TFS - Canada's International School

Have you walked in our woods today? There are two things to understand about eco-leader and social sciences teacher Josette Bouchard: she was brought up in Germany's Black Forest and can trace her ancestral history as Maîtres des eaux et forêts back to 16 th century France. Secondly, she learned from her parents, including her father, D)UHQFKPLOLWDU\DGPLQLVWUDWLYHRIÀFHULQWKH%ODFN)RUHVW region after World War II, to improve the lives of others and have a growth mindset. One early instance in her TFS career saw Harry Giles, the school's co-founder, ask Mme Bouchard what she would do if she didn't have any textbooks. Her answer was that she would create them herself. And she did. Then there was the time Mme Bouchard was asked to teach art and the history of art according to British A and O levels. She did that too and loved it. Mme Bouchard's growth mindset and joyous spirit for learning were more recently ignited when she observed an increased call to action to incorporate ecology and eco-stewardship into the curriculum of IB schools. She and fellow colleagues began advocating for the opening of our portion of the Don Valley ravine as a priceless resource for teaching and learning. In 2009, their impassioned arguments paid off, and Mme Bouchard and her students together learned to map the ravine and its ecosystems, and to understand what a natural environment in the city feels, sounds and looks like. "When you are in nature, you use all your senses," she says, "so on a warm day, you smell and feel the humidity." In other words, being in nature makes you more attuned to and observant of the world around you. Since then, many study units within the Middle Years Program (Grade 6 through Level III) have been developed to incorporate the ravine. More and more students and their teachers are regularly experiencing "learning about nature and learning in nature," says Mme Bouchard. This now includes two outdoor classrooms that are also mobile WiFi hot spots, so students can bring down their laptops and collaborate, employing their growth mindset in a living world. All in the family Alara O., Level IV, understands challenge. She arrived at TFS from her native Turkey in Grade 7, speaking neither French nor English. Fortunately for Alara, her mother had a long-standing passion for neuroscience and psychology, and daily conversations included concepts like the growth mindset. Alara chose TFS, in particular, to challenge KHUVHOI1RZLQKHUÀUVW\HDURIWKH IB's Diploma Program (DP), she is taking Higher Level English, Higher Spanish and Standard French to keep up the challenge. But before the DP, Alara had to complete the Personal Project, the culminating activity of the Middle Years Program, and she found inspiration for it in her life. Competing for a position on an external competitive volleyball team in Levels II-III, along with managing her academic life, was hard. "I wasn't improving," she says, "I was avoiding challenges and was focused on the outcome, not the approach. I decided to change the way I looked at both volleyball and school, valuing my effort and competing only against myself." She ended up playing better than she ever had before and succeeding at school. This experience informed her decision to choose the growth mindset as the topic for her Personal Project. Encouraged to share her research and experiences, Alara started The Mind of Success society this fall, open to all Senior School students. Says Alara, "It can help a lot of people, and I'm beginning to see a shift in this direction in the entire school." Josette Bouchard with Alara O., Level IV. 15 TFS ENTRE NOUS 2016

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