20-Time: Building Innovation and Character

    

Principal 6 of the 11 Principals of Character Education indicates that a school of character will provide a meaningful and challenging academic curriculum that respects all learners, develops their character, and helps them succeed.  One perfect example of Principal 6 at Union Academy is 20-Time in Rachel Tohill's English III Class.

Jonathan Alzate, Braden Eilerman, Jacob Barringer,
 and community supporters at the Dedication Ceremony.

    20-Time is based on Google’s innovative work policy which gives employees 20% of their work time to collaborate and create personal ideas that could advance Google. Just as Google has realized real advances from 20-Time, so has Union Academy. This year, Mrs. Tohill provided her students 20% of the their class time to think outside the box.  
     According to Mrs. Tohill she taught 20-Time because, "I wanted to give my students an opportunity to explore their interests and make real-world connections to English Language Arts standards. An important component of the project involved the students taking the lead on the process and understanding that the process itself was as important as the final results. In the end, we had products that included videos, photography, interviews, blogs, community service projects, construction projects, graphic design, writing, auto mechanics, animal rescue initiatives, art projects, school spirit projects, and the list goes on. And some of the projects are continuing beyond the school year; they have gone from being a "project" to being a real world experience, which is very exciting." 20-Time developed all of UA's 8 Character Traits in Mrs. Tohill's students, but especially put into practice initiative, perseverance, and responsibility.
     

One of the most successful projects was the installation of a putting green on the UA campus. Three students in the class, Jacob Barringer, Braden Eilerman, and Jonathan Alzate developed the idea and managed the installation of a new golf green, chipping mat and sand bunker located near the football stadium at the Upper Campus. It took eight weeks for the students to research, identify resources, develop contacts and to actually participate in the construction and installation of turf.    
     "I'm so impressed with my students that they jumped in to this experience with only 8 weeks to complete it, and only having just met me as their teacher! They took risks, explored ideas, and embraced the opportunity to be creative and to think "outside of the box." We really became a team in this experience and learned so much!" said Mrs. Tohill. 
     Students appreciated the 20-Time project as well.  Kaitlyn Havican, an eleventh grade student wrote an interactive book of devotionals/gospels for middle school girls.  "I learned how to budget my time. I learned that you need to proof read over and over again! 20-Time was an awesome experience for me. I was able to get out of my comfort zone and do something I love. I got to think for myself and make an impact on people." 
    Would you like more information on 20-Time and how to implement it in the  classroom?  Take a look at this presentation created by Mrs. Tohill as part of her own 20-Time project or try this amazing website filled with ideas and template.  

Union Academy is named a National School of Character!

Now the entire nation will know what we at Union Academy have always known to be true and practice every day and that is “We do the right thing even when no one is looking.”  

On Tuesday, May 10 Character.org, a national advocate and leader for character education announced that Union Academy had been named a 2016 National School of Character. In January we learned that we had been named a 2016 North Carolina School of Character and had been nominated by the North Carolina State Board of Education and Department of Public Instruction for the national honor.

Through an in-depth and rigorous evaluation process, our school was one of 67 in the nation found to be an exemplary model of character development. Union Academy is being recognized as a school that has demonstrated its use of character development to drive a positive impact on academics, student behavior, and school climate. The designation of National School of Character stands for five years before it has to be renewed.

Please click here to read the entire press release.

 Please click here to read more in the May 13th - May 19th Newsletter. 

Please click to see media coverage from Page Crawford, Fox 46 News.

This article was written by the UA Communications Department.

Reading Buddies... And More!

     Ready Buddies are a tradition of the Union Academy Lower Campus that succeeds in building student relationships between grade levels, and in building confidence and excitement in students.   The idea began with having older students (grades Third and Fourth) pair with younger students (grade Kindergarten and First) for monthly reading time.  As it was originally intended, these reading times help both older and younger students gain confidence in their reading skills.  However, over the years, UA has discovered that there is much more to gain from the time shared together.
     Since its inception, the Reading Buddy time has morphed to also include students sharing with each other the things they are learning in their classroom.  For instance, Fourth grade students complete four projects throughout the school year centered around the history and geography of North Carolina.  Mrs. Hinson, a fourth grade teacher, asks her students to share their projects with their first grade reading buddies.  This experience gives her fourth grade students a chance to practice presenting to a small group and causes them to take more pride in all of their hard work.  According to Mrs. Anthony, first grade teacher, it also helps her younger students.  "You can see their interest perk up as they watch the older students share their projects.  This time together helps our younger students get excited about what they will experience as older students at UA."
     Over the course of a school year, these students have built relationships with each other.  They consider each other friends, or as one first grade student wrote to his buddy, "You are a hero."  Many Reading Buddies go out of their way to say hello to each other on the sidewalk or to send each other character mail.  Just this week, younger students thought about how they could help their 3rd and 4th grade friends get excited about the upcoming End of Grade tests.  Some classes took the time to write notes of testing encouragement to their older buddies. Principle 4 of the 11 Principles of Character Education focuses on how a school creates a caring community.  Lower Campus Reading Buddies are an excellent example of how Union Academy builds relationships between students of different grade levels, strengthening the "UA Family."

