3 Key Messages
The 3 Key Messages slogan is an effort based memo that details success can be achieved through targeted/best practices and effective effort. The message is based off the Skillful Teacher platform and is designed to communicate a base for skill development. The following is a detail of the 3 Key Message platform.
This is Important!
Students need to know the importance of the material they are learning: buy-in and relevance. At the middle school level, students are beginning to enter into the developmental stage where actions have consequences: students can plan for the future by altering their current status.
By alerting the student population to the relevance and importance of the intended learning objective/s, the teacher has already planted a seed to future engagement.
Give It Context, and Make It Count
Studies published in the journals Nature; Science; and Mind, Brain, and Education support this idea, and a solid amount of research also links personal relevance and emotional engagement to memory storage.
Students need a personal connection to the material, whether that's through engaging them emotionally or connecting the new information with previously acquired knowledge (often one and the same). Without that, students may not only disengage and quickly forget, but they may also lose the motivation to try.
You Can Do It With Effective Effort!
Students need to know the difference between unorganized effort and that of purposed intent. The Effective Effort Principle is divided into the following six segments: time, focus, resourcefulness, strategies, use of feedback, and commitment.
Children’s learning is primarily determined by their effective effort and use of appropriate strategies. “Intelligence” is not a fixed, inborn limit on learning capacity. All children have the raw material to do rigorous academic work at high standards. Teachers who have internalized these beliefs believe it is their responsibility to:
- Communicate belief and confidence messages to students
- Constantly reexamine their practices in light of student results
- Explicitly and implicitly teach their students how to mobilize effective effort
- Teach their students strategies for successful learning
If we implement Virginia Tiered System of Supports (VTSS) without acting authentically from this belief, the structures of extra instruction for students functioning in lower tiers cannot succeed. We need to convince the students we believe in their capacity and they can actually increase their ability with effective effort at the same time as we do the re-teaching.
I Will Not Give Up On You!
Let students know that you will not give up on them, even if they give up on themselves. Success is dependent on effort, not necessarily an inborn talent or genius.
We want our students to know that with effective effort comes success. Students have the ability to change the course of their life, regardless of their external environments and/or circumstances.
At HCMS, we will "Be The One" that engages students and make learning relevant, support students to apply their efforts to the result of increased productivity, and not give up on them.
Watch the video below for a brief overview of these key messages. Please note, the following video is not produced by the Skillful Teacher series; however, there is a close association between the topics covered in Dalton Sherman's speech and that of the Three Key Messages forwarded by the Research for Better Teaching (RBT).
Credits:
Created with images by bazza - "lion wild cat" • Patrick Denker - "Important Message" • bycfotografem - "man male boy" • succo - "first aid save bear" • Danny Chapman - "Hand"