The Power of Restorative Conversations
Picture this… Student gets upset. Teacher kicks student out of the classroom. Student receives disciplinary action from the teacher. Student enters the classroom the next day and the cycle repeats itself all over again. This incident is typical in schools across America, and for students of color and males, in particular, the percentage of disciplinary incidents […]
Featured Educator: Meet 61-year old Bill Heaning, first-year teacher in Syracuse City Schools
“I love the hardest ones the most.” Those are the words of Bill Heaning, a teacher that happens to be 61-years young in the Syracuse City School District. Bill was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York in the 70’s. His mother passed away when he was 12-years old from Lou Gehrig’s disease, and his […]
Do No-Nonsense Nurturers say Please and Thank You? Absolutely!
All of the No-Nonsense Nurturers I know, and I know many, use please and thank you in their classrooms often. At CT3, we encourage and coach teachers to model the use of mainstream cultural norms—which include please and thank you amongst others. We also encourage teachers to use please and thank you when communicating to […]
Relationship Management 101: “Your students don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
There are few statements that so simply and succinctly communicate the critical role that a teacher’s investment in their students plays in securing trust and cooperation. Students can and will put forth their best effort to meet and/or exceed whatever expectations we clearly establish as long as they believe that we truly value and care […]
Guest Blog: How do Students Know You Care?
Building relationships with my students is the crux of the culture in my classroom. My students know that I love them deeply, and because of that love, I will accept nothing but their absolute best and I will push until we both feel like they have reached their best, and then perhaps a little bit […]
Guest Blog: One Classroom, One Teacher
I’ve previously written that student behavior is not personal. This is true. Pressure from students’ outside lives can erupt in class. Unprocessed grief can become disruption. Unfelt anger can become a refusal to participate. It’s important that we as teachers recognize the many external factors that can influence behavior inside a classroom. While students do […]
Building Relationships with Families
The education of children is a responsibility that must be shared by the teacher and families alike. We need to recognize what a powerful asset a parent or family member can be; what powerful components parents and guardians are to a child’s success. To work effectively, teachers need families to support their academic, disciplinary, and […]
Guest Blog: It’s Not Personal
“There’s a fight in the library!” It’s 2 pm, and Chelsea is standing on the faded asphalt, yelling. Our principal, Ms. Benjamin, shoots up from her desk and pops out her door onto the quad, wondering how a fight could possibly be happening in our “library,” a bookshelf-lined freight container with barely enough room to […]
The Complexity of Nurturing and Showing We Care
Effective educators profoundly understand that “nurturing” scholars means demonstrating “care.” Many teachers may misunderstand “care” as unconditional praise, downshifting expectations for scholars…
I’m a Better Teacher Now Than I’ve Ever Been…
I teach everything from kids with horrifically unfortunate home lives to those with two parents and who live in million dollar homes (in my area that’s a very fine home). We serve them all and we love them all, not that it’s always easy. Especially for struggling teachers. Teachers in their first few years often […]
