97. Swings

Next on my list of 100 Things of Awesomeness, are swings.  Is there anything that makes you feel like spring more than watching children on the playground swings.  I mean, spring bulbs and blossoms are great; however, do they really connect with you the way that flying back and forth on a sturdy playground swing set does?  The way that the wind flows through your hair and that whoosh whips by your ear with each leg pump?  That little drop in your stomach every time the swing changes direction?

For me, swings are like time machines;  it takes only a few leg pumps back and forth for me to be transported back to my childhood where each swoosh down made me feel like I could fly.  Back to a time when anything was possible, and my imagination ruled the world (instead of the world ruling my imagination...).

I may need to head out and have myself a swing.  J

Battle of the Books

What a great event!  We did the school-wide Battle of the Books competition for our Intermediate students today and I was so impressed.  First, the students who entered the challenge did a super job reading the books, going to the study sessions at lunch and then getting up in front of the whole school to answer questions on those books.  Second, the rest of the school was an amazing audience today, staying quiet and polite while the questions were asked and the answers deliberated on, and then a very supportive crowd for every answer given.  Finally, I was so impressed with how many students--particularly boys--participated in this event.  Hats off to our Teacher-Librarian for organizing the battle of the Books, and for all of the time and energy that she put into keeping these kids focused and getting them prepared.  It was literally months of work.

It is great to see literacy embraced like a sporting event, and the participants treated like rocks stars by their peers.

Congratulations to all participants, and especially to the winners who are off to the District Finals in a few weeks time.  Way to go everyone!

You Don't Shovel the Wind

“Well, at least we don’t have to shovel the wind”.

That was the end comment in a conversation I had with a friend today, comparing the amount of snow we had to remove this winter and the incredible winds that we blowing this morning, and it really stuck with me.  Everyone else was complaining about the bitter winds blowing outside, and he had it all in perspective.

I see a big difference in people who view the world with a glass half full.  They are always able to get through their tough days—often with a laugh.  These are the people that roll with the punches, and who get back up after being knocked down.  These are the people who make an effort to see the big picture, and because of that have developed resiliency.  With resiliency, the small things stay small and don’t get you down.  With resiliency comes the balance needed to navigate through the challenges in lifer without being a reactor.

 

It reminds me of that priorities demonstration where you dump large, medium and small rocks into a glass container.  If you put the large ones in first (your big priorities:  family, health, etc), then the medium ones and then the small ones, they all fit.  But, if you dump the small ones in first, and put all of your energy into them, you won’t have room in the jar for everything else.

Intruders

Catchy title?  This post is a follow up from my last post, and the title is the name of a fly, not an unwanted guest.  So this post is about fly tying?  Sort of.  But, it is mostly about good teaching and quality instruction.  My last post was about personal recharging, and my plan was to take a fly tying course on my own time, on a Sunday, to do that. 

And, did it ever.

The instructor was an excellent teacher.  She came well prepared, and stocked with materials, ideas and stories to weave it all together.  I came looking for some technique improvements to my own tying, and came away with at least 3 very significant ones.  I have been tying flies, mostly self-taught, for 21 years and to pick up 3 significant tying technique improvements after all this time is pretty amazing.  The instructor really had her content area down.  She broke down every conceivable piece of this style of tying—material selection, material placement, pattern silhouette, colour, tying techniques, tool choice—to its smallest component.  She brought in a swim tank to demonstrate the silhouette she wanted us to achieve, and showed us why.  That also allowed her to demonstrate common mistakes in material selection (dang, the cheap stuff really makes for a bad fly) and proportion.

She worked through each step, slowly and methodically, and really taught us a tonne along the way.  She would demonstrate a step, and then we would tie it.  She would critique, we would fix.  She would do a demo on the vice—good technique vs. bad technique, good material choice vs. poor material choice, full presentation vs. sparse presentation—and then plunk that step into the swim tank to show us the differences.  The session was just over 4 hours long, and in that time—gets this—I tied...wait for it...one fly!  And, it was a nice one.  Really nice.

Good teaching and quality assessment are not exclusive to school classrooms, and the qualities of each can be translated to many settings.  Good teachers, no matter where they are, are good teachers.  Good teachers are prepared with content, materials and resources.  They anticipate questions throughout their lesson and use those predictions in their lesson planning.  They ask good questions that stimulate thought and provoke critical thinking, pulling individuals into group discussions that benefit all, and then use feedback from those conversations to inform their practice for the next lesson.  In terms of quality assessment, good teachers base their lesson planning around three key questions:

1.       What is it, exactly, that I want my students to learn?

2.       How will I know when they learn it?

3.       What will my response be if they don’t

Our instructor knew exactly what she wanted us to learn, and came with examplars, both good and bad, to show us what we were to do.  We followed her steps to create our own examplars, which she could then critique and adjust and have us redo (as necessary) until they were correct.  She was patient with a broad range of tying experience and skill within the group, and able to allow for individual quirks to shine through for individual people.  Saying that, she was also confident enough stop her students when they strayed too far off course, and graceful enough to pull them back without making them feel bad.  All in all, she did a masterful job.

