Taking the Next Step in Character Ed

Dan Brownrigg, Tom Zabawa, Ryan Arbaugh & Russ Facione

Bingham Farms Elementary School

Character Ed is all about connections. Enhancing Connections Kids have to

the Adults & what Kids have with Kids;

Find a person in the room and quickly tell them:• How do I (in my role, as a teacher, principal,

etc;) enhance my kids’ connection with me? • How do I enhance my kids’ connections with

each other? 3 Rounds of this, 90 seconds each.

Russ Facione- Principal

Tom Zabawa- 5th Grade Teacher

Ryan Arbaugh- 5th Grade Teacher

Dan Brownrigg- 5th Grade Teacher

Bingham Farm Elementary School In Metro Detroit

In Oakland County, one of the most affluent in the country. (2010 US Top 50, even though it has Blue Collar Communities)

Birmingham Schools- Very high performing…

Bingham Farms- Not the norm…• We are a Title I building. (4/14 buildings)• We have 40% non-Caucasian students. (BPS is

7%)• We do not match the district norm.

Our building is probably a lot like yours.

Show how it relates to the 11 CEP Principles

Introduce you to Morning Meetings-

Show our “next step” to gender specific Morning Meetings-

Logistics on organizing the meeting (schedule, etc;)-

Structure of Morning Meeting Benefits & Issues A walk-through if time permits

Comprehensive- MM along with Solve it Spot and other intentional, building-wide activities to develop character.

Intentional- Schedule is set up to not have ANY co-curricular classes at the bookends of the day for building-wide time for morning meetings.

Proactive- We looked at our data, it lead us to develop MM as a school wide tool, we dedicated PD time, and consistently revisit. It’s a non negotiable (that’s not in the

contract…).

From our NSOC application, to what extent do you form caring attachments with students?

17/18 said HE or Ex. Morning Meeting

was the tool to get there!

2007 Shared counselor attends CEP Conference

2008 Tom Zabawa presents to the staff of Bingham Farms on the use of Morning Meetings and NSOC process

Along with a unique Touchstone, we believe that Morning Meetings are the foundation for our school’s character development which begins in kindergarten

2010 Bingham Farms becomes State SOC

Spring 2011 Bingham Farms becomes a NSOC

Fall 2011 Formation of the “Three Amigos”

2012 Dan and Tom attend CEP and are blown away and inspired

Morning Meetings- A key part in our culture.

Over years, see the need to handle “girl issues” and “boy issues”,

Had lunch bunches, etc; Was always reactive, decided to shift

to a pro-active approach

Schedule of BFES

Allows for 1-2 daily meetings

Uninterrupted time.

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