The Magic of Leading Leaders
- Noa Daniel
- May 20, 2016
- 6 min read
This week, we welcomed the team from CAIS (Canadian Accredited Independent Schools) to evaluate every aspect of our school in the hopes of accreditation with their incredible organization. Beginning last spring, there was a lot of paperwork to complete. The efforts of our coordinator were immense, but I was thrilled each time I was given the chance to write something about our offerings outside the classroom. Because of our recent MYP reaccreditation and the rigorous scrutiny of our academic program, the Middle School focus of our evaluation was more about co-curricular activities. Besides having to submit documentation related to our co-curricular offerings, the group of co-curricular coaches and advisors were given one hour to sit with the evaluation team.
Being given time to discuss how we contributed to the school experience was a wonderful gift. The 3 coaches who run a bevy of teams, making our school a great choice for academics and sports enthusiasts, the Debate Team advisor and I sat across the round table from 3 representatives of the evaluation team. They began asking a lot of questions about our sports and debate teams. Then, it was my turn. I could have spoken for hours. The most amazing part was articulating what Student Council and the RS360 looked like at the North Campus of our school
As the Student Council Advisor and RS360 Coordinator, I help students build leadership and communication skills outside of class, mostly over lunch and recess times. I have developed these as two distinct but connected offerings with clearly defined roles. These positions of responsibility fill me as much as my role in the classroom because I can do so much with them. More than that, they have made large contributions to school culture in the short time that I have been in this role.
The RS360 is a vision that I began developing while I was in Maine at a workshop with Stan Davis 5 years ago. The Respectful School Initiative, first started by a few parents, is a committee of administrators, teachers and parents. I was sent to this conference with the administrator who was on the committee. I learned so much in those few days, and I started planning what became the RS360, which stands for Respectful School 360, immediately afterward. When I returned to school that spring, we began an experiment with the Grade 6’s having the students choose to become Lunch Bunch, Fun Budz or RSA’s (Respectful School Ambassadors). I called it the RS360 because I wanted to create a full-circle approach to proactively combat bullying, which we now refer to as peer mistreatment, by creating a culture of kindness. Imbedding culture, though, was going to take some time.
The following year, the RS360 became an arm of Student Council. I developed an organizational chart so that roles were clear. There would be an elected executive, class representatives and committees that any student could join. Proso was created for all programming and social activities. They would run spirit days and holiday activities headed by an elected VP/co-VP’s. The Communications Team, lead by the VP/co-VP’s, would run announcements, the school newspaper, and our TV interviews for the school’s YouTube channel. Last year, we added Sports Desk for weekly updates on school and world sports and a column for sports updates in the student newspaper. The RS360 would be run by the Student Council President who would also be responsible for running RSA meetings and leading the preparation for PINK Shirt Day (which we have renamed P.I.N.K. Shirt Day to stand for Positive, Inclusive, Nurturing and Kind). In addition, class representatives from each gender would join weekly Student Council meetings to disseminate information and share the needs of their classes. Each committee would have a day of the week to meet with their teams. Anyone could sign up for any team limited only by a cap of 30 students for manageability. This way, everyone in the Middle School had place and a way to have a voice.
That year, training for the RS360 members began. Any student in Gr. 5 and up could sign up to the team. I developed a training program and enlisted other teachers to support the students. Training was distinct for each of the sub-teams due to the context of the roles. Issues that faced Fun Budz on the playground were different from challenges leading a lesson for the RSA’s and helping in classrooms for the Lunch Bunch. The following year, money was allocated so that training could culminate with vest decoration. I bought yellow vests from Ikea, purchased fabric markers for personalizing the vests (adding names and images), and I printed the school and RS360 logos for parents to iron onto the vests.
The RS360’s mission is to promote inclusion and respect among the school community. Each part of the team has a different role in order to target the spectrum of the school experience and be manageable for the older students. The RS360 logo (below) came out of a school wide contest and the combination of winning designs from a Gr 2 student and a Grade 7 student.
The Lunch Bunch sign up to go into classrooms from Gr 3 and under, eat lunch with the students and be available to support them as needed. This can be as simple as hang time, but it may also include extra help in Reading or Math. It can even include leading games, which is especially helpful during indoor recesses. Lunch Bunch members usually sign up for 1 day each week and do their “duty” wearing their decorated RS360 vests.
Fun Budz run recess activities for Grade 3 and under. They sign up for a recess and an activity such as four square, soccer, obstacle course etc. targeted to an age group. They help to lead, teach skills or even just referee a game. Fun Budz help make recess more fun by giving students activity options and providing group scenarios, so students don’t have to “find something to do” or “someone to play with”. They can also be extremely helpful while a teacher is on their way when a conflict arises or a student just needs some emotional support. They have become coveted recess features on the two days a week they are on the playground. Students yell, “Fun Budz!” as they run outside.
Respectful School Ambassadors (RSA’s) meet with me weekly to plan monthly or bimonthly lessons for students in Grade 5 and under. The team of RSA’s share their ideas about topics to teach and help scaffold lessons for different grade levels. This year, we have planned complete other lessons to targeted needs. For example, our thrust this year is Digital Citizenship. The lessons for the Preschool have been related to the ABC’s of Digital Literacy and have included such terms as: device, password, user name, search engine and internet/World Wide Web. The Grade 1 and 2 lessons have been more focused on online safety, privacy and permanence. The Grade 3-5 lessons have included gaming, digital tattoos and online safety. I deliver the related lesson to the Middle School students as I teach every Middle School class. This year, more than ever, the age-appropriate needs of the students at each grade level are being addressed because the RSA’s have been so thorough and responsive.
After being interviewed by the CAIS team, I shared some of the materials from the Student Council and RS360 teams. Their feedback made me even prouder than I already was for the great work we are doing. The next evening, I led my first #ONed chat and, though I was behind the ONed handle, the questions were too compelling not to engage. Shauna Pollock, our inspirational guest and author of Creating Classroom Magic, asked about what magic each of us had. I’m not always ready to shout this to the world, but I felt so wonderful from the experience with the CAIS team that I actually pulled out my laptop to answer as myself and wrote, “I nurture students in and outside the classroom.” I felt so fantastic to write it, as if I was confessing a special secret. It’s hard not to feel proud when the work you do is being evaluated and commended by esteemed educators.
Whenever I am asked about leadership in our school, I answer by saying that we have a leadership culture. Every student has a chance of being seen and nurtured as a leader, and the opportunities continue to grow with each new year and student. I have been running student leadership activities for decades now, but this was the first time I really saw this as a truly unique contribution. Supporting formal and informal leadership opportunities is a great way to help build skills, confidence and leaders outside the blocks of class time.
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