DKG California Support Team for Emerging Professionals

High Quality Anchor Charts One of the best ways to support your students’ independence is to create high quality anchor charts. Anchor charts are helpful in the following ways: Keep the learning alive on the walls of your classroom. Support independence because students can access them as needed. Can hold visuals to help cement the learning. Can help to make expectations really clear. Can be used to illustrate processes as well as examples of what work should look like. Can be used for behavioral as well as academic information. Tips for creating really high quality anchor charts: Make a plan ahead of time but create charts while the children are present. Have children do some of the writing. Add as many visuals as possible, students can even help pick which pictures to use. Use as few words as possible. Use dark ink for the text of the chart, preferably black, use colored ink for emphasis. Simple drawings can be just as powerful as compl

Mindfulness: Not A Passing Fad Mindfulness programs and processes have been expanding throughout the United States and other countries as school districts and  teachers promote and adopt it for their classrooms. Students are being introduced to and are practicing mindful breathing, observation, awareness, and listening. The question is will mindfulness be laid aside at some point, or will the process survive? Veteran educators have seen the pendulum swing as one educational approach has  been adopted and then left on the wayside when something else comes along. There are several reasons mindfulness will survive. First of all, mindfulness will will continue to be a part of the educational system as long as people in our society experience stress and anxiety. In today’s 24/7 society our senses are constantly bombarded and stressed by the world’s issues. Instantaneous access to the dramas played out in society can effect our well-being. Just as our bodies require food and slee