What is Advisory?
To support Glendale’s school-wide goal of providing a safe, connected and caring learning environment for every student, this year we added a homeroom class (Advisory) to our schedule.
Why Advisory?
Middle school can be a challenging time. The primary purpose of our Advisory classes is to support our students to develop academically, socially, and emotionally by ensuring that they are connected and cared for members of our school community. Advisory classes are very much like small ‘families’ of students, with an advisory teacher whose role is to act as their teacher-advocate. In addition to addressing any everyday concerns, Advisory class is also a time when teachers and students can address school-wide issues in a safe setting. Each week, students attend their Advisory classroom on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays before the school day begins.
In September, our focus was teaching our school-wide expectations; to ensure that all students knew how to act in the classroom, cafeteria, halls, bathrooms, auditorium, and outside at recess.
More importantly, we started a school-wide conversation about what it means to be an upstander instead of a bystander. This is a particularly important skill for students to learn, to prepare them if they ever encounter difficult or unsafe situations, such as bullying and fights during and after school.
Parents Empowered:
Here are some tips to help you continue this important conversation at home;
A bystander is—someone who witnesses bullying or unsafe situations, but doesn't get involved.
An upstander is—the person who knows what's happening is wrong and does something to make things right and just. It takes courage to speak up on someone's behalf, or to go and get help - to be an upstander instead of a bystander.
We understand that building a great school community is a long term endeavor, and we still have a long way to go; however, the students are using the terms upstander and bystander in every day conversations.
