Monday, May 6, 2013
Avoid the summer slide!
Did you know students can back slide in their reading abilities by a full month during the summer break? Even worse: A student can lose 2.6 months in math skills in the same time period!
Avoid the summer slide by joining the Council of Chief State School Officers’ summer reading and math challenges.
The reading challenge enables kindergarten-through-12th-grade students to find books of interest within their reading level. The website also shows where the book can be checked out at a library or purchased. Find your book at www.Lexile.com/fab/Iowa. For more information on the reading challenge, visit www.Lexile.com/chiefs-challenge. For summer reading flyers and materials, visit our Find a Book, Iowa on our webpage.
The math challenge is more structured, and requires registration starting May 1. It’s aimed at students who will be in the third through sixth grades in the fall. It is a six-week, email-based initiative designed to help students maintain math skills acquired during the previous school year. Families will receive a weekly targeted instructional activity and materials along with daily personalized email suggestions and resources. The math challenge runs June 24 through Aug. 2.
To register for the math challenge, go to http://quantiles.com/accounts/registration/.
For more information on the math challenge, go to www.Quantiles.com/summer-math.
Friday, May 3, 2013
Kudos
« To Tatum and Maci Schmalbeck, Chloe, Jori, and Emery
Harskamp. They raised $70 for Mrs. Westphal with a lemonade stand on
Saturday.
« To the middle school students who competed in NWAEA
Book Bash. The Orange team was 2nd
place. Students were Caleb Kempema,
Emily Schuiteman, Jomei Tea, Samantha Vander Velde, Patricia King, Cambree
Huss, Andrew Te Grotenhuis, Katie Mouw, Osiris Gomez, Jessica Harald, Zara
Trigg, Emily Deinken
« To Mary Zeilenga and her tremendous work with the
Title 1 Parent Day at Kinsey
« To Kamden Glade for being selected for the Governor's
Scholar Recognition Program. The Iowa
High School Athletic Association, their sponsor the Iowa Farm Bureau, and the
Governor's office recognize the top academic achievers from each school district
in the state of Iowa.
« To Cami Cleveringa who broke two meet records in the
100 and 200 hurdles
Friday, March 22, 2013
Kudos
« To the 6th grade team for organizing another very
successful Grandparent's Day!
« Kindergarten Round-up was a huge success! Tremendous collaboration took place this year
with transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, special education teachers and
area preschool teachers in addition to many of our support staff at Kinsey that
made these 2 days “smooth-sailing”!
« To Steven Kragt and Andrew O’Donnell for making the
Iowa Basketball Coaches All Sub-state Team and to Andrew O’Donnell for making
the All Northwest Iowa Basketball 2nd team for the Sioux City
Journal.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Kudos
« Denice Boote on her planning and preparations for the
DE site visit
« These students received division I ratings at State
Speech Contest:
Kirk
Kinrade
Josh
Olvera
Siddharth
Chaubal
Courtney
Woelber
Julie
Schuiteman
Charity
Raak
« These students received division II ratings at State
Speech Contaest:
Timae
Lyman
Stephanie
Husa
« The following students for advancing to the State FFA
Convention
Anna
Den Herder in Job Interview
Matt Van Engen, Rae Lee Franken, Miranda Lammers, Sam
Mueller, Dylan De Jong, John Rietema, and Josh Van Roekel in Conduct of
Meetings.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Believing in Students: The Power to Make a Difference
Dr. Richard Curwin Director, Graduate program in behavior disorder, David Yellin College
After a morning Discipline With Dignity (3) training, the high school principal and I walked to the cafeteria to eat lunch. He said, "I love your session, but it's not practical." I responded with my view that it was practical because it works -- but it’s just not easy.
He pointed to a girl sitting alone at a table and said, "Do you think it would work with her?” She looked like she was a character from the Mad Max movies. She had just been released from federal prison. Her look was extreme (maybe not so much today) with spiked orange and purple hair, tattoos, all black makeup including black lipstick and black rouge, and severe body piercings. The principal looked at me and said, "So what would you do?" I asked back, "What about you? How do you handle her?" He said that he would draw a line and tell her she'd better not cross it. I responded, "What if she says, 'I’ll kill you?' Which one of you will be more afraid, her because she crossed the line you drew, or you because she threatened you with death?" The truth is that if she's been to prison, nothing that can be done in a school would frighten her. Detention? Calling her mother?
So he again asked what I would do. I said, "Talk to her." And he invited me to go over and try it right then. So I did. Dressed in my three-piece suit, I sat down at her table. She looked at me for a minute and said, "Who the f**k are you, a***ole?" I was a little stunned and didn't have time to read a book or check my notes. So I relied on two strategies I had just taught the teachers in my morning session: meet the real needs of students and use challenge instead of threat.
I said, "I'm someone writing a book on teenage violence, and I think you know better about it than me. If you have the courage to tell the truth and answer one question (challenge), I'll put your name in my book (need to be noticed)." She asked what the question was, so I replied, "Are there any teachers who you listen to, follow directions, show respect and learn from?" She said she had one like that, and I asked her what made that teacher different from the others.
