The River’s Song Is Sweet

Teachers,

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday. 

The River’s Song Is Sweet  —

Sometimes life can be tough. There is so much that happens around us and too us that it makes it hard to focus on the thing in front of us. Something happens at home with s child or a member of the family. Sometimes it happens to us when we have a set back or something presents itself that is hard to get around or get away from. It happens. We are all human and life happens. It happens to all of us. So how to we handle situations that happen and take our focus away from our daily schedule? I heard a saying once, “The river’s song would not be so sweet without the rocks.” What are our expectations of others when problems happen. How do we help them? How do we help our littles ones in our class each day that have life happen to them on a daily basis? Sometime life can be tough. I think the answer to this is to know that we are loved by those around us. To know that someone or many someones are around us and make the difference in our lives so we know that we have somewhere to feel safe and know that there are people that will keep us going with the things that should and do matter in our lives. Our students have these things happen and we need to know that they need a soft place to land at our school. It’s funny, but sometimes, as a teacher, I did not think about students when they left the classroom. It was just like the student that sees us in the grocery store and does not realize we do not live in the school or that we could show up somewhere else besides school. Our student’s songs are sweet and we need to keep them sweet, with or without the rocks. And just know that you are all an important part of our school. You are important to everyone at our school. Everyone needs a soft place to land, and I hope you feel that our school is one of those places also. You make everything happen at our school.  You help create and maintain the culture we have here. 

Quote I’m pondering —

“Life is not designed to make things easy for us, but present challenges that help us grow.”
– Terry Laughlin

What I’m Watching —

A Study on Praise and Mindsets

Just a reminder about how we praise and what our personal mindset is can determine what and how we learn.  

Favorite Article This Week —

How to Take Risks In A System Not Built For It (What Teachers Can Learn From Elon Musk)

Interesting idea from an amazing thinker. How do we teach our students to take risks  hat will further their opportunities in life? How does this relate to education?

A Big Thank You —

Thank you Preschool. Thank you for starting our little ones off on the right foot and having them know which foot it is and what letters spell the word foot. I was able to sit in on a parent meeting tonight and be able to watch to amazing interaction and love you have for the students and parents. Thank you for taking the time to teach the parents and students. Thank you Preschool for preparing students for success. Thank you.

I appreciate all of you and your hard work. Have a wonderful weekend.

Twitterpated with Learning

Teachers,

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday.

Twitterpated with Learning—

As teachers we should always be the head learner in our classroom. It can be anything, but we should learn something and then let our students what we have learned. Take a few minutes each week and talk to your students about something you learned and see how interested they are in it. That is one of the reasons I do this 5 point Friday each week. I figure that I should be learning something often and sharing it. One way I have kept up with learning new things is on Twitter. It seems silly to spend a little time on social media to learn about education, but it is a hot place for educational topics, if you know how to look. Many of the top education specialists, professors, administrators, and teachers like you are building a personal learning network to learn and grow from professionally. If you are interested, start small and take 5 minutes a week and do a little skimming and reading. So how do you start? Start by opening a twitter account at twitter.com. In your description write that you are a teacher and a few fun things about you. You can add to it or change it later. Add a picture. Then you are ready to do a little learning. Start by tweeting something and following a few people. Use the search and search a few people and click follow. If you have friends on twitter, follow them also. Here are a few suggestions. @gandersen07 @kimheki @dixie_sun @gcouros @alicekeeler @jmattmiller @burgess_shelley @bethhouf @burgessdave

Once you are following other teachers read a few tweets here and there and reply back to them to let them know your thoughts. to do that you hit the reply button and it will automatically add their name. Then you can write a short note and send it on its way. Check back later for a reply. You can also retweet their tweet to share it with your followers. If you have none, we will get you some. If you follow me, I will follow you and so will many of the others you follow. I will get into how to get into chats with other teachers around the world from our same grade level or just with educators in general. But that is another time.

Quote I’m pondering —

"If you have an arrogance that you have nothing new to learn, do not expect your students to have any different attitude." ― George Couros

What I’m watching —

The Death Crawl

When we think we can’t go another step or do one more thing.

Favorite Article This Week —

Data confirm the reason teachers should nag parents about missed assignments: it works

Parent communication is important as we teach students. Keeping them the loop about how they are doing in class can help their student do better.

A Big Thank You —

Thank you Alma and Third Grade. Third grade had the idea of doing a pep rally for testing to get the 3-5 grade students excited and ready for the test. Alma ran with it and had the younger grades make posters and shot the footage for the video. Then she put together the pep rally and  gauntlet of high fives in the hallway. What a wonderful show of support to our upper grades knowing that everyone is behind them. Thank you third grade for the idea, and thank you All for making it a reality. Thank you for supporting our students. Thank you.

I appreciate all of you and your hard work. Have a wonderful weekend.