Weekly Blog Post #1

 Friday, August 16th, 2013.

The IB Learner Profile Evaluation of "Despicable Me"

      Guess what I was doing on this Friday evening? I am babysitting the children of the parents who came to the PTO event! As you may or may not know, I am the president of this year's National Honor Society, and I have been put in charge of organizing the babysitting corner. At first, I was a little bit worried (though I apparently appeared otherwise to the people around me), but as time went by and things went according to plan, I relaxed. And after all, the evening went on smoothly. But the point of my blog post is not to show off my accomplishment. 

      We had put up "Despicable me" for the children to watch in the later part of the evening. I had been walking to and fro around the school as I checked up on the children and the volunteers who had come to help out. But even during my restless walking routine, I found time to watch portions of the movie. And its plot made me reflect about the IB Learner Profile we had discussed in class.

      One of the traits the IB program strives to improve in the students is "caring". The main character, Gru, learned to become caring and affectionate as he lived with the three little girls. Originally, he acted distant and grumpy, not allowing them to do anything ("Don't breathe. Don't make annoying sounds." and all). But as time went by, the little girls managed to make him soften and open up to the world of love, especially the youngest one Elsie. The girls' affection and tenderness touched Gru's heart, and made him turn into a caring person. You had asked us to create an action plan to improve our areas of weakness. Although out improvement does depend on the way we think and our efforts to become better, I think that it may not only depend on us. As depicted in "Despicable me", Gru may not have become a more caring person if he had not been exposed to the children's tender affection. He may not have learned the importance to love and care if he had not lived around them and was exposed to their cuteness and adorableness. When I think about it, care cannot be achieved by one person alone. Care is given to others, shared with others, because it is a mutual feeling.

      I think I'm getting fumbled up in what I am trying to say, possibly because I am in the middle of volunteers asking me what I want them to do next and children who are asking me for this and that. Point being, I think that the traits on the IB Learner Profile can be developed through mutual help, not just the individual concerned. Students will learn more effectively when they are actually exposed to situations that will help them realize the importance of a particular trait, or when they are around people who exhibit a particular trait. Just like Gru learned "caring" when he was around the little girls and lived in an environment full of family, care and love, the students will learn to improve the characteristics of an IB learner when they are in an environment filled with the need for these traits and are around people who have these traits (at least partially more accented than themselves).