Rogers Teachers Take Leadership Lessons At Eastside

ROGERS -- Leadership was the curriculum, and teachers were the ones learning this week at Eastside Elementary School.

Students at Eastside, which operates on a continuous learning calendar, were on break the first three days of this week. School staff got their first look at "The Leader in Me" training from Franklin Covey while students were out.

Web Watch

The Leader In Me

For more information about the “7 Habits of Happy Kids” visit www.leaderinme.org/….

At A Glance

What Are The Seven Habits?

• Be proactive: You’re in charge.

• Begin with the end in mind: Have a plan.

• Put first things first: Work first, then play.

• Think win-win: Everyone can win.

• Seek first to understand, then to be understood — Listen before you talk.

• Synergize: Together is better.

• Sharpen the saw: Balance feels best.

Source: The 7 Habits Of Happy Kids

They talked about responsibility and goal-setting, creating life balance and resolving conflict by making a way for both parties to win. This week's training is the launch of a three-year program, said Robin Wilkerson, Eastside principal. The training will help teachers build students into leaders and help both groups set goals, Wilkerson said. It will also build the interpersonal skills of her staff.

"It's just being the best version of yourself," said Rachel Watterson, who teaches a class of fourth- and fifth-graders at Eastside.

"It's making believers out of students so they know they can succeed in school," said Robin Terrell, fifth-grade teacher.

"These are tools for life," said Leanne Lynch, third-grade teacher. "It's not a program. It's a process."

As part of Wednesday's training, they brainstormed positive ideas about each other and read those strengths to their teammates. Faces lit up across the room during the team building exercise.

All school staff -- teachers to bus drivers, secretaries to lunch ladies -- attended training. Eastside received a grant from the I Am a Leader Foundation and matched it with money awarded to the school last year for its high test scores to pay for the program.

"The Leader in Me" training is about changing the culture of the school, said Meg Thompson, general manager of education practice for Franklin Covey. Adults in a school setting have a huge impact on the children who attend there, Thompson said. Training all staff gives the children good adult examples across the board.

"The rules of the game are defined in the way the adults operate," she said.

The seven habits include responsibility, goal setting, prioritizing work over play, creating win-win solutions to conflict, listening, collaboration and balance.

Three years ago the program launched at Mary Mae Jones Elementary in Bentonville.

The concepts are embedded in lessons now, said Mary Jo Price, second-grade teacher. Her students show responsibility by getting ready for lessons each day. Students apply for classroom jobs and are rewarded for the work they do.

"It's not just for hallway discipline," Price said.

Dalene Magsam, parent of a Jones student, said she's picked up on the Leader in Me language from her children. They talk about being "proactive" when they take on chores like taking out the trash, Magsam said.

Her third-grader came home from school talking about her circle of control. She can't control her brother's actions, her daughter said, but she can control her mood.

"I've been trying to teach her that for eight years," Magsam said.

Second-grader Thomas Aldridge can recite the seven habits by heart.

He set leadership goals in his notebook at Jones last year and tracked his reading level. A few of his charts got completely colored in, he said. He applied for a classroom job as line leader, a title he got again this year and takes seriously.

A line leader, he said, is supposed to set the example for everyone behind them.

Children take a leadership role at Jones, said Ashley Williams, principal.

Fourth-graders run a postal service within the school, and expert shoe tiers are on hand to teach their classmates. Her question is: Can a kid do that? When students lead they build confidence, Williams said.

"We, as adults, don't step back enough," she said.

Goal-setting and leadership is part of the program, Williams said.

The core of the program has lessons such as listening before speaking or resolving conflicts by creating wins for both sides. Teachers have to learn the lessons first, she said.

"We have to start with us as adults and use an inside-out approach in order for it to be real," she said.

Rogers teachers said the training they got is more useful precisely because it isn't just a set of lessons to teach.

The training will build their personal relationships, teachers said, and that base will help them help children.

Nicole DeMarea, fourth-grade teacher at Eastside, said it was as if someone handed her a toolbox instead of a textbook.

It's a change in atmosphere, said Audra Butcher, fourth-grade teacher at Eastside.

"We're making a new habitat," Butcher said.

NW News on 08/29/2014

Upcoming Events