Principally Speaking

March brings our focus to the seventh habit, Sharpen the Saw. Each month since August, students have been learning the Seven Habits for Highly Effective People. They have developed academic and personal goals and  teachers have displayed school wide goals and measures in the classroom. We have talked about deposits and withdrawals in students’ Emotional Bank Accounts; you may have heard your child talk about “filling somebody’s bucket.” This refers to taking time to complement others, or physically doing something nice for another person, which in turn leaves you feeling good about yourself.

Examples of the habits have been communicated while studying social studies, reading language arts, science and math. Habits have been discussed as a measure of solving problems, organizing materials and prioritizing tasks. Teachers have modeled the seven habits and students have been demonstrating that they understand each habit a little more as the year progresses.  

Students have also experienced leadership roles in their classroom and school-wide. Our  Leadership model  looks successful in its first year,  but we have a lot more work to do. Next year we will be doing more work with data notebooks, student led conferences and students will gain a deeper understanding of the habits by actually living the habits rather than defining them. Students who make errors in judgment are expected to be proactive and take responsibilities for their actions resulting in turning that error into a learning opportunity as opposed to going home and not sharing the entire story with parents, or causing teachers and administrators to  take time investigating  issues only to discover that a student’s honesty would have prevented wasted time and effort.  The goal is for students to learn what it feels like to have integrity.

We are well on our way to Lighthouse status as a Leadership school. Resources for parents include the books The Leader In Me,  The Seven Habits of Happy Kids and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens. Parents may check these out from our school library.  Parents may also want to read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families.

Next year, we will also be preparing for a Leadership Day that we hope many parents will attend.