| ||
|
Friday, August 30, 2013
Speak, Present, Persuade
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Outdoor Learning
This came from WeAreTeachers BLOG. It made me think of Ross and Connie Jones who shared with our board how to start an outdoor program at Esperanza.
Easily Adaptable Outdoor Learning Ideas
Interview with KinderRanch Founder, Kim Chappell
By Amanda Dykes
If you were to visit the Chappell Ranch in rural Northern Nevada, you’d be greeted by the sounds of hooves on dusty earth, the smell of hay in the air, and a scattering of ranch animals in every direction. Oh, and young, eager voices, embracing learning on the ranch.
Kim Chappell owns and operates the KinderRanch program there, filling the days for pre-school aged children with hands-on learning and discovery. In a recent interview, Chappell shared her insights about outdoor education. Notice that while the activities discussed are specific to ranch life, their core objectives of actively engaging students in hands-on discovery can be modified for use in urban, home, playground, park, and recreation settings.
How can conventional indoor learning be modified to be taken outdoors? I think you can use your outdoor environment to your advantage whether you are learning to identify shapes, count, or read. There are so many patterns outside, including geese in flight, rings in tree trunk, leaves on a flower, etc.
On the ranch, patterns present themselves all the time such as in egg laying, rooster crowing, naptime for horse‘s, etc. On the ranch we learn to count when we count eggs, flakes of hay, numbers of horses, cows, sheep and goats.
Creativity abounds outside, and because it is such an engaging world, kids are more apt to learn when they are actively involved in the learning process versus just rote learning. For example, the kids on the ranch remember how many eggs we get at nine am and eleven am because they are actively involved in collecting them.
What are the benefits of outdoor learning for this age group?
As mentioned above, being actively involved in the learning process creates a vested interest in what they are doing. If kids are involved and have a hands-on approach to learning, my experience is that they retain the new knowledge. They will often remind me when the egg count is different from the day before for example. Or if I depart from my normal routine, they will remind me that I forgot to do a particular ranch chore. I am inspired by this because it represents active and sustained learning.
How have you seen time spent learning outside affect students' learning methods, or affect students in general?
Inspiration, excitement, creativity, sustained learning, and a desire to learn more. I teach a lot of life skills to the kids, so when we are navigating how to cross a ditch for example, the kids have to problem solve. Sometimes they may make the wrong choice, which could mean getting stuck in the mud, so they have to regroup and decide another way to tackle a problem. This is huge for this age group and very empowering for them. Problem solving and team work are the life skills in this example in which they are participants, not just observers. Learn by doing is the philosophy here.
Are there challenges unique to outdoor learning?
Yes. Weather is one, as it is ever changing. But so is the world, so when we learn to work within our natural environment we also learn what we need personally to stay comfortable. On the ranch that means preparing adequately with, boots, gloves, fly spray, sunscreen, etc. Safety is another concern and is the most important.
Could you share a few of the activities you engage the students in outdoors?
Easily Adaptable Outdoor Learning Ideas
Interview with KinderRanch Founder, Kim Chappell
By Amanda Dykes
If you were to visit the Chappell Ranch in rural Northern Nevada, you’d be greeted by the sounds of hooves on dusty earth, the smell of hay in the air, and a scattering of ranch animals in every direction. Oh, and young, eager voices, embracing learning on the ranch.
Kim Chappell owns and operates the KinderRanch program there, filling the days for pre-school aged children with hands-on learning and discovery. In a recent interview, Chappell shared her insights about outdoor education. Notice that while the activities discussed are specific to ranch life, their core objectives of actively engaging students in hands-on discovery can be modified for use in urban, home, playground, park, and recreation settings.
How can conventional indoor learning be modified to be taken outdoors? I think you can use your outdoor environment to your advantage whether you are learning to identify shapes, count, or read. There are so many patterns outside, including geese in flight, rings in tree trunk, leaves on a flower, etc.
On the ranch, patterns present themselves all the time such as in egg laying, rooster crowing, naptime for horse‘s, etc. On the ranch we learn to count when we count eggs, flakes of hay, numbers of horses, cows, sheep and goats.
Creativity abounds outside, and because it is such an engaging world, kids are more apt to learn when they are actively involved in the learning process versus just rote learning. For example, the kids on the ranch remember how many eggs we get at nine am and eleven am because they are actively involved in collecting them.
What are the benefits of outdoor learning for this age group?
As mentioned above, being actively involved in the learning process creates a vested interest in what they are doing. If kids are involved and have a hands-on approach to learning, my experience is that they retain the new knowledge. They will often remind me when the egg count is different from the day before for example. Or if I depart from my normal routine, they will remind me that I forgot to do a particular ranch chore. I am inspired by this because it represents active and sustained learning.
