Character and Citizenship

Throughout its partnership with EL, Atwater has been very intentional about choosing Core Practices (CP) that drive the school towards its next steps. Foundational to all of Atwater’s character work is the effort staff put into creating the PERKS continuum. After getting community and stakeholder input in selecting the school’s character traits (Perseverance, Empathy, Respect, Kindness, Self-Discipline), staff then took part in some significant professional development around Crew (Core Practice 22) and implementing Habits of Character (Core Practice 22). As seen in the graphic below, CP 22: Habits of Character, has been a through line for the Atwater community throughout its journey.

After staff established classroom Crew practice, they then moved to implementing school-wide and cross-age crews. This Crew-focused Implementation Roadmap shares the “big rocks” of Atwater’s crew journey. It was discovered by the teachers that Crew, and the multiple contexts of different kinds of Crew meetings, could be an accelerator for embedding the PERKS into the culture of the school. Feedback from students at midyear reviews showed a shift over the years from just being able to name the PERKS to children really being able to give examples of using the PERKS both in and outside of school. Staff could see the results of the Crew and PERKS frameworks that had been put into place through the stronger narrative they heard from students.

Student quotes from midyear reviews over the past several years:

Question: how do you use the PERKS and why are they important?

• “we made PERKS posters and we are going to put them out in our rooms”; (2017-2018)

• “our class made a poster that says "Be a Rock" which means giving someone a friend to look out for you and help you” (2017-2018)

• “We use them at recess because that’s when people are being rough or tackling and you can stand up for people” (2018-2019)

• “I did an act of kindness last year. I was working on a project with a friend. I finished and then I helped him because he was struggling.” (2019-2020)

Once teachers had the various structures of Crew to lean into, they then moved in the coming years to PD cycles around Core Practice 27: Creating a Culture of Engagement, where students reflected both within Crew meetings and through character journals on their personal development. Folding in the Design Principles was a key move to giving learners one more “in” and way of reflecting on their growth and choices. About three years into the relationship with EL, the culture of Atwater had moved from a transactional, behavior-monitoring one, to one where the majority of students owned their behavior and could use strategies to help themselves. Eventually, the culture of Atwater so deeply held Crew and character reflection that the staff were ready to move into Passages for 6th grade students and school-wide implementation student-led conferences. These venues help the opportunity for all students to apply their reflection skills and share their growth with a wider audience.

To measure progress of our implementation of Crew, Atwater utilized the data collected through our yearly School Perceptions survey. This annual survey, conducted through a third party to protect anonymity, was analyzed early at the spring leadership team work planning session. By utilizing student feedback data, Atwater was able to tailor the next year's work plan goals related to character & citizenship, and wellness, to specific student needs. From initiatives like cross-age crew (to enhance a sense of belonging) to the integration of social emotional learning lessons into Crew time (to provide students with stress reduction strategies), the Atwater staff directly used student voice to better the student experience.

Over the years of Atwater’s development, a mingling of the academic and character dimensions occurred. Rarely can a person see a project or expedition product where the PERKS are not deeply intertwined with the learning targets and knowledge transfer. Very intentionally, as Atwater teachers grew better and better at Crew, unpacking the PERKS, and character reflection, the staff moved toward embracing the community connection aspects of Core Practice 9: Designing Learning Expeditions, and Core Practice 21: Creating a Community of Learning. Through a series of PD sessions, teachers designed expedition products that would mesh character and academics, and empower students to impact the community through their work. The combination of academic learning, character growth, and community impact is something special about Atwater that will remain with the school as it continues on its journey as it moves deeper into it anti-racist work and honoring student identity.

Graphic Representation of Atwater's Character and Citizenship Journey

The graphics below show the paths taken by Atwater students and staff toward our Character and Citizenship claims. The large arrows represent professional development opportunities staff participated in, which led to the blue rectangles - student impacts. The building of these professional development cycles and resulting student impact results led to the development of our Character and Citizenship claims. The long rectangle holds key core practices that provided the foundation for our professional development and student growth.

“During cross age crew, we pick up trash around the school and that helps the environment” - 4th grade student

“Atwater is a good school. You can use your voice more than other schools. This school listens to your ideas.” - Daelin, 5th grader

“This school is organized. I didn’t have Crew at my other school. There’s a lot more stuff to do here.” - Coco, 5th grader

The PERKS: In the students' own words