Southwest Minnesota Reading Council
Southwest Minnesota Racing Council
Officers
President
Cynthia Whaley, Ph.D.
Vice President
Sonja Vierstraete,Ph.D
Secretary
Beth Wolf
Treasurer
Jon Roux
Membership / Publicity
Brenda Resch
Raeleen Grein
Fall Newsletter
Southwest Minnesota Reading Council News –Fall 2018 News from the President
President’s Message
Hello Literacy Educators,
As I was thinking about a topic for my message, I chose to write about another “R” that is so critically connected to the other
three. The other three began with the one room school and flourishes yet today-reading, writing, and arithmetic. What is that
other “R” you might ask? The fourth “R” is relationships. I was reading and re-reading some of my Educational Leadership
journals from my membership with ASCD and was reminded through some collective wisdom of authors published in the
September 2016 issue of Educational Leadership concerning the 4th R. Here are the quotes found in this issue:
1. The most urgent questions students ask as they begin a new school year are, Am I safe? And, Do I belong?
Witnessing our students outside normal classroom and school contexts reveals something closer to their true selves. It’s
gold.
We are more willing to invest in students when we feel connected to them. -Rick Wormeli
4. Care is in the eyes of the receiver; care doesn’t exist unless those being cared for truly experience it. -Elizabeth Bondy 5. The first rule of respect is that no one in the school is invisible. -Tim Westerberg
7. Don’t waste the first week or first months-establish relationships, not just routines. -Caitlin Tucker
2. Fostering positive relationships with traumatized children starts with recognizing that early adversity has played a role in
their neural development. - Susan Craig
3. If you find yourself frustrated with a student, try to find something that you genuinely like and respect about that student,
and repeat it to yourself. -Lisa Medoff
6. Let your students see that you are not perfect. Let them know that you made mistakes along the way, and tell them how
you overcame those mistakes. -Robert Jackson
The joy of building relationships with each and every one of your students goes a long way in making them lifelong literacy
learners. Your literacy planning, instructing, and assessing will be more effective because you will really know your students
as you help them grow as readers and writers throughout their educational journey at school and beyond!
Thanks, and I, along with the SWMRC Executive Board, look forward to seeing you at the SWMRC Fall Conference in Windom. We look forward to enjoying Michelle Weber’s presentation with all of you!
Cindy
Council Literacy Projects: SWMRC continues to support international literacy outreach in China as well as purchasing books for new parents through the Books for Babies community shower in the New Ulm, MN area. A free-will offering will be collected at the Fall Conference to help enhance these programs.
Spring Conference Highlights- Thanks to all of you for being flexible and allowing us to change our evening with Avi. He entertained the audience by sharing excerpts from several of his books. He enlightened us with the background behind the books; The Button War, The Player King, and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. What an opportunity to share time with this Newbery Award winning author!
Contact Us
Brenda at bmresch6@gmail.com