By: Ellen Windels
“What is your biggest concern right now?”
Every student has unique issues they are dealing with and no student will respond to this question exactly like their peers. However, there will certainly be a major gap between the answers from the younger students and the upperclassmen at Falls High . Compare a sixth grader to a senior. Students enter the high school for the first time in sixth grade and are adjusting to a changing class schedule, new teachers, a new building, and more responsibility. In a lot of ways, they are not that different from elementary students, still learning important social skills. And, once they officially become middle schoolers, they tend to be much more conscious of their peers and what their peers think of them, leading to increased social worries or potential issues.
In contrast, a senior has spent years within the social environment of the high school and has matured greatly. Most will be thinking of their higher level classes and coursework, their varsity sports, or their upcoming college plans. Many students this age work during the school year or have other, non-academic responsibilities. They have gained higher levels of independence, including the freedom of driving and plenty will be adults by graduation, far away from their middle school years.
So, if the students at Falls High cover such a large range of interests and worries, what can staff do to help? Again, this provokes entirely different responses depending on the grade level of the students being discussed.
For the younger grades, teachers have a more authoritative role and reliable presence. As they move up in grades, teachers maintain their influence but become more guiding. They serve as crucial resources and advisors for students determining their post-graduation plans but don’t need to be as strict in the classroom to maintain decent relations.
The support needed by students is staggeringly broad, which makes any singular approach by staff ineffective for the entire student body. To meet the differences of each grade, which depends not only on the age of the students but also on the individuals within each group, Falls High teachers work in teams to determine the best methods of support.
These teams meet weekly to focus on and discuss their specific grade level and the needs of those specific students. This includes academics, but also any social and emotional issues observed in the classrooms and hallways. They work to determine the support they should be providing and how to implement that into their weekly lessons, specifically tailored to the needs of the grade level.
“If you think about conflict and bullying,” explained Dean of Students Lisa West, “there are many, many layers underneath that, things that we can do to help students regulate their emotions or deal with frustrations so that they aren’t going to turn to bullying or social conflict”
West is part of the sixth grade teaching team. For this younger group of students, just one year out of elementary school, teachers have worked into their classrooms several lessons and discussions around bullying. Extra emphasis has been put on how to be an upstander and to navigate social media in a safe and kind way. “At one point, we partnered with a group of older students to discuss these issues, with talking points, and then students [older and younger] designed posters together to hang around the school,” described West. Again, the school is meeting each grade level where they’re at; the sixth graders benefited from working with older role models and using a creative and involved method of examining situations and making posters to understand the importance of standing up for others. Additionally, the juniors and seniors participating got a chance to be role models and practice giving advice and helping the younger students. It promoted a healthy relationship between the ages present in our school while openly discussing the issue of bullying,
The weekly lessons are created by teachers following the CASEL framework, which is intended to guide students through any stress or challenges they may encounter, including conflict or bullying situations. Categories of CASEL include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making.
The way these lessons manifest in the classroom depends on the grade level and teachers involved. “Whatever that team determines as the best case scenario, [which] might be each teacher weaving it in, it might be one teacher is doing it for all of the classes.” Every grade level receives a more personalized approach so the lessons fit exactly what those students are dealing with.
A student could learn stress management techniques in the classroom so that when school work becomes overwhelming, they are able to look for solutions rather than getting upset with the people around them. Students may learn how to take responsibility for their actions or see things from others’ perspectives. Regular classroom activities can also show students how to work with people that they don’t automatically get along with or learn to advocate for their own ideas.
Students have taken surveys to evaluate their emotional and social state, which teachers can then use to “check” whether their assessment of the students is accurate. Questions ask how the students feel they are doing in school or with their friends. Do the issues identified by the teachers match the ones students see and feel? It gives the teacher teams an opportunity to see some of the deeper conflicts affecting students, as well as evaluate the effectiveness of their current methods of assistance and encouragement. A major benefit, said West, is that “it helps us maybe see some underlying things with a student we didn’t even notice”.
“In order to truly deal with social conflicts and bullying,” said Lisa West, “we have to get to the heart of the matter.” The goal is a proactive approach to conflict and bullying; rather than solely addressing the problem after incidents occur, the school works to give students important conflict resolution and self-regulation tools that can help prevent interpersonal issues from occurring in the first place.
