The Talent Development High Schools model provides coaching support and intensive professional development for teachers. In fact, professional development to support the model, paired with coaching, is a key component of TDHS. To learn more about what’s working well, from ideas for dealing with attendance and discipline issues to strategies for teaching specific skills and subjects, please select the link below to check out this month’s Strategy in Action, or choose a topic of interest from the archive.
Wells High School’s ninth-grade academy adopted its own version of the popular silicone wristbands to encourage and reward students for good behavior and positive activities.The marbled blue, white and silver bracelets -- in the colors of the three ninth-grade Houses, or teams – sport the motto, “Achievement,  Attitude, Attendance.” The motto reinforces the particular emphases of the academy, which opened in September with about 250 ninth-graders. Each ninth-grade teacher can award one bracelet a week – to a student who exhibits positive behaviors and attitudes that the academy staff encourages. “One teacher gave a student a bracelet for achieving 99 on a test,” recalled Patricia Annis, TDHS organizational facilitator at the Chicago school. “Another had a chronically absent student who did not miss a day in several weeks – warranting a bracelet.” Students may earn multiple bracelets, and teachers and staff wear them in support of the project. The Chicago teachers’ union bought the wristbands for the school.The incentive bracelets were Annis’ idea. “I was looking for a creative reward, something besides the usual certificate or pencil, something fun.” |
