Secrets of Success for Teachers

Be interesting...

2013-03-22T09:14:00.000-04:00

“You must never tell a thing. You must illustrate it. We learn through the eye and not the noggin.”

Will Rogers

One day in my Strategies class, I polled my students to find out what their greatest challenges were so that we could brainstorm solutions. To my surprise, the overwhelming response was boredom – not too much homework, bullying, difficult school work – boredom. I was shocked!

Boredom is a problem not only for students but for many adults as well with our affinity for the instant gratification. We’re used to constant and instant access to text messages, internet, conversation with friends, and television and that’s made our attention span shrink. The result is that we need constant stimulation or we think we’re bored.

This is more than just addressing a short attention span. We must make our teaching interesting to our students or we lose them. And lost students have a way of being found, usually by acting out. We must do our best to vary our lessons, add fun, make them relevant and make them worth listening to or else there won’t be a class there to teach, just a bunch of bored, uninterested kids.

How to make the class interesting? Only the individual teacher can determine what the answer to that question is for them, but hopefully, the tips in this book will help guide the way.

Make class fun

2013-03-10T10:22:00.002-04:00

“What we learn with pleasure, we can never forget.”
Louis Mercier

As you have probably already determined, I have a fairly optimistic way of looking at the world. I believe in making life enjoyable and that all but the most somber situations can be made so.
You already know that I taught math, which can be deadly dry and dull. I didn’t grow up with the deep desire to be a math teacher. I actually ended up there by default, because my parents wouldn’t pay for college for what I really wanted to be – an actress or a pilot!

So here I was at twenty-two years old with a degree in secondary mathematics and a new husband who was just beginning college after a stint in the military. I was the primary breadwinner, so it was up to me to bring home the paycheck. Math might not have been my passion but it was up to me to make it work. Instinctively, I knew that I had to make class enjoyable not only for my students but also for me. After all, it was my own life I was creating and if I didn’t choose to make it worth living, who was going to?

I sought ways of making class fun. I collected rebuses which I used as bonuses. I found a math game called Krypto (now available on Amazon and other sites) which I modified to use for the entire class. (The kids liked it so much that they became ‘Kryptomaniacs’ and wanted to play constantly.) I even turned factoring – a process in Algebra – into a bingo game. Students did more math problems in one game than they ever would have done as homework. Because it was fun, they eagerly did the work and improved in the skill dramatically.

I used humor wherever possible, anything to make the kids enjoy being in the class. I told them early in the year, “You might not like math, but I want you enjoy the class. We’re on the same journey for the next 180 days, so we might as well enjoy the ride.” I know this worked, because to this day, I still hear from former students who tell me how much they learned in my class and how much they enjoyed it (Thanks, social media!) I got to enjoy it, too, which makes sense for a job that’s undeniably very challenging.

Why shouldn’t school be fun?

2013-03-07T17:15:00.001-05:00

We all tend to seek out the people and activities that are the most fun. In fact, in our society we celebrate people who entertain us (not the kindest or most intelligent) paying them the highest salaries, giving them the most attention. Most of the people teens see as icons are actors, singers, musicians, and athletes - all who bring fun and enjoyment to their lives.

Everywhere we turn we are being courted to be entertained by the latest media gadget –IPad, IPhone, Play Station, Wii, TiVo, HDTV, ….and the list goes on. We, as teachers, have all that, and more, to compete with. If we want to connect with kids, if we want to hold their attention for longer than a couple of minutes, if we want kids to enjoy coming to school and to retain what we’re teaching them, then we must find a way to make school fun. Why? Because research shows that we learn more when we’re happy.

In Jean Chatzky’s The Difference, she notes that happiness is one of the key factors in whether people are successful. Why? There are many reasons, including the simple fact it’s easier to achieve our goals if we’re in a good mood. (She also notes that happy people are more likely to graduate and land jobs. They’re more productive, creative, dependable, and produce higher quality work. And they make more money.)

