The next few weeks at PJS are jam-packed with exciting events:
All of these events provide opportunities for us to deepen our understanding of international mindedness.
Historically, and currently as an IB Candidate School, PJS has been committed to promoting international mindedness. It is embedded in who we are and what we do each day at PJS to help students recognize multiple ways of seeing and engaging with the world.
International mindedness is at the heart of both our PJS Mission and the International Baccalaureate Organization Mission.
The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.
To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.
These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right. (www.ibo.org)
International Mindedness is central to our School Community Covenant:
We take pride in ourselves, our work and our play.
We embrace our community and value our diversity.
We take care of our Earth and its people.
International Mindedness permeates our curriculum and our PYP Program of Inquiry.
Teachers have designed IB Units of Inquiry with the understanding that our students learn through inquiry and exploration of concepts that are engaging, relevant, and universal through local, national, and global perspectives. Our specialists build on student understanding of these units by inviting children to look at concepts through the lenses of their disciplines: language, literature, music, art, physical education and learning through landscapes.
International mindedness is directly linked to the development of the attributes contained within the IB Learner Profile, the PJS Portrait of a Graduate.
The development of these attributes and habits of mind throughout the Primary Years provides the foundation upon which international mindedness will grow and flourish.
Inquirer
Communicator
Knowledgeable
Balanced
Principled
Open Minded
Risk-taker
Reflective
Thinker
Caring
PJS International Fair and International Mindedness
Princeton Junior School may be small, but our teachers and families come from 6 continents! Results from our September 2014 language survey showed that within our small school, more than half of our students either speak or are exposed to a language other than English in the home. PJS families speak German, Mandarin, Telugu, French, Russian, Thai, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Jamaican Patois, Farsi, French, Creole, German, Japanese, Polish, Tagalog, Mien and Krio.
The International fair that is being planned by the Princeton Junior School Parents' Association is a wonderful opportunity for us to learn from one another and celebrate who we are as a school community.
An important aspect of cross-cultural learning is having a deep understanding of one's own culture, an awareness of how it shapes the way that we think and act. This self-knowledge provides a framework for the interpretation of the beliefs and behavior of others.
The Iceberg Model of Culture pictured below reminds us of the need to dig deeper in order to understand the relationship between the visible and non-visible aspects of culture, how the submerged aspects directly influence those on the "tip" of the iceberg. For example, what people wear (a visible aspect of culture) may be influenced by notions of beauty or religious beliefs (non-visible aspects of culture). For this reason, our Program of Inquiry aims to focus on what we can learn from these less visible aspects of culture. But most importantly, instead of looking at surface level differences, we encourage students to pay attention to the many connections that we share.
- IB Authorization Visit (April 16-17)
- Family Yoga and Potluck Dinner (April 17)
- Earth Week (April 20-24)
- Thai Dinner (April 24)
- Founders' Day (May 1)
- International Fair (May 2)
All of these events provide opportunities for us to deepen our understanding of international mindedness.
Historically, and currently as an IB Candidate School, PJS has been committed to promoting international mindedness. It is embedded in who we are and what we do each day at PJS to help students recognize multiple ways of seeing and engaging with the world.
International mindedness is at the heart of both our PJS Mission and the International Baccalaureate Organization Mission.
The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.
To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.
These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right. (www.ibo.org)
International Mindedness is central to our School Community Covenant:
We take pride in ourselves, our work and our play.
We embrace our community and value our diversity.
We take care of our Earth and its people.
International Mindedness permeates our curriculum and our PYP Program of Inquiry.
Teachers have designed IB Units of Inquiry with the understanding that our students learn through inquiry and exploration of concepts that are engaging, relevant, and universal through local, national, and global perspectives. Our specialists build on student understanding of these units by inviting children to look at concepts through the lenses of their disciplines: language, literature, music, art, physical education and learning through landscapes.
International mindedness is directly linked to the development of the attributes contained within the IB Learner Profile, the PJS Portrait of a Graduate.
The development of these attributes and habits of mind throughout the Primary Years provides the foundation upon which international mindedness will grow and flourish.
