The title of this post greeted us in our email inbox on Friday. Elisa Collins, a middle school teacher in Cape Coral, FL, wrote us with exciting news! She went on to say:
“…and Karl Fisch contacted me and congratulated me!! I have used the SOAR curriculum for 3 years now and it has made the kids smarter and more organized!
I struggled in school. From kindergarten thru 12th grade, I struggled to earn mediocre grades. I would study for hours…then fail a test. Over time, I had no motivation to study. “Why should I bother?” I wondered.
As I entered college, I knew something would have to change. Based on my track-record, I would never survive. So, I found a couple of books on the subject of “preparing for college.”
Marcia, a teacher from Wisconsin using the SOAR® curriculum, recently asked us:
I was wondering if you have any suggestions for a student who wants to use an e-planner, rather than a paper one?
For the last 14 months, we at SOAR® Learning have been working diligently on a new project. This project represents a big step in my dream of becoming a very serious advocate for study skills!
It represents countless hours of dedication and energy from the people on our crew who share my passion for study skills and the horizons they can open for students.
Our first home as young newlyweds was a small bungalow built in 1942. We purchased the house in the month of August, many months before we discovered the drafty windows. As the Michigan winter rushed in, it literally rushed right through our house. Day after day. Month after month. Winter after winter.
It took a few years, but we finally saved enough money to buy new windows… five-thousand dollars! The windows were installed one summer and we looked forward to FINALLY being warm as winter approached.
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! For me, the holiday lived up to its name and was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate all of the blessings in my life. We hosted 30 people for the holiday, but I didn’t cook a thing! My husband’s parents graciously took control of the turkey and mashed potatoes. Everyone else brought a dish to pass. (THAT’S the way to host Thanksgiving!) I truly enjoyed catching up with lots of cousins, having a heart-to-heart chat with my last surviving uncle, and squishing my adorable niece who was celebrating her 1st birthday. I am so grateful!
As we all head back into the grind of school and work, I thought I would keep today’s newsletter somewhat simple. I am petitioning you to keep it simple, too.
Educators are under enormous pressure to have students perform well on standardized tests. Since standardized tests assess students’ mastery of state benchmarks, it is well known that the best way to improve scores is to provide clear instruction of those benchmarks.
As a result, teachers and administrators are spending vast amounts of time “mapping” their curriculum, carefully aligning their instruction to match state expectations. However, the most solid curriculum map in the world does nothing to ensure that students will learn that content effectively.
As school budgets are rapidly shrinking, administrators have to carefully consider how to allocate their budget; they need to get the most “bang for their buck.” Managing a school budget is an art form involving hundreds of decisions and balancing dozens of demands.
“HOW CAN WE MAKE THE GREATEST IMPACT?”
Whether you teach students who are heading off to college in a few months or you have a child who is heading off to college in five years, there are a few study tips that can dramatically improve their odds of success.
How do I know?
Greetings from DECA’s International Career Development Conference! If you are not aware, DECA is a student marketing association with 185,000 members in eight different countries. My husband and his co-worker (Brian and “Ms. D”) are advisers of their school’s DECA chapter. Brian and Ms. D have worked hard over the last few years to grow their program and coach their students. This year, they have eight students qualifying to compete in DECA’s international competition! I am tagging along as a chaperone.
As I always say, I believe it is imperative for students to learn employability and entrepreneurial skills, which is exactly what DECA provides for students. However, today, I want to share study tips from our DECA competitors. I have had a wonderful time getting to know these eight students over the past few days and thought it might be interesting to get their input for today’s article. They did NOT let me down! (more…)
Tobi Flair
Public Middle School
New Orleans, LA
Tobi Flair is the principal at Harry Hurst Middle School in Destrehan, Louisiana. Her building has built a 20-minute session of “SOAR time” into their daily schedule.
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