Think of all of the well-known people earning honorary degrees- making graduation speeches all over the place right now. These speakers are toiling over keeping kids’ attention, imparting advice in a succinct manner, choosing their most pivotal moments to share. In this marvelous age, we can travel all over to see and hear their carefully…
Yep, “rebuttal” is just a fun word to say. Teaching kids rudimentary debate format and skills is another really fun way to think, learn, and process a year’s learning as we all stretch through late May and into June. I usually just teach “argument”, “rebuttal”, and “conclusion”. Simple structure: Preparation Details: Go on, argue and…
Everyone is spent. And, everyone is ready. Take advantage of that second one: everyone is ready. You have spent the whole year instilling the most beautiful lessons of problem-solving, intrinsic motivation, care for each other. Now, it’s time to give them space to show you. I loved telling my students that if I had done…
Another of my favorite parents pointed out that we even make choices for how kids will play on a playground. Think of the playgrounds we so often see- bright colors, labeled for age groups, signs to go down slides only. Some have bridges, some don’t. But they all have the two types of swings, monkey…
During college, I had a summer stint as a preschool teacher. I loved it. The small school was run by some sweet older women, and it took me some time before I understood their salient intentionality. During our preschool day, we had structured time and a good deal of planned unstructured time. During structured time,…
Two of my favorite thinking sources came together this week- in thoughts on leadership… what could be better?! The two resources: I started listening to Episode 298 of “We Can Do Hard Things” mostly because Abby was going to talk about being a Bonus Parent- a step-parent. It’s one of my roles, and I knew…
I am both eager and nervous to delve more deeply into leadership. Leadership starts everything- and it has the power to slow- or end- everything. Elephants provide an elegant example. They are powerful animals who lead with love and grace and wisdom and play. They lead with cooperation rather than hierarchy. In another version of…
This is a tough time of year for me. The dates carry a lot of loss. They carry gratitude and joy and love for those who cannot meet me for coffee. And the dates carry losses that can feel weighty and hard to see through. But, along with the stuff of life, we teachers must…
We can easily forget that kids are kids, that kids are people. Our minds see lessons that must be planned and tests that must be graded instead of humans. Well, kids are kids, and, at our best, we are kids too. And, for kids, for us, there is nothing like 10 minutes of fresh air…
It’s always a stretch to spring break- a “can I even muster patience and effort for one more day?” kind of stretch to spring break. It’s okay to feel that, and it’s necessary to listen to it. Take a break. In my early years of teaching, I thought- oh good, moment to catch up on…