“There’s something strange about hearing a third-grader using the word ‘synergize,’ but Stephanie Avalos-Padilla and her peers use it almost daily.
‘It’s about working together and making it great,’ the 7-year-old said.
As part of Imagine Schools at East Mesa’s fifth anniversary celebration, educators have beefed up focus on developing students’ character with a new program, ‘The Leader in Me.’
The charter school is among more than 150 schools across the globe to teach leadership principles based on Stephen Covey’s book, ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.’
Covey’s son, Sean Covey, writes about the same seven habits – be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, think win-win, seek to understand then be understood, synergize and sharpen the saw – but adapts them to children.
Covey’s book, ‘The Leader in Me: How Schools and Parents Around the World are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time,’ chronicles the process.
It explains how elementary schools are teaching the same 7 Habits leadership principles that have guided corporate boardrooms for years.
‘If you live by the habits you can be a really great person,’ East Mesa fifth-grader Edward ‘JJ’ Raymond said.
Principal Brad Uchacz said critics have accused the enrichment program of being a fad, but he has found that it reinforces the schools’ character education, a primary component of Imagine Schools.
Imagine Schools is the largest charter-school company in the nation and in Arizona. It operates 11 elementary/middle school campuses and two middle/high school campuses in the Valley, serving more than 8,200 students.
Matthew Mikula, an East Mesa third-grade teacher, said his students are not too young to learn tools for the 21st century.
‘It’s given them a vocabulary for being successful in the 21st century when the jobs they will be getting may not even be created yet because of technology,’ Mikula said.
Sara Hendrickx, a fifth-grade teacher, said her students no longer can use the excuse ‘my dog ate my homework.’
‘(The 7 Habits) lowers the excuse limit because they’re learning if you’re being proactive, you shouldn’t be scrambling,’ Hendrickx said.
The Leader in Me began as a pilot program in 1999 at A.B. Combs Elementary in Raleigh, N.C., where educators found that it helped students. It’s now been copied around the world.
The process:
– Educators and staff identify the goals they want for their school.
– Teachers learn the 7 Habits and then act as role models.
– Teachers are taught how to teach the 7 Habits to the students. Parents are encouraged to support their children.
– Teachers, students and parents use several tools, such as student-activity guides, teacher editions, posters, books and the Web site theleaderinme.org, to reinforce the process.
In its first three months, East Mesa educators reported that the program has resulted in increased students’ self-confidence, teamwork, initiative, responsibility and creativity.
The Leader in Me program costs about $25,000, which includes staff training.
Details: imagineeastmesa.com.”
Article published by The Arizona Republic on Nov. 4, 2010.