Union Academy Service Day: Rice Packing for Nicaragua

All 1400 Union Academy K-12 students and staff members gathered at the Upper Campus on Wednesday, March 23rd to pack over 50,000 meals for malnourished children and their families in Nicaragua, the second poorest country in the western hemisphere. The meal packing effort at the school was coordinated through Servants with a Heart, a non-profit organization founded in 2011 by husband and wife team, Jeff and Suzanne Yoh, who wanted to serve others together with their three adult children.
“Our mission is to feed hungry families in Charlotte and around the world by equipping organizations to host meal packing events,” said Suzanne Yoh. “Our food is primarily shipped and distributed to families in Nicaragua through our partnership with the Perry Brown Family and their nonprofit, Samaritans International. We also work with local Charlotte organizations to distribute food to local families.”
Wednesday’s rice packing event was the second for Union Academy. The school also helped the organization in April 2014 to meet its five year goal of packing its 10 millionth meal by the first week in July 2016.
“Union Academy’s mission is all about challenge, character and community. The rice packing event supports all three of these,” said Ann Walters, Union Academy headmaster. "It’s a great opportunity for our kids to not only learn about poverty, but to also participate in an effort to benefit those who suffer from it on a daily basis.”
Students, who are divided into “families” made up of elementary, middle and high school students, made three rotations during the half-day event. One rotation taught them about the culture and need that exists in Nicaragua, another gave them an opportunity to taste the meals they were packing and decorate the packing boxes, and a third provided participation in the actual rice packing assembly lines. Union Academy school counselor Kelly Brun said, “Our hope is that our students will learn that it feels good to give back and we hope that feeling stays with them and leads to a lifetime of serving their communities. Each meal we packed today goes directly from our kids’ hands to the hands of starving kids in Nicaragua.”
Article by Luan Ingram

Click here for an article published in the Union Weekly about the event.

Union Academy Named 2016 North Carolina School of Character

Union Academy is pleased to announce that it has been named a 2016 North Carolina School of Character by Character.org, a national advocate and leader for the character education movement in collaboration with North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The program recognized Union Academy as a school that has demonstrated its use of character development to drive a positive impact on academics, student behavior, and school climate.

The Schools of Character application process is an opportunity for schools and districts to receive thoughtful feedback for growth and excellence in the area of character development. It is also a method of recognizing exemplary schools and districts in the nation. Union Academy is the first charter school in North Carolina to receive this designation and is one of only four school recognized in the state this year. Criteria for the designation are based on Character.org’s 11 Principles of Effective Character Education, which includes providing students with opportunities for moral action, fostering shared leadership and engaging families and communities as partners in character-building efforts.

"Going through the application process was an eye-opening experience for me. As a proponent of UA's Character Education program, I often find myself focusing on what could be better and not celebrating all of the things we do right. After looking at the 11 Principles, I realized the impact that our Character Education program has had on the entire UA Family and the greater community. Due to our culture, 95% of students return to our school each year and we have a 93% student attendance rate. Last year 98% of our graduates were accepted into college. As a school we give back to the community, with last year's high school students completing over 19,000 service hours, not to mention the many hours served by our students in grades K-8. Community and family engagement is high, best noted in the accumulation of over 24,000 volunteer hours in 2014-15 school year. This is the data that proves that Union Academy is a School of Character," said Kelly Brun, Character Education Counselor.

Character Education has always been at the forefront on Union Academy's mission. When the school was established in 2000 the character education journey began in the founding principles of the charter itself. The charter was developed by parents to create a school that educates the whole child by incorporating community service and eight guiding character traits into a challenging curriculum. Challenge, Character, and Community are Union Academy's core values that guide every aspect of the school. The Character Education program involves parents, staff, students, and community members. Ultimately, the goal is to teach and model character in an effort to create a culture that develops students into good citizens, lifelong learners, and community volunteers. Designation as a North Carolina School of Character indicates that Union Academy is meeting that goal.

