STUDY GROUP – 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE TEENS/ALEXANDER POND CURRICULUM


4/21/09

· We realized we still have an hour of time left on the 2nd day at the pond so we brainstormed ideas for what could be done to wrap up the 2 days. We decided it would be a good idea to introduce the class officers and the student council reps and have them talk about homecoming and the float. We would then go to our small groups to brainstorm float ideas. We would then return to the big group and each small group would report out it’s ideas with the officers/reps. compiling the info. We would then return to our small groups for one last activity – each student would write a positive comment on an index card for each group member – then clean up.

· As a whole group we agreed to work on the Remote Control Activity and realized it needed simplification. We looked at the Push Pause activity in the workbook that is tied to Habit #1 and agreed to stick with something more closely related to this activity –looking at be proactive vs reactive. We want to have some kind of visible pause button – maybe draw it on the wrist. We would provide some short snip-its that students could choose between proactive & reactive responses. Deb coined WISH: What do I do/What do I want; Is this my best choice; Stay with it or change; How will that work? Deb & Jill will work on further developing this activity

· Robin gathered some info. on different adventure course activities and Katie Belyea agreed to join us at the pond and facilitate these activities. We, as a group, need to decide which activities we want to incorporate. Robin & Billie went through the perceptions pictures and chose about 30 that we will copy and laminate so that each group has the same set. We chose pictures that might evoke more than one opinion. Bonnie & Billie worked on the preliminaries for putting together a scavenger/treasure hunt. Matt & Deb worked on the Circle of Control/Role Play activity.

· We are looking at Sept. 18 & 25 as the dates for the orientation. We need to get on the district calendar as the 7th grade may be planning to go up on the 25th…

· Next meeting is April 27

4/6/09 meeting

· We started out just brainstorming some ideas as we begin to look at the make-up of the two orientation days at Alexander Pond. We definitely want to cut the rotation times down to 35 minutes each and we know we need another “fun” activity in addition to the hike/tree i.d. and the fishing rotations. One idea would be a scavenger hunt of some kind – maybe using a compass to find things that would be place in various spots around the pond/forest. Another possible rotation could be some kind of “survivor”/ropes course type of challenge that would require teamwork to accomplish. We would also like to incorporate the “color” activity that was used with last summer’s “survivor 9” group. Training also came up and we agreed that providing the facilitators with training during Regents Week might be a good idea – 8th grade teachers are not responsible for regents exams so we could find a day for training and hopefully go up to the pond as a group to work through some of the activities. This would also reduce the need for training funds.

· Principal, Diane Arbes, joined us for a few minutes so that we could discuss our additional funding needs. We would like to provide each of the facilitators with a copy of The 7 Habits…, we would like to start a “homework” club next year (see previous notes) that would be for 8th & possibly 9th grade students and upperclassmen mentor/tutors. We would need funding to pay the teachers and train the mentors – Diane let us know that 2 days/week could be funded. We need to investigate training opportunities for the mentor/tutor students. It was also suggested that once we develop new activities for the 8th grade that we try them out this summer during the “survivor 9” program. Funding is in the budget for survivor 9 and we may be able to tap into some of those funds for additional curriculum development. Diane also asked that we share our ideas/work with the high school site based team at their May meeting.

· Specific Rotation ideas: We decided we would need 8 different rotations and that each group would work through 4 each day.
Rotation Ideas:
o Hike around pond on nature trail/tree identification
o Fishing instruction & practice
o What I Know/H.S. Activity opportunities
o Perceptions (needs to be updated with the same pictures for each group)
o New Rotations – need to be developed:
§ Scavenger Hunt (use camera to take picture of each discovery)
§ Remote Control Activity – Habit #1
§ Survivor/Ropes Course style challenge (2 different)

· We will also develop a Circle of Control Activity (Habit #1) that each group will do simultaneously and present (in place of the sculpture/dream catcher activity of the past). We will re-introduce the teacher-student role play with Matt & Debbie acting out a more scripted version than what we’ve done in the past.


· We started to sketch out the format for the two days with the following as our initial draft:
o Day One:
§ 8:15 – 8:30 “Find Your Facilitator”
§ 8:30 – 8:55 Hike to Alexander Pond
§ 9:00 – 9:10 Involvement Activity – “Name Toss”
§ 9:10 – 9:30 (New Activity) “Find Someone Who…” personal scavenger
Hunt
§ 9:30 – 10:05 (New Activity) Introduction to the 7 Habits
§ 10:05 – 10:15 Break
§ 10:15 – 10:45 (New Activity) True Colors
§ 10:45 – 11:20 Rotation (assigned by group)
§ 11:20 – 11:50 Lunch
§ 11:50 – 12:25 Rotation
§ 12:25 – 1:00 Rotation
§ 1:00 – 1:10 Break
§ 1:10 – 1:45 Rotation
§ 1:45 – 2:00 (New Activity) “This or That”
§ 2:00 Hike back to the M.S.

o Day Two:
§ Hike to the Pond
§ 8:40 – 8:50 Involvement Activity “Something you wouldn’t know…”
§ 8:50 – 9:40 (New Activity) Circle of Control Poster and presentation
w/large group role play and processing
§ 9:40 – 10:15 Rotation
§ 10:15 – 10:25 Break
§ 10:25 – 11:00 Rotation
§ 11:00 – 11:20 History of Alexander Pond w/Ross McGraw
§ 11:20 – 11:50 Lunch
§ 11:50 – 12:25 Rotation
§ 12:25 – 1:00 Rotation
§ 1:00 – 1:10 Break
§ 1:10 – 2:00 ???
§ 2:00 Hike to the M.S.


· We need to find an activity or activities for the last 50 minutes on Day 2

· Activity work to be done – we will divide and conquer:

o Intro to Habits – Deb & Jill
o True Colors Activity – Deb will get info. from Jessica Williams and John Tomazin
o Scavenger Hunt – Bonnie & Billie
o Survivor challenges – Robin will check with Katie Belyea & Scott Wandell for possible ideas
o Perceptions – Robin & Billie will review pictures and come up with several that can be duplicated for each group
o Circle of Control Poster & Role Play – Matt & Debbie
o Remote Control Activity – whole group
o What I Know “tweak” - whole group


· Supply List
o Books – Guidance will order 8 – 10 copies
o Electronic megaphone
o Colored bracelets or ribbons for True colors I.D.
o Poster board for Circle of Control
o Decorative things for Circle of Control
o Scavenger Hunt items?


· Next meetings
o April 21
o April 27