I believe that focusing on the positive can usually give us the energy to fix what isn't right. When things are going positively it is much easier to have the 'oomph' to tackle any challenges that present themselves. On the other hand, sometimes completely focusing on the positive can cause a person to get into panic mode when an unexpected problem arises. That positivity may be viewed as a false sense of security at times.
Unfortunately, I think that people tend to focus on the negative because for some reason being able to complain about something provides a weird sort of gratification. We all know the people who are very vocal about the negative things in our school and struggle to find positivity in anything. It is easy to be sucked into those "Debbie Downers" and it can be hard to get out of that cycle when you get into it. I try to distance myself from those people when they get going. I feel my own views change depending on whether I surround myself with the Debbie Downers or with the more upbeat personalities. It's way more fun to be happy than to be crabby. Cheers!
Friday, March 27, 2015
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Look for Possibilities
This week our e-learning focus continued on Dewitt Jones and his feelings towards possibilities. We have to remember that even in the most challenging moments, if we can see just a glimmer of possibility, improvement can happen. We also need to push our selves beyond performing "good enough" and instead aim for something more.
I experienced a no-win situation last spring when I had squirrels in my ceiling.... YEP! I was renting an apartment and woke up to some light scratching a few nights in a row. Then one morning I was jolted awake but the loudest scratching ever! [Is your skin crawling yet?] I really thought something was coming through my ceiling. When I returned home from school I saw a 4 ft piece of soffit had been pulled down. I called my maintenance emergency and for some odd reason they didn't see this was an emergency. Hello, people! They spent the next several weeks trapping the squirrels and I slept on my couch most nights because of the scratching noises. I called during that time period to inquire about breaking my lease. They explained that I would need to find a subleaser or finish out my monthly payments through the end of the summer. I did not think anything was funny at the time but after they fixed the problem (finally....) and especially when I moved this summer, I get a kick out of the ridiculousness of the story. I also provided my coworkers with plenty of comic relief with my daily updates on my living conditions. We even joked that they were actually raccoons in the ceiling (also not nearly as funny at the time) and our gym teacher secretly had my class bring in all sorts of raccoon stuffed animals and put them all over my classroom.
I agree with Dewitt's statement that the opposite of scarcity isn't abundance, but rather possibility. I have always been a glass-half-full kind of person and I think Dewitt falls into that category as well. It is easy for people to give up because something is too difficult or probably won't work. Instead, I think it is a very powerful skill if we can encourage (or teach!) others to take a shot and see what happens. The worst that could happen is a failure and then you know how to make a change for the next attempt. I see this all the time in my classroom with kids scared to take risks. We started a new science curriculum this year and I'm taking all sorts of risks and my kids know that there is a good chance that things won't work like I plan since it's my first time doing the curriculum. We're all okay with that! In preparation for the conference, I want to inspire my attendees to try a little something new. I don't expect them to implement the grand scheme of guided math, but if they could take one strategy back to their classroom and have some positive results that would be awesome!
I experienced a no-win situation last spring when I had squirrels in my ceiling.... YEP! I was renting an apartment and woke up to some light scratching a few nights in a row. Then one morning I was jolted awake but the loudest scratching ever! [Is your skin crawling yet?] I really thought something was coming through my ceiling. When I returned home from school I saw a 4 ft piece of soffit had been pulled down. I called my maintenance emergency and for some odd reason they didn't see this was an emergency. Hello, people! They spent the next several weeks trapping the squirrels and I slept on my couch most nights because of the scratching noises. I called during that time period to inquire about breaking my lease. They explained that I would need to find a subleaser or finish out my monthly payments through the end of the summer. I did not think anything was funny at the time but after they fixed the problem (finally....) and especially when I moved this summer, I get a kick out of the ridiculousness of the story. I also provided my coworkers with plenty of comic relief with my daily updates on my living conditions. We even joked that they were actually raccoons in the ceiling (also not nearly as funny at the time) and our gym teacher secretly had my class bring in all sorts of raccoon stuffed animals and put them all over my classroom.
I agree with Dewitt's statement that the opposite of scarcity isn't abundance, but rather possibility. I have always been a glass-half-full kind of person and I think Dewitt falls into that category as well. It is easy for people to give up because something is too difficult or probably won't work. Instead, I think it is a very powerful skill if we can encourage (or teach!) others to take a shot and see what happens. The worst that could happen is a failure and then you know how to make a change for the next attempt. I see this all the time in my classroom with kids scared to take risks. We started a new science curriculum this year and I'm taking all sorts of risks and my kids know that there is a good chance that things won't work like I plan since it's my first time doing the curriculum. We're all okay with that! In preparation for the conference, I want to inspire my attendees to try a little something new. I don't expect them to implement the grand scheme of guided math, but if they could take one strategy back to their classroom and have some positive results that would be awesome!
