Thursday, February 7, 2013
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Professional Learning Network
20 Tips for Creating a Professional Learning Network
Networking is a prime form of 21st century learning. The world is much smaller thanks to technology. Learning is transforming into a globally collaborative enterprise. Take for example scientists; professional networks allow the scientific community to share discoveries much faster.
Just this month, a tech news article showcased how Harvard scientists are considering that “sharing discoveries is more efficient and honorable than patenting them.” This idea embodies the true spirit of a successful professional learning network: collaboration for its own sake.
As educators, we aim to be connected to advance our craft. On another level, we hope to teach students to use networks to prepare for them for a changing job market. But what is the best way to approach PLNs?
Learning networks are based on the theory of connectivism, or learning from diverse social webs. Connectivism implies that learning relies on communicating ideas with others. PLNs facilitate learning through meaningful interactions. The advantages of PLNs today are two-fold. In one way, they can improve classroom teaching and help develop new projects. On the other hand, they act as a form of communal intelligence that changes societal perceptions.
What are some ways to grow your PLN and improve the quality of your interactions? As you will see, there are diverse ways to build your network and many new management tools. Here are some simple tips:
10 Tips For Using PLN’s
- Keep the spirit of collaboration as your driving force. PLNs are all about working together. Be reciprocal and resourceful. Don’t think about what you have to gain, first think about what you have to give. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. By buying into the process and sharing useful information, your PLN grows naturally. Collaboration creates a common ground and allows others to see your interests. Genuine interest builds a solid, authentic network. Try to see the big picture of how your ideas can change the world. Social responsibility is the best kind of motivation for establishing a PLN.
- Join an online community. Nings are online rings of people with similar interests. Sharing ideas and contacting people for direct feedback is more effective in a community setting. Communities such as, Classroom 2.0 and The Educator’s PLN provide a meaningful circle of experts. They provide professional development resources, such as online events, and are a great place to start networking. Plus, using Mightybell, Edmodo, or Ning you can create your own virtual space to share pictures, documents, calendars, or projects.
- Join a Meetup group. Meetups are common thread interest groups that meet in the real world. The groups can also extend in social networks. For instance, social studies teachers in your district or city might create a group to share teaching ideas. Meetups take online networks and bring them into the real world. And if you can’t meet online try using a cyberspace, like Google+ HangOut, SecondLife, or Skype. Some university academics even have virtual labs on SecondLife.
- Become a beacon of light. PLNs rely on open sharing of information. So if you know something, share it! It’s best to start with a specific interest and then grow into other topics as time goes on. Become an expert in your niche by researching current trends. This will draw a larger following on your network, because you can provide a novel source of information. You might write a blog, start a Scoopit page to repost interesting articles, share a free tool, or create a Youtube video. Cater to your strengths and use what’s comfortable for you.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions. After all, PLNs are all about learning. But don’t ask questions that you can easily research yourself. Try simple searches on TED talks, Wikis, blogs, or news articles before posting a question. Try to be specific and think of how a question might generate interest from others. For example, you may want to refer to an article or research study when asking a question. Be specific! This will generate the best answers.
- Be an active participant. Brain power is the main asset of a PLN. Spend some time to identify a specific cause and communicate it on your profile. Let your knowledge of a specific cause help grow your PLN. Keep up to date with your niche. Stay relevant. Try to post at least once a week.
- Remember to be polite and acknowledge contributions to the rightful owner. Show common respect for the people in your network. This may seem like common sense, but can be a pitfall. It took me some time to learn “web etiquette” over the years, but it has helped me tremendously. Send thank you notes, acknowledgements, and use your true voice. Not only does it make the other person’s day, but it will help you gain more meaningful connections.
- Designate a professional and personal account. I keep my social life on Facebook and my professional life on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. There can be some crossover, but it’s best to keep it minimal so things are easy to find. Certain groups will appreciate different types of content. Your Facebook friends might find your baby’s stories adorable, but your Twitter followers might not appreciate extra messages cluttering their inbox. Do this in ways that are comfortable to you. You might designate accounts for each sphere of your life.
- Create a landing page. It may be a good idea to consolidate all of your accounts on a landing page. A webpage or personal blog will make it easier for people to find you. It will also create a space where you can showcase the different projects you are working on.
- Engage newbies. It is best to include a mix of newbies, peers, and experts. Having this type of diversity in knowledge allows you to increase your mentoring skills. It keeps with the essence of collaboration. One blogger in Australia provided a great visual and commentary on how varying levels of expertise are vital to developing a meaningful PLN. He describes how he learned in a PLN learning MOOC that the 3’Rs have been replaced by the 3 C’s Collaborate, Communicate, and Create. PLNS create new projects through the power of active collaboration.
