About THAT kid

Congratulations! 

You completed a grueling week of Conferences, ACCESS training for some, and teaching through absolute exhaustion through the end of the week.

You are rewarded this week with two days of teaching and FIVE days of vacation! 

Whether you're with family, traveling or enjoying the peace of your home, I do hope you relax, knowing that you've earned it!

I wanted to pass along this powerful article I read recently in the the Washington Post. Here is the synopsis:

"Amy Murray is the director of early childhood education at the Calgary French & International School in Canada. The following post, which appeared on her blog, Miss Night’s Marbles and which I am republishing with her permission, is a powerful open letter directed to parents about THAT kid, the one other kids go home and talk about, the one who is violent, curses and gets angry in class, the one who parents worry will hurt, disrupt and perhaps influence their own children. Murray is also the co-founder of #Kinderchat (www.kinderchat.net), a twitter-based global community for educators of young children. She is a speaker and trainer on learning through play, self-regulation, behavior management, and the use of technology within the classroom."

Enjoy the short read [Teacher to parents: About THAT kid (the one who hits, disrupts and influences YOUR kid)], think about all you do for your students each and every day, and gear up for a productive three weeks to come. I feel truly thankful to know and work with each and everyone one of you amazing new educators.

I like to include a picture in each post, and I don't really have one to go along with this topic. So, in the spirit of sharing a little with you about myself, here is a photo of my son, Grant, who is 18 months old. Someday, maybe he'll be THAT kid!

Lachele's son, Grant, 18 months

Warmly,
Lachele :)

Increasing Student Engagement

We know that we want our classrooms to look and feel like this:

Students learning from each other.

Students sharing ideas and engaged in their work.

Teacher and students enthusiastically participating. 

Students learning independent of the teacher.

But, sometimes, our classrooms look and feel like this:

Students looking tired and bored with learning.

So what is the solution?

(If only we had THE solution!) 

Let's try again . . . what is ONE possible solution?

Student engagement! 

One of our jobs as teachers is to plan engaging lessons for the students in front of us. That means knowing our students, knowing our curriculum, planning thoughtful and thorough lessons, and adjusting to the strengths and needs of our students.

Dr. Sharroky Hollie started a school in Los Angeles, wrote a few books, trained thousands of teachers, and has seen success with his strategies of Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching and Learning. One of his amazing resources is the Protocols for Increasing Student Engagement, which I have put into a document just for you! (Click on the red words.)

We have all been using strategies such as Turn and Talk, Pick a Stick, Raising Hands, and Shouting Out. But we get bored and students get bored. There are twenty six strategies in this document to engage students in learning and purposeful conversation.

So, here's my challenge to you:

Try a new protocol with your students. 
Choose one from the list and give it a go. Don't know where to start? Here are some super easy ones:

• Give One, Get One
• Whip Around
• Roll 'Em
• Corners

Post a comment to this post telling us which protocol you tried (even if you tried it before now). If you have time, tell us how you used it so we can learn from each other.