Reflections

One of the newest ideas we implemented this year in our middle school is our advisory program. It's not the typical advisory program. As a PBIS school, we have added to our menu of interventions for students with behavioral needs at the Tier 2 and Tier 3 levels. Last year, we knew we still had the top "5%" we needed something more for. Enter advisory. We have academic AIS courses for ELA and Math that usually meet every other day for 45 minutes. We added an additional AIS course, called Advisory to that list. Students selected for advisory were identified based on needs in the following areas: motivation attendance behavior Some of these students had skills in ELA and/or Math but were not sharing those in academic settings. There were other barriers we needed to work through to reach them. Using our minor incident report data, discipline referrals, and attendance records, we were able to identify students most "at risk" in the building and schedule ...

New students are always surprised when they come to our school. One of the biggest surprises is when they find out they have recess. Eyes open wide. "Wait, we have recess?". Yes. Yes we do.  We have a split period for lunch and recess. Students eat for 22 minutes and then have recess for the other 22 minutes. Grade 6 students have recess first, lunch second. Grade 7 and 8 students have lunch together first and then recess second.  I am fortunate to have outstanding teachers and teaching assistants who proctor lunch and recess. Our recess period has evolved over the last four years and we now juggle multiple options for students.  Each day, students choose which they will attend. Options include: Active Recess : This is the most popular option and occurs in the gym or outside on the playground when weather allows. Quiet Recess : We have quiet recess in our computer lab. Library : Recess is always a good time to find a new book!  Makerspace : Our m...

We were asked to think about the purpose of grading. One of the participants (whom I had never met before) "joked" his purpose was to make his students cry. I cringed and said something about being sure the teacher wasn't being serious. I'm pretty sure I used my "all business" teacher voice to say it. The group quickly became quiet. I suspect the other two members of the group could read my face and could see the joke fell flat. Groups were changed again and we circulated to different groups. Days later, I am still thinking about that one interaction. It occurs to me that I've been taking for granted the progress we have made in our building. Sometimes when you attend a workshop, you gain new ideas to use back in your practice. You might even struggle with how to fit new learning into existing learning. Yet, some workshops don't necessarily bring new learning. Some workshops force you to reflect on your own practice in your own building. Th...