From September 19, 2014

I'm an awful student. I don't pay attention well and when I do, it's usually because I don't agree with something that the person speaking has to say. I multitask when people are lecturing because I am an auditory learner and I can listen and get most of what they are saying. I know that it is rude.  It's a strange thing we do in education. We know that standard lecture delivery does not work, yet most professional development in schools is lecture and powerpoint driven. That's why I was so happy that our instructional coaches came up with varied ways to work with teachers at their pace, their time and in their classrooms. I really hope that you are finding ways to incorporate just a little of that into what you do. If you haven't yet, please shoot one of them an email about something that you would like to improve on.  The crazy thing is that we are already running out of time! Just think, as of today we are 10% through the school year. That means that we are 20% through the semester. That's scary when we think of all that needs to be done to generate the greatest learning potential from each child. That's why we should utilize our instructional coaches in the same way as a NASCAR pit crew mechanic fine tunes a car in a race. They can make small tweeks that have big impacts. Please use our wonderful people to get your students to the finish line!