How The Words Matter Program Started at Oraze Elementary
By Sara McAvoyThis article was written by Sara McAovy. She is the Principal of Oraze Elementary School in the Clovis Unified School District located in California. Sara began her career teaching third grade and has spent 23 years in Clovis Unified.
Before Words Matter existed, our Human Relations Council Advisor, Jeffrey Schmidt, would walk around campus and hear unkind words used toward others regularly. It finally clicked for him that we had to address the issue. As he put it:
Doesn’t it take the same amount of energy to say kind things to others as it does to say unkind words?
That day he came into my office, told me what he was hearing, and asked what we could do to change it. We put our heads together and came up with Words Matter.
Building It From the Other People Mindset
As a school, we noticed a challenge in the way students were speaking to each other. In our conversations about the Other People Mindset (OPM) from The Positivity Project (P2), we began discussing the power of our words.
Mr. Schmidt started an initiative with his Human Relations Council students to use OPM to teach that power. He then wrote a grant to the Foundation for Clovis Schools and was awarded funding to purchase shirts for all of our almost 900 students, so that every child on campus would have one.
Words Matter Wednesdays
We now have Words Matter Wednesdays, when we focus on the positive power of words and the effect of unkind ones. Every student at Oraze received a Words Matter shirt, which we proudly wear each Wednesday as a visible reminder of our commitment to kindness and respect.
Every Wednesday on announcements, we share a special quote about the power of our words, and students discuss it with their classes.
How Our Staff Models It
All staff model conflict resolution with students, including how to respectfully express yourself when you are unhappy with a peer interaction. Staff provide sentence starters and examples of kind words for our young students to practice.
Through intentional teaching and consistent modeling, Oraze students learn that words are powerful. We teach them that words can lift others, build confidence, and make a difference in the lives of those around them. Students are also guided to understand how much words weigh when they are negative or hurtful, and how long those words stay with the person who hears them.
Students Reminding Each Other
Jump forward to today, and you will hear many students going out of their way to show kindness. When a student does say something unkind, the student body is quick to remind them that words matter. Students cite the Words Matter initiative and remind their peers to speak kindly.
That is what makes Mr. Schmidt proudest. Hearing it happen anywhere on campus, without an adult prompting it, is one of his proudest moments in 17 years of teaching.
What Has Changed at Oraze
Our discipline and behavior referrals have declined significantly over the past three years. Words Matter and OPM have shifted Oraze’s culture toward kindness. Parents and families support what we are doing and reinforce at home that words matter.
By building character strengths into daily instruction and school culture, Oraze Elementary has created a common language around respect and responsibility. The result is a school community where students understand that their words have power, and that using them thoughtfully is one way they can make the world around them better.
More Than One Initiative
We have built a culture of kindness into our daily lives at Oraze. It applies to all staff, students, and families. Relationships lead everything we do with our students, and Words Matter supports our school mission of Building Champions for Life.
At Oraze, we live it. Words matter.