What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things That Matter Most

By Todd Whitaker

1. Great teachers never forget that it is people, not programs that determine the quality of a school.

2. Great teachers establish clear expectations at the start of the year and follow them consistently as the year progresses.

3. When a student misbehaves, great teachers have one goal: to keep that behavior from happening again.

4. Great teachers have high expectations for students, but even higher expectations for themselves.

5. Great teachers know who is the variable in the classroom: THEY are.

6. Great teachers create a positive atmosphere in their classrooms and schools.

7. Great teachers consistently filter out the negatives that don't matter and share a positive attitude.

8. Great teachers work hard to keep their relationships in good repair--to avoid personal hurt and to repair any possible damage.

9. Great teachers have the ability to ignore trivial disturbances and the ability to respond to inappropriate behavior without escalating the situation.

10. Great teachers have a plan and purpose for everything they do.

11. Before making any decision or attempting to bring about any change, great teachers ask themselves one central question: "What will the best people think?"

12. Great teachers treat everyone as if they were good.

13. Great teachers keep standardized testing in perspective.

14. Great teachers care about their students, and understand the power of emotion to jump-start change.

Adopted from:

What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things That Matter Most

By Todd Whitaker

Read, Learn & Flourish! 

Grow, Glow & be great!

We Need Schools... Not Factories

The Sole Of A Student

--by Sugata Mitra

 

From Plato to Aurobindo, from Vygotsky to Montessori, centuries of educational thinking have vigorously debated a central pedagogical question: How do we spark creativity, curiosity, and wonder in children? But those who philosophized pre-Google were prevented from wondering just how the Internet might influence the contemporary answer to this age-old question. Today, we can and must; a generation that has not known a world without vast global and online connectivity demands it of us.

But first, a bit of history: to keep the world's military-industrial machine running at the zenith of the British Empire, Victorians assembled an education system to mass-produce workers with identical skills. Plucked from the classroom and plugged instantly into the system, citizens were churned through an educational factory engineered for maximum productivity.

Like most things designed by the Victorians, it was a robust system. It worked. Schools, in a sense, manufactured generations of workers for an industrial age.

But what got us here, won't get us there. Schools today are the product of an expired age; standardized curricula, outdated pedagogy, and cookie cutter assessments are relics of an earlier time. Schools still operate as if all knowledge is contained in books, and as if the salient points in books must be stored in each human brain -- to be used when needed. The political and financial powers controlling schools decide what these salient points are. Schools ensure their storage and retrieval. Students are rewarded for memorization, not imagination or resourcefulness. 

We need a pedagogy free from fear and focused on the magic of children's innate quest for information and understanding.

-- Sugata Mitra

Today we're seeing institutions -- banking, the stock exchange, entertainment, newspapers, even health care -- capture and share knowledge through strings of zeros and ones inside the evolving Internet... "the cloud." While some fields are already far advanced in understanding how the Internet age is transforming their structure and substance, we're just beginning to understand the breadth and depth of its implications on the future of education.

Unlocking the power of new technologies for self-guided education is one of the 21st century superhighways that need to be paved. Profound changes to how children access vast information is yielding new forms of peer-to-peer and individual-guided learning. The cloud is already omnipresent and indestructible, democratizing and ever changing; now we need to use it to spark the imaginations and build the mental muscles of children worldwide. 

This journey, for me, began back in 1999, when I conducted an experiment called the "hole in the wall." By installing Internet-equipped computers in poor Indian villages and then watching how children interacted with them, unmediated, I first glimpsed the power of the cloud. Groups of street children learned to use computers and the Internet by themselves, with little or no knowledge of English and never having seen a computer before. Then they started instinctually teaching one another. In the next five years, through many experiments, I learned just how powerful adults can be when they give small groups of children the tools and the agency to guide their own learning and then get out of the way.

It's not just poor kids that can benefit from access to the Internet and the space and time to wonder and wander. Today, teachers around the world are using what I call "SOLEs," "self organized learning environments," where children group around Internet-equipped computers to discuss big questions. The teacher merges into the background and observe as learning happens.

