Principally Speaking

Welcome back to an exciting new school year! We continue our journey as a Leader In Me school, in addition to adding a handful of new classrooms and teachers. Our enrollment has grown! We have added four new classrooms resulting in some innovative  combination classes and an autistic class. As we embrace Common Core Standards and plan for in depth project base learning, we are stepping into a new world of teaching and learning along with establishing  many leadership opportunities for our students. We look forward to a rewarding school year. Please plan on attending Back to School Night scheduled for August 15th at 6:00 p.m. We will initially meet in the multi-purpose room and then branch out into the classrooms. Hope to see all parents in attendance. 

By now, you have certainly heard of Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The Seven Habits are embraced by boardrooms, government offices, and corporate universities around the world. It helps with organization, character and time management. There have been a number of books since the Seven Habits including; The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Children and The Leader in Me.  Applying these principles in a school setting and  allowing students to be leaders by understanding  and embracing their strengths is the goal of our Leadership School. We are committed to establishing these principles at North Country School. By teaching the skills of self-discipline, self-reliance and self-confidence, we believe  that we will be teaching life skills which are required in order to become productive adults. All students from Transitional Kindergarten to sixth grade are taught the leadership skills of the seven habits. Every teacher, every staff member is following through with teaching the seven habits in order to empower students to be the best they can be. All students will be held to a high standard in a loving, respectful way. We began our journey as a leadership school in August and will continue on this path. Will our students understand and exemplify all seven habits in one year? They can certainly define them, but putting them into practice takes practice.  As parents, you can help by using “habits language” at home. You will be amazed at how well this works at home if you are consistent and firm with your expectations.  For example, if your child has problems cleaning his/her room, you might say, “Put first things first. First, pick up your clothes, next, put all of these toys away. Then call me and let’s see what the next step should be. When it is finished, you may then ________.  As each year progresses, your children will come home using this language more often and will be better equipped to deal with challenges using these problem-solving steps both at home and at school. 

Independence or Self-Mastery

The First Three Habits surround moving from dependence to independence (i.e., self mastery):

Habit 1: Be Proactive

Synopsis: Take initiative in life by realizing that your decisions (and how they align with life's principles) are the primary determining factor for effectiveness in your life. Take responsibility for your choices and the subsequent consequences that follow.

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

Synopsis: Self-discover and clarify your deeply important character values and life goals. Envision the ideal characteristics for each of your various roles and relationships in life.
 

Habit 3: Put First Things First
Synopsis: Plan, prioritize, and execute your week's tasks based on importance rather than urgency. Evaluate whether your efforts exemplify your desired character values, propel you toward goals, and enrich the roles and relationships that were elaborated in Habit 2.



Interdependence
The next three have to do with Interdependence (i.e., working with others):

Habit 4: Think Win-Win
Synopsis: Genuinely strive for mutually beneficial solutions or agreements in your relationships. Value and respect people by understanding a "win" for all is ultimately a better long-term resolution than if only one person in the situation had gotten his way.
 

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood
Synopsis: Use empathetic listening to be genuinely influenced by a person, which compels them to reciprocate the listening and take an open mind to being influenced by you. This creates an atmosphere of caring, respect, and positive problem solving.

Habit 6: Synergize
Synopsis: Combine the strengths of people through positive teamwork, so as to achieve goals no one person could have done alone. Get the best performance out of a group of people through encouraging meaningful contribution, and modeling inspirational and supportive leadership.


Self Renewal
The Last habit relates to self-rejuvenation:

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
Synopsis: Balance and renew your resources, energy, and health to create a sustainable, long-term, effective lifestyle.