Fifth graders entered the Collierville Elementary gym Friday giggling joyfully as colored lights blinked and music played for a day they’ve anticipated since school started.
Their teachers were dressed in brightly colored apparel, including capes, headbands and tutus. They were ready to welcome the Little Dragons into a new community — a house.
Based on the house system used by Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, students are divided into groups to help create a sense of pride and give each student a place. However, it also helps students develop confidence and learn soft skills beyond academics.
“This is helping them learn to love to be at a school and making them feel they belong somewhere,” said Principal Michael Ruiz.
Ruiz was familiar with a house system since he was part of one in his previous post as an assistant principal at Houston Middle School in Germantown. He and other Collierville Elementary staff visited the Ron Clark Academy and were impressed by the articulate students and the way they engaged with each other and adults. The house system encouraged them to work toward a higher standard and not simply meet expectations.
Each student and staff member at Collierville Elementary is in one of four houses. Staff already knew their houses, and wore their house shirts in celebration. Friday, the school’s 800 students learned their destiny. Each student will be in that house until they leave the school.
All week, school leaders promoted the system to excite students for their eventual group.
“The house chooses you,” Ruiz told students. “Whichever house you land in is the house meant for you.”
Students looked around in amazement as teachers waved house flags and held signs near balloon arches in each corner of the gym. Blister, the dragon mascot, wore a shirt stating “Four Houses. One Community.”
The process for putting students in a house was random. The gym stage was decorated to imitate a dragon nest. Students walked up the stairs with smoke machines on each side. When they got to the top they pulled a “dragon egg” from the nest.
When told, they opened their black egg containing a colored wristband representing one of the houses; black for Altruismo, blue for Rêveur, green for Isibindi and red for Amistad. Each house has its own animal representing their house.
When the fifth graders finished, they helped welcome kindergarten students into their house community, grabbing them by the hand and cheering for the new family environment.
Throughout the year there will be competitions to help students gain points. The house with the most points at the end of the year will win a cup.
“Even though there is competition, it should never be done in a way that demeans somebody else,” staff has emphasized, Ruiz said.
With the random house-sorting process, there may be some students who excel in some competitions.
“Maybe you’re not the best at athletics, that doesn’t mean you can’t shine somewhere else,” Ruiz said.
Some competitions may involve athletics, but others could be trivia or fundraisers.
However, the bulk of the points awarded daily will go to students who meet that higher bar. Teachers have told students if something they did would earn a house point to help familiarize them with the process. However, teachers are limited in the amount of points they can give at any time.
Ruiz said if a student is struggling in a certain area but perseveres, there may be a house point for that and random acts of kindness could earn a house points.
“We want our kids to strive for above and beyond,” he said. “We are looking for behaviors outside of the expected behavior.”
When they gather in house meetings, that time will also help teach students character traits. By the end of the year there will be about 60 traits.
“We want to encourage students to love learning, be good citizens and really instill that confidence in them,” Ruiz said.
Schilling Farms also implemented houses this year, but its 600 students are split into six groups representing different parts of the world.
“We knew we wanted to put our own spin on it because Schilling Farms is so diverse,” Principal Georgette Cleaves said.
Cleaves was among school leaders who visited the Ron Clark Academy before implementing it at her school. In their house meetings, they will learn about better character qualities too.
“It’s a way to celebrate achievement,” Cleaves said. “Our whole thing is we want to foster positive relationships, and build a climate where the teachers and kids are excited to come to school.”