Preventative defense. Let your students know boundaries and expectations for as many pieces of your classroom as possible. I have an analogy I like: Let’s say you’re inviting someone over to a family dinner event at the home of a relative. You may think, “Dinner is dinner.” But dinner with your family is a separate…
At my house, we call them “Get-Through-It Days”, though I think a better name might be “Forgiving Days”. A Forgiving Day is a day when we just don’t have our all to bring. We might be tired, distracted, sad, scattered. On Forgiving Days, we forgive ourselves first. It’s okay that we are presenting work and…
I was listening to an interview with Suleika Juoaud, best selling author and journalist- and wife of Jon Batiste. She was asked what she does on the middle days, the ones between the “exclamation points of life”. Suleika Juoaud is a force of immense and insanely varied talent, from musician to author to journalist to…
Take yourself back to that feeling of finding a seat in the school cafeteria. I remember walking out, holding my tray, looking up and looking down at the same time- really hoping I’d have a place to sit- someone who wanted to sit next to me or at least allow me to sit peacefully. It’s…
Really good questions are treasures. When you ask a question that brings a quizzical look, a question that rouses reflection- that is the stuff of life. We focus on the art of listening- as we well should. But with curiosity and potent questions, listening becomes completely natural. When we want to know people, we ask…
Okay, so maybe it’s a fist pump, an elbow bump, a nod of the head- but teach people how to greet people. This is certainly closely related to my last post about noticing people. This is a great step towards learning about your students, and teaching them to learn about each other. I would line…
It took me while to understand that what I want to create in my classroom is the feeling my Mom gave me when I walked into the house. I am so glad you’re here. Your presence will lift this space. She didn’t just make me feel that way. My Mom made everyone who walked in…
I tell my students that whispering is one of the secrets we learn in teaching school. It is such a beautiful thing. I am not a proponent of a silent classroom. But there are times when you need quiet to give a direction or redirect and return to focus. When the class needs quieting or…
First, we must come to an agreement: Students do not want to arrive “unprepared”. Students do not intend to come to class without a pencil, without paper, needing to go to the bathroom. They do not mean to leave their notebooks on the kitchen counter. They did not want to be have a tussle at…
What is Self-Efficacy? Self-Efficacy is a person’s fundamental belief in their own ability to succeed. Goodness, what a beautiful goal for our students and our teaching- support students in their belief in themselves and their own competence, their own potential. I have always told my students that, if I have done my job, I should…