Sunday, August 16, 2015

The First Two Days of School


We started school last Thursday. I love starting school that way... it gives students and teachers an opportunity to "get back in the routine" without experiencing the extreme tiredness that comes by Wednesday night when school starts on a Monday. 

It also somehow "gives permission" to teachers to spend two days on relationship-building activities before jumping into content and academic routines. The weekend provides a natural break, and this year I saw tons of great activities going on in classrooms. I wanted to share some of them with you and give you a glimpse into our school building.

Our teachers know that one thing that I believe in is the importance of a teacher trying to cultivate a positive relationship with each student. I believe that each and every student who is in our school is there because he or she is supposed to be there. I led an activity with staff a couple of years ago so that we could be intentional about making sure each student had a positive connection with at least one adult in the building, because I also believe that every student should have at least one adult in the building that is a student's "go-to" person.

As I visited classrooms on Thursday and Friday, I was thrilled to see that teachers were busy building relationships with students, not jumping into their content. 

After all, if we don't know our audience, how can we connect with them? 

If we don't know our "who," how can we maximize their potential?






If you've started back to school, I'd love for you to leave me a comment and share about it, and if you haven't started yet, how you plan to start your year.


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