The faculty and the SCC have come up with a list of values:
· Responsibility
· Accountability
· Respect
· Independence
· Scholarship
· Integrity/Honesty
· Confidence
· Compassion/Empathy
· Resiliency
· Citizenship
· Safety
· Academic Excellence
· Fairness
· Inclusion
· Morality
· Sustainability
· Collaboration
· Personalization
· Global Awareness
Are there core values at PRHS that you would like to add to the list?The next step is to pare the list down to the basic values that will be our foundation.
Wholeheartedness is not on the list of core values we are currently considering. I propose adding it to the set of values we are considering. I arrived at wholeheartedness as a value by thinking about awards such as "student of the year" or "teach of the year" or "employee of the month." Awards such as these are given to individuals who are role models of core values. I observe that these individuals often exude the value of wholeheartedness.
ReplyDeleteI think of wholeheartedness in this way. People who are wholehearted are excited about learning; they are open to discovery. They are passionate about what they do, and they eagerly share their enthusiasm with others. They follow through on projects because of their internal motivation, their reward is in the joy of doing something (not because they win a prize). They are the ones who least expect to win the prize; and when they are recognized, they accept their prize with humility. They are the teachers we hope we get to work with on a committee. We are happy when our kids are friends with wholehearted students. Internal motivation is strong in wholehearted people.
I believe that wholeheartedness can be recognized, cultivated, role modeled, and learned; thus, it can be valued. I believe that to the extent that a school values wholeheartedness it will be a happy place, alive with possibility. When a person comes to us and says "I would love to work on ...." we pick up our head and listen if we value wholeheartedness. Wholeheartedness give expression to what is close to our hearts; so human ingenuity flows more freely and finds expression in a culture that values wholeheartedness. As a learning community, when we value wholeheartedness we value and respect the unique gifts of each person (teachers, student, staffers, and parents). Beyond wholeheartedness at the level of the individual, as we articulate beliefs about learning and learning outcomes, we give direction to what we as a community want to be wholehearted about.
Our committee has a timetable for working through core values, beliefs about learning, and learning outcome component of the school's mission. These components are not independent of each other, and we will not have a complete picture of the whole until we have worked through the entire process. Something we articulate as a core value now may, in the end, be a learning outcome. A belief we articulate may influence how we want to flush out the meaning of a value. The name we give a value is a label—beyond the label, very important is the shared meaning we have for each core value. That shared meaning for each value will become more clear as its implications become more clear further into our committee's process. We may, in the end, share meanings for the core values but change the labels we use to capture those shared meanings. Therefore, I propose that as we "finish" our work on core values, we regard the values as open to further review and revision at a later stage in the process. I believe that keeping this open stance now will help us arrive at an end product that has integrity and alignment among the components of core values, beliefs, and outcomes.
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