Sunday, February 1, 2015

SHARE

In Chapter 4 of Teaching with Poverty in Mind, Jensen focuses on an acronym SHARE.
                    Support the Whole Child
                    Hard Data
                    Accountability
                    Relationship Building
                    Enrichment Mind-Set
As a school district, Rugby is doing some things right, and in some areas we need more development.
S: We are improving with our support of the whole child by having faculty mentors for each student at the junior high and high school level, and by making the effort to identify any children (at all grade levels) who may be missed by our attempts to develop personal relationships. Our support of the whole child could be improved if we had medical services available at both campuses to make sure children remain physically healthy and the services of a social worker who could provide counseling to students to improve their emotional and mental health.
H: In the area of hard data, we do have a lot of data (MAP, NDSA, ACT, etc.), but in some cases we need to improve how we use the data to benefit individual student learning. We have focused on this area in professional development sessions, but in my opinion, we can always use more development and direction in the understanding and use of data. It may also help to have the time to review data in order to make adjustments in teaching strategies for individuals and groups.
A: As far as accountability goes, I think Rugby is headed in the right direction. We have been doing self-directed professional development this year, which has been a great benefit for many teachers. In the past couple of years we have had a faculty-dense professional development team finding and implementing useful strategies to share with the remainder of the faculty. Does every professional sing the praises of these methods? Hardly. But, most professionals have come around and, I believe, embraced the peer-led professional development. Teachers seem to have the freedom to teach how they choose, without intervention or micromanagement from administration. Not being a classroom teacher, I feel that I am allowed and encouraged to use my own discretion when it comes to delivering services. The school district has also had a public stakeholder meeting to invite anyone in the community (teachers included) to discuss ideas for how we could meet our goals (put forth as a result of our AdvancEd review last year). Teachers are being given more of a voice in school politics, if they are choosing to participate.
R: Relationship Building is a four-prong concern looking at: (1) students' relationships with their peers, (2) caregivers' relationships with their children, (3) school staff members' relationships with one another, and (4) teachers' relationships with students. At the elementary school, we have 'kids with character' programs each month and use 'caught in the act of good behavior' slips to recognize students who show acts of kindness, citizenship, or other positive behaviors. These programs seem to help build a beneficial environment for students and one that encourages relationship-building. The system is not yet perfect, as more of us teachers must buy-in and fill out both the 'caught in the act' and 'kid with character' forms more regularly. The students love when they get 'kid with character' or 'caught in the act'. These are both great programs. At the high school, we have 'students of the month' for each grade level. The student has his or her own reserved parking spot for the next month. As a teacher who travels from the elementary school to the high school, I find that staff relationships seem to be quite good in both buildings. Teachers get along well, and students see those positive interactions.
E: For myself, I think more about remediation than enrichment. I work primarily with students who struggle. I think this is difficult for a lot of teachers. It is easy to let the kids who are achieving at grade level "coast" while the teacher focuses most of his or her attention on the students lacking skills. Our schools do offer before-school and after-school homework help, but these are not geared toward enrichment. The focus is for kids to keep up with the regular classwork. In our community, students are able to participate in "Destination Imagination", which is a wonderful program that helps students gain independence, collaboration skills, and a host of other skills. This is outside of the school day, although many of the leaders who choose to help the students are teachers and much of the planning and work takes place at the school. I have thought about how I could plan some enrichment activities for some of my students, such as planning a movie night in town or some other type of social outing. I think it would benefit a number of students, including kids I don't necessarily see on a professional basis.