Student Beliefs About Their Capacity to Learn

Children develop a "self-belief" about their ability to learn that impacts their motivation to learn when it becomes difficult. According to Dweck, students develop one of two theories about themselves: 1) entity theory: there's a finite amount of brain capacity and there are some things people cannot learn; or 2) incremental theory: as one learns, the capacity to learn more increases.

Children believe they either can, or cannot, learn based on their belief early in life and it rarely changes over time. Some children develop the belief system in regard to specific subject area, such as math. They may believe that they can persevere and improve their ability in literacy, but believe they just cannot learn math, no matter what they do.

Imagine the impact elementary school teachers would have on their students if they instilled in them a belief that if they persevere, they can learn anything and become anything they want to be! This belief is influenced by what teachers say to students, but also what parents instill in their children. In the classroom, breaking a difficult objective down in to do-able pieces allows students to gradually overcome the challenge. Students learn strategies for overcoming challenging problems. In turn, they develop a confidence that they can figure out anything, if they try hard enough.

Friday is Constitution Day

September 16th is Constitution Day. This is the day when the federal government says every public school in the nation should teach about the U.S. Constitution. Several sites are offering suggestions for how to teach the Constitution.

Summer Frenzy

It's that time of year when administrators are returning to their school buildings and staff members will soon begin "pre-service" training. Most school buildings have undergone a major cleaning to welcome back staff and begin the process of preparing for the first day of the new school year.

It's not too late for parents who want their child/ren to attend a charter school to contact the school to see if there are any openings. All the charter schools in Colorado are online here. Because charter schools use a variety of enrollment methods, it's best to contact the school directly.

There are several school supply drives at this time of year. Everyone who doesn't have to pay for their own child/ren's school supplies, should consider donating to one of these community drives. It's also a good time for caring adults to consider tutoring a child throughout the school year.

Personally, I like donating in a more personal way. Consider asking a school principal what he/she would really like to do for his/her students, but doesn't have the resources for. Or consider adopting a classroom of students by sponsoring their classroom parties, donating reading books or any number of other personalized ideas.

During the frenzy of back-to-school shopping and activities, remember the real reason to invest in our schools: the students! Get to know some of these students and it'll not only change your own life--it justmay change theirs, as well!

Job Fair Ideal for Brand New Charter Schools

Imagine opening a brand new charter school and having to hire everyone from the maintenance person to a full slate of classroom teachers. Daunting? Yes!

Charter schools opening this fall, including Prospect Ridge Academy (Adams 12) , Loveland Classical School (Thompson) and Ben Franklin Academy (Douglas County), had tables at the Charter School Job Fair to minimize the time and effort needed to tackle the daunting task of hiring an entirely new staff. Reports from school leaders were that they were meeting some very serious candidates and were optimistic that several people would be hired.

Charter School Job Fair

Over 500 teachers showed up for the chance to submit their resumes and hopefully interview with more than 43 charter schools today. The job fair, hosted by Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafayette, allowed for a great networking opportunity for both teachers and charter school leaders in need of staff.

Sporcle!

There's a fun website that has become my latest addiction: sporcle.com It has trivia quizzes in a wide variety of categories. It'd be great for teachers to use for either enrichment or remediation. For instance, one game has the user name each of the states.

Every day new quizzes are added. But since all the other ones are archived, there's always a quiz worth taking. Of course, racing against the digital clock is another "hook" for competitive types!

The First Day of School

I tell everyone who starts a new charter school that the reward for the long hours and tough work they've endured is all worth on the first day of school. If their new school offers Kindergarten, that's the best class to visit on the first day. Those eager faces are priceless!

However, my memories of dropping my kids off for their first day of Kindergarten was the mothers wore sunglasses and didn't talk with each other after the kids went in. They were too choked up from that first day's goodbye!

The Kindergarten teacher at Jefferson Academy (the first charter school I worked on) is still there 16 yrs later. Her name is Bentley Ryberg and she taught my daughter who is now in college. Bentley is the absolute best! She's smart and she loves kids of that age. Kindergarten teachers are unique. Not everyone can deal well with students so young. But it's amazing to watch the transformation of these 5 and 6 year-olds over the school year. I recall learning the Open Court alphabet sounds right along with my daughter. And my daughter and I still talk about the field trip to the zoo where she and her classmates spelled "hippopotamus" to the sheer astonishment of a couple standing nearby.

The first day of Kindergarten is the very best. Most importantly, it's the best for the charter school's founders in order to completely understand why they went through so much work.