Nov. 8, 2013 Updated: Nov. 8, 2013 10:32 p.m. 17 DANBURY -- After 140 area ninth- through 12th-graders brainstormed ways to improve the culture of their schools Friday, Danbury High. Here, they presented medallions for students and praised specific achievements. For example, one school created a weekly event called Fabulous Friday, which opened students up to a variety of fun activities. Instead, create school norms that focus on building positive values in your class. Decide which examples, stories, facts, statistics, testimonials and quotes will be most helpful in explaining and supporting your message. Use surveys to gather feedback about your school's adult culture, suggestions for improving it, reflections on PD sessions, and other creative community-building ideas. Provide students with opportunities to shadow different industries, nonprofits, and entrepreneurs. Ultimately, if you have a positive school culture, every stakeholder feels a sense of pride when one of these programs or individuals is successful. When students believe that the rules are fair and consistently enforced, it goes a long way toward building trust. Culture is shaped by five interwoven elements, each of which principals have the power to influence: Each of these components influences and drives the others, forming a circle of reinforcing beliefs and actions, Bridwell-Mitchell says; strong connections among every member of the school community reinforce the circle at every point. But be specific. Build strong relationships Your success at creating a well-managed school depends more than anything else on the quality of the relationships that teachers forge with students. Generic, overly generalized comments such as Good job! dont really help. The school day and school year should be punctuated with time for fun. Your private school must encourage collaboration during classroom activities to bring students together and learn as one. The classroom has become a place that serves to support a students holistic growth mind, body,andheart. So, if your school has enough funding or budget, you should consider integrating innovative learning methods. Student performance is closely linked to teaching quality, which means teachers have an important role to play in creating a strong school culture. How to create a great school culture and environment: 1. Both you and your staff play a huge part in this aspect of your school culture. How do you want teachers and students to feel when they walk into school every morning? Surprisingly enough, the physical surroundings of students and teachers has a huge impact on the culture of your school. Challenge students to rise above the bar because you know they can do it. Copyright 2021. Create a team consisting of administrators, teachers, parents, and students to help shape changes to school culture. The same expectations need to apply in the classroom, the gym and the cafeteria. Schools can be a microcosm for cultural debates more broadly. Within that weak or strong structure, what exactly people believe and how they act depends on the messages both direct and indirect that the leaders and others in the organization send. It should not be discounted. As we mentioned above, starting the process of improving your school culture involves analyzing the current situation of your school. Put students in the driver's seat and work with them as a listener, learner, and guide. This includes. You have a list of qualities and values that you want to see in your teachers and students. These general strategies are not the end all be all solution, but they can aid in the development of a positive school culture. This makes teachers the most responsible for creating a positive school culture. This doesn't just refer to actual safety concerns and physical hazards; more important, your team should feel safe in placing their trust and confidence in you and each other. Collaboration among students is one way of building camaraderie. Coaches and sponsors responsible for these programs must provide the participants with everyone opportunity to be successful Programs and individuals within these programs should be recognized for their accomplishments. Tough decisions will have to be made. Here are eight ways for improving school culture based on the Boys Town Education Model, which has helped hundreds of troubled schools turn their school culture around. The TEEN TRUTH: School Culture Workshop is an educator-focused, professional development workshop featuring award-winning content from TEEN TRUTH, powerful speaking performances, and interactive sessions. Concordias Associate Professor of Education,Julie Owens,agrees: Move away from constantly complaining; it is okay to not like how things are, but complaining gets you nowhere. They might say their school has a good culture when teachers are expressing a shared vision and students are succeeding or that they need to work on school culture when several teachers resign or student discipline rates rise. Teachers help this process through a variety of ways. Complimenting a specific behavior (Thanks for showing respect to our visiting guest), on the other hand, reinforces that particular behavior. To involve parents in your school culture, give them a platform for feedback on classroom activities or school programs. in their school culture. An example of a ceremony recognizing students for outstanding achievements -- in this case, Waresboro Elementary recognized 17 students for excellence in "scholarship, responsibility, leadership, and service." Students look to school leaders and teachers to model empathy, kindness, and maturity. It affects attitudes toward spending time to improve instruction, motivation to attend workshops, and the [activities] people choose to participate in, Peterson says. When people walk into your school, they should immediately seeandfeel the schools culture. Over the past few weeks as I have reflected on this, I have come to believe that it may be the single most important factor for school success. If we took this time right now, here are a few suggestions on how we could potentially make school a better fit for the times ahead. That was a pivotal point for me. Shaping School Culture: How to Build Positive School Culture And teachers tend to agree: in one study by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, almost 80% of K-8 classroom teachers surveyed agreed that digital games have improved student mastery of curricular content.

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