May 2016 – Happy Schools

How Engaged are Your Students?

May 19, 2016

It’s not surprising that one of the most consistent findings in educational research demonstrates that the more times students spend engaged, the more they learn (Gettinger & Ball, 2007). It also won’t surprise that the more engaged students are, the less stressful it is. Instead of trying to ‘manage’ students to comply, engaged students are on-task and ‘in the zone’. As they are interested and actively involved in the learning experience they don’t require ‘management’. This lowers the demands on the teacher and reduces our stress level. Reflecting on the level of student engagement that exists in your classrooms is worthwhile. Schlechty (2002) defines five levels of student engagement: Authentic Engagement—students are immersed in work that has clear meaning and…

1000 Awesome Things

May 12, 2016

Stevef

Resilience

In “The Book of Awesome”, author Neil Pasricha provides a catalogue of universal little pleasures we all share. The book is intended to help us focus on the many little things that give us pleasure rather than the few things that annoy and frustrate us. In his book Pasricha offers a hearty cheer for all the things we take for granted. This philosophy applies in schools too! Inspired by the book I have started a list of things that happen in schools that add pleasure to our day… feel free to add to the list! A thank you note from a parent The first five minutes after 3 o’clock A ‘free’ afternoon when an after-school meeting is cancelled A staff…

Mindfulness- Bringing Calm to your Day

May 10, 2016

Stevef

Resilience

Mindfulness is one of the best ways to combat stress and anxiety. While mindfulness and meditation are no longer reserved for Buddhist retreats, you might still be unsure about how to integrate this practice into your life. Meditation can be broadly defined as any activity that involves controlling your attention. Mindfulness is about focusing on whatever is happening moment-by-moment without being judgmental. In mindfulness meditation, you actively choose to control where your mind goes. For example, you can choose to pay attention to your breath or the sounds around you. While that seems fairly simple, you’ll quickly discover that your attention easily wanders. Developing the ability to regulate our attention ultimately helps you to live more in the present moment…

Engaging Students In Learning Activities

May 10, 2016

Stevef

Effectiveness

Students who are genuinely engaged in their learning are easier to manage and achieve more. It is helpful to reflect on the following key elements in planning learning activities that engage our students. Make It Meaningful It is essential that students perceive activities as being meaningful. Research has shown that if students do not consider a learning activity worthy of their time and effort, they might not engage in a satisfactory way or may even disengage entirely. (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004). Connecting the activity with students’ previous knowledge and experiences is one way of trying to make learning experiences meaningful. Asking great questions that stimulate and challenge students is another great strategy. For each unit try to identify an…

Using MS Autocorrect to Save Time

May 10, 2016

Stevef

Efficiency

So much of the everyday tasks in schools today revolve around Microsoft Word. From reports, to letters to parents, to minutes of meetings….. What if you could fast track some of the common pieces of data you enter? If you can save yourself a few minutes here and there it all adds up! Saving 5 minutes each day works out to be almost ½ an hour each week. Multiply that by the school term of approximately 10 weeks and that’s 5 hours you could get back. So “How can I get Word to do the work for me” do I hear you ask? You just need to “train” it and unlike a new staff member, some of the hard work…