The Dock School Leader Podcast

Memorizing poetry: It’s a good thing to do, but where in your already full schedule can you add it? Bethany shares how she takes advantage of little moments throughout the day to build students’ awareness of poetry without creating burdensome assignments, and how she capitalizes on the opportunities for teaching expressive reading.

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How do you respond to a student’s mistake? What do you do when you ask a question, and the student comes up empty? Kyla believes that we should share corrections in ways that make students more confident that they can learn, not less so. Here, she offers her basic approach to guiding students in that path.

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How can you become a better teacher? In Intentional Growth, Melvin explores a range of steps you can take to develop your understanding and your ability to communicate. In this excerpt, he highlights an uncomfortable strategy: teach in unusual situations.

Although Melvin doesn't mention Meet, Zoom, or Teams, his advice highlights the opportunities for growth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On April 24, a group of teachers and school leaders met to discuss: How can teachers support struggling students at a distance? How can you and a disappointing school year positively? What does the future hold for our schools?

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What's the point of a group of staffers sitting in a room, working through a meeting agenda? Why do board members need to gather? Are meetings just inefficient ways for people to avoid emailing each other?

Philip spends nearly one third of his working day in meetings. In addition to working in the corporate world, Philip also serves actively in his church's school effort. In this video, he calls us to see meetings as difficult, fruitful, and fun opportunities to build school culture and discern wise paths.

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How do teachers maintain human contact with their students during the shutdown? How can relationships grow during enforced separation? What are some tips for using Zoom effectively? How can students maintain their drive to learn?

On April 23, a group of lower-elementary teachers met online to discuss teaching during the pandemic. Here are some of their comments.

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More on Trennis' video teaching assistants:

Little Video Teaching Assistants

The following day, high school teachers and school administrators met. Below is the recording of that meeting:

Faithful to the End: A Web Meeting for Administrators and High School Students

Student needs, teacher suggestions, parental wants—who finally makes school curriculum decisions? Should cost be a factor? How much do we adjust curriculum for slow or disadvantaged students? Is a Bible-based curriculum important? After all, we read the Bible at church and at home. Can we utilize secular textbooks? Does the “discipleship level” portrayed in our textbooks have any effect on our children and churches?

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In this recorded Zoom meeting, three teachers discuss their schools' approaches to the challenges of the shutdown.

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From the meeting chat:

What is the best way to exchange weekly packets?

Nelson: That depends on how much social distance you are trying to maintain. We had a scheduled pickup time spread out through a Saturday so that there wasn't a rush of people all at a certain time.

Byron: We have 120 students; we do deliveries for Gr 1-6 and have 1 hour slots for the Gr 7-12 to come to school for pickup and test checking (so as not to exceed groups of 10).

Question for Anna: How much emphasis are you putting on summative assessment in elementary? If any?

Anna: Speaking only for myself as an elementary teacher: We've done a few tests but I suspect we're going to have to ignore those results and go to a pass/fail. We will have so few tests, that it would be unfair to assign report card grades in my opinion.

Any advice when you don't have supportive parents or when parents are unable to help children (unable to speak English)?

Byron: We send home copies of lesson answer keys on a weekly basis (mostly Christian Light and Saxon curriculum). We send them in a "parent envelope."

Links mentioned in the discussion

From Austin

* The Tidings of Peace plan

* A COVID-19 prayer

From Anna

* The FBCS letter

* A third grade learning at home checklist

In a heartfelt discussion, panelists explore current issues in Anabaptist schools: How does technology affect our children, and what we can do about it? How much should we pay teachers? What can we do about students who don't feel safe?

If we follow existing practices and patterns, what will our school look like twenty years hence? If we wish for an improved outcome twenty years hence, what are some steps we should consider now to achieve those results?