Leader In Me Part 3

In my previous two blog posts, I introduced the Leader In Me program and the 7 habits of happy kids that my school adopted last year. In my first blog post, I introduced the 3 stages students go through during the program: Independence, interdependence, and developing the whole person. I explained the independence stage and the first 3 habits: 

             Habit #1-Be proactive; 

             Habit #2-Begin with the end in mind; and

             Habit #3-Put first things first. 

In my second blog post, I explained the interdependence stage and its 

3 habits:

             Habit #4-Think win-win;

             Habit #5-Seek first to understand, then to be understood; and 

             Habit #6-Synergize. 

Finally, I will explain the last habit that focuses on developing the whole person.                

             Habit #7: Sharpen the Saw. 

This habit helps students to learn to take care of themselves and why it is crucial. 

Taking Care of You 

Our students don't realize that it is important to take care of themselves. Why should they? They are just kids, right? But, as adults, we need to learn to take care of ourselves, as well as, teach our students to do the same. Habit #7-Sharpen the Saw teaches students to take care of four aspects of their life: their body, their mind, their heart, and their soul. To introduce this idea to students, you must make it relatable. I always use myself as an example. I begin by teaching them how to take care of their body. I ask the students what would happen if I didn't take care of my body. The responses I usually receive are, "You will be fat," "You will be lazy," or "You will get sick." After a few responses, I then ask, "What should I do to keep my body healthy." I would have students use a Kagan strategy "think-pair-share" to discuss with their peer's ways to keep their body healthy. Then, as a class, we would chart the responses and keep the chart up to remind us to take care of our bodies. The students are great at remembering that eating healthy food like fruits and vegetables, exercising, and drinking water can help them be healthy. 

Making Deeper Connections

Taking care of their bodies is the easiest of the four aspects students know how to take care of. The other three require making a deeper connection to understand it. When asking students how and why we should take care of our minds, students don't see school and school type of activities as something important. I let students know that when they do school work, they are sharpening their saw by working their brain muscles. My favorite video to show to explain this concept is the growth mindset videos from Class Dojo. You can find the video on YouTube called, "Growth mindset for students-Episode 1/5." After the video, the students discuss it with their "Think-Pair-Share" partners and how they will work on building their brains. This video is especially important for the lower performing students to understand that they may not know something yet, but if they work hard, they will learn. 

Students know that they have a heart; it keeps their bodies alive and it beats. What they don't understand is that there are other ways to help their hearts and keep them healthy. Kindergarteners are egocentric and don't realize that their words and actions can affect others in a negative or positive way. My favorite read-aloud is, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." (This is a Christmas story, so please make sure to clear this story with your non-practicing families.) The grinch teaches students how his heart starts out small because he hates Christmas, but it grows three sizes because he thought of the Whos and how Christmas made them happy. After the story, I have the students come up with ways to help others and we pick some to do in our class. 

Finally, it's important to teach students about their souls and how to take care of it. Students don't realize that doing things they love is taking care of their souls. It rejuvenates them, it helps their heart and develops their interests. Sometimes students don't realize that their interests could lead to a career someday. This section of sharpening your saw helps students see that doing things they love could lead to a future career they knew nothing about. As a class, we get into our "think-pair-share" partners to discuss our interests. Then, we chart them. As I write them down, we have a discussion about it and if it could lead to a career. This is so exciting to see students get excited about their interests and how it could lead to a career they love. Now that you know all about the 7 habits, I hope I have sparked interest in it. I hope you learned how it is used, taught, and what students can gain from it. 

Sincerely, 

Marcy Mesa