Our grade 6 and 7 students in Division 1 and 2 have been participating in lessons around diversity, equity and inclusion for the past little while. These lessons have been lead through a collaboration between the classroom teachers and our District Coordinator for Mental Health, SEL, and Counselling Programs, Ms. Easton.

In one lesson, the students all participated in completing a Social Responsibility Circle. They were asked to divide a circle into sections that reflect values of our Wowk Cares and our former school acronym of Caring, Accountable, Responsible, Encouraging and Safe (C.A.R.E.S). They were then asked to give examples for each term / section. If you have a look at the PDF below, you will get a glimpse into the responses and ideas that were generated by some of the students. 

What are the Students Telling Us?

The responses and examples generated by the students can give us a glimpse into what our intermediate leaders have learned during their time with Ms. Easton and what they understand about Wowk Cares and our former C.A.R.E.S. acronym. Some of their comments are collated in the following table:

Overall, we feel our grade 6 and 7 students are able to articulate appropriate examples of positive behaviours that help create a safe learning environment for everyone.

The students were also asked to look at the sections of their circle and identify what values could use some improvement in our school and provide some description of why they feel this way. This offered a very interesting opportunity to listen to what our students are telling us about areas in our student's SEL that may need some improvement. Here are some examples:

• We could improve on being more safe. Sometimes my classmates play-fight and aren't being aware of their surroundings and the people around them. 
• I think a value we could use improvement is in being caring. I think sometimes people may say things without thinking about the effect it may have on others and it might show a lack of self - control
• I think at lunch we need to clean up more because there's always someone's lunch on the floor
• I think we can improve on caring and helping others when you have the time
• I think we can be even more caring and respectful of everyone's culture and religion and be careful of problems like stereotypes

Overall, the honest comments from our students in this activity help us stay mindful of the fact that there are always areas for improvement in a school community and they can also help provide us with some direction regarding where we want to go next with school wide Wowk Cares activities for the 2023 - 2024 school year.