Bingham Elementary
News and Notes Week of April 2
Weekly Schedule
Monday
- Pledge - on canvas
Tuesday
- Pledge - Calloway
- Staff Meeting - Library 4:00
Wednesday
- Pledge - Calloway
Thursday
- Pledge - Calloway
- Personal Safety Assembly -
3rd grade at 9:15 in the gym
5th grade at 10:00 in the gym
K at 10:45 in Mr. Skinner's room.
Friday
- Pledge - Calloway
Crazy Doc's rant and raves...
Last quarter is here! We have two fire drills to complete, 1 tornado, and 1 intruder - after today. The i-Ready and MAP windows open soon as well. The end of the year crunch is upon us, keep strong!
Teacher Spotlight
Debra and the Kitchen Ladies for all their hard work getting everything ready for the audit. They also had no findings during the audit, great job!
Do you have a idea for a person in the spotlight? Please let me know.
From Jessica
I've mentioned this before, but I know it takes multiple attempts to change our habits so when I ran across this on Conscious Discipline's Facebook page I felt it was still relevant for all of us when working with both students and adults.
Here's another snippet about "Positive Intent":
What does Positive Intent really mean?
To answer that question, you must answer this one first: Are you a mind reader?
Most of us are not mind readers, yet we go through the day attributing intent to other people’s actions and words:
- The waitress is an idiot because she didn’t give me correct change.
- My husband is being spiteful by leaving the toilet seat up after I specifically asked him not to.
- My child is being rude by grabbing things out of my purse without asking.
Are stupid, spiteful and rude the “real” motivations these people had? There is no way for us to know for certain, but what we certainly CAN DO is make up their intent in our minds. We can choose to see the best in others or to see the worst. More than anything else, that choice will determine how we feel and act!
Once we’ve judged the nature of another person’s actions or words, we reap a slew of emotions of our own. When we attribute negative intent, the emotions that we experience are equally nasty. Attributing negative intent to others creates negative feelings within us. It throws us into the lower centers of our brain. If we get to make up the intent, why in the world would we want to attribute an intent that results in nasty feelings for us? We can just as easily attribute positive intent to these situations and reap positive emotions!
Negative intent does more than just flood us with nasty feelings, it also inhibits our ability to teach others how to treat us and how to treat each other.
When dealing with children, especially, seeing the best in them is the only perceptual frame that will enable us to teach new skills rather than project guilt, hurt and other negative feelings. Children convey their wants and needs through actions such as hitting, grabbing and fussing. When they don’t get what they want, they tend to fuss louder and bigger. To be effective parents and educators, we must shift from viewing “louder and bigger” with negative intent (she’s being out of control) to viewing it with positive intent (she’s missing social skills).
The habit of attributing negative intent is so ingrained in most of us that it is difficult at times to recognize, much less reframe positively. Yet this shift is 100% necessary if we want to raise children with self-esteem, responsibility, and self-control. It is also essential for teaching them a new skill and solving problems.
Below are common examples of attributing negative intent followed by possible positive intent for the same situation. Remember, we are making it up; it is our choice which way to perceive the situation no matter what:
- Casey is just mean.
- Casey wanted the crayon and didn’t know how to ask for it.
- Mathieu sure pushes my buttons!
- Mathieu is giving me an opportunity to practice staying calm.
- Devon is acting crazy!
- Devon has a lot of energy and needs help to focus.
- Keri is disrupting my quiet time just to irritate me.
- Keri is having trouble finding her blankie.
“Wait a minute,” you’re saying, “You mean nothing the child does is wrong?” Attributing positive intent doesn’t mean the rules fly out the window and limits don’t need enforcing! Rather, positive intent allows you a frame of mind from which you can better teach the skills the child needs. First, attribute positive intent, then set the limit and teach as necessary.
- Step 1 – Breathe and attribute positive intent to the action. You could reframe the situation with the child calling for love, displaying a need for skills, etc. Make the shift to positive intent in your own mind first, and then say, “You wanted_____.” “You wanted my attention.
- Step 2 – Put words to the child’s action. No judging words allowed; just describe the action. “So you_____.” Your verbal description will bring the child’s action into his/her awareness. “So you hit me in the knee.”
- Step 3 – Finish speaking the positive intent out loud. Define the child as a worthy person who made a mistake. You might say, “You didn’t know how to_____.” “You didn’t know how else to get me to look at you.” Your child may correct you. If this happens, repeat the correction and reframe. “Oh, you hit me in the knee because you were mad at me. You didn’t know how else to tell me you were angry.”
- Step 4 – Assertively set the limit and explain why. Give the child a clear limit and a simple reason why the limit is set. Be assertive. Relate the limit to safety whenever possible. Setting the limit fits nicely into this sentence: “You may not ____, ___ isn’t safe (hurts, etc.).” “You may not hit. Hitting hurts.”
- Step 5 – Finally, teach what is acceptable behavior. Once you have taught the appropriate action, ask the child to practice the new skill. It’s helpful to use these words to frame the learning: “When you want ______, say (or do) _____. Say (or do) it now “When you want my attention, touch my arm gently. Try touching my arm gently now.”
- Step 6 – You did it! Reinforce the action by telling the child how his/her new skill is successful. Say, “You did it!” and describe the action. “You did it! You touched my arm gently so I would know you wanted my attention.”
With positive intent, we can transform hurtful situations into teaching moments. With negative intent, we will continually punish our children for not having skills that they have not been taught. The choice is ours.
Learning modules from Jill Henderson
In my Certify SPS module this month, I learned how to make a Google Site for my students and parents, how to create a YouTube channel (which I’ve used a ton since then), and how to add closed captioning to any video. If you are interested in any of these, please watch or read below. If you have any questions or need help, let me know!
To make a Google Site:
My Google Site:
https://sites.google.com/sps.org/mrshendersonsclass/home
Why have a YouTube channel for your classroom:
https://www.teachthought.com/technology/5-ways-use-online-video-classroom/
How to create a YouTube channel:
https://www.lifewire.com/create-a-youtube-channel-tutorial-2655497
Closed captioning in the classroom:
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/captioning-support-literacy-0
How to add closed captioning to any video:
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6373554?hl=en
Thanks!
On-Going Reminders
- If you send a student to the focus room please do so with one of the tickets Casey has provided, that way she knows why they are there. If they do not have a ticket they will be sent back to class.
- Please remember to give yourself credit for the events you attend. Each teacher is expected to attend 3 after school events. Next year we will move to a model where each grade level and department is represented at each PTA meeting. Here is the check in for our events so far: https://docs.google.com/a/sps.org/spreadsheets/d/1xru7fuenf01e2mb01wCoQhbrDw_zVEI_wImMFI7wA1g/edit?usp=sharing
- Please remember to only send emergencies to the nurse's office during breakfast and lunch. Please use a blue note when you do. Nurse's lunch time is 12:50 - 1:20.
- If you send a student to the office for a phone call or any other reason please make sure they have a pass.
- Please make sure you are not sending large printing jobs to the basic printers, please send these to the copiers.
- Lunch counts and attendance need to be entered by 9:20, or Terri will start calling.
Recycling
- K-1 will be Monday and Thursday
- 2-3 will be Tuesday and Friday
- 4-5 plus Mrs. Slover, the office and stage will be Wednesday
Bingham Elementary
Email: ameador@spsmail.org
Website: http://bingham.spsk12.org/pages/BinghamES
Location: 2126 East Cherry Street, Springfield, MO, United States
Phone: (417) 523-3400
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/400030176727396/
Twitter: @MeadorAdam