I once asked a group of 10-year-olds in the little town of Villa Mercedes in Argentina: Why do we have five fingers and toes on each limb? What's so special about five? Their answer may surprise you.

The children arrived at their answer by investigating both theology and evolution, discovering the five bones holding the web on the first amphibians' fins, and studying geometry. Their investigation resulted in this final answer: The strongest web that can be stretched the widest must have five supports.

Today, I launch my SOLE toolkit -- designed to empower teacher and parents to create their own spaces for sparking children's curiosity and agency. My team and I are excited to see more educators trying this future-oriented pedagogical tool on for size and then sharing their learnings are insights so we can all benefit from the hive mind.

Meanwhile, with my newly bestowed TED Prize, my team and I will build The School in the Cloud, a learning lab in India where children can embark on intellectual adventures by engaging and connecting with information and mentoring online. Technology, architecture, creative, and educational partners will help us design and build it. Kids will help us explore a range of cloud-based, scalable approaches to self-directed learning. A global network of educators and retired teachers will support and engage the children through the web.

We need a curriculum of big questions, examinations where children can talk, share and use the Internet, and new, peer assessment systems. We need children from a range of economic and geographic backgrounds and an army of visionary educators. We need a pedagogy free from fear and focused on the magic of children's innate quest for information and understanding. 

In the networked age, we need schools, not structured like factories, but like clouds. Join us up there.

Cortesy: www.huffingtonpost.com

Read, Learn & flourish!

Grow, Glow and be Great!

LEARNING TO TRUST YOUR INTUITION

By Susan Jeffers, Ph.D.

 

It is said that "life is what happens when we've made other plans." If this is so, then it doesn't make much sense to keep demanding life be a certain way. It doesn't make sense to go through life traveling down the same tunnel of expectation when we know that often brings disappointment. It is an act of self-love to stop hanging on to the way it is supposed to be. It is this hanging on that causes us to be buffeted about by the unwelcome surprises in life.

When we jump to the level of the Higher Self, we are greatly relieved to find the guarantee that we have been looking for. And that guarantee is this ... No matter what life decides to hand me, I'll handle it!

Do you see the peace this assurance of our inner power brings us? We can never control life in any other way. Yes, life is filled with surprises. But with the inner knowing that we can handle anything life hands us, we don't have to worry about the future any longer. We can get on with our life with a feeling of freedom and adventure. We can even begin to enjoy the mysteries, instead of feeling threatened by them. Wherever life takes us, we'll be okay!

Developing this kind of trust requires our constantly using our Spiritual tools. Even when we think we have the hang of it, new situations arise that bring up our need to control. But the more we find ways of dwelling in the house of our Higher Self and trusting the Grand Design, the easier it is for us to let go of our need to control.

There have been many times when I haven't understood why certain things have happened in my life. Much later, however, the great miracle of it all was revealed to me. I didn't understand why my first marriage didn't work out; I later learned that there was much I had to learn about becoming whole and, for me, being on my own was a necessary step. I didn't understand why I got cancer; I later learned how much a life-threatening illness teaches us about enjoying life in the present.

It certainly is up to us to take some action. And, we can begin taking more appropriate action in life when we learn how to listen to our innate intelligence, our intuition. Whether we are aware of it or not, the Higher Self is constantly sending us valuable messages that can guide us to where we need to go for our highest good. Our task is to learn how to tune into these messages.

In Western society, we are taught to think logically, not intuitively. Logical thinking is very important. It helps us get through our everyday mortal existence. For example, it helps us know that 2 + 2 = 4, an essential concept to understand when we are paying our bills! But logical thinking is very limited. It uses only part of our brain.

When we add intuitive thinking to logical thinking, we expand enormously our inherent capability of living life in an incredibly powerful manner. We realize that we have available to us much more wisdom and guidance than we thought we had. The logical mind draws on the teachings of the physical plane; the intuitive mind draws on the teachings of the Spiritual plane. When the two are combined, the resources for guiding us into the future are unlimited. We certainly are much more than we thought we were!

