We Don’t Say 2.0: Our #Carrollculture of Caring Continues

Image- Journal Cover Christmas 2015

It’s been almost a year since I wrote my first blog post introducing the Bishop Carroll “WE DON’T SAY” campaign. Since then I am proud to say that both the Spectrum Club and hashtag #CarrollCulture  have both taken off.

A few of the highlights of the following year included:

 MAY 2015 – Encouragement during Testing

JUNE 2015 – Radom Acts of Carroll: Remind Account used to Share Daily Inspiration

OCT 2015- Spectrum, Who’s Frank and the Mental Wellness Teams Collaborated during the Healthy Active School Symposium.

NOV 2015- Spectrum Friendship Bracelet Bee

DEC 2015- BCHS Fair Trade Fair-Spectrum Button Campaign Earned $275 for Syrian Women-

FEB 2016- WE DON’T SAY 2.0

The original We Don’t Say Campaign was extremely popular in the Calgary Catholic School District and beyond. Our original posters were picked up by Duke University (the originators of the campaign) and shared on their facebook page. We have also had approximately 10 others school in the area approach us about running their own campaigns.

This year we wanted the campaign to continue to promote inclusivity. Therefore the Spectrum Club asked the Who’s Frank (antibullying team) and our Mental Wellness Teams to help us come up with common derogatory phrases that we have heard.

We then put an “all call” out to our student population and had students select the phrases they would like to model for. 

The end result:

A fabulous product which can be shared on the net, in poster form and as part of the Bishop Carroll Colouring Book which 0ur student body is also in the process of producing.

So now for what you have been waiting for….

Please Enjoy.

And Remember Your Language Matters.

Mrs. Luong

Teaching Character and Creating Positive Classrooms

What is your passion?

You know that one topic/ idea that energizes you whenever you think about it?

For me, one of my passions is school counselling. I love my job!! I also love learning about new ways to connect with my students.

When I became aware of Coursera`s MOOC Teaching Character and Creating Positive Classrooms a few months ago I was immediately drawn to the concepts of character and positivity. As a school counsellor, I am constantly looking for new ideas and strategies to support my students in becoming the best that they can be. I was also taking #DCMOOC,  a course on digital citizenship, so I anticipated that many of the concepts and ideas from both the courses could be merged. I hoped that this course would provide me with a few tips and tricks to help me connect with my students in meaningful ways.

I was not disappointed.

Throughout the course we explored a number ideas including:

• character strengths – those universal aspects of our personalities which will impact how we respond to our world.
•   PERMA – Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment- a definition of happiness identified by Dr. Martin Seligman.
• CBL character behavior language – developing metacognition of specific strengths such as grit increases resilience.

• GMgrowth mindset – knowledge that intelligence can change.
• CR constructive responding –  all interactions we have our students convey a message therefore strive to create purposeful  active responses.

• micro-moments– those spontaneous teachable moments which can be enhanced through the conscious use  of CBL, GM and CR.

At the end of the course we were asked to create a visual of our learning.

This was mine

Each student is a lake.
Character Behaviour Lanugage are pebbles on a beach, you can pick up hold and examine.
Constructive Responding happens when you toss a pebble (CBL) towards your student.
Growth Mindset are the ripples that form on the lake once the pebble has been tossed. Some tosses cause large ripples, some cause smaller ones but all comments contribute to change.

Erin

Thank you to Dave Levin and the Relay Graduate School of Education for an inspirational learning opportunity.