The Weekly 1-5-20
February 18, 2020
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Southport High School Core Beliefs
Putting a Mission into Motion
I want to spend some time this week writing about how working at the edge of understanding connects to now. Or, in words of our mission, how does creating independent thinkers help us excel in an ever-changing world?
School is not about solving a math problem, but understanding what good problem solvers do if they get stuck. School is not about writing an essay, but understanding how to communicate opinions, ideas, or thoughts to others best. School is not about completing a science lab, but understanding how to observe, question, and hypothesis about things we do not understand. These examples could go on.
To get our students to think independently, we must connect to their world. We must connect to now. Each department has developed transfer goals that should be the purpose of our daily work. If you struggle to see how each lesson connects to one of your department's transfer goals, then it is time to change the teaching. Independent thinkers need to do more than explain content. They must be able to explain how that content impacts them and the world around them.
Being an independent thinker is vitally connected to excelling in an ever-changing world. If there is no connection to now, then the work becomes menial and impractical for a learner. In the weeks to come, I am going to shift my focus from working at the edge to create independent thinkers to a focus on excelling in an ever-changing world.
MINDFULNESS MOMENT
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1-5-20 Resources
If you only have 1 minute this week read this:
If you have 5 minutes this week watch this:
(I apologize for the couple of pieces of profanity in the video, but I thought the message was still one worth hearing.)
If you have 20 minutes this week watch this:
This video explains is why we lock ourselves into what we believe if fact. So, as humans, we are frequently in error, but rarely in doubt. Ellen Langer gives a great talk about how to be in the present and notice new things around us. WATCH NOW
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Be a Cardinal; Change Lives; Put a mission into motion
About Me
Email: bknight@perryschools.org
Website: https://leadingandlearning.blog/
Location: 971 East Banta Road, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Phone: 317-789-4811
Twitter: @MrKnight_SHS