Her answer is one that I will never forget and has been one of the constants in my work ever since. It's a movie scene that replays over and over in my mind. Right before my eyes, her answer transformed her from a tough, hardened criminal to a frightened little girl.
Sometime later, I traveled the country doing trainings. I asked administrators if I could meet with about ten of their most troubled students. I did this for grades K-12, in urban, rural and all economic areas. I did it on two Indian reservations. I asked two questions: "Who is your favorite teacher and why?" I expected most to say they had no teacher who was a favorite. But they all did. Among the top reasons was, "They believe in me."
If we can start reaching kids like Roxanne sooner rather than later, who knows how many lives could change?
After a morning Discipline With Dignity (3) training, the high school principal and I walked to the cafeteria to eat lunch. He said, "I love your session, but it's not practical." I responded with my view that it was practical because it works -- but it’s just not easy.
He pointed to a girl sitting alone at a table and said, "Do you think it would work with her?” She looked like she was a character from the Mad Max movies. She had just been released from federal prison. Her look was extreme (maybe not so much today) with spiked orange and purple hair, tattoos, all black makeup including black lipstick and black rouge, and severe body piercings. The principal looked at me and said, "So what would you do?" I asked back, "What about you? How do you handle her?" He said that he would draw a line and tell her she'd better not cross it. I responded, "What if she says, 'I’ll kill you?' Which one of you will be more afraid, her because she crossed the line you drew, or you because she threatened you with death?" The truth is that if she's been to prison, nothing that can be done in a school would frighten her. Detention? Calling her mother?
So he again asked what I would do. I said, "Talk to her." And he invited me to go over and try it right then. So I did. Dressed in my three-piece suit, I sat down at her table. She looked at me for a minute and said, "Who the f**k are you, a***ole?" I was a little stunned and didn't have time to read a book or check my notes. So I relied on two strategies I had just taught the teachers in my morning session: meet the real needs of students and use challenge instead of threat.
I said, "I'm someone writing a book on teenage violence, and I think you know better about it than me. If you have the courage to tell the truth and answer one question (challenge), I'll put your name in my book (need to be noticed)." She asked what the question was, so I replied, "Are there any teachers who you listen to, follow directions, show respect and learn from?" She said she had one like that, and I asked her what made that teacher different from the others.
Her answer is one that I will never forget and has been one of the constants in my work ever since. It's a movie scene that replays over and over in my mind. Right before my eyes, her answer transformed her from a tough, hardened criminal to a frightened little girl.
Because she's stupid. She thinks I can get a job someday, that I may even be able to go to college, or be a good mother because I know all the things not to do.Then she started crying. The tears streaked down her black make-up and made her look like a zebra with black drops falling on her white top.
I ain't going to college and I ain't getting a job. I'll never be a mother. I'm a dead girl. In prison when they write your name on the wall, you die, and my name is there. I know I'm going back. But that teacher believes in me, and man, it really, really matters.Later I put her name, Roxanne, in my book and tried to find her to give her a copy, but nobody knew where she was or how to find her.
Sometime later, I traveled the country doing trainings. I asked administrators if I could meet with about ten of their most troubled students. I did this for grades K-12, in urban, rural and all economic areas. I did it on two Indian reservations. I asked two questions: "Who is your favorite teacher and why?" I expected most to say they had no teacher who was a favorite. But they all did. Among the top reasons was, "They believe in me."
Five Ways to Reach Out
Believing in students is not simply telling them that you believe in them. These words matter only if they are true and if you demonstrate them by your actions. There is no way to fake it, because kids have built in crap detectors (a phrase taken from Neil Postman, and Charles Weingartner, in Teaching As a Subversive Activity (4)), and they can tell if you don't mean it. Here are some ways to express it.1. Stop Using Rewards
Rewards are not needed if you believe in a student. The reward implies to them that they only way you can get them to do something is to pay them. That is the opposite of believing.2. Encourage Effort More Than Achievement
Not every child can meet the unrealistic goals of a test-mad curriculum. Every child can try to do his or her best. Ironically, the harder students are encouraged to try, the better they do on our crazy high-stakes testing.3. Give Second, Third and Fourth Chances
In many states, the law says, "Three strikes and you're out." In most schools, the most troubled kids get only one strike. The message is, "Be the way we want or we don't want you." School is for all children and mistakes are part of the learning process, not just for academics, but also for behavior. Rather than strike them out, teach them the skills they need to overcome their deficiencies.4. Don't Say "You Failed" - Say "You Haven’t Done It Yet"
Encourage hope by letting students know that, no matter what they do, they can still do better. Safety always comes first in a school environment, of course. Sometimes safety concerns override points 3 and 4, but not as often as we think.5. Increase Opportunities to Learn
The children who need recess the most are the first ones to lose it. Being removed from field trips, the cafeteria, library and all other learning opportunities only makes students less able to handle them in the future. No one would say to a basketball player, "You missed too many foul shots. You can’t practice until you get better." It is time to stop giving more opportunities to those who have already proven they are successful while denying opportunities to those who need them the most.If we can start reaching kids like Roxanne sooner rather than later, who knows how many lives could change?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)