10 Tools & Strategies for Establishing a Productive PLN
- Use Diigo, Evernote, Pocket, or Delicious to bookmark links. You can access them anywhere and on any device. For example, Diigo is like creating your own personal library. Diigo is the preferred tool for educators.
- It allows you to highlight paragraphs and clip pictures while you are reading.
- You can bookmark a page in a “virtual” library or online archive, even PDFs or videos. You can add your own tags to search for information later.
- Your entire school and class can add Diigo as a group, so that you can share resources. For example, a chemistry class might share a digital periodic table, online lessons, or practice assignments. Here is a great video about how to set up Diigo specifically for education. They have specific accounts for educators to create a shared school library.
- Use a reader to subscribe to blogs. Google reader allows you to manage multiple subscriptions to blogs. This allows easier access to new research. You can also use an application like Scribd or Yahoo News Social to publically share what you read with others.
- Establish your own platform. Consider establishing a blog site on WordPress or blogger.com. A blog provides a worldwide stage to share your views of education. You can spread your passion and find kindred spirits. From there, you can develop lasting connections and plan new projects. Fellow bloggers will appreciate the time you put into creating meaningful materials. Your ideas can be then be re-shared as a link. Many teachers keep class webpage or use applications such as PB works to share ideas.
- Share on Twitter first. Twitter reigns king, for now. Anything can change with technology, but Twitter is the most commonly used tool among academics for expanding PLNs. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+ also provide access to different types of networks. Later, you can use other tools to further expand and manage your network, such as Skype and Google tools. Many new platforms are emerging so stay current by reading tech or social media news on a site such as, Mashable.
- Consider your role. The article “Individual Learning” sheds some light on learning roles. Consider your learning style when designing a specific approach to your PLN:
- Activist-Learning by doing, such as writing a blog.
- Reflector- Learn by reviewing situations, such as posting opinions to articles.
- Theorist-Prefer to learn by researching information and data, such as by creating a model.
- Pragmatist-Apply learning to real situations, such as by creating a project that uses PLNs in the classroom.
- Aggregate resources together. Applications like FlipToast and HootSuite allow you to merge all of your social media accounts into one interface. You may want to play around with different types of portals until you find the one that is right for you. Map out an organized plan for using your PLN. There is a great chart of resources for mapping out your PLN plan on this blog.
- Take a free course to learn about PLNs. MOOCs are Massive Online Open Courses that are free to the public. For instance, this course complete with handouts shows you how to establish a PLN. You learn actively by taking small steps to create your PLN, such as creating a blog, twitter account, and content.
- Stay current with new tools. For example, try Pearltrees. This is one of my favorite new tools for PLNs. Pearltrees is basically a visual organizer for your links. Pearls are collaborative and public. You can add pearls as you browse and share them with others on Twitter and Facebook. Customize your experience. There are many specific tools on different applications that allow you to customize and organize your PLN to fit your own needs. Chrome and Windows 8 have several free applications that are worth trying.
- Simplify logins. You can speed up the log in process by installing a Password management application. To further simply your PLN, use Google to keep a shared document drive, email, chat, and Google+ networking in one place.
- Establish a classroom learning network. Share your own expertise with other educators on a website or blog. Create a class website or teach students how to create their own PLN. You might want to design a classroom project that relies on using one aspect of PLNs. Doing so allows you to learn new ways to use PLNs. A YouTube video, The Networked Student, does an excellent job of explaining how a student might engage in a PLN. Teach students how to establish a PLN in small steps. For instance, they might use Google scholar to research a paper or share ideas on Google Hangouts.
Feel free to add the InformED team on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.
About Miriam Clifford
Miriam Clifford holds a Masters in Teaching from City University and a Bachelor in Science from Cornell. She loves research and is passionate about education. She is a foodie and on her time off enjoys cooking and gardening. You can find her @miriamoclifford or Google+.Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Reading Aloud
Thanks to Dawn Foutz for sharing these wise insights from Jim Trelease on my FB timeline. They complement a great book I read--The Reading Promise.
The hidden benefits of reading aloud - even for older kids
Educator Jim Trelease explains why reading aloud to your child –- no matter what her age -- is the magic bullet for creating a lifelong reader.
