Jun 6, 2014
#edsymposium - Marcia Tate Keynote
Three things everyday teachers should do.
- Greet students at the door. It is at the door where those relationships are built.
- Calming music playing at the beginning in the background.
- Start every class with something positive. "You look marvelous" to each other.
Humorproject.com - smile on a stick!
20 ways to teach the human brain
20 ways to teach the human brain
- Writing - helps you remember. Cannot takes notes and listen at same time.
- Storytelling - real stories tie teaching to learning. Tell stories to teach a point.
- mnemonic devices - Acronyms, acrostics, etc. PEMDAS, HOMES. Let students create their own devices! People need to hear something three times before they get it. Give students a hook or connection.
- Visuals - show what you are teaching
- Movement (AS=Age); Attention Span of a student is approx age of student in mins. Adults can pay attention for 20 minutes.
- Role-play or act out the lesson, steps of a problem, vocabulary, scene from history
- Visualization - seeing in your mind what you are learning
- Metaphor, Analogy, Simile - Ex: use arm as neuron
- Reciprocal teaching - students teaching one another/cooperative learning (team)
- Music - wphillips.com (singing along science)
- Graphic organizers
- Drawing
- Humor
- Discussion
- Games
- Project-based instruction
- Field trips
- Manipulatives
- Technology - internet research, graphing calcs, etc
- Work study - internships, apprenticeships, etc
Three reason why teachers need these strategies:
- Increase achievement for all students - Elem, middle, high, college, adult, special ed, reg ed, gifted, esl, add, autistic
- Decrease behavior problems - bored, inadequate
- Make teaching and learning fun - Laugh every single day, make it fun
Teach to both sides of the brain. She then had us to a physical activity to remember brain activity.
Brain facts that I remember (7, 8 after talking):
- Dendrites
- Cell Body
- Axon
- Dendrites talk to Axom only,
- but can only do so via synapses.
- Humans are born with 100 billion neurons.
- Each cell body can have 60 dendrites or more
- Added - Fetus has more than 100 billion
She used music (The Hustle) to teach us number lines by moving to the right and left to the music.
Vocabulary words using the strategies:
- Gallimaufry - collection, assortment, plethora, smorgasbord, hodgepodge, menagerie, variety, conglomeration
- Idiopathy - illness is unknown,
- Knout - whip
Jun 5, 2014
#edsymposium - Michael Fullan "Principal as Change Agent"
Handouts with quotes, participants were told to circle favorite quote. Then, move around room to share quotes.
I had to step out, but when I came back, this was on the screen. Look at this and think about where you might fit:
Watched a video and we had to determine if the people portrayed are too "pushy" or too "pully."
"Some teachers volunteered and some were 'voluntold'" - quote from video. Haha!
Teacher teams feel like they are constantly being support - continual, ongoing. Support is not just a one-off. Not told "do this. You are on your own. There is support all along the way."
Principal
- Push - use of the word "voluntold"
- Push - implementation of teams, expectations that teachers would take part
- Push - Gather and use the data to confront situation
- Push - High expectations, but provide support (pully)
- Pull - Multiple groups to handle different aspects.
Teachers
- Pull - Teachers being drawn in
- Pull - Teachers decided what the roles within groups would be
- Push/Pull - Data was pushed on them, but then they wanted the data (pull)
Complex, but not complicated to implement.
Participants looked over various scenarios:
- Leader too eager to make a difference
- Undervalue the ideas of others
- Lack confidence
- Lack strategic skills to execute
- Trip on their own strengths
Skills for Leading Change:
- Challenges the status quo
- Builds trust through clear communication and expectations
- Creates a commonly owned plan for success (beware of fat plans)
- Focuses on team over self
- Has a sense of urgency for sustainable results
- Commits to continuous improvement for self
- Builds external networks and partnerships (Kirtman, The Principalship, p. 128 - according to Fullan's notes)
Dealing with resistance
- Give people respect before they earned it
- Practice impressive empathy - understand someone who is in your way
- Love your employees - create conditions in which they can be successful
- Deal firmly with what's left over
- The road to reducing resistance is to increase enthusiasm
Things to think about:
- What have I learned about my leadership? (or skills or processes etc)
- What should I work on?
- What is the overall takeaway from today?
I think every conference attendee should ask themselves the last three questions after attending ANY conference!
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