| May 30, 2006
|
| SGI-USA's "Victory Over Violence" Put into Practice at Austin, Texas, Middle School
|
Martin Middle School in Austin, Texas, faced a more challenging school year than usual during 2005-06 with an influx of students made homeless by Hurricane Katrina and the killing of a student in a drive-by shooting that took place blocks from the school. SGI-USA member and educator Jamie Haynes has taught special education at the school for three years and serves as a member of the school's Positive Behavior Support Committee. In April 2006, when the committee chair asked for lesson plans to create a more positive school environment, Mr. Haynes shared the success he has had in his own Social Behavior Skills classes with SGI-USA's "Victory Over Violence" (VOV) curriculum. [Victory Over Violence (VOV) is a youth-sponsored initiative to help young people identify and counteract the root causes of violence in their lives and in their communities. VOV outreach programs began in 1999 as a response to growing concerns over the rise in youth-related violence.]
The committee chair gave him the green light to apply the VOV strategies on a broader scale within the school. Charged with this new assignment Mr. Haynes said, "The thought that I would help students take responsibility for their own actions and confront some of the negative forces that play in their lives on a daily basis was so uplifting I began immediately." Lessons each day were supplemented with dialogue, individual journal entries, and inspirational resource material. The response was tremendous. Mr. Haynes and the committee received positive feedback from curriculum coordinators and administrators--so much so that he was asked to serve as committee chair for the 2006-07 school year. Mr. Haynes expressed his gratitude at being able to spread wisdom and courage in a community that so needed to heal.
[Adapted from an article in the December 29, 2006 issue of the World Tribune, SGI-USA]
|
|
