Knights,
It's been quite a spring semester! It always goes by faster than I think it should. Here's what is happening at school over the next couple of weeks.
Caught Being Good
We have been piloting a program in the 6th grade with "Caught Being Good" tickets (CBG for short) and we are expanding it to the 7th and 8th grade. The philosophy behind using a CBG system is to reinforce the social and academic choices that we want students to demonstrate. The categories are professional, respectful, organized, and safe. Students can collect these tickets and turn them in for rewards; such as: sitting with a friend at lunch, sitting outside during lunch, jumping to the front of the lunch line, or something as simple as a pencil. We will continue to develop this program and enhance the student rewards.
They Said What?
If your evenings are anything similar to mine, it includes a conversation with your student(s) about conversations that occurred at school with their peers, some friends and some not friends. Generally, the conversation is funny or impressive, but sometimes it is downright surprising and your left thinking, "they said what?!"
One of the reasons I love being in middle school is because it is a time when students discover a new part of themselves. The changes that occurs from 6th to 8th grade are amazing and can sometimes leave me speechless. This is a time they test boundaries about what is acceptable, learn how to be unique, try to fit in, and struggle to understand themselves (sometimes all in one day).
So back to the that evening conversation. We have been noticing an increase in complaints about the way that students speak to each other, particularly when adults are not around. Most have mastered the expected language in the classroom, but what about the hallways? the cafeteria? the locker room? the bus?
The need for developing tolerance for others and mastering the art of conversation became very apparent this semester when we changed the way students were assigned in the cafeteria. Suddenly, students were eating with other students they didn't really know and it was never more obvious that we needed to work on the skill of talking to each other. Social media certainly isn't helping- acts of intolerance and rudeness are glorified and "getting even" seems to be the theme of many public conversations.
As an team, we have been trying new approaches to help students learn the expected language in public areas around people that are not necessarily their friends. This is one of the things that has inspired our CBG ticket system. We have asked all advisory teachers to discuss appropriate topics and manners in the cafeteria and we are working with the coaches to address concerns in the locker room. I will be working with student groups to help infuse student voice into our reward systems and address other areas that we do not directly see; sometimes students share their thoughts and desires in the "suggestion box" from the school website.
So what should you do with this information? Keep talking to your student and help role play conversations about how to react when someone is rude or inappropriate, monitor their social media accounts and discussions, and challenge your student to find one or two alternative explanations for someone's behavior (what could be happening with them to make them act/say something like that?).
Mistreatment of others isn't acceptable; while the school can issue consequences, the students and parents have the real power to change the way the game is played. Students are the only ones that can actually change the acceptance of poor social behavior- they do this by not engaging, not encouraging, and not accepting that behavior in their peers.
Enough of my soap box...
What Is Coming Up?
Check out the school calendar for a complete list of events and dates. Here are some highlights:
Teacher Appreciation Week
STAAR testing (closed campus)
Soccer (3 games remain in the season)
Spring Choir Concert
Spring Band Concerts (Beginning and 7th/8th grade)
Kickstart Spring Belt Ceremony
Reward Day (8th grade trip to Schlitterbahn and inflatables for 6th/7th grade)
Knight Out! (our version of field day meets carnival)
End of Year Assemblies
The last day of school!