Buy In
On the third day of school, I spent a considerable amount of each period talking with my freshmen about how to succeed as a high school student. One of my "talking points," as Bill O'Reilly would put it, was the issue of buy in.
It seems to me that when a student buys in to the school she attends, her time there is more enjoyable and she does better academically. So, as our ASB and Leadership students promote Spirit Weeks, Pep Assemblies, and event attendance, how do we as staff members convince our students to buy in to the school.
School pride at the school I teach at wallows in the dolldrums. I think we have a fabulous school--great faculty, great kids, and great vision. Unfortunately, many of our students have not bought into what we are doing. Certainly some of the attempts are a bit dorky, if you will; but if everyone in the community, the school that is, joined in the dorkiness, wouldn't we feel a lot better about showing up to school?
Maybe I am being unrealistic to think that students will buy in to the school they attend. Perhaps it is an unattainable goal to believe that students can have pride in the school they attend. Maybe it is a characteristic of the generation we work with. I sure hope not.
posted by Mr. McNamar @ 7:59 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Did you read the Tipping Point? What you seek is an "epidemic of buy-in." The wrong way to create this sort of "positive epidemic" is to target everyone - the pep rally. The right way is to identify the top 5% of "social connectors." Ie, a few leaders from each group - band, jock, nerd, art, etc. Then have teachers essentially divide up those names, and try to build individual, authentic connections to those students. The idea is that buy-in spreads virally...
No, but I must read it now. Thanks.
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