"Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind" Chapter 2

As you reflect back on your reading of chapter 2, "The Rules for Engagement," please comment on this post by answering the following questions.  Then, reply to at least one of your colleagues' posts.  I look forward to reading your reflections.

1.  Reflect on any engagement strategy you have used that did not work well.  What do you think went wrong?  Were the problems with the strategy, your implementation of it, the curriculum or classroom context, or your students?  How big a role in a strategy's success do you think you play?

2.  Do you ever have a hard time getting buy-in from your students?  If so, speculate why.  What are some ways you could modify your teaching to increase student buy-in?

3.  Do you and your colleagues build positive relationships with students?  What are some ways you could build stronger relationships with your students?

"Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind" Chapter 1

As you reflect back on your reading of chapter 1, "The Seven Engagement Factors," please comment on this post by answering the following questions.  Then, reply to at least one of your colleagues' posts.  I look forward to reading your reflections.

1.  Do you think this chapter overstates, understates, or accurately states the connection to poverty and achievement?  Why?

2.  Which of the seven factors pose the strongest challenge for you in your classroom?

3.  Do these factors seem impossible to overcome, or can you envision overcoming them?  Explain your reasoning.

It's Been a While...

I had such high hopes for actually keeping up with my teaching through this blog.  That definitely did not happen, but at least I am going to get some use out of it.  I currently am in my 4th semester in the MSA program through Appalachian State University's Distance Education program.  For one of my classes, I focused on at-risk males and completed an action plan that included a book study of Eric Jensen's "Engaging Students With Poverty In Mind: Practical Strategies for Raising Achievement".  Over the next few weeks, I will lead our staff through this book study on the blog as we look to expand our ways of engaging the students that we teach.  Currently we have 54% free and reduced lunch and that number continues to grow.

And so it begins...

On Monday, I will go back to begin my 13th year of teaching in my 4th grade classroom.  I'm very excited and nervous all at the same time.  I looped last year so I had most of the same students for two years.  With looping, they knew my quirks and I knew their's.  Although I'm going to miss my sweet babies, I'm so excited to meet my new students.

For the past week, I've been working on my classroom a little at a time, but it's time to get down to business. I'm planning to stick to my color scheme but add black to it.  I'll post pics when I get it done, well at least ready for the students.  Do we ever really get done???  I'm constantly tweaking things to make our room work the best for myself and the students.

So, in celebration for Back to School, I'm joining in the Teachers Pay Teachers Back to School Sale by offering 20% off. Check out my TPT store to find items to help you throughout the year!

FREE Students Rights and Responsibilities/Noise Poster

Click Here for TPT

 Clip Chart Management System

Click Here for TPT

Reading Counts/Accelerated Reader Classroom Management

Click Here for TPT

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

With Google Reader going away on July 1st, I'm jumping on board with Bloglovin'.  I hope you will as well.   Find the "Follow my blog on Bloglovin" button on the side and click to follow me.  I hope to see you there!

Fourth Grade Common Core Workbook

As our first full year of using the Common Core Standards begins winding down, I have been introduced to the workbook "Fourth Grade Common Core Workbook" by several blog posts. It is a resource I've been wanting to check out for several months now and what better time to do it then now?!?  They're hosting a giveaway for a FREE book from now until April 21st. Go ahead and check it out on your own!

 

Description of The Fourth Grade Common Core Workbook
This Fourth Grade Common Core Workbook is the largest collection of resources for teaching the Common Core State Standards.  This workbook includes over 850 pages of worksheets, activity centers and posters that teach all the Fourth Grade English Language Arts Common Core Standards and all the Fourth Grade Mathematics Common Core Standards!

Teacher bloggers are united today,

Sunday, Dec 16, 2012

with a day of silence to honor and remember the victims of Sandy Hook Elementary.

We support the community of Newtown, CT.