Annapolis Middle School

By Twila Walker, Sarah Freeberg, and Mrs. Monika Grogan

This is the first year of implementation of the Character Education Program at Annapolis Middle School; but it is our third year for having (PBIS) Positive Behavior Intervention Support Program implementation. Our Character Education program has been a huge success this year. We are very proud of our accomplishments. The program is based upon five character traits which are caring, responsibility, respect, citizenship and building positive relationships. We have broken students into small groups known as “Caring Communities,” which serve as a homeroom, the venue for Character Education lessons, MSA testing groups, and finally, provide the mentoring environment we wish to nurture. The ultimate goals of our Caring Communities are to increase academic achievement, to create a safe and orderly environment and to develop a positive climate and culture.

Using our school data from discipline referrals we came up with the changes we wanted to see in our school. In order to affect major changes we would need an additional instructional component to serve as a model for the climate we wished to see. It would include: 1) staff members building and maintaining positive relationships with students, 2) teachers acting as mentors to “teach” moral and social behavior to all students, and 3) teachers modeling the positive moral and social behaviors we wanted to see in our students on a daily basis.

One of our proudest achievements, and what best shows the effectiveness of the Annapolis Middle School PBIS/Character Education initiatives is the dramatic decrease in referrals written. This is where PBIS enters into the picture. PBIS focuses on catching students doing the right thing and then positively rewarding them for it!

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