What is Teacher Challenge: A series of optional challenges that teachers could participate in that were intended to help them grow as educators and human beings

Building Relationships Make 5 positive phone calls home. This challenge was done in August to help establish a positive relationship with students as well as parents.

Collaboration The teachers were asked to read an article titled, “What to do in Week One?” and collaborate with a colleague about the article. http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept16/vol74/num01/What-to-Do-in-Week-One%C2%A2.aspx Again, this challenge was used to establish a positive classroom environment during the first week of school and also get teachers talking to each other.

Learning from Peers Teachers were asked to complete a peer observation. I know I have learned a great deal when observing other colleagues. I wanted teachers the opportunity to watch their peers and try to incorporate something they observed in their classrooms.

Staying Upbeat The 4th challenge was another article for teachers to read. This article was about teacher burnout, its signs, and how to help prevent it. http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2014/05/20/ctq-pillars-signs-of-solutions-for-burnout.html As we came back from winter break, crunch time really set in. There were midyear goal reviews, upcoming SOLs and an array of other stressors. I wanted to give teachers information to help them through this tough time.

Honoring This challenge was for teachers to watch a three minute video titled, “World Without Teachers”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN3iLeq1828 This was one of my favorites. I asked the teachers to watch the video above. This was a way to show the teachers that they are inspiring and respected.

You are Important This was a follow up to the inspirational video for teachers. This video was titled “A Pep Talk from Kid President to You”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-gQLqv9f4o I asked the teachers to show this video to their students as an inspiration for them.

Inspirational I asked the teachers to send me their favorite inspirational quote. I created a slideshow with the quotes and showed the students during their lunch shifts. This was my favorite of all the challenges. During the slideshow the students were silent and focused on the quotes. I feel it was the most impactful. The teachers loved it as well.

Sharing Ideas The teachers were asked to read an article that pertained to disruptive behavior. They were then asked to discuss the article at their next grade level meeting. http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/dealing-with-classroom-disruptions.shtml I saw an influx of referrals and wanted to give the teachers strategies to help with classroom discipline. I also asked the teachers to talk about the article to elicit conversation with their peers.

Thinking of Others Bring in items to send a care package to a faculty member that is on deployment Not all challenges dealt with school issues. One of our faculty members was deployed for a year and I wanted to show that we support him and are thinking about him. We sent the package the last day of school.