January 31, 2020

Continuing our discussion on student engagement (one of THE MOST important things in teaching), building relationships with our students is CRITICAL to how effective we are as educators.  We cannot simply close the door, turn our back, ignore the signs, or pretend that our kids DO NOT need us.  They do.  Plain and simple.  So how can you build these relationships with 30+ students in your class?  Some ways can be simple.  Check out THIS ARTICLE on some of the "golden rules" of easy peasy ways to make SIMPLE connections.  C'mon people.  Don't they deserve it?  Don't YOU?

I've asked this a MILLION times and I will again: 

Would YOU want to be a student in your class?

We know that reading aloud is commonly thought of as an elementary thing, reading aloud with middle school students has a ton of benefits as well!  Take a minute to read THIS ARTICLE as to why it is helpful and doesn't need to be the ENTIRE book to be effective!

Did you know? ONE MORE TIME....Let this sink in please.

• We have an overall class GPA range from the report cards of a 3.86 to 2.04.  
• We have 101 students with one or more Fs.  101 is not okay....
• We have 25 students with 3 or more Fs.  
• We 18 6th graders, 37 7th graders, and 46 8th graders with one or more F's, indicating that we are NOT ready to send them to high school.

Some things to think about and questions to ask yourself:

• Have we reached out to parents/guardian, personally, to see what's going on?
• Have we pulled the student(s) during tutorial to work with them at all?
• Have we met with parents/guardians and student to go over what is going on?
• Have we sent home a permission slip to get tutoring for Math and History (currently the ones being offered at GVMS)?
• Is the grading really reflective of the standards being taught and mastered?
• Is there any "out of the box thinking" that we can do to reach all students?
• Is an SST a logical next step and have you considered scheduling one, asking Carla and Christina to help you get the process started?  Click HERE to get started.

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• SUPER DUPER awesome shout out to CRISTINA DEVRIES for her countless hours, planning, replanning, and scheduling for the Multicultural fair that is a HUGE HIT!  WE CANNOT WAIT!!!
• SUPER awesome shout out to KEVIN, when having interpersonal exchanges with our mutual student, thank you for continuing to nudge/prod him to give you more! ~Tara
• SUPER awesome shout out to CAROL and DUSTIN for handling incoming 8th grade elective selection for me!
• SUPER awesome shout out to CRISTINA for working so hard on the Multicultural Fair! ~Lynn
• SUPER awesome shout out to ALEX, JASON, CARLA, and LYNN S. for working with me on a 7th grade student who needs support!
• SUPER awesome shout out to CHRISTINA G for all her hard work with our Check and Connect students and supporting them to reach their goals!!!
• SUPER awesome shout out to SANDY, ALANNA, PETER S., LYNN S., and LUCERO for staying for my IEP on Tuesday! ~Marlys 
• SUPER awesome shout out to JULIE, KARRON, ANITA, and CRISTINA for handling incoming 7th grade elective selection for me!
• SUPER awesome shout out to ALEX for the great coffee and such a surprise! ~Carol
• SUPER awesome shout out to JASON and ALEX for moving a student who they KNEW could benefit from ACC Math =)
• SUPER awesome shout out to ALISA for ALREADY completing and turning in her adjunct duty form!!!
• SUPER awesome shout out to JASON, STEVEN, DUSTIN, and MEGAN for letting me use your room for testing! ~Marlys
• SUPER awesome shout out to ALANNA for giving one of our 8th graders a 2nd (probably 4th or 5th actually) chance!
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