What are you reading?

Forget Oprah’s book list, check out what the Edge staff is reading!

The curriculum staff at the Edge reads all the texts used in our courses and many more that don’t make the cut.  We believe strongly in professional development which is why we create fantastic courses for educators;  we also want to continue our own professional development and one way we do this is through all staff and small group book studies. 

The following titles are some of our favorites.

The Truth about Leadership, the no-fads, heart of the matter facts you need to know by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z Posner.
This book breaks down leadership into ten time tested truths. It gives the reader a knowledge base for building a foundation for leadership and explores characteristics leaders need to possess to be successful; including having and listening to your heart.  A quick, yet thought provoking read!

Mindset by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.
Do you have a fixed or growth mindset? Want to increase your feelings of success?  Dweck explores the power of our mindset through the areas of leadership, love and parenting. Get to know yourself and your frame of mind by reading this text. 

Start with Why, how great leaders inspire everyone to take action by Simon Sinek.
Can you and your organization explain WHY you do what you do? Most can explain the HOW and WHAT but according to Sinek the WHY is the inspiration behind it all. This book explores Apple, Southwest and others to show how they became so successful starting with WHY. Check it out!

What are you reading?  Tell us about it!

Noncognitve Learning Measures

What are noncognitive learning measures and how do they affect student achievement?

Read guest blogger, Alan Boyle’s piece and see how this information can take you beyond social skills to increased test scores and overall knowledge.

http://www.onlineeducation.net/2013/02/04/noncognitive-measures-the-academic-trend-that-could-change-everything

Keeping the Flame Lit

Guest blogger, Stevie Ray is a nationally recognized speaker concerning communication skills, customer service, leadership, and team management. He can be reached at stevie@stevierays.org 

www.stevierays.org 
Keeping the Flame Lit without Burning Out

There is an old axiom I learned from a marketing expert, People trust the familiar, yet desire the novel. In marketing this is used as a reminder to infuse tried-and-trusted products with a little flair. That way the consumer won’t get bored, but also won’t be asked to make too big a stretch when presented with something new. This is also a good reminder for us all when it comes to avoiding burn-out.
Burn-out comes to everyone differently because we are all engaged in work that either feels like work or feels like play. For those lucky enough to be able to work at what they truly love, burn-out is an unfamiliar feeling because their work is their play. For everyone else, it is vital to know how to bring novelty to the familiar routine.
A friend once asked me how many days a week I spend running my business. After some thought I replied that I don’t know of very many days that I don’t do something related to my company. She scowled and said, “You work too hard.” I replied, “Any yet I never feel like I need a vacation. Other people need to get away at least a few times a year; sometimes for big, exciting trips. I like to travel and vacation, but I never feel the need to.” I can feel this way, not just because I love my work, but because of how I manage my brain’s need for novelty.
Simple neurology dictates that the brain achieves a state of calm by engaging in familiar behaviors on a regular basis. Familiarity leads to productivity, which leads to a feeling of positive self-worth. This is, in a nutshell, our Comfort Zone. The Comfort Zone theory was created by two psychologists in the early 1900s.
Robert Yerkes and J.D. Dodson were studying the effects of stress on the brain, and the resulting ability for the brain to learn and grow. The Comfort Zone is marked by certain qualities: high familiarity with your surroundings and daily tasks, and high productivity. The downside of the Comfort Zone is that very little learning occurs. You are comfortable because of the familiar, but not necessarily challenged. Every now and then you must step in to the next zone, the Risk Zone. The Risk Zone is characterized by low familiarity, which causes a drop in productivity and a slight raise in stress. However, learning spikes to extremely high levels in the Risk Zone (this is called the Yerkes-Dodson Learning Curve). A brief foray into the Risk Zone allows you to return to the Comfort Zone refreshed and able to approach your work with a fresh perspective.
The slight stress of the Risk Zone is not a problem. A moderate amount of stress is actually healthy for us; it improves focus and provides needed excitement. Too much stress, of course, is another matter. Bad stress is a product of the third zone, the Panic Zone. If you go too far past Risk and into Panic, you’re in trouble. The Panic Zone is characterized by the immanent risk of a loss of something of value.
What human beings value the most, besides food and shelter, is our self-image. If our self-image is threatened we immediately retreat to the Comfort Zone. We re-establish our self-worth by doing things with which we are familiar. However, because we experienced Panic, we are far less likely to venture away from the Comfort Zone again. The resulting loss of learning will cause a slow decline in the brain; we lose the vital excitement of the Risk Zone and eventually burn out.
What all this means is that, to avoid burn-out, we must seek out ways to infuse risk into our work every now and then. The risk should be manageable, not career-threatening. We should do an old task in a new way. Not because there was anything wrong with the old way, but because the brain needs a shot of novelty and excitement every now and then in order to learn, grow, and be happy. If you do step too far and experience a little panic, recognize what is happening so you can consciously avoid the trap of staying in the Comfort Zone too long.
You don’t have to do wild and crazy things to infuse excitement and avoid burn-out, just make it a priority to change your routine and take a risk. The reward is a refreshed and learning brain, and less of an urge to get away from it all.

