Author | Lightnews

Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 21

I think a lot of others have experienced bullying in their life as some point, so we know how tough it is to deal with. Because we’ve seen the signs ourselves, we must do our part to uplift our students and create a healthy school culture to ensure everyone is happy and healthy #teachered #safespace

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 21

They need support, love, care, and help. A lot of students subjected to bullying don’t know who they can turn to, feeling like things might get worse if they tell others. At the end of the day we as educators must ensure that our students are comfortable to share things so that we can fix them.

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 21

Theatre is collaborative and takes a village to create! We as artists and educators must strive to create an environment where students feel safe to be themselves

Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 21

The largest challenge is the feeling like the wellbeing of your students is in jeopardy. I mentioned elsewhere that it’s hard to control behavior while also watching my students perform. I want to create a culture of safety and growth but sometimes students have other ideas. #teachered #safespace

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 21

Mostly, just ensuring that people are quiet. The biggest challenge is wanting to watch the performers and give feedback while also controlling the class. It’s my first year, so it’s difficult to manage currently, but I’m confident that just by establishing the correct environment I’ll succeed !

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 21

Conferences with guidance counselors while also offering mediation between those that seemed to have issues. It’s hard enough acting in front of a class while also seeing people who already judge you laugh because you’re trying to create. #dramaed #teachered #safespace

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 21

A lot of the challenges I faced with in the classroom. Being a performance class, students are sometimes really scared to perform in front of others. This led to some situations where others would laugh at those trying to create works of art, I would address this by calling parents and setting up…

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 21

One practice I’d like to start stronger with next year is communicating with parents more often. What are you suggestions for ways to work with families aside from calls or emails?

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 21

I really enjoyed creating the newsletter for our alt route assignment. This is a great way to get in touch with families and inform them about the dangers that bullying brings while facilitating a respectful environment both in school and at home. #teachered #safeschools

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 21

Working as a team in the arts is super important. I like to tell a little joke to my students saying they don’t go to the movies just to chat the whole time, so they shouldn’t while we are performing either!

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 21

One of the first things I do in class explain to the students that it is a safe space. In order to perform to the best of our ability, we must respect one another’s strengths AND weaknesses, because learning is all about growth. Confidence in one another helps us all excel. #teachered #safeschools

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 21

Will Horner
Drama Teacher K-8! #dramaed

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 14

Shoutout to you for the Halo and Mass Effect reference!

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 14

#teachered #edtech big takeaway for me is seeing how many other teachers struggle to overcome some of the barriers in using tech. Student usage of AI is a huge problem yes, but one we can counteract if we learn about it properly and use it as a tool instead of a crutch

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 14

#teacherEd #EdTech I mostly use email to get in contact with parents and reach out not just with negative things but the positive ones too. There’s an application called Class Dojo which I think is the penultimate tool for tracking progress, behavior, needs, and just communicating in general

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 14

#teacherEd #Edtech there’s plenty of benefits to using tech like ease of reaching information quickly ability to track things like grades, and nearly endless resources for the content you teach But challenges when teaching like distractions the students can get into or AI usage can make things tough

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 14

Collaboration is a huge part of not just how our students learn but also us educators. We use Microsoft teams in our arts program to pass along information like benchmark data, PD dates, and opportunities to learn or participate in the arts. #teacherEd #EdTech

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 14

AI usage is a huge problem for me too. Instead of using it as a tool to inspire creativity they use it to do the work for them so they can get to other things, it’s a concerning trend in education.

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 14

By far biggest barrier for me is getting certain students to do the assignment rather than playing games or watching YouTube. Luckily, we have an app called GoGuardian which allows us to see what they’re doing and keep them on track. #teacherEd #EdTech

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 14

#teacherEd #EdTech I use technology to post assignments and resources for my students to use. Because certain assignments we do are so personal, I allow them to select a performative piece that they think they’ll do well and offer opportunities for them to learn how to practice it correctly 🎭

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Jun 14

Will Horner Drama teacher K-8!
🎭

Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Apr 26

This is a great summary and honestly really Inspiring answer !

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Apr 26

Biggest takeaway for me is seeing how many others agrees that confidence is the core issue in growth. They are scared of how others will view them and feel like they would rather be seen as lazy than stupid. We as teachers need to help uplift our students and inspire confidence in them to try hard

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Apr 26

Love a good positivity Sandwich

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Will Horner @actsofwill.bsky.social · Apr 26

The students also get feedback from one another, which a lot of the time, is even more effective than when it comes from me. I believe the students value how their peers see them more than how I see them

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