Honing the Habit

  Happy 2017!  Happy New Year!  Happy 2017!  Happy New Year!  Happy 2017!  Happy New Year! I am psyched and ready for a wonderful year!  It’s time to embrace my great aspirations and resolve to do it all a little better.  You know – clean up my act.  I am saying this because the holidays…

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Secrets That Are Not So Secret

I love a list.  And I really love a countdown list so you can imagine how much fun I have this time of year when there are endless things to count down for the year.  I have seen lists for books, movies, music, food, sports, and I recently saw a list on social media called…

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Confessions of an Old Teacher

  When I was a kid I idolized my teachers.  I thought they knew everything and I wanted to be one of those people who would lovingly impart knowledge to the masses.  I wanted to be an educator.  Diploma in hand and great aspirations in mind, I set out to teach.  I was going to…

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Pedagogy – Reflecting on Your Strengths

“There’s no cookie-cutter template for teachers.  The most important thing is to know your strengths.”  – Sherida Britt, Director of Tools for Teachers with ASCD Pedagogy is another word for education, the profession and the discipline of teaching.  It is the substance of teachers’ daily lives.  It has been described as: The art of teaching…

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Relationships Count

“It is the teachers who have created positive teacher-student relationships that are more likely to have the above average effects on student achievement.”  – Dr. John Hattie After years of extensive research on student learning, Dr. John Hattie found that the relationships teachers share with their students have a greater effect on their academic growth…

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Rethinking Stress

“It’s not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.”  – Hans Selye Teaching is a rewarding yet demanding career – not for the faint of heart.  The wearing of numerous hats, pressure from state mandates, schedules that seem to multiply, needs that continuously change, and most importantly – the genuine desire to truly…

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Owning Less

“A spoonful of decluttering keeps the stress and chaos down.”  Mary Poppins may not have said this, but surely she thought it.  After all she was all about tidiness. Articles and books are everywhere on the topic of throwing out the excess “things” in your life.  The methods they propose may be different, but all…

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Mirror Mirror On the Wall

“Mirror, mirror on the wall.  What did I learn after all?” Reflection is a vital piece of the learning puzzle.  Unless we examine what we learned and how we learned it, we don’t know what worked well and what needs to be tweaked.  The end of the year is a natural time to look back…

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Tricks of the Trade – Be Intentional

“Change is inevitable.  Growth is intentional.”  – Glenda Cloud The school year is moving quickly, teachers are stretched, and students are growing weary.  There are still many days ahead to fill with quality learning opportunities and you want to make each one count, so teach on!  Remember – don’t just have good intentions – be…

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New Avenues to Better Teaching

This month ERG has focused on Instructional Leadership and Peer Coaching.  In one of our recent newsletters it was noted that ” Leadership in education is about learning – and not just the empowerment of student learning.  As instructional leaders, teachers assume a wide range of roles to support the learning needs of students –…

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