Our journey with Stephen Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" began six years ago. The process began when most teachers at the elementary level where trained in the signature training over three days.
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The school year 2010-2011 began with the addition of data notebooks. Data notebooks included student reading goals, assessment data, spelling lists, menu and other information the teacher wanted to include.
Over the summer of 2011, we painted the gym and included the 8 Habits on the wall. We also attended the 2011 Summer Conference where we learned more about how to incorporate the 8 Habits into our lives and the lives of our students. The fall of the 2011- 2012 school year brought many changes. Those changes included not only the Habits painted on the gym wall, but a redesign of the data notebook, and student led conferences. The data notebook became better used as a reflection of the learning of the student and less about the information from the teacher. Parent teacher conferences in the fall became Parent/Student/Teacher conferences as students came to the table to become part of the team!! By the end of the school year in the spring of 2012, Greenfield had been designated as a LEADER IN ME school. This recognition stands as a reminder of the work we have done and the goal of the future. A banner hangs in our gym as a token from the Covey Foundation of our commitment to the 8 Habits and recognizing each child as a leader! In the summer of 2012, we once again had the pleasure of attending the Summer Conference. The hallways of the school were painted to match the gym and a leadership quote was added to the entryway of the school. When school began in the fall of 2012 (2012-2013), we once again recommitted ourselves to promoting the Leader in every child. To this end we do the following; daily morning meeting with a habit featured and taught each week, recognition for student leaders from each classroom, leadership quote from John Wooden in the hallway above the gym doors. We also continue to tweak the data notebook, which is now called the Leadership notebook. This notebook contains, student assessment data, student goals, spelling and behavior data. We continued to have parent/student/teacher conferences in the fall (at the end of 1st quarter). During this journey, the number of discipline issues has decreased. Students work to solve problems with words and seek to understand the perspective of the other person. We strive to see a student as a whole child; knowing they are so much more than a test score on a piece of paper. This is a journey with Lighthouse status as the destination. However, we feel the learning is in the process for us and our students. During this school year we are working on seeking the next step to take as we journey along. |