Character
Claim #1 Evidence
Fox Creek students have become more effective learners as they wholeheartedly embrace our school wide habits of character and a growth mindset.
Read Together Program: English Language Development Learners (ELD)
“I love being a lead tutor because I feel like I am taking a role helping younger students read and write. Being a tutor helps me as a student by growing in our FCE Habits of Character and to care more for our school by helping younger students.” Angie, 6th grade
“Read Together”
The purpose of the “Read Together” program is to strengthen reading comprehension of the ELD students. At least 50% of the participants are required to be in the program. An older student who is trained to be a tutor reads with a younger student. The duration for the program is one hour twice a week. The program is a model example of collaboration between the tutors and tutees. Tutors exhibit commendable leadership qualities while working with the younger students and the younger students show perseverance. Both tutors and tutees demonstrate collaboration and integrity as they are expected to work independently in groups of two students. “A majority of my tutors started as tutees in the program which I love!” quoted from our ELD instructor, Cheryl Schuessler.
The purpose of the “Read Together” program is to strengthen reading comprehension of the ELD students. At least 50% of the participants are required to be in the program. An older student who is trained to be a tutor reads with a younger student. The duration for the program is one hour twice a week. The program is a model example of collaboration between the tutors and tutees. Tutors exhibit commendable leadership qualities while working with the younger students and the younger students show perseverance. Both tutors and tutees demonstrate collaboration and integrity as they are expected to work independently in groups of two students. “A majority of my tutors started as tutees in the program which I love!” quoted from our ELD instructor, Cheryl Schuessler.
YO Buddies (Younger and Older Buddies)
“Using integrity, perseverance and compassion are most important because our YO Buddies are younger than us and we need to be the role models. We need to show even more integrity, then they’ll show integrity too. We need to persevere to help them when they want to do something else. Showing compassion is important because everything is more fun and makes our buddies feel cared about." Casey, 4th grade
All grade levels across the school engage in YO Buddies. This gives students greater purpose to put our school wide Habits of Character into action. Both older and younger buddies work hard to demonstrate compassion as a way to encourage a year long relationship between one another. Respect, integrity and perseverance are modeled by older students as students work together towards a common goal. The benefits of the relationships allow older students to practice using thinking strategies to support learning, while younger students gain the skills to be a successful learner, both academically and in applying their Habits of Character.
Impact of Crew
"I think that I will take many skills and that I learned at Fox Creek to middle school. I think that I will take the Habits of Character and always striving to be the better person. By having the HOC enforced upon me for four years I have grown to the point that it comes naturally to me. I think that I will also take the Growth Mindset with me. During school I have worked on the growth mindset and how you can almost always do better even when you think that you are done and the work is done in a high- quality fashion. I believe that in my time at Fox Creek I have learned aspects that I will take with me forever." Kyle, 6th grade
Crew is a school-wide structure that helps adults and students get to know each other on a deeper, more personal level. Crew helps to facilitate relational trust which is critical for improving student achievement. Crew meetings are held at the beginning of each day at Fox Creek which provides the time and space for students to reflect in a safe community environment. It allows time to develop skills for learning and interacting with each other, assess academic and character development through our Habits of Character, and prepare for special school events like student-led conferences and community meetings.
All crews throughout our building work on building stamina in different curricular areas working on perseverance, which is one of our Habits of Character. For example, many of our classes work on reading stamina as a way to build perseverance skills as a reader. Creating the criteria, tracking progress, and reflecting on goals and growth are all accomplished during our crew meetings.
All crews throughout our building work on building stamina in different curricular areas working on perseverance, which is one of our Habits of Character. For example, many of our classes work on reading stamina as a way to build perseverance skills as a reader. Creating the criteria, tracking progress, and reflecting on goals and growth are all accomplished during our crew meetings.