High-School Seniors Take Freshmen Under Their Wings

In this Principal Leadership article, Grafton High School (MA) assistant principal Maureen Cohen describes how seniors in the school take leadership roles in a number of areas, especially the freshman advisory program, which they co-lead with faculty members. Advisories take place every seven days in the school’s rotating schedule from August to March. Rising seniors go through extensive training so they can help implement these lessons, all geared to furthering the school’s core values – respect, responsibility, integrity, and academic excellence: 

• Identity chart – Understanding what students have in common with classmates and the importance of each person to the school community;
• Treasure hunt – Basic knowledge about the school;
• Making the grade – Identifying some essential strategies to academic success;
• Changes – Recognizing indicators of stress and strategies for coping with change and uncertainty;
• Smart goals – Evaluating academic performance and setting academic and personal goals;
• Learning styles and study skills – Assessing one’s personal learning style and learning study tips to maximize achievement;
• Take a stand – Thinking about difficult issues by responding to different belief statements; hearing different opinions and defending various positions;
• Anti-bullying – Discussing what students know about bullying, whether it’s a problem in the school, and what actions can be taken;
• Concentric circles – Briefly discussing school issues, diversity, leadership, and citizenship with rotating partners to make connections with a number of peers;
• Peer pressure – What is it and what experiences have students had?
• Midterm prep – Study strategies for success on midterms;
• Tough situations – Definitions of prejudice and bigotry and strategies and skills for confronting prejudice. 

Senior leaders help prepare materials for each freshman advisory meeting and take an active role running the meetings. They act as coaches and advocates, encourage advisees to take part in the life of the school and do well academically, help them get answers to academic and co-curricular questions, solve problems, and discuss hot topics. 

“Seniors Take the Lead” by Maureen Cohen in Principal Leadership, November 2012 (Vol. 13, #3, p. 28-31), www.nassp.org; Cohen can be reached at cohenm@grafton.k12.ma.us; detailed advisory-group lessons are available at http://bit.ly/UOYEUU. 

From the Marshall Memo #462