Literacy and Technology Fall 2022

Over the last several years I've been hearing so much about the Ruler program in schools and wondered what it was all about. I knew it was a program to incorporate social emotional learning into the classroom but I wasn't familiar with the components. I see posters of the Mood Meter on classroom walls and students placing their picture on the appropriate square quite often throughout the school day. Is teaching social emotional learning helping our students and the school community? What is Social Emotional Learning ?   According to National University , It is a methodology that helps students understand their emotions. These learned behaviors can help students be responsible, make positive choices, and build positive relationships with others. What are the Components ? How Can it Help Students ? Having self awareness can positively affect behavior  It helps with setting goals and a plan for how to achieve them To help act empathetically within the school and community Maintai...

                                         Justice Served!         D awn Forgione      The restorative justice room at my school was, for the most part, a mystery to me. I knew that it was a place for students who were either fighting or had gotten into trouble, but never gave it much thought beyond that. Eventually, my curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to find out really what was going on behind those closed doors. Turns out, a lot!      Typically schools use outdated discipline models that focus on punitive measures that don't address the core of the problem. Detention and suspension are disciplinary consequences that are meant to deter a student from not repeating the infraction, however, suspension causes students to lose valuable learning time and detentions don't address the actual problem. (We Are Teachers)  ...

  Stacey Pierce Does your day begin as soon as your alarm goes off? Does your day end with a mindless TV show to relax for the first time all day?  If you are anything like me, the second your feet hit the floor your day begins. In our house our motto seems to be, we hit the ground running! Both my husband and I have full time jobs, our daughter is in Kindergarten and goes to before and after school care, and my son goes to daycare. There is breakfast to be made and eaten, lunches to be packed, and we are all out of the house by 7:20am. Like most of you, my school day begins before the bell rings and the students arrive. Is my classroom ready for 20 second graders? Did I make all the photocopies I need? Are my anchor charts ready and easily accessible? A teachers day is packed with laughs and discipline, applying band-aids and applying rigor, keeping students moving and keeping students calm, and everything in between. When the bell rings at the end of school day our day is no...