No Prep Plans: IB Learner Profile in Action — Balanced

No Prep Plans: IB Learner Profile in Action — Balanced Weekly Schedule Redesign | Grades 6–8

Put the IB Learner Profile attribute of Balanced into action with a practical project that asks students to confront a challenge they experience every day: there are only 168 hours in a week!

In this engaging lesson, students become Alex’s Life Design Team. Alex is a fictional student trying to fit school, homework, activities, friends, family, gaming, social media, exercise, meals, downtime, and sleep into one overloaded week. Students analyze where the time is going, investigate recommendations for healthy habits, identify areas of imbalance, and then make the difficult trade-offs necessary to build a more sustainable schedule.

The goal isn’t to create a “perfect” week. Students discover that being Balanced means making intentional choices that support intellectual, physical, emotional, and social wellbeing.

WHAT’S INCLUDED
- Teacher Directions designed for 1–2 class periods (45–60 minutes each)
- Balanced: Weekly Schedule Redesign Overview
- Mini Research Questions
- 5-Step Group Activity
- 3 Student Activity Pages
- Full-color student pages
- Printer-friendly black-and-white student pages

STUDENTS WILL
Students will analyze how time is currently being used, compare choices with research-based recommendations, distinguish between wants and needs, and consider the consequences of their decisions. They’ll then redesign Alex’s week while ensuring that their new schedule still totals exactly 168 hours.
Along the way, students must answer some challenging questions: What deserves to be protected? What can be reduced? What happens when something unexpected requires five additional hours? Can a schedule look productive and still be unhealthy?
These decisions push students beyond simply creating a timetable and toward thinking critically about priorities, trade-offs, wellbeing, and sustainability.

SKILLS PRACTICED
- Time management
- Prioritization
- Critical thinking
- Research
- Data analysis
- Decision-making
- Problem-solving
- Evaluating trade-offs
- Collaboration
- Reflection
- Personal and social wellbeing

PERFECT FOR
- IB Learner Profile instruction
- Advisory
- Homeroom
- Project-Based Learning
- SEL lessons
- Executive-functioning instruction
- Time-management lessons
- Beginning-of-year or semester resets
- Enrichment
- Grades 6–8

Low prep, highly relevant, and built around a real-life problem middle school students understand. Students don't just define what it means to be Balanced—they have to make the choices that balance requires.

IB DISCLAIMER
This is an independently created educational resource designed to support concepts associated with the IB Learner Profile.
International Baccalaureate® (IB) and related terms are trademarks of the International Baccalaureate Organization. This resource is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or produced by the International Baccalaureate Organization. References to the IB Learner Profile are for educational and alignment purposes only.