Kindness is thriving at Chardon Middle School, CMS Principal Craig Caroff told the Chardon Schools Board of Education during a showcase of the school May 19.
Kindness is thriving at Chardon Middle School, CMS Principal Craig Caroff told the Chardon Schools Board of Education during a showcase of the school May 19.
Caroff highlighted “sources of strength” and how integrating them into teaching at CMS has impacted students’ well being.
Caroff’s presentation featured a wheel broken into eight sections, each representing a source of strength, including physical health, mental health, family support, positive friends, mentors, healthy activities, generosity and spirituality.
“When we engage our students in our sources of strength lessons, we really ask them to pull from this wheel and what is their literal source of strength,” Caroff explained. “It can be one thing, it can be many things. Everything on that wheel is talked about in-depth from when they enter into CMS, but also as part of our leadership programming and opportunities for our sixth- and seventh-graders.”
Both students and staff explore strength, he said, noting he has the sources on a poster in his office as a conversation piece.
“It really helps them to build resilience because we all know that when times are tough, we have to pull from that source of strength and pull from something that we believe in and we feel strongly about as people,” he said.
Grades six and seven have “sources of strength leaders,” who run their own campaigns educating other students, Caroff said.
“We had kids getting up in front of their entire grade level, their entire student body and sharing with them about this wheel, about what sources mean to them,” Caroff said.
The sources of strength approach builds a culture of caring and connection in Chardon’s buildings and normalizes asking for help, he said.
Middle school can be a difficult time for students and this gives them a common foundation and language to build upon, he said.
CMS also recently did a book study of “The Anxious Generation,” by Jonathan Haidt, a book arguing childhood use of smartphones and social media has caused a rise in mental illness.
“Our counseling department had also heard of the book, a few teachers had heard of the book, and all of a sudden that morphed into, ‘Hey let’s do something with this, and let’s not just limit it to our staff, let’s engage the community in this,’” he said.
Retired teacher and former school board member Madelon Horvath worked with CMS counseling department member Kate Collins on the discussions, which were held in the CMS Media Center, and acted as a moderator.
The purpose of the study was to engage families on subjects like the impact of technology and how to connect with students apart from devices, Caroff said.
Something in a similar vein is CMS’s “let grow” challenge, which Caroff presented via a bingo board with a variety of activities written on it.
The challenge is ongoing and was introduced prior to spring break, he explained, adding it encourages students to fill their time without screens.
Activities on the board include baking a dessert, taking a full day away from screens and planning a family outing.
“(Young people) can do a lot more than we think they can do, and they can do it well,” Caroff said. “They can do it without our help, too. That was the main point in building that self confidence, building that self efficacy, advocating for themselves.”
