Samra Jara connects International Baccalaureate learner profiles to Portrait and journalism
Samra Jara, a junior at BELLA, explains how the IB learner profiles align with Portrait attributes. She describes writing an article on ICE that developed her communication, critical thinking, global citizenship, and academic preparedness.
Oh, okay.
Good afternoon.
My name is Samra Jara.
I'm a current junior at BELLA, short for Brooklyn Emerging Leaders Academy, which is the only full IB school and all-girl charter high school located in the Bed-Stuy area.
To understand how our school system meets the requirements of Portrait of a Graduate with journalism, one must first understand the International Back Your Let program.
The International Back Your Let program consists of 10 learner profiles, five of which already align with the six key attributes of POG, Portrait of a Graduate.
Those being critical thinkers, knowledgeable, communicator, open-minded, and reflective.
Now you may be wondering, where does journalism play into this?
Journalism is the main component here.
Students and learners gain the key attributes of POG through journalism.
Last year, I wrote an article for my school newsroom, The Hive, that mentioned political stances and the ongoing situation involving ICE.
When writing this article, I acquired the effective communicator attribute, critical thinker attribute, global citizen attribute, and academically prepared attribute.
Four attributes from Portrait of a Graduate through journalism.
When pitching this idea to Ms.
Lauren, my journalism teacher, I went through various stages of reporting that included analyzing data, researching, and interviewing.
Being an effective communicator happened when publishing this article and speaking against the injustices towards my community.
Being a global citizen was enabled when interviewing the people who were impacted by ICE and even the people who had their own opinions.
All these students and staff who
who have decided to come here and participate are here because they are passionate about including journalism in all schools for education.
Thank you for your time.