Ideas for Educators : 42 Ready-to-Use Newsletters for School Success

Are you looking for a quick and easy way to share practical, positive ideas with the teachers in your school? Ideas for Educators: 42 Ready-to-Use Newsletters for School Success is tailor-made for busy educators looking for new and effective ways to create successful classrooms.

Eklund and Gilby

EDUCATION / TEACHING METHODS & MATERIALS / GENERAL

Educators ucators Ed

W

ISBN-13: 978-1-57482-272-4 ISBN-10: 1-57482-272-1

Educators ucators Ed

ritten by two experienced teachers, each newsletter on this CD-ROM contains tips and strategies designed to inspire educators with fresh ideas for working with students. Drawing from research on Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets, every newsletter features strategies that are easy to implement and can be quickly incorporated into daily teaching practices—without requiring special materials or elaborate preparation.

Designed to be as flexible and user-friendly as possible, each full-color newsletter also looks great in black and white. They’re saved in both PDF and Word document form, so you can print them out for distribution, pass them along as e-mail attachments, or even cut-and-paste them into existing school and district newsletters.

42 Ready-to-Use Newsletters for School Success Nathan Eklund, M.Ed. and Adrienne Gilby, M.Ed.

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42 Ready-to-Use Newsletters for School Success

Users Guide Welcome to Ideas for Educators: 42 Ready-to-Use Newsletters for School Success, a resource that will provide ideas to help you and your colleagues build a supportive learning climate for your students. There are two sections to these handouts: the first is dedicated to creating a positive and successful school experience for your students, and the second is focused on creating a satisfying workplace for you. They’ll provide practical tips and good conversation pieces as you work with your colleagues to ensure that both of these elements are strongly present in your school.

These newsletters are based on the 40 Developmental Assets® framework. What are the 40 Developmental Assets? They are a set of 40 positive qualities, skills, experiences, and opportunities that are critical in the lives of children and youth.

The 40 Developmental Assets describe qualities and experiences that are crucial to positive youth development. They range from external supports like a caring school climate and positive family communication to internal characteristics such as school engagement and a sense of purpose. You’ll find the complete list of assets, and research that shows their effectiveness, on the next handout in this series: An Introduction to the 40 Developmental Assets.

After the introductory handouts, you’ll find a collection of 40 newsletters—one for each Developmental Asset. They feature practical tips and suggestions that range from simple, everyday ways to incorporate assets in your classroom to specific

project ideas and exercises. These newsletters are designed to help you engage your classroom students—and all the students in your school— in supportive and empowering ways that lead to their success. Most of the time you’ll find you’ve been using assets already, just by being a good teacher—and the newsletters will give you new ideas so you can build on your work.

The Developmental Assets can resonate in equally important ways for you and your colleagues, which is why we’ve also included a section on how the assets affect you. This part of the newsletter is based on two main ideas: (1) If schools are great places to teach, they are more likely to be great places to learn, and (2) schools are not just places where young people go to learn; they are also where adults go to work. Here you’ll find thoughtful questions, suggestions, and practical ideas for incorporating the assets into your own life.

As you read through these newsletters over the next months, let them guide your thinking and

actions in fresh and exciting ways for your students and for you. So:

• Use the activities and suggestions in your classroom.

• Think about the reflection questions and how they apply to you.

• Discuss the ideas in staff meetings.

• Talk about the Developmental Assets in parent-teacher conferences.

And work with these newsletters to increase student success as well as your own job satisfaction.

Adrienne Gilby, M.Ed., taught high school for six years. She understands the daily struggles of real teachers, and is passionate about the power of public education and improving the work lives of teachers and students. She currently lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two young sons.

Nathan Eklund, M.Ed., is a professional speaker and education trainer with 12 years of experience as a high school teacher. Author of How Was Your Day at School? Improving Dialogue about Teacher Job Satisfaction, Nathan now works with schools and educators to seek hopeful solutions to the unique challenges teachers face.

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42 Ready-to-Use Newsletters for School Success

The 40 Developmental Assets®

Assets are 40 positive qualities, skills, experiences, and opportunities that are critical in the lives of children and youth. The more assets youth have, the more likely they are to succeed.

42% of youth surveyed by Search Institute have just 20 or fewer of these assets in their lives.* *Based on Search Institute surveys of 148,189 6th­- to 12th-grade youth throughout the United States in 2003.

An Introduction to the 40 Developmental Assets Search Institute, a nonprofit group that studies child and adolescent development, has done extensive research on prevention, resilience, and development to identify what young people need to thrive. Researchers identified 40 qualities and experiences that are crucial to youth development: the 40 Developmental Assets.

Even if you’ve never heard of the Developmental Assets, you’re already familiar with them.

They include things like honesty, integrity, positive peer influence, family support, and self-esteem. As you read through the list, you will see that you’re already including many Developmental Assets in your teaching without even knowing it.

