Seven Ways to show The Power of a Positive Educator
Really, is there any other type of educator? Unfortunately, yes. You remember them from your youth or from your own children. They're the teachers who just seem to hate kids. See, you just thought of one, didn't you. That's a shame.
Why go into teaching if you hate kids? I don't know. Maybe they want a job for life? Maybe it was easy to get a degree? Maybe they work in a district or building where the principal doesn't have the guts to get rid of them? I don't know. But it's a damn shame.
I love kids. That's one reason I follow kids on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram . . .). I actually like them.
Yes, they make poor decisions. Yes, they put foolish stuff on social media. But what a great opportunity to help them grow and mature.
What a great way to illustrate what it means to be a positive influence in their lives.
Twitter, especially, allows me to achiever numbers 6 and 7 on the list (Develop Positive Relationship and Show you Care).
And I think that's what I do best. You'll find teachers who know more, are certainly more organized, more original, and more detailed oriented. But you'd be hard pressed to find a teacher who builds better classroom rapport than me. I don't say that to be cocky. It's true. I have the framed thank you letters up in my room. I have half a dozen other thank you's and personal notes on our fridge right now. When school starts, I'll transfer them to my hanging file folder titled "Nice Things From Students" that I have in my desk.
I always tell myself when I have a bad day, I'll read through that folder. But I haven't opened it much yet. I don't have bad days because we've got a very positive environment in room 205.
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100 Ideas that Changed Art
I love this. The two ideas listed below happen to relate perfectly to writing as well.
Capturing the instant. This is what I spend half my time teaching in composition. Freeze a moment in time. Describe it. Reflect on it. Capture it. Finally, transport us there so we have experience it too.
The most important thing in writing. Sorry, Mr. Bauerlein. I think analysis is vital. But we are narrative creatures. Once we have narrative down, then we can move on to analysis. Or better yet, we can analyze through narratives.
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This is a great poem.
First Grade by William Stafford
In the play Amy didn't want to be
anybody; so she managed the curtain.
Sharon wanted to be Amy. But Sam
wouldn't let anybody be anybody else
he said it was wrong. "All right," Steve said,
"I'll be me but I don't like it."
So Amy was Amy, and we didn't have the play
And Sharon cried.
I love the experience of a great poem. Especially when it comes out of nowhere like this one did (I mean who expects to come across a great poem on Twitter?)
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Customer is the new marketing.
What is the role of the customer in business today?
Forget, business! What is the role of the customer in the classroom? Man, I like that title. I should write about book on that!
From the video, you'll see the importance of not just giving the customer a product but of offering them an experience from the minute they walk in the door or log on.
That's so true in education. And it's yet one more reason why social media is paramount in teaching.
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Here's another video (this one from TED). It's near and dear to my heart. Leadership was anathema to me just a few years ago. But now, it's a subject I can't get enough of.
Now, Mr. Bauerlein, notices what he wants to share with the audience: a story. That's narrative baby! That's the power of narrative.
"I knew I was where I was supposed to be."
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10 Things No One Tells You About Your Freshmen Year
I can't wait to use this in College Comp.
Here are the ones I think are especially important to grasp
5. You don't HAVE to declare your major.
Contrary to popular belief, most schools don't require you to pick a major freshman year, so you don't need to stress if you don't know what you want to study for the next four years. Take advantage of your gen-ed courses and don't be afraid to dive into subject areas that interest you. Now is the time to explore different classes and figure out what you're passionate about learning.
6. It might take more than a week to get over homesickness -- and that's OK.
Whether you're going to college an hour from home or across the country, it's totally normal to get those pangs of homesickness. From your mom's homemade mac 'n cheese to snuggling with the family dog, sometimes it's the little things that you miss the most. It also might take you more than a few days to adjust to your new environment and feel at ease. Everyone is different, so don't feel like there's something "wrong" with you if you're finding it hard to shake those feelings. Instead, focus on keeping yourself busy, and remember that mom and dad are just a Skype date away.
I remember rushing home every weekend for football games and to see friends. But then around Thanksgiving time, the trips home every weekend stopped and most of us became comfortable in the dorms.
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Millennials: How to Get Your Work Noticed
The keys are - "work" - you have to do it and make it remarkable. Your bosses won't be willing to heap accolades on you just for showing up the way your parents were. And the other key - "noticed" - again, you earn being noticed. It's not a given.
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I love this
To spark interest in class, get personal
Again, this is where narratives (what a great way to get to know your students) and social media (a great way to connect and show you care) are important in building culture in the classroom.
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If you teach or parent, you know how true this is.
The Accidental Narcissist and the Future of [Connected] Customer Engagement
Here is our challenge - How can you re-imagine your engagement strategies to align with and inspire the “me” in social media? How does — or how can — your brand evoke an experience that elicits self-expression? And how will your brand become part of the egosystem and create a gravitational pull for others to orbit?
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10 Tools Every Teacher Should Master This Summer
Judging from this list, I have a lot of work to do in just a couple weeks! What have I been doing all summer???
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