Recently, a survey was released listing companies that employees most liked working for. Who ranked number one? Google… because of the casual atmosphere, the fun environment and the focus on creativity. Who else is consistently in the top ten? Southwest Airlines, who have realized that the best way to hold customers and to make flying less stressful is to make flying fun. What other airline starts off a flight referring to the oxygen masks as margarine cups? Or says that anyone who wants to smoke can step outside? Who else but the Southwest crew has a contest where they award flying vouchers to whoever has the ugliest license picture or the biggest hole in their sock?

Conquer short attention spans...part 2

2013-03-06T08:51:00.002-05:00

“A good teacher, like a good entertainer, first must hold his audience’s attention.
Then he can teach his lesson.”
Hendrik John Clark

I was so curious about what I was learning as an actor with an audience of children that I began to consider going back to the high school classroom. As an entrepreneur at heart, I was also taking some high-powered business seminars from some very well-known and respected speakers. They changed what was happening in their seminars fairly frequently as well, working to keep the attention of the thousands of business people who paid a great deal of money to attend. I remember thinking that these speakers knew some secrets about how to present effectively, strategies I hadn’t learned as a teacher. They had to be good at holding the audience’s attention because if they weren’t, they were out of business.

I was fortunate enough to be able to return to the classroom where I had the opportunity to test out these new theories. Limiting the activity – whether it was lecturing, a game, some written work – to twenty minute intervals was an effective strategy for keeping the attention and interest of teens that are exposed to a multitude of distracting influences.

How do we know when we’re nearing the time to change what we’re doing? All we have to do is glance at them, check if they’re beginning to glaze over. If they are, it’s time to switch the teaching mode or maybe even dig into our bag of tricks for another way to reach them. Even just a short shift in what’s happening can make a huge difference.

Conquer short attention spans...

2013-03-05T18:03:00.002-05:00

“One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.” Carl Jung

I have a short attention span. I admit it. In fact, it's even worse than it used to be. I work from home now and have the TV running when I'm not writing or concentrating. I've got the computer on with instant results for anything I choose to search for. I've got my smart phone, my laptop, my DVR, my iPad, my 3D TV (Thanks, Oprah for sharing your favorite things!) and so many other pieces of technology that give me instant media gratification. I love my media but it's done a number on my attention span.

Have you noticed how television doesn’t allow us to focus for very long on one thing? TV shows are chopped up to allow long commercial breaks. Commercials are shorter punched up with crazy camera angles. They come at us with varied music at a fast and furious pace, sometimes as many as ten of them in a four minute commercial break.

The internet is just as bad. We Google for information and are presented with a myriad of choices. We click on one link finding we have to click on many more if we even hope to find the information we’re looking for. Click…click…a side click to follow one of the ads they’ve placed there…click…click…what happened in the news?...click…click…click…what am I looking for? Overwhelming, this information age! Our brains feel fried and wired. But, we get used to this pace, which does not bode well for our ability to pay attention to the areas we need the rest of our day.

But here we are in the classroom with long lessons and few breaks. Our students who have attention spans as short as mine or worse are expected to focus and pay attention as we drone on about a lesson they don’t even care about.

I’m speaking about myself here as a teacher who used to talk for a whole 45 minute class period. That is, until I bored myself so much that I actually quit! Looking back now, quitting was the best thing that could have happened to me, personally and professionally and it was probably good for my students too. I was too bored with teaching geometry to be the kind of teacher they needed and deserved.

Leaving the profession gave me the opportunity to work for a children’s theatre company. I had never worked with little children before but I got to realize that, due to their short attention spans, we had to have a lot of variety in the shows we performed. There was no formula, per se, as to how quickly we had to change on stage from talking to singing to a pratfall, but as an actor on stage, I could feel when we were beginning to lose the attention of our young audience. I began to wonder if maybe our teens were not all that different, and if, in actuality, we should be changing our way of teaching every few minutes.

Rest of this tomorrow….

The importance of greeting students at the door

2013-03-04T21:08:00.002-05:00

“School teachers are not fully appreciated by parents until it rains all day Saturday.”
E.C. McKenzie

Our kids often feel lost in a very complex world. They struggle to be noticed any way they can, often opting for negative attention rather than being ignored by the people in their lives. If we can connect with them as they enter our classrooms, we give them a chance to be noticed, which is a great way to begin any class.