Inquirer
Communicator
Knowledgeable
Balanced
Principled
Open Minded
Risk-taker
Reflective
Thinker
Caring
PJS International Fair and International Mindedness
Princeton Junior School may be small, but our teachers and families come from 6 continents! Results from our September 2014 language survey showed that within our small school, more than half of our students either speak or are exposed to a language other than English in the home. PJS families speak German, Mandarin, Telugu, French, Russian, Thai, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Jamaican Patois, Farsi, French, Creole, German, Japanese, Polish, Tagalog, Mien and Krio.
The International fair that is being planned by the Princeton Junior School Parents' Association is a wonderful opportunity for us to learn from one another and celebrate who we are as a school community.
An important aspect of cross-cultural learning is having a deep understanding of one's own culture, an awareness of how it shapes the way that we think and act. This self-knowledge provides a framework for the interpretation of the beliefs and behavior of others.
The Iceberg Model of Culture pictured below reminds us of the need to dig deeper in order to understand the relationship between the visible and non-visible aspects of culture, how the submerged aspects directly influence those on the "tip" of the iceberg. For example, what people wear (a visible aspect of culture) may be influenced by notions of beauty or religious beliefs (non-visible aspects of culture). For this reason, our Program of Inquiry aims to focus on what we can learn from these less visible aspects of culture. But most importantly, instead of looking at surface level differences, we encourage students to pay attention to the many connections that we share.
The image by James Penstone is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
So, what is International mindedness?
It is a way of thinking that develops over time, a frame of mind, a philosophy that leads us to a deeper and broader understanding of the complexities of the world and our roles within it. It is the ability to perceive the world with a strong sense of self while remaining open to the perspectives and values of others with the understanding that while differences on an individual level may appear large, there are greater commonalities that we all share as human beings.
As we prepare for these upcoming events at PJS (and in celebration of National Poetry Month!) please enjoy the poem, "Human Family," by Maya Angelou.
It is a way of thinking that develops over time, a frame of mind, a philosophy that leads us to a deeper and broader understanding of the complexities of the world and our roles within it. It is the ability to perceive the world with a strong sense of self while remaining open to the perspectives and values of others with the understanding that while differences on an individual level may appear large, there are greater commonalities that we all share as human beings.
As we prepare for these upcoming events at PJS (and in celebration of National Poetry Month!) please enjoy the poem, "Human Family," by Maya Angelou.
Human Family
-Maya Angelou
I note the obvious differences
in the human family,
some of us are serious,
some thrive on comedy.
Some declare their lives are lived
as true profundity,
and others claim they really live
the real reality.
The variety of our skin tones
can confuse, bemuse, delight,
brown and pink and beige and purple,
tan and blue and white.
I’ve sailed upon the seven seas
and stopped in every land,
I’ve seen the wonders of the world,
not yet one common man.
I know ten thousand women
called Jane and Mary Jane,
but I’ve not seen any two
who really were the same.
Mirror twins are different
although their features jibe,
and lovers think quite different thoughts
while lying side by side.
We love and lose in China,
we weep on England’s moors,
and laugh and moan in Guinea,
and thrive on Spanish shores.
We seek success in Finland,
are born and die in Maine.
In minor ways we differ,
in major we’re the same.
I note the obvious differences
between each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.
We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.
We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.
-Maya Angelou
I note the obvious differences
in the human family,
some of us are serious,
some thrive on comedy.
Some declare their lives are lived
as true profundity,
and others claim they really live
the real reality.
The variety of our skin tones
can confuse, bemuse, delight,
brown and pink and beige and purple,
tan and blue and white.
I’ve sailed upon the seven seas
and stopped in every land,
I’ve seen the wonders of the world,
not yet one common man.
I know ten thousand women
called Jane and Mary Jane,
but I’ve not seen any two
who really were the same.
Mirror twins are different
although their features jibe,
and lovers think quite different thoughts
while lying side by side.
We love and lose in China,
we weep on England’s moors,
and laugh and moan in Guinea,
and thrive on Spanish shores.
We seek success in Finland,
are born and die in Maine.
In minor ways we differ,
in major we’re the same.
I note the obvious differences
between each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.
We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.
We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.