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Do The Next Right Thing, A Lesson For Educators
This holiday season Disney has graced us with another Frozen movie. So, our houses and classrooms are once again filled with carefully crafted, annoyingly catchy tunes. Perhaps most importantly, though is one particular theme woven into the storyline. In this video, I am unpacking a life lesson learned from a recent Disney movie and sharing three practical steps to make that magic happen.
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Constructing a Mini-Lesson: A 4 Part Framework
When my oldest daughter was four, she went through a dinosaur phase. All dinosaurs, all the time; it was impossible to discuss anything else. Throughout the year, we traveled as a family and she learned to read. Slowly, her interests began to broaden and develop, and now at the age of nine, while she is still fascinated by dinosaurs, she has an open mind about new information. New experiences and ideas allowed her to explore and, ultimately, find an appreciation for varying topics. Mini Lesson Framework: The same is true in our classrooms because students cannot think critically about nothing. Even in a learner-centered classroom, the teacher fills the critical…
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13 Tips To Improve Student Conferencing and Feedback #HackingPBL
I can’t clone you. I know you have 30 (sometimes more) kids in your class at a time and spending even 5 minutes with each individually would take an entire week of instructional time. What I can tell you, without reservation, is this time investment is worth it. Countless studies (especially the work of John Hattie) highlight the positive impact timely, specific feedback has on student self-efficacy and achievement. Even with this knowledge, finding the time to implement conferences remains a challenge. If you have spent any time thinking about student conferences, you have already come to realize that they must be brief – typically 3 to 5 minutes. A…
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Context is King
I have vivid memories of my high school chemistry class. I can almost feel the splintered wood chair beneath my legs and smell the sourish, sweet scent that filled the room (the origin of which, I never dared to ask). I was a fairly successful student, but chemistry left me flummoxed. After memorizing the elements on the periodic table and units of measurement (some of which may have been completely fabricated by our quirky teacher, as “Googling it” was at least 5 years in the future), it felt we spent the remainder of the year balancing equations and performing experiments completely disconnected from the work we completed at our seats.…
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Grit Does Not Apply To Worksheets
One of the things that really gets my nerd juices going is Angela Duckworth’s research on grit. I am personally a big fan of hard work, so this idea of grittiness really appeals to me. (I won’t be recounting the depth of her research here, but if you are interested, definitely check out her book or even better, have her read it to you). Duckworth’s work intrigues me because she has found that grit is one of the single most consistent predictors of success. Individuals who have the ability to show grit are far more likely to reach success and achieve goals. Duckworth defines grit as “the tendency to sustain…
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They Call My Daughter Bossy…
They call my daughter bossy. “Geez,” I think, “Guess I better fix that!” So, I observe my oldest daughter while she is interacting with peers, and I see this soon-to-be eight year old telling kids what to do, correcting others when they do something wrong, and always stating her own opinion. I wonder, “How do I fix bossy?” Do I tell her to worry only about herself? Should I tell her to mind her own business, when people do naughty things around her? Do I insist she keep her opinions to herself? In the long run, I feel that is all terrible advice. They call my daughter bossy, but maybe…
