Q-Tip Principle

 Q-TIP Principle

As an educator I take my work seriously and personally. Sometimes too personally. When a student acted disrespectfully in my class or directly to me, I always took it to heart; the more disrespectful the act, the more it hurt. When a student promised to do their homework, but didn’t, I questioned our relationship. When Kenny, a student I invested so much in, cussed me out, I spent the rest of the day doubting myself and my value. I know I tend to over perseverate, but I’ve made improvements. I wanted to share something I recently learned about. It's the Q-TIP Principle.

Quit

Taking

It
Personally

Hurt people hurt people. Very rarely do any of us, especially children, want to harm. Most often when they do it’s because they haven’t learned the necessary social skills yet. Kids who misbehave are lacking the skills they require to problem solve and appropriately deal with the situation. When a student commits a disrespectful act, that action says more about how they feel about themselves than how they feel about you.

We all deserve respect and we should never be mistreated. While it’s challenging not to take such acts personally, only when we control our emotions and our responses can we meet their needs and our needs. Shifting from frustrated reactions to teaching students the skills to manage the situation enables the student to learn and grow and for us to lead with confidence.

.

Black History Month

As we have talked about in our various PLC meetings, we strive to create a sense of belonging for all of our students. At the secondary level especially, we know there is a belonging gap for our students of color that we must overcome. We owe it to them! This requires deliberate actions on our part. This includes meaningful and purposeful recognition of Black History Month. Some educators have been put off by Governor Youngkin’s anti-Critical Race Theory and his creation of his tip line, but Youngkin issued a pretty strong proclamation about Black History Month’s importance. Lessons incorporating such themes are not “easy” to teach but by tackling these real-life issues in developmentally appropriate ways, we strengthen our commitment to all students and the realities of our world.The announcements continue to highlight Blacks, but I encourage you to find a way to engage in lessons, conversations and more. Such lessons lift all students.

Announcements and News

Culturally Responsive Teaching

Virtual School_Official Modules, Culturally Responsive Teaching, 2021-22

Please complete an activity from Module 3 in advance of Thursday’s meeting. Thursday’s PLC will be on Module 2.

Speak Up Survey

Elementary grades 3-5, please give the SpeakUp Survey this week.

Secondary grades, we’ve extended 1st block on Wednesday for completion of the survey.

All teachers, please take the survey.

Speak Up survey can be directly accessed at: speakup.tomorrow.org/S/KHKJ  

Grades

Secondary school grades will be stored by Tuesday of this week. Any grade changes on Tuesday or afterwards, must be shared with me so that they can be manually updated in our system.

Elementary teachers: Display of grades & report card data will be disabled for students and families until February 10. Report cards should be updated by February 10.

Nearpod

How is Nearpod working for you? Don’t forget I’ve created some simple check-in/wellness activities in the school section of Nearpod. Can’t wait to hear about its implementation and integration.

Secondary School Announcements

For these announcements, I’ve added a mental message for each day. The mental message activity is an opportunity for you to engage your students, check-in with them, etc.

Day

Announcement Link

Mental Message

Mental Message Activity

Monday

https://youtu.be/Pl_24xU_8A0 

Practice forgiveness. At the end of the day, the view is so much better when you take the high road.

What is the power of forgiveness? What power lies in the high road?

Tuesday

https://youtu.be/WMXpZkkgdlc

Look at the world through eyes of kindness

When you look at the world with eyes of kindness, what do you see?

Wednesday

https://youtu.be/cvX45-X2Q3E 

To share your best self wit the world each day, you must take time to recharge

What are things you can do to recharge in order to share your best selves with the world? What do you do to recharge?

Thursday

https://youtu.be/t31m5VzuY9w 

Be brave enough to go after what you want in life. Do not let fear get in your way. Live your life with no regrets.

Students share a fear they would like to conquer and together brainstorm strategies to help them conquer

Friday

https://youtu.be/noiscwLGLj0 

Share your lights but save some from yourself too

Students share ways they keep their light strong  I keep my light strong by…

Elementary Announcements

Monday: https://youtu.be/pB_nmo3RXfI 

Tuesday: https://youtu.be/Qvk_RXiyiaE 

Wednesday: https://youtu.be/mkclaTl5vCU 

Thursday: https://youtu.be/UmeOcGFR5W8 

Friday: https://youtu.be/nMhhYvguzLY

You may want to check out some of the mental message activities in the above chart. They’re great for elementary students, morning meetings and end of day wrap ups!

Educator Wellness

So my typical lunch is a green smoothie (kale, fruit, protein powder, spirulina). It’s not the most appetizing meal to look at and the spirulina smells pretty bad. I don’t know about you, but I get a little excited and uplifted when I have something different or special for lunch. This article from Washington Post has several healthy and easy to make meals that are sure to uplift

https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/01/22/lunch-recipes-work-easy-make-ahead/ 

Black History Month

Culturally responsive pedagogy posits that we incorporate Black history year-round and that our lessons are relevant to all students at all times. Like Hispanic Heritage Month, February provides us with the opportunity to dig deeper and expand on our curricula with an eye towards Instead of focusing on heroes and holidays, we will aim to incorporate themes like social justice, bravery and change. Rather than isolating Black history, we will explore the historical, political and social contexts of past and present and we shall aim to provide students with the opportunity to discuss and reflect upon these themes and their relevance today. Lessons incorporating such themes are not “easy” to teach but by tackling these real-life issues in developmentally appropriate ways, we strengthen our commitment to all students and the realities of our world.

Below are historical figures (all but a couple are Black Virginians) that I will highlight in my school announcements. Again, this is much more surface-level than what we should strive for. I encourage you to develop your own lessons that focus on their points of view, such as inequalities that they have experienced or observed.

I’ve also included some Black History Month resources for educators. Obviously, there are countless resources and it’s important that we appropriately vet all of our lessons.

Date

Figure/Event

Possible Lessons or Resources

Feb 2

Jackie Robinson

ES Analyzing a Picture

HS Analyzing a Letter

MS Analyzing a Letter

Feb 3

Mildred Loving

https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2012/januaryfebruary/feature/the-right-love 

Feb 4

Nat Turner

https://www.pbs.org/black-culture/shows/list/underground-railroad/stories-freedom/henry-box-brown/ 

Feb 7

Pharrell Williams


Feb 8

Henrietta Lacks


Feb 9

Horace Pippin

https://www.nga.gov/learn/teachers/lessons-activities/counting-art/pippin.html early ES

Feb 10

Dr. Robert Walter Johnson and Arthur Ashe


Feb 11

William Harvey Carney


Feb 14

Barbara Johns and Oliver White Hill

Brown vs Board of Education

Feb 15

Thurgood Marshall


Feb 16

Henry L Marsh III


Feb 17

Gabrielle Douglas


Feb 18

Roger Arliner Young


Feb 21

Henry Box Brown

https://www.pbs.org/black-culture/shows/list/underground-railroad/stories-freedom/henry-box-brown/ 

Feb 22

Ella Fitzgerald


Feb 23

Wendell Scott


Feb 24

Wanda Sykes


Feb 25

Missy Elliott


The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross Grade 6-12, Numerous themes and lessons

Scholastic Magazine: Stories/Videos for elementary students

Lessons from NEA

Civil Rights Lessons from Smithsonian

Meet Harriet Tubman (National Archives Comes Alive) Video/Re-enactment

Black History Resources for Teachers (US Gov Site)

Freedom Riders and Music

Black History Resource Guide and Part 2



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