Month: June 2018

Are You A Hungry Chicken?

by Laura Steinbrink, posted in Education

You read that correctly. Hungry chicken. Obviously you aren't literally a chicken, hungry or otherwise, so I have a professional development metaphor for you based on a summer full of conferences, vacations, ballgames, unplugged vs plugged in (is that the opposite of unplugged?) debate, family time, rest, growth, more, less, etc. You get the picture.  Everyone does it differently, and there's always more than one way to do things. One size does not fit all, certainly, and there is no judgement here.

Student Voice in Hiring? Student Interview Panels & Student Body Involvement

by Laura Steinbrink, posted in Education

With the movement of student voice and choice echoing throughout the Edusphere (I hope I'm the first to make up/use that word, but probably am not), many districts, buildings, administrators, and teachers are pondering how to balance this with all of the other changes in the air. Let's push our thinking a bit and see how student voice can be amplified in our hiring and firing process.

Grow Beyond The C Zone: The Challenge

by Laura Steinbrink, posted in Education

A debate recently cropped up on Twitter (shocking) about whether or not "good" teachers spend time thinking about the next school year while on summer break. The debate really centered around the concept of a "good" teacher. One side mentioned that a good teacher might spend some time thinking about next fall. Others declared that good teachers need the time off to rejuvenate and regenerate their passion for education by resting, relaxing, traveling, and spending time with family. I'm not actually going to try to settle this debate, but I am going to challenge both groups.  My last post, The Danger of Getting Comfy in Our EDU Skins, I explored ways to grow yourself and get out of that place where we are, well, comfortable.

The Danger Of Getting Comfy in Our EDU Skins: Flexing Our EDU Muscles

by Laura Steinbrink, posted in Education

My blog is called Rockin' The Boat for a reason. The status quo always brings out my oppositional defiant muscle, which I flex often. As I became a connected educator these past two years, I began to see and learn things that would benefit my students. My oppositional defiant muscle (ODM) began to twitch. The most challenging was changing my high school classroom into flexible seating. In the biggest hurdle I've faced is my own mindset, and that's a work in progress. Has every one accepted changes I'm making for students? No. The problem may be that we as educators tend to get comfortable in our educational skin. We often let our ODM atrophy when it comes to the EDU status quo so that everything that takes us out of our routine is viewed as a threat. That, my friends, is a danger to our growth, creativity, and innovation. It's summer, or nearly for most of us, so that means it's time to get into shape. EDU shape. ODM shape.