S.E.E. (the Statement, Evidence, Explanation Model), by Shawn Northfield

Gadzooks! 'Zounds! (Are you Crazy!), Exceptional Shakespeare in the Exceptional Classroom, by John Bell.

The Strategic Planning Process, by Barry Russell, Alix MacDonald, and Leslie McKernon

Writing Class? Where to Start?, by Margann MacGregor

Step One

Develop A Mission Statement

In this step, our goal was to gain consensus on what the students wanted to achieve. We started the kids thinking short term, then June and finally, beyond the end of Grade 10.

What do we want to accomplish by December?
By year’s end? After graduation?

Leading questions helped the students contribute ideas towards the development of a mission statement that represented the whole group. As you can imagine, some students did not have school as their top priority, but these same students suggested good grades or having fun as their contributions towards the discussion. In less than one class period, our Grade 10 class developed the following mission statement:

"To promote a positive learning environment while achieving individual academic success."

Initially, the development of the mission statement was a challenge for the kids and the teachers. Our students had difficulty creating a true group statement; as student focus was primarily egocentric.

To get the kids thinking about the group, it was critical for us to phrase the leading questions with we and us. Student responses to the question "As a group, where do we see ourselves in 9 months?" included have fun and pass Grade 10.

Our job was to help generalize the students’ ideas by restating those ideas in more educational terms. "Have fun and pass Grade 10" became "promote a positive learning environment and achieve individual academic success". Our students thought this was a stretch, but they did agree that having fun was part of a positive learning environment. They decided that the generalized statement could encompass all their needs and ideas.