Barry White Junior teaches fifth-grade literacy at Ashley Park PreK-8 School.

The Title I school encourages teachers to find creative ways to engage with students. But before Mr. White incorporates “vocabulary shootout” and shoe-tapping songs into his curriculum, he tries to connect with each of his students.

“The most critical component is the relationship, the rapport you build with your students because sometimes it can go underrated or overlooked,” White says. “Before I’m able to deliver a substantial amount of content to them, they have to invest in the teacher.” 

White says he wants his students to be excited about school. In an effort to bring joy and build trust, White began creating individual handshakes with students.

The idea came to the Cleveland Cavalier’s fan when he noticed Lebron James doing handshakes with his inner-circle. White decided it would be a fun idea to bring to the classroom.

He first tried a special handshake with a student in another class.

“She would come see me before she went to class and sometimes she would get in trouble because she would wait to get the handshake,” White said. “Once I saw how simple, but how powerful it was to her, I thought it would be so cool to have for an entire class.” 

It was a slam dunk. White says once the handshakes started, they became contagious.

“I said ‘Okay, if I can do 20, I can do 20 more I guess,” White said.  

Today, White not only has a personalized handshake for every single one of his students in each of his three classes, he also has handshakes with volunteers, fellow educators, and students in other grades.

“That’s how he hypes our day up,” said White’s fifth-grade student Denise Hart. 

The creation of the handshake itself is one of the ways the literacy teacher and student bond. White says the student comes up with a piece and then they fine tune it together. The fifth-grade teacher was part of founding the school’s step club, which is a form of percussion dance. He says students in the club like to incorporate steps as their unique piece.

“We collect and collaborate and come up with it together, so a lot of it is based on who they are,” White said. “That’s what I love, they came up with it so it’s really personalized to their personalities.” 

The process of remembering the handshake also builds the connection. White says it’s all about muscle memory. The handshake needs to be done a couple of times to remember. 

In the end, the handshake comes down to one thing: joy. 

“I’m all about bringing joy to people’s lives and inspiring others to do so,” White says. “That’s really why I do (the handshakes), to bring joy to them.”

While spreading joy to students, White has been touched that the handshakes have inspired fellow educators. He has heard from current, up and coming and past educators about re-lighting their fire.

“That really makes my day when I get messages about how I inspired other adults,” White said. “I’m all about bringing joy to people’s lives and inspiring others to do so, hopefully, everybody can start doing it in their classroom.”

source: WCNC

It’s commonly believed that school kids started taking summers off in the 19th century so they’d have time to work on the farm. Nice as that story is, it isn’t true. Summer vacation has little to do with tilling fields and more to do with sweaty, rich city kids playing hooky and their sweaty, rich parents.

Before the Civil War, farm kids never had summers off. They went to school during the hottest and coldest months and stayed home during the spring and fall, when crops needed to be planted and harvested. Meanwhile, city kids hit the books all year long – summers included. In 1842, Detroit’s academic year lasted 260 days!

But as cities got denser, they got hotter. Endless lanes of brick and concrete transformed urban blocks into kilns, thanks to the “urban heat island effect.” That’s when America’s swelling middle and upper class families started hightailing it to the cooler countryside. And that caused a problem. School attendance wasn’tmandatory back then, and classrooms were being left half-empty each summer. Something had to be done.

Legislators, in one of those if-you-can’t-beat-‘em-join-‘em moments, started arguing that kids should get summers off anyway. It helped that, culturally, leisure time was becoming more important. With the dawn of labor unions and the eight-hour workday, working adults were getting more time to themselves than ever before. Advocates for vacation time also argued (incorrectly) that the brain was a muscle, and like any muscle, it could suffer injuries if overused. From there, they argued that students shouldn’t go to school year-round because it could strain their brains. To top it off, air conditioning was decades away, and city schools during summertime were miserable, half-empty ovens.

