Good September to all. Recently, I was listening to a podcast discussion between a prominent clinical psychologist and the president of one of America’s oldest colleges. One of the things they talked about was the need for young people to have some “positive resistance” in the form of rules, boundaries, challenges, and a moral code to mature and eventually achieve “self-governance”. In addition, they also discussed the value of teachers getting to know their students so that they can more effectively help their students to grow and achieve self-mastery and the ability to use their talents to make their way in the world successfully.
This leads me to another of the Correlates of Successful Schools; Opportunity to Learn and Student Time on Task. This correlate refers to the task of consistently providing challenging learning opportunities for each student, while ensuring that they consistently put forth a good effort. In other words, effective schools provide consistent “positive resistance” in the form of challenging learning exercises for all students, while requiring that the students work to complete them successfully. So, if you hear your student complaining about the difficulty of an assignment or class, encourage them to work hard and persevere. It could be that their teacher is pushing them out of their comfort zone.
As for comfort zones, our Football and Volleyball teams have sure moved their opponents out of theirs. If haven’t had a chance to see them compete you should. To date they have continued to get better, while competing very well with all their opponents. Very proud of their efforts so far. They play hard, together, and never stop trying.
Lastly, I would like to invite patrons to meet me and possibly some school board members at the Hen House this Friday, September 30th for lunch. Perhaps we’ll have more Maverick victories to talk about. Also, I would encourage the patrons of the district to come by the newly renovated football field. Our maintenance director Bo McVay has spent a great deal of time and energy getting the field into playing shape, and his work has paid off. So, on behalf of the team and the students who will use the field, we say thank you to the Bo for his hard work and the patrons of the district for your support. Until next month, Go Mavericks!