We might have heard individuals say the following statements, and we wondered what were they referring to?
“Oh, my stars!”
“COVID was quite a year!”
“Schools certainly are struggling to ensure their students are paying attention!”
Come to think of it, those are all true sentences. In fact, we should revisit each one. However, first, the actual intended answers to what Oh, my stars! might mean.
My stars is how several teachers greet students every morning at Self Development Academy (SDA). Teachers welcome the students and set the tone for positive interactions.
STAR, a term from the book, Teach Like a Champion, by Doug Lemov, is actually an acronym for proper student conduct we emphasize at SDA. And we use it to refer to our students displaying the following behavior:
Sit tall
Track the speaker
Ask and answer questions
Respect those around you.
Indeed, teaching during COVID was quite a year. Last year, students across the country were never asked to Sit up tall, Track the speaker, Ask or answer questions, nor were there any students in their immediate vicinity to Respect.
Our nation’s entire student body spent a year in childtime learning on their own terms and mostly remotely. At SDA, as the students returned in person, we had to be ready to motivate students to be engaged in their quest for acquiring knowledge. We aimed to provide SDA students with more opportunities for learning. We did not just add a few interventions to improve learning. We worked hard to find solutions exponentially to make up for the student learning loss and improve student morale.
Although students at some schools have struggled with paying attention in school, Self Development Academy has good news for students attending in-person learning: student morale is up. The Education Week Research Center Student survey (Sept./Oct. 2021) validates SDA’s observation. The Education Week’s survey based on the perceptions of educators reports that student morale is up, especially in schools that have held more in-person learning.
At SDA, for the current year and the coming year, we are resuming our diverse catalogue of courses. We have already implemented our own handcrafted and adaptive learning programs for children. Why? Because we cannot really blame children who find remote learning less than thoroughly bewitching. Students are experiencing severe learning gaps.
It is our responsibility as educators to identify where our children are academically, and it is our responsibility for teaching them to reach high levels of academic achievement. This year, our programs will allow the students to soar through a kaleidoscope of critical and creative thinking programs, mindfulness, coding, and music and art. We are even going further to ensure that we continue to maintain curious, captivated, attentive students who possess SDA’s high motivation levels for learning. High levels of motivation need high levels of student morale.
To improve student morale, we designed a program that moves the needle toward motivated students through peergenerated positive reinforcement. Our program provides persistent positive reinforcement of students’ good behaviors by their peers. The positive recognition by their peers helps our students to know just how spectacular they are and just how infinitely promising their lives can be.
Additionally, SDA is boosting students’ morale by engaging students in a plethora of ways by focusing on their well-being and safety. By providing a supportive and nurturing environment, students look forward to attending school, enjoy hanging around with their friends at school, and learn to collaborate with their friends, and show respect to their teachers. Students are engaged in their learning.
At SDA, each day, the teacher greets them enthusiastically by saying, “Hello, my STARS.” Students, in turn,
develop self-discipline and confidence to achieve success. The students believe that they are creative, thoughtful, philosophizing students. The teacher’s message is heard loud and clear: “My incurably curious students, my STAR students, my high achievers.”
Lastly, please note: Kindergarten Parent Information Night is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 4, at 6 p.m. at our Mesa Campus, 1709 N. Greenfield Road, Mesa, AZ, 85205.
Self Development Academy is now enrolling for school year 2022-2023. For more information about Self Development Academy, please call (480) 641-2640 or visit our website: selfdevelopmentacademy.com.