Our gifted music teacher once again coached fifth grade students to a stellar performance during the fifth grade play. The music teacher spends the larger part of the music year teaching the students the singing and acting skills needed for this performance. She also carefully guides children in choosing play roles that interest them--there's a place for every child to shine in the play, and that's amazing when you consider that we have 76 fifth graders.
All the school students and staff filled the gym during the day to watch the play, and friends and family members filled the gym during the evening performance. It was great to hear the younger students' giggles as the fifth graders performed and it was similarly wonderful to see fifth grade students' friends and family members gleam with pride in the evening.
The play was a job well done!
Now we're heading into a couple of weeks that will heavily emphasize the multidisciplinary biography project that students are involved in. Students are writing fictional interviews with famous people throughout time as well as creating timelines, posters, and portraits. In the end they'll dress in character to portray 76 different global changemakers in a human timeline. It's a lot of work and in the end, a great history lesson for all that attend the event. Participants meander the timeline asking the students questions and viewing the students' project pieces.
When students arrive today, they'll be tired from giving the play 100% yesterday. We'll have a quiet morning of math, research, and writing. Then in the afternoon, they'll have more time to research, write, and read in the library then work on their posters and timelines in the computer lab. On Thursday we'll return to our rotations with a focus on Symphony Math and other math tech, more research and writing, and an end-year reading assessment. Friday will be more of the same. Next week we'll add more river study to the mix and a traditional field trip to Boston's historic sites. It's a mostly hands-on, experiential, "summer camp" stage of the school year--one that requires lots of energy, and one that is lots of fun too. Onward.
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Who Do You Share Your Ideas With?
I share my ideas with open minded individuals who see life as a series of actions that reach for betterment. These people do not see new ideas as criticism or evidence that I'm a know-it-all, but instead these people entertain new ideas with an open, discerning mind.
On the other hand, I don't share new ideas with defensive people who see every new idea as an arrow or bullet--these people always see ideas for betterment as critique and criticism of the present. These people don't have a growth mindset and would prefer to bury potential in order to support the status quo. When you offer people like this a new idea, you typically get a negative look and demeaning words. I typically avoid sharing new ideas with people like this.
There's limitless potential for betterment. I see opportunity for betterment everywhere I look, and I know that if we lean in that direction, we will make things better. Yet if we construct walls that block opportunity for greater collaboration, betterment, and new ideas, we will not get better and instead be relegated to living with the static status-quo.
On the other hand, I don't share new ideas with defensive people who see every new idea as an arrow or bullet--these people always see ideas for betterment as critique and criticism of the present. These people don't have a growth mindset and would prefer to bury potential in order to support the status quo. When you offer people like this a new idea, you typically get a negative look and demeaning words. I typically avoid sharing new ideas with people like this.
There's limitless potential for betterment. I see opportunity for betterment everywhere I look, and I know that if we lean in that direction, we will make things better. Yet if we construct walls that block opportunity for greater collaboration, betterment, and new ideas, we will not get better and instead be relegated to living with the static status-quo.
Caring Well for Children
It's true that many families in the United States struggle to care for their children. There are many reasons why they struggle, and some of those reasons include the following:
- Work demands that leave them without time or energy
- Low pay that leaves them without sufficient funds to well feed, clothe, or house their children
- Relationship struggles which at their worst include violence, fear, and lack of safety
- Drug addiction
- Illness and health needs in a culture without adequate support for the sick
- Mental health issues without adequate care or support
- Immigration-related fears and issues
- Death--untimely deaths of family members create struggle and need
Know Students and Families Well
As educators, what can we do about this. First, we have to know our students and families well. While we don't want to intrude on families' privacy, we do need to let families know that the better we know them and their children, the better we can serve their needs and potential. By carving out good time at the start of the year for two-way conversations with families, we will be able to serve children and families better.
