Time to think?

Renowned speaker Zig Ziglar said, "lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem; we all have 24 hour days." We've all heard people say, I don't even have time to think! Yet it's true--we all get the same 24 hours. Perhaps that thinking time is what's truly missing?

What if we stopped managing time and made time? Be makers people, be makers.

Here's to wishing you some much needed think-time!

Not Child's Play

Ever ask your students to represent their thinking with a cartoon? It's definitely not child's play. A worthy challenge, it can be fun too.

 "Inside a Cartoonist's World" by Liza Donnelly

How do we create life-long learners?

Teaching curiosity is key to creating life-long learners. The links between curiosity and creativity and critical thinking are undeniable. This short video poses some interesting ideas and strategies for teaching all three. What will you inspire your students to be curious about this year? And how will they inspire you?

Creating Learners

Recently, we coaches spent a day with all the Junior High teachers in our school division. We enjoyed the opportunity to talk to them about building a collaborative culture and we feel immense gratitude for their insights and ideas. They have such an important job!

One of our activities was to define the ideal skills and attributes of a student. Using a bit of backwards design, we hoped to encourage teachers to visualize the type of learner they, through their influence, want to create. The wordle says it all.

What kind of students do you want to create?

TL;DR? No prob.

SMMRY

Internet slang has a clever word for it: TL;DR (too long; didn't read). We agree. That's why we teachers need options for summarizing digital text. The screen snip explains it all. Check out the link. It's magic!

Chicken or Egg? Egg or Chicken?

John Antonetti's Engagement Cube

We've all been asked which came first: the chicken or the egg? One of the reasons this question engages us is because it provokes debate. It challenges and exposes our thinking about a variety of things, and everyone seems to have a different theory. 

Speaking of engagement, Dr. Douglas Willms asks a great chicken-egg type question for us educators. In the great debate about how to best engage our disengaged youth, he poses this: does engagement increase achievement OR does achievement increase engagement? 

Dr. Willms' research reveals that "achievement begets engagement." What do you think? 

After 34 years, what is teaching?

What do you love about teaching?

Recently we coaches spent a day with our new staff (a wonderful combination of both beginning teachers and teachers new to our school division) at our orientation call-back day. We asked them: what do you love about teaching? We think what they said is good inspiration for all teachers. 

• I love the dynamic atmosphere of the classroom, things aren’t the same from one class to another or even one day to another in the same class.
• The student process from “I have no idea what I am doing” to “I got it!”
• Building relationships with students.
• I learn a lot in the process of teaching.
• I love meeting new people.
• I love creating relationships and seeing the light in a student’s eyes when they come to an understanding!  (epiphany)
• Seeing “the lightbulb” come on for students.  This moment is WHY I teach.
• The moment when everything clicks!
• I love smiling faces you encounter every day :)
• I love being creative - I get paid to be creative!
• AHA moment, I get it, Yes!
• I love interacting with the students; being able to hear and respond to what gets the students questioning.
• I love seeing the students learn and apply what they have learned outside the class.
• I love meeting students years later and they have a “remember when we…” story.
• The contact with the students.
• Having an impact on children’s lives and having connections with students.
• I love the schedule, always doing something new, working indoors during winter, the amount of resources for professional development.
• The enthusiasm some kids have for the material.
• Being able to share my faith everyday and celebrating our “God moments” together as a class.
• Being with children.
• I love going to work each day and finding I learn something new.

But first, seek strengths.

Surviving the Polar Bear Plunge

As teachers, we all experience students who challenge us: our patience, our thinking, our beliefs, our routines. Buttons DO get pushed.

These sorts of experiences can be very difficult yet also incredibly formative and no matter the outcome, they help prepare us for future challenges. It may seem impossible at the time but sometimes these sorts of conflicts can even result in surprising outcomes where students return one day and say, "Thanks for not giving up on me."

But in the middle of it when it seems like there's simply no patience left, how do we foster positive change? There's a saying: "You don't drown by falling in the water, you drown by staying there." Challenges require action for change to occur especially when we feel overwhelmed. So what next?

Don't face this alone. Seek support. Then seek strategies. But first, seek strengths.

Strengths? Really? In his book Hanging In, veteran educator Jeffrey Benson recommends beginning with a total shift in thinking: identify the student's every possible strength.

Think about that.

It's easy to see what a student can't do but what can a student do? Start there. Start there with any student. When we begin with strengths we can create a relationship and with a relationship we can have influence.