Making Assessment a Learning Experience
Bruce Oliver and Paula Rutherford shared some great ideas about how to liven up our assessments in the classroom.
I chose to use the "Lifeline" method with my class. We took a Reading Assessment this morning that had some challenging comprehension questions on it. I told my students that I would be their "lifeline" and give them the answer to any one question they wanted. At first I had several kids pick either the longest question or the question with the longest multiple choice answers. I needed to explain that they should do all of the ones that they understood first and then go back and choose the one they thought was the most difficult.
This assessment piece worked out nicely since earlier in the week we talked about test anxiety and how often kids worried about tests. I think this lifeline gave them a moment to catch their breath since they didn't have to worry about the hardest question.
I also use my own "phone a friend" method during whole group instruction. If kids raise their hand the answer and don't quite get the answer they have the option to "phone a friend" to see if someone can add to their answer to make it more correct. This also lessens the pressure when asked to answer a question aloud.
I chose to use the "Lifeline" method with my class. We took a Reading Assessment this morning that had some challenging comprehension questions on it. I told my students that I would be their "lifeline" and give them the answer to any one question they wanted. At first I had several kids pick either the longest question or the question with the longest multiple choice answers. I needed to explain that they should do all of the ones that they understood first and then go back and choose the one they thought was the most difficult.
This assessment piece worked out nicely since earlier in the week we talked about test anxiety and how often kids worried about tests. I think this lifeline gave them a moment to catch their breath since they didn't have to worry about the hardest question.
I also use my own "phone a friend" method during whole group instruction. If kids raise their hand the answer and don't quite get the answer they have the option to "phone a friend" to see if someone can add to their answer to make it more correct. This also lessens the pressure when asked to answer a question aloud.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Recognize Abundance
To continue our conversation from last week about Dewitt Jones, this week we are exploring more about how we can recognize what we are already blessed with in our own lives.
It seems to me that the competition among kids is much higher than when I was going through elementary school. These kids are SO scheduled that some of them have an activity scheduled for every night of the week and then tournaments on the weekends. When did eight-year-olds transition into having schedules like varsity athletes? With some sports I have heard that if kids don't start in elementary school there isn't a chance for them to make the high school teams. What?? I miss the good old days when you could join a sport as a sophomore to try it out, have fun with your friends, and gain the skills of being on a team. It is ingrained from kids at an early age that if you aren't the winner then you are the loser and no one likes the losers. So much can be gained from those moments without success but instead kids are being shamed because of their not-perfect performance.
These sorts of things also follow people into adulthood. We all know of a person who still carries with them the lost in the semifinal game of whichever sport in high school. For some, that was over 30 years ago! In the professional world we succumb to the "dog eat dog" mentality where if you aren't the one "doing the eating you will most certainly be "eaten". People become overly authoritarian and struggle to do what's best for the group if doing what's best for the individual will propel their career. It is a hard cycle to break and I am afraid that it is only going to get worse as these little competitive kids transition into the future executives of companies.
It seems to me that the competition among kids is much higher than when I was going through elementary school. These kids are SO scheduled that some of them have an activity scheduled for every night of the week and then tournaments on the weekends. When did eight-year-olds transition into having schedules like varsity athletes? With some sports I have heard that if kids don't start in elementary school there isn't a chance for them to make the high school teams. What?? I miss the good old days when you could join a sport as a sophomore to try it out, have fun with your friends, and gain the skills of being on a team. It is ingrained from kids at an early age that if you aren't the winner then you are the loser and no one likes the losers. So much can be gained from those moments without success but instead kids are being shamed because of their not-perfect performance.
These sorts of things also follow people into adulthood. We all know of a person who still carries with them the lost in the semifinal game of whichever sport in high school. For some, that was over 30 years ago! In the professional world we succumb to the "dog eat dog" mentality where if you aren't the one "doing the eating you will most certainly be "eaten". People become overly authoritarian and struggle to do what's best for the group if doing what's best for the individual will propel their career. It is a hard cycle to break and I am afraid that it is only going to get worse as these little competitive kids transition into the future executives of companies.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
My Own Habits
In accordance with our Habits of Mind study, I have been able to reflect on how often I experience or model these habits in my own life. We did a survey to explore how strongly we exhibited behaviors that linked with the 16 Habits.
