Here at Bronx Park Middle School, we base a lot of our conversation around culture and student social/emotional development around our core PRIDE values. Each student who attends our school is familiar with each value and how those values will help them get into flow so they may grow and find their purpose. Below, you will find some more information regarding our core PRIDE Values.
I. Non-Negotiable Standards for Interaction:
Professionalism: Showing others your Best Self is the highest form of respect.
Our Best Self is our internal team player and leader who can rise above individual limits to work with and for others in order to solve difficult challenges. In all interactions, Bronx Park community members will strive to be their Best Selves by modeling empathy and trustworthiness, determination and critical-friendship, innovation and clarity, reflection and accountability, and selfless teamwork. The school’s mission and vision require a bond of trust between students, teachers, administrators, parents, and community members. Only through each individual constantly striving to be his/her Best Self, can the whole group develop shared trust.
Reflection: Real learning comes from reflecting on experience.
The most powerful form of accountability to any goal or expectation is the accountability imposed by the self. In all interactions, Bronx Park community members will first allow others to reflect upon their experiences, responsibilities, actions, choices, and learning in order to hold themselves accountable. Only through this constant self-reflection will every experience become an opportunity for learning. As a regular part of classrooms and advisory time all members of the BPMS community will engage in reflection about their experiences, practices, effectiveness, growth, and their personal efficacy. This practice and habit will be built into lessons, meetings, professional development, advisory time, moments of dysfunction, and community events. For the sake of developing independent thinkers, our intention is to move all members of our community to a point where they reflect regularly and critically, without prompting.
Innovation: Commit yourself to finding a win-win solution or to inventing a new one.
Real commitment to the school’s culture and to each other requires that each person feels clarity, agency, and closure. In all interactions, Bronx Park community members will seek clarity in their purpose, think creatively about possibilities, and find or create win-win solutions. Teachers will model innovative thinking by utilizing innovative methodology for instruction and assessment:
Determination: Never giving up means you can never fail.
Real personal growth and learning come through commitment, hard work, and deliberate practice. To ensure our commitment to each other and our expectation that every person develop this mindset, Bronx Park community members will mine for conflict, engage in the difficult conversations, and never give up on one another. The school needs students, teachers, and administrators to push each other to see their blind-spots and grow toward their Best Selves.
Empathy: First learn by listening, and then teach with trust.
In order to build real trust, people must be understood as individuals. In all interactions, Bronx Park community members will seek to empathize with the position and context of others in order to build shared trust. We must learn who each individual is as a person and who each individual hopes to grow to be. Only through that deep knowledge of one another will we have the trust and knowledge necessary to help each person grow to their Best Self.
II. Non-Negotiable Standards for Principal as Example:
As the Principal at Bronx Park Middle School I will…
III. Expectations for Student/Staff/Community Member Attitudes and Behaviors:
Teachers
o Bronx Park Teachers believe in students and hold them to the highest expectation for their Best Self
o Bronx Park teachers put in extra hours so they can stay involved with the growth and development of the school
o Bronx Park Teachers can anticipate covering for other teachers during absences and emergencies
o Bronx Park Teachers dress professionally to model for students
o Bronx Park Teachers plan interdisciplinary units and shared structures for their classrooms to bridge their disciplines and pedagogy.
o Bronx Park Teachers need to be proactive in completing the operational necessities and responsibilities of the school and their classrooms.
o Bronx Park Teachers attend the community lunch.
o Bronx Park Teachers will keep their doors open to visitors of all types
o Bronx Park Teachers use data to inform practice and guide instructional decisions
· Innovation: As a Bronx Park staff member I model my creativity to solve challenges with win-win solutions.
o Bronx Park Teachers need to help innovate their own curriculum.
o Bronx Park Teachers develop innovative curriculum that combines interdisciplinary learning with a sustainable career focus.
o Bronx Park Teachers find ways to incorporate their creativity within their classroom and discipline
o Bronx Park teachers plan learning experiences beyond the classroom and school
o Bronx Park Teachers develop mastery-based rubrics and use standards-based grading
· Determination: As a Bronx Park staff member, I never give up on my students or my school.
o Bronx Park teachers put in the extra effort by wearing more than one hat (athletics, tutoring, clubs, advisory, administrative support)
o Bronx Park teachers are available when needed and stay after school to help students.
o Bronx Park Teachers, after teaching their classes, will prioritize supporting students, colleagues, and partners first.
· Empathy: As a Bronx Park staff member I listen carefully to others so I can really understand them.
Students
· Professionalism: As a Bronx Park student I strive to bring my “Best Self” everyday.
· Reflection: As a Bronx Park student I think carefully about my experiences, choices, and learning.
· Innovation: As a Bronx Park student I use my creativity to solve challenges.
· Determination: As a Bronx Park student, I never give up.
· Empathy: As a Bronx Park student I listen carefully to others so I can really understand them.