HJHS students Hayden (Motivation), Trent Hill (Love) and Austyn Randolf (Determined) work on one of the bulletin boards in the school library to remind the students about the one word program. | Randy Garrison

Randy Garrison

Hartselle Enquirer

This year saw the beginning of a new program at Hartselle Junior High School. Advisory groups were formed with each teacher and several faculty members as well, mentoring a group of 15 students. The goal of the groups is to develop relationships with students and mentor students in a smaller classroom group or setting. This is also a time when grades and goals can be discussed as well.

Each child should also know they matter individually and know they are important. Getting to know each child better is also a goal of the groups.

This is an effort also to let each student know they have a confidant, someone they feel comfortable talking to and who will also be a cheerleader, is on their side and also serves as an encourager. The groups meet once per month.

As January was moving closer many think about resolutions they would like to make in the New Year. Many times this is a behavior that has bothered the person and one they would like to change. Unfortunately most are forgotten by the time February rolls around on the calendar.

HJHS Guidance Counselor Rachael Groves proposed a plan referred to as “One Word.” This plan seeks to move the resolutions beyond a long list of changes and bring them into focus.

This became a collaborative effort for the entire school. Each teacher, student and faculty member at HJHS chose a word for 2016. This word should summarize what each person wants to focus on for the year. The word can be a noun, verb or an active word, as long as it grounds the person for the year.

Library Media Specialist Beth Raab ran with the plan and created visuals for the school campus. Raab also commented, “most of us do not keep our own New Year’s resolutions very well. Narrowing this down to one word makes it easier.” Raab’s word for the year is “focus.”

HJHS instructional coach and math teacher Earon Sheats had an idea for professional development for teachers that she discovered on Twitter. You need a theme for your life, you need to track everything back to that and redirect decisions back to that one word.  With decision making choices #oneword2016.

Each homeroom was given a vision of the project and each student was allowed to talk to an advocate of the word they chose. Each student also illustrated the word they chose on paper. Each student also had their picture taken with the word they had chosen. Bulletin boards can be seen throughout the school with the “word” chosen by teachers, students and faculty at HJHS.

The teachers and faculty of HJHS believes teaching the whole child not just content will help direct academic decisions through positive relationships.

Becoming a confidant for the students is also a goal of the teachers and faculty of HJHS, assistant principal Tina Kimbrell mentioned. Her one word is family.