Students, teachers and parents all affected by new habits learned at Eastlake Elementary

As people entered Eastlake Elementary on April 29, they were greeted with the sound of applause. Then a smiling student led them to a sign in table where they got a name tag and were escorted to a seat in the auditorium.
As part of the "Leader in Me" leadership day, each student leader had an important role in helping those in attendance. Principal Jan Tanner has been working with her staff and students since the beginning of the school year on a leadership program.
The program is based on the Sean Covey book "The 7 Habits of Happy Kids."
In 1999, A.B. Combs Elementary School in Raleigh, NC, decided to apply the lessons of Stephen R. Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" to its curriculum. In just over one year, the average year end grades for students went from 84 to 94 percent and discipline problems dropped significantly.
This is the first year Eastlake has participated in this program. Tanner learned of the program at a principals' conference last year. She shared it with teachers at the first faculty meeting of the school year. Each teacher was given a book for the classroom and instructed to work it into the curriculum.
"It's awesome to have a common language among the students and faculty," Tanner said. She explained that by learning the habits and sending home letters to help reinforce things at home, the students soon became familiar with the language set up in the book.
Each habit was infused into the teacher's lesson plans. From "being proactive" to "sharpening the saw," the students became highly involved with the book and its lessons.
The leadership day started with a small assembly for those invited. Tanner invited all the principals from the area as well as teachers and other leaders from the community to attend. The assembly started with a few musical numbers by the orchestra and led into speeches given by class representatives.
These speeches were presented by a student from fourth, fifth and sixth graders from each class. Each student picked his or her favorite habit and gave a short speech explaining what it meant to them and how he/she used it in his or her daily activities.
The attendees were then escorted to different classrooms where they were able to watch the habits being taught.
Alisa Belliston, the BYU facilitator at Riverton Elementary, came with seven other teachers from her school to learn more about the program.
"We want to get them excited about it because we plan on implementing this program in our school next year," Belliston said.
The seven habits are: being proactive, beginning with the end in mind, putting first things first, thinking win-win, seeking first to understand and then to be understood, synergizing, and sharpening the saw. Each habit was the focus of a six-week study course.
"Every single child is taught to be a leader," Tanner said. "This can be in all different areas like kindness, politeness, music, math and science."
The Leader in Me program is set up to empower kids to be in charge of themselves. "It's meant to be infused in who we are," Tanner said.

Miss Timothy reads to her 1st grade class while incorporating
the language used in "The 7 Habits of Happy Kids" book.

By Alisha Tondro for The South Valley Journal

Published in June 2011 in Riverton, Utah

http://www.southvalleyjournal.com/pages/full_story/7069/-Students,-teachers-and-parents-all-affected-by-new-habits-learned-at-Eastlake-Elementary/