Research conducted by Search Institute shows that Developmental Assets provide a solid foundation for positive development and academic success, and that their presence helps protect youth from engaging in risky behavior and promotes youth acting in productive ways. The data consistently show that the power of assets is cumulative: the more assets young people report experiencing, the more apt they are to succeed in school and lead positive lives, and the less likely they are to participate in high-risk behaviors such as drug use, violence, and early sexual activity.

Above all, the asset framework is going to give you, your colleagues, parents, and community members a way to describe and implement the kinds of actions necessary to creating strong relationships and healthier, happier kids.

The Framework of 40 Developmental Assets® for Adolescents EXTERNAL ASSETS Support

1. Family Support—Family life provides

high levels of love and support.

2. Positive Family Communication— Young person and her or his parent(s) communicate positively, and young person is willing to seek advice and counsel from parent(s).

3. Other Adult Relationships—Young person receives support from three or more nonparent adults.

4. Caring Neighborhood—Young person experiences caring neighbors.

5. Caring School Climate—School provides a caring, encouraging environment.

6. Parent Involvement in Schooling— Parent(s) are actively involved in helping young person succeed in school.

9. Service to Others—Young person serves

in the community one hour or more per week.

10. Safety—Young person feels safe at home, at school, and in the neighborhood.

Boundaries and Expectations

11. Family Boundaries—Family has clear

rules and consequences and monitors the young person’s whereabouts.

12. School Boundaries—School provides clear rules and consequences.

13. Neighborhood Boundaries—Neighbors take responsibility for monitoring young people’s behavior.

14. Adult Role Models—Parent(s) and other adults model positive, responsible behavior.

15. Positive Peer Influence—Young person’s best friends model responsible behavior.

16. High Expectations—Both parent(s) and teachers encourage the young person to do well.

Constructive Use of Time

17. Creative Activities—Young person

Empowerment

7. Community Values Youth—Young

person perceives that adults in the community value youth.

8. Youth as Resources—Young people are given useful roles in the community.

spends three or more hours per week in lessons or practice in music, theater, or other arts.

18. Youth Programs—Young person spends three or more hours per week in sports, clubs, or organizations at school and/or in the community.

19. Religious Community—Young person spends one or more hours per week in activities in a religious institution.

20. Time at Home—Young person is out with friends “with nothing special to do” two or fewer nights per week.

INTERNAL ASSETS

Social Competencies

Commitment to Learning

32. Planning and Decision Making—Young

21. Achievement Motivation—Young per-

son is motivated to do well in school.

22. School Engagement—Young person is actively engaged in learning.

23. Homework—Young person reports doing at least one hour of homework every school day.

24. Bonding to School—Young person cares about her or his school.

25. Reading for Pleasure—Young person reads for pleasure three or more hours per week.

person knows how to plan ahead and make choices.

33. Interpersonal Competence—Young person has empathy, sensitivity, and friendship skills.

34. Cultural Competence—Young person has knowledge of and comfort with people of different cultural/racial/ethnic backgrounds.

35. Resistance Skills—Young person can resist negative peer pressure and dangerous situations.

36. Peaceful Conflict Resolution— Young person seeks to resolve conflict nonviolently.

Positive Identity

Positive Values

26. Caring—Young person places high value

on helping other people.

27. Equality and Social Justice—Young person places high value on promoting equality and reducing hunger and poverty.

28. Integrity—Young person acts on convictions and stands up for her or his beliefs.

29. Honesty—Young person “tells the truth even when it is not easy.”

30. Responsibility—Young person accepts and takes personal responsibility.

31. Restraint—Young person believes it is important not to be sexually active or to use alcohol or other drugs.

37. Personal Power—Young person feels he

or she has control over “things that happen to me.”

38. Self-Esteem—Young person reports having a high self-esteem.

39. Sense of Purpose—Young person reports that “my life has a purpose.”

40. Positive View of Personal Future— Young person is optimistic about her or his personal future.

The 40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents® may be reproduced for educational, noncommercial uses only. Copyright © 1997 Search Institute, Minneapolis, MN; 800-888-7828; www.search-institute.org. All rights reserved.

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42 Ready-to-Use Newsletters for School Success

1. Family Support Family life provides high levels of love and support.

What Are Assets Assets are 40 values, experiences, and qualities that help kids succeed.

Family support is one of six support assets.

68% of youth surveyed have this asset in their lives.* *Based on Search Institute surveys of 148,189 6th­- to 12th-grade youth throughout the United States in 2003.

• Send an e-mail to each parent once a • • •

semester that highlights something the student did well.

Host a classroom event where parents can come see their students in action, such as a “family fun night” with games based on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

Create an assignment that allows students to draw on a parent’s area of expertise.

Create an assignment that encourages students to share a family experience or encourages family cooperation in order to complete the assignment.

Bringing School and Family Together Addressing the idea of family support is less about taking an active role in every student’s family life than it is about allowing space in your classroom for it. Students who experience this asset are more confident, more secure, and more willing to take on intellectual challenges. They are able to express greater empathy and kindness toward others and are less likely to be aggressive or troubled.

Think of creating opportunities for studentparent connections. Give the students a chance to share their concerns in a letter for parent-teacher conferences. If you work with journaling, occasionally use prompts that help a student examine his relationship with his family. For a creative writing piece, have students retell a favorite family story or try to capture the essence of their family in a metaphor.

