This year our middle school guidance counselor started a new group called “Student Voices”. Students were invited to use their club time to meet and discuss ways they could improve middle school life. A wonderful group of 5th-8th graders was formed, and their efforts culminated in a special day at school.
When considering the issues students faced in middle school, the group came up with a list of qualities that students should strive for, and made a fun acronym (TACKIE) to help others remember. We’ve always reminded our students to follow the “kind, true, necessary” filter before speaking, but this took things up a notch.
TACKIE stands for Tolerant, Accepting, Considerate, Kind, Inspiring, and Extraordinary. I like how these words “pair up” to help drive the point home.
* Don’t just be tolerant, but be accepting of those different from yourself.
* Don’t just be considerate of others, but go out of your way to be kind.
The last two are my favorites, as they encourage students to be individuals.
Be Inspiring. Wow. This is HUGE! What does it mean to make your actions such that they will inspire others? What does that look like?
Be Extraordinary. Let your light shine! Celebrate individualism and those things that make each of us special…
We had a “TACKIE Tuesday” to celebrate these initiatives. The Student Voices group handed out “I’m TACKIE” stickers to everyone in homeroom, and students wore tacky clothes in a fun dress-down day.
I was so impressed with their efforts that I took their message and posted it on my white board – It remained there until the final day of the year as a reminder. We could all use to be a little TACKIE, don’t you think?