As educators, what can we do about this. First, we have to know our students and families well. While we don't want to intrude on families' privacy, we do need to let families know that the better we know them and their children, the better we can serve their needs and potential. By carving out good time at the start of the year for two-way conversations with families, we will be able to serve children and families better.
Looping
Looping may help us too. When we teach students for only one year, we lose capacity. For example it takes a couple of months to know a child and family so every year there's that two-month get-to-know-you-time, if you loop, you will know families better in good time and then have more time to serve those families. The challenge here is the depth you need to teach a curriculum program well and it may be difficult to loop and include good depth too. I think we can successfully loop at the elementary level and that might mean a K-1, 2-3, 4-5 looping at my school to better our relationships and efforts with each and every student. Looping may save time and build capacity overall. Studies have shown this to be true.
Provide Supports
We need to look for ways to provide better supports in ways that matter. Some of these supports may include the following:
- Free breakfast and lunch with or without forms. At times families don't want to fill out forms for all kinds of reasons.
- Affordable, accessible quality before- and after-school care that includes sports and the arts.
- Holistic programs that appeal to all aspects of who children are, not just narrow programs.
- Parenting support and coaching
- Integrated, readily accessible physical- and mental-health care. Let's allow students to use their health cards/funds at school for better health care and social-emotional support and care.
Lead With the Voices of All Stakeholders
Fully integrate the voices of children, families, educators, administrators, and community members in the leadership and choices related to all school efforts.
Prevention
We can do a lot to prevent unhealthy behavior in the following ways:
Prevention
We can do a lot to prevent unhealthy behavior in the following ways:
- healthy food only
- good regulations related to prescription drugs, guns, healthy food, cigarettes, driving, drinking, and more
- lots of healthy, positive learning and activity
- quality care and support
Fair and Healthy Work Conditions for Educators and Care Givers
Often care givers and educators' ability to serve students and families is compromised by low pay and poor work conditions. In some schools educators are working with too many students at a time to truly care for any one student in the ways needed. I have a friend who has thirty students in her city school classroom and many of those students suffer from social-emotional struggles. She cannot possibly teach all those students and provide the needed social-emotional support. Her community is letting her down and her students down. Often pre-school teachers' pay is horrible thus creating challenges for those educators who may then not have the time or energy to teach their young and vulnerable students well. In every community, educators and care givers' work conditions have to be considered carefully. It's essential that care givers and educators have what they need in order to teach and care for children and families with as much capacity as possible.
Often care givers and educators' ability to serve students and families is compromised by low pay and poor work conditions. In some schools educators are working with too many students at a time to truly care for any one student in the ways needed. I have a friend who has thirty students in her city school classroom and many of those students suffer from social-emotional struggles. She cannot possibly teach all those students and provide the needed social-emotional support. Her community is letting her down and her students down. Often pre-school teachers' pay is horrible thus creating challenges for those educators who may then not have the time or energy to teach their young and vulnerable students well. In every community, educators and care givers' work conditions have to be considered carefully. It's essential that care givers and educators have what they need in order to teach and care for children and families with as much capacity as possible.
How Can We Do Better For American Youth?
It seems to me that many lawmakers don't care about our youth.
Evidence of this lies in their decision making and lack of voice regarding matters that matter to the safety and prosperity of our young people. What can they do to better lives of youth?
Shorter Work Week, Better Pay
Average American families in many places are stretched beyond imagination when it comes to earning a living and completing the kinds of daily chores that enable them to care well for their children. Most average American families require two salaries to pay the rent or mortgage, feed their families, take care of their health needs, and complete other daily tasks and chores. This means these families are typically working around the clock which results in exhaustion and little time to complete needed tasks and chores. Perhaps one essential support is to foster a shorter work week and better pay for working families. When most moms were home, they were working around the clock to care for children and neighbors. When most moms went back to work, few were left to do the big job of caring for children, neighbors, and community. By reducing expected hours of work and heightening the pay of workers, we will buy time and capacity for moms and dads which hopefully will result in better care for children.
