John Adams Middle School
Monday Morning Quarterback, Volume 19
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
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PRICELESS ----Author Unknown from Red Wing Juvenile Correctional Facility
If I held up a $20 bill and asked who wanted it, would you raise your hand? Would you keep it raised if I crumpled it up, dropped it on the ground, stepped on it and ground it into the dirt? No matter what I did to the $20 bill you would still want it, right? Did I decrease the value being crumpled, dropped and ground into the dirt? NO! Many times in your lives you are dropped, crumpled and ground into the dirt by the decisions you make and the circumstances that come your way. Do you feel as though you are worthless? No matter what has happened, or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless. The worth of your lives come not in what you do or whom you know, but by who you are!
Positive Climate (CLASS): Reflects the emotional connection between the teacher and students and among students and the warmth, respect, and enjoyment communicated by verbal and nonverbal interactions.
· Do I engage students in social conversations?
· Am I using student names?
· Do I listen closely with students?
· Do I build a positive, safe, supportive classroom environment?
· Are students respectful of one another?
· Is there a matched affect with students?
· Am I smiling and enthusiastic when greeting students?
· Do I communicate positive expectations and experiences with students?
· Do I model respectful language consistently and to all students?
· Do I allow for students to help cooperatively in a sharing environment?
PROMOTING SELF-DETERMINATION FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
· Self-determination is a combination of skills, knowledge, and beliefs that enable a student to engage in goal-directed, self-regulated, and personally meaningful behavior.
· Understand one’s strengths and limitations together with a belief in oneself as capable and effective. Service learning and helping others are big pieces to believing in oneself and building self-esteem.
· When a student acts using these skills and improved attitudes, individuals have greater ability to take control of their lives and assume the role of being a positive community member.
· Important components are self-monitoring, self-awareness, self-efficacy, and self-advocacy.
· This will then help students prepare for participating in their own IEP meetings.
· Students are more aware about strengths, helping to guide their future planning and associated needs.
· Directly teaching skills and enhancing knowledge.
· Embed in curriculum and make a part of daily routines.
· Helps students to become aware of what they are good at.
Coaches Corner
Structured work time can be used to chunk extended work time to help with students’ short attention spans.
Consider adjusting the amount of work time based on the attention span of your class. Begin with 5 minutes,
then increase to 10 minutes, this can help increase stamina.
Jaguar Spotlight: Pam Byklum
I was born in Northfield, MN. Due to my father’s job as a chief financial officer with General Instrument Corporation, we moved every few years when I was young. I am the oldest of four girls. But my life changed in 7th grade when General Instrument opened a new factory in Taipei, Taiwan. After we moved there, I attended Taipei American School and spent three years learning the Chinese culture and traveling to many other countries in Asia. My dad was transferred back to the US so I attended my last two years of high school in El Paso, TX. During my senior year my dad was informed of a return transfer back to Taiwan, so my family moved again to Taipei immediately after my high school graduation.
During my four years at St. Olaf College I had the privilege of taking advantage of an overseas program during which I spent four months living with a Chinese family in Taiwan, then spending a month in China. Our student group was among the first group of Americans allowed into China during the modern era. It was a wonderful experience!
My student teaching experience was also unique. I student taught at Taipei American School for a semester at the same school that my siblings and I had attended. It was fun to return to TAS in that capacity. My first teaching job was at Seoul Foreign School in Seoul, Korea. During my five years there, I also was able to attend the 1988 Olympics hosted in Seoul, Korea.
I returned to MN in 1990 and began teaching at John Adams Middle School. Little did I know that I would end up marrying another teacher from John Adams that arrived in Rochester the same year! During my free time I am either quilting, reading or watching the MN Twins. My husband and I like to travel and spend time with our families.