Just a heads up: this is not a “deep” blog post. It is not even going to be very long. I am about to see my youngest at college this weekend and I am already wishing the weekend won’t end, so now that I have set the mood. I am sure that you have been to dinner with good friends and it’s time to pay…
Articles, posts and tweets about recruiting and encouraging teacher leaders are often focused towards school administrators. How can school leaders find and guide teachers to be leaders in their divisions or grade levels. Lately, many of these posts and tweets are concentrating on developing technology leaders among the faculty. What about those teachers, who quietly lead their grade levels and schools. The ones who remain…
Schools in Florida had just begun the school year when Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas. My partner in EdTech EASE, Michael Hughes, texted me about a project that he just completed with the 5th graders in my former school. After receiving an email from the Head of School who had lived-in Houston for many years, Michael “asked him to relay his personal stories (to…
Today’s world is focused on connections. Connections we have. Connections we are making and those we are working on making. Just look to Social Media to see the importance our culture places on connections. Education is also about making connections. Within our classrooms we connect with students. We connect with their strengths. We connect with their potential. How can educators connect? Several months ago, I…
I was shopping in a local supermarket that is a big sponsor of youth soccer. They had a poster displayed that talked about tenacity, among other attributes. The obvious take away is that by playing youth soccer a child will become tenacious as well as the other attributes. This got me thinking about tenacity and how one develops it and how to teach it. Now…
For teachers it is a daunting task to start a school year. The questions that must be answered are abundant. From the practical, ‘What will go on this bulletin board,’ to the pedagogical, ‘How will I inspire these young learners.’ But the big question is…how to make this disparate group of individuals into a class community? How can I create a safe haven for these students…
Random Acts of Kindness are not random when you create a calendar to follow. Often posts found on teacher sharing sites show bulletin boards designed to encourage acts of kindness. These bulletin boards may direct students to pull off a sticky note with an act of kindness for them to do. On the surface this sounds like a wonderful idea, promoting positive social interactions in…
As I support my son in preparing his applications for a Masters in Education, I have found myself thinking of this question… What do I want for him? As a mom, I want him, and his siblings, to have fulfilling careers that they will one day share with supportive spouses and adorable kids for me to spoil. As an educator, my answer is more about what…
Originally posted on Wednesday, 28 June 2017 Professional Development on Your Time, PDOYT, is my new mantra. In fact, on the daily email I sent out to faculty each morning, PDOYT was a new section. Rather, it was a newly titled section that seemed to resonate with the teachers. As we enter the summer, “relaxation”, season how can we use PDOYT to continue learning and…
Originally posted on Sunday, 25 June 2017 I am not a poet. In fact, I never liked poetry until I read Shel Silverstein to my sons. I loved listening to them laugh at the silliness. Then tell me what they thought about the poems and why they made them laugh. As a Kindergarten teacher, I realized the beauty of poetry. I started Poetry Tuesdays and…
