Planning to Problem Solve

 Continuing our learning about executive functioning skills, we are going to dig into the 6 skills that students typically have deficits in as their brains are developing.  These skills can be frustrating because they seem so easy and are not directly related to the content but sometimes have everything to do with students struggling to do well in your classes.  But we know that digging in and finding the root cause of student struggles is critical to helping students.  We also know students do not fully develop these skills until they are 25 years old!

Skill Deficit Number 1:  Planning to Problem Solve - Failing to Launch and Follow Through

     What does it look like?   

   

* Faith - Looks like she has a "laziness" issue - especially for tasks that are scary, boring, or difficult.  Her executive brain has a tendency to freeze when faced with taking initiative, like asking for help.    

* Shawn - Looks like a "procrastinator" - typically does okay on a short assignment but cannot get started for a longer assignment. 

* Justin -  He is a student that wants to do well, but gets lost in the time. He always promises that he will finish his work after his TV show is over,  but the executive function part of his brain looses track or misjudges the time. 

Any of these students sound familiar?  These students struggle to Plan and Launch, so how can we help them get started and stay on task? 

Help Students Make a Plan: 

Steps	What Order	How Long	What Materials
Brainstorm interesting topics	Today	3 min.
Find 2 articles on selected topic	Today	15 min	Journals in Media Center
Read Articles and take notes	Tomorrow	30 min	Note Cards or computer
Decide what other information I need	Tomorrow	5 min	Teacher and Media Specialist help on this
Start my outline	Thursday	30 min	Ge my graphic organizer

What Works: Helping students set clear goals, visualizing an action play with small steps and detailed timelines; anticipating trouble spots and develop a back-up plan with the student; identifying resources and way to access them,; using checklists, rubrics; replaying experiences and analyzing why things happened the way they did; providing feedback and checking it with their perceptions. 

What Doesn't work:  Challenging students' excuses for actions rather than redirecting their efforts; assuming they are repeating mistakes to be obstinate or lazy; assigning work that is too difficult or too easy; waiting too long to provide corrective feedback; not providing modeling ; doing planning for them rather than planning with them.  

* What to learn more, I can share Chapter 2 in Causes and Cures in the Classroom book by Margaret Searle. 

Important Information: 

We are going to celebrate this once in a lifetime day!  We will have some fun activities for students AND, we want to have fun with you!!!  Please send us a picture of you when you were 2 years old!  We will see if our students can guess who you are!  Please send the pictures to Dana and Phil by Friday, Feb. 11th!

Girls Sectional Pep Session Activities - With all of the snow this semester, scheduling a pep session has been difficult.  Monday, February 7th, we will have a competition between teachers, boy basketball team, girls basketball team, cheerleaders and the band during lunch.  Team will be competing in a minute to win it game, mystery food challenge and dance competition!  It will be a great day to cheer on the lady Commodores!  Don't forget to wear your crazy green!!!    Sectional Game Time:  5:30 p.m. @ Forest Park High School.  

8th Grade Scheduling Night - This Tuesday, February 8th, Dana will be hosting all of our 8th grade families and talking about their high school schedules!  This causes a lot of excitement and anxiety for our students and their families!  Thanks to all of you for helping answer student questions!!!

Faculty Meeting - Mark you Calendars!  We will have a faculty meeting on Tuesday, February 15th at 7:25 a.m.  

   OUR PURPOSE:  One Year or More of Student Learning!     

  Our Vision: 

      * Connect with Others     Don't forget to send in a picture of your 2 year old self by Friday for our 2-22-22 celebration!!!  Also, if you want to participate in the pep session activities during lunch, please see Alyssa Howe! 

      * Collaborative Teams/Continuous Improvement  - Thanks to all of our PLC teams that met on Thursday.  We made some great plans and found ways to move forward!  We will continue to refine our practice.  

      * Creative/Authentic Learning Opportunities  - CM students will be presenting to the American Society of Quality membership this Tuesday via zoom.  They will share how they embed quality into their learning opportunities and student-led business.  

     * Perry Central Alumni, Sam Rennie, will be representing Ohio Valley Gas on Tuesday as he is bringing a presentation to our construction, manufacturing students.  They are looking for great employees and wanted to talk to our students!  We are excited to have Sam come back and share with us!

 

   * Nancy Poehlein took her art students to Boston International in French Lick to learn about the world of Graphic Design.  Students had a great experience and were excite about what they learned.  Nancy is going to stretch out of her comfort zone and offer digital art next year as a class option.  She is excited about the new opportunity.  

      * Celebrate Success  -