"Comprehensive in-class discussions about school-wide lessons can allow the student body at Independence to vitalize its sense of community. Each student has a voice of their own, and the emergence of interpersonal communication is a skill needed to empathize with peers along with the staff." ~Sophia Tran

Our Sixer Values

What are School-Wide Lessons and why are they important?

School-wide lessons are lessons based on our SIXER values.

During the first 6 weeks of school, school-wide lessons are an opportunity for us to asset-map our community of learners. We work toward seeing the strength and resilience in our students and families, bringing forth our assets, and building pride in our school and community. We work toward learning about our neighborhood's history through people and their stories, so we can be authentically community responsive in our curriculum and pedagogy.

Based on our SIXER Values, school-wide lessons are a jumping off point to introduce a simple idea, with the intention that through rich classroom discussion, students could come together, learn about each other, and build respectful relationships.

What is Community Responsiveness?

Being community responsive means to "develop curriculum, pedagogy, assessment that is responsive to the needs of the community. In order to do that, you need to become an ethnographer of the community you serve... You got to talk to the ancestors about the history, the place, and the space where you are really doing the work." ~Jeff Duncan-Andrade

School-Wide Lessons: Our Sixer Values

In the 2022 - 2023 school year, our school-wide lessons focused on learning who we are as a community by listening to student voices. Each lesson covered one concept about community and asked students to contribute to the conversation with their own experiences, thoughts, and stories via a Google Form. Students were also asked for their consent in the sharing of their responses.

Student voice is an important part of the narrative data we collect to inform decisions made around school improvement and high quality instruction. One way we collect student voice is through school-wide lessons carried out in 4th period classes, PE 1 and 2, US History, English 3, and Government/Economics classes.

In this lesson, students and staff introduce the concept of "community assets." Students are asked to identify a hero in our community, and in doing so start thinking about qualities of a real-life hero, a community change-maker, or a VIP family member. Recognizing the qualities of their own community heroes can help see the strength of the people around them, and drive them to developing these qualities within themselves.

Click HERE to read some student responses from 2022-2023!

In this lesson, we feature two innovative programs on campus: our STEAM Academy and Sewing Club. Our School-Wide Lesson students and staff hosts also introduce the role of advocates in the journey to make change.

We ask students to describe a challenge or problem that our community is facing, as well as innovative solutions for how would they would solve or address this problem. We encourage students to seek out advocates for their impact work.

Click HERE to see the work around a student-voiced concern and how one of our teachers became a key advocate for the implementation of an inspiring school-wide initiative.

In this lesson, we investigate our the "X" in Sixers-- eXtraordinary. Being eXtraordinary isn't about being perfect, it's about learning. Opportunities for eXtraordinary learning happen all the time. They are often disguised as challenges, or maybe even personal mis-steps.

Our student hosts challenge the idea of "cancel culture" and advocate for true learning, a process that involves making mistakes, reflecting, and making change for the better.

What is something eXtraordinary that you've learned? What is something eXtraordinary that you've seen a peer or adult do?

Click HERE to hear to read some student responses from 2022-2023!

In this lesson, we investigate our the "E" in Sixers-- Engaged. Engagement is defined as strong relationships between students, teachers, families, and schools, and strong connections between schools and the broader community. Student engagement is a key element of a positive school climate, with a large body of research linking it to academic achievement.

Listen to how some SIXERS engage in and out of the classroom, then let us know-- Why is it important to engage in our school and community? How will YOU engage in school this year?

In this lesson, we investigate our the "R" in Sixers-- Respectful.

Listen to how some SIXERS define self-respect, respect for others, and respect for community. What actionable things can we do on a daily basis to show respect for self, others, and bring about a respectful community of learning at Independence High School?

Click HERE to read some student responses from 2022-2023!

Lessons on our Sixer Values are created by the MTSS Tier I Team, which consists of staff and student representatives. A multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) is a proactive and preventative framework that integrates data and instruction to maximize student achievement and support students social, emotional, and behavior needs from a strengths-based perspective.

Grade-Level Targeted School-Wide Lessons

Grade-level targeted lessons are created and facilitated by the IHS Counseling Team.

Grade-level lessons are based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) Student Standards for Behaviors and Mindsets.

Check out all of the lessons at the IHS Counseling Corner!

Behavior Expectations 2022-2023

Our 2022-2023 Behavior Expectations lessons presented to our Math 1 and 2 students are created by the IHS Safety Team.

During Semester 1, students are introduced to our staff and school-wide behavior expectations. See the presentation below!

During Semester 2, we had three objectives for the lesson held in January:

Share Panorama Data, which is a school-wide survey on the student perspective on culture and climate at Independence High School.
Ask for student voice on how to bring about change data around campus climate.
Re-set behavior expectations by highlighting classroom vs. administrative managed behaviors.

You are invited to take a look at our spring lesson on behavior expectations!

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