Upcoming Workshop

Think:Kids will be presenting an introductory full-day training in the evidence based approach: Collaborative Problem Solving on July 15, 2010 at NewsBank Conference Center from 9-4pm. The class is Think Differently: A New Approach for Parenting, Teaching and Treating Children with Behavioral Challenges.

For more information go to www.thinkkids.org or call 617-643-6030

Should the Passing Grade be Raised?

Currently, the GM board and administration are considering raising the passing grade to 65. The rationale behind this is that students who pass with a D-, or 60-64, are likely to have "learning gaps" and will not perform successfully at the next level due to these "gaps". Currently, students with weak grades need to get approval from their teachers before registering for successive classes. The Education Committee is interested in obtaining input from parents, students and community members on this issue.

There will be an Educational Committee meeting on April 29th at 3:30 pm in the GM conference room when raising of the passing grade and other issues regarding changes to grading and curriculum will be discussed. This is an open meeting and all are welcome.

Think:Kids

Think:Kids is a website I recommend visiting if you are a parent, educator or clinician coping with a child or adolescent with challenging behavior. Massachusetts General Hospital has created the Think:Kids program based on the book The Explosive Child by Ross Greene and the Collaborative Problem Solving approach. Worth looking into...

Think:Kids Independent Parenting/Educator Support Group meets at the Whiting Library on the second Weds. of each month at 5pm and the third Saturday of each month @ 9am in the community room (downstairs). Please join us if you are interested in exploring this new and effective appoach! Websites to check out are: www.thinkkids.org; www.livesinthebalance.org and www.explosivechild.com.

Our next meetings will be April 14th @ 5pm and April 23rd at 9am. Meetings run for about an hour and 1/2.
Upcoming New: Green Mountain Union High School is planning a Collaborative Problem Solving Training Seminar in July. Stay tuned for more details...

When Pranks Become Crimes

A disturbing trend in school to student relationships is viewing symptoms of adolescent behavior as crimes. As evidenced by this recent incident in a Chicago middle school, the presence of a cop on campus quickly escalated a harmless food fight to 25 misdemeanor charges with heavy police presence and student arrests. Middle school students spending time in jail for a food fight? What is happening to our common sense with regard to discipline in schools? Perhaps the need to criminalize our kids' behavior stems from the fact that we are asking/expecting them to behave like adults. When they act irresponsibly, more like the kids they are, instead of treating them from an adult to kid relationship with appropriate consequences, we are now locked into an adult to adult consequence, hence the viewpoint that the behavior is criminal. At our own school, I have seen horseplay in the hallway be reported as "mugging". Writing on a desk is "graffiti". A tossed pencil or empty water bottle is a "projectile" and so on. I think we need to evaluate the correlation between adolescent mistakes, pranks and misbehavior and criminal intent quickly before we go completely over the top as they did the other day in Chicago.

Click on the title to read the full NYTimes article.

An Interesting Link on Restorative Practices in Schools

Check out this blog post from Tom Cavanagh's blog: Restorative Practices in Schools. Click HERE.

Scary Article Re: Surge of Runaway Youths with Recession

This is an eye-opening report. Click on the title and watch the video.

The Future of Reading

Interesting article on new ways to get middle school aged kids reading more in the classroom. Click on the title to open the link.