The Three R's

The Edgewood faculty recently listened to WIllard Daggett, Ph.D., founder and President of the International Center for Leadership in Education talk about the three ‘R”s. What are the three ‘R’s'? Dr. Daggett believes the three R's are Relationships, Relevance, and Rigor. Daggett’s point about relationships was that learning is personal. When teachers have strong, trusting relationships with their students, they work harder and achieve more. This is something that I strive to accomplish everyday. Getting to know these middle school students has not been the easiest task in my life. They are, as I am sure you know, a strange breed.
My hope is that once I have established their trust, my students will start to trust me.

I put this theory to the test this week when I introduced Excel to them. According to Microsoft, " Excel is a spreadsheet program which allows one to enter numerical values or data into the rows or columns of a spreadsheet, and to use these numerical entries for such things as calculations, graphs, and statistical analysis." NOW, I ASK YOU. HOW MUCH MORE FUN CAN A SEVENTH GRADER HAVE? I understand this is not their favorite program, but so far the grumbles have been quiet. Most of the students have managed to design their own word search using their Excel talents.

Earlier this week we used some "Action Shots" we made with our digital cameras to make some posters. I was amazed at the results of this quick and easy project.

This weeks blog question took a serious turn. I have the students talking about bullying at school. I was surprised at the emotions that poured out of them. Sometimes we forget how difficult it is to be a teenager. http://emscomputer10.wikispaces.com/Student+Blogs