School perseverance, points and pop-up shops
A new interactive way to learn through the Compassionate Schools initiative
Here at Kativik Ilisarniliriniq we pride ourselves on our unique ideas and approaches to engaging our students. The Compassionate Schools initiative is a method developed throughout the years to help facilitate the social, emotional and academic success of our students, while simultaneously educating teachers and staff on trauma-informed approaches and restorative practices. The goal is to establish a positive, safe and predictable classroom environment where self-doubt, hopelessness and fear are transformed in our students across Nunavik.
At Jaanimmarik school in Kuujjuaq, we sat down with Katelyn Clow, the Compassionate Schools Resource Teacher, to talk about a unique program that combines technology and rewards to encourage school success. The rewards program, which has been a staple in elementary for the past few years, is now being piloted in secondary classes with a lot of success for now only offered to elementary school students but that will eventually include the whole school, encourages children, through their own actions and behaviours, to earn points that can be exchanged for a variety of objects.
Kids earn points when they demonstrate our school values: respect, responsibility and resiliency. When students accomplish a goal they will receive points, but the idea is to keep students motivated and engaged, receiving new challenges to encourage them to develop intrinsic motivation
The points, or vouchers, can be obtained for positive actions such as punctuality, finishing homework, having a good attitude, and behaving in the corridors. Points can be awarded by any staff member school-wide, which means students are encouraged to try their best whether they are with their homeroom teacher, a specialist, or alone in the hallways. Teachers differentiate the areas each student needs to improve in order to obtain their points, with each point raising the bar and challenging students to continue improving themselves.
This could sound like a lot of work, but thanks to an online platform, everything is centralized and made easy for teachers as well as fun for students. The application is linked up to smart boards in the classrooms, and each student can personalize their own avatars, which makes it even more engaging and fun.
There are bigger prizes that students can save up to use during the value voucher sale, for things such as headphones, earbuds, LED lights, jewelry, science kits, art kits, board games, hockey gear, etc. There are also special prizes such as making their teachers wear a funny hat!
Getting enough points for the bigger prizes can take a good two to three months to earn, so it is not a fast system for the big rewards. That means that students are not only doing the work in class to receive their points, but they are keeping the momentum on a daily basis to be able to save up for the exciting day when Katelyn transforms a classroom into a pop-up shop full of surprises.
A big congratulations to Katelyn and all the teachers at Jaanimmarik for creating such a fun activity for our elementary students!
Interested in finding out more about the Compassionate Schools initiative? You may enjoy reading this story: Are you familiar with Compassionate School Services?