Using Metaphors to Describe Your School

Metaphors help us make sense of the world. They take abstract ideas and turn them into something concrete. They build a bridge between new information and something with which we are familiar. 

Try this creative way to find out what your students, administrators, and teachers believe about your school.

READY 

From the list below, have students (or staff) to underline the metaphor that best describes the school. Then have them to circle the word that describes what they want it to be. 

Factory                            Jungle

     Museum                      Summer Camp

Prison                             Family

Greenhouse                     Orchestra

Launching Pad                  Art studio

                                                       Team                          Laboratory

Are there metaphors that you would like to include that are not on the list? 

AIM

Ask your students or staff to fill in the blank:

I want our school to be a _________________________ because _________
_______________________________________________________________.

FIRE

Discuss the following with your students and/or staff. (Each person should answer and discuss.)

What role do I have in moving the school towards my desired metaphor?

What will I need to start doing in order to help move the school towards my desired metaphor?

What will I need to stop doing in order to help move the school towards my desired metaphor?

What questions would you add to the list?

Unsung Heroes - Motivation Monday #16 {April 21, 2014}

Every Monday I post quotes and/or videos to inspire and motivate you through your week. Get ready for a great week!

Last week, a student visited me and he shared with me that he feels hopeless. he described it this way: he said that he feels like he's in a circle and it's filled with dogs. The dogs are always barking at him, and he can't get them to stop. He tries everything, but nothing works.

The student comes from a home where he doesn't have a lot of support or structure, and his friends are not positive influences on him. He had lots of questions for me, and he wanted to know how to have hope again. How to even want to live.

In the many things that we talked about during our hour together, one of the things that I told him was to do something for someone else knowing that he wouldn't get anything in return. Seeing the amazing video below reminded me of the conversation with that student. It also was a personal reminder to me... I need to be doing more for others when I know that I won't get anything in return.

How about you? Are you ready to do this, too?

One Year Anniversary of #USedchat (with 4 Free Printables)

Last year in April, Holly Sutherland and I hosted our first ever #USedchat. Each week, we look forward to hosting #ALedchat (Alabama Education Chat) and we get fired up for the week every Monday night! I've got to confess, though, that the #USedchat always revs me up because of the incredible guest moderators we've had each quarter. Friends like Daisy Dyer Duerr, Jimmy Casas, David Theriault, Principal El, and Aaryn Schmuhl are among all of the awesome guest hosts who have joined us for the quarterly chat.

This week, we celebrated our one year anniversary! 

Our topic was "Education Trends vs Sustainable Change."

Anyone who has been in education for a while talks about "seeing the pendulum swing back again," indicating that there are some initiatives, programs, and beliefs in and about education, teaching, and learning that are not long-lasting. We wanted to hear from people across the country on their views about certain topics.

Our guest moderators for this quarter's chat were 

(bios taken from Twitter)

Tom Kilgore, An educator committed to improving learning outcomes. Former Marine, SCUBA instructor, & radar systems engineer. Founder of #TXEDUCHAT  

Kris Szajner, Kindergarten STEM Teacher | Technology Expert | STEM Educator | Google Apps | Flipped Classroom | Published Author | #MNedchat Founder | National Speaker 

Don Miller, Fortunate father of four beautiful children, husband to an amazing & extremely hard working teacher; Principal Shea HS, founder & co-moderator of#edchatri 

Mark Barnes, Author of Role Reversal, The 5-Minute #Teacher, Teaching the iStudent.#Publisher, Brilliant or Insane http://brilliant-insane.com . New #content daily.

Each moderator got to ask two questions, and below you will find the questions from Monday night's chat:

Q1: How does today’s classroom/learning experience differ from our own of the past?

Q2: How do you facilitate creativity in the classroom?

Q3: What are the essential components to engage the heart and mind of today’s students? 

Q4: How are we preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s jobs? 

Q5: What Impact has STEM had on education? 

Q6: How has the 21st Century changed teaching? 

Q7: What barriers are you facing while transitioning to 1:1 tech integration? 

Q8: How does a 1:1 class enhance assessment and feedback for learning?

 

We keep the archives on Storify.  (disclaimer: most side/personal conversations are omitted from the archive!) Feel free to enjoy reading the entire chat archive!

And now... for the anniversary gift! I have four free printables for you. Todd Whitaker had some awesome one-liners during the chat, so I've turned them into printables for you to use in your classroom or office. Todd is a champion for educators, and we were delighted to have him as part of the conversation Monday night!

We also announced Monday night that the next #USedchat will be in July (we are finalizing the date as we coordinate with our guest moderators), and we will be doing a Google Hangout as well as a Twitter chat. So look for it.... the next #USedchat. And #Aledchat on Monday nights. Our enthusiasm and passion is contagious, and we'd LOVE to have you be a part of it with us!

The Fred Factor - Motivation Monday #15 {April 14, 2014}

Every Monday I post quotes and/or videos to inspire and motivate you through your week. Get ready for a great week! 

This post contains affiliate links. All opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting TheCompelledEducator.com

The Fred Factor is a book that's been out a while. It's a short but powerful read, and it reminds us that WE decide what kind of person we will be towards other people and what kind of customer service we will provide. 

Link to book on Amazon for your convenience

Fred, a mailman, provided exceptional service to his customer, Mark Sanborn, who wrote a book about him. 

When Mark asked Fred what motivated him to give excellent service, here's how Fred replied:

This is a great reminder to all of us as we go through our daily interactions with others. 

Hear the whole story from Mark: 

Have an exceptional week!

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