Since we have not been trained to use the intuitive part of who we are, the question is, "How do we tune into these powerful messages that are coming through to us?" Every morning as you contemplate your day, ask your Higher Self three questions...

"Where would you have me go?"

"What would you have me do?"

"What would you have me say, and to whom?"

Ask these questions with a sense of trust that your inner wisdom and power will come forth. Then consciously turn it over and go about your day. As your day progresses, listen to any inner messages that you are given. These are messages from the intuitive mind. Then start going where your energy wants to take you. Sometimes you just get the "urge" to call a friend, or a business contact, or whatever. Those urge is your intuition speaking. Again, see where these urges are taking you.

In the beginning you may hear nothing. But eventually, you will pick up on the guidance coming through. Some of it may make no sense to you consciously. But it will make sense to your Higher Self. Trust that. I have found that when I listen to my intuition, I am led to places that I would have never gone had I listened only to the logic of my rational mind. And the results have been magical.

Remember that our minds, when governed by the Lower Self, aren't capable of imagining the grand possibilities that are there for us. It is important that we learn to tune into a part of us that has much greater vision, the Higher Self.

People ask me how to know if it is their intuition speaking when they are being guided or when it is the Lower Self disguising itself as the Higher Self. My answer is that, in the beginning, we need to play with it a bit. Experiment with little things. If you get an internal message to call so and so and it makes no sense, call anyway. See what happens. Or go somewhere where you are being "led" to go. Or read a book that seems to jump out at you in the bookstore or online. And so on.

 

One clue that it is a message from the Higher Self is that it has a purpose for good. When we know that the action we are being led to take is a positive one, then we know we are probably on the wavelength of the Higher Self.

Another exercise that has been very helpful to me comes from Ram Dass, one of my favourite spiritual teachers. When I know I will be faced with having to make a decision, instead of lamenting, "What should I do?” the more peaceful approach is simply to say, "I wonder what Susan is going to do?"

When I say, "I wonder what Susan is going to do," in a sense I become the observer rather than the decision maker. I distance myself from the drama. I trust that "Susan" will be led by the wisdom within her and I put the issue out of my mind. Later I find myself living into the answer - easily and effortlessly.

 Remember, as soon as you leave the Lower Self behind and surrender to the events surrounding your life, you are free to enter the Higher Self where the fear, upset and disappointment disappear and new opportunities for a beautiful life are constantly placed before you.

Grow, Glow and be Great!

Read, Learn and Flourish!

Perception and Gossip in Company Environment and its Effect

Radhakrishnan Chettour

We as human beings automatically make observations through out the day. Some of these observations are good and some are bad. These observations are also known as our perception of a person, place, or situation. We all know we shouldn’t judge someone the first time you meet them yet you’ve heard that little voice in your head making a comment and forming an opinion when you shouldn’t. That is your perception of the person you are meeting. These perceptions don’t stop on the street when you walk by someone new they go on through out the day, the week and the year.

The perceptions you have of others even overflow into the work place and can cause conflicts with other coworkers. When people begin to share their thoughts with other coworkers they open up the door for their coworkers to spread the gossip. This can cause enormous amounts of animosity amongst coworkers. There is also the issue of people getting involved in other workers lives whether its work related or not. They form opinions, make accusations, and cause drama. 

All of these problems are due to people forming perceptions of others when they shouldn’t. Workers should try to avoid idle gossip and concentrate on the tasks at hand. After all you are being paid to work not to congregate at the water cooler.

