Learn

Part A

Capstone Challenge

Create a social skills curriculum and book study to decrease the number of office referrals that my students were rapidly acquiring.

Midway through January I began looking at the number of office referrals that my students were acquiring. My students were rapidly increasing in the number of lunch learning opportunities (LLO) reteaching, tune ups, and office referrals. I noticed a trend of students getting write ups during transitions and at recess. My challenge was to partner with a preschool teacher who helped me create a social skills curriculum that I implemented in my classroom, and a book study in which I could work with recess aids and give them strategies in which to help deescalate students.

Stakeholders

Recess aids, parents, 5th grade teachers, MBI team, preschool teachers, administrator, neighborhood council members.

These individuals were all selected because either they directly work with my students or are a support to me as the classroom teacher. I included parents because at parent teacher conferences I would have numerous conversations about what was happening on the playground. The MBI team helped me partner with a preschool teacher who meet with me several times during the month of February and assisted me in selecting skills to include in my curriculum. The neighborhood council members asked me in March if my student would participate in a book walk that was put on by the public library and my students would be featured reading the story.

Why is it important for your diverse stakeholders that the Capstone Challenge by addressed? Stakeholders should be aware that all people have bias and knowing your bias is important when working in a school setting with diverse students and families.

How will addressing the Capstone Challenge promote or support the foundational competencies? My Capstone Challenge reinforces the Foundational Competency Explore and Challenge Inequity and addresses individual bias within educators, support staff, parents, and community members.

Is it your intention to broaden the existing vision, values and/or culture of the association or to create a cultural shift? To create a cultural shift within the school.

Why might this strategy be a viable solution for your Capstone Challenge? Explain. At the school, the support staff are mainly white females who come from a variety of backgrounds. It is the Capstone's intent on having support staff look at their own privilege and consider how it may be different from that of the students in which they work with.

Part B

On which two Overarching Competencies will you focus in addressing your Capstone Challenge? Why are they relevant? Personal Effectiveness pre-emerging: I am learning about my own leadership style and how to share my own story and passions with those around me. Communication pre-emerging: I want to share my thoughts and message with those around me in an articulate way in which they can hear my message and respond me.

If your foundational competency is not Explore and Challenge Inequity, please explain? Why is it important? Explore and Challenge Inequity pre-emerging. This is important because my Capstone project is based on acknowledging personal identity and personal background of people who work within my school.

Which Leadership Pathway competency will you focus in your Capstone Challenge? Why is it relevant? Coaching and Mentoring pre-emerging: I am wanting to mentor people who know me and who I trust to build some confidence in my own mentoring skills. This will help me grow so that I can engage in formal roles of coaching and mentoring.

With whom will you work in addressing your Capstone Challenge? Who else might you recruit beyond your own cultural and/or professional identity group? I will work with the MBI team, my administrator, support staff and a preschool teacher. I can recruit the Men's volunteer group and neighborhood council.

Which resources (such as, people, money, programs, time and space, etc.) do you have to address in your Capstone Challenge? What resources will you need? How will you obtain them? I am addressing people, time and space with my Capstone Challenge. I will engage people and foster relationships with those individuals outside of school time on a more personal level which will make the time in school more effectively spent.