By Connie Matthiessen
Jim Trelease is the author of the respected, Read-Aloud
Handbook, which some parents have called the "read aloud Bible." The
book is packed with information — from what really makes kids love reading, to
tips for luring kids away from electronics and onto the page, to hundreds of
read aloud titles. The Handbook's seventh edition will be published in
the spring of 2013 and, at 71 years old, Trelease says it will be his last. We
reached Trelease recently in his home in Connecticut and asked him to explain
why reading aloud is essential for kids of all ages. Can you explain the link between reading aloud and school success?
It's long established in science and research: the child who comes to school with a large vocabulary does better than the child who comes to school with little familiarity with words and a low vocabulary.
Why is that? If you think about it, in the early years of school, almost all instruction is oral. In kindergarten through second and third grades, kids aren't reading yet, or are just starting, so it's all about the teacher talking to the kids. This isn't just true in reading but in all subjects; the teacher isn't telling kids to open their textbooks and read chapter three. The teaching is oral and the kids with the largest vocabularies have an advantage because they understand most of what the teacher is saying. The kids with small vocabularies don't get what is going on from the start, and they're likely to fall further and further behind as time goes on.
How does a child develop a large vocabulary even before school starts? Children who are spoken to and read to most often are the ones with the largest vocabularies. If you think about it, you can't get a word out of the child's mouth unless he has heard it before. For example, the word "complicated." A child isn't going to say the word unless he has heard it before – and in fact to remember it, a child probably has to hear it multiple times. (That's not true with swear words, of course. If a child hears his parent swear he'll remember it the first time, and happily repeat it whenever he gets the chance.) But kids have to hear most words multiple times, so it's important that their parents talk to and around them from the time they are very young, because that's how they learn words.
Reading aloud: an advertisement for books
So parents need to talk to their children – but reading aloud is important, too. Because where are children going to be hearing the most words? In conversation, we tend to use verbal shorthand, not full sentences. But the language in books is very rich, and in books there are complete sentences. In books, newspapers, and magazines, the language is more complicated, more sophisticated. A child who hears more sophisticated words has a giant advantage over a child who hasn't heard those words.Reading aloud also increases a child's attention span. Finally, reading aloud to your child is a commercial for reading. When you read aloud, you're whetting a child's appetite for reading. The truth is, what isn't advertised in our culture gets no attention. And awareness has to come before desire. A child who has been read to will want to learn to read herself. She will want to do what she sees her parents doing. But if a child never sees anyone pick up a book, she isn't going to have that desire.
Why do you think it's important to read to older kids, too?
People often say to me, '"My child is in fourth grade and he already knows how to read, why should I read to him?" And I reply, "Your child may be reading on a fourth-grade level, but what level is he listening at?"
A child's reading level doesn't catch up to his listening level until eighth grade. You can and should be reading seventh-grade books to fifth-grade kids. They'll get excited about the plot and this will be a motivation to keep reading. A fifth-grader can enjoy a more complicated plot than she can read herself, and reading aloud is really going to hook her, because when you get to chapter books, you're getting into the real meat of print – there is really complicated, serious stuff going on that kids are ready to hear and understand, even if they can't read at that level yet.
Reading aloud to your kids is also are good way to grapple with difficult issues. For example, you can tell your child, "I don't want you to hang out with so and so," but that's a lecture that will probably go in one ear and out the other. But if you read a book about a kid who gets in trouble by hanging out with the wrong crowd, your child is going to experience that directly, and she's going to experience it with you at her side, and you can talk about it together. You can ask questions like: "Do you think the boy made the right choice?" "Do you think that girl was really her friend?" When you talk about a book together, it's not a lecture, it's more like a coach looking at a film with his players, going over the plays to find out what went right and what went wrong.
Books to blow your mind
Someone once said that books allow you to examine explosive situations without having them blowing up in your face. Books allow you to develop awareness of people outside your experience and develop a sense of empathy. When I was growing up, I wasn't rich, but by reading books I learned that there are kids out there who are a lot worse off than me, kids growing up with real disadvantages. The wider your world, the more you understand and the more you can empathize.Another advantage of reading aloud: if you weren't a reader yourself growing up, reading to your kids gives you the chance to meet the child you used to be and read the books you never read. I hear from people all the time, especially fathers, who say, "Wow! I never read The Secret Garden as a child, and I had no idea what I was missing!"
I've had that experience myself, and I was an avid reader as a child, but I mostly read boys' books, like The Call of the Wild. I didn't read the classics like The Secret Garden and Little Lord Fauntleroy, so it was great to have the chance to read them with my kids.
