Climate and Culture

Hello!  

My name is Mrs. Valene Martinez and I am the Climate and Culture Coach at Alder Middle School. As Climate and Culture Coach, my goal is to coach all Falcons to make positive choices to be successful at AMS.  

 In helping our Falcons RISE, I strive to support them through Restorative Practices. Restorative Practices consist of a variety of strategies to help students see the choices they have made and how those choices have affected those around them. The main goals of Restorative Practices are to “make things right” when students have made a mistake, reflect upon their actions, repair the harm done, and restore the relationship. Restorative Practices also consist of Restorative Circles to address conflict between students, Classroom Restorative Circles to address an issue that may be affecting the classroom environment, and Restorative Chats to address students who are not meeting the RISE expectations. At AMS we also implement RISE Panel, a restorative practice that is led by students. During RISE Panel, students share the choices they’ve made and how those choices have impacted themselves, their families, and the school community. Their peers suggest tasks that would repair that harm to allow the student to move forward and make more positive choices on campus.  

In addition to Restorative Practices, I also support AMS with PBIS implementation in a variety of ways. I provide tiered interventions such as Check-in/Check-out (CICO), Targeted Behavior CICO, Behavior contracts with teachers, and Check and Connect. Furthermore, I oversee all three PBIS Tiers and attend all meetings related to PBIS.  

I support teachers to build the sense of belonging through community building circles. The purpose of community building circles is to build relationships between students and teachers so that students feel valued and accepted in every classroom they enter.  

I am here to help you and your child whenever there is anything that may be affecting their life on Alder campus.  

Sincerely,