Here you see an artifact of the short speech I wrote for the CHES Champions

of the month. The CHES Champ, (Cayuga Heights Elementary School

Champ) is awarded to 1-2 first grade students per class, who most clearly
demonstrate the months positive behavioral trait. The CHES Champ is the
school-wide PBIS strategy, and it promotes various character traits such as
responsibility, loyalty, trust, dedication, and determination. The idea behind
this strategy, is that it promotes positive behavior by rewarding that behavior,
rather than punishing bad behavior. In essence, I, along with my colleagues
at the school, made strong efforts to create peer-role models through the
CHES Champ assemblies and monthly traits.

This PBIS intervention worked wonders. I constantly referred back to the
chosen trait of determination while teaching to help reinforce more responsible
and desirable behaviors among my students. Rather than using punishment, I
opted to use positive language and praise to point out good behavior in class.
Moreover, I tied determination to other aspects of the classroom culture. For
instance, as part of my Teacher Inquiry project, I introduced Early Energizers
and Me Moments as transitional interventions. At the end of each, students
were asked to "massage their brains" and think of what they
were determined to accomplish that day. By tying the CHES Champ trait into
my teaching, I was able to increase desired behaviors, elicit short range goal
setting, and create an environment where students constantly strove to be
better.
When I think of determination, I think of not giving upof perseverance. Our CHES
Champ for determination never let anything stop him from learning and achieving in
all the time I have been here. Nothing and no one could distract this student from
what he set his mind to. Every day he arrived with a positive attitude, and put forth
his best effort.
During the past two weeks, he has shown me what true determination looks like.
We have been writing some challenging poems in writing, and each day he shows me
his work claiming to be finished. Each day, I give him suggestions and advice to
improve his poems, and each day he meets my comments with enthusiasm and sets
right back to work. To me, this showed a deep determination to better himself as a
writer. Congratulations J.G, you are our CHES Champ for Determination!