DKJA Hosts Area Educational Professionals During Annual Leadership Day
Donna Klein Jewish Academy hosted educational professionals from around the area at its annual Leadership Day, earlier this spring. The day is put on as part of the prestigious ‘Leader in Me’ program, which is based on the book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ from the late Dr. Stephen R. Covey. The Leader in Me program provides a comprehensive framework with key practices to empower students to learn leadership skills and apply them in real life.
As the only K-12 Jewish Day School in the world designated as a Lighthouse School, DKJA is also proud to be a Leader in Me school, which affords it the opportunity to once-a-year, invite teachers, administrators and community members into its halls and classrooms. These men and women either work at Leader in Me schools or come from schools who are interested in learning about the process of becoming one.
Leadership Day affords students the opportunity to showcase their leadership skills and talents. This process begins as early as kindergarten, where students are taught the 7 Habits in basic ways and terms. The habits are then taught at each grade level in age/development appropriate ways to grow students as leaders—who can self-lead, then lead others.
The entire school reinforces the 7 Habits and Leader in Me practices with a culture that nurtures student voice and choice, supported by a caring physical and emotional environment, and a common leadership language that communicates the worth and potential of every child. As a result, leadership becomes a lasting habit in every child and every adult, throughout the entire school.
