I am the Kids Voting Representative for my county. Recently, I received a concern from a school that stated the hesitancy to participate because of the Presidential Election and the possible opinions that might come from home. I used this quote in my response,

Young people need to vote. They need to get out there. Every vote counts. Educate yourself too. Don't just vote. Know what you're voting for, and stand by that. Nikki Reed

I explained that it is important to teach students about the responsibility of voting and why people need to be informed. Everything should be based on facts and finding ways to vote FOR someone and not against someone. So much is based on attacking and name calling that it is starting to hurt the educational process. We have standards and statutes that must be addressed about government and voting. Being afraid to teach something is normal. Nevertheless, it still needs to be taught.

Next week we are planning an hour with our families for our first and second grade students. We are part of the Leader in Me program and we have invited families to come in and view our Classroom Mission Statements and then create Family Mission Statements! We have set up social media picture spots in the building for families to pose by/at. What hashtag do you think would be fun to use? We are the Lemmer Leopards ;).

This is something I just recently started doing with my third through fifth grade intervention students: when we have an exit ticket, I will leave some highlighters next to the turn in bin. Students highlight their name when they turn in the assignment: green if they feel like they got it; yellow if they feel like they mostly have it; and orange if they are still struggling. This provides them some self advocacy and allows them to share with just me that they may need more help or that they felt great about the assignment!

What are some ways you practice self-assessment with students?

"'I'm gathering evidence of learning.'
That shift in language in how I approach the assessment process opened so many doors for how l assess students and what I pay attention to in order to determine
where a student's at in their learning." --Tyler Rabin, educator

I read this quote recently on Edutopia (I went back to try to find the article but unfortunately, I couldn't find it. My notes weren't thorough enough I suppose!) and it helped me figure out how to frame this for teachers. Students don't need to be afraid of assessments and changing how we speak about them could change their mindset. How do you frame assessments for your students? Any tips on how to change teachers' mindsets around assessments or students'?