Education
Belonging – When I Becomes We
“When ‘I’ is replaced by ‘We’ – even illness becomes wellness.” – Malcolm X My heart soared while watching the news the other day – and that rarely happens. In a sea of negativity, Mr. Barry White Jr. was a shining example of what is right with education. This remarkable fifth grade English teacher…
Read MoreWhat They Really Love
It’s February so the ERG blog theme is one of love, of course. This sounded like a great idea when we were mapping out the year but my deadline for writing came and went and I was totally uninspired. I could give you a litany of reasons, but at the end of the day my…
Read MorePeople Who Need People
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been trying to figure out what my passion in life is. There are lots of things I enjoy doing, but figuring out what makes me tick, what I have to have to exist has been difficult to say the least. Then one morning a friend called unexpectedly. Suddenly…
Read MoreAsking For Help
“I’m never afraid to ask questions. I figure if I have a question lots of other people have the same one. I just have the courage to ask it.”-Robin Gallagher, middle school teacher Have you ever been sitting in a workshop where the presenter is talking about something of interest to you, and you suddenly…
Read MoreBagging It
“Into the brown paper bag of my heart, he slipped a smile.” – David James Duncan Ready to slip a smile on the faces of your students during these last few days of school? Try constructing paper bag challenges. Exciting engineering projects can be created with simple materials like tape, paper, and string placed inside…
Read MoreRethinking Stress
“It’s not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.” – Hans Selye Teaching is a rewarding yet demanding career – not for the faint of heart. The wearing of numerous hats, pressure from state mandates, schedules that seem to multiply, needs that continuously change, and most importantly – the genuine desire to truly…
Read MoreMirror Mirror On the Wall
“Mirror, mirror on the wall. What did I learn after all?” Reflection is a vital piece of the learning puzzle. Unless we examine what we learned and how we learned it, we don’t know what worked well and what needs to be tweaked. The end of the year is a natural time to look back…
Read MoreFeedback – The Language of Growth
“Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” – Ken Blanchard Years of research show that feedback is one of the most powerful influences on achievement. Daily we strive to provide quality feedback to our students, but we also must take the time to provide quality feedback to our colleagues. Feedback is the language of growth. It is…
Read MorePower of Yet
“There is a difference between not knowing and not knowing yet.” – Shelia Tobias Research is showing that the brain is like a muscle that gets stronger and works better the more it is exercised. Each time we work hard, take on a challenge, stretch, and learn something new, our brains form new connections and our…
Read MoreWhat Really Counts?
“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything we count, counts.” – Albert Einstein We have become a nation of numbers – driven by statistics and data. The fixation on testing, scoring, and ranking our young learners is not what really counts when it comes to learning. Randi Weingarten, the President of the…
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