Classroom Lesson - Career

This week, 1st grade students explored the tools that people use to do their jobs. We rummaged through a bag of tools, including a computer mouse, wrench, calculator, and protective earwear, to think about how different kinds of work require different tasks, skills, and tools.

How Schools Are Becoming the New Safety Nets for New Hampshire's Neediest Students

NHPR reported about the incredible range of services that schools in NH need to provide students in order to meet their growing needs.

"Districts are initiating these extra services with a broader goal than just helping kids get through the school day: Research has shown that stress, from poverty or other pressures at home, can limit students’ chances of succeeding academically and, ultimately, their long-term quality of life."

Read or listen to the whole story here.

How to Teach GRIT

For the past few years, grit has been a popular term among educators and parents. Grit refers to traits like perseverance, self-control, and conscientiousness that contribute to student success. Angela Duckworth's TED talk about grit gained a lot of attention a few years ago and the interest in how to build "gritty" students remains. 

Paul Tough, author of How Children Succeed, was recently interviewed about grit on NPR's All Things Considered. 

Listen to or read the full interview here. 

Ken Robinson: How to escape education's death valley

In his TED talk, Ken Robinson suggests that order for human life to flourish, the conditions must be 1) naturally different and diverse, 2) curious, and 3) creative. He humorously points out that the current state of education in America contradicts these principles. 

"The point is that education is not a mechanical system. It's a human system. It's about people, people who either do want to learn or don't want to learn." 

Click here to view the TED talk video.

Keene summit urges community to stop stigmatizing addicts

From the Keene Sentinel, 5/18/16:

According to Linda Rubin, director of Healthy Monadnock, Healthy Community Initiative,

"Research shows that reducing the stigma associated with substance use disorders can change the minds of policymakers to create laws and allocate resources that invest in helping people get the help they need in the community, making it possible for them to regain their families, their lives and their jobs.”

Read the full story here.

Career Awareness - Classroom Guidance

In 3rd grade, students have been exploring careers through the website Paws in Jobland. Students took a quiz on their interests, and based on how they answered the questions, the site provides a list of career clusters as well as specific jobs that might appeal to the them. 

Then they learned about the purpose of a resume and practiced writing their own. Many students have plans to distribute their resume to neighbors and family members in hopes of a summer job!  

C:A2.6 Learn how to write a résumé

Declining Student Resilience: A Serious Problem for Colleges

From Psychology Today 9/22/15:

"We have raised a generation of young people who have not been given the opportunity to learn how to solve their own problems. They have not been given the opportunity to get into trouble and find their own way out, to experience failure and realize they can survive it, to be called bad names by others and learn how to respond without adult intervention." 

Read the full article here.