Working in Education through the Language Lens

We always have many firsts! As we get older our chances of doing things for the first time seem to diminish - by our own choosing. We get comfortable (some may even say complacent) and our opportunities to engage in 'first time' experiences. I always love giving my students a 'first time' opportunity. If taken for granted students could miss out on these on a daily basis by merely assuming that their background/life experience mirror our own, or those of the majority. So my second grade pullout  group investigated the smells, texture and tastes of pumpkin pie for almost 20 minutes. We engaged our senses, our food enthusiasm and tapped into our bravery centers of the brain. Do you remember the last time you tasted something new/different? Or did you automatically reject the experience with 'no thanks'. Last night my husband and I watched an episode of "An Idiot Abroad" where poor Carl is constantly put in first time situations. Last

1) Don't cheat and scroll down first! 2) Promise to stop and watch the youtube videos to take in the full effect of this written message! *** promise??*** ok! THERE COMES A TIME in everyone's life - heck sometimes daily when we make this decision. Almost like "flight or fight?" except I like to name it Anchor down/Anchors away? I came to terms with a lot of identity issues for myself this past year (as it was my 40th year). I also had a serious conversation with myself during my times of reflection about being authentic .  My PLN knows more about me from our conversations and heart felt communication during the course of the past 6 months than some of my co-workers of 4 years. And you know what? No one is to blame but me. I can't hold it against them if I chose not to 'show my skin' - pun intended.  There are layers of facade that we all put up - especially in education. We feel this need to create a barrier between personal and

A recent poll of 43 friends/colleagues left me with a data cluster. I simply asked, "what is your favorite day of the week and why?" I have my favorite (even though I've been told not to play favorites) - but I do! I'll share my favorite at the end (no scrolling down). So what prompted this question? Glad you asked- As I near my birthday and a seemingly more reflective time of the year for me both personally and professionally, I have wondered why people seem to place a lot of value on one day of the week over another. It's rather simple really - and I could have predicted the results - perhaps not the reasons behind the results. What we find value in, where we find most pleasure - is reflected in our 'day' of choice. Following up election day last week, I've been reflective over the value we put on numbers and percentages - which led into a conversation with my PLN about ranking and student data. That conversation ironically had the sam