Do you think teachers should be reading aloud to kids even in high school?
Yes, because if you stop advertising, you stop selling. Kids have to read for school but that's not an advertisement for reading. Most of the material kids read in school, no one would read for pleasure. And if all your reading is tied to work, you develop a sweat mentality to reading, so by time you graduate you can't wait to stop reading. You become a school-time reader, not a life-time reader. Of course, kids have to do a certain amount of reading that's tied to work, but you don't want kids to forget that there are books out there to make you laugh, make you cry, and move the soul.
The writer Phyllis Theroux once said that high school is the last stop for gas before the Beltway of adulthood, so the lessons kids get in high school are really important. But in the present climate of testing, there is so much pressure on teachers that few take the time to read aloud. And that's a real loss. Standardized tests have nothing to do with real life, which means that schools are becoming divorced from reality. The challenges I encounter every day as an adult have nothing to do with anything I learned on a test in school. When you reach a crisis in your life, or you encounter someone who needs help, how you react has a lot to do with your sense of empathy and compassion – experience with multiple-choice test questions is not going to help at all.
So teachers are torn between what they know is right and what they're forced to do by regulations. If kids' only experience reading as drudgery, then they're going to avoid it as much as possible. Of course, teachers are busy and have a lot of material to cover, but even if they only devote five minutes a day to the pleasure of reading, at the end of the year when you add those five minutes up, that will be what most kids remember.
Are you disturbed by how ubiquitous electronics are and their impact on reading?
Screens are addictive. You push a button and magic happens – what could be better than that? So it's easy for kids to get hooked on screens.
Parents need to set limits, because kids aren't going to limit themselves. In too many households, one parent is watching the game, the other parent is online shopping, and the kid is in front of a screen, and before you know it, the kid hasn't done any reading in years and the family's intellectual worth is going down the drain. Boys play more video games than girls but girls spend hours Facebooking, instant messaging, and texting – probably more than boys do. The average teen spends 90 minutes a day text messaging, and that's the average, which means lots of kids are doing even more.
The distracted generation
We're entering an age unparalleled since the age of Guttenberg; the world is changing faster than we can keep up with. Today, school districts that used to watch kids suffering as they hauled home 20 to 30 pounds of textbooks are turning to electronic tablets. A student can read a social studies textbook on the iPad. and tap on a hyperlink to, say, watch a PBS special on the Great Depression.That's the good news. The bad news is that there is evidence that we don't remember information as well when we read it on a screen. Yet people are on screens all the time. We're raising the most distracted generation in the history of the world. The more distractions you add to the agenda, the less well you think. Technology may save space, weight, and time, but there is no science showing that it will save children's minds, especially if they spend all their time on screen and never open a book. So parents have to play a big role. It's up to parents to limit screen time, and to keep reading to kids and continue to plant and encourage their interest in books and reading.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Idioms
Learning idioms when learning another language is so important because idioms are used so much! These resources can help our Esperanza educators teach our Esperanza scholars about idioms in both Spanish and English.
This is one of my favorite books!
List of Idioms A - Z in English (from "Bilingual Planet")
a bone of contention: The choice of place for holiday turned out to be a real bone of contention in their family this year.
a cold fish: He's such a cold fish - you can never see any emotions on his face.
a day off (to have/take/get): I think I am overworked - I certainly need a day off!
A drop in the ocean: We're grateful for your help although it's just a drop in the ocean of our needs.
a ray of hope: 1. There is a ray of hope for humanity after all. 2. Thank you so much for the ray of hope that shines in your message.
a walk of life: He has friends from many different walks of life.
after your own heart: She loves books too - she's a woman after my own heart!
all of a sudden All of a sudden the lights went out.
all year round: Most of the hotels are open all year round.
as a matter of fact: As a matter of fact, I love him very much.
ask for trouble: Not wearing a seat belt is just asking for trouble.
at all costs: We must win at all costs.
at first sight: At first sight he seems to be a very competent person.
at heart She said she trusted him but at heart she knew he was lying.
at large There are fewer and fewer exotic species living at large.
at random The burglar didn't have any plan - he just entered the shop and
grabbed things at random.
at expense one. The trip is at company's expense. We are always making jokes at Mark's expense.
at short notice: I'm so sorry I ask you for help at such short notice but I didn't realize this project would be so demanding.
at the eleventh hour: We were so nervous that he would miss the train but he, as usual, arrived to the railway station at the eleventh hour.
at the top of your voice: They are always discussing things at the top of their voices. It's so annoying.
be a wet blanket: Please somebody make Jane change the subject! With her stories from her childhood, she can be a real wet blanket.
be at one's best: There is no doubt he is to win this race - he is at his best now!
be in force: Don't worry about that - that rule is no longer in force in our office.
be in the air: The initial plans to publish this book in May are quite in the air.
be in the red: It has been announced that the company will still be in the red for the rest of this year.
be in two minds about something: Well, I don't know. I am still in two minds about buying this car.
