Parkway's Delayed Start Mornings Begin with Character Education

On the first Wednesday of every month, which are delayed start mornings for Parkway School District, students at South Middle begin their day by meeting in small groups to support character education.

Patriot Unity Groups, more commonly known as PUGs, were established in 2007 after an 8th grade student thought it would be a good idea for students to make connections across grade levels. Every teacher is assigned a group comprised of 6th, 7th and 8th grade students. Each year, the students continue to meet with the same teacher and fellow classmates, adding new 6th graders as the former 8th graders move up to high school. In the beginning, the groups would only meet a few times a year. With its increased popularity, it has grown into a monthly activity.

Initially, the focus of the groups were on team building. Over time, the focus shifted to acceptance of others and anti-bullying. PUG also adopted Parkway's Character Education's theme of service. Joining forces with Student Council, PUG has a monthly food drive for Circle of Concern.

PUGs' mission includes the words: respect, integrity, competence and empathy. Last year students, staff and parents took a survey from Character Plus. The survey assessed many factors such as: feelings of belonging, sense of school as a community, sense of autonomy and influence, sense of competence, sense of school safety, and parent involvement at school.

"From the survey results students indicated what they felt strongly about and what they needed. For example, students need to feel a sense of competence, so that is why we chose that word. Also, the three big words in character education for students to feel are: autonomy, belonging and competence - ABC.", explains assistant principal Dr. Angela Frye, who oversees the program.

Dr. Chelsea Watson, assistant superintendent of student services for Parkway School District, has been working toward creating a standard of character education for Parkway. She says, "The mission of the District is to ensure all students are capable, curious and confident learners who understand and respond to the challenges of an ever-changing world. As we work toward accomplishing our mission, character education is a key component by being intentional and through a sustained process of teaching, modeling, learning and practice."

English-Language Arts teacher Alex Sheridan says that the PUG groups not only builds character learning but promotes a sense of community. "PUG has created more unity among the students and between the grade levels. You'll hear kids say, 'Hey, you're in my PUG!' or 'That's my PUG teacher!' For 6th graders, I think it provides an instant connection to other students and teachers outside their immediate team "bubble."

The program not only impacts the students but staff as well. "Teachers are able to build relationships with students who they don't see in the classroom, and everyone has the chance to talk about important issues not typically discussed as part of the curriculum. PUG continues to develop and grow as we learn more about quality character education. Just like a teacher improves his or her instruction each year, PUG becomes a stronger, more effective program.", adds Sheridan.

This year, Alex Sheridan and fellow English-Language Arts teacher Maria Flick challenged the students to create an anti-bullying video. More than a dozen students answered that challenge, including 8th grader Amanda Taylor, who played the bully, and 7th grader Vinny Marcial, who played the victim of bullying.

The group of students decided to set the video to a remix of Taylor Swift's song "I Knew You were Trouble," which was retitled "No More Trouble." The video was set to take place primarily on the bus, which is where students believe most of the bullying incidents happen. At the April PUG meeting, Mrs. Flick and Ms. Sheridan combined their PUG groups to watch the finished video together.

"We had never attempted anything like this, so it was challenging and really stretched us as individuals and collectively. But, the finished product was definitely worth it," says Flick.

This summer, assistant principal Dr. Angela Frye and Ms. Sheridan will attend a character education conference and the video will be featured.