Advocacy program coming next year to Rome Middle
Habitudes is focused on students’ personal growth as a supplement to traditional education.
Under an advocacy program being implemented at Rome Middle School next school year, system officials are trying to instill in students that it’s not just their teachers and parents who want them to succeed, but their community as well.
Tashia Twyman, student support and community outreach specialist, and Kirsten Thornante, system social worker, are bringing the Habitudes curriculum, which will be administered by a community advocate for around an hour once a month from September to May, into the school.
The curriculum emphasizes self-leadership, character education and soft skills, and is an additional step in the development of collaborative efforts between the school system and the community, Twyman said.
There’s a perception among students that teachers have to care because it’s their job, Thornante said, but involving community volunteers illustrates a choice by outsiders to participate in fueling students’ growth.
Thornante explained that 85 percent of students are visual learners, so Habitudes bases itself on using images to stimulate discussions on practical-life scenarios.
“It’s a discussion, not a lecture,” she said.
Thornante gave an example from the course
material: Students will be presented with an image of a thermostat and a thermometer. The thermostat sets the temperature inside an environment, representing leadership. The thermometer simply reacts to the temperature of a given area, representing the following of a trend or leader.
Students will then be asked about situations where they may represent either image or both. These images and the meaning it conveys, Thornante said, will be integrated into posters at the school and brought up by teachers throughout each month.
Ultimately, the program aims to develop wellrounded individuals, Twyman said, by including into each student’s education a dedicated lesson on personal growth.
And part of that wellroundedness is the reconfiguring of students’ “internal
monologue,” Thornante said, which could be anything from how an individual can positively address a personal conflict or failure to generating a frame of mind that’s growth-focused.
Twyman said the reallife situations addressed in the Habitudes aren’t “Marsha Brady” lessons, but something actual teenagers would experience.
The goal is to have mentors who reflect the diversity of students in the school system, in which black and Hispanic students combine to make up over 60 percent of the student body, Twyman said. She believes the connection students of color have with their mentors will be strengthened if they share a common identity, where a student can say “she or he looks like me.”
Another focus of the program is getting kids to start thinking about careers
they’re interested in and what type of job they would be rewarded by. And to embody the wide selection of careers, Twyman and Thornante want advocates to be representative of what the job climate actually is.
“We’re not all going to be CEOs,” said Thornante, who added advocates should illustrate as many positions and educational backgrounds as possible.
Having mentors of diverse backgrounds and careers, Thornante said, shows students being successful isn’t necessarily dependent upon going to college or reaching an executive position — though it may be the path for some.
“That’s the world our parents grew up in,” Twyman said. “We can’t keep selling kids these pipe dreams.”
Twyman said they are looking at bringing 40 advocates on board. Those interested in volunteering for the program can contact the central office at 706-236-5050 and ask for Twyman or Thornante.
The commitment for being an advocate includes dedicating around an hour for each month of the program and the completion of a two-hour training session in August, as well as doing some individual preparation.