How have you seen time spent learning outside affect students' learning methods, or affect students in general?
Inspiration, excitement, creativity, sustained learning, and a desire to learn more. I teach a lot of life skills to the kids, so when we are navigating how to cross a ditch for example, the kids have to problem solve. Sometimes they may make the wrong choice, which could mean getting stuck in the mud, so they have to regroup and decide another way to tackle a problem. This is huge for this age group and very empowering for them. Problem solving and team work are the life skills in this example in which they are participants, not just observers. Learn by doing is the philosophy here.
Are there challenges unique to outdoor learning?
Yes. Weather is one, as it is ever changing. But so is the world, so when we learn to work within our natural environment we also learn what we need personally to stay comfortable. On the ranch that means preparing adequately with, boots, gloves, fly spray, sunscreen, etc. Safety is another concern and is the most important.
Could you share a few of the activities you engage the students in outdoors?
- Chickens – cutting the wings, collecting eggs on a daily basis.
- Irrigation – how do you water a pasture? The kids learn how to do this.
- Horsemanship – basic work with horses
- Sheep and Goats – we love to play with them
- Hay Math – we learn to count, measure and add by using hay. When you feed the animals each animal has specific feeding requirements.
- Color Me Green – why is it important to keep the earth clean?
- Circle Time
- Closing Time and Journals
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
11 Simple Concepts to Become a Better Leader
11 Simple Concepts to Become a Better Leader
1. Listening
"When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen." - Ernest Hemingway
Listening is the foundation of any good relationship. Great leaders listen to what their customers and prospects want and need, and they listen to the challenges those customers face. They listen to colleagues and are open to new ideas. They listen to shareholders, investors, and competitors. Here's why the best CEO's listen more.
2. Storytelling
"Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today." -Robert McAfee Brown
After listening, leaders need to tell great stories in order to sell their products, but more important, in order to sell their ideas. Storytelling is what captivates people and drives them to take action. Whether you're telling a story to one prospect over lunch, a boardroom full of people, or thousands of people through an online video - storytelling wins customers.
3. Authenticity
"I had no idea that being your authentic self could make me as rich as I've become. If I had, I'd have done it a lot earlier." -Oprah Winfrey
Great leaders are who they say they are, and they have integrity beyond compare. Vulnerability and humility are hallmarks of the authentic leader and create a positive, attractive energy. Customers, employees, and media all want to help an authentic person to succeed. There used to be a divide between one’s public self and private self, but the social internet has blurred that line. Tomorrow's leaders are transparent about who they are online, merging their personal and professional lives together.
4. Transparency
"As a small businessperson, you have no greater leverage than the truth." -John Whittier
There is nowhere to hide anymore, and businesspeople who attempt to keep secrets will eventually be exposed. Openness and honesty lead to happier staff and customers and colleagues. More important, transparency makes it a lot easier to sleep at night - unworried about what you said to whom, a happier leader is a more productive one.
5. Team Playing
"Individuals play the game, but teams beat the odds." -SEAL Team Saying
No matter how small your organization, you interact with others every day. Letting others shine, encouraging innovative ideas, practicing humility, and following other rules for working in teams will help you become a more likeable leader. You’ll need a culture of success within your organization, one that includes out-of-the-box thinking.
6. Responsiveness
"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." -Charles Swindoll
The best leaders are responsive to their customers, staff, investors, and prospects. Every stakeholder today is a potential viral sparkplug, for better or for worse, and the winning leader is one who recognizes this and insists upon a culture of responsiveness. Whether the communication is email, voice mail, a note or a tweet, responding shows you care and gives your customers and colleagues a say, allowing them to make a positive impact on the organization.
7. Adaptability
"When you're finished changing, you're finished." -Ben Franklin
There has never been a faster-changing marketplace than the one we live in today. Leaders must be flexible in managing changing opportunities and challenges and nimble enough to pivot at the right moment. Stubbornness is no longer desirable to most organizations. Instead, humility and the willingness to adapt mark a great leader.
8. Passion
"The only way to do great work is to love the work you do." -Steve Jobs
Those who love what they do don’t have to work a day in their lives. People who are able to bring passion to their business have a remarkable advantage, as that passion is contagious to customers and colleagues alike. Finding and increasing your passion will absolutely affect your bottom line.