It's second-hand you know...
be left stranded: That party was a disaster! Everybody was having fun and I was left stranded with that boring guy who sat next to me.
be on the air: Quiet everybody! Three, two, one ... You are on the air!
be out of order: I am sorry but this telephone is out of order. You have to go round the corner.
be quits (with somebody) You give me 21 pounds and we're quits.
be rolling in money: They dream of the day when they'll be rolling in money.
be under no illusions: Am under no illusions about them wanting to rip us off.
be under the illusion I think Mark's under the illusion that he will be the new director.
be worlds apart: I really like this book but I guess it is worlds apart from what the real situation is.
beat about/around the bush: Stop beating about the bush and tell me what the problem is!
beat somebody black and blue: Tommy always threatens his little brother that he will beat him black and blue if she tells their parents about his marks at school.
blind date: Sheila is so desperate in her search for a husband - she's decided to have a blind date!
burst out laughing: The movie was so funny that finally even Susan burst out laughing.
by all means: By all means this guy should work for us - he is the best specialist I have ever seen!
by all means: By all means we will try to answer any questions, so feel free to ask.
by courtesy of These pictures are being shown by courtesy of CNN.
call it a day Why don't we call it a day and go home?
catch red-handed The trial won't take long as the defendant was caught red-handed.
change a fly into an elephant Gee! She doesn't have an evening dress?! It's just friends' party - why does she have to change a fly into an elephant!
change hands: The heavyweight title is about to change hands once again.
chew something over: I can't give you the answer today. I simply need to chew it over.
chicken out: I wanted to ask Mary out but I chickened out at the last moment.
choose a soft option: He gets on my nerves! Whenever there is something challenging, he always chooses a soft option.
come in handy: Never throw away your notes - they may come in handy one day.
come to terms with something: She can't come to terms with the fact that she was fired for being late all the time.
come true: I wish my dreams would come true one day.
come what may: I don't care that he is going to be there with his new girlfriend! I will be at the party tonight come what may.
commit a blunder: He committed a blunder asking Sue about her husband, while everybody knows that she is divorced.
cry for the moon: Oh, come on! Be realistic! It's like crying for the moon! We cannot afford it.
dead-end relationship: Mary is not happy with her marriage - actually, it is a dead-end relationship.
ease (somebody's) mind: The doctor tried to ease his mind about his daughter's illness.
easier said than done: I know it's easier said than done but in my opinion you should challenge it.
first and foremost: We need peace and stability first and foremost - these are the most important things.
for all the tea in China: Oh, come on! I am not going to ask him such question! Not for all the tea in China!
for short: Her name's Diana or Di for short.
for the sake of: I know that this treatment is unpleasant but you should try it for the sake of your health.
for the time being: That is all what we can offer for the time being but the service is still developing.
get on (somebody's) nerves: Turn that music down! It's getting on my nerves.
get the message: He finally got the message and left Mary and John alone together.
get up on the wrong side of the bed: You'd better avoid Mark today - he got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.
give somebody a ring: I'll give you a ring in the evening.
gnash your teeth: Hell is so terrible that those who go there will weep and gnash their teeth. 2. Mary gnashes her teeth in frustration.
go for a song: This car went for a song - the owner was leaving the country and wanted a quick sale.
go off the air: This program was very popular so the information that it went off the air caused a wave of protest.
go to somebody's head: Power and success went to his head - he no longer comes to our parties.
go to waste: I can't bear to see good food going to waste!
