Leadership Day 2014

Our third annual Leadership Day held on Thursday, April 17 was a huge success! We had almost 90 guests comprised of educators, school board members, community members, business leaders, city council members, and the Livonia mayor in attendance! Our guests were greeted at the door, checked in and escorted to the library by students. Our emcee for the day, Gabby, welcomed our guests and invited them to learn about Cooper's journey as a Leader in Me school. They were introduced to each of the 7 Habits by different student leaders. Some of the students chose to write about what a selected habit means to them, while others sang, chanted or performed a habit. Student tour guides were on hand waiting to take small groups around the building to talk with students about how leadership and the 7 Habits are infused into what they do and learn each day. Our guests had an hour to tour the building, visit classrooms, talk with students, look at data walls and see various displays throughout the building where students were eager to share information. They then headed back to the library where students shared their Leadership Notebooks and held a student panel for questions to be asked of them. The day ended with lunch in the cafe and a musical performance by our talented vocal and instrumental groups. A great day was had by all as our student leaders really shined!

Leadership is Everywhere!

When you first walk through the doors of Cooper, you are greeted with welcoming messages and quotes on the walls that depict leadership and The 7 Habits, including displays that show how the habits are being integrated into the curriculum. You will also see students in various leadership roles: greeters, student lighthouse team members, library leaders, blog leaders, Rock Star Saver leaders, gym leaders, and photographers to name just a few. The last couple of months at Cooper have been filled with additional opportunities for our students to utilize and show off their leadership skills. We have had vocal and instrumental concerts, Seussical, Battle of the Books, various after school clubs, and students practicing for the Variety Show. On March 20th, Cooper students and staff were able to share what we are doing as a school to create a culture of leadership. The Leader in Me Symposium Series selected Cooper to be a part of their tour in which 94 educators from around the state came to see what we are doing to promote leadership and to learn from our students. The students did an amazing job and all of our guests were very complimentary! When given the opportunity, our Cooper kids really do shine and we are so proud of all of them! They are certainly living our school mission: Learning and Leading!

306 students on 47 teams participated in this year's Battle of the Books.

Students synergize during the battle!

Leadership is everywhere!

Leadership is everywhere!

Our guests for the LIM Symposium were intrigued by what our students had to say about leadership!

A student shares her leadership notebook with a guest!

Habit 1 - Be Proactive

Being proactive is often referred to as the habit of choice, which means that you take responsibility for your choices and behavior. According to Stephen Covey, there is a space between the stimulus and response, and it is in this space that you have the potential to choose your response.  To be proactive means that you have the foresight to think and act ahead of anticipated events. It means that you take conscious control of your life, set goals, and then work towards achieving those goals. Rather than waiting for life's events to happen to you, you take control and engineer your own events.

Reactive Language •I’ll try •That’s just the way I am •There’s nothing I can do •I have to •I can’t •You ruined my day

Proactive Language •I’ll do it •I can do better than that •Let’s look at all our options •I choose to •There’s gotta be a way •I’m not going to let your bad mood rub off on me

Habit 1 - Be Proactive

 

Are You Proactive or Reactive

Building Leaders ~ Our Third Annual Career Day

For this year's Career Day, we were fortunate to have 38 different professionals come to Cooper to share information about their jobs and how leadership plays a role in what they do each day. We are so grateful to all of them for taking time out of their busy schedules to prepare such outstanding presentations to share with our students. In addition to learning about various professions, our students also had the opportunity to display and practice their leadership skills. Many students helped us get ready for Career Day, and others served in leadership roles such as registrars, travel guides, greeters, photographers, hosts, singers, and speakers on Career Day. The morning began in the library with a welcome from Mr. Taylor and Mrs. Aherne. Under the direction of our vocal instructor, Mrs. Danke, a group of students then sang and performed the Leader in Me cup song. Tour guides then called speakers by name and walked them to their respective rooms to present.

Students each had a lanyard and card that had their schedule on it for the morning, which included the profession they would be hearing about as well as the room in which they needed to go. They each did an amazing job traveling to the various rooms and were a respectful audience for our guests. At the conclusion of the third session, students went back to their classrooms and the speakers went to the library for lunch, which was generously donated by Jimmy Johns. The morning concluded with some of our students sharing the 7 Habits and how leadership has had an impact on their lives both at school and at home. We were so proud of how passionate and authentic they were when they spoke about leadership! We continue to learn from them everyday!

