Posts by lrichter:
Bullying Does Happen At Your School
November 24th, 2009Yesterday I was at a South Dakota high school giving a presentation on bullying, cyberbullying and social responsibility. The presentation went well, the students were attentive, I was wrapping up the presentation with Q and A. Midway through the question and answer session a young man in the back row asked if he could ask a question of the students. He bravely asked, “Why do you all pick on me? Why am I always the one that gets picked on?” The room went silent, 100 students found themselves staring at their shoes. I let the students stare at their shoes for a few moments as I asked them to reflect on the situation. I pointed out that they all knew this student. I asked them to think about if they ever bullied this individual and if not, were they ever bystanders and did nothing. These were rhetorical questions. My hope is that there won’t be a next time, but if there is that someone will stand up and be an advocate for this student who I understand has been the target of bullying his whole life.
This is an example of what does happen in schools everyday across this country. 160,000 students stay home from school every day rather than face being bullied. Bullying happens in schools, on school ground, on the bus and elsewhere, even in the presence of adults. As educators, we need to learn what to look for and what to do when we see this behavior in our classrooms, hallways and wherever students are present. No one deserves to be bullied and it is time to start taking this subject seriously. It is not just happening in large schools or somewhere else. It is happening right here in South Dakota as much as anywhere else. Let’s join together and put a stop to the verbal, physical and relational abuse our students face.
New Underwood Elementary Receives Award
June 9th, 2009New Underwood Elementary has been recognized by Character Education Partnership (CEP) for exemplary work in the area of character education. CEP gives the annual Promising Practices awards for “unique and specific exemplary practices that encourage the ethical, social, and academic growth of K–12 students through character education.” Read the press release
All schools in South Dakota are encouraged to not only apply for Promising Practices awards to showcase the unique and intentional teaching of character education in the classsroom as well as throughout the community, but to also apply for the State Schools of Character awards.
Technology & Innovation in Education is offering State Schools of Character awards to schools and districts with outstanding character education initiatives. State Schools of Character (SSOC) serve as models for other educators in South Dakota. In addition, SSOC winners advance to the Character Education Partnership’s (CEP) National Schools of Character (NSOC) competition where winners receive up to $10,000 to share their exemplary work with other educators.
The SSOC application process is the same as CEP’s NSOC awards program. Learn more about applying for the SSOC/NSOC awards at CEP’s website www.character.org.
You Want Me To Write WHAT!?!?
April 22nd, 2009Jennifer Nehl shared some great writing strategies with teachers under the premise of Everyday Writing For The Everyday Teacher. She was able to engage the teachers with her first strategy that focused on making the students expend more energy in the learning process than the teacher. After the participants in the session had a chance to experience The Whatnhow strategy, one comment I heard was “I am going to do this on Monday with my students. We are starting a unit on Greece.” This kind of enthusiasm is contagious.
Jenn was able to not only engage the participants but give them a few new tools to add to their toolbox of writing strategies. Teachers across all disciplines require students to write, but very few are professionally trained in good strategies to help the student be successful.
This is just one of the reasons the TIE Conference is such a valuable professional development experience. The conference really does offer something for everyone.
