The Power of P2: Our 8th Graders Share Their Wisdom

There will be bad times, but those bad times help you appreciate the good times.

–8th grade student at JM McKenney Middle School

It can seem cliche, but it is hard to believe how quickly a school year can pass. It feels like just yesterday that I was writing about the close of the previous school year and sharing the words of 8th grade students to their classmates at our year end Positivity Project (P2) assembly. That day was a culminating moment for our school, closing five years in the middle school with P2 as the central driver of our culture, and helped lock in everyone’s belief that, given the chance, our students had much to teach us and each other. One year later, our new class of 8th graders helped us create a similar experience.

Every school year ends up having a different feel and a different lesson to teach. This year presented us with a variety of challenges, but, reflecting back, I think it is safe to say that people feel good about it, like they were able to persevere and become stronger. With that thought in mind, I would like to highlight the lessons shared by our 8th grade students at this year’s closing P2 assembly and take a look at how P2 helped give our school a sense of resilience and balance necessary to address the inevitable challenges schools face.

I have learned that it is important to put your heart into whatever you are hoping to accomplish. If you want something badly enough, it is very likely that you can achieve it. Even if you do not always reach your goals, you can gain something new from the experience.

Our Students as Our Teachers

One of the major lessons I have learned in leading with P2 over the past 6 years in our middle school, is that students have a lot to teach us if we simply give them the opportunity. They are hungry to be asked what they are thinking and feeling. And, from my experience, are more than capable of rising to the occasion when given the opportunity to speak. On two separate occasions this year, I asked 8th grade students to come take the mic during P2 assemblies to share their thoughts and share P2-related wisdom with their younger classmates in grades 5-7.  

This is now becoming a tradition for us at our end of the year assembly. It was amazing to see how our students’ thoughts seemed to echo our own experiences as educators. Many of their comments connected to themes of resilience, turning hardships into lessons, or making good out of bad. When asked what lessons they had learned in middle school, students shared advice such as the following:

• There will be bad times, but those bad times help you appreciate the good times.
• I have learned that it is important to put your heart into whatever you are hoping to accomplish. If you want something badly enough, it is very likely that you can achieve it. Even if you do not always reach your goals, you can gain something new from the experience.
• Some lessons that I have learned are that you have to forgive and move on because the more you stay and linger on something, the more you fall behind because life doesn’t wait on you. 
• To learn from your mistakes and apply the benefits of them to the future.

These are just some of the examples, but you can see that even at the age of 13 or 14, our students are beginning to internalize and apply the lessons of The Positivity Project in their own lives. They are beginning to shape their worldviews in a way that is giving them a mindset that can face adversity and not just survive, but thrive. They want to grow and learn from their mistakes in a way that is not bashful or hesitant about difficulty.  

Humor was a major aid in my path through middle school, when times looked sad and depressing I could always count on the humor of my friends and myself. 

Character Strengths in Action

In reflecting on what character strengths they used to handle the challenges of middle school, students were able to identify key strengths that helped and could articulate why. Students shared the following:

• Optimism, to look on the better side of things and get past difficult obstacles.
• Two important character strengths that have helped me face challenges are perspective and forgiveness. When I try to find the best outcome in bad situations through my perspective I feel more positive and more motivated to move past challenges. Through forgiveness, I don’t stay focused on grudges and move forward.
• Bravery has helped me try new things that I know I may not succeed at and will have to work for. Appreciation of beauty and excellence has let me recognize the small things and see the best in many situations.
• Humor was a major aid in my path through middle school, when times looked sad and depressing I could always count on the humor of my friends and myself. 

Even as students added the layer of explaining how they used key character strengths, the theme of overcoming adversity still echoed in their remarks. The idea that our students had self-awareness about how they could rely on their developed character to help them through challenges surpassed our expectations and acted as a motivator for our own growth and morale as a school.

I became curious about what factors had contributed to this type of understanding and application in our 8th graders. The two words that came to mind were consistency and longevity.

Consistency and Longevity

As I spent time letting our students’ words sink in, I became curious about what factors had contributed to this type of understanding and application in our 8th graders. The two words that came to mind were consistency and longevity.  

As I said earlier, P2 takes the lead in our efforts to create a positive and resilient school culture at JM McKenney Middle School. While no system is perfect, for all four years of these students’ middle school experience, they have been consistently exposed to P2’s Tier I lessons, celebrated the beginning of each school year with a P2 Kickoff Event, and have regularly participated in quarterly, whole-school P2 assemblies that both teach important P2 concepts and celebrate students’ successes. The fact that P2 has been woven into the fabric of our daily habits seems, in a large way, responsible for the level of inspiration found in our students’ words.

On top of that consistent exposure and interaction with P2, this past school year marked these students’ 7th year with The Positivity Project – meaning they began learning about character and relationships when they were in 2nd grade! It is no wonder that they seem to swim so naturally in the waters of P2 and have been able to not just understand the lessons, but be able to apply them to their own lives. In fact, they are teaching us!

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Dig Deeper: J.M. McKenney’s 1-Page Implementation Plan

1-Page Implementation Plans are a great way to communicate with staff and get everyone on the same page. See the image below to view J.M. McKenney Middle School’s 1-Page Plan. When you’re ready, create your own plan here.