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JJHouse
JJHouse
Staying Positive
Dec 8 2008, 8:05 PM EST | Post edited: Dec 8 2008, 8:05 PM EST
I can appreciate the 'working with schools' ideas presented in Jo's book both from personal and professional experience. I’m a big supporter of 'positive interaction' models and approaches for both classroom management and parent-teacher communication (while obvious sounding, a positive approach in the classroom seems to be challenging to maintain). As such, I worry about the process of 'advocating' becoming 'adversarial' if there's a lack of experience and skill in, and recognition of, identifying and building on teacher, student and parent positives, such as 'what is working well' in the classroom, and at home.

I also notice, from my own personal parent - teacher conferences (as the parent), I often have to initiate a focus on my kids’ positives but once I do, the conversation shifts and there's a deeper understanding of learning.

How do we help ensure that our advocacy isn’t seen as, or actually doesn’t become, adversarial between schools and communities? And has anyone heard of specific ‘positive classroom practice’ models that could apply to community – school advocacy as well?
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