It amazes me that in a place that is basically closed for the summer, we have decided to paint during the school year. It is one of those things that are not a big deal to the decision makers because it only impacts students and teachers.
Whenever you change classrooms it throws off instruction since students go to the wrong room first, which gets many of them their late. As a teacher you do not know the technology in the room that you get, and for the other teacher, you are now occupying their room that they used to prepare.
When you comeback you have to set up your room, hope that it does not smell of paint, which might impact some students, and then reset your stuff so that it can work the next day.
Typically the administrative response is that it is only one day. It amazes me how flippant they are with one day of instruction. I am often tempted to put my feet on my desk, tell the kids to take a nap, when the administrators come in. When they question this I can say only one day.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Friday, September 26, 2014
three good things
The role of education is to invest in human capital so that each citizen is more productive. Economists would agree that if a country is more productive that country's standard of living will increase.
Now there is a lot of research showing increased productivity of people who are happy. Psychologist suggest that your brain is 31% more productive when you are happy. Think about how little you accomplish when you are angry. In studying successful companies research has shown that companies that are very profitable have a ratio of 3 positive statement to one negative.
When I walk around the room, I often see students struggling more with answering what three good things happened in the last 24 hours than the drill I that I gave them. Recently one students asked me to reduce it to one good thing so that they would not have to think so hard about it.
Walking through the halls of school, it seems that there are more negatives than positive conversations. From my boyfriend is a jerk, to how stupid are these nametags that we have to wear.
If our goal in education is to make our students more productive citizens than should one of our goals to also make sure of their mental well-being. So I ask should our schools be focusing on our mental well being as much as our mastery of content? Can we change our school so that we hear three positive statements for every negative?
Look forward to hearing your responses
Look forward to your reply
Now there is a lot of research showing increased productivity of people who are happy. Psychologist suggest that your brain is 31% more productive when you are happy. Think about how little you accomplish when you are angry. In studying successful companies research has shown that companies that are very profitable have a ratio of 3 positive statement to one negative.
When I walk around the room, I often see students struggling more with answering what three good things happened in the last 24 hours than the drill I that I gave them. Recently one students asked me to reduce it to one good thing so that they would not have to think so hard about it.
Walking through the halls of school, it seems that there are more negatives than positive conversations. From my boyfriend is a jerk, to how stupid are these nametags that we have to wear.
If our goal in education is to make our students more productive citizens than should one of our goals to also make sure of their mental well-being. So I ask should our schools be focusing on our mental well being as much as our mastery of content? Can we change our school so that we hear three positive statements for every negative?
Look forward to hearing your responses
Look forward to your reply
Sunday, September 14, 2014
GRIT
Dr. Angela Duckworth has done a lot of research that shows there is a high correlation between GRIT and future success in school and work. If one of the purposes of school is for us to make students successful than we should really spend time focusing on how to make them more gritty.
Recently, after giving a test, I had many students who came to me to tell me that they have never scored that low on any test in their four years of high school. Most of them however, were not excited about the challenge but threatened by it. The summer assignment in which we watched a video of mindset, was quickly forgotten, and instead of looking at this as an opportunity to learn they just went into the mode of economics is too hard for me.
True learning is a struggle, often frustrating and many times boring. When you find someone who excels at anything they have struggled at times, been frustrated and probably been bored with the field that they now excel. We often see the end product and do not see the work that has went on behind the scenes. With athletes we are not privy to the practices that force them to turn weaknesses into strengths, with students we do not see how many books they have read, problems that they have solved, places that they have visited, hours that they have studied, to get to the point where school seems easy.
Our system is not set up to help students get gritty. Many seniors are worried about their GPA's as they are thinking about the college process. Others are worried about parental pressure and then some are worried about what their peers will think of them. All of these lead to students becoming defensive about academic struggles instead of embracing them. Truthfully, what better time to struggle than in high school, where you still get teacher support, and parental support. When you go to college you are most often struggling on your own. I realize that students are struggling on their own since many e-mail me with questions instead of their own professors.
I know in previous years I have kids who have struggled in AP economics at the start. Last year many of them wrote me during the summer telling me how proud they were about their scores. While they admitted that they often doubted themselves they now went into college with a greater confidence in both their academic ability and their ability to preserver.
As educators, parents and students, we need to teach students to embrace challenges, not penalize them for it. They need to realize that the grade is not as important as learning to overcome the frustration. That colleges do not make their decisions on one grade, but want students who show an ability to overcome adversity. Colleges often ask teachers to respond to this on the recommendation letter.
It is tough being gritty, staying on the treadmill is a hard thing to do. The fact that you thought for a second to quit, that I never will be good at this, is natural. As teachers, parents and friends we need to support our students so that they realize that we will help them stay on the treadmill.
Thoughts and comments are always appreciated.
Recently, after giving a test, I had many students who came to me to tell me that they have never scored that low on any test in their four years of high school. Most of them however, were not excited about the challenge but threatened by it. The summer assignment in which we watched a video of mindset, was quickly forgotten, and instead of looking at this as an opportunity to learn they just went into the mode of economics is too hard for me.
True learning is a struggle, often frustrating and many times boring. When you find someone who excels at anything they have struggled at times, been frustrated and probably been bored with the field that they now excel. We often see the end product and do not see the work that has went on behind the scenes. With athletes we are not privy to the practices that force them to turn weaknesses into strengths, with students we do not see how many books they have read, problems that they have solved, places that they have visited, hours that they have studied, to get to the point where school seems easy.
Our system is not set up to help students get gritty. Many seniors are worried about their GPA's as they are thinking about the college process. Others are worried about parental pressure and then some are worried about what their peers will think of them. All of these lead to students becoming defensive about academic struggles instead of embracing them. Truthfully, what better time to struggle than in high school, where you still get teacher support, and parental support. When you go to college you are most often struggling on your own. I realize that students are struggling on their own since many e-mail me with questions instead of their own professors.
I know in previous years I have kids who have struggled in AP economics at the start. Last year many of them wrote me during the summer telling me how proud they were about their scores. While they admitted that they often doubted themselves they now went into college with a greater confidence in both their academic ability and their ability to preserver.
As educators, parents and students, we need to teach students to embrace challenges, not penalize them for it. They need to realize that the grade is not as important as learning to overcome the frustration. That colleges do not make their decisions on one grade, but want students who show an ability to overcome adversity. Colleges often ask teachers to respond to this on the recommendation letter.
It is tough being gritty, staying on the treadmill is a hard thing to do. The fact that you thought for a second to quit, that I never will be good at this, is natural. As teachers, parents and friends we need to support our students so that they realize that we will help them stay on the treadmill.
Thoughts and comments are always appreciated.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)