A good example of how perceptions and conflicts in the workplace affect real people is about this man I used to work with who was very well liked by everyone. One day one of the coworker decided to spread a rumor that he was not there for a company organized special function.  He started spreading the rumor that how the man could miss the function when he is in such a position. The rumors started flying around the office that the man was missing when the function was going on and nobody would say anything to him about it. In my opinion it doesn’t matter at all if the man was or wasn’t but it gave the office something to chat about. Finally when the gossip reached the top level management, the management called him and conducted a query. The man explained that he was present over there and working sincerely for making the function a true success. But the ultimate result was one person’s lying/gossip made the man embarrassed. It really hurt the man’s feelings and starts thinking that how should I work among such gossip mongers. The top level management also failed to take adequate measure against the person who started spreading the rumor even after identifying. The practice of the person became a habit and went on spreading rumors against the man. Finally the man ended up quitting his job because nobody looked at him the same. The worst part was he not only knew the man was there but even given instruction to that man to carryout some work related to the seating of guests for the function and the rumors spread by a coworker made this man leave his job. And if this kind of rumor mongers is at the top management level it will spoil the whole working environment and the company will miss right people and finally in the bus there will be only torch bearers of rumor mongers.

It’s the responsibility of the top management and all the people working in the company to identify gossip mongers and to make it known to everyone that such people won’t be tolerated. For achieving a non-gossip company environment, management at the top level should make sure that all actions and deeds are transparent and every one in the company has knowledge about what’s happened, what’s happening and what’s going to happen. 90% of the gossip can be prevented by this lone action. 

This just goes to show that opinions and perceptions of people are not always right and I believe they do not belong to the workplace.

For your glory and success!

Read, Learn and Flourish!

Qualities of a Spiritually Intelligent Person

Extract from  "SQ - Spiritual Intelligence," Zohar and Marshall

The levels of spiritual intelligence reflect the transcendence of self awareness and the potential integration between one's rational and emotional aptitudes. In their book "SQ - Spiritual Intelligence," Zohar and Marshall attached the following qualities to an individual who is spiritually intelligent. The individual...

• addresses and solves problems of meaning and value
• has the ability to assess their course of action or their life-path
• realizes that he is a spiritual 'creature' and asks questions like: "Why was I born? What is the meaning of life? Why should I go on when I'm tired, depressed or feel beaten?"
• has virtue, the ability to ask questions about good and evil
• has the ability to "dream, to aspire, to raise ourselves out of the mud"
• realizes the human potential to facilitate between reason and emotion, mind and body
• recognizes the ability to heal oneself and to make oneself whole
• recognizes existing values with the ability to creatively discover new values, with the realization that one is not culture dependent
• is creative and uses this quality to be flexible and spontaneous.
• is willing to try and resolve life's problems and to deal with them
• will be able to transcend to intrapersonal and inter-personal relationships
• has transpersonal visions of goodness, beauty, perfection, generosity, sacrifice, etc.
• is a servant leader and an person who inspires others
• is able to identify the spiritually dumb culture of society with its pressures, urges, needs, and satiations
• can see the reality behind surface desires
• can reflect deeply on what he thinks with a deeper and wider framework of his deepest motivations and life's purposes
• seeks self-awareness
• can stand against the crowd, or is able to hold an unpopular opinion about something they deeply believe in
• knows who he is and what he believes in
• lives by the golden rule
• possesses intense personal integrity
• has the ability to see life and others as fresh as through the eyes of an child
• has the capacity to be flexible (actively and spontaneously adaptive)
• has the capacity to face and transcend pain
• has the quality of being inspired by vision and values
• is reluctant to cause unnecessary harm
• has a tendency to see the connections between diverse things (being 'holistic')
• has a marked tendency to ask "Why?"

Read, Learn & Flourish!

For your success and glory!

Think Again: Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How to Keep it From Happening to You

By Sydney Finkelstein and co-authors Jo Whitehead and Andrew Campbell

We've all watched smart, experienced leaders make flawed - even catastrophic - decisions. Some believe they have made the right choice, even when the disastrous consequences are staring them in the face. What is the root cause of these failures? How can the risks be reduced? And how can you be sure that you're making the right decisions?

In this fascinating and instructive book, Sydney Finkelstein, Jo Whitehead, and Andrew Campbell - each a distinguished expert on strategy and decision making in corporations - show how the usually beneficial processes of the human mind can become traps: experience and emotion can distort our judgment, even while we're striving for objectivity, and we fail to sport errors in our thinking.

