Resistance to Change

Resistance to change is natural and inevitable with any break from the norm. Tom Peters likes the idea of ignoring stodgy resistance by accentuating the positive. That reminds me of the Whale Done philosophy that we have read and tried to put into place here at Halecrest. I've also found that some resistance, thought not all, is most helpful in crafting decisions that avoid pitfalls. I try and listen to folks who are resistance to make sure that our new course takes into account their concerns and this often leads to a different, and oftentimes better path, than we would have envisioned if everyone had just bought the new idea hook line and sinker.

Engaging kids through technology

This video from TeacherTube should get us all thinking about how we need to keep up with the technology for the benefit of our kids. I've seen plenty of bored to tears teenagers in high school and it pains me to see a few of those in upper grades as well. Technology isn't the only answer, but it can definitely be part of the equation.

Literature Circles

Here's a video on literature circles that would be great for our upper grade teachers to take a look at.

Engagement and Feedback Make a Difference

Two critically important factors for effective instruction - student engagement and teacher feedback - were sorely lacking in this study of 2,500 elementary school classrooms. It behooves all of us to reflect on our own practice to see if this is also true of our teaching. Do we value orderly, quiet environments over dynamic learning communities that can sometimes be a little messy?