In essence, open up your classroom to provide students with a way to bring their home and school together.

Teachers Need Support Too In the same way that your students thrive when they’re experiencing positive relationships at home, so do you. In the same way you encourage your students to make time for their families and friends, you need to heed this advice in your own practice.

You don’t marginalize these important relationships for your students, so you shouldn’t for yourself either. How will prioritizing your family and friends affect your evenings? Weekends?

Vacations?

This week, be purposeful in making time for your family and friends. Note how increasing the amount and quality of time you spend with them affects your energy and performance in school.

This handout may be reproduced for educational, noncommercial uses only (with this copyright line). From Ideas for Educators: 42 Ready-to-Use

Newsletters for Student Success by Adrienne Gilby, M.Ed., and Nathan Eklund, M.Ed. Copyright © 2009 by Search Institute®, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 800-888-7828, www.search-institute.org. All rights reserved.

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42 Ready-to-Use Newsletters for School Success

2. Positive family communication Young person and his or her parent(s) communicate positively, and young person is willing to seek advice and counsel from parents.

Communicating Effectively What Are Assets Assets are 40 values, experiences, and qualities that help kids succeed. Positive family communication is one of six support assets.

28% of youth surveyed have this asset in their lives.* *Based on Search Institute surveys of 148,189 6th­- to 12th-grade youth throughout the United States in 2003.

• Encourage students to come to parentteacher conferences.

• Hold student conferences so students • • •

can discuss their classroom experiences with you in a nonjudgmental/ungraded setting.

Have students write letters to parents to accompany a successful project or test grade.

Hold a parent-student interview at the beginning of the year about each student’s strengths and interests.

Send home “dinner questions” that are related to classroom themes and activities.

The kind of communication students experience at home is always reflected in how they communicate at school. When the communication model at home is ineffective, you are not responsible for changing that—but you can be responsible for modeling good communication in your interactions with students. So what does that look like?

First, when you have one-on-one conversations with students, decide what your goal is. Are you trying to elicit a certain behavior or administer discipline? Then you need to be efficient, brief, and calm in your explanation for why a student needs to do something or stop doing something else. Are you trying to find out more information about a situation? Then you need to ask questions and then actively listen to the student’s response.

You can communicate your boundaries and expectations with your students by explaining your motivation behind them. When they question those expectations, listen to what they are saying and weigh that against your own view of the situation. You may occasionally find a simpler solution or better means of guiding your expectations.

In addition, pay attention to the broader context of the discussion. Is a student picking a fight with you because she just received a bad grade in another class? Is she being resistant and negative because she’s sick, or tired, or dealing with a difficult situation outside of school? You might just need to listen and give her the space to help her feel better.

Listening to Your Sounding Boards Here is a question to ponder: Why is your spouse or friends or family glad you are a teacher at this school? In other words, how does your work in this school benefit you as a person and a partner to others?

Here’s an easy way to “take the temperature” of your work climate using your friends and family: ask them who and what they hear the most about in your work. When you come home happy and energized, who led to that? When you complain or vent, who is that about? The answers can go a long way toward helping you understand the relationships you’re experiencing at work.

Your friends and family can also hold valuable insights about what (and who) you “bring home from work.” What (and who) is the best part of your job? Figure out ways to increase your time with these positive elements. What (and who) is the most taxing part of your job? Figure out ways to mend, improve, and solve these lingering tensions.

This handout may be reproduced for educational, noncommercial uses only (with this copyright line). From Ideas for Educators: 42 Ready-to-Use

Newsletters for Student Success by Adrienne Gilby, M.Ed., and Nathan Eklund, M.Ed. Copyright © 2009 by Search Institute®, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 800-888-7828, www.search-institute.org. All rights reserved.

Are you looking for a quick and easy way to share practical, positive ideas with the teachers in your school? Ideas for Educators: 42 Ready-to-Use Newsletters for School Success is tailor-made for busy educators looking for new and effective ways to create successful classrooms.

Eklund and Gilby

EDUCATION / TEACHING METHODS & MATERIALS / GENERAL

Educators ucators Ed

W

ISBN-13: 978-1-57482-272-4 ISBN-10: 1-57482-272-1

Educators ucators Ed

ritten by two experienced teachers, each newsletter on this CD-ROM contains tips and strategies designed to inspire educators with fresh ideas for working with students. Drawing from research on Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets, every newsletter features strategies that are easy to implement and can be quickly incorporated into daily teaching practices—without requiring special materials or elaborate preparation.

Designed to be as flexible and user-friendly as possible, each full-color newsletter also looks great in black and white. They’re saved in both PDF and Word document form, so you can print them out for distribution, pass them along as e-mail attachments, or even cut-and-paste them into existing school and district newsletters.

42 Ready-to-Use Newsletters for School Success Nathan Eklund, M.Ed. and Adrienne Gilby, M.Ed.

Ideas_4_Edu_wrap.indd 1

6/1/09 2:41:56 PM