Education

I had the great pleasure of being able to listen to Ron Clark speak yesterday. Let me tell you if you want to be on fire about education this is the man to listen to. He made some great points and yes he does teach in the worlds greatest teaching environment however I learned a couple of concepts that can be applied to the everyday life...

1. I feel that the best thing we are teachers can do is teach our children how to be successful in the world. I feel that it isn't our calling to be "parents" to these children. But if nobody is going to teach them how to be successful we must do it. It can be developed in today the every day curriculum. For example, Ron suggest that the children should learn a proper handshake/introduction. Why not have your students shake your hand everyday the enter the classroom? Why not get people in the cooperate work in the community come to your classroom? There is so much that we can do individual to assure that our children are getting the best education they can receive.

2. Keep parents updates and be positive.. Have food at meetings to make it fun and high energy. I feel that many times are teachers, we tend to only tell the negative. How about a phone call to a parent to tell them how well their student did in the classroom. Or if they have behavior problems how  they have continued to improve. This is just a small thing and just think you could call all your parents once a month. Take five minutes out of each day to call several parents. This way the next month you just start over. How about all the positive support you will be receiving?

3. I feel that is the most important. Often times in the workforce we don't want others to do better than us. We don't want them to outshine us! How about if all the teachers work together. Ron used an example of a science teacher when he was working in North Caroline. The teacher across the hall didn't like Mr. Clark because he was fun and adventurous and all the students want to be in his class. However, one day he asked her to help with a science project. From there on out the two work together to achieve the highest level of learning for both classes involved. I feel that many times we forget why we went into education. We don't go into it for the pay or the glory.. we go into education for the students. So why not make it all about the students?

These are just a couple of things I learned from Ron Clark. I hope to one day be able to visit the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Georgia!