It was truly an exciting morning! Our student leaders not only learned a great deal, they did an outstanding job in everything they did to help make the day such a success!

Martin Luther King and the Seven Habits

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.  Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.”

                                                                                                Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

This week we celebrated the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Dr. King embodied the 7 habits.  His daily language was proactive; “There has to be a way” instead of “I can’t or “I’ll do it” instead of “I’ll try.”  His life is a testament to begin with the end in mind.  Quotes, scripture, and speeches of Dr. King reverberate with his vision and mission.  “Whatever your life’s work, do it well.”  “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?”  “I have a dream today…”  Even a month before his death, he eloquently spoke of what he wanted to be remembered for and uttered his famous words “Say that I was a drum major for justice.”  He put first things first; he was clear about his priorities and acted on them.

Dr. King searched for the “third alternative” (think win-win) instead of compromising his principles for an easy end to the civil rights struggle.  He practiced and preached nonviolence even in the most violent of situations and strived to understand and be at peace with the views of others (seek first to understand and then be understood).  The Civil Rights movement was synergy in its finest form; people of all backgrounds coming together in the struggle for peace, love, justice, dignity, and equality.  With hoses in their faces, they marched.  With dogs barking, they marched.  Houses were bombed and still they marched.  Buses stopped and still they marched.  Dr. King’s vision for a better world and his ability to bring people together changed the history of our country and the world.

At Cooper, we believe strongly in “Learning and Leading” by cultivating the potential in each child.  We strive to create a culture where everyone is respected and valued.  As a Leader in Me school, we strive to develop skills and attitudes that bridge cultural differences such as empathy, active listening, and appreciation for multiple cultural perspectives. 

Recently we shared Sean Covey’s article on how building strong leaders helps prevent bullying in schools.  Bullying includes a person willfully and repeatedly exercising power or control over another with hostile or malicious intent that is reasonably perceived as being motivated either by any actual or perceived characteristic, such as race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression or a mental, physical, or sensory disability or impairment; or by any other distinguishing characteristic.  Being a social justice leader means finding the courage to be an “upstander” in any context, speaking up against biased jokes and language, and pointing out injustice during discussions in the community and school.  As parents and teachers, we have the power to lead by example in issues of diversity and justice and thus demonstrate a commitment to creating a better world.

Resolve to Follow the 7 Habits in 2014

Happy New Year! As many of us reflect on our lives at this time of year and make some New Year's resolutions, why not resolve to make the 7 Habits a part of your daily life! A great place to begin is to create a family mission statement. By establishing who you are as a family, what you want to accomplish, and how you plan to do it, you Begin With the End in Mind. Sit together with your family and chat about the purpose of your family. Here are some suggested things to discuss:

• What are your family's highest priority goals?
• What are your unique talents, gifts, and abilities?
• What makes your family the happiest?
• What kind of home do we want to invite friends to?
• What makes you feel comfortable at your home?
• What makes each of you want to come home?

After your family discussion, work together to write a family mission statement that is meaningful to all of you and can be easily memorized. Be sure to consider all four areas: body, brain, heart, and soul. It should be something that is timeless and can be understood by even the youngest family members. Once it is finalized, post it in a visible area of your house as a daily reminder to all members of your family and to all who enter your home. As parents, be sure to model living the mission statement. By writing a family mission statement and living it, the message to your children is that your family is important; you know who you are, what you want to accomplish, and how you are going to do it.

Use the attached worksheet to get started!

Our future posts will take a more in depth look at each habit, so that you and your family can work on living the habits each day. Happy New Year!

Leadership Notebooks

Creating leaders at Cooper is an exciting process! One tool that we are using to help our students take charge of their learning is called a Leadership Notebook. This is a three-ring binder that each fifth and sixth grader owns, which contains data that they track about themselves.

The pages in these binders are created by teachers and are tailored to fit the needs of each child, but each student sets their own specific academic and personal goals. They then track their own progress. The content of the Leadership Notebooks evolves and changes throughout the year as students reach their goals and set new ones. Overall, it is an excellent tool that helps them take charge of their life!