Generation Text

The dramatic change in our daily lives is causing anxieties and stress in even the youngest of children. Parents are struggling to understand how to best support their children emotionally, academically and many are trying to do all of this while working a full-time job and keep their own spirits up!
GenerationTextOnline, a mental health and wellness organization is looking for moms who need a network of others to connect, share concerns and have an opportunity to receive support. Our mom groups meet online, once a week for 45 minutes. The goal is to provide you support and understanding, as you go through each week of this pandemic. We offer social and emotional strategies and family exercises for your family and a connection with other moms who are feeling the same way you are.
These groups/teams will be facilitated by a social and emotional practitioner. The cost of this 5 week program is $100.

Did you know that by providing your students with a structured and purposeful mentor framework that you can improve not only the mental health of your students but also their academic achievement? GenerationTextOnline.com provides educational institutions with the mentoring framework – training and curriculum included – are you ready to move the needle? The best number to reach us on is 781-820-6629.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-fix-chronic-absenteeism-tardiness-jill-brown/?published=t

Building a community in classroom

Educators - How to address Chronic Absenteeism and Tardiness

In my current role, one of my tasks is to work with students who are chronically absent and tardy. The standard techniques used by teachers and administrators are not effective at reducing absenteeism and tardiness.

Common strategies for addressing chronic absenteeism and tardiness include assigning consequences such as detentions, giving them “a talking to” about failing grades, and calling parents.

When working with chronically absent and tardy students, I always begin my work by inviting them to eat with me in my office during their lunch period. It is my experience that in order to support a student I must first establish a trusting relationship. When building this relationship I have to be careful not to make them feel like the administration is angry with them. I must make sure they know that my goal is to support them in whatever way I can.

When having lunch with these students I focus on asking questions and actively listening. My goal is to uncover and understand the factors that are contributing to their problems. Typically these students have circumstances that are making it extra hard to get to school, and when they do come, being on time, making up missed work or learning concepts from missed instruction are adding to the pressure of their school day. All of these issues combined often cause overwhelming feelings and anxiety.

I always begin by asking students about their morning routine. What time do they wake up? Do they use an alarm? Does someone wake them up? What do they have to do in the morning before they get to school? How do they get to school? Many times I discover that parents have already left for work prior to wake up time and they are relying on their bodies to naturally wake up. Together, we take out their phones and set their alarms. (Sometimes we set their alarm for 3 separate times if they have a hard time waking up.). I always ask what time they go to bed to encourage them to think about the idea that maybe they aren’t getting enough sleep. Many times these simple strategies can change outcomes and decrease absenteeism.

Many times I find that students live a couple of miles from school and are required to walk or take public transportation to get to school. Supporting students by teaching them time management skills, planning better and getting things prepared the night before is most times enough to fix tardy and absenteeism problems. Another common problem with these students is that they don’t have money for bus tickets, no money in their Uber account or no clean clothes to wear to school. All of these issues can be resolved once we uncover the missing link. Together we find the resources these students need to be successful.

If I discover the main reason for their chronic absenteeism or tardiness is something more complicated than time management or self-discipline, I offer more in-depth support. Some students don’t want to come to school because they are so far behind in schoolwork that they don’t understand a lot of what is being taught in class. If this is the problem, I support them in articulating this to their teachers. The goal then becomes arranging a time to get extra help from their teachers or matching them with an older student who is willing to tutor them.

Solving problems with students means we have to be careful not to jump to conclusions. In order to understand how to support students to solve their own problems, we need to listen rather than judge.

Sometimes students don’t come to school because they are being bullied, feel picked on by a teacher or don’t feel good about themselves at school. My goal is to help them to uncover why they don’t want to come to school and then guide and support them in addressing those problems.

Please stop yelling

Please stop yelling During a professional development in a very large urban school district, I presented the research on how a student is affected when a teacher yells or raises their voice to students. I played a video that visually details the psychological, emotional and physical reactions in the human body and the

What does it mean to be a 21st Century Student? My new blog explains it all...http://www.generationtextonline.com/node/526

How are you teaching Digital Citizenship? If you are interested in a program that provides online learning that is relevant, innovative and cost-effective, check out www.Developinga21stCenturyStudent.com . To learn more about the author of this curriculum, visit www.GenerationTextOnline.com or email [email protected]

Developing a 21st Century Student | Online Curriculum to Teach Digital Citizenship Effectively

http://generationtextonline.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/administrators-principals-teachers-protect-yourself-it-is-illegal-for-kids-under-13-to-have-a-gmail/

Administrators, Principals, Teachers – Protect yourself! It is illegal for kids under 13 to have a G Last night I was presenting a program in Northern NJ and one of the parents talked about her 3rd grader having an email address. I asked her why she signed her 8 year old up for an email address, ...

“Do I have to be his partner?”

As a kid, can you think of a time when you were excluded? Do you remember what it felt like to have a group of kids reject your participation in a group project in class? Listening to kids tell of the humiliation they feel is heartbreaking! You can help! Be proactive by teaching your students what kind of everyday things make people feel left out and lonely. These anti bullying posters are laminated and will last from year to year and you can purchase one for under $7.http://www.generationtextonline.com/posters

Posters | Generation Text Online The 3 girls featured on the panel, Naomi Joseph, Kelsey Mattimore and Meghan Sullivan are high school students that Generation Text Online sponsored for this My9 news segment.

Part 2 on ongoing lesson is now online. Please take a moment to check it out!http://generationtextonline.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/a-simple-activity-to-help-create-a-positive-climate-in-your-school-part-2/

A simple activity to help create a positive climate in your school – Part 2. What’s the Issue? Research on school climate states: “School climate can be a positive influence on the health of the learning environment or a significant barrier to learning” (Freiberg 1998). As ...

My newest blog is straight from the headlines of what is going on today!!http://generationtextonline.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/why-didnt-anybody-do-anything-in-the-steubenville-ohio-town-where-steubenville-high-school-students-allegedly-gang-r**ed-an-unconscious-16-year-old/

“Why didn’t anybody do anything???” in the Steubenville, Ohio town where Steubenville High School st “Why didn’t anybody do anything???” This is the comment I keep hearing people say of the bystanders who watched, took pictures and videotaped football players gang r**e a teenage girl. I will tell...

Take a moment to read new blog.http://generationtextonline.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/programs-that-work-we-want-solutions/

Programs that work! We want solutions! I have developed several programs that will lower the bullying statistics in your school. I have research based programs! But any program can claim they are research based. How can I prove to y...