Difficult Conversations: 5 Things I Learned

 Difficult Conversation

Notes from Administrator Academy "Difficult Conversations" How to discuss Crucial issues to improve relationships and performance".  I have the handout filed under "Management/Difficult Conversations"

1. Difficult Conversation - and conflict management - takes up 40-90% of managers' time

2. There are common, known causes for conflict (see p. 4) unclear expectations, ineffective or poor communication, lack of clear jurisdiction or boundaries, interpersonal style or attitutdes (race, religion, ethics), conflicts of of interest, organizational change 

3. Functional View of Organizational Conflict. (Bacal) is that conflict is normal and can be productive.  Managers must work to manage conflict positively in order to employees to increase their knowledge and skills.

4.  

5. 

Useful resources.

p7. Goleman 5 components of emotional intelligence

p. 11 Committed listening checklist

Evidence-Based Reading and Writing

 In the ACT, skills related to reading and identifying the main idea primarily align with the Reading section of the test. Here are some specific skills assessed in the Reading section that are closely related to reading comprehension and identifying the main idea:

1. Main Idea and Central Theme Identification:

   • Students are tested on their ability to determine the main idea or central theme of a passage. Questions often ask about the primary purpose of the passage, the author's main point, or the central message conveyed by the text.

2. Understanding Supporting Details:

   • Students must comprehend how supporting details within a passage contribute to the main idea or central theme. This involves identifying specific evidence, examples, or arguments presented in the text that support or develop the main idea.

3. Recognizing Author's Perspective or Argument:

   • Students are expected to discern the author's perspective or argument and understand how it shapes the overall meaning of the passage. This includes recognizing the author's stance on an issue, the tone or attitude conveyed, and any implicit assumptions or biases.

4. Summarizing and Synthesizing Information:

   • Students are assessed on their ability to summarize key points or main ideas presented in a passage. Questions may require students to provide a concise summary of the passage's content or to identify the main idea of specific paragraphs or sections within the passage.

5. Identifying Central Claims in Arguments:

   • In passages that present arguments or viewpoints, students must identify the central claims or arguments made by the author. This involves understanding the structure of the argument, the evidence presented to support it, and any counterarguments or alternative perspectives mentioned.

Overall, success in the Reading section of the ACT relies heavily on students' ability to comprehend and analyze written passages, identify main ideas, discern supporting details, and understand the overall purpose and structure of the text. These skills are crucial for effective reading comprehension and are essential for performing well on the ACT exam.

Inspirational Things/ Thank you notes

 Ideas to write in thank you notes

Hey educators, If no one else tells you today, you need to know. You are showing up to the most important job there is & you are awesome at it. It's seen even though others might not say. It's known even though it's not acknowledged Your kids are better because of you.

Clarity on Race/SAT and the Texas model

 NYT - new clarity on SAT and race based admissions 

The Texas model

The situation has become clearer because the Supreme Court last week declined to hear a lawsuit against a public magnet school in Northern Virginia — Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, known as T.J.

Until recently, T.J. admitted students based on a mix of grades, test scores, student essays and teacher recommendations. This process led to a student body that looked very different from the area it served.

About 5 percent of T.J. students were Black or Hispanic, even though the surrounding area is about 37 percent Black or Hispanic. The school also enrolled few low-income students of every race, as Richard Kahlenberg of Georgetown University has noted. Only 2 percent of Asian students at T.J. came from low-income families, compared with 20 percent of Asian students in the surrounding area.

In 2021, though, T.J. switched to a new admissions policy. It was modeled after a bipartisan plan that Texas created in 1997, under Gov. George W. Bush. In T.J.’s version, the school filled most of its freshman class by accepting the top 1.5 percent of students at every public middle school in the area.

The underlying idea is simple enough. Many communities in the U.S. are economically and racially homogenous. But a policy that accepts the top students from every community can create diverse classes. The policy is defensible on meritocratic grounds because it rewards teenagers who excel in every environment — and on political grounds because it gives all communities access to desirable schools.

Once T.J. changed its policy, the school became much more diverse. The share of students from low-income families rose to 25 percent from 2 percent. Racial diversity also increased:

Source: Fairfax County Public Schools | By The New York Times

“I love T.J.,” Kaiwan Bilal, one of the students accepted under the new policy, told The Washington Post. “It’s even better than I expected, better than my parents told me it would be.” Bilal also said that he was struck by the school’s diversity.

Writers Toolbox Game

 Writer's Toolbox game for writing (similar to haikubes or paint chip poetry

)

Using Classroom Discussion as a Summative

 Interesting Edutopia article about discussion structures and prep.

One compelling sideline of the article:

I like to tease these questions throughout the unit. Since I’m a science teacher, my units are driven by phenomena, so I am always coming back to the driving phenomenon we are working to explain. 

My students answer a lesson question each day (which I use instead of a traditional objective or learning target), so the idea of having layers of questions makes sense to them. When we finally arrive at the end of the unit, students are ready to synthesize their learning about the questions we’ve been working to answer.

Literature: Histories Revealed

 from Marshall Memo 1022

Recommended Young Adult Novels with a Different Twist

            In this English Journal article, Saba Khan Vlach (University of Iowa) recommends prize-winning young adult books that are different from the more-common “hero’s journey,” where the lead character is separated from family and friends and embarks on a journey of self-discovery and comes of age. In the five books Vlach spotlights, “The protagonists… become, not because their family histories have been taken away or diminished in importance, but because those histories are revealed to them.” 

-   Maizy Chen’s Last Chance by Lisa Yee, middle grades

-   Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed, grade 7-12

-   The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson, grade 7 and up

-   We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds, grade 8 and up

-   All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir, grade 8 and up

 

“The Honor List of 2022 Prize-Winning Young Adult Books: Family Stories in YA Literature” by Saba Khan Vlach in English Journal, November 2023 (Vol. 113, #2, pp. 19-24);