Growing Strong in a garden of weeds
How do you grow a garden when it is full of weeds? Everyone is telling you to do something different, no don’t focus on that, but on this. Oh, why are you doing that? It would help if you were doing this. Where are your papers to demonstrate student growth?
It is too hot here, and we need a little water. Teaching and learning are drying up quickly from the fast pace; get it done and raise the scores. We need to show the kids are learning.!
We have a lot of weeds to pull in our system to get to the results we want for the children we serve. Students are not numbers of scores but lifelong learners developing at their own pace. However, the global pandemic added to the growing gaps (weeds) between students experiencing academic loss and behavior issues, with suspensions adding to more learning loss. Let’s discuss preparing this winter for our gardens this spring.
Engagement of Students
Engagement of students in learning can be challenging. How do you approach the lack of engagement with students? I am currently teaching a four-year-old. Now their attention span is not long to have them actively engaged in learning. However, the key to success is finding what is of interest, what gets him excited about learning, and how to break up the time to keep him engaged. The choice is a big part of what we do, but he knows the daily routine as we have kept the same routines in place.
One of my favorite authors released a book titled Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind by Eric Jensen. The schools I was involved with utilized the work of Jensen in book studies to help support our understanding of working with students in Poverty. We will look at some of his points, and I encourage you to grab a copy today.
Do I have to?
Morale can begin to fade away as we approach the second half of the school year. Teachers and students both need to have high morale in order to make great things happen in the classroom.
How can we be proactive in helping to build up the morale for the second half of the school year? Let’s share some ideas this week!
Let’s Do Better in serving those in Poverty
If we look at the current data, we know poverty is increasing. “The monthly child poverty rate increased from 12.1 percent in December 2021 to 17 percent in January 2022.” “The 4.9 percentage point (41 percent) increase in poverty represents 3.7 million more children in poverty.”
There are ways we can help students living in poverty succeed. This week we will focus on what we can do, are, and have done.
You can, I can, We Can-Shine Bright
December is the time to let your light shine bright to let others see the beauty of the light that will guide us day and night! Inspire, Motivate, Encourage and Celebrate every day in small and big ways!