Educators I need your help!

I know it has been a LONG time since I have posted and there are a number of reasons for that but, right now, I am hoping to solicit the wisdom and experience of my PLN as my staff and I look at what we have identified as significant issues in our school.

I work as the Vice-Principal in a Community School.  Our student body is extremely diverse in culture and ethnicity.  About one third of our students are refugees or immigrant English Language Learners from all over the world.  About one third of our students are Canadian First Nations and Metis and the remainder are Caucasian Canadians. Many of our families are living in poverty, the majority of our students are being raised by single mothers who are often working outside of the home for shifts and long periods of time.

We are faced with a great number of challenges and are working hard to create an atmosphere that is stable and predictable for our students who struggle with change.  We want to focus on learning, especially in key areas of literacy and numeracy as many of our students are not reading or computing at grade level expectations. We know there is a great deal of research but, right now, I think we would benefit from the wisdom and authenticity of real experiences from real people who are currently "in the trenches".  I am hoping that you will be able to comment on what you are doing in our key areas below and what is and isn't working for you. Please forward my request onto your PLN or anyone who might be able to share their wisdom with us!  Thank you for your assistance! I sincerely look forward to your input!

1.  Transitions:  Our students struggle with any type of transition, both physical (place to place) and internal (teacher to teacher or class to class).  With preparation time as part of our contract, it is imperative that our students work with some other teachers and travel to places like the gymnasium, music room etc.  Even traveling to and from the washrooms  creates some problems.  Have you done anything innovative to control transitions or to minimize them in any way?  Please share your successes!

2.  Recess:  We have tried implementing a staggered recess with half of our students going out at one time and then the other half at a different time.  While this has reduced some of the traffic to the office it has far from eliminated it.  Our students struggle with unstructured time.  Part of this stems from lack of playground equipment and things to do (we are working on improving this) but another part of this stems from our students lack of problem solving skills.  Most problems are resolved by fight or flight and, unfortunately, these problems occur quite regularly.  Is anyone doing anything creative with recess time that might be replicable?  We have two 15 minute recess periods; one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  Lunch hour is also a struggle.  Students have 45 minutes to eat in their lunchrooms followed by 15 minutes on the playground.  This 15 minutes is not staggered and all of our students are outside at once.  We see the same issues at lunch time as we do the rest of the day.

3.  Student Behaviour:  We have explored the possibility of programs like PBIS.  Our students have difficulty regulating themselves and their behaviour.  Ideally, we need to empower teachers to manage these behaviours in the classroom rather than just sending children to the office.  We would like the teachers to help our students to develop self-regulation strategies and to foster and reinforce them.  While many teachers are experimenting with many different methods, none are being implemented school-wide with fidelity.  I would love nuts and bolts input from someone who has "been there, done that".  How did you go about developing and implementing a school wide plan?  How do we get the teachers on board with this plan?  What kind of professional development did you offer your staff to support them in this?  What kind of results have you seen?

Thank you so much for any and all advice and assistance.  I am counting on the experience and wisdom of my peers to provide me with some creative ideas to move forward!

PLEASE COMMENT!

The Promise of the First Day of School

I love the first day of school, it is always so full of excitement and promise-a fresh start.  For the teachers, it is the chance to be better, to do better, to try more, to be innovative, to be your best for you and for your students!  For the students, it is the one day of the year when everyone has 100%, when everyone is at the same spot; eager, excited and nervous.  The classrooms are clean and organized, everything is bright and shiny and new.  It is our job now to try and keep that shine alive for as long as we can!  What if we could end the year with the same eagerness, excitement and enthusiasm that we begin it with?

Happy first day of school students and teachers everywhere, may it be the first of a year full of wonderful days and learning experiences!

40 lessons from 40 years

Well, it is here, the big 4-0.  I have decided to embrace it and to share 40 random life lessons I have learned in my 40 years!  Here they are in no particular order:

1.  Being filled and being fulfilled are not the same
2.  The number of bottles of wine consumed should not exceed the number of people present
3.  Spirituality is about how you live not where you worship
4.  Being a parent is life's greatest gife
5.  It is good to put in your 2 cents only when it won't cost you more
6.  Life isn't fair
7.  Advil and diet Pepsi aren't part of a food group
8.  Most things are made better by one or all of the 4 great c's; great coffee, great chocolate, great Cabernet and great company
9. It is okay to go to a movie by yourself
10. Being smart is better than being good looking but it is preferable to be both
11. You can learn from the past but you can't change it; guilt is a waste of time
12.  The NHL playoffs are way too long
13.  Summer holidays are the best part of the year
14.  A mother's hug cures almost anything no matter how old you are
15.  There is no accident that the word "work" is in "work out"
16.  Always unplug your car in winter before driving away
17.  There is a connection between looking good and feeling good
18.  Literacy is the great equalizer
19.  Knowing right, being right and doing right are not the same
20.  The book is always better than the movie
21.  Laughter is the best medicine (Advil might be number 2)
22.  Sometimes everyone needs a mental health day
23.  Do what you love; love what you do
24.  Ambition and compassion make a great team
25.  Family is forever
26.  Money cannot buy happiness but having both is really nice
27.  There is no such thing as normal
28.  Swearing is best left for very specific occasions rather than everyday language
29.  Setting goals is essential to achieving them
30.  As much as you might try, food that tastes good is not the same as food that is good for you
31.  The sixth sense is a sense of humour
32.  Disneyland may be the happiest place on earth but you still have to wait in a lot of lines
33.  Yelling rarely works
34.  If you are a good friend you will have good friends
35.  Yelling rarely works
36.  Wearing the team's jersey or colours while watching the game has no power over whether they win or lose
37.  The best way to be positive and optimistic is to be surrounded by positive and optimistic people
38.  Drink a lot of water
39.  Show and share your love and appreciation to those who have it
40.  Celebrate often!