9. Surprise and Delight
"A true leader always keeps an element of surprise up his sleeve, which others cannot grasp but which keeps his public excited and breathless." -Charles de Gaulle
Most people like surprises in their day-to-day lives. Likeable leaders underpromise and overdeliver, assuring that customers and staff are surprised in a positive way. There are a plethora of ways to surprise without spending extra money - a smile, We all like to be delighted — surprise and delight create incredible word-of-mouth marketing opportunities.
10. Simplicity
"Less isn't more; just enough is more." -Milton Glaser
The world is more complex than ever before, and yet what customers often respond to best is simplicity — in design, form, and function. Taking complex projects, challenges, and ideas and distilling them to their simplest components allows customers, staff, and other stakeholders to better understand and buy into your vision. We humans all crave simplicity, and so today's leader must be focused and deliver simplicity.
11. Gratefulness
"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." -Gilbert Chesterton
Likeable leaders are ever grateful for the people who contribute to their opportunities and success. Being appreciative and saying thank you to mentors, customers, colleagues, and other stakeholders keeps leaders humble, appreciated, and well received. It also makes you feel great! Donor's Choose studied the value of a hand-written thank-you note, and actually found donors were 38% more likely to give a 2nd time if they got a hand-written note!
The Golden Rule: Above all else, treat others as you’d like to be treated
By showing others the same courtesy you expect from them, you will gain more respect from coworkers, customers, and business partners. Holding others in high regard demonstrates your company’s likeability and motivates others to work with you. This seems so simple, as do so many of these principles — and yet many people, too concerned with making money or getting by, fail to truly adopt these key concepts.
Which of these principles are most important to you — what makes you likeable?
Being likeable will help you in your job, business, relationships, and life. I interviewed dozens of successful business leaders for my last book, to determine what made them so likeable and their companies so successful. All of the concepts are simple, and yet, perhaps in the name of revenues or the bottom line, we often lose sight of the simple things - things that not only make us human, but can actually help us become more successful. Below are the eleven most important principles to integrate to become a better leader:
1. Listening
"When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen." - Ernest Hemingway
Listening is the foundation of any good relationship. Great leaders listen to what their customers and prospects want and need, and they listen to the challenges those customers face. They listen to colleagues and are open to new ideas. They listen to shareholders, investors, and competitors. Here's why the best CEO's listen more.
2. Storytelling
"Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today." -Robert McAfee Brown
After listening, leaders need to tell great stories in order to sell their products, but more important, in order to sell their ideas. Storytelling is what captivates people and drives them to take action. Whether you're telling a story to one prospect over lunch, a boardroom full of people, or thousands of people through an online video - storytelling wins customers.
3. Authenticity
"I had no idea that being your authentic self could make me as rich as I've become. If I had, I'd have done it a lot earlier." -Oprah Winfrey
Great leaders are who they say they are, and they have integrity beyond compare. Vulnerability and humility are hallmarks of the authentic leader and create a positive, attractive energy. Customers, employees, and media all want to help an authentic person to succeed. There used to be a divide between one’s public self and private self, but the social internet has blurred that line. Tomorrow's leaders are transparent about who they are online, merging their personal and professional lives together.
4. Transparency
"As a small businessperson, you have no greater leverage than the truth." -John Whittier
There is nowhere to hide anymore, and businesspeople who attempt to keep secrets will eventually be exposed. Openness and honesty lead to happier staff and customers and colleagues. More important, transparency makes it a lot easier to sleep at night - unworried about what you said to whom, a happier leader is a more productive one.
5. Team Playing
"Individuals play the game, but teams beat the odds." -SEAL Team Saying
No matter how small your organization, you interact with others every day. Letting others shine, encouraging innovative ideas, practicing humility, and following other rules for working in teams will help you become a more likeable leader. You’ll need a culture of success within your organization, one that includes out-of-the-box thinking.
6. Responsiveness
"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." -Charles Swindoll
The best leaders are responsive to their customers, staff, investors, and prospects. Every stakeholder today is a potential viral sparkplug, for better or for worse, and the winning leader is one who recognizes this and insists upon a culture of responsiveness. Whether the communication is email, voice mail, a note or a tweet, responding shows you care and gives your customers and colleagues a say, allowing them to make a positive impact on the organization.
7. Adaptability
"When you're finished changing, you're finished." -Ben Franklin
There has never been a faster-changing marketplace than the one we live in today. Leaders must be flexible in managing changing opportunities and challenges and nimble enough to pivot at the right moment. Stubbornness is no longer desirable to most organizations. Instead, humility and the willingness to adapt mark a great leader.
8. Passion
"The only way to do great work is to love the work you do." -Steve Jobs
Those who love what they do don’t have to work a day in their lives. People who are able to bring passion to their business have a remarkable advantage, as that passion is contagious to customers and colleagues alike. Finding and increasing your passion will absolutely affect your bottom line.
