Hawk Herald
News and Notes for Teachers- Jan 8
Dear Staff
We're past the Super Moon and the first week back. This week we have an assembly on Thursday during advisory to talk about Sparrow Club and introduce our Sparrow. Students in Leadership will be in your advisory on Tuesday to talk a little bit about it. Thursday evening is our AVID family night. I have attached a video about tolerance at the end of the newsletter. Have a good week.
Mary
Passes
Academic Seminar-Wed
Module 3-Language support
LA/SS observations
Sparrow Club assembly-Thursday; Mariachi Band-Friday
Friday at the end of the day-(schedule to follow)
AVID Family Night-Thursday
Pizza and childcare
Assistant Meeting-Monday
Meetings and Events
Monday-8 Check your Advisory Calendar
- Assistant meeting during advisory room 126
- ELD meeting 1:30
Tuesday-9 Mary out all day
- Leadership in advisories talking about Sparrow Club
- Team Meetings-Cooper hawks and Red-tails Pod 4(counselors)
Wednesday-10
- Academic Seminar 7:50 Leadership room
- Attendance 10:10
Thursday-11
- Team Meetings-Sparrow hawks and Royal hawks pod 1(admin)
- Sparrow Club Assembly during advisory
- Discipline Task Force 3:30
- AVID family night
Friday-12 OABE conference (Gaspardis,Espinosa,Briceno,Fragoso,Carrero,Gomez,Brauer)
- SST
- Mariachi Band assembly
The Power of Our Words-Paula Denton (continued from last Hawk Herald)
Five Guiding Principles for Positive Language
How can we ensure that our language supports students' learning and helps create a positive, respectful community? These strategies are based on the following five general principles.Here are the last three.
3. Focus on Actions, Not Abstractions
There is a place, of course, for such abstract terms as respectful and responsible, but we must give students plenty of opportunities to associate those words with concrete actions. Classroom expectations such as "treat one another with kindness" will be more meaningful to students if we help them picture and practice what those expectations look like in different situations.
Focusing on action also means pointing to the desired behavior rather than labeling the learner's character or attitude. I had a student who chronically did poor work when he could do better. In a moment of frustration, I said to him, "I don't think you even care!" This allowed me to vent, but it did nothing to help the student change. His energy went toward defending himself against my negative judgment, not toward examining and changing his behavior. Worse, such language can lead students to accept our judgment and believe that they indeed don't care.
It's more helpful in such situations to issue a positive challenge that names the behavior we want: "Your job today is to record five observations of our crickets. Think about what you'll need to do before you start." This moves the focus to what the student can do.
4. Keep It Brief
It's hard for many young children to follow long strings of words like this:
Students understand more when we speak less. Simply asking, "Who can tell us one way to include everyone?" gives them an opportunity to remind themselves of positive behaviors. If you have taught and led students in practicing the class's expectations for participation, students will make good use of such a reminder.
5. Know When to Be Silent
The skillful use of silence can be just as powerful as the skillful use of words. When teachers use silence, we open a space for students to think, rehearse what to say, and sometimes gather the courage to speak at all.
We can see the benefit of silence if, after asking a question, we pause before taking responses from students. Researchers have found that when teachers wait three to five seconds, more students respond, and those responses show higher-level thinking (Swift & Gooding, 1983; Tobin, 1980).
Three to five seconds can feel uncomfortably long at first. But if we stick to it—and model thoughtful pausing by waiting a few seconds ourselves to respond to students' comments—we'll set a pace for the entire classroom that will soon feel natural. Our reward will be classroom conversations of higher quality.
Remaining silent allows us to listen to students and requires us to resist the impulse to jump in and correct students' words or finish their thoughts. A true listener tries to understand a speaker's message before formulating a response. When we allow students to speak uninterrupted and unhurried, we help them learn because speaking is an important means of consolidating knowledge.
In my current role teaching educators Responsive Classroom strategies, I watch teachers incorporate these five principles of language into their daily communications with students, and I see them build classrooms where students feel safe, respected, and engaged. By paying attention to our language, we can use it to open the doors of possibility for students.
South Meadows Middle School
Email: mendezm@hsd.k12.or.us
Website: http://schools.hsd.k12.or.us/southmeadows
Location: 4690 Southeast Davis Road, Hillsboro, OR, United States
Phone: 503-844-1220
Facebook: facebook.com/SouthMeadowsMiddleSchool