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| Tecumseh Annex ROCKs |
Recently at a staff meeting our team had an 'aha moment.' I
will admit I poked the bear here, but isn't that what leaders do? The
discussion was around the topic of The Code of Conduct. One of our school
goals this year is to reduce the number of behavioural incidents particularly
coming from less structured, less supervised times and settings such as lunch
and recess.
I should give you some background here - Tecumseh Annex is a
K-3 school in Vancouver with a reputation for excellence in teaching. Our staff strives to go above and beyond to serve our families and community. We are a beacon for social emotional learning, and were recently featured on the
front page of the Vancouver Sun for Lora Bird's (one of our Kindergarten
teachers) work in this area. link to Vancouver Sun Article
Less than 5% of our office incident referrals come from the
classroom. This isn't to say that students never have behaviour concerns
in the classroom, rather seasoned teachers who are child centred build excellent classroom systems to support students with their behaviour. They deliver engaging lessons, and have interwoven
opportunities for students to practice self-regulation throughout the day.
Yet, over the last few years we have seen a trend that I believe
many educators will identify with - while students can manage in structured
settings like the classroom, things tend to fall apart in unstructured settings
such as lunch, recess, transitions, etc.
Makes sense right? Our students can and do demonstrate
strong pro-social skills under the guidance of an adult, but struggle to do the
same independently. And there seems to be a logical solution... increase
the adult supervision. At Tecumseh Annex this is what we have done, and
will remain doing - thoughtful placement of adult supervision to minimize
student conflict in predictable settings.
But here's the rub and the simple reason why we cannot stop here.
Isn't the goal of education, be it academic or social emotional learning,
to teach kids to be independent? Isn't the playground the best opportunity for
kids to practice social independence? Doesn't the fact that students are
struggling in these settings to find success suggest another obvious answer -
maybe our kids don't know how. In Ross Green's "Lost at School" he
puts it simply - "kids do well if they can." This premise has always raised a
simple question in my mind - what is it that we need to teach kids so that they can be
successful in these settings?
This brings me back to that 'aha moment.' As a team we were discussing the language we use to teach kids about expectations on the
playground. The discussion centred around our current Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct was the heading for our behavioural expectations at Tecumseh Annex and refers to the expectation that students - Be Safe, and Be Respectful in all settings.
So, insert my question to the team - "Do you think the kids
really care about The Code of Conduct? Does it define our school and
what we do, does it engage them, does it make them excited?"
If someone
were to ask me the same question, I doubt that I would say, "at the heart
of Tecumseh Annex we are The Code of Conduct." I would probably say, first
and foremost, "We have fun!" Again I asked, "Is this
really the 'title' that should frame the language we use to engage our kids in
teaching them how to independently be successful in social situations?"
And that's when it hit... that magic moment when the light
bulbs started going off around the room. Within minutes we were Tecumseh
Annex 'ROCKs.' Ideas for what the acronym stood for were bouncing around
the room - engaging deep conversations about who we are, what we do, what's
important for our kids, staff and community. We were engaged, we were
having fun and we were excited! RESPECT, OPEN MIND, COMMUNITY and KINDNESS - This is the heart of Tecumseh Annex.
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| Respect, Open Mind, Community, Kindness |
Every day for two weeks the teachers have agreed to use classroom
time to take the kids out to the playground setting and teach, role model and
practice what it means to ROCK in those settings.
The supervising adults at lunch and recess will try to catch kids
being successful and acknowledge them with a positive comment and add their
name to our ROCK Star Board. When we reach 500 ROCK Stars we will have a
whole school celebration, dance party and performance of an original song
written by Lora Bird and performed by our students.
We will compare office referrals pre and post ROCK to see if we
are on the right track, and if we have been successful may focus our ROCK initiative in a different direction; lunch room, community building, etc.
And guess what? The kids are pumped, excited and engaged.
Please stay tuned for updates on our progress. A big thank you to
our amazing staff, who never shy away from new ideas and ways of approaching
teaching and learning. To our PAC and their ongoing generous donations
for such initiatives. And to Lisa Sher @ sher designs.
for designing our posters and Rock Stars which so aptly reflect the fun and
engagement we are trying to promote.
What do your school rules say about you?