I really couldn’t have asked for any more.

Thanks April!

Recharging Your Soul

We all know the value of a vacation.  We work hard all year, and then plan, arrange and organize those special weeks we set aside for travel, distraction and relaxation.  My problem with vacations is that I put so much effort into maximizing them, that I often come home more tired than before I left.  Now, don’t get me wrong...I come home relaxed and rejuvenated, I just also come home wanting my routines back, ready for my own bed, and wanting some early nights to catch up on my sleep. 

Take my special birthday trip to Las Vegas last month, for example: 

Did we have fun?  Yes.                                                                                  

Did the right people join us?  Yes.

Did we pack in everything that we wanted to do and more?  Yes.

Was I tired for a week afterwards?  Yes.

Was it worth it?  Most definitely.

Could I do it again next month?  No way.

We have to plan these special weekends, with the right people and the right things to do.  Sometimes it’s with our whole family, and sometimes just the adults.  Sometimes it’s with friends, and sometimes not.  Sometimes it’s for a weekend, and sometimes it’s longer.  The point is to recognize the need for a recharge, and while it’s easy to do that when our “holidays” are mapped out for us a year in advance, what about those times when we are in between holidays, in between vacations, and we still need a recharge?

I plan little mini mind breaks for myself.  Sometimes, they involve a hobby that I find therapeutic:  fly fishing, tying flies for fly fishing, gardening, reading or running.  Sometimes, they are simple little “staycations” at the beach with my family, or a quiet afternoon by the pool.  And, sometimes, they are more formalized around some sort of professional growth, personal growth or in-service:  a conference, a workshop, a training session or other learning opportunity.  This weekend, I have signed up for a workshop as a little battery recharge to keep me going until Spring Break in a couple of weeks.  My local fly shop has brought in a celebrity, of sort, to run a fly tying class.  While I am a very advanced fly tyer in my own right, I am really looking forward to learning some new tricks of the trade from a respected master.  Perhaps next week, I will let you know how it all goes?

The thing is that we can get lost spending time trying to fix everyone else, when what we really need to remember that by ignoring ourselves, and breaking down, we are no good to anyone.  Even if that recharge comes from squirreling away for 30 minutes to yourself, it might be the most important thing that you do that day.  Good luck finding the things that you need to recharge yourself!

Brain Research and the Classroom--Keeping the Brain Engaged

I went to an excellent in-service last night on brain research and its implications on the classroom.  Here are some of my nuggets and their ramifications for learning.

Nugget:  Attention produces retention; therefore, more engagement leads to improved achievement.

Classroom implications:  We need to improve student engagement not only in every lesson, but also throughout each lesson.  I often use a sports analogy when talking to my teachers about this.  Think of the basketball coach that selects the best player to come up to the front and demonstrate game skills for the class, and then has the rest of the class line up and attempt the drill one at a time.  While he might be modeling exactly what they are trying to achieve and giving them one-on-one attention, only one person is engaged in practicing the activity at one time and the rest are watching (and disengaged).  Now, think of the coach that demonstrates the skill, and then pairs the players up to practice at all of the secondary hoops around the gym.  Now, everyone is involved and engaged.  Everyone is practicing, and the partner off the ball can be the one trying to help “coach” the skill.  In a classroom, teachers often rely too heavily on the high achievers for answers, ideas and input into class discussions.  This leaves everyone else to sit and listen and try to figure out what is going on.  How about pairing the kids up, modeling them some rules for pair sharing, and having them do the talking back and forth?  Instead of a few students having one very deep discussion, you will have all of the students having many smaller discussions—but all of the students will be engaged.

Nugget:  Episodic memory is the most brain-friendly memory.

Classroom implications:  Episodic memories have a clear beginning and end, and include a location.  These were the types of memories that early humans needed for survival (ex. Where does the predator hide?  Where did we find the food?).  A good modern-day example is our memories of 911.  Most of us remember exactly where we were when we heard the breaking news of 911;  however, how many of us remember the details of the day before or of the day after?  If we can create episodes in our classrooms that include surprises or unexpected events, emotion, unique arrangements and decorations, or even having the teacher teach the lesson from the back of the room, we can create episodes that will help cement that learning into a our students’ memories.  We want to create emotions to tag content for memory;  as emotions stimulate the hippocampus, anything followed by emotion will be remembered.

