I. General Information
School Name: Smithers Secondary School
School District: SD#54 Bulkley Valley
Inquiry Team Members:
Julie Krall – jkrall@sd54.bc.ca,
Shirley White – swhite@sd54.bc.ca,
Helen Erickson – helen.erickson@sd54.bc.ca,
Elaina Staplin – elaina.staplin@sd54.bc.ca,
Leslie McCurrach – leslie.mccurrach@sd54.bc.ca
Inquiry Team Contact Email: jkrall@sd54.bc.ca
II. Inquiry Project Information
Type of Inquiry: NOIIE Transitions Study
Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Secondary (8-12)
Curricular Areas Addressed: Applied Design, skills & Technology, Language Arts – Literacy
Focus Addressed: Core competencies (for example, critical thinking, communication, problem solving), Growth mindset, Social and emotional learning
In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Our focus this year was to continue re-storying our school narrative and building a positive school culture through the creation of a code of conduct. The purpose of the code of conduct was to create a shared understanding of what it means to be a gryphon and to generate discussion, conversation, and learning about inclusive school culture. Students contributed to the creation of the code of conduct through classroom activities and lessons, as well as full school experiences such as learning stations in the library and school-wide events such as assemblies.
III. Spirals of Inquiry Details
Watch our story here!
Scanning: We continued our project by conducting personal student interviews in June 2023. Also, students in grade 9 completed a pilot project by reviewing many school codes of conducts to help build an understanding of what our school code of conduct needed to include, so that it reflected our developing beliefs and values. When reviewing students’ comments, feedback and suggestions, we realized for students to be invested in and take ownership of a code of conduct that they needed to be involved in the creation. The students in grade 9 demonstrated that they can help establish the shared norms for our school and the agreements for the way we would like to come together and be together. In addition, we spent time reviewing the artifacts that students generated to place in our time capsule in May/June 2023. These artifacts included letters, newspaper articles, a red dress quilt, podcasts, e-books, and interviews with students. We looked for ways that students expressed their understanding and beliefs about Truth and Reconciliation and the hopes and dreams that students expressed for their school, community and future. The juxtaposition of the artifacts from 20 years ago and today showed a significant increase in knowledge and understanding of our shared histories (locally, provincially and nationally). Students’ discussion and reflection about the TRC Calls to Action demonstrated understanding, informed perspectives, compassion and open-mindedness.
Focus: We decided on our focus to develop a code of conduct because it is a means to publicly share our school narrative. The code of conduct is a guiding document, and it will be used in the school to continue growing a positive school culture. We wanted to create it with students so that it would include their voices, their words, and so they would know where this document came from and how it was developed.
Hunch: We wondered “would being more explicit and including students from grades 8-12 in different ways make students feel proud about being a gryphon?” We wondered if “by sharing our code of conduct and the artifacts that support the creation of the code of conduct would make our school culture more visible to our greater community?” We wondered if “this work would make the changes happening within the school more visible to students, families, and our community partners?” We predicted that we needed to be explicit in our collection of students’ voices and tangible in our communication of what we collected. Staff, students, families, and our community needed to see what we were creating to make the process comprehensible and meaningful. We theorized that a collaborative and transparent process was also necessary to create a code of conduct that all parties identified with and understood.
New Professional Learning: We spent time reading, analyzing, and deconstructing many examples of school codes of conduct. We read and discussed a variety of texts in small groups and as a staff to understand the changing digital landscape. These books included: Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke, Stolen Focus by Johann Hari, and How to Break Up with your Phone by Catherine Price. In addition, team members read The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt and the Power of Story by Harold R. Johnson.
We developed a professional cycle for staff and students to learn and to inquire about a topic. We began with conversation as a school pro d committee, we shared provocations at our staff meetings, then we set up stations in the library. Information of topics was included in our school announcements, staff newsletters, and parent newsletters. Our pro d cycle is a style of delivery that is embedded, interconnected and ongoing for inspiring school change by including everyone – all staff, students, families and our community.
Taking Action: We continued building on the actions from our previous years. We continued to implement the programs implemented last year including activities on Truth and Reconciliation Day, Red Dress Day, Moose Hide Campaign, and National Indigenous Peoples Day.
To continue building our positive school culture, we jump started our school year with a school-wide assembly that celebrated our grade 12 students and welcomed our new grade 8 students to SSS. The assembly was a celebration and an acknowledgement about our current school culture and where we are as a community. It generated energy and enthusiasm as a school community to inquire about what it means to be a gryphon.
We built on this start by beginning our pro d cycle around digital literacy and personal well-being. We realized that students are looking for a connection and want to belong, and that understanding their relationship with their devices also impacts their relationships in our school. We shared information with staff to build our own understanding of the impact of dopamine, social media use and teenage brains. We created spaces in the school where students could connect with others in person without digital devices.
After some learning, we surveyed students in their homerooms to find how they described what it meant to be a digitally responsible citizen in our gryphon community.
This learning around digital responsibility led us to begin a school-wide inquiry into the power of language and some teachers embracing the inquiry model of learning.
Checking: We supported the work that we are doing in many ways:
– Gryphon of the month
– Spirit awards
– School assemblies
– Sharing student success and progress in newsletters
– Leadership spirit days (grown in the last 3 years in a positive way)
– Student passion projects (one student created films that were premiered at the school and celebrated)
– Witsuwit’en Language and culture class
– Use of the Wet’suwet’en history book across the curriculum
– Students working with staff in the Aboriginal Education support room to make regalia and moccasins
– Art class created a Welcome to the Territory sign
– Students elected to take the Witsuwit’en Language and Culture course next year
Reflections/Advice: From this inquiry, we have learned that changing our school narrative requires collaboration and participation from everyone. In order to create positive change, we needed our whole staff, not just a small team. The time capsule served as our focus and was a unifying and common goal. We realized the importance of beginning with student voice and keeping students involved. Connecting our work to our school goals allowed this project to be a part of the fabric of our school and included everyone: SEAs, secretaries, custodians, etc. We also made an active effort to reach out to our parents and families through newsletters and social media, as well as to include community members in our journey towards Truth and Reconciliation. This project was not an extra, but a part of the work that we do every day at SSS to create a safe and inclusive learning environment. This project helped us to appreciate the importance of an organized and repeated pro d structure so that staff members (returning and new) can keep up projects and to ensure that projects stay alive.
We have established and created a framework for learning and innovation for both staff and students. We now have a process that we can follow to continue, embed and drive positive change in our school.