The Response-Able Educator Newsletter
January 24, 2004
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Welcome! This is a free newsletter on becoming a Response-Able
teacher and developing Response-Able students.
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MISSION STATEMENT
My mission is to inspire, encourage and uplift the spirits
of educators so they can in turn inspire, encourage, and uplift
the spirits of their students.
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IN THIS ISSUE
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- Quote
- Spirit Whisperer Contemplation
- Facts
- Tone Week
- Book Report
- For Administrators Only
- Idea Swap: Mystery Teachers
- Manage Your Subscription
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"Good learning has to do with atmospheres of hope rather
than fear; feelings of adventure rather than sameness; and
newness rather than custom."
----Anonymous
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2. Spirit Whisperer Contemplation [back
to top]
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Where do you see confusion today? Can you teach with confusion,
through confusion, to confusion? When learning something new,
where would be a better place to begin, with confusion or
with knowing? Does your teaching reflect your answer to that
question?
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U.S. teachers spend much more time reviewing previously
taught material than teachers of almost any other nation.
On average, fully 53 percent of lesson time in the U.S. consists
of review. By contrast, teachers in Japan, the highest test-scoring
country in the world, spend only 24 percent of lesson time
on review.
----U.S. Department of Education
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Teachers and administrators in one Pennsylvania school are
increasing the number of positive responses they give to students
and to one another. Motivated by research that shows teachers
across the country verbally comment at a ratio of three negatives
to one positive, this staff has instituted TONE Week. TONE,
an acronym for "Turn On Nice Expressions," is an
effort by the staff to speak in ways that communicate respect
for students and increase the number of positive comments
to which they are exposed. Naturally, the positive comments
are to be delivered with a positive tone.
(Teachers and administrators wishing to improve their verbal
interaction with students are encouraged to order our book
"Teacher Talk: What It Really Means." "Teacher
Talk" is available from Personal Power Press for $13.00.
Call (toll-free) 877-360-1477. Purchase orders accepted.)
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Occasionally at one of my workshops I will overhear colleagues
having fun by putting one another down. Around the registration
table and over coffee, they will jab at each other with remarks
like:
"I see you got here all right. Did your mother wake
you up?"
"Look out, klutz, or you'll spill the coffee."
"Hey, can't you even spell your name right?"
This fun-poking way to begin the morning seems friendly enough
at first glance. Behind this "affectionate" name
calling, however, is a serious situation that is harmful to
both the joker and the brunt of the joke.
Put-downs of any nature are destructive. There is no such
thing as affectionate name-calling. What is said in supposed
jest is simply a poorly veiled attempt to put another person
down. Each statement contains a bit of truth recognized by
both the sender and the receiver
Eliminate put-downs from your Teacher Talk, with colleagues
as well as with students.
(If you liked the above idea, you will love Chick Moorman's
"Talk Sense to Yourself: The Language of Personal Power."
The book is available for $13.00 through Personal Power Press
at (toll-free) 877-360-1477, or at ipp57@aol.com.
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6. For Administrators Only [back
to top]
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Administrators: When you organize a training for your teachers,
get involved. Staff members resent it when you sit on the
sidelines and watch as they go through the training. The silent
message your noninvolvement communicates is, "You need
this stuff, but I don't."
When I do "Respect and Responsibility" seminars,
I insist that everyone in the room do the exercises and stay
involved. That policy holds even if it's the meeting planner's
third time through the workshop. It is important that you
model active involvement for participants.
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7. Idea Swap: Mystery
Teachers [back to top]
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By Kathy Jordan
On the first day of November a bowl of dogfood, a bottle
of sinus medication, and a toy canoe appeared in the front
hall showcase at our school. November was Mystery Month, and
mystery books were being featured and read in the media center.
Posters advertising mystery books filled the halls.
What were the strange objects that had appeared in the showcase?
If you're a super sleuth, you've probably already guessed
they were clues to the identities of our school's "mystery
teachers."
Each day of the week a new clue was added on each shelf of
the showcase for mystery teachers one, two, and three. By
Friday the showcase held a strange collection of items. A
bowl of dogfood, lipsticks, needlepoint, "The Secret
Garden," and a duck decoy represented the mysterious
identity of teacher number one. A toy canoe, a jigsaw puzzle,
"Island of the Blue Dolphins," a yogurt container,
and a picture of an airplane were clues on the second shelf
to mystery teacher number two's identity. The third shelf
contained sinus medicine, a tennis ball, a bowl of Cheerios,
a latch hook rug, and a ukulele to hint at the identity of
mystery teacher number three.
The entire population of the school became involved in solving
the mystery teachers' identities. The mystery became the talk
of the teachers' lounge, the school hallways, and many dinner
tables around our town. There were no ballots. Students and
teachers were encouraged to be private detectives and keep
their opinions to themselves. They would "win" if
they could figure out the teachers' identities by Friday,
and their reward would be the satisfaction of knowing they
had solved a mystery.
On Friday biographical sketches of the three mystery teachers
were read over the intercom. The sketches incorporated the
significance of the clues and concluded with the name of each
mystery teacher.
We continued the mystery teacher activity until all the teachers
in our building got a turn. The activity definitely helped
teachers get acquainted with one another and also helped students
get to know their teachers. It caused the teachers to become
more human in the minds of the students, and it created a
greater degree of connectedness among everyone in our building.
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8. Manage Your Subscription [back
to top]
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To find out more about books, tapes, and materials by Chick
Moorman, contact him at (toll-free) 877-360-1477 or on the
web at www.chickmoorman.com.
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Subscriber comments, ideas, and concerns are valued. Email
your
comment to IPP57@aol.com
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Privacy Statement: Under no circumstances do we sell,
trade, or exchange your email address, ever. It is safe with
us. Always!
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To find out more about workshops, seminars, and keynote
addresses presented by Chick Moorman contact him at toll free,
877/360-1477 or on the web at www.chickmoorman.com.
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Copyright 2004 Chick Moorman Seminars, all rights
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