We’ve all probably heard the conversation about being ‘book smart or ‘street smart’, heard others talk about someone ‘having a sixth sense’ or being a ‘people person’.
As a society, we often find ourselves describing people in terms of their strengths or ‘intelligences’.
But, what does it mean to be intelligent? Continue reading
Wait a minute! Teaching less is a good thing?
Let’s be careful in what is actually being said here. Teaching is an EXCELLENT thing to do. If we didn’t teach adequately our students would not learn sufficiently. But, what Grant Wiggins is trying to stress is that FEEDBACK is one of the strongest correlates to student success. And not just a letter grade or percentage, but critical feedback that helps the student learn from their mistakes so that they can focus on personal improvement.
Nobody gets better by just seeing a ‘B’ on their paper, lab report or report card. What makes us improve our learning is the opportunity to understand what we didn’t fully succeed at, be given an opportunity to refine our learning and perhaps demonstrate our mastery of the topic again.
I remember sitting in a meeting where we were talking about feedback, student mastery of material and grading. The speaker asked us to step out from our ‘classroom comfort zone’ and think about … parachute packing.
OK. Why not?
Happy New Year everyone! I hope that your summer was glorious. As the calendar turned to August my mind turned to the year ahead. I wondered about what to write for my first blog of the new year. Then one day while having a conversation with my mom I was reminded about something funny at the movies … many, many, MANY years ago.
The story goes something like this …
Going to the Movies with Mom
When I was a young boy of about 5 or 6 I went to the movies with my mom. As we were waiting for the movie to start we both noticed another little boy moving between the aisles focused entirely on picking up litter. We were impressed and my mom told him what a good thing he was doing. He shrugged his shoulders, “It’s a Living”.
It was hard not to laugh and if I’m truthful I probably did — I don’t actually remember. I do remember that he was very serious about his job — it was important work. He was making a difference. It was his work.
Dogs Make a Big Difference in the Lives of Others
As we recalled this story it actually caused me to reflect a bit about my own work in education. As I am now in my 50s — certainly now with more of my career behind me than in front of me — I sometimes stop and wonder about the impact I’ve had on people in our schools and at the board office:
The Power of Why 