Teach2Believe

Teachers...
Welcome back to the classroom this week. The first week brings enthusiasm, energy, and nervousness about the year ahead. Take the time to build connections with your students this week. Students desire to know their teacher and their expectations. Year 2024-2025 here we come and make this your students favorite year and remind them daily "I Love and Care about you".

Week 1 chalenge: Tell them your story and have your students tell you something you both have in common.

Year 18! Ready to Go!
Kevin Pughsley

Getting Ready for E3 Summer training today at Hewitt Trussville High School with A+ College Ready! Earth Science Year 2 and ready to SOAR!

Today I got my NBCT pin at the Alabama NBCT Network conference. I also had the pleasure of presenting Five Questions Every Teacher Should Ask. It has been a great day of networking and connecting with other elite educators across our state.

Teach2Believe is a platform for inspiring teachers to believe their purpose for teaching, belief in their students, and believing that each day should be fun for you to teach.

Bi-weekly I will share stories, strategies, and challenges to help inspire and keep learning fun.

Story: I was once told I should never be a teacher I wouldn't be good at it. In life and with our students we can be "Defined or Inclined" by the words spoken over us. Choose the words you speak wisely with your students so they leave feeling inclined and not defined.

Strategy: Smart Watch Equity: Tell your students you have downloaded a new app and when you shake your watch it brings up a students name at random. Now you can create equity and call on anyone during class.

Challenge: Positive Phone Calls: Choose one student in each class and call home to brag about their progress in class. (This is powerful if you haven't tried it)

What an honor to be John Herbert Phillips Academy today to witness a fellow educator Korri Cunningham be named winner of the Milken Educator Award! Touring the school afterwards and meeting the teachers and students is a reminder that we all make a difference in the lives our students. I love the IB learner profile values posted on the walls to remind the students of the expectations for greatness!

The past two days, I had the opportunity to work with science teachers from across our state at the A+ College Ready Fall Workshop. Speaking about Whatever It Takes, to reach all students. Sharing my story of being a struggling student and the teachers who inspired me and how we can connect and inspire our students. Teach2Believe Alabama Department of Education

to reach each student and teacher. As teachers can benefit from having a growth mindset where we learn from our mistakes or weaknesses. At the end of the first nine weeks, I challenge you to have students complete a survey I developed called “Five Questions Every Teacher Should Ask.” A survey template can be found at (bit.ly/Teach2Believe). This allows students to give feedback on the classroom environment, effectiveness, and allows them to comment on class strengths and areas of growth. This generation of students loves to provide feedback and express opinions. Therefore, I find it important to teach my students the value of both providing and accepting constructive feedback, and how to respond in a helpful, not hurtful manner. The comments that we receive as teachers can reaffirm our passion for teaching and demonstrate ways we are making a difference. They also tell us if they are learning, what lessons worked or didn’t, and can help identify areas where students need help. Think of it this way, at some point this year we will each be observed by an administrator one to three times. Would we rather lean on the feedback from that or students who observe us for 180 days? I urge all teachers to try the survey at least once to experience the responses from students and reflect on their feedback. Trust me, after this initial survey, you will want to make it a recurring activity in your class. I would love to hear about your experience or would be honored to visit your school to share more about this topic. I can be reached at [email protected].

Google Forms: Sign-in Access Google Forms with a personal Google account or Google Workspace account (for business use).

I am excited to share my story today with science teachers from across the state at A+ College Ready's fall workshop.