On February 5th, Chicago was hit with yet another snowstorm outside. Inside our building we had another type of storm, a storm of celebration of achievement. This past Wednesday the Junior Team held the Semester 1 Awards Ceremony where we recognized those who throughout the semester displayed the traits of an International Baccalaureate student. We honored students in two ways: by recognizing students based upon the data we collected regarding their performance and through teacher nominations.
By collecting data on attendance and grades, awards were given to those students who were Principled by recognizing their responsibility to themselves and the larger school community by meeting and exceeding our goal for attendance. We honored students who are Thinkers, those who exercised initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to approach complex problems and made the A/B Honor Roll. We honored those who displayed that they are Knowledgeable through their exploration of concepts and ideas, thus acquiring in-depth knowledge and understanding across all of their classes and made the straight A Honor Roll. We especially want to recognize these students: Madalyn Baron, Shantel Lane, and Niambi Smith. Way to go!
Teachers were also given the opportunity to honor two types of students from each of their classes. Growth awards were given to those Inquirers who showed personal and academic development as they continued to work through the struggles of mastering new material, reflected upon their practices, and showed improvement. Achievement awards were given to those students who showed that they were Inquirers as they developed their natural curiosity and enjoyed learning those skills that will make them ready to compete in the college and career marketplace of the 21st century.
The Junior Team appreciates and applauds the efforts of every one of our students and we encourage them all to continue to grow and explore ideas, concepts, and their own ideologies as they move closer to both the ACT in April and their Senior year!