Happy "Friday"!
This week's update is a little heavy, but very necessary. Please take the time to read each item.
Educator Appreciation Week:
May 5-9 is Educator Apprecation Week! At McKinley, each of you play an important role as an educator and should be honored. Below is our plan to celebrate each of YOU! More to come!
Students, Technology, and the Anxious Generation (Guest Blogger - Amanda Andrews)
"The diffusion of digital technology into children's lives has been like smoke pouring into our homes. We all see that something strange is happening, but we don't understand it. We fear that the smoke is having bad effects on our children, but when we look around, nobody is doing much about it."
The student support team has been doing a deep dive into Jonathan Haidt's book The Anxious Generation. The book is filled with powerful data and thought-provoking information on the negative mental effects of social media and technology on our students. What can we as educators and parents do to help? Haidt provides some clarity:
No smartphones before high school. Parents should delay children's entry into round-the-clock internet access by giving only basic phones (phones with limited apps and no internet browser) before ninth grade (roughly age 14).
No social media before 16. Let kids get through the most vulnerable period of brain development before connecting them to a firehose of social comparison and algorithmically chosen influencers.
Phone-free schools. In all schools from elementary through high school, students should store their phones, smartwatches, and any other personal devices that can send or receive texts in phone lockers or locked pouches during the school day. That is the only way to free up their attention for each other and for their teachers.
Far more unsupervised play and childhood independence. That's the way children naturally develop social skills, overcome anxiety, and become self-governing young adults.
"The two big mistakes we've made: overprotecting children in the real world (where they need to learn from vast amounts of direct experience) and under-protecting them online (where they are particularly vulnerable during puberty)."
6 Tips to Make Difficult Phone Calls Home More Manageable
Making a hard call home can be hard. We often want to resort to "I'll send a message". When it's a repeated behavior or a severe situation, it's better we pick up the phone and make that personalized connection. Linked is an article on some ways to make this call easier.
Although the article is short, here are the "cliff notes" -
In this Edutopia article, former teacher and PD specialist Liz Capone has these suggestions when calling home about a disciplinary incident:
• Start with reassurance. When a parent or guardian sees a call coming from school, their first thought is that the child was hurt. Capone suggests saying right up front that the child is safe. This heads off the parent’s worst-case fears and communicates that the educator is approaching the conversation “from a point of care.”
• Use nouns and verbs, not adjectives. Adjectives (disrespectful, disruptive) tend to be subjective and can be inflammatory, while nouns and verbs (Ava was watching videos on her phone during class) convey objective information and make it less likely that the conversation will go south.
• Don’t ask the parent to “talk to” the student. Saying that implies that the parent hasn’t already talked to their child about appropriate behavior in school, which comes across as judging their parenting. “It is a given that a parent or guardian would speak to their child about a major incident involving them at school,” says Capone. “Your only job is to let them know this happened.”
• Stay focused on the incident. This is not the time for a general behavioral assessment, questions about what’s going on at home, on possible consequences for the infraction (like not going on a field trip). For a parent learning about an incident for the first time, it’s best to stick to the facts and keep the call short.
• Try to add one positive note about the student. “Reference a prior example of when the student did make a better choice,” says Capone, “so the parent or guardian knows this is not the be-all and end-all on how you view their child” – perhaps saying that what happened is out of character for this child.
• End the call with a thank you. One possible approach: I thought you would want to know this as soon as possible, and I really appreciate your taking my call – which may very well be followed by, No, thank you for calling!
Toot Your Horn:
Don't forget to find those moments of positive glimmers! And, when you do, don't forget to share it through the Toot Your Horn Form!
Staffing - SAC:
I am sad to share that Maureen, SAC Supervisor, has resigned as the Site Supervisor. Maureen is going to work for the City of Owatonna. Maureen has been one of the best to work with! Maureen will finish the year as for morning SAC, but will be done on May 2 for afternoon SAC. Please join me in thanking Maureen and wishing her well!
Building Weekly Newsletter:
Have a great long weekend! And, Happy Easter to those who are celebrating!
-Justin
