Student Ownership and Responsibility
When students struggle to be successful at school it is often less about the content than about their learner behaviors as they engage in the learning process. This is why we are working hard to define and focus on Learner Behaviors with students, both in class and in advisory discussions. The language of these learner behaviors; Agency, Collaboration, Time-management, Reflection, and Perseverance has become a regular part of classroom conversation, and students receive regular feedback focused on these behaviors.
Coming into this year, we have identified several behaviors with which a number of students need additional support in order to fully engage in the classroom learning environment. Specifically, students who are repeatedly late to class or behind by several assignments are likely struggling with several aspects of the Learner Behavior rubric, and are also missing important learning opportunities. We have noticed that students who continually struggle with these behaviors, despite efforts by teachers to mitigate them, may need some additional tools to work with, or would benefit from the assignment of consequences designed to help them improve in these areas. Because it is vitally important for students to take ownership and responsibility for their learning, we have created the following aspects of a Student Ownership and Responsibility (SOAR) plan to help them to do so. The overarching goal of this plan is to hold students accountable for meeting these basic expectations, while also helping students to develop the routines and structures necessary to meet them.
In order to address these concerns, we are implementing thresholds at which we will act to help remediate them. Students who reach these thresholds will meet with our SOAR coordinator, Mrs. Herrmann, and together they will create a plan to address the concerns. This plan will begin with a discussion of what might be leading to the pattern of tardiness or overdue assignments, and assignment to a Structured Study hall in lieu of their free period. During this time, students will learn strategies that will help them to better organize and plan their work time, while also completing work that is overdue or imminent. Mrs. Herrmann will monitor their progress and work, and regularly review their plan with them to adjust as needed based on progress. Students will remain in this Structured Study hall assignment for at least a month, as agreed upon in the creation of the plan. Parents will receive communication about this process as it occurs.
Students who fail to make progress on improving these learner behaviors, despite this level of support and consequence, may be assigned to a Saturday work session. These Saturday morning sessions will occur 2-3 times per trimester, and may be assigned for a variety of behavioral reasons, including but not limited to the one listed above. This session will occur from 8:00 - 10:00 am on the assigned Saturday, and will be monitored by a teacher, with the expectation that students will engage in applicable classwork and potentially some Self-Help work as well.