Have a finger in every pie: I can't stand her any longer! She has to have a finger in every pie! Can't she just mind her own business?
have a narrow escape: He had a narrow escape when he slipped on the stairs.
have something on the brain: Do you know this song? I've had it on my brain all day.
have at one's fingertips: You can always go and ask Tom of anything concerned with maths, he just has it at his fingertips.
heave a sigh: She heaved a sigh of relief when she heard the good news.
high and low: We've searched high and low for this book.
hit the nail on the head: Right! Nothing to add! You've just hit the nail on the head!
if you like: Shall we stop for a rest? - Yes, if you like.
in a month of Sundays: He will never bring you these CDs, not even in a month of Sundays - just forget it.
in bad taste: Their house is decorated in such bad taste - where did they get the idea of buying these mock rococo chairs to the living room?
in black and white: This agreement is invalid, unless you bring it in black and white.
in bulk: If you buy in bulk, it's 20% cheaper.
in haste: I'm writing in haste to let you know that I won't come on Friday.
in vain: The doctors tried to save the dying man but in vain. 2. How can you say that our soldiers died in vain?!
in writing: Please confirm the offer in writing next week.
inside out: He's a real computer freak - he knows them inside out.
it goes without saying: Oh, Amy you should marry him! It goes without saying.
just in case: We still have plenty of time but let's take a taxi just in case.
keep under one's hat: They tried to keep it under their hat but it soon became obvious that she is pregnant.
keep at bay: He always tries to keep his troubles at bay when he is on holiday.
learn by heart: There is no rule why these words collocate, you just need to learn them by heart.
leave no stone unturned: I may need to leave no stone unturned but I will find this book!
let something slip: He let slip that he had been in prison.
little by little: After the accident her strength returned little by little.
make a fool of somebody/yourself: Stop that before you make a fool of yourself!
make a fuss about: Gosh! It is just a broken glass. Don't make a fuss about it.
make amends: He went to him and begged his forgiveness, saying he would do anything he could to make amends.
make up one's mind: He finally made up his mind!
nagging headache: Jonathan is overworked. That's why he suffers from these nagging headaches so often.
nagging husband/wife: I have no idea how she can stand living with such a nagging husband as hers.
cup of tea: In fact, horror films aren't my cup of tea.
not have a clue: I haven't a clue where she left her book.
on cloud nine: She has been on cloud nine since she was promoted.
on impulse: When the weather is nice it's fun to go away on impulse.
on location: The series was filmed on location in Sweden.
on one's own account: Well, you can try to run your own business, but remember that it will be on your own account.
on the market: At the moment this is the best camera on the market.
on thin ice: His rude answer put him on thin ice in the company.
on your own initiative: She realized that she had never done anything on her own initiative without the motivation of someone else.
once and for all: I tell you once and for all - I am tired of your complaining about your job! There is nothing else you can do.
out of date: I don't like this design - it is absolutely out of date to me.
out of print: I'm sorry but the book you've ordered is out of print.
out of stock: I'm so sorry but this camera is out of stock now. Can I propose a different model within the same price?
pay tribute to somebody/something: In 1992, a concert was held at Wembley Stadium to pay tribute to Freddie Mercury from Queen.
plead guilty: do winy Having seen his face on security video-tape he couldn't use his
alibi any longer and finally pleaded guilty.
pop the question: After seven years of dating, I finally popped the question to my
girlfriend.
promise wonders: She was very disappointed with the job. They promised wonders when they hired her but nothing came true...
pull somebody's leg: Mary had me fooled for a while, but finally I realized she was just pulling my leg.
put in jeopardy: As the Ambassador didn't want to put the staff in jeopardy, they were all dismissed and sent home.
put one's foot down: My boss wanted me to work on weekends but I was brave enough to put my foot down.
put pressure: The press are putting pressure on the minister to resign.
put (somebody/be) at a disadvantage: The fact that the company's office was moved to the different part of the town has put me at a disadvantage. Now I have to commute almost one hour to get there.
rat race: After years in the rat race she's finally decided to quit and spend
more time with her family.
read hand: She wanted the Gypsy woman to read her hand and find out about
her future.
red tape: Because of all the red tape she didn't get her visa on time and had
to cancel her holidays in Mexico.
red-letter day: Tomorrow is my red-letter day - I am getting promoted.
Ring the bell: I don't know where I might have met him, but the name rings the bell.
safe and sound: To everybody's relief, he returned safe and sound from the storm.
see pink elephants: Tim has a drinking problem. He drinks till he sees pink elephants.
self-made man: The idea of self-made man is one of the most important concepts in America.
sell like hot cakes: The album of this new Irish rock group sells like hot cakes - people ask for it every day.
shed blood: Much blood was shed during the war.
shoot the breeze: She can sit with her friend for hours doing nothing but shooting the breeze!
snap one's fingers: Music often inspires people to clap or snap their fingers.
take a shortcut: I wouldn't rely on him - he always thinks how to take shortcuts in everything he does.
take something for granted: Never take love for granted. It has to be cherished to last.
the lesser of two evils: Sometimes we have to choose between the lesser of two evils.
