Chapter 3- Engage for A Positive Climate

What a great chapter to read heading into our 2015-2016 school year! This chapter provided us with action steps to create a positive class climate. Let's reflect on some of the action steps Jensen provided.

 Reflect on the standards YOU have for the students in your classroom from year to year. Are they high enough? Could you raise them? Are your students aware of your goals for them? Do your students have their own goals? What is your battle cry?

 What are the typical mind-body states you see in your classroom? What solutions do you plan on trying this year to shift those states from negative to positive? Is there something that already works for you in your classroom that you could share with the group?

 What do you do to build the "family" atmosphere in your class. (We might want to remind each other what grade levels we teach here for a point of reference) Jensen had great ideas, but as elementary teachers we have great strategies we can share for this!

 Don't forget next week we will have an "off" week. There will not be a new discussion post. We want everyone to focus on the first week back to school. A new topic will be posted Monday, August 10th for Chapter 4- Engage to Build Cognitive Capacity.

Chapter 2- The Rules of Engagement

This chapter introduces the core of Jensen's second book and the focus of our study, student engagement. As chapters progress, we will dive deeper into engagement strategies for positive climate, cognitive capacity, motivation, understanding, and focus. These five rules of engagement will lay the foundation for strategies studied later in this book.

Reflect on the five rules and solutions offered for each. Is there a solution you have tried that succeeded? Any you have tried that failed?

Share a consistent challenge you have in your classroom. Select one solution offered in this chapter and make it a goal to try this year. State your intentions in this blog as your commitment to that goal.

(Next week: Read Chapter 3-Engage for Positive Climate)

Note- We will have a break in the book study during the week of August 3-9th to allow everyone to focus on the first week back to school.

Chapter 1- The Seven Engagement Factors

This week the author introduced the seven engagement factors.  Which of these seven factors have you recognized in your classroom or school? What strategies have you used to address them? Are there any you feel are impossible to overcome?

(Next week: Read Chapter 2- The Rules of Engagement)

Note- Please look back at the blog once you have submitted your post, make sure it appears as the most frequent comment at the bottom of the page. Some participants have reported their post needed to be submitted twice. To avoid having to type twice, make sure you sign in to the blog first using your Google Account. If you are still using Internet Explorer you will probably run in to issues on this website.

Thanks to those who have already replied to Week 1. Your experiences have been heartbreaking yet inspiring to continue to make a difference in our students' lives. Looking forward to the more discussion as we push forward.

Welcome and Introductions

Welcome to the online book study for Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind by Eric Jensen. A new prompt will be posted every week based on your readings, which will typically be one chapter per week. There will be a few weeks at the end allotted for final reflections and goals. To ensure the best possible experience please follow the instructions below.

1. Log in to your Google Account prior to posting so your username appears by your comments.
2. Follow this site by email by clicking the link on the right, this will email you when posts and/or comments are made.
3. Respond to every prompt by commenting (look for the pencil icon below.)
4. Reply to two participants responses.

For our first week's discussion we will be reading the preface and introduction. Then introduce yourself, your position, and your school. After reading the author's struggles, reflect on a situation you have had in your classroom with a student that had similar struggles. Without mentioning their last name (first names or initials are fine), share those struggles with us. Collecting these stories from students in our district will help define our purpose as Kokomo teachers and the children we service daily.

(For next week read Chapter 1-The Seven Engagement Factors.)