This past weekend, Mr. Marshall put forward his ideas at the Challenge Success Conference, addressing the decrease of participation in the classroom.

This conference aims to help students and teachers network and present new ideas to others.

These conferences can be beneficial, as they allow schools to implement best practices for homework, class time, schedules, etc. Dawson’s Challenge Success Team recently attended the conference at Stanford University and found it inspiring. A few weeks later, another conference took place in Massachusetts, where Mr. Marshall attended for the second time in three years, but this time as a presenter.

Mr. Marshall believes that these events can help foster discussion about what is important in schools today. Specifically, Mr. Marshall focused on his belief that kids today are less willing to participate in class discussions and activities, remarking, “We’ve seen steady decrease in participation.” To Mr. Marshall, this conference mainly helped affirm his beliefs that he came to the conference with, and many teachers and students agreed that it is a problem worldwide. Mr. Marshall, along with sharing and affirming his findings, also found value in hearing others saying he has “picked up on a few strategies” from hearing others’ viewpoints.

This coming together and affirming of beliefs helped show that the trends here at Dawson as it relates to classroom behavior are consistent with what is happening in other schools around the nation.