MVA students become ethical people by accepting personal responsibility in promoting a positive school culture.
Story Behind the Evidence:
MVA students and staff work together to build a positive school culture. The character education practices that are put into place at MVA promote Empathy and Caring and Success and Failure in our school. At MVA, students learn from their mistakes, feel safe when things are difficult, and grow to be better people. Students take pride in their growth and it shows in student reflections on their solo or dojo data. In addition, during SLCs and exit presentations, students share out on their character challenges and character growth emphasizing how their character impacts the school community. By investigating these impacts, students develop an understanding of what it means to be ethical people who think about their community when making decisions. As a result, suspensions have significantly decreased at MVA since becoming an EL Education school and solo/dojo records indicate that students increasingly make more positive and fewer negative contributions to their school community as they move from sixth through eighth grade.
Restorative Justice Practices (Behavioral Growth)
When a student is not living by the character traits at MVA (Compassion, Respect, Effort, with Quality) consistent procedures are used by all teachers and staff to address behaviors. Students use “I statements” and staff refer to norms of classrooms and the school. At times it is necessary for students to participate in a restorative circle where they reflect on their behavior and are asked to own their character. This process is very similar to the EL Education Consultancy Protocol. At the start of this time the student will circle up with members of the restorative process to share their action and reflection. Students or staff involved in the circle can ask clarifying questions, and then the victim (if present) and the circle come up with a restorative action to repair the relationship. Students participating in restorative justice may still receive a consequence for their actions, however, they also work to build and strengthen relationships. Students in this video represent all three aspects of the restorative justice circle: circle member, student, and offender.
Reflections of Behavior SLCs/Portfolios/DOJO Reflection
Students show their parents and staff how they are growing to become ethical people when they report their Dojo or Solo records at student-led conferences. Students celebrate achievements in character and challenges they need to overcome. They identify ways in which they can overcome these challenges. Additionally students set new goals for them to achieve success in these challenge areas.
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