Strength's, Weaknesses and the American Way!

At our most recent LT meeting we discussed the strength's and weaknesses of the students in our division. Some the strengths that we listed included: resourceful, empathetic, advocating for self and others, passionate, fun and bravery. Some the weaknesses we recognized were: study skills, test taking ability, the "give up" and "I can't" attitude, lack of self-confidence, easily discouraged and the disconnect between advocacy and entitlement.

In our discussion we deduced that students often are not understanding the "purpose" of the work and how it affects their everyday world. The result of feeling a lack of "purpose" in their school work is either incomplete assignments or for some, no product at all. To address this issue we have agreed to provide "the purpose" behind our assignments for them. This means we will be even more direct (collectively) of how this assignment/lesson is relative to their everyday world. Answering questions of how they can use this or why this matters will become imperative in this process. Our hope is to track the results of students whom often fail to see the purpose in doing homework or finishing projects. We feel that if students can garner a better understanding of why the work itself is important, they may be more willing to partake in its completion.