Regent Reporter Article

Regent Reporter Article October 2010

West HOUSE Time

West High School is in the second year of implementing Positive Behavior Supports (PBS). If your child came to West from an MMSD middle school, you may remember their slogan of Respect Everyone, Respect Education, Respect the Environment. At West, we refer to our behavior expectations as Characteristics of Success. They are organized around 5 topics, which represent West HOUSE – Honor, Opportunity, Understanding, Safe and Education.

The idea of PBS is that you have clearly defined expectations of behavior while at school, that all students and staff are held to these same standards, and that we spend time clearly teaching these expectations to all students. We then work on building consistent systems of support for students who are unable to meet the behavior expectations on their own.

We re-introduced the idea of West HOUSE to all students on the first day of school in SLC meetings with their principal, when they viewed a video created by West students. The video can be viewed by going to http://mediaprodweb.madison.k12.wi.us/videos. The video generated a lot of discussion and buzz among the students.

This year, West is implementing West HOUSE Time. This will be one time each month when the school schedule is adjusted to accommodate 20 minutes to be spent in classrooms participating in an activity to teach the Characteristics of Success. In September, we spent our first West HOUSE time having students define what they feel you need to be successful at West. In October, students will spend time specifically looking at what it means to be prepared to learn.

Throughout the year, our topics will broaden to teach some of the skills we want students to have to be a good citizen in their community. We will move away from teaching school-specific skills and into teaching social and emotional skills they will need for the rest of their life.

There is a dedicated team of staff members, with input from students, working on implementing PBS successfully in order to make West a diverse, welcoming environment where learning is the priority. If you have any questions about West HOUSE, please contact Jenni Vondrak, West High School PBS Coach.