Teaching the Whole Student

January is a tough month for many, middle school students are no exception. It's been really cold where we live so students aren't getting outside as much, the cold and flu season is peaking, the days are among the shortest of the year and lack of sunlight is impactful. Post-holiday let-down leads right into the end of the quarter/semester and a final push with projects and tests. I've had so many reminders lately of the importance of teaching to the whole student (and to try and follow my own advice).

Caring for ourselves is crucial but it's particularly essential now. I need to be flexible regarding my expectations in the classroom and more patient with my students.  They are finishing quarter/semester activities in all of their classes and studying for assessments.

Taking the "emotional temperature" of the class each hour when the bell rings has been a great guide for me. It's pretty evident whether students are relaxed or not and many class periods lately have started with 3 minutes of "relaxation time". The students fold their arms on their desks and lay their heads down, concentrating on their breathing, We turn off the lights while I walk around to monitor. This has proven very beneficial to helping students "reset" themselves and it emphasizes that finding positive ways to mitigate student stress is very important to me. This investment has a very high rate of return and is well worth it.  Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs rings true-none of us are ready to learn or think until the majority of these psychological factors are addressed. 
https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Historical Perspective and Peel the Fruit Thinking Routine

Image
Practicing historical perspective is an essential social studies skill. Historical perspective is being able to step into a historic situation and examine the motivations, biases, and beliefs of a person or group of people. Students have to revert to the beliefs of a group of people even if those beliefs completely contradict the views we have today. They must weigh decisions based on the situation of the time, not necessarily how situations are viewed today. The C3 Framework for Social Studies states that "Historical understanding requires recognizing this multiplicity of points of view in the past, which makes it important to seek out a range of sources on any historical question rather than simply use those that are easiest to find. It also requires recognizing that perspectives change over time, so that historical understanding requires developing a sense of empathy with people in the past whose perspectives might be very different from those of today." http://www.so
Read more

Name That Executive Role!

Image
Students today learned about the many roles of the head of the Executive Branch, the President of the United States. I found several images of former Presidents in these roles--can you guess which is which? Post your answers below or email them to me. Choices: Commander-In-Chief Chief Executive Political Party Head Chief Diplomat 1.  President Eisenhower 2. President George HW Bush (on the right side of the picture) 3. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt  4. President Reagan meeting with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (this one's a bit of a giveaway!)
Read more

Industrial Revolution Haiku

Students have been learning about the Industrial Revolution in the mid1800s and how it changed life in New England. Today students processed their learning by creating haiku poems on the subject. They were challenged to think about and evaluate this topic within the structure of a haiku, a 3 line poem with 17 total syllables--5 in the 1st and 3rd lines and 7 in the second line. The poems have been impressive and some will be posted here soon.
Read more