According to Kelly Brun, "UA's character education journey will never end. Our goal for modeling character will continue to grow and change just as our school and society change. This designation doesn't mean that we are finished. It means that as a school we are on the right track for educating students to be the best citizens they can be. That is what makes Union Academy a School of Character."

Visit www.character.org to learn more about the Schools of Character program.

Teaching Character through Team Leadership Jobs

While every student may not excel in athletics, every child feels valued and important in Kate Schill's lower campus Physical Education class.  "My team  counts on me," said Hayley in 2nd grade.  "As Equipment Manager I have to do a lot!" This is the culture that Miss. Schill has created for her students.   Through the development of student jobs, the lower campus gym is a place where every student matters and feels the responsibility to help others.

"I started team jobs over ten years ago for a variety of reasons," said Miss Schill.  Each quarter, students are placed into teams of 5 and assigned individual jobs for the team.  From Clothing Keeper to Problem Solver, each student is given responsibilities and consequently learn to work effectively together.  You can see right from the start that it helps create order and cuts down on chaos, but this is secondary to helping students practice leadership and Union Academy's eight Character Traits.

The skills learned in elementary PE are remembered years later as evidenced in speaking with current eighth grade student Jack Vitacco.  "I loved PE with Miss Schill," he said.  "Because of the teams in her class I was able to get to know my classmates better. I learned to never give up, even if it seemed too hard."   That is another benefit of student jobs; they help students feel connected to others by building relationships.  In addition, they provide opportunities for students to feel regular successes and appreciated.

Miss Schill advocates that all classrooms could benefit from creating student jobs in their classrooms.  Leader In Me, by  S, Covey states that teachers begin by asking themselves, "What can students do that I am currently doing?"  The key is not so much the jobs the students are doing, but the fact that they are taking ownership for the orderliness and success of the classroom.  Take a look in Miss Schill's gym.  Talk to her current or previous students and you will see that the lessons they learn in her PE class are more than how to hold a hockey stick or the proper form for push-ups.  They learn that they are significant to achieving their own success and to the success of others.  Those are the long-term lesson of Character Education.

Teachers and staff look below for some ideas on ways to create leadership jobs for students:

Help spread the word on how Union Academy focuses on Character Education.  Email Kelly Brun at kbrun@unionacademy.org with suggestions on a teacher, lesson, activity, or practice that should be highlighted on this blog.

Union Academy hosts Jerry Ackerman, speaker on Social Media Awareness for Parents and Students

This week, Union Academy hosted guest speaker, Jerry Ackerman, who addressed parents and high school students on Social Media Awareness.  Mr. Ackerman is a leading student speaker who helps students be responsible, develop character, and build a focus on others, instead of just themselves. When Technology Director, Katie Stewart discovered the opportunity to have Jerry speak at Union Academy, she knew that the school could not pass up his presentation.  "Social media issues and communication are such a hot topic in today’s society.  I felt like both Union Academy parents and students could benefit from hearing how to stay safe online, how to communicate effectively, and how to be responsible while using technology," said Mrs. Stewart.  

On Tuesday night, Mr. Ackerman spoke on "Parenting the Snapchat Generation".  In his workshop, parents learned about the current state of technology in a student's life and rules that parents should have for their child and technology.   He discussed the dangers involved in applications such as Snapchat, Thumb, Burn Note, and Down which can open users up to communicating with unknown  persons and cyberbullying.  Parents learned about apps that can be used to hide media including videos, texts, documents, and PDFs (often disguised as a calculator). In addition, Mr. Ackerman provided useful tips to parents such as using Life360 to help keep up with your child's location.  "I learned so much from the presentation and was reassured that it's OK to be a protective parent.  It is not a violation of privacy to keep up with who my kids are communicating with online and it is my job to protect them from online dangers," said Amy Plyer, a Union Academy parent and employee.    

On Wednesday morning, Mr. Ackerman addressed the high school student body with his keynote, "Dude.  Be Nice."  In this workshop, he discussed with students the "dos and don'ts of social media" and why a person's online identify matters long term.  He provided real life examples to drive home his points.  Personal responsibility, respect, and compassion for others were key topics.  Senior Shawna Sheperd felt that Mr. Ackerman's message "was a good reminder of our social media footprint and how it can affect our lives."   Throughout the presentation, Mr. Ackerman used student volunteers to demonstrate his message.  The students appreciated Mr. Ackerman's high energy and anecdotes that drove home the message on making good choices and showing good character.

Guest speakers such as Mr. Ackerman are just one of the many ways UA strives to meet its mission of educating the whole the child and facilitating collaborative family and community involvement.