Monday Motivation
Bolivar High School
Keeping the Focus on Literacy
You may want to consider how literacy can be part of your Personal Learning Plan. We have defined literacy in the broadest sense. Literacy obviously involves reading and writing skills. But we have also included thinking skills. To be a literate person you have to be able to use your critical thinking and reasoning abilities. And, I would also include digital literacy as part of our literacy goals. We live in a world where blogging is far more relevant than the Dewey Decimal system, right? Reading and writing should be the floor and not the ceiling. It's not enough to be a good reader and writer, but it's essential to start there.
Here are a few thoughts on why I believe literacy is so important for everyone to embrace:
1. Literacy is not an add-on or an extra. It's the foundation upon which all learning goals are achieved.
2. Literacy skills are transferable to anything students want to learn. It's about learning how to learn.
3. Reading and writing improve with practice.
4. Students will learn your class content better if they read, write, and think about it.
5. Every discipline has a unique literacy. Students need to learn to read, write, and think like scientists, historians, mathematicians, chefs, soldiers, medical workers, automotive technicians, musicians, entrepreneurs, etc. I could go on.
6. And this one: "More than 30 years of research from the University of Chicago shows teaching analytical reading and writing across disciplines is the most important thing we can do to improve our students’ college and career readiness. Students who wrote regularly in each of their classes showed consistent improvements in math and science courses as well, not just English."
I linked a couple of articles below that you might find useful for some further consideration on this topic.
Monday
- Monday we are having class meetings during Lib Time to gear up for Homecoming September 16th.
Tuesday
- FFA is having their annual Ice Cream Social at 7:00PM. Awesome!
Wednesday
- Late Start will be a whole faculty meeting starting at 7:30AM. Topics will include plans for Late Start, Personal Learning Plans, and more. Be sure to check out the presentation to review in advance of the meeting.
- SWAT team will meet at 2:45PM in the auditorium. Just a reminder...since last block is longer than the other classes on Wednesday, we will allow clubs or organizations to meet the last 15 minutes.
Thursday
- Liberator Time Lesson: Amber Dlugosh and I will send you a short lesson (be watching for that) to lead with your Lib Time students. We are aiming to send out one lesson a week for the next few weeks. We MUST take the time to work with our students on thriving in today's digital world. It's especially important since they have a school issued device. We have a responsibility to increase awareness and help students navigate the challenges successfully.
Personal Learning Plans - Flipped Meeting Video
To join the NEW Google Classroom for LibTime
To join the FACULTY/STAFF Google Classroom
To Join Faculty/Staff REMIND (Text Alerts)
Enter this number: 81010
Text this message: @dgeu
You should receive a confirmation that you're in.