When I returned home, I had to re-think my logic. A more thorough search in my room found the Airpods in my closet, camouflaged on a white plastic bag. The lack of possibilities I thought of and my stumbling logic contributed to the stress built up over losing my AirPods, which showed me how I required more flexible thinking in daily life. Thinking flexibly to me means to rethink of possibilities in a logical way and take on significant perspectives that would allow me make a wise decision and take an informed action.”
John Cho C A S C O O R D I N ATO R
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