From the Trenches...

WordsMatter: Positive Mental Imaging Discussion

Here is part of the initial prompt for this session...just to jog your memory. Read, comment, and interact!

"You are teaching a course and you notice a student with the potential to do something inappropriate, or even dangerous. Let's pick a specific example....Chemistry class. Students are in a lab and you feel compelled to say abruptly to one student, "Don't drop that flask!" Sure enough, the flask is promptly dropped and glass shatters across the floor. You next think, or say, "Weren't you listening, I told you not to drop it." Do you see the problem, yet?"

(To return to the WordsMatter main discussion page, click here)

Home-Study Email Course Discussions

This section of the blog has been published specifically for those participating in a Home Study Email Course from Education Illustrated LLC, facilitated by Duke Kelly.

Read the comments of others and please add in your own comments and questions! You might find solutions to scenarios that are providing challenge for you. You might also provide the perfect tip to someone else! Use these pages liberally and everyone will benefit...including your students!

(What?!?! Some of you haven't taken any of the free email courses? You are missing the train to classroom and teaching bliss! Participation will change your life, or your money back.)

Below are the free courses currently available for discussion, select a title to get started...

Words Matter: Advanced Language Techniques for Educators

Behind-the-Scenes Product Tour

 

Be certain to add "@aweber.com" to your email whitelist to receive course materials.

WordsMatter: Advanced Language Techniques for Educators

Already enrolled? Begin reading and contributing by clicking one of the topics below. It is the dialog that helps many people work out classroom issues. Good luck!

Session #1: Positive Mental Imaging 

Session #2: Vocal Italics 

Session #3: Labels

Session #4: Week of Respite

Session #5: Frames

Session #6: (not yet active)

Not enrolled? What are you waiting for? Read on to see if this course is right for you...

 This free course is not for the beginning teacher. This course is meant for educators with experience and the discipline to look into minute, but critical, aspects of their teaching and behavior.

• If you are an enthusiastic educator ready to dive into your practice, this course is for you.

• If you are one of those teachers who never finds themselves able to find value in staff development, this course is for you.

 This course can seem "picky" at times, but implement the techniques and see how valuable they are. Besides, you're ready!

 Each week describes a classroom situation, offers a solution, and provides extension activities or research for further study if you are interested. The topic will advance about once per 7 - 10 days. You can save the email correspondence and work at a pace that suits your busy life.

 You have nothing to lose! It is free and you can just unsubscribe at any time...If you still have an excuse to not participate, you are probably not ready to take this Advanced Language course. If that is so, I will welcome you back when you are ready.

 Let's advance the profession, enroll below!

Be certain to add "@aweber.com" to your email whitelist to receive course materials.

Free Email Product Tour Signup and Discussion...

 

 

 If you are already a participant in the tour and would like to ask a question or make a comment, this page is where you belong! Just scroll down...

 

If You Are New to the Tour, Welcome!

 

 You are about to embark on a private tour of the Education Illustrated catalog. Over the next several weeks (only one email per week), I will personally guide you through our product catalog and much more.

 

 What else...you ask? I am not just trying to sell you products, my goal is to meet your needs, exceed your expectations and make a positive impact in your professional practice. Aside from products, then, I will be offering tips for implementation, rationale for why their use is important, and evidence th2at we have a wealth of information behind our product selection and development. You will also hear tips, strategies and success stories from other teachers. Many of their comments taught us how to evolve as a company and develop products and shape classrooms and minds around the country. Several free resources will be offered on this tour that are not readily available anywhere else! There will be no pressure to purchase anything...really! I am appreciative of the chance to offer you information that will likely meet your needs.

 

 Is there something you want or need, but don't see it in our store? Just let us know and we will help you find it at another vendor. We can do this because service is truly our top priority. We are also extremely confident that we are the best at what we do, making a difference in classrooms and minds.

 

The goal of this tour is to provide information!

 

 All of us at Education Illustrated LLC look forward to improving your life!

 

Be certain to add "@aweber.com" to your email whitelist to receive course materials.

 

Politicians as Educational Repairmen? Not a Chance! - Duke Kelly

Politicians as Educational Repairmen? Not a Chance! By Duke Kelly

This article is not going to be nearly as "academic" as many of the recent posts. Instead of planning what I am going to say with this issue, I am just going to write as if I were having a conversation. This topic is slightly sensitive so please know it is not my intention to offend anyone. I merely wish to encourage discussion about our important profession. Yes...I am going to bring up the issue of politics!

I am proposing some ground rules for comments because it is so close to election day. Any post mentioning or referencing any politician, legislation or party will be removed by me as soon as it is discovered. I understand that we CAN have an intelligent discussion while mentioning the above, but too often, things turn so personal and partisan that the real points are hard to sift out of the rhetoric. Also, try to build on the discussion and comments of others as if we were in the same room together. We just might discover some helpful themes as we move through the mess of politics and education.

Let's begin!

My major question is: Can ANY presidential administration or political party really improve education (again...in general)? I mean, face it, how much success of any student can really be attributed to the federal government? After all, only about 7% of education funding comes from the federal government. (The exact percentage varies from state to state...source Hoover Institution) Granted, there could be social policy that impacts education, but it is my contention that the impact is minimal compared to other factors. Yet, all major candidates talk about what they are going to do to improve education...puzzling. Please note that post secondary education may be an argument of its own and we will leave it out of this discussion.