Better Maternity/Child Care Leaves
Let's pay parents $50,000 a year to stay home and care for their children from 0-2years, and let's do this for up to two children for every individual. This $50,000 could be shared by parents, but would mean that someone in the home spends considerable time with their young children for the first two years of their life. And perhaps to get the money means that parents attend a number of parent/child-health and parent/child-education events to foster good parenting and care for the years after age two.
Better Support for Schools
Schools are one of the last community organizations where people from all walks of life congregate. Schools are often community centers of positivity and development. This work is compromised when funding for schools is compromised. All schools deserve enough funding to foster apt academic programs and positive social/emotional programs too. In communities where parents' work is time consuming and pay is short, there needs to be healthy after school programs for all students and these programs should include the opportunity for children to engage in sports, arts, study, and other positive endeavor. Too many children are left on their own after school and during vacations--well supported, positive recreational and educational programs can fill this void.
More Accessible Health Care and Social Emotional Supports
A friend of mine told me a sad story about a child with a medical need who repeatedly gets a similar surgery. The surgery never works because the family does not have access or ability to follow-up with the post-surgery physical therapy and care. This poor child is on a endless cycle of poor health care that's also affecting his attitude, overall health, and education since he often misses school due to these repeated surgeries. I can empathize with this as when one of my sons had surgery in the past, it was very difficult for me to access the post-surgery care. Fortunately I had a good job, transportation, and family support to get my son to and from the post-surgery care, however the poor family I refer to does not have the time due to their low paying jobs with few supports, transportation due to the fact they live in a place with few accessible health care facilities, and the extended support since most of the people they live with and love are similarly compromised. Often struggling families struggle because they don't have ready access to health care and social emotional supports--we can build more comprehensive health and educational centers to support children's health care needs as well as their educational and social emotional needs.
More Doctors
The fact that medical school so greatly limits the number of doctors trained in our country is a travesty. We can easily train many more medical professionals in our country and that will translate into better care. We have to remove the quotas for medical professionals and train more doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals from all all communities, cultures, and economic levels. Service to one another is the most important economy to support as our world becomes more automatized.
Violence Free Zones
Every community has to look for ways that they can reduce violence where it occurs most. Good gun regulation will help. Also looking for ways to reduce drug sales and distribution will similarly help. I am not a public safety expert, but I know that many understand how to lessen violence, and we need to reach out to those experts and help them to help us put laws in place that will lessen violence and uplift public safety and health.
Access to Basic Needs and Good Living
In a world that is embracing automation in many areas of living, we need to turn our human activity to service to one another. By uplifting communities by way of sufficient welcoming homes, healthy nutritious food, beautiful parks and playgrounds, access to health care and social/emotional supports, sufficient well paying jobs, and opportunity for healthy recreation, we will elevate people's access to basic needs and good living. The fact that in many sectors are public supports are bare bones which results in ugly architecture, substandard structures, unhealthy food choices, and polluted natural lands, water, and air leads to poor living--we can certainly do better in all of these areas.
If we work as a people to elevate good living for all we will save the money it costs to gate communities and build walls on borders. We will save the big money we spend on violence-related events and health needs that come from poor living. A tax related to how much space you take up, the unhealthy foods you eat, the guns you buy, and how many resources you use might be a good start in this direction. For example we could add an environmental tax that taxes the natural resources, land, and space you use beyond the average. So people that own much more land than others would be taxed more (unless they are using that land for public good or nutrition). Similarly people who use a lot more water for pools, recreation, parties, and more would also be taxed more. Those taxes, in turn, could be used to uplift living for all. We can also heighten the taxes on gun sales greatly and increase the penalties on those who illegally sell guns and use that money for public health initiatives related to gun safety and regulations.
