| Enjoy these brand new, knock-your-socks off | | | | legendary musician, who overcame enormous |
| motivation-makers from Youth Change | | | | difficulty to reach his dreams. A good follow-up |
| Professional Development Workshops. We're the | | | | activity: ask students to read about Les Paul's |
| experts at showing you exactly how to | | | | determination. |
| turnaround challenging and special ed students. | | | | It's Your Choice: Twice the Pain or Twice the |
| These new devices are perfect for special ed | | | | Gain? |
| students, and we're designed with them in mind. If | | | | Hopefully you've already been teaching your |
| you're a special education teacher or teacher's | | | | students that being a high school dropout is like |
| aide, you should find our methods to be the | | | | starting their race through life miles behind |
| perfect fit for your unmotivated students. These | | | | everyone else. As we've told you in past issues |
| methods motivate, motivate, motivate! | | | | of this blog, dropouts are the last hired and the |
| It Slices! It Dices! It Graduates! | | | | first fired. When economics are rough like right |
| This intervention can be used in dozens of ways. | | | | now, dropouts suffer disproportionately. Here is |
| It's a play on the type of glib, hard-to-forget | | | | just one example. The higher the education level, |
| slogans you hear in infomercials. It's a big hit at | | | | the lower the unemployment rate. That may |
| our workshops. Here's the strategy-- but | | | | happen because grads have more education and |
| remember that you don't have to use this | | | | skills to fall back on. How disproportionate does it |
| method verbally-- it also works really well as a | | | | get? Dropouts' unemployment is about twice that |
| sign, poster, card, name tag, door hanger, t-shirt, | | | | of peers who graduate-- and just one more of a |
| or even as a note on your board. Say: "Ask me | | | | million reasons to finish school. |
| how to earn $329,000." (That is how much more | | | | There's No "Q" in Classroom |
| students will earn if they get a high school | | | | This intervention would work best as a poster on |
| diploma.) | | | | your wall. Write "There's no QUIT in this |
| You Have the Power | | | | classroom. How can I help you succeed?" Next, |
| Here are some inspiring words to urge your | | | | dialogue with students about how you can assist |
| students to finish school. These words could be | | | | them throughout this school year-- even when |
| on a poster on your wall, or they can be used | | | | they feel like quitting because a task is hard, or |
| verbally. These words are intended for use with | | | | they are faced with other kinds of problems. This |
| students who are in crisis, using substances, | | | | is a perfect intervention for work refusers. Work |
| self-destructive, or involved in self-harming | | | | refusers tend to be a very hot topic in our live |
| behaviors. Say: "The same power that you have | | | | workshops. We spend hours on them. If you can't |
| to destroy yourself, you have to save yourself." | | | | attend a live inservice course with us, hopefully |
| The words are attributed to Les Paul, the | | | | this intervention will help a bit. |