Showing posts with label responsibility. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Rocking Responsibility
Today I'm excited because my guest post on the core value of responsibility went live at Free Spirit Press. Click the graphic below to check it out.
What's your favorite way to help your learners rock responsibility?
One thing that helps us nurture the virtue of responsibility is our Peer Assistance and Leadership (PAL) mentoring. Specially-trained high school students come to us every year to support and mentor a younger student. This morning, one of them came back for a visit while on Fall break from college classes and sent the heart of her young PALee (and mine!) soaring.
I was so blessed to get to see, hear, feel and experience their
happy reunion.
For the last fifteen years, I would singlehandedly read all of the bios of the teen mentors and them pair them with my students. This year, we decided to try something new: A PAL draft. So instead of me doing the pairing, I asked my students to fill out a "What do I want my PAL to know?" draft card. Then, today, I spent an hour with our new batch of PALs, sharing the cards and letting them choose the child whom they will mentor this year.
Empowerment in action.
As you might imagine, we ran out of time, so Round 2 of our draft continues tomorrow and I can't wait. Do I have the best job or what?
Friday, May 6, 2016
PPBF: But It's Not My Fault
Happy PPBF. Today, a responsibility gold mine.
Title: But It's Not My Fault
Author: Julia Cook
Illustrator: Anita DuFalla
Publisher: Boys Town Press
Date: March 23, 2015
Suitable for: ages 5-8
Themes: responsibility, ownership, choices
Realistic Fiction
Brief synopsis: Noodle gets in trouble for stuff that he's sure is not his fault. Will he learn the difference between fault and responsibility?
Opening page:
My name is Norman David Edwards ... but everybody calls me Noodle.
Resources:
Download this freebie activity from Jennifer Tracy at TpT.
Here's a bookmark template to reinforce the lesson.
Watch the book's trailer:
Why I like this book: Julia Cook books are so real because, as a former teacher and school counselor and a current mom and grandmother, she's been in our shoes. They deal with real-world issues, which she tackles head on with authenticity, transparency, and grace. In this treasure, Julia spotlights responsibility, choices and consequences; Noodle's story helps teach a life skill that every child can benefit from experiencing, reflecting upon, reviewing and practicing over and over again.
Try one or both of these little ditties:
Before trying this one, talk about stakeholders, the people who have a stake in our decisions, who care about, are involved in or will be affected by our choices. Let students brainstorm a list of all of their stakeholders and talk about why these people really make their every decision even more important.
Try one or both of these little ditties:
Before trying this one, talk about stakeholders, the people who have a stake in our decisions, who care about, are involved in or will be affected by our choices. Let students brainstorm a list of all of their stakeholders and talk about why these people really make their every decision even more important.
How might you use this text to make a school-to-home connection? The Assistant Principal over at Robinson Elementary actually sends it home following office referrals so that families can work together to help their children be accountable and take responsibility for their choices.
Saturday, August 29, 2015
The Power of the Circle
Today I'm energized because yesterday afternoon I got to visit my high school PALs for a few minutes. Those superheroes-in-training exude excitement about the chance to empower and supercharge those special someones under their care this year. I gave them each one of these capes to decorate as we anticipate and eagerly await their flight to our campus:
It's a visual representation, I told them, of who they are.
Our first impression of them and what they'll bring to us.
We can't wait to see their superpowers posted on our walls.
Speaking of superpowers, I found this tiny treasure on my morning walk ...
and it made me think about the power of circling up.
Part of the excitement about my new space is that we've got lots of room now,
to huddle up,
to sit and stand in a circle,
to sing, move and laugh together.
Knee to knee, shoulder to shoulder, sometimes hand in hand even,
with the person beside us.
Eye to eye with the friends in our group.
To utilized inner-outer circle pair and share time.
To engage in team-building time.
And to look at each other with a message that clearly conveys
"I see you. You matter!"
as we play to learn and connect to lead.
On my walk I also got to thinking about the circular nature
of collective responsibility {So much interconnectedness when I walk}.
In our #leadupchat Twitter talk this morning, Bob Abrams shared this food for thought nugget that was posted on a wall in the gym at a Chinese school, so I attached it to the picture I took this week of Joshua in his new FHS letterman jacket.
Such a powerful reflection question ...
How do I make my school proud?
... one which we could ask ourselves wherever we go.
How do I make myself proud?
My family proud?
My friends proud?
My community proud?
My Higher Power proud?
And why might it matter?
I guess it boils down to this:
What goes around comes around.
And therein lies the power of the circle.
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It's a visual representation, I told them, of who they are.
Our first impression of them and what they'll bring to us.
We can't wait to see their superpowers posted on our walls.
Speaking of superpowers, I found this tiny treasure on my morning walk ...
and it made me think about the power of circling up.
Part of the excitement about my new space is that we've got lots of room now,
to huddle up,
to sit and stand in a circle,
to sing, move and laugh together.
Knee to knee, shoulder to shoulder, sometimes hand in hand even,
with the person beside us.
Eye to eye with the friends in our group.
To utilized inner-outer circle pair and share time.
To engage in team-building time.
And to look at each other with a message that clearly conveys
"I see you. You matter!"
as we play to learn and connect to lead.
On my walk I also got to thinking about the circular nature
of collective responsibility {So much interconnectedness when I walk}.
In our #leadupchat Twitter talk this morning, Bob Abrams shared this food for thought nugget that was posted on a wall in the gym at a Chinese school, so I attached it to the picture I took this week of Joshua in his new FHS letterman jacket.
Such a powerful reflection question ...
How do I make my school proud?
... one which we could ask ourselves wherever we go.
How do I make myself proud?
My family proud?
My friends proud?
My community proud?
My Higher Power proud?
And why might it matter?
I guess it boils down to this:
What goes around comes around.
And therein lies the power of the circle.
How do you use circle time to empower your super class family?
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Earth Day 2015
First things first; April 22nd is my father's birthday. And every year, he shares it with Earth Day. It's a pretty good fit for a dairy farmer, someone who made his living off the land. Farmers have to be uber-responsible. I always tell my students that responsibility is all about choices and chores, and, believe me,
there were a lot of chores on that farm.
Now that he's semi-retired, Dad spends a lot of his time in his wood shop, crafting cool stuff. Here's a picture of the rain barrel that he and the boys worked together to make when he was here a few years back. He's really good at building things. And people.
Birthday blessings, Dad. Thank you for your strong example.
Today one of my littles asked, "What's Earth Day?" and it felt weird to try to explain that it's a day set aside for us to celebrate the Earth,
because I could hear what was coming next.
"Shouldn't every day be Earth Day?" Why yes, yes it should.
Did you know that our responsibility pillar is colored green because of our responsibility to the earth? From the Character Counts! website: As in being solid or reliable, like an oak.
And before I could even look for something Earth-Day-ish to post, look what found me. Click it to go to its source, the HeartMath Institute.
Harmony.
My 2015 one little word.
Being one with Mother Nature.
On Earth Day. And Every Day.
Oh, and we finished our state testing, so I'm ready to celebrate.
Birthday cake anyone?
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