CATERING vs COOKING

So many educators say that students are so lazy these days.  They want to know what is in it for them. They don't want to work hard to learn.  Have we been a part of a society that has been catering too long?

Have be been delivering content as if the students cannot find the answers themselves?  Have we enjoyed being the bearers of the content?  Have we truly taught them that learning is seeking knowledge and then pondering what it means and how to use it?

Perhaps we should get them cooking, stewing, slow cooking, and only once in awhile microwaving their learning?  10 years from now, will they know more about life, learning and being a successful citizen if we require them to question, seek resources to answer questions (not just in the textbook) and then respond?  Perhaps less responding but more thought-provoking responses would be in order then.

Inquiry - getting kids to question, make a claim or statement and then gather evidence that clarifies or confirms whether they are accurate or not.  It is not if they are accurate that truly matters -- is it?  To me, it is whether they can determine if they are accurate.

With all the information coming at all of us, those who cannot ponder, wonder, and research are the ones who will be most left behind.  The ones who cannot tell what is accurate versus what is a scam or bogus.

I am definitely pondering this today.  Will you ponder with me?  Will you share a comment?

Two questions that WILL change you

From Daniel H. Pink, the author of the bestselling A Whole New Mind, comes a paradigm-shattering look at what truly motivates us and how we can use that knowledge to work smarter and live better.  You have to view this! Click here.

Most of us believe that the best way to motivate ourselves and others is with external rewards like money—the carrot-and-stick approach. That’s a mistake, Daniel H. Pink says in, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, his provocative and persuasive new book. The secret to high performance and satisfaction—at work, at school, and at home—is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.

Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does—and how that affects every aspect of life. He demonstrates that while carrots and sticks worked successfully in the twentieth century, that’s precisely the wrong way to motivate people for today’s challenges. In Drive, he examines the three elements of true motivation—autonomy, mastery, and purpose—and offers smart and surprising techniques for putting these into action. Along the way, he takes us to companies that are enlisting new approaches to motivation and introduces us to the scientists and entrepreneurs who are pointing a bold way forward.

Coaching Behavior - are we focused on this key piece?

Coaching Behavior - are we focused on this key piece?

As I get set to work with staff as a principal, I keep wondering how I can keep the focus on "coaching the behavior" instead of so many schools in which incentives and consequences have returned to schools just with another name called PBIS.

We know from the book Drive by Daniel Pink -- thanks to a new teacher friend I am listening to and from my drive to Door County each day -- that external motivators don't work. It is student choice, curiosity, and ownership that educators now call "student engagement" that works. Keeping students highly engaged in interesting, self-valuing work is what matters most.

How does this help us keep the focusing on coaching behavior? Understanding that all the time spent on big rewards that exclude some instead of providing more social time for students to develop relationships and coaching/re-teaching social skills when student behavior misses the mark is key. The best counselors are those who are on the playground as often as possible to help students generalize social skills from the counseling curriculum.

There is a lot to think about each summer - and that is what educators are busy doing as they head into another exciting year to influence students academic and behavioral growth.