ADOPT A CLASSROOM

Mrs. Lisa Church’s 4th grade classroom at Spring Cove Elementary School

TommiAnn Church

Spring Cove School District

• Southern portion of Blair County, 15 miles south of Altoona

• Rural and small town living– Dairy farming, orchards– Paper factory, shoe company

• 2,177 students enrolled in 4 schools

• Spring Cove Elementary School is a new building

Mrs. Church• B.S. and M.Ed. from PSU• 29th year of teaching in the district

Classroom Issues

• Biggest problem: parental responsibility/care/involvement– Very little accountability for homework– No encouragement for students to follow rules

• Includes a majority of kids– Not only those in poverty, but also middle class parents

who work and claim not to have time for their kids• Many parents did not come to this year’s

conferences, even when child was failing

The Kids

Project

Scoring• HONESTY• ADD 1 point: answering an adult’s question truthfully• MINUS 2 points: cheating, dishonesty, doing the wrong assignment on purpose• • HARD WORK

ADD 1 point: turning work in early, doing a spectacular job, asking particularly good questions• MINUS 2 points: refusing to complete an assignment, laziness •

RESPECT FOR ADULTS• ADD 1 point: helping keep the classroom in order• MINUS 2 points: talking back, disrespecting classroom materials or the school building• • BEHAVIOR• ADD 1 point: telling a teacher when there is a problem• MINUS 2 points: hurting another with actions or words, being too loud, not following directions, causing a

distraction• • HELPFULNESS• ADD 1 point: asking an adult what they can do to help, cleaning something in the classroom without being asked• MINUS 2 points: leaving a mess• • KINDNESS• ADD 1 point: a large act of sharing• MINUS 2 points: excluding somebody, causing a problem for the people in the classroom

Results• “It was interesting. The kids were excited. The things they

had to do (be kind, be helpful, etc.) were hard to measure, so at the end of the day, we sat together and tried to decide which group was more helpful, for example. One would say, “I helped Joe with his math.” Another: “Well, I helped Billy.” Then…“No, you didn't!” And I, as the teacher, didn't see either one do it. I think the activities need to be a little easier to measure. They did like the ways you divided the groups each week, especially boys vs. girls.” – Mrs. Church

Student Feedback• “These prizes are cool!”• “Hey, who's in first place today?”• “Mrs. Church, did you see me being nice to Joey

today?”• “Can we do this again next week?”• “That's not fair. I helped too, but you just didn't see

me.”• “Hey, next week we should do who wears glasses

and who doesn’t.”

More Teacher Feedback

• “I really do think, in the long run, that this activity did promote kindness, respect, helpfulness, etc. I noticed that some of the kids who never help one another helped, at least when we were talking about it or when I was watching them. This is a great idea, and I will use it again some day! I told the kids we would do it again in the spring.” – Mrs. Church

Conclusions• My goals were a

bit unrealistic, due to their time-consuming nature

• BUT I am thrilled to have made even a small difference