Warner Update
Making a difference, one person at a time
Dog Days of Winter?
Twelve years ago Sir Ken Robinson delivered a Ted Talk titled, Do Schools Kill Creativity? It really is an entertaining talk. I highly recommend checking it out. At one point Sir Ken states, "If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original." He continues and states that by the time most students graduate they lose the capacity to be wrong. I've witnessed this myself. Years ago I walked into a handful of classrooms. I asked a simple question, "raise your hand if you are a good artist." The first room was full of kindergarten students. Nearly 100% of the hands shot up! The second was in third grade, the number was slightly less than 50%. The final room was full of fifth graders. The number of hands was just barely over 20%. You see the trend. What if I had asked the same question at a staff meeting? My guess is the percentage would be lower than 20%.
The point is, people often associate school with being right or wrong. How do we change this? Is it possible to make an environment that is more about discovery and creativity?
Almost every single day we have some students that simply shut down. A lot of the time it comes back to the fact that they do not deal with making mistakes. Like it or not many of our students get extremely anxious and the pressure to fit in and be right often leads to behavior issues.
We are officially in the Dog Days of Winter. Routines and procedures are necessary, but so is a learning environment that sparks imagination and brings joy.
How will you keep the fire lit in students?
Next Week At A Glance:
Monday, January 21st: Kindness Day 11 - Get some extra rest & take care of yourself
Tuesday, January 22nd: Erin Kreger at Warner (classroom visits)
Tuesday, January 22nd: Kindness Day 12 - bring a friend/co-worker a treat
Wednesday, January 23rd: Grades 3-5 Assembly at 8:45am
Wednesday, January 23rd: Kindness Day 13 - Take a picture with someone and share it
Wednesday, January 23rd: 2:35 - 3:35 (grades 3-5 meet with Bill Montgomery in Miss Kolb's room)
Thursday, January 24th: AM Lockdown Drill
Thursday, January 24th: Kindness Day 14 - Make a list of 5 things you are grateful for...
Friday, January 25th: Kindness Day 15 - Make plans to go out with a friend or love one
Friday, January 25th: Staff Meeting 8am in Mrs. Moffitt's room
* Round Two of Observations: Please schedule your time