I love this teacher tip (image to the right) from "My Happy Place" about how to send home a weekly positive note to every student's family. At the start of each year, it's great to think about what worked well in the past with family communication and what you might try this year. If you are looking to refresh your family communication strategies, Paige Tutt shares some great ideas.

This article has great strategies to remember all of your students' names and to ensure you learn how to pronounce students' names in the way the student asks you to pronounce it. 

Sometimes, we start the year with students or staff using community building activities, but then, we stop. But we know that relationships are built over time, so I think you will love Research for Better Teaching's "Relationship Building Activities." If you have an advisory period at your school, you should check out Facing History and Ourselves' guide. If you already have a FHAO account or if you create one (for free), you can download a PDF of their Community Matters: A Facing History and Ourselves Approach to Advisory. 

"In recent years, hundreds of thousands of children and teens in the U.S. alone have shared that their internal experience of their gender, known as gender identity, does not align neatly with the physical sex characteristics they were born with. After speaking to pediatricians, endocrinologists, psychiatrists, and psychologists, those doing research and those on clinical front lines, Psychology Today has culled the most pressing questions family members have—and the experts’ answers."

I love writing and keeping circles focused on specific topics, but simple check in circles can be so powerful - where we just have time to listen to how each person is doing and share how we are doing. In this week's circle, I was inspired by WholeHearted Counseling's beautiful "Rose, Thorn, Bud" Check In Sheet (image to the right). If you have students fill in the check in sheet first, you might find that some students who normally speak less will share because they had time to think through their ideas first. 

Leslie Gant, Mark Lonergan, and Jess Madden-Fuoco will be teaching the Observation and Feedback course this fall and again in the spring. Learn to be a stronger evaluator, coach, and colleague by learning ways to support teachers' growth through observing and giving feedback. 1 ALC or 15 PDPs. The fall dates: October 6, October 20, and November 3. Sign up here. Please share the flyer with colleagues who might be interested.