Books for struggling students

There are a lot of great books out there for helping us help kids who struggle. I found a great one at Barnes and Noble the other day. The title is "School Success for Kids with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders". It was only $16, plus I bought it at the fundraiser for Rocky Mountain (go panthers!). They also have a great companion book for kids with ADHD that I love. What sets these books apart is that they are geared to the school setting. Many times there are great books out there for kids with various mood disorders, but they aren't necessarily geared toward school. This book has a great deal of info about Response to Intervention -- namely, the Top 10 Quality Indicators for Schoolwide and Classroom Interventions:
1. A problem solving framework is used
2. Intervention is sought early
3. Consequences are used rather than punishment
4. Staff is prepared, ethical, and from different disciplines
5. Language and reading needs are examined
6. Academics are paramount
7. Each school has a full continuum of support in the least restrictive environment
8. Data drive decisions
9. Both classroom management tools and behavior change tools are used
10. Parent partnerships are valued.

How does your school rate?

 

School Pride

"School Pride" is a great new show on NBC -- if you like the concept of Extreme Home Makeover -- take it and apply it to schools. What I loved about this show is that it shows the kids individually. To our surprise, kids who are in poverty and live in one of the toughest communities in the country (Compton), really do care about school and will help to make it better (deep gasp). In this episode, it shows the team members who are helping to clean up the school confront the principal about the fact that there is a warehouse full of supplies that the teachers desperately need. The school (Enterprise Middle School) has been nicknamed "Enterprison". There is mold in many classroom, absolutely mind-numbing bathroom facilities, and a football field full of gopher holes which has caused the players to sprain their ankles. If you missed it, watch it on their website by clicking here.

 

Do Parents Favor Kids who are Average Weight?

I was pretty interested in some new research that suggested that parents are more likely to purchase a vehicle for college-age children who are average weight than those who are overweight. Since this is just one isolated study, we can't draw too much from it. I saw the study in a research journal and then the Today Show picked it up in a more consumer-friendly way. See the story by clicking here.

I'm not sure about the validity of this study or how much you can generalize from it, but I do know one thing for sure. The news anchors probably don't know "better"; however, the psychologist and psychiatrist should definitely know to use "person first" language. That is, you should never refer to a child as an "autistic kid" or "ADHD kid"; rather, that is a "child with autism". The person is first -- the disability second. We would never say "cancerous kid", so why would we say "overweight kid"? How about "a child who is overweight"! That drove me nuts during this entire segment!

Can great teaching be measured?

If you are an educator or parent and haven't been following educationnation.com, I will forgive you temporarily, provided you get your butt over there STAT before NBC pulls the 150 some odd videos. Isn't it awesome that we can watch at home (hopefully on a treadmill) the great minds of education at one spot for FREE!

I was listening to a podcast this morning where the person discussed "cognitive refocusing". That sounds really academic, it basically means that instead of wasting time watching television, people are now wasting time online! The good news -- there is actually useful, thought-provoking information online that you can use in your line of work and life! 

Along those lines, I had a conversation with an educator last week that caused a great deal of reflection. The teacher stated that she now spends so much time testing that she has no time left for teaching. Since this teacher had not done any universal screening or progress monitoring, I was a bit confused. Her grade level didn't take the state exams. The only state-mandated test for this teacher was a 1 minute reading probe administered by someone else. 

Along those lines, can great teaching be measured? If Bill Gates is willing to spend a half billion dollars finding out, maybe we should care enough to ask ourselves, what makes a great teacher? 

Click here to see some possibilities in this video.