Fountain Hills Middle School seventh grade teacher Amy Nichols waited for the final bell to ring and asked me to walk up to the front of her classroom.

Nichols and I were still standing in the hallway as her students settled into their seats.

“This hasn’t been set up or anything, I just want to see what they do,” she said.

As I made my way to the head of the class, Nichols said, “Class, we have a visitor from The Fountain Hills Times today,” before ducking back into the hallway so as not to interfere with the experiment.

I turned to face the class but, before I could open my mouth to introduce myself, every member of the classroom rose and made their way over to me.

One by one, the students looked me in the eye, gave me a firm handshake and introduced themselves. Some were stern. Some were excited. Others were a little shy. But every single one gave me a smile and said hello.

From there, they took their seats and fell silent as Nichols returned to the classroom, clearly happy with the results.

* * * * *

Capturing Kids’ Hearts (CKH) is, at its core, a character-building philosophy.

Adopted by the Four Peaks Elementary School and Middle School this year, the program’s purpose is to help students become responsible citizens, build self-confidence, break down social barriers and acquire the skills necessary to succeed.

Local educators have been trained on the program and officially began its implementation at the start of the 2013-14 school year.

According to Nichols, the results have been instant and extremely positive.

“(CKH) is kind of hard to describe in a way that gives you the idea of the full process,” Nichols said.

“And it really is a process. It’s not a discipline program. It’s more about seeing the potential in kids, helping them see that potential, and then helping them reach it.”

Nichols said that she’s not a fan of the word “consequences” because it gives the image of a result happening “against” something that has been done.

Instead, she said CKH helps students understand that there are reactions to their actions, or things that occur “because” of decisions they have made for themselves.

“If you greet someone with a smile, they’re going to greet you back with a smile,” Nichols explained.

“If you make a good first impression, people are going to think positively about you. Or if you choose not to do your work, there will be a negative reaction.”

Nichols said that CKH is also about creating teams within the classroom, getting students to ignore what they perceive to be the social norms to understand that they are all working toward the same goals of success.

“Right before class today, I have one group at the front of the classroom with four kids from four different social groups,” she said.

“Normally those kids might not hang out together. Before class I congratulated them on getting their homework in and they all threw their hands into the center and shouted ‘Gooo team!’”

Social contract

Collaboration, analysis and understanding outcomes are all at the heart of CKH. To help guide this process, each class began the year by creating a social contract, or an itinerary that stated what goals they had for themselves and what types of traits and actions might help them reach those goals.

Within the social contracts, students determine how they want to be treated by each other, how they want to be treated by their teacher, how they think the teacher wants to be treated and how one acts toward someone else when there is conflict.

All students then sign the contract, along with Nichols.

“Then I explain to them that they have decided as a group how they want their classroom to run, and that my job is to make sure it happens,” Nichols said.

“It’s a way to hold them accountable. They’ve all agreed that they want to be responsible, so if they’re not, I point out that they are not behaving in a way that they have agreed to.”

Nichols said that, more than just affecting the students, CKH has also affected how she approaches her own job.

“I’ve always approached teaching as, we’re going to have fun and learn, but this is my room and this is the way it runs,” Nichols said.

“It’s shifted to a relational method now. It’s more like, we’re all in this together and I believe you can achieve even more than you think you can achieve.”

Check behavior

Within a couple of weeks, Nichols said she already saw the differences in her classroom. Students were excited to be in the class and eager to work together toward their common goals.

The program involves new ways of interacting with the class, too. If Nichols calls for a “Timeout,” holding her hands in a “T” in the air, students respond by mimicking the action and growing silent.

Students also have a “check your behavior” signal, a gesture similar to the extended thumb and pinky wave common among surfers.

If a student makes the signal to one of their peers, the recipient understands that they are doing something that goes against their social contract and should therefore adjust their behavior.

A “foul” has also been added to the physical vocabulary. If something is said or done that crosses a line and genuinely upsets an individual, they can hold out their hand in a “stop” gesture to let the other party know that their words are no longer simply teasing.

The one who “fouled” then has to pay the other student two compliments, making the fouled feel a bit better about the situation and the one who fouled understand that their words and actions were having a genuine negative effect.

Nichols said the process has been a huge success for her own classroom and, from the other teachers, she’s hearing that it really works.

Students seem to agree, too, especially those who have chosen to take the CKH program one step further and joined Teen Leadership.

Teen Leadership

Trainor Solum, Bailey Pyritz, Paige Despain and Vivian Rodriguez are all members of Teen Leadership, a new class this year dedicated to evolving the Four Peaks/Middle School campus into a safer, more respectful and productive place to learn and socialize.

Solum explained the class in his own words.

“Teen Leadership is a class where Mrs. Nichols is teaching us about how to be leaders in the school and in our lives,” Solum said.

Pyritz said Teen Leadership is all about becoming successful in life. Despain agreed.

“I’ve enjoyed learning about how to be more outgoing,” Despain said.

“We also learn about stepping outside our comfort zone. (For example), we had to speak about ourselves in front of the class for a minute and a half. We were all nervous going in.”

Rodriguez stated in her personal speech that Teen Leadership had become our favorite class.

“I like that we’re learning about how to be a good leader and respect others,” she said.

“Being a good leader is about being kind to others.”

All four teen leaders agreed that the core concepts they’re learning in the course, through CKH, are things that they wish to carry with them moving forward.

“It has an impact on our lives and how we treat each other in the world,” Pyritz said.

Solum said he thinks that his classmates feel the same way.

“Since we began this, it seems like they’ve gotten a lot more respectful,” he said.

“I’ve actually seen kids do stuff for each other that they maybe normally wouldn’t do. It’s gotten better.”