Schools

Northville Elementary Students Take Charge of School Leadership Day

Students showed off the skills they've acquired as part of Moraine Elementary School's Leader in Me program.

student Emma Berry's favorite of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is "synergize."

That may seem like sophisticated reading for a third-grader, but it is part of the Leader in Me program that Moraine implemented a year ago. Berry said she enjoys synergzing, or working together with others, to "make something better than if you just do it yourself."

The Leader in Me program is based on the book by Stephen Covey and teaches the habits in the hopes that students will adopt them in and out of the classroom. It has been introduced at Moraine and and in about 25 other schools in southeast Michigan, including neighboring Novi which has the program in all of its elementary schools. All 425 of Moraine's students participate in Leader in Me.

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On Wednesday, students showed off what they learned to dozens of guests from around Northville. The students sang a song about the program, gave testimonials touting its effectiveness and offered school tours to their community guests. From serving the snacks to providing the tours, students led the event.

Emma, who greeted guests as they entered the building, is a big fan of the porgram.

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"I thought it was a great idea," she said of the program. "I thought it would teach me how to succeed in life...At first it was pretty hard but now I've gotten in the habit of it."

Fifth-grader Daniel McLaughlin also says he integrates the habits into his daily life.

"It's easier to do your homework," he said, adding that it has taught him not to procrastinate.

What is the Leader in Me program?

Physical education teacher Kurt Bartel said that time is set aside in the classroom to teach Leader in Me habits from a book, but that the terminology and concepts are used throughout the curriculum too.

"It's neat to see how students have taken it on," he said. "The goal is for them to learn early and make these habits a habit."

The seven habits include:

  1. Be proactive
  2. Begin with the end in mind
  3. Put first things first
  4. Think win-win
  5. Seek first to understand
  6. Synergize
  7. Sharpen the saw

"It's been easy to implement and fun and helpful," Bartel said. "These kids are going to benefit in the long run."

The reception from parents has been very positive, said principal Denise Bryan. She has heard from parents whose students who participated last year and have since moved on to middle school. She said those parents tell her the habits have been retained and that it makes them better students.


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