So by the turn of the century, urban districts had managed to cut about 60 schooldays from the most sweltering part of the year. Rural schools soon adopted the same pattern so they wouldn’t fall behind. Business folks obviously saw an opportunity here. The summer vacation biz soon ballooned into what is now one of the country’s largest billion-dollar industries.

source: mentalfloss

Hallgasd meg a szöveget és próbálj válaszolni a kérdésekre, mielőtt még elolvasnád az írott változatát!

1. Mi az elterjedt hiedelem a nyári vakáció eredetéről?

2. Mikor volt szünet a gyerekeknek az Amerikai Polgárháború előtt?

3. Mi történt az osztálytermekkel, ahogy a városok növekedésnek indultak és miért?

4. Milyen hibás érveket hoztak fel a nyári szünet mellett?

5. Milyen változás történt a századforduló környékén?

Válaszok:

1. Azért vezették be, hogy a gyerekek nyáron dolgozhassanak a farmokon.

2. A vidéki gyerekek tavasszal és ősszel, a városi gyerekek viszont egész évben tanultak.

3. Nyáron félig üresek voltak, mert a jómódúak vidékre mentek, ahol hűvösebb volt.

4. Azt, hogy az agy is olyan, mint az izmok, megsérül, ha túl sokat használják, erőltetik.

5. Kb. 60 nappal rövidebb lett a tanév.

Here are seven last-minute tips that can help you finish your prep strong and perform at your peak:

1. Do not underestimate the power of proper rest

This piece of advice is listed first because it is one of the most important and most frequently overlooked strategies. Our brains are at their best when they are rested. If you sit for an exam while exhausted, you will have a much harder time recalling the information you need to earn a high score. Tests (especially at college) are designed to assess knowledge and skills that you accumulate over months of study, so frantically reviewing your notes the week before the exam will not help you. You can study an hour or so a day to keep yourself focused and on-topic, but avoid working late into the evening.

2. Rest your hands

The majority of the tests are not yet computer-delivered, and this means that you will be doing quite a bit of writing by hand. It may seem strange to think about, but tired hands are one factor that can affect your performance. However, there are ways to minimize the likelihood of aching fingers. On the day of your exam, bring a stress ball or other stress relief toy that will help your hands relax from their pencil-clutch posture. You can even bring a small tube of moisturizer or Tiger Balm to rub into your fingers.

3. Use your downtime wisely

Part of entering an exam week rested and relaxed is feeling mentally refreshed. Make time, too, for an activity that is fun and relaxing. Go for a walk, play a favourite video game, or invite your friends over. The specifics of what you do matter less than ensuring that you do not spend the week before your exams tense and anxious.

4. Review class content, but do so selectively

As mentioned above, avoid entirely abandoning your test prep. Taking a high-stakes exam “cold” is guaranteed to leave you stressed come test day. Instead of broadly reviewing, however, study several points that are essential to earning your intended score.

5. Practice your editing

As you study for your exams, include a bit of practice with editing essays. Before you take your first exam, locate several essays that you have written for class and edit them for clarity. On test day, you will not have time for extensive rewrites of your free response answers, so it is well worth knowing where to focus your energies. Include this practice in your daily study hour. While you cannot add much information to your store of knowledge at this point, you can improve your test-taking process.

6. Rest between back-to-back exams

Many students who take tests report feeling worn out after just one – let alone back-to-back exams! Unfortunately, because the exam schedules are usually fixed, you may face this very situation. If you must complete back-to-back tests, plan ahead to ensure that you will have some quality rest time between exams. For example, bring music to listen to, and eat a healthy meal (one including complex carbohydrates, protein, and vegetables to nourish your brain).

7. Schedule recovery time

If you have multiple tests on multiple days, do your best to clear your schedule in the evenings. You will need to relax and sleep in order for your brain to recharge, and a busy night can interfere with this process. Do indulge in light exercise (you will be amazed at how effectively it can reset your mind) or a favourite activity. Continue to eat well, and – as has been mentioned many times – get your rest! You will be well on your way to success if you do.