The season is upon us of hustle and bustle, laughing memories and sometimes–STRESS!  I know that I am blessed to work with each of you everyday and have the opportunity to lift students up academically, socially and emotionally each day.

Today, a dear friend of mine and amazing educator had a heavy heart and was questioning her value. She reminded me that we are surrounded by LOTS of noise and “distractions” that keep us from seeing the most important events and people in our lives.

She, like all great educators, puts in 110% effort each day, long hours and juggling a never ending job with raising a family and because she is AMAZING–never feels she meets the mark.

So, today, for my friend and all other amazing teachers out there–remember YOU are amazing.  I am THANKFUL that you are here and the value you bring to my life AND the children in our school.

T is for THOUSANDS OF THINGS YOU JUGGLE.  You take on the world to ensure that everyone is taken care of and their needs met. Whether it is ensuring everyone has snack, planners have been signed and concepts learned–you take care of all of us and often forget to think of yourself. Each and every task and “thing” you juggle may seem to go unnoticed but each and every one of them is making the lives of others better and stronger. So, give yourself a break if you forget one small thing–it might be that someone needs to learn independence.  

H is for the HUGE HEART you share.  The extreme compassion you show to others and how you are always reaching out to help. Whether it is a student in your class, a person at church or simply a stranger–you reach out to meet their needs when you rarely take time for your own. When others think of tasks to complete–you see how others do without. When others engage in fun–you are ensuring others are having fun. Your huge heart is who you are and we are thankful you share it.

A is for ACADEMIC PLANS that are always made with care. Only and educator can appreciate this one. The hours and hours that are spent with care to create plans, generate ideas and prepare. Thank you for the time you put in because these carefully made plans that meet all needs are truly the reason our students succeed.

N is for NEVER Giving up on anyone. When something is not working or a student is not learning, a new plan is always generated. Try after try to ensure all students are learning is only achieved when you believe all students CAN and WILL learn. Thank you for this attitude because sometimes YOU are the only one telling the student–they CAN.

K is for the KINDNESS you show. Giving up your lunch on a field trip for those who forgot to pack one. Sharing your coat with a student on the playground because their coat is too thin. Whether it is providing lunch money, a snack, an extra hug–kindness is always found when you are around.

F is for FIGHTING and Advocating for children.  Standing up and speaking for students is what you do. When no one else seems to hear or see the need–you are there to make sure the voice is heard. Passion for children and what is best helps motivate you.

U is for remembering the UNDERDOG!  Educators see potential where others do not. Taking time to nurture and build up students both academically and in character.

L is for LIFE LONG LEARNING.  The public has no idea the life long learning you do. The time you spend researching new ways and ideas for that student who does not seem to understand. The time you invest in planning and seeking the perfect lesson for math.  The PLC time you spend ensuring each student is learning and problem solving new ideas when they are not making growth.

So, educator friends, I am so THANKFUL for you and so are your students. You may not receive a daily fanfare and parade BUT know that each and every day you are impacting lives. You are making a difference. You may be weary and not see the difference BUT it is there and I see it. I am thankful.  My wish for you this holiday season is to remember that YOU ARE A GIFT.  Treat yourself kindly because you take on SO much each day and when you feel like faltering–remember YOU ARE AMAZING and make a difference every day!

Thank you!

Scaffold by definition is a temporary structure put in place to repair a “building or other construction.” Applying this definition to education we know that scaffolding is when we put instructional strategies in place to temporarily repair or support learning.

We, as educators, put scaffolds automatically in place to ensure our students are successful. It is important to support our learners while they are shaky and beginning to learn, practice and apply new tasks or strategies.   All students can benefit from this support. We provide to them in various ways. We use guided instruction where a teacher levels instruction to a child’s level and gradually increases the level of complexity over time. This simplified lesson helps students see and understand the concept in a smaller group and allows the teacher to check and monitor progress. Teachers employ strategies such as “I do, we do, you do” to help transfer responsibility gradually to the student. Other popular ways to offer scaffolding to students are:

• Frontloading vocabulary
• Visuals and graphics
• Modeling and think aloud
• Sentence starters or word boxes
• Partner work or collaborative teams
• Graphic Organizers together as a class to organize ideas

But what happens when we do not remove this “temporary” support?

LEARNING STOPS!!

