I have mentioned what motivates students before. I can't remember exactly where I read or heard this but I am a firm believer that there is some truth to the following ways that students are motivated.
1. Students are motivated if something is fun. If we use this in planning our lessons and build some fun into their learning they will be more motivated to learn.
2. Students are motivated through social interaction. This is especially true for middle level students. the social aspect of school is of immense importance to students. Again when we can use this in our daily lesson planning thus students' motivation will increase.
3. Students are motivated when they experience success. Yes, students will do more when they know they have had success or experience some success. This also can be used in our planning to build motivation in our students.
When I heard this from whoever I said to myself, yes this makes sense. I immediately thought of my own kids and their motivation. I also thought of the difference between boys and girls and how their motivation is different. I thought of school and sports and why kids decide to participate or not participate. As educators we are responsible for motivating students and we know the impact that motivation plays to their future success. Student motivation plays into many of our decisions as a school. Such decisions as what classes to offer and require, the activities and events that we schedule, how we implement such things and so much more. So as we continue our journey, together, through a year like we and our students have never had keep these things in mind. Students need motivation to be successful now and in the future. Students need to have fun, social opportunities, and to feel successful to increase their motivation.
Accolades at Lincoln:
Megan Atkinson- Kudos to Megan for getting our announcements up and running and for her agency as a learner herself with so many new things on her plate. Well done and we appreciate your growth mindset.
Ellen Gaines- Kudos to Ellen for her efforts to reach out to students that are struggling with attendance and other things. Ellen reached out to a family to inquire how she could help with a student's attendance. We now have information that can hopefully motivate this student to want to come to school more often more of the time.
Audria and Darlene- Thanks to both for their planning of College Go Week. This week helps our students look to their futures and see past the present. We learned from data several years ago that parents want their students to go to school beyond K-12 but that many students do not believe it is possible. This week's events and our advisory period help us change their mindsets.
Quinn Selner- Kudos to Quinn for diving right into her new position and becoming apart of Lincoln. Thank you for taking the lead as our representative to the Marshall County Reading Council. Thank you to Lori Day for her many years of service in this position.
Riley Heeren- Kudos to Riley for his amazing idea of the passing period dance parties. This was awesome to see students having fun each passing period and definitely gave students something to look forward to. The Collaboration Hub was rocking! Great choice of music I especially enjoyed House of Pain.
Ashley Oliver- Ashely has been amazing in ISS. We appreciate her structure, supervision, and relationship building with the students that are assigned. We know that every student needs to have a positive relationship with at least one adult. Great work Ashley.
Again, thanks to all staff for making Lincoln a great place for our students. Accolades to all.
Upcoming @ Lincoln
Lincoln PD- We have decided to change things up a bit to alleviate the amount of time spent in meetings and to give teachers more time for prep and planning as you balance both virtual and in person learning. The leadership team spent some time on this plan and several leaders came to me with options privately. Here is what we have decided for now.
PD Monthly Schedule
Open Planning time for virtual learners - Tuesday 3:20-3:50 Teacher should use this time to plan individually or share technology ideas with others.
Collaboration- We will move our department collaborations to the mornings two times per month away from prep periods on Wednesdays for now. These meetings will be Tuesday mornings every other week from 7:15-7:45. Teams should spend this time answering our 4 collaborative questions. Teachers that are their own departments can use this time to meet with other elective teachers or to work on their teacher chosen goals. Interventionist should join a department collaboration to learn from and assist with the collaborative questions.
Team Lincoln PD- This will be once per month for all teachers on Tuesday from 3:20 to 3:50. This will be used for our traveling teacher awards and other announcements and PD.
All meetings continue to be virtual until Phase 2 starts on November 3rd.
Here is the revamped upcoming schedule.
Tuesday Sept. 22nd - Team Lincoln PD - Procedures for upcoming Fundraiser 3:20-3:50
Tuesday Sept. 29th- Department Collaboration 7:15-7:45
Tuesday Oct. 6th- Open Planning Time for virtual learners/technology. 3:20-3:50
Tuesday Oct. 13th- Department Collaboration 7:15-7:45
This change has eliminated our Academic and Behavior RTI Collaboration for the time being although it will not alleviate the need for us to provide extra time and support for our struggling learners in both academics and behavior. We will need to move identification and problem solving to other methods. Leaders felt that teachers are located in better proximity to have ongoing conversations with each other to both identify and problem solve students. Our STAT team will also make some necessary changes to make sure progress monitoring and next steps are in place to help students. Jake will also work on the communication to help with the identification and problem solving of students struggling with behavior expectations.
Again, this change was put into place to help teachers during our new normal of balancing the both virtual and in person learning. We will continue to assess how you are doing and make adjustments as needed. Thanks for your flexibility and understanding.
Zoom- The move to Zoom is happening now. Google Meet goes away on October 1st. We had many teachers attend the Zoom PD sessions last Friday and we will host two more this upcoming Friday. Remember there are many resources online to get up to speed on Zoom if Friday PD sessions are not an option for you. Let us know if you have questions.
School Wide Fundraiser- Kick Off September 30th. This will happen virtually and be an afternoon event. We are recording the event this Wednesday so after that time I will provide the time of the kick-off. I do know that students will attend the virtual event via advisory period on the 30th and then we will distribute chocolate via advisory in the cafeteria. We will call advisories down 3 at a time. Stay tuned and we will discuss other procedures and the role that advisory teachers will play this year on Tuesday during PD. Due to our COVID protocols to reduce visitors in the building the fundraiser will be run internally this year rather than through the Lincoln PTO.
Return of Students - Parents of virtual students were sent a survey last week to indicate if their student will return to in person learning the second quarter. At this time we have 62 responses to the survey. Of the 62 that have responded 36 have indicated that they would like to return. We will keep you posted on the numbers and which students have indicated that they will return. The survey closes on Thursday Sept. 24th. The 2nd quarter begins October 12th. We had approximately 130 virtual learners first quarter.
Have an Amazing Week and be all in.
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