I am not sure that money has much to do with the success anyway. There have been MANY projects toying with injecting major funds into schools with little or no success. The largest impact on the success of a student, in my experience, is their family. This seems obvious to many, but a foggy connection to some. This may turn some of you off, but I am willing to take the risk...Here is a generality: If you show me a loving home (no matter how much money) with emphasis placed on doing things together, spending time together, and talking to each other in a meaningful way every day and I will show you a student with a high chance for success. I have taught in an inner-city school as well as a rather "well-to-do" suburban school and this "rule" holds true in both places. Are there exceptions? Duh. I still stand by the fact that this rule generally holds. When we compare test scores with other countries (and everyone tries to make us look stupid), we never compare family structure (not just a traditional nuclear family, but who is involved such as aunts, cousins, neighbors, etc...), communication habits, or other extremely critical social factors that influence the education of children. What can politicians do about that? I think all they can do is make it worse. There are policies (from BOTH political parties) that can leave people with LESS time to spend with their children.

If you haven't guessed, I don't believe the November election will do anything to improve schools. I am not being cynical and this has not a single thing to do with any candidate, I just don't believe there is a system in place to fix what needs to be fixed.

I will rephrase the question so you can begin to comment: Does the federal government have any chance of improving education?

I look forward to your comments!

Thank you for your continued support,

Duke R. Kelly

Education Illustrated LLC - CEO

http://www.edapple.com 

Educational Swearing - Avoiding "Bad" Words You Might Love

I recently received the following question emailed by a fellow educator:

"Sometimes I plan a fun assignment for my eleventh grade class that I know they will really enjoy. When I say 'I think you will like your homework today', they just cringe and nearly revolt before they have even seen the assignment. How can I get my students to not 'judge' assignments before they even give them a try?"

Well, it sounds like you are working hard to come up with assignments that you hope your students will enjoy. That's a start! The problem may not lie in the assignment itself, but in what you call the assignment.

Imagine that you, as a teacher, walked into a staff development and the facilitator began with, "Okay everybody, let's do some Icebreakers." What is your initial reaction? How would you feel? I can practically hear the groans through my computer as you are reading this! Here is another example, "We are going to do some Role-Playing." Sick to your stomach? These are often some of the reactions that we feel when someone says those things to us. We, as adults, sometimes (often in most staff developments) have negative thoughts about experiences before they even start!

Why might some people have negative reactions to those words? Words like "Icebreaker" and "Role-Play" carry a history with them. For many people icebreakers can be a living nightmare. Each participant may have a slightly different history with certain words, but a history none-the-less. Some words can cause a negative reaction with some audiences but a very positive reaction in others. Let's look at the word "play," for example. To a group of third graders, that word coming out of a teacher's mouth might be a dream come true. If a facilitator tells a group of teachers that they are going to spend their day "playing" there may be a negative reaction. To some adults, playing may seem like a waste of time.

There are many words that may cause a negative reaction with students as well. Can you think of any words that have a negative history with them according to the learners with whom you work? What about "Test," "Presentation," and "Homework?" No matter how fun or useful the assignment may be, it is beginning with a "bad" word. In the past, homework might have been very difficult or seemed pointless to some students. The thought of having more homework causes them to put the assignment in a not-so-helpful perspective.

Let's step outside of the classroom for a minute. Imagine for a moment that you really love iced tea. Imagine that you also love diet coke. If you reach into the icebox for a can of diet coke, you are expecting to have an experience similar to the last time you had a diet coke. What if instead of diet coke in that can, somebody had placed iced tea. What would be your first reaction? Some people would instantly spit it out on the floor. The "Label" on the diet coke can set you up to have an experience with which you were familiar.

There are two ways to influence a more positive reaction when you know your lesson may have a label that is not helpful.

1) Avoid the label completely, or
2) Redefine or replace the label with another word or phrase

Instead of "Homework" you could say, "I am going to give you a chance to show me how well I did in teaching this topic." When I tought high school algebra, I used this swap quite often: Instead of "Test", I would say "On Friday, you will have the opportunity to show me what you have learned about this topic." This switch worked very well. It became almost a joke to the students. They would ask, "When is our next opportunity?" They still knew it was a "Test," but some of the anxiety was removed from the environment because the actual label was replaced.

We know that it is sometimes helpful for people to "Role-Play" in certain situations. This is a label that is easily avoided. To a group of students in a co-op program that is getting ready for job interviews, for instance, practicing the interview in advance could be very helpful. Yet, telling the group they are going to role-play can really set the time up to be nonproductive. Do you think it would get a better reaction if it was introduced in the following way?

"Next week everyone in the room will be interviewing for their jobs. To make the experience as easy as possible, it might be helpful to have some of the words that work well in advance. Please pair up....Next week it is going to be real. What are you going to say? Tell your partner what you would say to a potential employer if they asked you _____"

Are the students role-playing? Yes, they are. The teacher, however, did not use that potentially harmful (and anti-productive) label.

Some other labels that you may want to avoid (depending on your learners):

Dance
Fun
Sing
Game
Examination

Can you think of ways to avoid the situations that could be possibly created by the above labels? Listen to the words you choose next time you are in front of a group and see if you can identify any labels you may be using. Also, over the next couple weeks, watch your students and listen to yourself. What other labels are in your reality?

 

 

I look forward to your comments. Thank you for your continued interest in teaching and learning.

~Regards,

 

Duke Kelly

Education Illustrated - CEO

http://www.edapple.com