Culture Camp
The middle school at which I'm doing my internship spends the first week of each school year running what they call Culture Camp. The students spend all of each school day during this week in classes, activities, and workshops that teach them what is expected of them both academically and behaviorally. They focus on the six core values that drive culture at the school: scholarship, teamwork, respect, intelligence, virtue, and effort. Behind this week of training lies their theory that you cannot expect students to behave if you don't explain what behaving looks like. Students who come from an educational and family background that doesn't teach them the skills and values needed to succeed in middle school have to be explicitly taught them. This focus on culture and values continues throughout the school year as well, as teachers are guided to correct students who are misbehaving by explaining what they should be doing instead of simply telling them to stop doing the wrong thing. That has the added benefit of refocusing the teacher, the student, and any other students who witness the interaction on the learning that should be happening in the class. By all measures, they're having a great deal of success using this approach in their schools.
While I appreciate that this level of structure is important and possibly necessary for their student population to succeed (they do have to grow about 5-6 grade levels in 3 years), I worry that these same students will not be prepared for the lack of structure found in most high schools an colleges. I'm looking forward to observing how they transition their 8th graders into a position of more autonomy and self-direction over the next year.
I'd love to hear any input you guys have on the needs for an benefits of highly-structured environments in schools for economically-disadvantaged students.
While I appreciate that this level of structure is important and possibly necessary for their student population to succeed (they do have to grow about 5-6 grade levels in 3 years), I worry that these same students will not be prepared for the lack of structure found in most high schools an colleges. I'm looking forward to observing how they transition their 8th graders into a position of more autonomy and self-direction over the next year.
I'd love to hear any input you guys have on the needs for an benefits of highly-structured environments in schools for economically-disadvantaged students.
Hey Stephen!
ReplyDeleteI've worked for a network of schools that have Culture Camp for 1-2 weeks during the beginning of the school year. Let me just say that this sets the tone for the 2-3 years of growth that needs to happen. It's basically like addressing culture before academics, which is a total necessity in many of our schools.
I believe the rationale for an environment such as you describe is that teaching and reinforcing a culture with clearly defined values and an acceptable framework of behaviors creates a foundation of discipline. When these values and behaviors are reinforced with transparency and consistency, they will become part of a child’s character and the discipline of success will become habitual and will be sustained in some form, regardless of whether subsequent environments require the same level of discipline. Theoretically. The rate at which these students must “grow” through grade levels concerns me.
ReplyDeleteI don’t particularly believe there’s always a correlation between economic disadvantage and a deficit of good breeding or the presence of a familial culture of discipline and good values. I’ve known people raised with every advantage who go against the behavioral grain we might associate with those who have been taught “good” values at home. In the end, there are no absolutes; as these kids transition to 8th grade, some of them may, in fact, seem to forget what they learned, perhaps they’ll stumble a bit. But the culture you describe is important because it sounds like an environment that really cares about the children. That alone is good as gold.
Stephen, I'm so glad you shared your experience as I had given this a lot of thought which stemmed from the Saturday workshop sponsored by your school. I do believe the culture they are creating is wonderful. (I've thought a lot about some of what they have implemented-the bus handshake and also "time savers" and how those could be implemented in the public system.
ReplyDeleteAnd more importantly, how a Principal could get "buy in" from the entire staff to create a culture where everyone is willing to participate in these tasks.) Dawn raised a lot of very good points in her post as well about "creating a foundation of discipline." Having said this, I did wonder about students who will make the transition from this sort of environment to one in which they have more choices (such as having to change classrooms or do tasks on their own without a "count down".) I'm curious to know if there is any research that has been done that tracks students from the more structured/disciplined environment to different environments that don't have these systems in place. How does the personal/internalized "foundation of discipline" translate for a child who is adjusting/operating within a new culture? I'm most curious about how children develop skills or the ability to "self regulate" in regards to behavior, tasks, timing of tasks within both systems and if the model we saw (the culture you are currently working) gives students an advantage because of the regiment.