Teaching is an art and knowing when to apply and remove instructional support is crucial.  We must constantly think:  

• Who is the reader or student?
• What is their ability?
• What can they do?  
• Are we applying tasks that are stretching this student?  
• Am I providing activities and materials to help them grow and think a bit more than yesterday?  
• Is the text or material we are providing continuing to challenge?
• Is the proper scaffold in place?

Constantly evaluating “Task–Text—Student” is the key to ensuring a balanced and rigorous classroom. There must be a balance between these variables to ensure continued learning. If you are providing rigorous material and tasks that stretch thinking but give too much support–you are keeping the student from learning. Rigor and learning is obtained by instilling conceptual understanding through the domains of literacy, having students matched to text and task appropriately to ensure they are stretching. Each element must work together in accordance with the instructional strategies and scaffolding the teacher is providing.

How can we lessen “learning scaffolding” AND continue with rigor?

2 IDEAS TO TRY TODAY!

Give the Graphic Organizer for students to do while the lesson is in progress and independent work.

Do not do graphic organizers with students without having them generate their own ideas and complete them first. Graphic organizers should be strategically used within a lesson to chunk the lesson and have students show understanding along the way.  For example, when reading a story, stop periodically and have students fill in a story map. Do not tell them what or how to do it but let them share their ideas with a partner and make changes. Only after this time of independent work and partner discussion should a teacher model or intervene. By providing the time for students to work–you are allowing them to generate ideas and show their own learning. Teachers can then intervene and deepen understanding through modeling and questioning.

Plan time for students to learn in whole group move to partners and then to  independent work while learning a new concept. Let them do the work!

After teaching a concept, it is important for students to talk through their ideas and concepts with a partner to begin to make sense of the information. Student talk is crucial to help students work through the domains of literacy (listening, speaking, reading and writing) to have conceptual understanding.  More importantly, students must take time to work independently on the skill AND MAKE MISTAKES. It is not until you bring students back together to clarify and question students do they begin to make connections and to make sense of errors.  The best way to take scaffolding from a student is to make them think through and do the work themselves. Give time for students to think on their own and write their own ideas into their journal or notebook. After they have generated ideas, then let them share and work together. All students should bring ideas to the table when doing group work or it is not an equal learning experience. Instead of think-pair-share, try write-pair-share-write!  By changing this strategy students are writing or drawing their ideas, getting support from a partner when discussing (deepening understanding).  The sharing helps to clarify and deepen understanding further with the teacher modeling.  The final write allows the student to conceptualize their ideas into written drawings or thoughts. (labels on drawings is a great next step for younger students)

Removing instructional scaffolding is not easy because we want our students to be successful. However, we must remember that until they make mistakes–learning truly has no purpose or meaning. Let students have time to make errors and then help students fix them–that is truly TEACHING AND LEARNING WITH RIGOR.

Helping your students to capture knowledge while reading is NOT easy!  We hear about modeling, think aloud, direct instruction but what do our students need?  They need to see the structure of the text so they can help make sense of it.

Without YOUR skeleton your body would have no shape and would not function. We have to help students see how an author creates the text by writing it with a structure.

Students interact with fiction at an early age but when do we begin instructing them on how all fiction stories are organized?   The basic structure of any fiction story contains the five elements:  characters, setting, problem, solution and the mood.  When I begin teaching children about fiction we will refer to the 5 basic elements as the BIG FIVE.  I use my hand because as I hold it up each time and refer to the elements–the students are “creating” a map in their mind of the structure of fictional text.

Begin reading stories with basic story structure (singular story problem or plot line) to begin modeling for students.  While reading, stop after several pages, hold your hand up and go through each element while pointing to the corresponding finger which helps students begin to create  connections.  If a student can identify each element, then they do understand the story on a basic level.

The next step, have students begin retelling the story using the BIG FIVE following this basic outline:

The story is about __________________ (Character) who is at ___________________ (Setting).  He/She wanted to _____________________________ but _____________________(problem).  So, he/she _____________________________ (Solution). When _____________________ happened he/she felt ____________________.

Retelling is the K-1 expectation for students. Retelling helps students begin to make sense of a story in a logical sequence. Understanding the “structure” or how the story was “built” helps a child retell main events.

