Prime Time Program
Crookston High School has started a new program called "Prime Time" this school year. The idea surfaced after district-wide strategic planning last winter where teachers and other staff determined that there are many students who are disenfranchised from the school and often do not have adults who serve as positive role-models in their lives. The goal of Prime Time is to form positive relationships between students and teachers and also between other students. The researchers at the Search Institute have concluded that, "schools that nurture positive relationships among students and among students and teacher are more likely to realize the payoff of more engaged students achieving at higher levels." (Great Places to Learn, 2006. p.5)
The new high school administrators met with the high school staff this summer to talk about the current things that make CHS great as well as what can be done to improve the climate. Teachers said that many students seem to be slowly falling through the cracks. People believed that an advisory program would help the at-risk students and, in general, improve the high school experience for all students. Through these discussions a committee was formed to plan the Prime Time set-up and make it a reality for the current school year. Administration wanted to wait a year to get everything set up, but the committee focused on the value of the program and the positive impact it could have on the students, the school, and the community. This committee is made up of Mary Axtell, Dave Davidson, Jessica Hanson, Emily Parrill, Mr. Brist, Mr. Tufte, and two members of Polk County Public Health. During their meetings, they worked to prepare a list of topics that effect students and their lives. After the list of ideas was compiled, a binder was prepared, By D'Anne Johnson and Sarah Reese at PCPH, as a curriculum starter for teachers to use. Each week of the first quarter has been assigned a topic ranging from school pride to goal setting to study skills.
Every teacher has a Prime Time which meets for fifteen minutes every day. Daily activities range from team-building games to addressing issues in school and lives of the students to inviting experts from the district as guests into the classroom. Each of the activities are intended to create a sense of community and belonging to the students. The Prime Time binder offers suggestions for each of the weekly topics and also activities that can be used at the teachers' discretion.
Students were randomly placed in Prime Times and then examined to make sure that there were no close relatives and an equal ratio of genders in the same group. Each group is unique, ranging from fifteen to seventeen students in grades eight though twelve. This allows senior students to take the younger students under their wings and share their knowledge with them. The younger students can meet older students because in the past they did not always have that opportunity.
Since this is the pilot year, surveys and questionnaires will be sent to teachers and the students so they can share their reactions to the new Prime Time experience. Prime Time seems to be off to a great start but it can also be seen as a work in progress with the intent of making an awesome impact at CHS and the lives of the students.
