Paulette McDole

Background

About Paulette McDole

Although it is admittedly the clique of this season, classroom behaviors and the move toward more constructive, mindful, solutions have left many seasoned teachers feeling unsupported, less enthused, and simply tired. How did I last 37 years in elementary education? I can honestly say that engaging students in the classroom continues to involve the same principles of good parenting….First, they must know you love and care about their well-being. Build genuine relationships. Even as a substitute, I greet the students in the line with a hand shake and work intentionally to learn their names quickly. To train them in the way they should go for the day, the year, or for life, identify their strengths, use them right away, and creatively diffuse the darkside of that strength! Specific, intentional praise works every time! However, when course correction is needed, it fits the situation, motivated by identifying a replacement behavior, and provides for reflection and retribution. When tier 3 behaviors exist, they must not be allowed to hinder instructional time or quality, a triage team has to be available! Secondly, use time wisely having a bag of alternative constructs in my mind in the event that the unexpected happens. Similar to taking a family trip, be prepared, but be ready to go with the flow so everyone learns how to be patient and help each other arrive at the destination. Finally, never lose sight of the big picture! Do what it takes to build the capacity of each student. Since we are impacting the future, take each one to their next levels. That will mean looking at the destination and work backwards to determine what each will need to get to their best! Does that mean I finish every lesson of every subject? Nope, but they will know how to think about how they think, and understand how to stay curious about what they need to know and think about.