Blog 6- 2/14/2018

Student and Results Focused
As promised......more on 
Building Parent Teacher Relationships!

Good Two-Way Communication

Good two-way communication between families and schools is necessary for your students' success. Not surprisingly, research shows that the more parents and teachers share relevant information with each other about a student, the better equipped both will be to help that student achieve academically.

Opportunities for two-way communication include:

Parent conferences

Curriculum nights

Community Events (PTO events, Spirit Nights, Dads and Donuts)

Weekly or monthly folders of student work sent home for parent review and comment

Phone calls

E-mail or school website

Personal contact, including conferences, home visits, telephone calls, and curriculum nights or open houses, seems to be the most effective form of communication and may be among the most familiar. However, the establishment of effective school-home communication has grown more complex as society has changed. The great diversity among families means that it is not possible to rely on a single method of communication that will reach all homes with a given message. It is essential that a variety of strategies, adapted to the needs of particular families and their schedules, be incorporated into an overall plan.

THE FINAL PART ON THIS TOPIC 

WILL BE IN NEXT BLOG!!!

LOOK FOR IT!!!

Relationship Driven

Food for Heart

Last week, I gave a presentation to other school counselors in the Houston area at region IV. This is just a friendly reminder to stay true to the 3 stands. Especially at this time of year...and I know it’s tough, but we can’t give up!  Are we saying Absolutely No to negativity? Are we relentlessly noticing the positives we are seeing? And finally, are we being CLEAR in our classroom rules/consequences? Remember, we give consequences when they are needed without any energy. It starts with giving students a chance to reset, but we also have a code of conduct and resets are not enough. Like with bullying, for example. A rule throughout the building is no bullying. Anywhere. Ever. It may also mean, we need to make some parent phone calls. Imagine if it were your kid...would you want the courtesy of a phone call? So, let’s all do a collective reset and get back to our greatness...nurturing our students!

Intentionally Personalized

Klein ISD's Promise2Purpose vision discusses equity. Our vision states that we will close gaps by personalizing learning by knowing every student by NAME, STRENGTH and NEED. 

So, what is personalized learning????? The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation developed a working definition of personalized learning.

"Personalized learning seeks to accelerate student learning by tailoring the instructional environment-what, when, how and where students learn-to address the individual needs, skills and interests of each student. Students can take ownership of their own learning, while also developing deep, personal connections with each other, their teachers and other adults." 

As we continue our journey implementing Klein ISD's vision that EVERY student will enter with a Promise and exit with a Purpose, we will learn TOGETHER how to re-imagine learning by personalizing learning for our students. 

MORE TO COME SOON!!!!

Forever Learner

Think about a time when you failed at something that was important to you. Maybe it was a try-out for a team, a big test, a sports game, a performance, or a project.

Reflect on what type of mindset you had during the above event.

Blog 5-1/31/2018

Student and Results Focused

Building Parent-Teacher Relationships

Parent Benefits

Positive parent-school communications benefit parents. The manner in which schools communicate and interact with parents affects the extent and quality of parents' home involvement with their children's learning. For example, schools that communicate bad news about student performance more often than recognizing students' excellence will discourage parent involvement by making parents feel they cannot effectively help their children.

Parents also benefit from being involved in their children's education by getting ideas from school on how to help and support their children, and by learning more about the school's academic program and how it works. Perhaps most important, parents benefit by becoming more confident about the value of their school involvement. Parents develop a greater appreciation for the important role they play in their children's education.

When communicating with parents, consider your remarks in relation to the three categories that influence how parents participate. For example, are you communicating about:Classroom learning activities? The child's accomplishments? How the parents can help at home with their child's learning?

Student Benefits

Substantial evidence exists showing that parent involvement benefits students, including raising their academic achievement. There are other advantages for children when parents become involved — namely, increased motivation for learning, improved behavior, more regular attendance, and a more positive attitude about homework and school in general.

Teacher BenefitsResearch shows that parental involvement can free teachers to focus more on the task of teaching children. Also, by having more contact with parents, teachers learn more about students' needs and home environment, which is information they can apply toward better meeting those needs. Parents who are involved tend to have a more positive view of teachers, which results in improved teacher morale.

MORE TO COME ON THIS TOPIC... 
LOOK FOR IT IN THE NEXT BLOG!!!

Relationship Driven

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!  
So tea and coffee again, shall we?

For our 2nd meeting: February 19th (Staff Development Day)

Read Chapters 3 + 4 (pages 19-31)

Discuss reflections on pages 23 and 29.

                  

Intentionally Personalized

You've begun the journey to personalized learning! Did you know that?  Yes, yes you have!  It started when you conferenced with your students prior to MAP testing, showing them their scores, discussing what they meant, setting goals, and finally developing action plans for what to do on their upcoming MAP test. We heard how many of you felt that your students benefited from that time with you and you saw MAP test scores improve!  We certainly felt the same way with our students we met with prior to the test.  Now you have the results.  What do our students need next?  We need to conference with them again to review their results and now set academic action plans/goals (you can use the MAP program to write them down).  NWEA has a great article (Click below: I have MAP results...now what!) on how to do this in an effective way.  We can't wait to meet with our students and discuss their results.  Personalized learning and student ownership...through conferencing...here we go...  Schedule your time to meet with your students and watch them soar.

I have MAP results...now what!

Forever Learner

Take the quiz here and find out!

Please print or take a screenshot of your results. You will need it later, so put it in a safe place :)