Before I taught my Strategies for Success course, I taught a subject that most kids didn’t like – math. I decided early on that even though many students didn’t like math, I’d have a better chance to reach them if I could get them to like the class since we tend to soak in more information when we’re in a positive mood. I basically enjoy working with teenagers, which is why I entered the profession in the first place, so it was a natural inclination to greet them at the door each day.

In the early days I was too inexperienced to know how important that small amount of recognition actually was but I did notice that the kids beamed when I smiled at them or made a comment that was for them alone. I would say simple things like, “I like those earrings” or, to a kid wearing a sports shirt, “Did you see the baseball game last night?” Sometimes it was just a simple, “Good morning!” The questions and comments got easier as the year progressed and as I got to know my students better. It seemed to work because they often told me that even though they weren’t too crazy about math, they liked my class.

This plan backfired occasionally. The most memorable example of that was the student who was in my Algebra II class one year. He hadn’t liked math previously but he really enjoyed the environment I created in my class. He liked it so much that he signed up for Advanced Math the following year which was not the ideal subject for someone who didn’t like math, wasn’t planning a career where this level of math was necessary and didn’t need it to get into college. He struggled that entire year but, to his credit, he never gave up. He even sat during the final exam with a pad on his desk that said, “I love math” and “I will not give up!”

I’ve continued to use this strategy in my professional development seminars around the country and when playing the role of the teacher in a play I helped write with playwright David Payton of Kaleidoscope Theatre called “High School BULLY”. I stand at the door of the auditorium and greet the participants. It’s much easier to connect with those in my audience if I’ve already made the first contact at the door. Now I’m not a stranger onstage but an adult who chose to meet them. None of this takes much time but the rewards are definitely worth it for all involved.

Are our classes interesting?

2013-03-02T08:46:00.001-05:00

“Most of us end up with no more than five or six people who remember us. Teachers have thousands of people who remember them for the rest of their lives.”
Andy Rooney

I don’t know about you but I’ve sat through enough boring after school meetings. I know they’re required. I know that we’re supposed to know the content they’re sharing. But couldn’t our administrators (who most likely were teachers first) find an interesting way to communicate with us?

One day in my Strategies for Success class, I polled my students to find out what their greatest challenges were so that we could brainstorm solutions. To my surprise, the overwhelming response was boredom – not too much homework, bullying, difficult school work – boredom. I was shocked!

Boredom is a problem not only for students but for many adults as well with our affinity for the instant gratification. We’re used to constant and instant access to text messages, internet, conversation with friends, and television and that’s made our attention span shrink. The result is that we need constant stimulation or we think we’re bored.

How to make the class interesting? Only the individual teacher can determine what the answer to that question is for them, but hopefully, the tips in this blog will help guide the way.

A challenging job!

2013-03-01T09:18:00.000-05:00

Teaching is without a doubt one of the toughest jobs on the planet. Not physicially as there are certainly jobs that require much more strength. It's the work load, the responsibility, the heart-breaking burden of carrying the lives of so many children for a whole school year.

Teaching is much more than standing in front of a bunch of kids talking as many people who aren't in the field of education think. It's teaching our material which we must be proficient in of course. It's helping them grow as human beings, knowing their learning styles and learning challenges. It's keeping them safe both physically and emotionally. It's keeping up with all the changes in education and technologly. It's trying to find new ways to reach them while keeping up with test score madness.

For most people the work day starts and stops at a certain time. For teachers, the work day begins in late August/early September and ends in May/June. Because we've got those kids on our minds the whole way through. We can't walk away from the job mentally until that last grade book whether physical or online is handed in. And then we can have the time off that others experience on the weekends year round.

Of course, many jobs have gotten trickier these days with the constant intrusion of technology. But the classroom teacher is always thinking, always prepping or correcting or logging in data until that last day comes.

Let's give our teachers the respect they deserve for the valuable job they provide for our kids, our communities, our county. It's a tough job that most people would not be able to do well.

Enough...

