Technically Yours Teamann — Page 83 — my version of transparent, collaborative leadership…with a Teamann twist

The 2012

March 7, 2013 by Amber Leave a Comment

We’re back, it’s calm & quiet, and its like we haven’t ever left!

🙂

I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions, mainly b/c I never seem to follow them, 🙂

What I do believe in is making positive changes that will impact my life. That being said, my list of 8 (duh!) goals does involve some professional statements. One is to maintain and continue BEING POSITIVE. We started our year with bucket filling, and somehow, over the past semester I think I lost my focus. Be it the stress, the sickness, or the fast pacedness of the fall, I ‘m not sure. I do know that I like me more when I’m chipper and happy. 🙂 Being positive isn’t just an attitutude, it an be a life uplifting direction. Check out these tidbits I came across from Twitter:

( I love Twitter. @8amber8)

1. Positive People Live Longer – In a study of nuns, those that regularly expressed positive emotions lived on average 10 years longer. (The Nun Study)
2. Positive work environments outperform negative work environments. (Daniel Goleman)
3. Positive, optimistic sales people sell more than pessimistic sales people. (Martin Seligman)
4. Positive leaders are able to make better decisions under pressure. (Heartmath.org)
5. Marriages are much more likely to succeed when the couple experiences a 5 to 1 ratio of positive to negative interactions whereas when the ratio approaches 1 to 1, marriages are more likely to end in divorce. (John Gottman)
6. Positive people who regularly express positive emotions are more resilient when facing stress, challenges and adversity. (Several Studies)
7. Positive people are able to maintain a broader perspective and see the big picture which helps them identify solutions where as negative people maintain a narrower perspective and tend to focus on problems. (Barbara Fredrickson)
8. Positive thoughts and emotions counter the negative effects of stress. For example, you can’t be thankful and stressed at the same time. (Several Studies)
9. Positive emotions such as gratitude and appreciation help athletes perform at a higher level. (Heartmath.org)
10. Positive people have more friends which is a key factor of happiness and longevity. (Robert D. Putnam)
11. Positive and popular leaders are more likely to garner the support of others and receive pay raises and promotions and achieve greater success in the workplace. (Tim Sanders)

I’m ok with ALL of these things!!

(I’m pretty sure Troy Aikman agrees with #9. IJS.)

Add being positive to your 2012 list…let’s see if our buckets can all over flow!

Positively,

Amber

a “timely” piece…

March 7, 2013 by Amber Leave a Comment

In the same spirit my positive piece was yesterday, James and I would like to share an article that our esteemed Assistant Superintendent, Phyllis Parker, shared with us this week. I’m going to ask in this week’s Lion Bytes, that you not only take the time to read, but also to respond via a comment about your reactions to this compelling article. We’ll be checking back and responding, creating a virtual conversation that will take place at your leisure.

Every student struggles with something. No student has a perfect life. Every student needs an education that interests and challenges them and helps them learn more about their possibilities. It’s been revealed that more and more students are struggling with reading making the implementation of any supportive strategies as important as ever. In fact, “at-risk” readers are in many instances becoming the norm. Struggling readers and English language learners are among the entire student population that are “at-risk” and we’re regularly working through ideas to help make them successful. By using these same strategies with every student from the start of their education there will be less “at-risk” readers and teachers will have more time to focus on some of the other factors that make every student “at-risk of not developing their potential.” We do that well here at Luna, but again, we want to hear your thoughts about ways we can maybe do it better here in the 2012.

sharingly,

Amber

the silver bullet…

March 7, 2013 by Amber Leave a Comment

(caveat: I don’t like guns. my title does not endorse guns. or bullets. :))

(another caveat: this is also not about a blender.)

One of the first conversations that my principal engaged me in was about the use of “workbooks”. While it wasn’t a practice that his mindset and philosophy embraced, he recognized that it was a means to an end. Scores were inevitably higher, skills were inevitable ingrained, and it seemed successful.

While in technology, we worked a lot with test prep programs. No names needed, you know which ones I’m talking about. I embrace these programs, I do. I’ve even done some consulting for them. That being said, I don’t feel that they replace authentic teaching and learning. Nor do I think a workbook does.

What I do think is that they resemble a candy bar. A snickers, if you will. It serves its purpose in the short term. Your belly is sated, your brain thinks you’re full, and it seems successful. In about an hour though…you’re hungry again. This was the analogy we used when talking about test prep, whether it be a program or a workbook. Short term memory is great…in the short term. When we’re talking about authentic learning, long lasting learning…applicational learning that can be drawn on for the years to come…we’re not talking about a snickers.

Which brings me to the magic bullet. I mentioned on Twitter that I was really resistant to using ANY of our limited budget monies for workbooks, even as a reference tool. Had a teacher in my PLN (@JamieVanderG) tweet me that “we use them because anything but top notch test scores mean we get told we don’t do enough and have to do better”, that :”on paper kids feel the pressure too”. which made me SO sad. I really hope none of my LL’s feel that the only way they can be effective, that their “silver bullet” is to use a workbook. Another tweep, @ScottElias, said, which I thought was genius, “Why are we always looking for the silver bullet? We have time & instruction directly in our control. There’s your silver bullet”.

YOU are the silver magic bullet. YOU are the difference in a child’s learning. You can manipulate the time in your day to make SURE a student sees the lesson objective and grasps them. Teachers are the masters of invention. Utilize every minute of your instructional time. I saw a class on Friday reviewing vocabulary words while lining up in the hall on Thursday. Every single minute counts.

Todd Whitaker, on a previous post left a comment that “One of the best things about teaching is that it matters. One of the greatest challenges about teaching is that it matters every day.” That’s never been more true!

Minute manager,

Amber