“Greatness” at 3 Pennsylvania Schools

Thanks to the Hyde Institute’s recently created partnership with the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, I have already been afforded the opportunity to visit with some awesome schools, students, and teachers. And to get the full disclosures out of the way, the sheer random coincidence of the location comes with an added bonus of being able to spend more time with this guy:

First Enrollee in the Pennsylvania Public Charter School for Awesome Grandchildren who Adore Their Grandfathers?

Last week I had the pleasure of spending time at three excellent schools in Allentown, Bethlehem, and Philadelphia:
– a dual language (English and Spanish) K-8 school for 450 linguistically diverse students;
– an urban school serving 800 African-American males in grades 6-12;
– a full-service K-12 school for 1400 students.

The seriousness of purpose embodied consistently in these schools is: inspiring…

… contagious (the good kind)…

… and just about everywhere you look.

Greatness is also a common theme.

(And I just had to send this pic to Hyde’s wrestlers and coaches!)

And I even came away from my visits with some discoveries and realizations that will help me improve my own game as an educator. Specifically, I wrote a blog post on October 25, 2023 titled “The Seven Levels of Confrontation.” (https://www.thoughtsoncharacter.com/7-levels-of-confrontation/) And then, lo and behold, at one school, I was pleasantly surprised to encounter this sign:

My tour guide explained that his school had modified these levels by substituting the word “Redirection” for “Confrontation.” I reflexively responded, “I like that!” At best, confrontation is a means to an end. However, when all is said and done, redirection is the desired outcome. Simple, but the best teaching often is exactly that. Don’t be surprised if you start hearing this terminology around the Hyde campus.

I was also extremely impressed by the level of detail these schools have brought to both students and teachers in the service of nurturing the inspiring cultures I observed at all of them. For example, they do not stop at naming the behaviors they extol — e.g., “Showing Respect.” Instead, I observed road maps for each one. This pic is from a hallway of young elementary level classrooms. As you can see, the messaging is straightforward and right to the point.

And here’s one geared to middle and high school students. As you can also see, it’s a bit more advanced and sophisticated in sync with its intended audience.

Finally, core principles are evident throughout. Perhaps it won’t surprise you to learn that this photo op stopped me in my tracks for two reasons: 1) the color scheme; 2) two of the words seemed awfully familiar.