Confidence

This blog post is from a return guest blogger, Barb Istas–MN teacher.

Confidence

Confidence is a gift. It is that little hint of attitude that starts with a feeling either within you or it’s provided by a pat on the back from somebody else. In my classroom I try to build confidence all day long. I believe that confidence is the inspiration that leads us onward and upward in all our learning.

My students read and write a lot. While we are reading and writing, there are many sparkles of success to notice and build upon: an impeccable word choice, a terrific title, a strong and persuasive reason to support an opinion, finding the personification in text, making a connection from one selection to another text, or understanding and expressing a theme from any story. These are all skills that add up to excellent reading and writing. From a straight standards teaching viewpoint, this is the common core of my job.

I value the common core standards as I guide my students along the 6th grade trail. They truly are a road map that leads us through all the critical literacy skills. But deeper down in the core of learning bubbles the confidence each kid needs to really take off as a reader and writer. My bigger job as a 6th grade teacher is to help my students notice their own strengths, praise them enough for them to feel that glorious sense of confidence which will drive all learning and skill acquisition from that point forward.

Once I know that I can do something with even a little bit of flair or success, I want to try it again and again. This is the practice that leads to skill and success – in anything!

So it goes – my radar needs to be up. The searchlight is on. I need to notice and praise. When confidence comes, students are energized to engage in their own learning. And this is serious teacher fun.

Public or Private?

Our Director of Marketing, Jenny Oelkers, had an interesting public school vs. private school experience.

The dollar signs started flying in front of my eyes like the leaves on the blustery October day. My 14-year-old son, Jake, had just shared his aspiration of attending an elite private school for the remainder of his high school career. I was shocked. Jake had always experienced great success in school, had been enamored with finally sitting in the student section at the high school football games and seemed to be embracing much of what high school in suburbia had to offer.

What was driving his desire? It took awhile to get to the bottom of things.

1. One of his best friends had recently made the transfer to the private school of interest and although the friend admitted the expectations were much higher, he was thoroughly enjoying his experience.

2. Jake has aspirations of admission to an Ivy League college. Harvard and Stanford are high on his list. (Little did he know that if we started paying $25K for his high school education, he would be lucky if we had two shillings to rub together to send him to ANY college). He thought attending this private school would heighten his chances of admission.

3. He knew that he was not working hard in his current school environment and still getting straight A’s. He believed he needed to be pushed.

We let him entertain the idea of a private school education. We explored options . We received the glossy brochures. And, we went on the school tour and allowed Jake to shadow his friend for the day.

As a parent, I will not deny that I was impressed. The school looked regal – brick buildings, vines creeping up to the eaves and a sense of community and freedom for the students that I had not previously seen. When we toured the school, we had the opportunity to meet a science teacher. The passion for her subject matter oozed from her as she discussed phylums, nematodes and arthropods – my eyes glazed over, but I couldn’t escape her excitement and passion! The creme de la creme were average class sizes of 12-1. I can imagine this environment is a teacher’s dream.

