Pip Report

Jo-Anna Meurs
PIP
Fall 2016
How Can Advisory Activities Help to Create a Positive and Engaged
School Community?
Description/Rationale:
School climate matters. Sustained positive school climate is associated with
positive child and youth development, effective risk prevention and health
promotion efforts, student learning and academic achievement, increased
student graduation rates, and teacher retention (Thapa et.al., 2013, 269).
Relationships are an integral part of education. The personal
connections and friendships made at school can greatly impact a students
academic success. As Karen Osterman has stated high achievement is
correlated with peer acceptance and/or peer interaction. (2000, p.341)
Advisory groups can mean different things to different schools. They
can be a place to check in with teachers about their academic progress, hear
school announcements, or work on homework. They can also be used as a
way to build school community through engaging activities, and relationship
building.
At my practicum school, advisory groups were used in both of these
ways. Every day, students would have to check in with their advisory groups
for 10 minutes. On Thursdays, students would participate in a 40-minute
activity. These activities could vary from school wide, to advisory group
specific. The Advisory groups consisted of about 15 students from all grades
(7-12) and 2-3 advisory leaders. The idea was to allow students to get know
their peers in different grades. It also provided students in upper grade levels
to develop leadership skills and become role models for the junior high
students. Establishing advisory groups is one way that many schools are
creating a community of learners and showing students that they have an
important part in their own educational process. (DeWitt, 2012)
Through discussion with other teachers I discovered that they were
often struggling to keep students engaged and had some doubts around the
creation of a stronger school community. My project has been based on these
discussions.
Method & Results
In order to create a list of engaging activities that could be utilized in
advisory, I had to find a way to get to know the students in the school. I
wanted to do this in a way that would be exciting and engaging for students
and contribute to my project. I wanted this activity to be done as an advisory
activity and to help contribute to a more positive school community.
I decided to implement an activity called All Kinds of Kinds. My activity
was adapted by one done at North Park Junior High School in Lockport, New
York. The general idea of the activity was to have students come up with
different words that describe them. During advisory, they created a list of
interests, their favourite subjects, and personal characteristics. Students
then chose one word that they felt would best describe them and write it on
Jo-Anna Meurs
PIP
Fall 2016
a whiteboard. For example, one student chose to write Dedicated Kind. A
photo was taken of each student. I then created a hallway display of every
student in the school with the title All Kinds of Kinds. Through observation I
noticed that students would take time in their day to look through the
pictures and comment on their peers interests.
One teacher commented that he has seenstudent slowing down to
take a look at the wall commenting on school mates all positive
I then conducted a survey to determine if this activity truly did impact
the school community and how it affected student learning. Each advisory
group was asked to complete the surveys during a 10-minute check-in. From
the survey I determined that 59% of the students felt that the picture path
did help to create a positive school community, 35% said that it did not, and
6% said that they did not know. In an attempt to measure the impact this
activity had on students, I did a pre and post-survey, asking student to rate
their excitement in coming to school. Students rated on a scale from 1-5. 5
Being very excited, 1 being not at all. On average, students made a rating
of 3.1782 before the picture path and increased to 3.5116 after the picture
path. This is an increase of 0.3334. I found that this was not a great enough
difference to make any conclusions regarding student excitement about
coming to school.
Upon completion of the picture path, I was able to create an inventory
of student interests along with a list of activities pertaining to these interests.
This was the portion of my project that I hoped would assist teachers and
group leaders in making the most of advisory. The feedback that I have
gotten back from teachers has all been positive.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I have found that Advisory is a great way to involve
students in their school and create an atmosphere that is welcoming, safe,
and conducive to student learning. It is necessary for advisory leaders to
understand the students in their group and create activities accordingly. The
student inventory is a great way to begin this process and increase student
engagement. As an advisory activity, I have found that the All Kinds of Kinds
picture path contributed positively to school community as it brought
students together and allowed for a sense of belonging with the school.
Resources:
All Kinds of Kinds: Enhance the culture and climate of your school. Retrieved
from http://www.allkindsofkinds.org/
DeWitt, P. (2012, September 25). Advisory Groups: Creating a Positive School
Community. Retrieved October 29, 2016, from
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2012/09/advisory_groups_crea
ting_a_positive_school_community.html
Jo-Anna Meurs
PIP
Fall 2016
Osterman, K. F. (2000). Students need for belonging in the school
community. Review of Education Research, 70(3), 323-367.
Doi:10.2307/1170786
Thapa, A., Cohen, J., Guffey, S., & Higgins-DAlessandro, A. (2013). A review
of school climate research. Review of Education Research, 83(3), 357385

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