Iredell-Statesville Schools School & Family Magazine December 2016 | Page 24

North Iredell High School
Capturing Kids’ Hearts
North Iredell High School is engaged in
“Capturing Kids’ Hearts,” a program that focuses
on a set of common practices for getting to know
our students and their needs on a personal level.
We are also working to develop self-managed
classes where students take responsibility for
ensuring that classes operate in a respectful
manner. A “Capturing Kids’ Hearts” classroom
is based on a social contract that is developed
with very specific questions in mind. Then, this
contract is agreed upon and signed by the teacher and students at the beginning of each semester.

All teachers participated in two days of training at the beginning
of the school year, wherein we gained first-hand experience in the
positive benefits of getting to know each other better, as well as the
positives of building supportive relationships within our school. The
training was conducted by the Flippen group and is based on the
philosophy of the founder, Flip Flippen – “If you have a child’s heart…
you have a child’s mind.”

Teachers at NIHS have taken on the challenge to change three
behaviors that could be sending negative messages to our students;
these are multi-tasking, rapid walking, and sarcasm. We are trying to slow
down, give students—and each other—our full attention, and be direct and
deliberate with our words in order to show students we care about them.
Teachers have commented that this is the best start to a school year that
they have had in years.

22 Iredell-Statesville School & Family