Jake came away from the day intrigued.

My next mission was to make sure we were aware of all the opportunities that our suburban high school had to offer. I arranged a meeting with an assistant high school principal who had been a teacher of Jake’s in the 7th grade. Jake really liked her and I knew she related well to him.

The assistant principal was honest and forthright. The private school that Jake was exploring most certainly delivered a high quality education, but there were a multitude of opportunities at our suburban high school as well.  She spoke directly to Jake and told him that he can challenge himself and he can be a leader in his high school, he just may have to work a bit harder to find those opportunities. She continued to say that he could blend in and take the easy route or he can make the choice to be involved – the responsibility and choice was his.

Winter break came and went and the application to the private school remained untouched. As I considered introducing a Scrooge Christmas, began contemplating downsizing our house and researching the nutritional value of ramen to see if we could sustain ourselves for four years on one simple soup;  I finally just asked Jake if he had made a decision about applying to the new school.

“Mom,” he said, “I don’t think I’m going to apply.”

“What led you to that decision?” I asked.

“There just weren’t any cute girls at that school.”

Ahhhh….the simple (and often frightening) mind of a 14-year-old boy.

Ultimately, the exploration of schools was interesting and eye-opening. My hope is the words of the assistant principal ring true in Jake’s head. It is his decision to be the best he can be and probably one of the best life-lessons he can learn.

Thank you to the passionate teachers out there who love what they do and the teachers (and administrators) who aren’t afraid to give the kids the responsibility and power to take ownership of their lives and their futures.

The Gift of Imagination

Cassie Erkens is our guest blogger. Cassie is a presenter, facilitator, coach, trainer of trainers, keynote speaker, author, and above all, a teacher.  She addresses the treasure that is imagination.  Follow her @cerkens

Imagination is a treasure available to each and every one of us. It is a gift that separates us from any other creature on earth. With imagination, we can make the mundane interesting and the already-remarkable even more stunning. With imagination we can write stories, paint pictures or murals, play, tease, solve problems, and invent tools and resources to make life better. Our options are limitless.

JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, says that imagination is so much more than a tool for creating. Because of imagination, humans can see or read the works of others and experience empathy or learn vicariously. This allows us to avoid creating the mistakes that others have made or to adopt solutions that others have identified so we too can be successful.

Sometimes, both teachers and students might be heard to say, ‘that’s not me – I am not creative enough; I’m not imaginative.’ I would disagree. We all have this simple treasure, and in our own way we have the capacity to captivate and inspire. Our challenge is to reconnect to the passion, thrill, and opportunity of imagination through learning in our classrooms. It is possible in a standards based, results-driven world, but it requires imagination on our part. Today, the common core standards call for more creativity. Before we can exact it from our students, we must explore and employ it in our very teaching. May we find exciting new solutions for teaching with imagination and may we demonstrate empathy along the way.

Little Notes–Big Connections

Welcome guest blogger, Barb Istas.  Barb is an accomplished MN teacher and writer, with her own blog,  barbistas@blogspot.com
Yesterday after the final bell, I found a note on my desk. It was hidden underneath a pile of spelling papers, folded with my name written in hot pink ink. Uncovering the note brought an instant smile to my face and warmed my tired teacher heart. Before I even opened it, I knew it was going to be something sweet.

Getting notes from my students is absolutely one of my favorite things, a lovely and precious job perk. Because I teach and preach the power of writing all day long, it makes me giddy when students choose to open up their hearts and put their appreciation into words.

This little note lifted my spirits with several cute comments, but one compliment in particular caught my attention and made me think: “Thank you for not having favorites, for always paying attention to me just the same as everybody else.”

Wow, this note had some depth. Being fair and trying to connect with each kid, to build a relationship with every child on my roster, is something I take very seriously. I took this comment in, re-evaluated my teacher skills, and let it sit for a minute in my heart.

Later on that evening, I sat down with a pen and wrote a note back. I shared my gratitude for her words, and praised her a little more for some of her other strengths, (including her glittery nail polish). Encouragement comes in many forms, but a little note can go a long way in anybody’s education.