Achieving, Believing and Caring

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Achieving, Believing and Caring!

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A few things

• Leader of Learning
• Moral purpose
• Learning for All
• High Expectations
• Literacy for Life

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Literacy for Life

• Listen attentively.
• Speak persuasively.
• Read with understanding.
• Write with command.

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• Underdeveloped literacy skills are the number one
  reason why students are retained, assigned to
  special education, and why they fail to graduate
  from high school.

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Adolescents entering the adult world in the 21st
century will read and write more than at any
other time in human history.
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What do we know about those who are illiterate

• .50 of the unemployed are functionally
  illiterate
• .Those who are functionally illiterate earn 5
  times less than those that are literate
• .More than half of Canadians lack the literacy
  skills to make appropriate health care decisions
  on their own
• .50 of those with the lowest literacy skills
  live in poverty
• .Children in poverty are more likely to be
  illiterate

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Improving Achievement

• Belief in their abilities to master a rigorous
  curriculum.
• Time tailored to specific student needs.
• Understanding that not all students learn the
  same way and at the same rate.

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Ruby Paynes Poverty Research

• Kindergarten children come to school with one
  half of the listening and speaking vocabulary
  that other classmates possess.
• Children in poverty have a huge deficit in the
  area of background knowledge.
• Relationships, not material goods or grades,
  motivate children in poverty.

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Social Justice

• The path to social justice begins with gaining
  passion for the plight of disadvantaged students.
  
• We need to ask ourselves
• Who tends to be privileged?
• What does it mean to be privileged in this way?
• Who tends to be marginalized?
• What does it mean to be marginalized in this way?
• Ways we tend to deny that privilege is occurring?
• What happens in the classroom?
• How can we take action in the classroom to
  interrupt these cycles of oppression?
• Richard A. McCormick, S.J. (1999). Blueprint for
  Social Justice LII(11), 1.

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Embrace the ABCs

• Achieving
• Believing
• Caring

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A Different World

• Work is different ...
• Tools are different ...
• Communication is different ...
• Information is different ...
• Kids are different ...
• Learning is different
• Teaching must be different ...

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We dont know the half of what you can do.
Ted Sizer
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Priorities

• Student Achievement
• Parent and Community Engagement
• Financial Stability

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Strategies

• Go Green
• Go Digital
• Be Safe
• Student Voice

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Student Voices

• Lack of clarity about what it takes to succeed
  grades, complete work, behave well.
• Many feel not much is expected of them.
• Curriculum is repetitious and not
  challenging\engaging.
• Little support for grappling with issues of race,
  ethnicity, gender, culture, class and sexual
  orientation.

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Intelligence and Learning Styles

• Visual/Spatial (Picture Smart)
• Verbal/Linguistic (Word Smart)
• Musical/Rhythmic (Music Smart)
• Logical/Mathematical (Number Smart)
• Bodily/Kinesthetic (Body Smart)
• Interpersonal (People Smart)
• Intrapersonal (Self Smart)
• Piaget, Bloom, Gardner, etc.

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CREDIT INTERVENTION STRATEGIES
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Relationships Matter

• You cant motivate a student you dont know.
  There is no learning without trust and respect,
  and neither are granted automatically by todays
  students. They must be earned.

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Student Voices

• Believe in me, until I can believe in
  myself.

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How would you respond?

• Am I being challenged?
• Do I feel sense of ownership and pride here?
• Can I talk to you?
• Will I feel confident to go to the next phase of
  my life?
• Do they care about me?
• Do I feel connected and welcome here?

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Four Questions Can I succeed at the task? Do I
want to do the task? Why do I want to do the
task? What do I need to do to succeed at the
task?
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What influences students engagement in school?
School - Teachers- Peers- Culture
Home - Parents- Siblings- Culture
Community - Role models- Opportunities- Culture
Self - interests- efficacy/beliefs-
temperament/affect
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High School Strategy

• Expand program options
• Building sense of belonging
• Building community partnerships
• Building engagement

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Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
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Student Success

• More Choices/Pathways for Students
• Specialist High Skills Major
• Dual Credits
• Differentiated Instruction
• Credit Recovery/Credit Rescue
• Cooperative Education

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Game Plan for Success

• Always believe in yourself and never lose faith.
  Don't underestimate your abilities
• Take Care of Yourself--eat right and live right
• Take Action--if there is anything in your life
  that you want to change, take responsibility for
  changing it yourself
• Be prepared to fail--there can be no success in
  life without setbacks
• And lastly--acknowledge those who contribute to
  your life--and remember you didn't get here on
  your own.

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A Call to Action!

Poverty

Failure
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Leaving a Legacy
If you were to write your autobiography today,
what would the title be? Are you happy with the
title, and if not, what will you do today to
change the title?