9. Surprise and Delight
"A true leader always keeps an element of surprise up his sleeve, which others cannot grasp but which keeps his public excited and breathless." -Charles de Gaulle
Most people like surprises in their day-to-day lives. Likeable leaders underpromise and overdeliver, assuring that customers and staff are surprised in a positive way. There are a plethora of ways to surprise without spending extra money - a smile, We all like to be delighted — surprise and delight create incredible word-of-mouth marketing opportunities.
10. Simplicity
"Less isn't more; just enough is more." -Milton Glaser
The world is more complex than ever before, and yet what customers often respond to best is simplicity — in design, form, and function. Taking complex projects, challenges, and ideas and distilling them to their simplest components allows customers, staff, and other stakeholders to better understand and buy into your vision. We humans all crave simplicity, and so today's leader must be focused and deliver simplicity.
11. Gratefulness
"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." -Gilbert Chesterton
Likeable leaders are ever grateful for the people who contribute to their opportunities and success. Being appreciative and saying thank you to mentors, customers, colleagues, and other stakeholders keeps leaders humble, appreciated, and well received. It also makes you feel great! Donor's Choose studied the value of a hand-written thank-you note, and actually found donors were 38% more likely to give a 2nd time if they got a hand-written note!
The Golden Rule: Above all else, treat others as you’d like to be treated
By showing others the same courtesy you expect from them, you will gain more respect from coworkers, customers, and business partners. Holding others in high regard demonstrates your company’s likeability and motivates others to work with you. This seems so simple, as do so many of these principles — and yet many people, too concerned with making money or getting by, fail to truly adopt these key concepts.
Which of these principles are most important to you — what makes you likeable?
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Monday, August 26, 2013
Six Ways to Expand Your Perspective
Six Ways to Expand Your Perspective
Note: None of these are difficult in and of themselves, but all may require a change of habit or thinking. All of them will make a real difference in your ability to lead, make decisions, influence others and much more. Because of their power, it will be worth your time and effort to try them.Shut up and listen. You already have your perspective, which you likely won’t change very much if you keep talking. Listen to what others have to say, how they see the world and the situation. Not only will you learn something and gain a new perspective, you will build your relationship with the other person at the same time.
Ask more questions. This applies to one on one conversation as a way to extend your listening and learning, but it also applies to life in general. When you are curious about the world around you and ask questions to understand things, you are automatically expanding your perspective and horizons at the same time.
Spend time with new people. This could be people from different departments, a new neighbor or anyone. The goal here is to get to know people with different experiences than you, so you can begin to see their perspectives. Bonus points here the further from your comfort zone you move! Once you are spending time with new people, apply the first two points above to those conversations.
Read more and more broadly. Reading provides us new vistas and perspectives. Read new authors, new genres, new magazines, blogs and websites. All reading is helpful, but if you only read in your industry or only read your favorite author, or only otherwise monochromatically, you are hampering your perspective-building opportunities. While most all types of reading material can help – fiction and biographies are especially helpful. Reading is one of the most efficient and powerful ways to broaden your perspective. I know some people read more than others – if you are thinking “I’m not a reader”, remember that since you can read, you can choose to read more or differently.
Watch different stuff. Like reading, what we choose to watch can broaden our perspectives. Always watch sports? Turn on Spike or the Food Channel. Always watch the dramas? Try Biography or the History Channel. Have a favorite news channel? Watch a different one for a week.
Experience your experiences through a new filter. This one is big! Pretty much all of your life experiences can help you gain new perspectives, if you are looking for them. Look for situations you don’t understand or surprise you and be curious. Think about things that happen and things you hear through the filter of your current challenge or problem. Notice things and compare them to the issues you are contemplating. Consistently and consciously thinking about seeing new perspectives will make all the difference.
These six approaches will help you gain new perspectives. Now your challenge is to use those perspectives to make better decisions, be more empathetic, solve Customer issues, and one hundred other things. Perspective changes our world and as we see more of them, our ability to communicate, prioritize, decide and lead improves.
Now you understand the power, and have an action plan.
The rest is up to you.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Get to Know a Fellow
The following poem was in the book Where Is Wisdom" by Stephen L. Richards--a book that I was reading this morning. I really liked it!...and felt it had great meaning for Esperanza.
When you get to understand him and the burdens that he bears,
When you get to know a fellow,
Know his joys and know his cares,
When you get to understand him and the burdens that he bears,
When you've learned the fight he's making,
And the problems in his way,
Then you find that he is different than you thought him yesterday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)