Utah State University - » At Adams Elementary, students work to become leaders

At Adams Elementary, students work to become leaders

November 20th, 2015 Posted in Education

By Lee Johnson
aggieblogger12.blogspot.com

When a fifth grader at Adams Elementary School in Logan noticed that parent night fliers and posters were only available in English, fellow students rushed in to ensure that mothers and fathers who read in Spanish would still be able to get the information they needed.

“The kids not only thought of it, but they took care it,” fifth grade teacher Cari Bodily said.

That’s just one example, Bodily said, of the acts of thoughtfulness and kindness that have swept over the students this year thanks in part to a new program designed to encourage every student to act as a leader.

The Leader in Me program, which is based on Stephen Covey’s book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” was launched at the beginning of the school year.

“It has been a really fun change, especially because it’s only been a few months since this has really been introduced to the kids,” said Jordan Anderson, a first grade teacher. “It’s been really fun to see them really grab hold of it and really have a good understanding of the seven habits of what it really means to be a successful person and a happy person.”

Bodily and Anderson both said they have noticed a difference since the program has been implemented.
“We have noticed in our school that kids have been kinder to each other,” Bodily said.

Anderson said that has been especially apparent on the playground.

“I still have a lot of kids that don’t know how to zip up their coats or tie their shoes,” she said. “But older kids, even ones that aren’t siblings, will just notice that this kid is really struggling to zip up his coat or tie up his shoe. They’ll just sit down and help them.”

Part of the program includes assigning students to jobs around the classroom and the school.

Fifth-grade students, for instance, are in charge of school announcements and have additional jobs that from class librarian to supervisor of the class responsibilities.

“I have a student who said, ‘I’m getting bored. I need more to do.’ So we found another job that needed to be done,” Bodily said.

“Even in a first-grade classroom all the children have jobs,” Anderson said. “They may not have a job every day, but they all have had a job.”
-mdl