By 2-3 grade, students should be transitioning from a simple retell to recounting a story.  A “recount” of a story requires students to synthesize information into a more concise version of a retell.  A recount begins by explaining who is in the story and where it takes place. The reader then synthesizes information into a clear beginning, middle and end. They share a recount with phrases such as:

• In the beginning,
• First,
• In the middle,
• Next,
• At the end,
• Finally,
• In conclusion

These phrases encourage the reader to understand the sequential order of the events as they did in a retell but begin to combine or classify them into beginning, middle and end. This requires students to begin categorizing information and combine like ideas.

Here is a sample organizer for recount.

recount-122nm1l Graphic Organizer for Recount

Finally, 4th grade students begin to summarize text which takes the understanding of a story to the next level. Students have to have a sequential understanding of the text and still combine the ideas but take it one step further to organize and synthesize the most important events or ideas into a cohesive and SHORT paraphrase of the text.

Here is a sample organizer for a summary.

mi-1zpb14c– Summary Graphic Organizer

Understanding the structure of  fictional text is essential. Understanding the structure helps students build the ability to sequence ideas for a retell which is simply a natural conversation about a story in order. Once a student can retell a story, the next step, is to begin to synthesize ideas.  Students put these ideas into a clear beginning, middle and end which is known as a recount.  Finally, learning to paraphrase and condense relevant information in a logical manner is a summary.

A child’s ability to move from “retell to recount to summarizing” is the move from basic recall of a story to deep comprehension of the ideas, events and characters. Don’t allow students to simply retell once they have this mastered so they continue to deepen thinking.

A teacher excitedly came back from a workshop and shared that “we should be teaching whole brain.”  She went on to explain that students can only process information for a short period such as their age plus one or two.  This reminded me of an article I read recently that talked about the importance of taking a break by allowing student talk to keep learning happening.

Implementing a “Brain Break” is essential to keeping learning happening and can be a natural way for students to “sum up learning” or thinking. No more than 20 minutes of any activity should be taking place in the elementary school without a change in thought or activity. A person’s attention limit is approximately their age plus one –a second grader only has an attention span of about 8 to 9 minutes! By rebooting the brain, you restart the learning process by restoring to a calm state and producing dopamine.

Judy Willis M.D., Edutopia Article, stated the following, “For students to learn at their highest potential, their brains need to send signals efficiently from the sensory receptors (what they hear, see, touch, read, imagine, and experience) to memory storage regions of the brain. The most detrimental disruptions to traffic along these information pathways are stress and overload.” Providing our students with opportunities to summarize and talk about content often throughout a lesson can help students obtain optimal retention of information and attention.

Your brain contains 100 billion neurons or brain cells. These cells have the primary job of receiving information and signaling other neurons using electricity or chemicals to stimulate messages within the body. The hypothalamus is the regulation center of the brain. It keeps your body at a constant; including temperature, heart rate, etc. Learning happens when neurons are activated and a message is sent along the axon. When repeatedly stimulated a process called synapse is created. Synapse is created when two neurons are connected from the end of the dendrite. The creation of dendrites is when the brain is relating information that is important within the brain and “filing it” for retention or when the brain makes a learning connection which puts it in our memory.

When the brain is exposed to overload or stress the body begins to release cortisol which is the primary stress hormone. This chemical affects your heart, lungs, skin, immune system and circulation. In addition, it stimulates the hypothalamus and when it reaches the neuron, it shuts off the impulses of the dendrites which halt learning. This is a temporary response and the dendrites will grow back UNLESS there is a long term period of stress. When stress is repetitive the brain will respond by short circuiting that pathway which will stop impulses and result in the lack of input and messaging. Many of our students are in a constant state of stress from instability at home, lack of confidence in a subject, poor self-esteem, and relationships with their peers, etc. This constant state of stress causes inability to stay on task, inattention, and lack of self-control.  Brain breaks stop overload and stress and allow students to process the information you are teaching.

Top Way to Implement a Brain Break?

Have students summarize content material throughout the lesson.

How?

• During teaching stop frequently and ask students to talk to a partner and summarize learning or their ideas. To change things up you can have students draw, write or act out their learning as well.

Keep learning moving by allowing students to make sense of what they are learning through talking, drawing, acting or writing.  All of these activities allow students to review the information and have time to process the information. Overload shuts the brain down and stops learning.  Stop that cortisol production and overload with frequent learning breaks.

