{"id":1839,"date":"2018-08-08T18:00:12","date_gmt":"2018-08-08T23:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/teachersfirst.com\/blog\/?p=1839"},"modified":"2019-04-05T18:48:16","modified_gmt":"2019-04-05T22:48:16","slug":"win-with-civility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/2018\/08\/win-with-civility\/","title":{"rendered":"Win With Civility!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Happy August! Wow, where did summer go?! Did you know that August also marks \u201cWin With Civility Month\u201d? When I heard this, I knew that without a doubt I had to address its importance in my monthly blog post.<\/p>\n

Now first, let\u2019s talk about what exactly is meant by civility. Civility is a polite act or expression and furthermore, the way you conduct yourself when faced with adversity. Adversity never<\/em> happens in schools, right? Wrong! Adversity is everywhere, but I don\u2019t want to focus on that. Rather, I want to focus on how we can celebrate civility, positivity, communication and problem-solving skills with our students. The great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, \u201cThe time is always right to do what is right\u201d.\u00a0 #TRUTH<\/p>\n

Here are 3 practical ideas of ways in which you can work to create a positive classroom environment:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Incorporate circles into your classroom routine.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Work to build a community of trust, develop relationships, and strengthen communication skills through the use of classroom circles. Circles can be used to serve a variety of purposes, and you as the teacher have the power to use them to meet the needs of your classroom and students. However, don\u2019t lose sight of the main goal: to create a safe space where connections can be built and strengthened and students can be empowered in a positive manner.\u00a0 This video<\/a> shows one school\u2019s journey using circles as a means by which to foster achievement.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Take the \u201cCivility Pledge\u201d.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      I happened upon \u201cThe Civility Pledge\u201d on the character.org website, and love it! It could be a school-wide or class-wide commitment and be displayed for all to see. What I like about this idea is it promotes the idea that we all must work together to build a culture of civility.\u00a0 Here is the pledge, but you could always modify it to meet your needs.<\/p>\n

      Take the Civility Pledge:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

      I pledge my commitment to personal reflection and<\/em><\/p>\n

      assessment of my conduct as I strive to do my part to build a<\/em><\/p>\n

      more civil society \u2013 one in which each person is respected and<\/em><\/p>\n

      public and political discourse are aimed at the betterment of<\/em><\/p>\n

      our communities, our state and our nation.<\/em><\/p>\n

      I will respect other\u2019s rights to hold different opinions; strive<\/em><\/p>\n

      to understand differing perspectives; avoid rhetoric that<\/em><\/p>\n

      humiliates and belittles others; speak out against incivility<\/em><\/p>\n

      and act to promote respect for all people.<\/em><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Practice what you preach.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        As a school leader, it was always my belief that we should treat our students with respect\u2014no matter what. I never felt that I needed to belittle kids when they were in trouble. I\u2019m not saying I was perfect, but I tried my best to model the behaviors that I wanted to see in my school. Even if it\u2019s not always reciprocated, we must model civil behavior for our students. A teacher once told me that students did not \u201cfear\u201d me as a leader, and in that teacher\u2019s eyes, that was a negative. However, my reply was \u201cYes, you\u2019re right\u2026 and I\u2019m proud of that. I want our students to do the right thing because they respect me, not fear me\u201d. Practice what you preach and strive to model self-control instead of uncivil reactions.<\/p>\n

        What are you doing to promote civility in your school or classroom? Drop me a line and share!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Happy August! Wow, where did summer go?! Did you know that August also marks \u201cWin With Civility Month\u201d? When I heard this, I knew that without a doubt I had to address its importance in my monthly blog post. Now first, let\u2019s talk about what exactly is meant by civility. Civility is a polite act … read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[128,129,10,28],"class_list":["post-1839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-classroom-application","tag-civility","tag-community","tag-professional-learning","tag-strategies"],"modified_by":"Karen Streeter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1839"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1844,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839\/revisions\/1844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}