By Patti Brooks
Lower School Coordinator, Lakehill Preparatory School
In my 31 years as part of the faculty at Lakehill, I have come to appreciate the value of teamwork in our school. “Teamwork” is defined as: “work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole.”
One of the great strengths of our school is the spirit of camaraderie that prevails within our faculty. For example, a teacher might ask, “Does anyone have any cotton balls?” and before you know it, she is inundated with several bags of cotton balls! No matter what the request, so many staff members want to help each other…..(no rewards are given, no recognition is expected).
This spirit of helpfulness and teamwork spills over onto the students. We have a new Lower School positive incentive program this year called, “Get Caught.” In this program, we are trying to “catch” the class being mannerly, good citizens as a group – or team – during the day. The faculty or staff member noticing the good behavior gives the group a red ticket and compliments their behavior. There is a drawing each week at our Wonderful Wednesday Lower School assembly where the red tickets are drawn from a hat. The class chosen gets special recognition during the next assembly.
We have seen very positive results from the “Get Caught” program and hope the students realize that striving for goals as a group is very rewarding. ( I am proud to be on a faculty where setting examples for students comes effortlessly from the heart!)
