Yes, we have had some pretty serious incidents by a very small group of students that fly directly in the face of the type of culture we would like to see at New Tech. Boys bathroom has been trashed a couple of times; language that students have been using toward each other and staff has been inappropriate; students being rude at the Servery during break and lunch.
To combat this trend New Tech has created some programs we hope will be effective. The advisories are now set up (freshmen with juniors, sophomores with seniors) to allow a "buddying up" to occur with the objective that the younger students will learn from the older ones. The Leadership class is working with the Advisory Committee to develop a program called "Take a Stranger to Lunch" pairing seniors with freshmen and sophomores with juniors to increase positive interactions. The All School Meetings will have a more community building and behavior expectation slant to them.
Some of you have done great things with individual students, small groups and whole class conversations about behaviors and steering them down a better path. For that I thank you. I don't know what my day would be like without your interventions when you can.
We all observe students doing great things as well as disrespectful everyday. Make a pledge to do the following for the month of October.
1. Set a goal to find time (5-10 minutes) in each one of your classes, once per week for a "Respect Teachable Moment." If you don't find a real example in your day to day, ask the students or refer to the BEST matrix for ideas. Make it a discussion, not a lecture. Let me know how it goes or if you would like me to come in and facilitate or answer questions from the students.
2. By now you know the personalities of most of your students, take a moment to have a conversation a student that exhibits bullying behavior if you sense it.
3. Perhaps you have a student or students who you feel are being bullied. Pull them aside and let them know that it is important that they feel safe.
4. We need to continue to dispel the notion of "snitching" vs caring about a strong New Tech Culture. Students need to feel empowered to speak up, either directly to another student showing bullying behavior or to a staff member when they witness bullying, and for that matter any behavior that is contrary to what we are trying to accomplish at Tech.
I hope you all will join in this effort and don't hesitate to give me feedback on how it goes.
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