the naked eye: Bacteria are too small to be seen with the naked eye.
the other side of the coin: Fame has the other side of the coin as well.
the tip of the iceberg: The problems we've already experienced are just the tip of the iceberg, I'm afraid.
throw somebody in at the deep end: You want to learn Spanish? There's no better way than to throw yourself in at the deep end - go to Spain.
trial and error I found the answer by trial and error, which obviously took little more time.
ups and downs Their relationship was full of ups and downs.
whistle in the dark: Totally alone in this big house we joked about nightmares, whistling in the dark perhaps.
with a vengeance: After a week of good weather winter has returned with a vengeance today.
without fail: The postman always comes at 10 o'clock without fail.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
"Don't let anyone tell you that you are too young."
I listened this morning to the BYU devotional speech that Elaine Dalton gave on January 15, 2013. Even though she was speaking in religious terms and her examples were from the scriptures, I feel the following quote has important implications for our Esperanza scholars:
"Don't let anyone tell you that you are too young."
We can start helping our young Esperanza learners understand how they can make a difference in the world, even when they are young--through their character and their service learning.
This is an example of a young person making a difference in our day:
Malala Yousufzai Gives First Interview Since Taliban Attack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5XNWL6msqgo
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Things That Need To Be Reciprocated in Schools
Things That Need To Be Reciprocated in Schools
cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Aunt Owwee
A positive school culture is the only way that organizations will move forward, yet there is often a lot of little subtle messages on things that aren’t working that can slowly erode the climate. I believe that I have said it before, but schools will not be “innovative” if they can’t work together. You will only get pockets of teachers/classrooms that will have this in spite of the culture.
As teachers and administrators should be working together to do what is best for kids, in many conversations with schools there seems to be an expectation with some that some traits are the responsibility of either the teacher or the principal, not necessarily both. As I am no longer a school principal or classroom teacher, these are things that I have thought about a long time and wish I saw more in schools, and to be honest, wish I would have done more myself in those positions. Hindsight is 20/20, right?
Here are some things that need to be reciprocal as opposed to coming from one direction:
1. Trust - As a principal, I trusted my staff without them earning it. I expected and trusted they would do great things, and they would only lose that trust if they did something to prove me wrong. It is so much easier to work in that situation, then having the feeling that you have to always prove yourself. Yes you can get burned easier but people tend to live up to your expectations, whether they are good or bad. Principals need to give trust if they are expecting to have it themselves.
2. Loyalty – I have heard the discussion by many administrators that teachers need to not “bad mouth” the school when they are away, or throw their principal “under the bus”. As I really believe in that, principals have to make sure that they are loyal to their teachers as well. Parents can come in and say what a teacher is doing wrong, and a principal may agree with them to calm the parent down, which is NOT a good way to build community. If principals expect loyalty from their staff, they better show loyalty in those tough situations as well.
In my first years as a teacher, I remember doing something really stupid and the parent complaining to the principal. The principal at the time did everything to kind of calm down the parent but never said anything bad about me during the conversation. He did tell the parent that we would have a conversation about it later though. As soon as she left, he said to me, “What the heck were you thinking!?!?!!?” Although it was tough to hear, I was so grateful that he didn’t say what he really thought to the parent but knew that it was something that was totally fixable and did not have any detriment to her child. After that, I would do anything for him as I knew that he would always have the tough conversations with me, not behind my back.
3. Praise - This might seem a little sappy, but I think that we do not give each other enough praise in schools as peers. As a principal, the quote, “That is why you get paid the big bucks!”, is one of my biggest pet peeves. Do you think that if your salary doubled (no matter your position), you wouldn’t want to hear that you have done a good job? Praise should go up and down, not one way. If you see someone do something good, tell them. It should always be sincere and heartfelt, but we should still give it out. Don’t just assume people know they have done something well. Your position doesn’t matter. Hearing nice things is welcome from all
I am not saying that these don’t exist in any school. Actually, from what I have seen, this is done in the best schools. That is why I am sharing them!
The easy thing to do after reading these things is to think, “yeah, so-and-so DOESN’T do that enough in my school!” The harder thing is to look at what we (myself included) could do more ourselves to make our school and organizational culture stronger. As I go back to work on Monday, I am going to be thinking of these three things and focus on how I can improve on them in my own work.
cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Aunt Owwee
A positive school culture is the only way that organizations will move forward, yet there is often a lot of little subtle messages on things that aren’t working that can slowly erode the climate. I believe that I have said it before, but schools will not be “innovative” if they can’t work together. You will only get pockets of teachers/classrooms that will have this in spite of the culture.