My two strongest habits were listening with understanding and empathy and finding humor. I am one of those people that hangs back and takes everything in. I usually prefer listening over taking the lead in a conversation. Because of that listening/observing characteristic, people find it very easy to talk to me and I am happy to be a sounding board. I then am able to help however I can and try to put their mind at ease. A lot of times people just need someone to nod and truly listen to what they have to say I also LOVE to laugh, even if it is at myself! I think there can be humor found in so many situations. There are times when you least expect to find humor, and when you do, it completely changes the feeling of that particular situation. A quote that definitely holds true for me is, "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
My two strongest habits were listening with understanding and empathy and finding humor. I am one of those people that hangs back and takes everything in. I usually prefer listening over taking the lead in a conversation. Because of that listening/observing characteristic, people find it very easy to talk to me and I am happy to be a sounding board. I then am able to help however I can and try to put their mind at ease. A lot of times people just need someone to nod and truly listen to what they have to say I also LOVE to laugh, even if it is at myself! I think there can be humor found in so many situations. There are times when you least expect to find humor, and when you do, it completely changes the feeling of that particular situation. A quote that definitely holds true for me is, "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Transformational Leader
James McGregor Burns defined transformational leadership as a process where "leaders and their followers raise one another to higher levels of morality and motivation."
I have decided that my transformational goal will be to be become a stronger voice on my staff. I have always been the one who is so flexible that I can almost always go-with-the-flow and choose not to get tangled up in those heated conversations that makes everyone's skin crawl. I am a rockstar tongue-biter! Going through this SMU program has given me the confidence to start sharing my viewpoints more often. The things we have learned and the leaps we have taken have given me the courage to give my opinion (especially when it ties in with the coursework we have worked so diligently on). I have certainly gotten "gutsier" even in the past few months. I feel that if I can get even one more person to view something from a different point-of-view, I will be making progress. Maybe my increased vocal present will encourage others to speak up when normally they don't. There are many more viewpoints present on my staff than are shared at meetings. It's time for some fresh input!
There is a new teacher at my school who is most definitely a transformational leader. She recently finished the her Master's degree through SMU in the K-12 Reading program. Emily came with so many great ideas and hasn't been afraid to share them despite being the "newbie". She has certainly held her own and has enlightened other teachers to re-examine how they have approached Literacy in their classrooms for many years. I am changing grades next year and am psyched for her to by my new teaching partner! We will be able to hold each other to high standards as well as push each other to keep up with best practices.
There is a new teacher at my school who is most definitely a transformational leader. She recently finished the her Master's degree through SMU in the K-12 Reading program. Emily came with so many great ideas and hasn't been afraid to share them despite being the "newbie". She has certainly held her own and has enlightened other teachers to re-examine how they have approached Literacy in their classrooms for many years. I am changing grades next year and am psyched for her to by my new teaching partner! We will be able to hold each other to high standards as well as push each other to keep up with best practices.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Servant Leadership
This week we read about what being a servant leader looks like. We looked at Larry C. Spears' 10 most important characteristics of servant leaders and chose one to focus on as a leadership goal.
I chose to focus on Building Community for my leadership goal. I have coordinated with our preschool teacher to have my students buddy up with the preschoolers to read Dr. Seuss books. We are practicing every day and even have the 5th graders help up us when we can (because Dr. Seuss books are challenging!) :-) Seeing the interactions with the the 5th graders has been awesome... they truly have taken on the role of teachers. I think it is important for my students to get the chance to be the "big kids" and share their skills with younger kids. I am really excited (as are my students!!) to read to the preschoolers next week. I think of how much my second graders look up to our 7th grade buddies and how these preschoolers will now look to my students with that sense of awe. If it goes well I hope to make this a regularly scheduled activity between the two classes.
Friday, March 6, 2015
Habits of Mind
This week we have really focused on the 16 Habits of Mind. We went through a list of a bunch of ways to bring the Habits of Mind to our school and ranked them as either Already Doing It, a Good Possibility, A Must (implement immediately), or Unlikely (it won't fly). I found myself marking several Unlikely because our school already just put a new behavior system in place that making a change right now would be a challenge. I think there is certainly the possibility in a few years when this one gets worn out. I am happy to say there were a good about of Alreadys and a lot of Possibilities. The list was very encouraging to read.
A Must that I choose to act on right away was to talk about heroes in my life and ask students to share heroes in their own lives. Our school uses the HERO acronym to remind us that we was to focus on Helping Everyone Respect Others. It is common for kids to point out HERO behavior but this week we put the 16 Habits of Mind spin on things. I had the kids pick one hero in their life and write a few sentences about why they were chosen. Then we looked at the 16 Habits and had kids write down a number (or several) on their paper of which Habits their hero showed. It was fun to listen to them talk about whether or not the hero displayed particular Habits. We then shifted to how we can be "Habit Heroes" at school and at home. This is something we can continue touching on for the rest of the year.
