Ms. Pecquex's Classroom
What I Believe...
Every kid is smart.
Too often we think of the students that excel as the only students who want to learn. I am a firm believer that every student wants to learn, it's our job as teachers to empower them to find their strengths. Tapping into students individual learning needs using Gardner's Multiple Intelligences and various differentiation techniques allows every student in my classroom to feel successful and show growth.
Social-Emotional Learning is fore-front.
You don't have to take time out of your curriculum to ensure that students are learning to self-regulate. Social-Emotional Learning is imperative to students being able to receive the academic instruction that helps them achieve. Literacy and social-emotional learning go hand-in-hand. In fact, SEL is more meaningful when students have the chance to explore it in real life context, through literature, and reflecting on their growth in creative writing.
Academics should be culturally-relevant.
Urban students have a vast about of cultural knowledge that they bring into their schools that is drastically under-utilized and immensely under-appreciated. Students are noticeably more excited to read texts and learn material that is culturally-relevant and relates to their experiences. In fact, they have so much to share with their peers, their teachers, and the school community.
Restorative Practices is the answer.
We wonder why there is such a disparity between students of color and white students in America, but I am a firm believer that this achievement gap is often a result of over-used suspensions and expulsions in urban school systems. Restorative Practices is not only the lifestyle model I live by, but also my classroom style, and the answer to fixing the school to prison pipeline.