This post rambles a bit as I think about the many ways we can improve life for people throughout our country and world. We are mired in inaction right now when it comes to elevating the lives of the many. There has been substantial effort to uplift the lives of the wealthy as evidenced by President Trump who continually uplifts the elite while leaving most other people behind with poor policies, little regulation, and continual evidence of greed to increase his wealth and power and the wealth and power of his family and cronies. We never hear Trump talk or act in ways to uplift lives of most people--he chooses a few over the many in his policies, speak, and action. His Republican cronies follow his lead too.
We can do better, and I'm thinking about this. What can we do to better the lives of all people so we don't see the violence and struggle that we notice every day on the news and in our own communities.
Evidence of this lies in their decision making and lack of voice regarding matters that matter to the safety and prosperity of our young people. What can they do to better lives of youth?
Shorter Work Week, Better Pay
Average American families in many places are stretched beyond imagination when it comes to earning a living and completing the kinds of daily chores that enable them to care well for their children. Most average American families require two salaries to pay the rent or mortgage, feed their families, take care of their health needs, and complete other daily tasks and chores. This means these families are typically working around the clock which results in exhaustion and little time to complete needed tasks and chores. Perhaps one essential support is to foster a shorter work week and better pay for working families. When most moms were home, they were working around the clock to care for children and neighbors. When most moms went back to work, few were left to do the big job of caring for children, neighbors, and community. By reducing expected hours of work and heightening the pay of workers, we will buy time and capacity for moms and dads which hopefully will result in better care for children.
Better Maternity/Child Care Leaves
Let's pay parents $50,000 a year to stay home and care for their children from 0-2years, and let's do this for up to two children for every individual. This $50,000 could be shared by parents, but would mean that someone in the home spends considerable time with their young children for the first two years of their life. And perhaps to get the money means that parents attend a number of parent/child-health and parent/child-education events to foster good parenting and care for the years after age two.
Better Support for Schools
Schools are one of the last community organizations where people from all walks of life congregate. Schools are often community centers of positivity and development. This work is compromised when funding for schools is compromised. All schools deserve enough funding to foster apt academic programs and positive social/emotional programs too. In communities where parents' work is time consuming and pay is short, there needs to be healthy after school programs for all students and these programs should include the opportunity for children to engage in sports, arts, study, and other positive endeavor. Too many children are left on their own after school and during vacations--well supported, positive recreational and educational programs can fill this void.
More Accessible Health Care and Social Emotional Supports
A friend of mine told me a sad story about a child with a medical need who repeatedly gets a similar surgery. The surgery never works because the family does not have access or ability to follow-up with the post-surgery physical therapy and care. This poor child is on a endless cycle of poor health care that's also affecting his attitude, overall health, and education since he often misses school due to these repeated surgeries. I can empathize with this as when one of my sons had surgery in the past, it was very difficult for me to access the post-surgery care. Fortunately I had a good job, transportation, and family support to get my son to and from the post-surgery care, however the poor family I refer to does not have the time due to their low paying jobs with few supports, transportation due to the fact they live in a place with few accessible health care facilities, and the extended support since most of the people they live with and love are similarly compromised. Often struggling families struggle because they don't have ready access to health care and social emotional supports--we can build more comprehensive health and educational centers to support children's health care needs as well as their educational and social emotional needs.
More Doctors
The fact that medical school so greatly limits the number of doctors trained in our country is a travesty. We can easily train many more medical professionals in our country and that will translate into better care. We have to remove the quotas for medical professionals and train more doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals from all all communities, cultures, and economic levels. Service to one another is the most important economy to support as our world becomes more automatized.
Violence Free Zones
Every community has to look for ways that they can reduce violence where it occurs most. Good gun regulation will help. Also looking for ways to reduce drug sales and distribution will similarly help. I am not a public safety expert, but I know that many understand how to lessen violence, and we need to reach out to those experts and help them to help us put laws in place that will lessen violence and uplift public safety and health.
