Student council

Student Council
The Student Council Focus Areas align with Goal #1 in the School Plan.

Goal:
To encourage student respect and responsibility toward
themselves and others in the school community focusing on areas of inclusion, citizenship, leadership, and community involvement.

Focus Areas:

• Student Government

Goal: Raise awareness of the role of student council within the school
Create opportunities for students to participate in the democratic process
Demonstrate school citizenship
Liaison to administration representing student voice

Activities:
articulate a student council constitution
define roles and responsibilities
define rules of order for meetings organize grade assemblies for the election speeches of student council members

• Student Leadership
  Goal: Develop and model leadership skills
  Develop public speaking skills/presentation skills

Activities:
attend VDSC meetings
attend leadership conferences/take part in leadership development activities
presentations to PAC and Mini PAC, grade assemblies

• Social Responsibility
  Goal: Develop a sense of social responsibility within the student body
  Develop students’ awareness and understanding of global citizenship
  Demonstrate school and community citizenship

Activities:
organize the food drive; challenge other schools in the number of donations
support a global/international fundraising organization

• School Community

Goal: Develop a sense of inclusion amongst students and staff
Promote school spirit through activities

Activities:
school dances, pep rally, theme days

Student Council Workshop
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Library 3:30 to 5:00

Agenda:

Welcome/Purpose of the Workshop
Icebreaker Activity
Shared expectations
purpose/focus of Student council
goals for the year
activities for the year
Communication Strategies
Social Responsibility
Video and Discussion (VASSA conference video).
Next Steps/Planning

Planning Worksheets
1. In your group, assign roles:
recorder/writer
time keeper
leader (facilitates the discussion)
reporter

2. Ice Breaker Activity:
In pairs, answer these questions:
Why did you run for Student council?
What skills and abilities do you bring to the Council?
Whole group sharing. Drawing upon the responses from the Ice Breaker, lead students into vision/purpose.

3. First Task:
What is your vision for Student Council? What do you think are the main purposes or focus of student council?

4. Second Task:
Assign each group a purpose.
Now that we’ve identified the purposes, what do you think are the main goals for each purpose? That is, what do we hope to accomplish?

5. Third Task:
As a whole group, brainstorm or identify that activities/events that support each goal. That is, how do we accomplish our goals?

6. Fourth Task:
Look specifically at Social Responsibility as a Focus Area.
As a response to the video, identify a global cause/issue and brainstorm ideas for a supporting it..