Making a connection
Fifth grade teachers from Union Intermediate School and sixth grade teachers from Union Middle School have been making connections and visiting each other to create conversations about instruction, assessment and best practices. After meeting today, our group agreed to post comments on the effectiveness of vertical meetings and observations.
Do you think these observations and meetings were helpful to you personally? If so, how? If not, what would create a better connection between our two schools? What strategies could be useful in building a smoother transition for students as they move from school to school in a district?
Thank you for your participation today in our discussions. You are a vital part of creating a smooth journey for ourstudents as they progress through our school system! Please share your feelings and look at what others are saying about the experience. Thanks again!
Controlling the climate…
I’ve come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is 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 or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or deescalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.
- Haim Ginot, Professor of Psychology
Do you believe this? If so, how do you control such power?
What motivates us?
I think now is the time of year that we start feeling seriously overwhelmed. The holiday feeling has worn off, and the thoughts of the long stretches between “down time” days and the ever-impending EOGS weigh heavily on our minds. Every year seems to have more and more paperwork and documentation. We begin to question our own methods as we struggle to get students to “buy in” to the program. Why don’t they understand the importance of what we do everyday? How can I get them to pleasantly pay attention and absorb this vital information?
How can we keep ourselves motivated? What can our educational system do to motivate teachers? How do we continue to feel as though we make a difference?
Tell us what motivates you as an educator. What do you need that you are not getting? What are you getting that makes you want to return each day?
Education versus learning
Okay, a friend got me to thinking and pondering…did you know that Einstein said ” the only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” What do you think Einstein meant by this?
