Preventing Dropouts: National Teacher of the Year Speaks Out
Tony Mullen, National/Connecticut Teacher of the Year, speaking at the Governor's Dropout Prevention Summit in October.
Tony Mullen, 2009 Connecticut and National Teacher of the Year, is speaking tomorrow at a Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) conference. The conference is titled Career Pathways – Connecticut Connections, and is taking place in Waterbury.
Mullen will talk about the passion, professionalism, and perseverance it takes to reach vulnerable at-risk students, and the link between social and emotional aspects of learning and academic success. Reaching at-risk students is Mullen’s passion, and his reason for going into teaching after many years as an NYPD detective.
In October, Mullen was the keynote speaker at the Governor’s Summit on Dropout Prevention. He shared stories about his interactions with youth as a police officer and as a teacher, and talked about the support students need to succeed in the classroom and in life.
Listen to Mullen’s speech at the Dropout Prevention Summit, which he dedicated to members of a youth panel who were there that day. (22 minutes, 21 seconds)
Tomorrow’s Career Pathways conference will help educators from all subject areas to understand the connections between the classroom, the community, and business. It will highlight how Career Pathways can influence a student’s success, and will offer teachers community connections that will augment the curriculum. (More information here.)
Showing compassion is a major key to student success when they are with you in class and also in the future. All people work better when they are evaluated by other people who actually like them and care about them.
As we begin to expect children to go to school as early as 3 years old, I believe we are going to see a growing number of students drop out of school. As educators, we need to be sure to keep the joy in learning and remember that people are more important than data.
It’s a shame to see kids drop out of school. We need to make more of an effort as teachers to motivate kids and make them want to do well!