We continually hear the same buzz words in our reading classroom such as rigor, complexity, language and conceptual understanding. We hear it BUT do we really get it?  We think of rigor and complexity as something that older students or proficient readers need BUT this is simply NOT true.  If we wait to provide complexity in syntax and language until students are proficient readers–it is like waiting to teach road rules and signs to a proficient driver.  

Rigor in reading is not simply asking higher order questions, doing a close read or giving more difficult text.  Students acquire language through the four domains of literacy which are listening, speaking, reading and writing. These domains build in complexity and are developmental. Students must first listen to a concept to understand. Once they have heard the concept they must begin making sense out of it through speaking and conversation. This allows students to synthesize the information they have learned and process it into their own ideas. By organizing information and making sense of it, students are building background knowledge of the topic. Once students have background information they are able to make sense of text when they read about the topic. Conversation about what they read deepens their understanding because they continue to synthesize more information together to create connections. Finally, students have enough knowledge to put their thoughts into writing which shows conceptual understanding of the topic. You have probably noticed that these are the ELA standards:

• Speaking and Listening
• Language
• Reading
  • Foundational
  • Informational
  • Literature
• Writing

Do you notice how they progress in the level of difficulty and mirror how students gain knowledge through the domains of literacy?

Speaking and Listening sets the foundation of understanding. Think of a two year old and the question–WHY!  Why do they continually ask WHY?  They are building their understanding of topics.  We must build this time in our lessons for students.  While teaching a concept–stop frequently and have students talk about the ideas you are sharing. Can they paraphrase or summarize?

The speaking and listening piece goes hand in hand with Language.  As students listen they are learning how words can be put together to make sentences. Think about how powerful a read aloud is for building syntax. Listening to poetry, rhymes and complex text helps children see that words, phrases and sentences can be put together in many ways. You expose them to dialect, punctuation, intonation and syntax by reading aloud.  

Remember, students CANNOT read what they cannot speak. So, when you give them a compound sentence with phrases–does it make them stumble?  Yes, probably because you are exposing them to “language” at a higher level than their conversation.  The more exposure will increase their ability to expect longer sentences, be looking for the where, when and how that author’s add in complex text.

Reading is making meaning of text and the tasks we give students help to create the rigor or complexity for our readers.  We have used center rotations for years but do we really take time to think about the tasks we are giving our students and how they scaffold to the depth of the standard?  If my goal is for third grade students to master context clues in difficult text then I need to think about the skills needed for that task.  Having students practice spelling or read to self may not be the best center rotation to meet that task demand. Some appropriate tasks might include:

• Reading paragraph task cards with a partner and applying their knowledge of context clues.
• Reading to self and tagging unknown words and prediction/evidence of meaning for conferencing,
• Reading a difficult passage with words identified. Students determine word meaning using context clues.

Application of skills is how students learn and extend knowledge. Think about the tasks that we give students and ensure that we are pushing them even working independently. If they need support—give them a partner, technology to help (lingro which can hyperlink all words on a website to a dictionary), a place or person to go for hints but DO NOT lessen the expectation. Continue to give them the rigor.

Scaffolding is the way to provide support such as think aloud, modeling, partners, annotation, graphic organizers and discussion.  Scaffolding helps to level the playing field so all students can access the task you want them to complete. The trick is the balance of knowing when to scaffold and when to pull it away for continued struggle.

Balance is the KEY!

RIGOR and COMPLEXITY in reading is a balancing act. Rigor is obtained by instilling conceptual understanding through the domains of literacy, having students matched appropriately with text and task to ensure they are stretching to their maximum with the proper scaffolds in place.  Teachers must really know the text,  reader and the standards because each element must work together.  It is crucial that children learn content through each domain of literacy–listening, speaking, reading and writing. A text just a text—until you pair it with the correct standard, reader and task.  

For those of you who know me–know I LOVE history and helping children build background in this area.  It is not complicated but it does take some time to find the right resources to use. (This might be something your Instructional Facilitator could help you with–hint hint)

Primary Sources are documents, songs, poems, photographs or paintings and artifacts that was written or created during the time you are studying.  These items offer a view into the historical time period or culture you are studying.  Realia refers to everyday objects of a time or culture that may be authentic or not but can certainly impact your students by helping them to “see” and make connections. (Ex. 2nd Grade bringing in Sugar Skulls during their study of the Mexican Tradition or baskets when studying Native Americans)

There are three main types of Primary Sources or Realia that can be used which include:  1)  Original Documents   2) Creative Works and 3) Relics or Artifacts.  Original documents include letters, diary excepts, interviews, speeches, news film, court records, autobiographies, etc.  Creative Works include the art pieces, music, drama, novels and poetry.  Artifacts can include buildings, clothing, furniture, pottery, etc.

