Virtual School Dispatches

Excellence in Education: Putting Love at the Forefront For me school was tough, especially grades 5-10. My social-emotional, behavioral and traumatic life experiences made academics and school challenging. From late elementary through 10th grade, I was a lost student who hid behind a metaphorical mask. I was the target of bullying. I was depressed and even suicidal. Like many students, I didn’t fit nicely into a square box.   I didn’t feel loved at home or school.   I believe that love should be part of our everyday vocabulary at school.  It can be transformational. Students need to feel loved*. I think of a couple of students with whom I worked a couple of years ago. One, I’ll call him John, seemed to be a very angry and aggressive student. As a transfer from another school, we were forewarned about him. He was very confrontational with teachers and even friends. Each day, I tried to connect with him, and truth be told it wasn’t always easy. He seemed distrustful. He didn’t want to op

  Running in the dark Over the past few weeks, I’ve been waking up around 4:30. I usually work for an hour or so before I go on a short morning run. With the sun rising later and later, I rely on my headlamp and streetlights to guide me. Last week, I tried a new route. My time was significantly slower; I was disappointed and dejected. I ran the same route the next day with the same results. On Friday, I returned to my original route and my time improved. What was the difference? My original route is well illuminated--High Street, Market Street, Downtown Mall--and my second route is not. This speaks to the importance of being able to see what’s in front of you and the need to reflect on our progress. As teachers we must illuminate the path for our students and provide them with opportunities to reflect on their progress. This is what excites me about student led conferences. When students know the learning intentions and criteria and are provided with frequent opportunities to reflect o