“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”
― Martin Luther King, Jr.
When we are reading books that model, inspire, and provoke the discussion of how to express our feelings and thoughts and what attitudes we should show when doing so, we are developing future communicators, as IB defines them. Using the right literature not only shows through the story what we are looking for, but also invites us to actively practice the skill as we discuss the main idea of the story. Check out the book, The Honest-To-Goodness Truth, by Patricia C. McKissack and be ready to have an interesting conversation about the right and wrong way of telling the truth. I’m certain that through this engaging story we can all learn, just like Libby that “Sometimes the truth is told at the wrong time or in the wrong way, or for the wrong reasons, and that can be hurtful. But the honest-to-goodness truth is never wrong”. This is a powerful message that all good communicators should understand and practice.
Listening carefully is an essential part of being a good communicator. Sometimes, kids might think that communicating means talking and talking and saying everything that crosses through their active minds. But, for effective communication to actually happen, we must learn to close our mouth and listen to what others have to say, think, and feel. Not so easy for many of us! That is also the problem of Howard B. Wigglebottom, he needs to learn to listen. Read and enjoy his funny story and reflect on all the possible consequences of not listening carefully.
As kids read and reflect about the stories in our communicators book collection, they are developing their creativity and how to communicate it when talking, writing, or sharing ideas with others just like Charlie and Lola in the charming story: I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child. A must read for all inventive readers, but also for all the picky eaters!!
When you hear the word communicator, you might think that is something easy to do, especially with so many different things that facilitate the “communication” in today’s world: email, text messages, Skype, Facetime, What’s Up and an endless list of new ways. However, sometimes it’s evident that people are not communicating effectively and respectfully. For the IB PYP program developing good communicators is an essential part of the profile of our students. The IB literature explains that communicators “express confidently and creatively in more than one language and in many ways”. Also, a communicator “listens carefully to the perspective of other individuals and groups”. This definition is simple to say, but as we watch the local and world news and even around us in our neighborhood and community, we can conclude that being a communicator is not an easy task.
Communicating is essential for all human beings and we can do it in many ways and many languages. In our school we have a growing collection of books in Spanish that will certainly help our students develop vocabulary and comprehension in this language that for many of our students is their mother tongue. Another extraordinary way that kids can communicate is using the universal languages of art and music. The story, Marianthe’s Story One – Painted Words, by Aliki, illustrates perfectly how Mari can talk and tell a story with her paints. Mari is a young brave girl that comes to a new school without speaking the language, but the wise words of her mom enlightens Mari every day of this difficult journey: “You will look and listen and learn,” she said constantly. And Mari does exactly that and ends up learning by listening and looking. The wisdom of the mom also taught Mari that she could understand in many other ways: “a body can talk”, “eyes speak many words” and “a smile is a smile in any language”. Definitely we have to finish this post with the idea that one of the most powerful ways of communicating is with our actions because actions speak louder than words.
In the Elementary School library we promote the IB learner profile in many ways. Starting today Tuesday, October 14th and until October 31st we are encouraging our Robinson School Elementary students to check out books from the communicator shelf and/or resource list. After reading the book, write on the comments below this post what book you read and why you think it promotes the IB learner profile of communicator. You can also suggest other titles by explaining why they should be added to our communicator’s book collection. On October 31st one student from all the participants will “FALL IN LOVE WITH READING” by winning the new and awesome hardcover book of Loren Long, Otis and the Scarecrow.
#RobinsonLovesReading
#HappyReading
In the Elementary School library we promote the IB learner profile in many ways. Starting today Tuesday, October 14th and until October 31st we are encouraging our Robinson School Elementary students to check out books from the communicator shelf and/or resource list. After reading the book, write on the comments below this post what book you read and why you think it promotes the IB learner profile of communicator. You can also suggest other titles by explaining why they should be added to our communicator’s book collection. On October 31st one student from all the participants will “FALL IN LOVE WITH READING” by winning the new and awesome hardcover book of Loren Long, Otis and the Scarecrow.
#RobinsonLovesReading
#HappyReading