A Must that I choose to act on right away was to talk about heroes in my life and ask students to share heroes in their own lives. Our school uses the HERO acronym to remind us that we was to focus on Helping Everyone Respect Others. It is common for kids to point out HERO behavior but this week we put the 16 Habits of Mind spin on things. I had the kids pick one hero in their life and write a few sentences about why they were chosen. Then we looked at the 16 Habits and had kids write down a number (or several) on their paper of which Habits their hero showed. It was fun to listen to them talk about whether or not the hero displayed particular Habits. We then shifted to how we can be "Habit Heroes" at school and at home. This is something we can continue touching on for the rest of the year.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Believe It and You'll See It
On Saturday we viewed Celebrate What's Right with the World with our learning community. It was a National Geographic documentary where Dewitt Jones took us on a journey about looking closer at life's treasures. One of his taglines was "Believe it and you'll see it". I was instantly reminded of the quote from The Santa Clause movie, "Seeing isn't believing, believing is seeing". Such a great movie and who knew that it had a meaning that I could tie into my graduate degree!
I challenged myself to think back to a time when I believed in something and it happened. It was harder than I thought it would be! Eventually I thought about when I first learned to water ski. I was eight years old and had the awesome tied-together skis. My dad and uncles had all learned to ski at about seven years old so I was feeling more than capable. The first couple of times didn't work but I had all of my extended family cheering me on. I distinctly remember my dad and Uncle Chris holding my life jacket and giving me tips. I wanted to try one last time (because I was getting tired!) and put my mind to it. I yelled "Hit It!" and popped right out of the water. I could heard the cheers from the shore and did a nice little victory lap hanging on for dear life. I don't think I've ever had a bigger grin than when I was coming back towards shore to the cheers and applause.
How much of a hand did you have in creating the outcome you were hoping for?
I think I played a pretty big role in creating that outcome. If I had given up or not had my heart in it I don't think I could have done it at that moment. The support from my family certainly helped as well.
Do you agree with Dewitt's claim that we need to "believe it, and then we'll see it?"
I do agree with his claim. It won't always be the case but sometimes our biggest hurdle is our own inhibitions. If we can get past our own fears and be optimistic towards a goal I believe we have a better chance of seeing a pleasing end result. This isn't to say that there are moments when knowing you have a realistic goal and it is attainable. Sometimes seeing people succeed (thus believing it's possible) will light a fire in someone that maybe wouldn't have otherwise happened.
How closely linked is creativity with the idea that "you have to believe it and then you'll see it?" What is the implication for the conference? What is the implication for your students?
Creativity is a powerful thing. I think of the Art teachers in our learning community and how they go into so many assignments without any idea how it's going to go or what students will create. That feeling is very liberating when I experience it in my own classroom. When it comes to the conference, I have to believe that what I have to share will be meaningful to and appreciated by my attendees. If I second-guess myself I will show up less excited or willing to share. When it comes to my students, I need to be okay with putting forth effort without knowing exactly what the results will be. This ties in really well with my implementation with guided math. I had to dive right in, there wasn't much time to splash around in the kiddie pool :) I want to continue that frame of mind beyond May 9th and for the rest of my career.
I challenged myself to think back to a time when I believed in something and it happened. It was harder than I thought it would be! Eventually I thought about when I first learned to water ski. I was eight years old and had the awesome tied-together skis. My dad and uncles had all learned to ski at about seven years old so I was feeling more than capable. The first couple of times didn't work but I had all of my extended family cheering me on. I distinctly remember my dad and Uncle Chris holding my life jacket and giving me tips. I wanted to try one last time (because I was getting tired!) and put my mind to it. I yelled "Hit It!" and popped right out of the water. I could heard the cheers from the shore and did a nice little victory lap hanging on for dear life. I don't think I've ever had a bigger grin than when I was coming back towards shore to the cheers and applause.
How much of a hand did you have in creating the outcome you were hoping for?
I think I played a pretty big role in creating that outcome. If I had given up or not had my heart in it I don't think I could have done it at that moment. The support from my family certainly helped as well.
Do you agree with Dewitt's claim that we need to "believe it, and then we'll see it?"
I do agree with his claim. It won't always be the case but sometimes our biggest hurdle is our own inhibitions. If we can get past our own fears and be optimistic towards a goal I believe we have a better chance of seeing a pleasing end result. This isn't to say that there are moments when knowing you have a realistic goal and it is attainable. Sometimes seeing people succeed (thus believing it's possible) will light a fire in someone that maybe wouldn't have otherwise happened.
How closely linked is creativity with the idea that "you have to believe it and then you'll see it?" What is the implication for the conference? What is the implication for your students?
Creativity is a powerful thing. I think of the Art teachers in our learning community and how they go into so many assignments without any idea how it's going to go or what students will create. That feeling is very liberating when I experience it in my own classroom. When it comes to the conference, I have to believe that what I have to share will be meaningful to and appreciated by my attendees. If I second-guess myself I will show up less excited or willing to share. When it comes to my students, I need to be okay with putting forth effort without knowing exactly what the results will be. This ties in really well with my implementation with guided math. I had to dive right in, there wasn't much time to splash around in the kiddie pool :) I want to continue that frame of mind beyond May 9th and for the rest of my career.
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