Comments on: Doubt

By: damian

damian — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 19:33:28 +0000

@Melissa: Thanks for your kind words & your suggestions; all worthy of effort (especially the differentiation one, a pet cause/peeve of mine). I’m interested by your differentiation between psychologist & educator, though – although I’m not a classroom teacher anymore, I guess I’ve never stopped thinking of myself as an educator. Maybe I’m wrong?

@Marcy: As I detailed in the post, I have done a few things to meet needs where I’ve seen them, but I’d like to know from teachers if I’m missing anything. As far as passions go… wow. Good question. This is hard to say, but I’m not entirely sure how they align with my job as the state of New Jersey has seen fit to define it (the job description of a school psych varies from state to state). I guess maybe that’s an inherent limitation of working in a position where I’m not in direct contact with students daily like a classroom teacher.

By: Marcy Webb

Marcy Webb — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:43:23 +0000

I don't know. I think a more useful question for you is: How do your passions connect to and align with your role as a school psychologist?Another question is: What are the needs in your school which are currently unmet that you could fill? .-= Marcy Webb´s last blog ..Fun Resource for Middle School Foreign Language =-.

By: Melissa Techman (mtechman)

Melissa Techman (mtechman) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:34:16 +0000

Your questions and desire to see better things underscores your worth as a psychologist who is definitely still an educator! As a librarian, I share some of the same “how can I do more?” concerns. People in our roles see many (in my case, all) students. If you were in my school, here are some things I’d love to see you start or encourage or support:
*teaching about how civility needs to be the most important part of everyone’s persona – in digital footprint and in face-to-face interactions
*activities that give learners the energy to be more intellectually curious
*real commitment to bringing the world in and sending the students (and their products, questions, etc.) out
*increased support for the anxious – I know this is a tough one, but I see a lot of this in secondary schools and sometimes having a very visible support group triggers fear.
*helping parents and community to support the arts in school
* helping the school community to come up with more choices for students – beyond electives!
* fighting the complacent “tracking = differentiation” idiocy. My son told me that within his honors classes, there was no allowance made for students who don’t need homework as an incentive to read, reason and write.

You have a unique role; as an educator, you can teach faculty and students in ways that encourage real growth and as a psychologist, you can insist on change that yields a more flexible system for the benefit of students who need to be functional, active learners. I’m betting you’re already doing a terrific job.
Melissa

By: damian

damian — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:12:27 +0000

Thanks, Dan. Here are a few other school psychs in the Twitterverse:

* seanjonesfoto
* TriniGrlatHeart
* studentsgrow
* DLB_77

Andrea, if you’re reading, feel free to add yourself to this list – I can’t find your Twitter username for the life of me.

By: Dan Callahan

Dan Callahan — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:40:33 +0000

I have a school psych in my PLN bootcamp. When we get to Twitter, you're the first person I'm going to tell him to follow. .-= Dan Callahan´s last blog ..This week’s comments elsewhere (weekly) =-.