The Traveling Educator: Leader in Me Part 2

My school has come along way since starting the Leader in Me program two years ago. The lighthouse team has played a big part in implementing the Leader in Me program at our school. The following information and posts are all from my elementary school. We worked together as a lighthouse team to create all of the following items below. The ideas featured from this blog are from one of the staff members, Pinterest, Instagram, Leader in Me Online, or from Google search.

This is our newest bulletin board. I actually came up with this idea at one of the lighthouse trainings. I wanted to showcase the future careers of the students. This bulletin board shown showcases 5th grade. This is the first of many to come. I will continue to feature each grade level until each grade has had a turn. The title of the bulletin board reads, "Leaders of the Future: 5th Grade, and When I grow up, I want to be...". I took a picture of each student and taped a speech bubble to the picture. Each student had to write what he or she wanted to be when they grew up and why, and place their picture on the correct career. The students enjoyed this bulletin board, for it's an interactive bulletin board they can participate in. Students, staff, and parents all were interested in the students' future career plans.

Next to the Leaders of the Future bulletin board, is the Leaders of the World, career of the month bulletin board. Each month, I research a career. I find information on the job description, education required, colleges locally that host that career path, and salary information. I post the career information on sentence strips for everyone to see. I then draw a picture from featuring the career of the month. This month our school learned about the career of a veterinarian.

This year our school theme is Cougars are Leaders. Teachers had to start the year off with a Leader in Me themed bulletin board. As usual, the teachers did a great job with their bulletin boards. Here are a few that stood out.

One of the newer bulletin boards that I started was, Cougars Being Proactive. I wrote a letter home explaining the first habit. I asked the parents to take a picture of their child following habit 1. I even listed some examples on how to do this. I also asked the teachers to email any pictures of their students being proactive. This bulletin board will continue for the other 6 habits. We will do one each month. This is the result of our collaboration.

Last year we started 7 Habits Shout Outs. If a staff member or student sees another student following one of the 7 habits, then he or she can write how that student demonstrated following one of the 7 habits. The teacher or student then turns in the form to the office. Each morning the principal will read a few shout outs on the morning announcements. Shout outs are displayed in the cafeteria for all to see.

One of my favorite activities I participated in doing, is the RCE Leaders board. Our school abbreviation is RCE. We asked the teachers to send two to three students from each class that always follow the 7 habits. We took each child's pictures and spelled the words RCE Leaders with the pictures. The students loved seeing their picture on display for the whole school to see.

Each teacher had to post a class mission statement outside their classroom door. The teacher and students collaborated together what's important in their classroom. Each mission statement was different. The pictures below show some of the different class mission statements.

Something this year that we started was having teachers post their personal and professional goals outside their classroom door. Teachers will set a goal for each and keep track using a calendar. When the teacher met their goal for that day, he or she will color the day on the calendar green. If the teacher did not make their goal, the teacher will color the day red. Teachers and staff are also asked to post the habit of the week, leadership quote of the week, and classroom goal of the week.

Tracking data for the Leader in Me Program
To keep track of Accelerated Reader progress, I started a graph for each class. I placed 35 stings for each of the 35 classes on a window. On each string, I placed the teachers' name and Velcro up. When the class earned 10 points, I placed a 10 point circle up. The points go by 10's, and each time the class earned another 10 points I would place it up there. The point circles go up to 300 in value. After the 6 weeks are over, we award the class with the most points. Once the new 6 weeks starts, I take down all of the circles. The gold star on the picture means that class met their goal or surpassed their goal. Each teacher decides how many points each student will have to earn for that 6 weeks.

Each week each teacher picks a student for the leader of the week. Teachers select a student that follows all of the 7 habits. Each student has their named called on the announcements and their picture or name is placed on a bulletin near the front office.

Our school has two long hallways, so this year we made banners to display the 7 habits. Each hallway has the 7 habits displayed, like in the pictures below.

Leadership quotes are important to post around school. Here are a few that we have so far.

My principal came up with street signs using the 7 habits language. A local vendor used the PVC plastic to make the signs. We have a total of 14 around the school.

WIGS or Wildly Important Goals is something new we started this year. We post the goals that teachers and students need to do. Once they complete that goal, they can move their paw print over. We also have a gumball machine and a puzzle one that I do not have a picture of.

Library Leader in Me Photos
The Leader in Me themed photos below are all from the library.

I made the 3D letters using the top lid from the big copy paper boxes. Once the letter was done, I painted the letters and used laminated die cuts patterns and hot glued it on the letters.