Nugget:  The brain remembers novel stimuli better than routine stimuli.

Classroom implications:  Try something new.  We are not talking about being a constant entertainer to the class, rather, trying to use a different approach to teach the same thing.  Project-based learning gives everyone the same blueprint, and then allows the flexibility for each student or student group to put their energy into something unique to them.  Instead of watching the Hollywood movie at the end of a novel study, have the students write a movie script for the book.  What key parts would they make sure to keep in their movie?  What parts would they drop out?  What parts would be the hardest to translate to the silver screen?

Nugget:  The brain remembers pictures more naturally than it does words.

Classroom implications:  Make the students add pictures to their notes.  Even if they are doodles in the margin, the students will have a visual image to connect to the content when they are reviewing their notes for your test.

Nugget:  Mnemonic devices help learners attach new content to previously memorized content.

Classroom implications:  Let’s refer back to number 4.  If we attach mnemonic devices to clear images, and then tag those images to new content, we can cement that content into our memory.

Nugget:  Your classroom is filled with very different kinds of learners.

Classroom implications:  You better have instructions and activities that appeal to a variety of learners.  For example, if you only focus on the fine details, those that more naturally see the big picture will be frustrated because they do not “know where this is going”.  They will be completing disconnected tasks instead of building the components that are leading to something bigger.  What about your visual learners?  Your interpersonal learners?  Your bodily kinesthetic learners?

Nugget:  Time pressures stress the brain and engage the amygdala.  This happens more in boys.

Classroom implications:  The amygdala release stress hormones that fire our most primitive part of the brain (our reptilian brain).  This is the part of the brain that controls our fight or flight impulses, and once engaged, the reptilian brain will downshift the rest of the brain.  That means that once the reptilian brain is engaged, the rest of our brain functions are pushed to the side until our reptilian brain feels that the “danger” is gone and can calm down.  If we are stressed about how much time is left on a test, we certainly will not have the higher functioning parts of our brain working towards the ‘A’ that our parents/coaches/university entrance requirements are looking for  (geez, more stress…).

Nugget:  The average teacher takes 1 minute to refocus a class following an activity, and does this 15 times a day.

Classroom implications:  15 minutes a day times 5 days equals 75 minutes a week.  Times that by 4 weeks a month and 10 months a year, and, well you get the picture.  It looks like some of these strategies to engage the brain—and keep the students engaged with you and your lesson--might actually save instructional time after all.  So...keep those brains active and engaged!

Imaginary Conversations

Do you ever find yourself having imaginary conversations?  You know the kind that you have in your head to prepare yourself for a real conversation that you are dreading.  The ones where you are so articulate in what you have to say, where you have a counter for everything that they say, and you can really stick it to them on every point.  The kind that get you so riled up inside because you can’t believe that they actually said what they did, and good for you for backing them down.

The kind that do not actually happen.

I was talking to a few students this week about the difference between perceptions and what really happened.  We talked about framing our days in a positive way to ensure that we have a good day, and then turned our attention towards those days where we were feeling down and out.  We agreed that if we started out our day really feeling bad, that the chances of us having a good day were very low.  Even worse, our chances of having something go wrong in our day go up.  Way up.

In one conversation, we talked about these imaginary conversations—the ones that haven’t happened yet—and what they do to our psyche.  The student listened, and then sat back, pensive as can be.  After a while, he looked up and said “wow”.  He really felt that the conflict that he was having had a lot to do with him coming into interactions ready to have a conflict.  We talked about how this type of thing rarely happens with those that we feel close to; we are always willing to let things—misquotes, silly behaviour, etc—slide with the people that we feel closest to.

I think that sometimes we spend so much energy feeling bad about something that happens, that we set ourselves up for failure by perseverating on the negative.  We spend too much energy on the “how” something was said instead of the “what” was actually said.  I always talk about predicting the day ahead of us by taking stock of our own mental state.  For example, if I come to school grumpy, tired and in conflict with someone in my life, I set myself up to misinterpret someone else’s actions and words.  If I am feeling sensitive, I need to prepare myself to step back when I feel picked on instead of rising up to confront it.  I find that by taking a closer look at myself and how I am reacting to any given day, gives me pause and more compassion towards someone else and what they might be going through in their day.  And, it’s that pause and compassion that have helped me to avoid those nasty imaginary conversations in the first place.