End of Molasses Classes

Check out Ron's message to TBA here. He is awesome and amazing! I have visited the Ron Clark Academy with my school (Thanks, former principal Mike Roberts, for taking us all there!) and am Slide Certified! I also visited Mike's new school about three weeks ago to see and hear Ron Clark again! He definitely tells it like it is with no apology!

In this picture, Ron was shaking hands with one of the students who performed. He made sure to make eye contact, but she was little shy at first. He quickly instructed her to make eye contact and she did! She had been told to hurry out of the cafeteria... 

This is the picture prior to the handshake. Ron went to meet the students, but they had been instructed to leave quickly so the meeting could get underway. He stopped the little girl just in front of him (seen in the previous picture) to shake hands.

Principal # 4~Uplift other adults who play a role in the lives of our children~is something I really try to do. I spent three years teaching adults and it really brought it home to me that many of my parents might not even be fluent readers themselves, yet we ask them to read with their children daily. I always try to offer assitance to my parents in such a way as not to embarrass them or make them have yet another bad experience with school. I realize that some of them had a really hard time in school and are not so excited about school even now. There's a fine line there and we must be supportive of both the parent and the student.

Principle # 19 is also something I strive to do. I know that some days must be spent following through on the big idea, activator, or whatever you call it at your school. We need some time to assimilate and accomodate what is taught so it will become real learning, but we can refer back to the fun stuff to get the students excited about even the dreary parts. Using every angle available to teach something, giving my students lots of different ways to practice the skills, and keeping my eyes open for exemplary work are ways I try to keep it magical. Blogging has really helped me with that, too!

Thanks, blogging friends! This is the best year (of my 23 years teaching) ever because of all I'm gathering in blogland! God bless you all 100-fold!