I mentioned with my post on inferences that you can find primary sources online through the National Archives, Library of Congress, NC Museum of History, etc. I wanted to get you ready for the next few months with some great places to begin using Primary Sources.  Here are common topics around this time of year and AWESOME documents to accompany your study.

4th Grade BLUE- Dust Bowl This site has photographs, lessons, and ideas

The Mayflower Compact

Native Americans

Thanksgiving Photographs/Documents and Teaching Ideas

3-5 resources Thanksgiving– the pictures could be used with any grade level

I know you are looking at this and thinking–KELLY THIS YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING.  But actually, not so much!  Think about this lesson:

click on this photograph and it take you to a larger version.

Show this photograph and have students discuss with a partner. What do they see? What are the people doing? The are simply sharing what they see. Have a set of partners pair up with another set of partners and discuss their ideas.  Bring together whole group and have students share out what they see.

After you have about 10 items on your list–stop them and tell students you are going to look deeper at their list. You will have things on the list like:  a woman is fainting, a man has his hand on his head, a book is open, etc.  It will be normal every day things–not spectacular but that is okay.

Say to the student–It is time to make some inferences about what we are seeing. Why do you think the lady is fainting? What evidence do you have to support that?  Why does the man have his hand on his head? How is he feeling? How do you know?

As you make inferences–if no one has noticed the title–point this out and ask what further information this provides us as the viewers.  How does the title change what we think about the woman fainting–what reasons does a voyage make you think about?  Continue discussing and asking questions.

Finally, you have went through this list and have lots of inferences. You might stop there because your students struggled but what if you go a step further and ask–So, now that we have all these inferences–what conclusions can we draw from this about the Pilgrims Voyage? Help students put ideas together such as the man with his hand on his head was feeling bad and maybe sick–the lady is fainting so this might help us draw the conclusion that many people got sick on the journey.  Make a list as students come up with conclusions. This list would be great to investigate or research to see if they were right.

Remember that inferences and conclusions are not easy but with modeling and visuals–it is much easier. AND if this is HARD–GREAT!! Know that it takes a lot of wrong answers to get to a right one and most of all a student who is engaged and struggling is more productive than a student who already knows the answer is regurgitating the info back to you.

I would love for you to try a Primary Source lesson and let me know how it goes!  I will be happy to help you find resources if you need me to do that!  GOOD LUCK!  Can’t wait to hear some great things from you!

Last week in my update, I shared this quote:

Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.

— Albert Schweitzer

Authors refer to light and darkness when creating imagery within a text. These references are so powerful that when you hear the word “light” you immediately have a picture in your mind and the connotation stirs positive thoughts and images.  The power of evoking or igniting light into another person’s life is a true opportunity.  Educators are given the gift to do this every single day.

Taylorsville is filled with light in many forms including actions, thoughts, words and people.   Our building is not fancy and in places is worn and needs paint but the children that fill our building bring a joy. Their laughter and chatter surround this space with energy and remind me of their eagerness to learn. They come each day ready for us to guide and encourage.  It is our actions as educators that can bring light to their lives or darken their world.

You, as individuals and as a staff, have ignited my light.  My light had dwindled by the stress of deadlines, frustrated voices, and a plethora of tasks that have yet to be completed on time.

Here are the top 10 things about Taylorsville Elementary that has filled me with light!

10.  The laughter of students filling the hall and bright colored art work that covers the walls creates a warm glow throughout the school.

9.  Lessons created with care and thought and then executed with passion to connect learning for students and deepen understanding.

8.  Data discussions that pin point “Swiss Cheese Holes” and end with a plan to fill them.

7.  Colleagues who fill my desk with encouraging notes, smiling sticky notes and an occasional Slim Jim.

6.  My fellow teachers using words like prosody, text complexity, interventions, growth mindset and YET.

5.  Actions that show—PUSH!

4.  An extra kindness for a student with clean clothes, money for a fieldtrip, school supplies, hugs, etc.

3.  Walking through the building, seeing teachers and staff putting into action their own learning from professional development and PLC.