Access to Basic Needs and Good Living
In a world that is embracing automation in many areas of living, we need to turn our human activity to service to one another. By uplifting communities by way of sufficient welcoming homes, healthy nutritious food, beautiful parks and playgrounds, access to health care and social/emotional supports, sufficient well paying jobs, and opportunity for healthy recreation, we will elevate people's access to basic needs and good living. The fact that in many sectors are public supports are bare bones which results in ugly architecture, substandard structures, unhealthy food choices, and polluted natural lands, water, and air leads to poor living--we can certainly do better in all of these areas.
If we work as a people to elevate good living for all we will save the money it costs to gate communities and build walls on borders. We will save the big money we spend on violence-related events and health needs that come from poor living. A tax related to how much space you take up, the unhealthy foods you eat, the guns you buy, and how many resources you use might be a good start in this direction. For example we could add an environmental tax that taxes the natural resources, land, and space you use beyond the average. So people that own much more land than others would be taxed more (unless they are using that land for public good or nutrition). Similarly people who use a lot more water for pools, recreation, parties, and more would also be taxed more. Those taxes, in turn, could be used to uplift living for all. We can also heighten the taxes on gun sales greatly and increase the penalties on those who illegally sell guns and use that money for public health initiatives related to gun safety and regulations.
This post rambles a bit as I think about the many ways we can improve life for people throughout our country and world. We are mired in inaction right now when it comes to elevating the lives of the many. There has been substantial effort to uplift the lives of the wealthy as evidenced by President Trump who continually uplifts the elite while leaving most other people behind with poor policies, little regulation, and continual evidence of greed to increase his wealth and power and the wealth and power of his family and cronies. We never hear Trump talk or act in ways to uplift lives of most people--he chooses a few over the many in his policies, speak, and action. His Republican cronies follow his lead too.
We can do better, and I'm thinking about this. What can we do to better the lives of all people so we don't see the violence and struggle that we notice every day on the news and in our own communities.
Energy Directed
Good teaching has a lot to do with good energy direction. For example today the students will perform their fifth grade play. I know that if I arrive with good energy and direct that energy in positive, uplifting, and encouraging ways, the students will be ready to perform well. The energy teachers bring to any event affect the outcome of that event. Recently this notion was confirmed in a number of articles moving through social media threads. I'm sure this is no surprise for anyone as we know our energy affects others, and it's important to well direct your energy during any task including tasks that involve others.
In many ways teachers are energy directors as we work with students and help them energize in good ways to complete countless tasks. Types of energy differ too. For example it's a different kind of energy to win a sports match versus complete needed writing and research for a big project. Both tasks, however, require significant energy.
In the days ahead, energy direction will include the following:
In many ways teachers are energy directors as we work with students and help them energize in good ways to complete countless tasks. Types of energy differ too. For example it's a different kind of energy to win a sports match versus complete needed writing and research for a big project. Both tasks, however, require significant energy.
In the days ahead, energy direction will include the following:
- A "You Can Do It" proud and supportive energy to help students get out there and do their best in the play.
- A "Work Hard and Persevere" energy as students slog through the most difficult part of the biography project which is to interpret, synthesize, and integrate lots of great notes into a well-written imaginary interview with a famous person. This is a deep and challenging cognitive task since students have to continually move from first person to third person as they craft the imaginary interview.
- A "Be Observant, Explore, and Quietly Investigate" energy as students explore the natural environment around them.
- A "Wildly and Cleverly Create" attitude as students turn boxes and other recyclables into arcade games and play spaces during the Global Cardboard Challenge.
- A "Reverent, Reflective, and Appreciative" attitude as students watch end-of-year slide shows and special celebrations.
- An "I Matter and I Make a Difference" attitude as they learn to be stewards of their local environment through learning and action.
We bring our coaching, encouragement, and care as we use our energy to foster all kinds of energy and attitudes related to optimal student learning and experiences in school. As energy directors, educators model how to use their energy well and how different uses of energy result in a variety of positive outcomes.
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