Blog 4-11/15/2017

Student and Results Focused

Doing It Differently:

Tips for Teaching Vocabulary
Click the link below for a short video.

https://goo.gl/qacPf8

Relationship Driven

Teachers, please take the time to read this quick reference, on how to respond to a bullying incident:

1. Confront students you observe or have been reported in the action of bullying in a fair and firm manner. (Say, “Stop it, NOW.)
2. Remind students of your high expectations for behavior and our Kuehnle Student Core Values. (Say, “This is not how we treat others in our classroom, in this building, EVER.”)
3. Clarify what you observed and impose a consequence. (Say, “I saw you teasing ____. Unfortunately, you will only be allowed to play in this area now.” Or, you will need to sit out for the remainder of your recess. Or, you will now have an office referral.”
4. Document bullying incident and report it Mrs. Birden so an investigation can begin if needed.
5. Recruit supportive friends for victim.
6. Teach a pro-social lesson or have a community circle activity for your classroom. If you need ideas, see Mrs. Birden
7. Monitor bullying behavior and share with special’s teachers as well, so they know to monitor students.
8. Think, “How would I want this handled if it were happening to MY baby.” Then, do that.
9. Check-in with your students everyday.. Nurture their hearts by Knowing them by name, strength and need.  And ALWAYS take action where needed.

“When in doubt, take action.”

Cathy

Intentionally Personalized

Let's talk about intentional!

Intentional is defined as... 

an adjective

1.

done with intention or on purpose; intended:

an intentional insult.

2.

of or relating to intention or purpose.

Intentional teachers identify teachable moments and are prepared to use them to best advantage. Intentional teachers are those determined to make every second of classroom time count. Their daily goal is to make as significant and lasting an impact on their students as possible particularly when the unplanned opportunity arises.

This can also most certainly apply to our Profile of a Learner Celebrations. This is an opportunity for you to intentionally personalize these awards for your students. When determining your awards, you should be thoughtfully reflecting on each student and which Profile of Learner characteristic they have demonstrated the best and brightest during the nine weeks. 

Everyone in your class shouldn’t be getting all the same one. 

So, start reflecting now so that you are intentionally personalizing your second nine weeks Profile of a Learner awards. 

Forever Learner

Food for Heart

Hello Fearless Friends!  

Welcome back to our HEART Book Club!!!  Y’all did such a fantastic job at our first book club, so you will get to stay with your same peeps (obvi)!  So tea and coffee again, shall we? Just keep swimming, and keep nurturing your students and each other! The pay-off? Happy students. And even happier teachers. :)

Great teaching is always a form of love. -John Ortberg

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. - Dalai Lama

Heart Book Club Reading Assignment

For our 2nd meeting: TBD

Read Chapters 3 + 4 (pages 19-31)

Discuss reflections on pages 23 and 29.

Blog 3-10/12/2017

Red underlined print indicates there is hyperlink to the information.  
Please click on the hyperlinks.


Student and Results Focused

Ways to Help Students Internalize Habits of Lifelong Readers

(adapted from Donalynn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer)

 

1.       Dedicate time to read

       Teaching Tip: Encourage students to carry books with them everywhere they go.

2.      Share books and reading with others.

       Teaching tip: Provide many opportunities for students to preview, read,                                and share books together.

3.     Have reading plans. Good readers plan beyond their current book.

        Teaching Tip: Encourage series with struggling readers to maintain reading                        momentum and motivation.

4.     Choice matters. Students need to successfully self-select books.

        Teaching tip: Create “preview stacks” of 4-5 books for students who struggle with 

        choosing books.

Relationship Driven

Food for Heart

Hello Fearless Friends!  

Welcome to our HEART Book Club!!!  I know how crazy, busy things get, which is precisely why I’m putting this out here now. Hopefully, with enough notice, you will have the chance to get this first assignment done.

Part 1: H is for Happiness

Essential Heartprint Question: Are you a person of passion, positive impact, and perseverance for the education profession?

For our 1st meeting:

November 1st Staff Meeting: Read Chapters 1 + 2 (pages 7-17)

Be prepared to discuss the reflections on page 11 and page 17.

                  Cathy

Intentionally Personalized

Recently we recognized and celebrated Mrs. Amaya, Ms. English, Mrs. Kihlken and Mrs. Skidmore for their High Quality Teaching and personalizing learning for their students. Way to go ladies!!! #Promise2Purpose

Check out our Twitter page link below to see their video shout out celebrations.

Kuehnle Twitter Page 

Forever Learner

Watch the short Video

by Carol Dweck

on Struggle

Blog 2

Red underlined print indicates there is hyperlink to the information.  
Please click on the hyperlinks.


Student and Results Focused

Please click on the link below for an excellent and  informative Powtoon Video about success criteria.

PowToon Video

Relationship Driven

FOOD FOR YOUR HEART!

Giving recognitions can feel awkward at first. To others and to yourself. You might struggle to find words that feel right, make sense, and don’t energize the negative. Go directly to your heart. Literally.

Try this: Take it easy on yourself. Reset as needed.  Any time you feel yourself in the struggle, pause and focus on what you are feeling in your heart. Take a breath (or a few) into that place. Let whatever emotions and words come up guide you in the next moments. Remember to be kind to YOURSELF too. Like It’s like I tell students, “We can do hard things.” We already are.

Intentionally Personalized

How to Help Students Set and Reach Their Goals

“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” Yogi Berra

It is easy to set an arbitrary goal for some point in the future; however, it is quite different to consciously choose a realistic goal to attain and develop an action plan in order to achieve it. Understanding how to set realistic goals and developing a plan to achieve these goals is essential in helping students understand who they are as learners and provides them with the opportunity to reflect upon their journey, instead of simply focusing on successes and failures.

• Setting Realistic or Reasonable Goals: It is very important for students to clearly define what they would like to achieve.
• Developing a Step-By-Step Action Plan: Students need to ask themselves, “What do I have to do in order to reach my goal?” Each week, students can reflect on their progression towards their goal.  This makes students accountable for their success and provides them with the opportunity to understand what they need to work on next.
• Reflecting on the Journey: It is important to discuss with students that not everyone in the class may reach their goals—this may be due to lack of effort, difficulties along the way, or circumstances beyond their control. The class discussion should also focus on reflecting on the journey and not just on the final outcome, as the journey is just as important as the destination.

Too often, our students only focus on the end point instead of considering the entire journey.  The key lesson for students is that determination, hard work, and reflective thought is needed in order to recognize an area for improvement and actively work to accomplish a change.

Forever Learner

Our Profile of a Leader states that we are "personally modeling an insatiable desire to learn and improve by...always seeking opportunities to learn and grow". Last year one of our focus topics in our blog was about the growth mindset and how to create a classroom of students knowing that learning is not just about producing the right answers all the time. It is is about giving yourself permission to fail, improve constantly, to make the effort, to think outside the box, to create, innovate, and stretch your brain and grow.  

Click on how A growth mindset also applies to adults to get the details. Its harder for us as adults to be okay with not being perfect but a growth mindset also means that we realize that we as adults can not be rigid in our thinking and we can't ask students to do what we are unwilling to do...take risks, consider new innovative ideas and new ways of thinking about how we do the work we do with our most precious commodity...our students.  
Don't wait!  This is our MOST URGENT MONTH!