Building Strong School Culture with Crew at Handy Middle School

This video features the impact of Crew, as shared by the students and teachers at Handy Middle School. They discuss the improvements they have seen, including increased confidence, better communication, stronger bonds, and a more connected community.

Crew is a unique combination of advisory class and ethos that aims to create a supportive and grounding environment for students as they start each day. During the first 30 minutes of every day, teachers focus on lessons that emphasize social-emotional skills and character-building activities. During these lessons, students reflect on essential skills such as communication, collaboration, and leadership, while also building relationships with their classmates and teachers. The lessons learned in Crew are then practiced throughout the day.

The impact of Crew extends beyond the students to the staff as well. Staff crew meetings provide a space for team building and decompression, allowing staff members to connect, support each other, and refocus on their work.

Creating and maintaining a positive school culture is a challenging but essential task for any principal. That's why I was thrilled to partner with EL Education on the pilot of their middle school Crew curriculum at Handy Middle School. Our goal was to provide the school redesign team with a framework and necessary support to achieve this objective.

This video celebrates the transformative impact of empowerment and the importance of fostering a strong school culture. The use of student and teacher voices to share their experiences highlights the positive impact of Crew and the success it has had in the school community.