Somerset Elementary Implements “Positivity Project”

Somerset Elementary is going into the school year with a new program called “The Positivity Project”.

The Positivity Project is a non-profit organization that provides K-8 educators with the resources to teach their students on how to appreciate their own character strengths and others.

Mike Erwin, Founder of The Positivity Project visited Somerset Elementary on Monday to present the project to staff and parents.

“What we are doing today is just focusing on the core 24 character strengths,” said Erwin. “We are also talking about the importance of consistency and how to find just 10 minutes a day for teachers to engage with their students about the character strength of the week.”

There is a 120 question “Values and Action” survey that teachers will take in order to understand their own character strength profile said Erwin.

He then said that he thinks its important for teachers to first understand their own core character strength so that they can more effectively identify their students characteristic values.

“They [Teachers] might see a student who is a class-clown, really that student is most likely to be high in the character strength of humor and the key now becomes how do you help that student to understand that ‘Hey this is a strength of yours, this is a really good thing.’ You might have to go back and control it from time to time, but really it’s to get each student to see the strengths in themselves and in others.”

Right now, Somerset Elementary is the only school in the state of Ohio using The Positivity Project.

Erwin told us that he is hopeful that more schools across the state of Ohio and the remainder of the United States will be implementing The Positivity Project Program in 2017.

You can find more additional information on the Facebook page at The Positivity Program, Twitter at @PosProject, and searching the hash tag #OtherPeopleMatter and by visiting their website at posproject.org