Gwynne Toellner, from Shreveport, Louisiana, made headlines in her local community for her exemplary efforts working with at-promise students.  Ms. Toellner, a teacher at the Academic Recovery & Credit Discovery Center, is the recipient of the 2010 RAPSA Best Practices Award for Educators.

How can we as teachers, parents, counselors, and volunteers help teens fit in and feel comfortable in their own skin?  Teen self-esteem can determine their ability to succeed in school and through adolescence in general.  Wavering confidence and uncertainty about their own abilities, their body image, and their family life can draw negative feedback from peers, leading students to withdraw from activities and from developing relationships.

What do you do in your classroom or at your school site to create an environment where students feel confident?  How do you encourage positive self-esteem?  Share those ideas here in the RAPSA Lounge.

Being a parent is always easier when you’re not one.  The same can be true with teaching. 

Really?  How hard can it be?  The students just come into class, ready and eager to work.  Everyone is focused and on task, materials and homework proudly displayed.

What? That’s not the case? So, what are teachers to do? How can you create a place where your students want to come in, learn, share, and create?

Think about your ideal classroom environment.  Think about the physical location.  How do you set up your desks? What do you post on your walls?  What resources are available for your students? 

Now, think about when those desks are filled?  What attitude pervades your classroom?  How do students talk to each other?  How do they talk to you?  How do you know that learning is taking place, and what do you do when it’s obvious that your students are distracted?  How do you build and maintain rapport?