Talk, Talk, Talk

We believe that for high achievement to take place, our schools must be safe and focused on learning.

What do C-FB ISD parents say about student safety?Our 2012 spring parent survey shows that 91 percent of parents responding feel that "their child's school provides a safe environment".

Our teachers, principals, counselors, and other educational team members use many great strategies to ensure that our schools are positive learning environments.

How do we accomplish this task? We teach students to talk.  That might sound strange.  Many schools want students to sit quietly.  In C-FB ISD, we know that learning to talk and express feeling, thoughts and ideas appropriately is crucial to social and emotional development.

We also teach our district's character values of integrity, pride, respect, responsibility, service and citizenship in our classrooms. Our students learn extensively about the ideals on which our country and community were founded. Also, the C-FB ISD District Improvement Plan includes action strategies to address bullying, dating violence, conflict resolution, and suicide prevention.

You might have heard about our elementary program called R time.  This program is about talking.  It also emphasizes C-FB ISD's long-established character values as well as promoting courtesy and good manners. Our elementary teachers find R time helps our students build stronger relationships with one another and adults.  The weekly reinforcement of courtesy, respect, good manners and listening skills helps our elementary students not only with their academic achievement but also with their emotional and behavioral well being.

Here is an example of students learning to talk in appropriate ways. In a third grade classroom at Davis Elementary, students were discussing different strategies to solve a math problem.  Two students used two different methods to solve a problem and they came up with different answers.  "I disagree with Susie because..." one student remarked in a polite manner.  The discussion was focused on finding a solution to the problem while still encouraging students who might not have had the "right" answer.  This type of classroom environment encourages risk-taking and allows students to explore and learn without feeling demeaned or isolated.  Across our district, students are learning to talk in appropriate ways with one another and adults.

An extension of R time, Negotiate is a program C-FB ISD is using at our six middle schools. Negotiate provides a forum in which the students explore and share their views on a complete range topics, including how to make and maintain friends, how to resolve conflicts and problems, how to plan and work cooperatively. Through the sessions, we want to students learn that they may not always agree with their partner's viewpoint, but they can talk about ideas and learn to respect and value differences.

Teens face challenging issues at school, at home or in their neighborhood. C-FB ISD has a staff of qualified counselors who help students deal with pressures around them.  Our counselors will visit every classroom in the district this year to talk about age-appropriate issues.  At the middle and high school levels, they will talk about suicide prevention, grief, loss, drug use, conflict resolution, bullying, dating violence, and making healthy choices.

In C-FB ISD, we offer an anonymous online and texting program called Talk About It.  Talk About It allows campus staff to meet students where they are - online and with text messaging - to help solve issues. More about Talk About It.

What can a parent do to help? Talk with your child - often. Ask them about school work, homework, and their friends. Talking helps you stay connected.

Charles Dickens said, "Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someone who with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true."

We believe to meet our goal of high achievement for all students, the schools and classrooms must be safe and promote learning.  By having a variety of strategies in place to promote safety, cooperation, respect and conflict resolution, we are teaching our students valuable tools for life during and after their public school days.