Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Teaching Tip #139



Teacherscribe’s Teaching Tip #139
The Immigrant Edge – This one should get Trump’s blood boiling
Brian Buffini, an incredible successful Irish immigrant, was featured on the Entreleadership podcast.  In the interview, he shared the seven traits that make immigrants – often – so much more successful than Americans residents.
How can we teach these in our classes?
Trait #7 – Remember where you come from

For teachers, I think of it this way, remember what it was like to be 16 again.  Go back and break out your yearbook - or for Heidi’s sake, break out that old prom photo - and for ten minutes, put yourself in those 17 year old shoes of yours again. Write about what you were thinking and feeling and looking forward to then.  Write about what you thought of your teachers and coaches when you were 17.  Then realize that’s most likely how your students and even your children are viewing you right now.  Have a little sympathy and understanding for them and what it’s like to be 17 again.  That doesn’t mean you have to agree with what you used to think (hopefully, we’ve grown up a lot since then), but it can allow you to have some empathy.  Learning starts with empathy.  Culture starts with empathy.  What can’t you accomplish if you have those two things in your classroom?


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