John Adams Middle School
Monday Morning Quarterback, Volume 17
Monday, February 3, 2020
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"Lessons Learned From Great Schools Around the World", by Will Minton
1. Build a collaborative staff culture. “Every teacher needs two things: To know they can grow and to feel that they are not alone.”
2. Focus on Values. “It doesn’t matter what they become. It’s who they become and what they’re going to do with the light inside of them.”
3. Give students real power. “Trust is the foundation of high expectations.”
“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
NURTURING INTRINSIC MOTIVATION IN STUDENTS
Enabling students to experience accomplishments and improvement builds their feeling of competence---a powerful intrinsic motivator.
· Recognizing improvement as a form of competence. When we improve, we become more competent. We must nurture the forward movement. Students intrinsically value helping others and feel accomplished when mastering new knowledge. Love this: We have to be mindful not to douse a small flame just because it’s not a bonfire.
· Intrinsic motivation and service learning.
“Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve.” –Martin Luther King Jr. Students derive strong intrinsic motivation from helping others. Helping others gets students positively involved and increases a sense of competence.
· Tapping into strengths and interests.
Competence is propelled by curiosity and interest. Education is a team sport. We need to ask questions about a child’s interest, curiosity, and accomplishments.
"What I’ve Learned from Special Education Teacher", by Peg Grafwallner (Edutopia, 2017)
1. Accept every student as they are.
2. Active listening is a gift.
3. Scaffolding a lesson is just good teaching.
4. Be specific when sharing information with parents.
5. Eliminate jargon when talking with parents.
6. Students want to feel loved.
7. Share what we’ve learned with others.
8. Patience is a gift, a virtue, and a necessity.
9. Ask for help.
10. Laugh.
Jaguar Spawtlight: Lindsey Reishus
Hi JA!
This is my 10th year of teaching and my 6th year at John Adams. I was born in California, grew up in the cites, and graduated from Winona State in 2007 and moved to Connecticut where I was a curriculum writer and program coordinator for classes in the Girl Scouts of Connecticut organization. I got to work all over the state with a lot of families and it was great. I moved back to Minnesota in 2009 and became a substitute teacher for the remainder of the school year in districts all over the cities. In 2010 I started at Hoover as a GIP and taught 3rd grade. I subsequently taught in Farmington (5th), Pine Island (K-12 GATE), and Willow Creek (6th) before landing at JA. At JA I've taught both 7th and 6th grade.
In my down time you can find me either sleeping or doing work for our local fire department. I live in Oronoco with my boyfriend of almost 10 years and our two dogs. My boyfriend Pat is a volunteer firefighter (and also a Rochester 3rd grade teacher!) and we do a lot for the fire department. We are in charge of gambling (pull tabs which are housed at Tilly's and raise funds that we donate back into the local communities - John Adams has received some!) and we also coordinate the fire department's part of "Downtown Oronoco Gold Rush Days" meaning we spend a lot of the summer shopping, planning, and prepping for serving food to a bunch of people for 4 days. 🙂🙂
My dog is my baby and everyone knows Riley is the best dog that has ever been born. Aside from Riley, I have Pat, his dog Remy, my parents Terry and Deb, and my two younger sisters Megan and Jenna and a brother in law Adam.
In the summer, since we are both teachers, you can find us either working in one of our many large gardens or up north camping on Lake Winnie while slaying the walleyes, or visiting my parents at their lake house on Pelican Lake in Pequot Lakes. We love being outside any chance we can get (except when its a million below zero).
I hate the snow except when it brings snow days, and people tease me because Pat drives me to work on snowy days (including days that accumulation is expected to be less than an inch, ha). So please keep lighting those candles, JA staff!