FALL 1999
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In this issue • Value-added agriculture builds hope for rural Iowa • Clinton listens to producer concerns • Cooperative study offers model - and savings - for Iowa • School food production and service: Half a century of training • Iowa manufacturers take note: Changes at IMTC • Youth catch BOOMERANG! -- Build character and life skills
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Youth catch BOOMERANG! -- Build character and life skills Be mean or a bully to people, and most likely they will be mean back. Say kind words even when you're upset and kindness is more likely to be others' response. New Hampton fourth graders and Southern Calhoun seventh graders know about this boomerang effect of character because they have participated in BOOMERANG!, Iowa State University Extension's character and life skills development program that is spreading to school districts across the state. "I have changed the way I talk," said John Heim, a recent Southern Cal graduate. "I use kinder words to express myself, select words that aren't hurtful, and people seem to appreciate that."
Heim was one of four Southern Cal High School students who team taught BOOMERANG! lessons to one section of the school's seventh graders last year. Student team teachers are selected because of their role-model tendencies and willingness to give time to the project. "As the team teachers worked through their lesson plans each week, there was a lot of talking, sharing and recalling how they dealt with those same middle school issues," said Pam Feld, Southern Cal guidance counselor. "They became more skilled as teachers during the 17-week course and really interacted with the seventh graders." Feld worked weekly with the high school students as they planned their lessons, and supervised them as they presented in the classroom. She plans to expand the program next year to all three sections of seventh grade and involve 12 teen teachers. She has become more than a school coordinator. She is a firm believer in and an advocate for the program. She was part of a three-person team with fellow teacher Pam Dick and ISU Extension youth development field specialist Lisa Berkland that provided BOOMERANG! training at an Arrowhead AEA in-service. The 28 participants all left with action plans to implement BOOMERANG! in their schools. "I have a son about seventh grade age and when his friends come around this summer, I'm hearing more 'I' messages, kinder talk and less put downs than I have in the past," said Feld. "They are acting less cliquish and are saying 'hey let's include' kids that before they would have snubbed. I can see BOOMERANG! having a positive effect with the young kids after only one year in our school." In New Hampton, where the program was piloted in 1995 in the fourth grade class and has been used continually since that time, teacher Dennis Pagel is seeing similar results. "The students are more caring in less structured settings
-- on the playground and in their homes," said Pagel. "From
my own personal experience I'm seeing big changes in the
classroom and in homes. It is excellent having the high
school students as active role models for the younger
students. This gives them an opportunity to talk with the
younger students about character and character traits,
traits that we all want to see in all people." |