2.  Compassion, kindness and patience with our students who have big emotions and are struggling to channel them.

 1.  EDUCATORS WHO TEACH FROM THEIR HEART AND ARE HERE BECAUSE THEY LOVE TAYLORSVILLE AND THOSE WHO INHABIT THIS BUILDING!

My ending thought for you!  Remember I value you as my colleague and I see you do amazing things each day. I am in continuous awe of your patience and compassion—do not lose sight of these characteristics with the stress of every day “teaching.”  You do make a difference and are appreciated!  Be the LIGHT for all to see—Taylorsville is LIGHT and I am proud to be a part of this staff.

First week of school and a first grader announced to his teacher, “I can’t do this!”  She responded perfectly with “YET.”  This scenario is a perfect example of how our students are developing a fixed mindset at early ages.  It is a reminder we must reinforce that they can achieve.

As you know, a fixed mindset, one without hope, is bred in an environment where students are inundated with negative outlooks and reminders of limited resources or even criticisms of education and hope for the future. Our schools are becoming flooded with more and more students who face financial hardships in their homes.

Think about these statistics.

• 1 in 5 children live in poverty.
• Children who experience hunger and food insecurity have effects such as lower reading and math scores, more emotional and behavioral problems and physical or mental deficits.
• There are as many as 46.2 million Americans living poverty.
• Children in poverty are 1.3 times are more likely to have learning and developmental delays.
• Students in poverty are more often more than two years behind by 4^th

According to Eric Jensen (May 2013), we know students from low income families are less likely to engage in school.  Lack of effort or being unmotivated is often a lack of hope and is fostered by a give up attitude that they may be immersed in each day.  Living in poverty is difficult and the stress of the environment may spill over as a lack of optimism.  This lack of hope leads to a fixed mindset, a feeling that “it is not worth the effort.” This can be perceived as “lazy” by teachers. In actuality, it is a lack of belief that has occurred repeatedly and has become a mindset habit.

Connecting these statistics with brain research, there IS HOPE!  Within the last few years, we have come to understand that the brain is NOT a fixed entity much like a machine. Our brain is constantly changing based on our actions and thoughts.  The concept of our brain being able to change constantly is called neuroplasticity.  Plasticity is how our brain learns new information and how to do new activities. Our students need to know that their brain can change and is malleable. They can’t do it— YET!! Practice, effort, trying new strategies helps students move from can’t to can.

For example, when you are learning a new motor task, you utilize two sections of the brain called the SMA (Supplementary Motor Area) and the M1 (Primary Motor Area) which work together almost like a highway.  When you repeat the motor task and increase the blood flow to this area of the brain, you are also rousing impulses and sprouting axons and dendrites.  We know when you are creating dendrites, you are learning.  When we use this “highway” repetitively, we are creating a strong pathway and this makes the task much easier. Think about learning how to play the guitar. When you begin, the pathway is weak but with repetitive practice, the skill of playing the guitar becomes more fluent and quick.

With the same idea above, we can change a child’s fixed mindset to one of growth and hope. A person with a growth mindset believes they can work hard, practice and improve or get better. It is not just that you practice and you learn but that trying harder and attempting new strategies can help you succeed not only at the task at hand but in the future.

We need to teach our students the concept of neuroplasticity and that our brains are always changing.  Their actions can increase their abilities. Work to increase a positive attitude with students by always praising effort.  A mindset is not changed easily but with repetitive positive words that affirm effort will help to increase a student’s motivation.

When we encourage students to try—we have succeeded in helping them be successful. I am not encouraging empty praise but an increase in explicitly guiding students in what steps they can take to improve or succeed. With repetitive reinforcement that quitting is NOT an option but that there is HOPE for success—it just takes effort which brings GROWTH.  Thanks Taylorsville for your efforts toward teaching Growth Mindset.  Who knows—maybe we can move towards a mindset of no limits!

Think NO LIMITS!

Resources that inspired or were cited in this Blog:

Article (2014) by Margie Meacham entitled, “The Growth Mindset Starts in the Brain”:  https://www.td.org/Publications/Blogs/Science-of-Learning-Blog/2014/09/The-Growth-Mindset-Starts-in-the-Brain

Statistics from dosomething.org

Article (2013) by Eric Jensen enttitled, “How Poverty Affects Classroom Engagement.” Accessed on July 28, 2016.

Video from Sheridan College accessed on July 30, 2016:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vo-rcVMgbI