January 30th 2012
I must admit … I’m SO EXCITED! Last year, when I discovered Shelly Terrell, her website “Teacher Reboot Camp,” and her #30Goals initiative, I felt like that was exactly what I needed to REBOOT. So … here we go again … #30Goals in 2012! My Manifesto I believe that all students deserve the [...]
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August 24th 2011
In my work with new teachers, I always knew there was a knack to classroom management, and my friends – Barb and Jacqueline – gave me the answer to what I practiced … the holy trinity of classroom management – beginning class, attention signal, and ending class. Part 1: Not sure where I received these [...]
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July 14th 2011
A wonderful part of teaching is the opportunity we have to finish a year, take time to plan, and begin anew the next year. Teaching is like the ultimate performance assessment – everything we don’t get just right this time, we can do it again better next year! One of the areas I always struggle [...]
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April 3rd 2011
Goal 25: Build Relationships With Them One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.” ~ Carl Jung I’ve always [...]
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March 22nd 2011
Goal 24: Support Character Development “The unfinished character of human beings and the transformational character of reality necessitate that education be an ongoing activity.” ~Paulo Freire How often have you seen people serving others with kindness? I am reminded of the insurance commercial that shows people doing kind things for others simply because they witnessed [...]
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March 5th 2011
Goal 17: Help Them Shine! Anecdote by David Warr ([ http://twitter.com/davidwarr ]@DavidWarr)- “When I was with Gladstone, I felt I was with the most intelligent person in the world, but when I was with Disraeli, I felt I was the most intelligent person in the world.” I must admit. It took me a while to understand [...]
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February 28th 2011
Goal 13: Help Them Reflect on Their Failures Quote “Don’t look where you fall, but where you slipped.” ~African Proverb I remember the summer I attended the Differentiated Reading Instruction training course. I was so excited because I felt like I finally “got it.” The material was relevant; not only had I experienced differentiated instruction, [...]
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February 21st 2011
Goal 8:Rethink Student Behavior & Classroom Management #30Goals Quote “I’ve come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture [...]
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February 21st 2011
Goal 7: Play and Have Fun! #30Goals Quote “We spend the first twelve months of our children’s lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up.” by Phyllis Diller I was sitting in a classroom the other day observing. During the debrief, I had to [...]
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February 15th 2011
Goal 3: What Do You Believe About Learning? #30Goals Recently, I am sure you have been asked a question similar to this. Have you taken time to truly contemplate your answer? With the new observation rubric, peer/mentor evaluators and administrators are no longer focused on teaching except when it impacts student learning. We, myself included, [...]
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