This August, our faculty completed Lee Jenkins' "L to J" Professional Development sessions to learn how to improve student performance and motivation in the classroom. We are very thankful for Mr. Jenkins' contributions and we are excited to implement the skills he gave us.
Below is Mr. Jenkins' letter to our school after the professional development
Three of the most joyful letters, ATB, will come from the mouths of TIMES2 students this coming school year. The letters stand for All-Time Best, which occurs every time a student, or a classroom of students, outperform their prior best work. The sound of ATB celebrations will resonate in homes, classrooms and hallways.
The TIMES2 staff participated in a 3-day staff development with a focus upon maintaining the love of learning students bring with them to kindergarten. Staff learned that the continual pattern of doing better than ever before helps students keep this joy of learning alive. The work may be hard, but that makes the joy of doing better than ever before even better.
Quite simply, when a student receives a paperback from a teacher after it has been scored, we do not students to ask, “How many did I miss?” but to ask, “Did I do better than ever before?”
At all grade levels, and in all subjects, students will receive a list of basic concepts they will learn for the WHOLE year. As they progress on the journey of learning, and remembering, all of the content, they will have multiple celebrations for both individual and classroom ATB’s. On the walls will be graphs showing how classrooms are performing and individual data folders will show how each individual student is progressing.
While my teaching has the aim of student ATB’s, it was apparent during our 3-days together that the staff has the skill and willingness to put in the effort so all students have the thrill of multiple ATB’s for this year and beyond. It was a joy to witness such a dedicated, talented, team of educators.
Lee Jenkins, Ph.D.
Author, How to Create a Perfect School
Categories: News
