Keystone Magazine Learning the Keystone Way 2015-2016 EN | Page 111

thinking and doing these tasks
and more time with each other
and participating in the greater
life of the school.” For instance
Jenny Small, middle and high
school Design and Visual Arts
teacher, organized the students
on her floor to create an Easter
tree. “ The idea was to make
something collaboratively to
help build community on the
floor and to give our floor a little
personality,” says Ms. Small
In my experience, the greatest
impact on a child’s character is
when an adult personally en-
gages with a child, and expertly
guides him or her through diffi-
cult times. Teaching the lessons
of moral courage, or dealing
with negative peer pressure
or dishonesty can be taught
directly in a teachable moment
through trust-based conversa-
tions and self-reflection. Some
of the most powerful lessons
of character have emerged
from such intimate exchanges.
Drawing from our community’s
shared values, our students are
asked to reflect on how their ac-
tions either exemplify or detract
from a particular shared value,
such as honesty or compassion.
Great progress has been made
in this area, and our students
who initially found residential
life and its structures difficult to
follow have shown greater ac-
quisition of the skills and values
needed to function in a close
knit community through self
reliance, independence, effec-
tive decision making, honesty,
reflection, and more.
The Keystone residential com-
munity extends beyond life on
campus and the dorms. Resi-
dential faculty members plan
and organize trips and activi-
ties throughout each weekend
that inculcate the IB learner
values of risk taking and knowl-
edge. More and more of our
boarders voluntarily join these
activities that include outdoor
experiences, cultural aware-
ness trips, service opportuni-
ties, and more. In particular, our
girls are pushing themselves
to be more self-reliant and
risk taking. The residential life
curriculum is not a sequential
program of a series of pre-set
lessons; it is an organic pro-
gram, which reflects differen-
tiation and response to current
student needs, interests and
pivotal events in the school
calendar. It is often tied to the
advising curriculum, such as in
discussions about peer pres-
sure, goal setting and study
skills. It grows and evolves with
the Keystone residential com-
munity, as we grow with it.
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