We are Listening is a segment of Thursday's Backpack that will be published monthly to address some of the information gathered from our May 2019 Program Evaluation Survey. Many families filled out the Open School Program Evaluation Survey, and we thank you for your feedback, as this information helps to guide the work we do to improve and maintain Open School.

What is Open School's Social Emotional Program?

We recognize the importance of teaching not just cognitive skills, but also social emotional learning. As such, after much research, investigation, and discussion, we created our Roots of Respect program. This curriculum provides a literature-based framework for our teachers to create experiences that increase and develop our students’ self- management, social awareness, and relationship skills.

There are ten words that are the foundation of our Roots of Respect curriculum: courage, citizenship, empathy, integrity, optimism, gratitude, perseverance / grit, responsibility, cooperation, and communication. Each year we focus on 5 of those words for 6-8 weeks each and embed a variety of experiences into the classroom and school environment. Teachers plan lessons to engage the students in thinking about and practicing the behaviors represented by each word. 

To help students build a sense of community, teachers give them many opportunities to develop the listening and speaking skills necessary to be able to resolve problems on their own. Both school-wide and in the classroom, members of our community help establish the codes of acceptable behavior. When a conflict arises, students discuss and solve their own problems, either as a group or one-to- one, with adult guidance as needed. At times, the problem may need to be addressed with the whole group where every student is given an opportunity to speak, and every member of the circle is treated with equal importance. This can be in the form of a community circle, Council, or morning meeting. We understand that problems are expected and a part of learning. When those opportunities arise, it's a chance to work through those situations. 

Our school is a place where we are teaching students to "respect themselves, respect others, and the environment."