Be WUCA! for Schools ? Coaching in the Classroom | BE WUCA!

Coaching in the Classroom (CIC) was created and began as a pilot project in 2009 and is currently in its fourth year with the 7^th ? 12^th-graders in a rural Iowa school district, capitalizing on Global Horizons? expertise in rural settings. You can use this information to visualize classrooms in your area.

The reality of our classrooms today is that our students are being taught core fundamentals, but our educational system, government mandates, and lack of solid parenting don?t allow time or staff to help them bridge the gap between school learning and applicability to the workforce once they leave school.

By teaching the principles of The Be WUCA! Way, Coaching in the Classroom teaches that all students will succeed when their purpose, passions, and goals align. CIC seeks to be the bridge that keeps all students in school through graduation and encourages self-motivation and drive for success in today?s global workforce.

CIC goals are to:

• improve scores of standardized assessments and other examinations.
• instill entrepreneurial spirit and skills to help students see the possibility of being local business owners and leaders.
• strengthen the local workforce by reinforcing the relevance of classroom instruction material to their futures.
• improve self-esteem of students when they achieve personal success raising scores and feel more hopeful about their future options.
• experience positive movement from students on youth surveys that measure students? sense of security, belonging, and other less tangible but extremely indicators for success.
• improve behavior of students in the community.
• improve relationships between students, staff, and faculty in school.
• improve relationships between the school and the community.

Due to many factors, rural communities are being forced to look for new ways to sustain their towns and school districts. In this ever-evolving environment, the area workforce is changing from a blend of white- and blue-collar workers to a more dominant blue collar workforce, resulting in more college-educated children moving to metropolitan areas to find work. The students who remain in their home area are more likely students for whom school was a more challenging and less satisfying experience. These are the fine, bright people who, sooner or later, likely become our mayors and run our communities, city councils, school boards, churches, and civic organizations.

With more than 25 years? business and economic development experience in rural areas, Coaching in the Classroom creators, Frank and Kimberlee Spillers, are identifying student?s passions, and use positive self-talk, and goal-setting utilized by championship athletes to develop championship students in the classroom.

In addition to in-class presentations and discussions, CIC can integrate with business communities seeking to specifically link students who likely will remain in the area after graduation with businesses of interest to their identified passions. This will help communities, especially those in rural areas, by aggressively pursuing business succession and workforce improvement in the area. Web searches indicate there is no program anywhere in the country experimenting with this concept, making this a cutting-edge program with high need.

Additional learning includes real-life stories about their roles and expectations as employees compared to how their employers view them. For example, students learn that tattoos, piercings, and texting on the job they feel are personal expressions and rights can affect their hirability and their longevity at a business. We set in place individual academic, extracurricular, and work-related steps to identify how to make their vision for their life become reality. Sometimes this includes self-reflection and that is really, really tough for this population of students. Heck, most people don?t reflect because we often don?t like what we see. But it?s necessary for growth. It?s a valuable tool. So we include exercises that require them to glimpse into themselves and what they want. And encourage them that they deserve what they dream.

Involvement of the local businesses to strengthen the workforce can take place through relevant speakers to the classes, identifying gaps in businesses needed by the community, how students can look to fill the gaps, and understand how their high school learning will impact their future goals. It also takes the community to want to reach out to the students to engage and recognize the talents they have to offer.

Results from 2009 to present

v Within months of CIC?s inception, students sent to the principal?s office for misbehavior was down more than 50 percent.

v Students recognize that classroom work in core areas has direct impact on their future either in further education, enlisting in the military, or by remaining in or near their hometown and joining the workforce.

v In 3 1/2 years, the student population considered ?at-risk? has decreased from 41 percent to 12.3 percent. This has been accomplished for a number of reasons.

1) Students have been told the criteria by which they have been measured since kindergarten.

2) They have been told how to get off ?the list? and that the ability to do so is completely within their power.

3) They have mentally and physically connected school attendance, classroom performance, attitude, and their futures and apply themselves more intentionally at school.

4) Because the ?at-risk? population has dropped dramatically, most students have apparently taken this information seriously and have improved their standardized test scores, are passing all their classes, participate in some school activity, and have improved their attendance and/or habitual tardiness.

We end every single class and encourage through the halls to the students who cross our path the single most important message from Coaching in the Classroom: make good choices. It hasn?t made us popular, but we?re known for it.

By identifying passions and aspirations with all students early in their school careers and helping them determine the steps to make their goals reality, students will be rewarded by being more focused, better-behaved, and satisfied in high school, and better prepared whether they pursue a military career, go to college, or join the workforce upon graduation.

Source: http://www.bewuca.com/?p=1334

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