Excellent Watch - Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

Quote of the day...

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.  Let us move forward with strong and active faith."

--Franklin Delano Roosevelt

A Pep Talk...

Interesting Link...

Common Core Test Practice

Quote of the day...

"Don't let yesterday take up too much of today."

--Author Unknown

Quote of the day...

"The stories of past courage can offer hope and provide inspiration.  But they cannot supply courage itself.  For this, each man must look into his own soul."

--John F. Kennedy

My son is 8. He's a maker.

My son is 8. He’s a maker.

 

from Dangerously Irrelevant by dr.scott.mcleod@gmail.com (Scott McLeod)

My son is 8. He’s a maker. He makes things out of paper. He makes things out of cardboard. He makes things out of Legos and blocks and TinkerToys and egg cartons and the styrofoam that comes inside packages. We’ve spent a fortune on masking tape and scotch tape and string and markers and glue, just so he can attach things together and decorate them to make even more complex things.
My son is 8. He’s a maker. Outside he makes things out of sticks and rocks and bark and leaves (at least those are still free). When it snows he makes sculptures and forts. He chalks up our driveway. And our porch. And the bricks and siding of our house.
My son is 8. He’s a maker. He draws. And draws. And draws. He writes and writes. He pens stories. He authors books. He creates scavenger hunts and costumes. He creates populations and universes, filling countless notebooks and pads and poster boards and sticky notes and index cards.
My son is 8. He’s a maker. He plays Spore, but mostly to design his own creatures and spacecraft. He likes Scratch. He likes Scribblenauts. He loves any video game or app that lets him make his own levels or characters or worlds (instead of playing what the designers gave him).
My son is 8. He’s a maker. He makes movies using our handheld camcorder. He takes funny photos with our digital cameras or smartphones. He uses the webcam and PhotoBooth to create story episodes. He makes up new songs using the piano or music software. He makes up rhymes and dance moves.
My son is 8. He’s a maker. He takes the figures and cards and tokens from multiple board games and combines them to make his own games. He repurposes card games and dice games into entirely new variations. He creates new word games and mind games and teaches us how to play on car rides or at the kitchen table.
My son is 8. He’s a maker. Give him five unconnected objects and five minutes and he’ll make something amazing. He pulls the neighborhood kids into what he makes, creating communities of joyous co-creators. He pulls his classmates and his teachers and his family into what he makes, his smile and enthusiasm infecting all of us.
My son is 8. He’s a maker. Will his classes enable him or quash him? Will his teachers inspire him or suppress him? Will his schools nurture his brilliant divergence or force him into a convergent, one-size-fits-all model?
My son is 8. He’s a maker. His world-changing skills and talents never will be reflected in an educational world of worksheets, end-of-chapter review questions, course exams, and bubble tests. How will you accommodate and recognize his gifts?
My son is 8. He’s a maker. Are you ready?

Quote of the day...

"The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball."

--Doug Larson

Quote of the day...

"Replace fear of the unknown with curiosity."

--Unknown

Great Link...

Common Core Checklists

Bethany shared this great link with me today!  This could prove to be a very helpful resource for us as we look to measure student learning in regard to CCSS.

Quote of the day...

"I haven't failed.  I've found 10,000 ways that don't work."

--Thomas Edison

BAK Little Hawk News...: Open Enrollment Window...

BAK Little Hawk News...: Open Enrollment Window...: The open enrollment window is quickly approaching.  Please see the link below with important information regarding the open enrollment proc...

Quote of the day...

"Perhaps strength doesn't  reside in having never been broken... but in the courage required to grow strong in the broken places."

--from a card

Quote of the day...

"Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation."

--Brian Tracy

I find this a little bit scary...

Please include attribution to CollegeStats.org with this graphic.

BAK Little Hawk News...: Another great watch on mindset...

BAK Little Hawk News...: Another great watch on mindset...: I love Carol Dweck's work, and find it fascinating.  This is something I try to think of always in my interactions with students.

More Writing...

Principal J Blogspot

This blogspot does a nice job of outlining the increased expectations of writing with the CCSS.

Quote of the day...

"You can't have a good day with a bad attitude, and you can't have a bad day with a good attitude."

--Unknown

Quote of the day...

"It always seems impossible until it's done."

--Nelson Mandela

Quote of the day...

"If you're feeling blue -- try painting yourself a different color."

--Hannah Cheatem, age 8

Quotes of the days...

I have missed several... I apologize!  Here they are.

"Don't knock the weather.  If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation."
--Kin Hubbard

"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future."
--Paul Boese

"It's hard to beat a person who never gives up."
--from an inspirational calendar

It is not the strongest...

The Power of Belief --- Mindset & Success

The power of words...

Interesting Read...

Article by Cathy Davidson

Quote of the day...

Yesterday:

"The journey is the reward."

--Chinese Proverb

Today:

"Take as a gift whatever the day brings forth."

--Horace 

Great Message for a Friday...

This beautiful message was shared by a dear friend this morning.  I want to share it with all of you!

Happy Friday!

~Laura~

A Life That Matters...

Live a life that matters. 

Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end.

There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.

All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.

Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.

It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally disappear.

So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire.

The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.

It won't matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you lived, at the end.

It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant

Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter?

How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built; not what you got, but what you gave.

What will matter is not your success, but your significance.

What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.

What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence, but your character.

What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.

What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live in those who loved you.

What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom, and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident.

It's not a matter of circumstance, but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.

Quote of the day...

"Make decisions from the heart and use your head to make (them) work out."

--Sir Girard

Similar to Differentiating Instruction?

In this video, some ducklings were able to get over the curb on their own. However, several found that it was just too high. Look at how someone provides assistance to those having trouble, and how he doesn’t tell them what to do. Instead, he offers it as an option, as a choice they can make. It’s an example of an old community organizing axiom, “If you don’t give people the opportunity to say no, you don’t give them the opportunity to say yes, either.”

Quote of the day...

"I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning."

--J.B. Priestley

The value of a sincere compliment...

Quote of the day...

"The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery."

--Mark van Doren

2013...

Bonnie Mohr Blog Post

This is a blog post by my favorite artist... and it made me reflect on how thankful I am as we begin 2013.  I am thankful to be back in the routine of work and school, and to have had so many blessings throughout 2012!  I ran across a quote by Calvin and Hobbes over the break that really resonated with me... "We're so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are."  This is one of my New Year's resolutions --- to take time to enjoy where I am from time to time.  Looking ahead to the future is always important, and it's what keeps us innovative... but enjoying where we are is what allows us the satisfaction of a job well done, and to appreciate all of those that we have the pleasure of working with each and every day.

Happy 2013!  I hope it's been off to a great start for you as well.

Honk If You Love Someone...

You make an impact each and every day... our students are so lucky, and we are so lucky to have one another.  

THANK YOU!

Quote of the Day...

"Sometimes it is more important to discover what one cannot do, than what one can do."

--Lyn Yutang

Quote of the Day

Today:
"In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins --- not through strength, but through persistence."
--Buddha

Yesterday:
"In our daily lives, we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but the gratefulness that makes us happy."
--Albert Clarke