Unmasking the Power of Values at SCH

No, you didn’t imagine it. That was a masked teacher in a bright red cape flying through the McCausland Lower School. Our Superhero Value Team is doing valuable work to “celebrate” courage, resilience, integrity, thoughtfulness, and diversity, our school’s core values. And while it may seem fun and lighthearted, this squad is teaching complex concepts that really seem to be sinking in.

“You can walk down the hallway and ask any child what integrity means, and they can tell you,” says Zaccai Williams, assistant head of Lower School. 

Don’t tell the kids, but under the masks are Lower School educators Brittany Lawrence, Ciera Britton, Kevin Engleman, Esther Hwang, Mary Ann Domanska, and Terrance Hart who have been hard at work since summer to plan a strategic rollout of this culture and curriculum project with the goals of fostering a sense of community, reinforcing school values, and promoting positive behavior. Not only does this project help to teach the values, it lives by them.

The Superhero Value Team coordinates monthly, division-wide assembly celebrations where they shout out the values students have shown schoolwide, displayed in the Lower School lobby in a very physical form, sparkly pom poms in jars, one color and jar for each value. When a class or student demonstrates a value, they get a pom pom to add to their value jar. 

“We play music, create slides, fill our value jars, and hear from students and staff members about all of the wonderful values we show every day,” said Lawrence a.k.a. Integrity Girl.

Next up, the value squad will focus its efforts on spotlighting a value each month, by doing a deep dive into what that value means, how it can be displayed in and out of the classroom, and how it connects to books students are reading. “We have found texts that showcase a particular value for the students to connect to and refer back to for examples,” says Lawrence, who notes that learning can be fun. “I always hear whispers and giggles when we arrive as a squad, all dressed up, and I think this just adds an extra layer of fun to our program!”

Pictured (back row, from left): Brittany Lawrence, 1st grade boys; Ciera Britton, Pre-K girls; Kevin Engleman, Lower School music; Esther Hwang, Kindergarten boys; Mary Ann Domanska, 2nd grade girls; and (front) Terrance Hart, Kindergarten girls.