In this follow-up to the #1 bestseller, Why Smart Executives Fail, Sydney Finkelstein and co-authors Jo Whitehead and Andrew Campbell turn their attention to such major strategic decisions as the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, and numerous business cases to explain why decision-makers sometimes think they're right when they are really wrong. The book takes up recent research in neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and management to not only document why things go wrong, but also to offer a series of solutions that reduce our vulnerability to falling into the traps that lead to bad decisions. In light of the ongoing financial crisis, the lessons from this book are especially timely.

Why do smart and experienced leaders make flawed, even catastrophic, decisions? Why do people keep believing they have made the right choice, even when disastrous result stare them in the face? And how can you be sure you’re making the right decision—without the benefit of hindsight? Think Again shows how our brains can mislead us. The shortcuts our brains have learned to take over millennia of evolution help us most of the time. But, under certain conditions, they can derail our decision making. Think Again offers a powerful model for identifying when we are at risk – the red flags to watch for – and how we can design safeguards to help us make good decisions. Using examples from business, politics, and history, Think Again deconstructs bad decisions, as they unfolded in real time, to show how you can avoid the same fate.

Think Again provides a new model to help us make better decisions. With vivid stories ranging across industries and disciplines, the authors deconstruct bad decisions and identify the forces that have produced them. They go on to show you how to recognize the conditions - red flags - under which good decision making is most likely to falter, and offer a way of selecting safeguards that reduce the risk and ensure better outcomes.

There is no guarantee for perfect decisions. But with Think Again, you can understand the hurdles between you and success, manage to counterbalance their effects, and make better decisions - every day.

Sydney Finkelstein is the author of Why Smart Executives Fail, is a professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and regularly lectures on leadership and why leaders fail. Jo Whitehead and Andrew Campbell are directors of the Strategic Management Centre at Ashridge Business School.

Visit the link to read introduction to the book: THINK AGAIN

How to Purchase in India: THINK AGAIN (Rs 965/-)

For your success and glory!

Read, Learn and Flourish!

Why Is Teacher Development Important?: Because Students Deserve the Best

Teacher-preparation programs provide educators-to-be with the tools, mentors, and hands-on experience they'll need once they begin their career.

Great teachers help create great students. In fact, research shows that an inspiring and informed teacher is the most important school-related factor influencing student achievement, so it is critical to pay close attention to how we train and support both new and experienced educators.

Teacher Preparation

The best teacher-preparation programs emphasize subject-matter mastery and provide many opportunities for student teachers to spend time in real classrooms under the supervision of an experienced mentor. Just as professionals in medicine, architecture, and law have opportunities to learn through examining case studies, learning best practices, and participating in internships, exemplary teacher-preparation programs allow teacher candidates the time to apply their learning of theory in the context of teaching in a real classroom.

Many colleges and universities are revamping their education schools to include an emphasis on content knowledge, increased use of educational technologies, creation of professional-development schools, and innovative training programs aimed at career switchers and students who prefer to earn a degree online.

Teacher-Induction Programs

Support for beginning teachers is often uneven and inadequate. Even if well prepared, new teachers often are assigned to the most challenging schools and classes with little supervision and support. Nearly half of all teachers leave the profession in their first five years, so more attention must be paid to providing them with early and adequate support, especially if they are assigned to demanding school environments.

Mentoring and coaching from veteran colleagues is critical to the successful development of a new teacher. Great induction programs create opportunities for novice teachers to learn from best practices and analyze and reflect on their teaching.

Ongoing Professional Development

It is critical for veteran teachers to have ongoing and regular opportunities to learn from each other. Ongoing professional development keeps teachers up-to-date on new research on how children learn, emerging technology tools for the classroom, new curriculum resources, and more. The best professional development is ongoing, experiential, collaborative, and connected to and derived from working with students and understanding their culture. Return to our Teacher Development page to learn more.

Source: Edutopia

For your success and glory!

Read, Learn and Flourish!