Tuttle Elementary School, Pre-K – 3rd, has about 600 students. We are a growing community in Oklahoma. Approximately 5 years ago the enrollment at Tuttle Elementary was around 380 students. We were named in the Daily Oklahoman as one of the top three school districts in student growth. With this in mind the staff and myself, the building principal, came to the realization that change is inevitable. In an ever changing world we are seeing a great number of students that learn at different rates, in different ways, and with different needs. Our staff embraced the idea that I personally heard from Dr. Mel Levine that all students come to school wanting to learn. That they do not come wanting to be different, or lazy, or they do not come wanting to be a discipline problem. It was an awaking to the staff that we as educators need to change our thought process and philosophy in order to adapt to our changing world at Tuttle. I sent 8 teachers last spring to the Schools Attuned workshop hoping to find a new approach and philosophy, after visiting a Schools Attuned Workshop at the Leadership Conference. The teachers came back with a sensational outlook and shared response to the strategies that they learned at the workshop. As a staff, we then decided to host a workshop that would educate the entire staff, and myself with the schools attuned philosophy. We are elated with the strategies and techniques learned that can be used daily within our classrooms. The neurodevelopmental constructs that each teacher has to work with allows them to see each student as an individual and more importantly that all students come to school wanting to learn. Our staff communicates on how best to educate or work with children using the same language. We feel that Schools Attuned has placed the staff on the same page with our outlook towards the future. Schools Attuned reinforced strategies that our careered teachers had been using and invigorated their drive to look at children as individuals with different constructs. We are looking forward to attuning children and becoming more educated and prepared to work with tomorrow’s leaders. Our new staff that has come on board will be professionally trained in the Schools Attuned program at the next available workshop.

Monique Blagowsky
Principal at Tuttle Elementary School, PreK-3rd