As teachers and administrators should be working together to do what is best for kids, in many conversations with schools there seems to be an expectation with some that some traits are the responsibility of either the teacher or the principal, not necessarily both. As I am no longer a school principal or classroom teacher, these are things that I have thought about a long time and wish I saw more in schools, and to be honest, wish I would have done more myself in those positions. Hindsight is 20/20, right?
Here are some things that need to be reciprocal as opposed to coming from one direction:
1. Trust - As a principal, I trusted my staff without them earning it. I expected and trusted they would do great things, and they would only lose that trust if they did something to prove me wrong. It is so much easier to work in that situation, then having the feeling that you have to always prove yourself. Yes you can get burned easier but people tend to live up to your expectations, whether they are good or bad. Principals need to give trust if they are expecting to have it themselves.
“The first job of a leader—at work or at home—is to inspire trust. It’s to bring out the best in people by entrusting them with meaningful stewardships, and to create an environment in which high-trust interaction inspires creativity and possibility.”On the other hand, I have seen teachers question whether they could trust their principal or not and it seemed like they had to continuously earn it from staff and community. I always believe that if you are unsure of someone’s intentions, ask them. Ultimately, we might not always agree with the way we do things, but we should always trust that everyone is in a school to do what is best for kids until they show something different.
― Stephen M.R. Covey
2. Loyalty – I have heard the discussion by many administrators that teachers need to not “bad mouth” the school when they are away, or throw their principal “under the bus”. As I really believe in that, principals have to make sure that they are loyal to their teachers as well. Parents can come in and say what a teacher is doing wrong, and a principal may agree with them to calm the parent down, which is NOT a good way to build community. If principals expect loyalty from their staff, they better show loyalty in those tough situations as well.
In my first years as a teacher, I remember doing something really stupid and the parent complaining to the principal. The principal at the time did everything to kind of calm down the parent but never said anything bad about me during the conversation. He did tell the parent that we would have a conversation about it later though. As soon as she left, he said to me, “What the heck were you thinking!?!?!!?” Although it was tough to hear, I was so grateful that he didn’t say what he really thought to the parent but knew that it was something that was totally fixable and did not have any detriment to her child. After that, I would do anything for him as I knew that he would always have the tough conversations with me, not behind my back.
3. Praise - This might seem a little sappy, but I think that we do not give each other enough praise in schools as peers. As a principal, the quote, “That is why you get paid the big bucks!”, is one of my biggest pet peeves. Do you think that if your salary doubled (no matter your position), you wouldn’t want to hear that you have done a good job? Praise should go up and down, not one way. If you see someone do something good, tell them. It should always be sincere and heartfelt, but we should still give it out. Don’t just assume people know they have done something well. Your position doesn’t matter. Hearing nice things is welcome from all
I am not saying that these don’t exist in any school. Actually, from what I have seen, this is done in the best schools. That is why I am sharing them!
The easy thing to do after reading these things is to think, “yeah, so-and-so DOESN’T do that enough in my school!” The harder thing is to look at what we (myself included) could do more ourselves to make our school and organizational culture stronger. As I go back to work on Monday, I am going to be thinking of these three things and focus on how I can improve on them in my own work.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Johnny the Bagger
I absolutely love this story! It is my hope that each Esperanza stakeholder will be a "Johnny the Bagger."
Johnny the Bagger® from Barbara Glanz
"Johnny the Bagger: A True Story of Customer Service"
Johnny the Bagger®: A True Story of Customer Service, celebrates the incomparable power of customer service delivered from the heart. Based on the work of noted author and speaker, Barbara Glanz, this 17 minute inspiring new program features the true story of "Johnny," a young man with Down syndrome who made a positive choice about his personal responsibility to provide from-the-heart service and changed the culture of an entire organization.
Johnny the Bagger® will help motivate your employees to take personal responsibility for creating a positive, memorable experience for internal or external customers -- the kind of experience needed to generate customer loyalty, improve employee retention and strengthen team morale.
- The only thing your competition can't take away from you is the relationship your people have with your customers. After you experience "Johnny the Bagger®," you will see how you and everyone in your organization can make a difference in your customers' lives. The memories you create will keep people coming back-and bringing their friends-for years to come.
- Ken Blanchard, Co-author of The One Minute Manager and Co-author with Barbara Glanz of The Simple Truths of Service As Inspired by Johnny the Bagger
More information can be found at: http://www.barbaraglanz.com/store/johnny/
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