2012-12-16T19:48:00.001-05:00

This all takes me back to 1999 when I was a classroom teacher and the tragedy of Columbine. I felt the same heartbreaking sadness and wonder about what we could do as a society back then. I remember taking a pen and paper and furiously writing down all the things I had been learning that I thought teens needed so that something like this would never happen again. I wasn't sure what to do with those ideas other than to weave them into my regular lessons when possible. But I knew it wasn't enough. So many kids felt disconnected for so many reasons. But who’s going to listen to a classroom teacher?

A year later, one of my former students hanged himself after being bullied. I had had enough. I had to take action. I ended up creating a program for my school because of these 2 tragedies to help our kids not only survive but thrive. It worked more than I could have even imagined, helping kids find their place in the world, helping them feel connected and valued for who they were. It’s still running all these years later…in my school and a few others around the country. But it – or something like it - needs to be in more schools.

I don’t know if it would have prevented this horrific event but I do believe that it’s needed now more than ever. The program has won multiple awards both locally and nationally because teens love it and are designing the kinds of lives they want and that we want most for them. While no one program or law can prevent every tragedy, maybe it’s time those of us who have found workable solutions to help kids got a chance to share what we know.

Haven’t we had enough? I’m hoping this time someone will listen to this high school teacher because we need to listen to everyone who has a workable plan. I don't know who reads this blog but if you've had enough, I can help you get this program in a school. Email me at Marianne@MarianneDouglas.com

As Nelson Mandela said, “We owe our children – the most vulnerable of citizens in our society – a life free of violence and fear.”

Save me from robotic teaching!

2011-09-27T19:40:00.000-04:00

I ran into a former colleague at the grocery store today. We had taught in the same school years ago and I had spoken at a major conference he ran last year. He told me more about what was going on in the field of education since he's involved in middle school education statewide and I'm on the outside sharing my high school Strategies for Success program around the country.

He told me that schools are so obsessed with test scores that they're actually scripting the lessons!! What??? What if a student doesn't understand? The teachers are told to move on. What????? How does that improve test scores? How does that educate? How does that honor kids as human beings in any way, shape or form? Bad enough that they're not supposed to have fun anymore. Bad enough that we've taken away all the classes they love in school to focus on math, science and english. But robotic teaching? Not what we need.

I guess they're trying to model the schools after the Japanese and Chinese who are so good in math. But can they invent? Do we look to China for the best inventions? Or do they manufacture what we invent? Think about it, we send our manufacturing overseas which is not good for our country. Now we're not developing the creativity we need to design the next products, the solutions to our problems.

We've got it backwards...and it's time to turn it around. We can have decent test scores, and creativity, and happy kids. I've seen it happen. Our kids want it. Out teachers want it. Our society needs it. And the time is now.

Why aren't people more open to programs that work?

2011-09-23T22:23:00.000-04:00

Another news story about how schools are failing...how we're not providing 21st century tools...how NCLB has not worked. No one has answers it seems..or do they??

Are you one of the people who knows a way to improve schools? Do you wonder why no one ever seems to ask the people who know? Wouldn't it be great if someone out there took the time to really listen to proven methods that work?

Instead, letters come back saying, "We don't accept unsolicited proposals" or "We don't work with companies that charge to help students". Or no response is sent at all.

It's a strange phenomenon in our country. If someone is famous, they can share all their passions - what they cook, what they wear,what they think. I totally understand that first they had to do the work that got them famous and that they want to exploit (said in the nicest way) their celebrity while it lasts. I have no problem with that at all.

But there's got to be a way for the rest of us to share what we know especially if it solves one of society's problems. We certainly do need answers in our country... and they are out there... but we need a way... got any ideas? Our kids need us... and they need us now...we can't afford to wait any longer.

Is that really how we want to treat kids?

2011-09-20T10:28:00.000-04:00

I was sitting in the bleachers at a Red Sox game last week. I was so far from the game, it was raining and turning cold and I had not driven (went with one of my brother's customers who got us tickets) so I couldn't leave. It was not an ideal situation as the Sox were losing...again.

But despite all that, the most disappointing thing about being there was the conversation I heard behind me. It was three young teachers talking about the new school year. I wasn't sure if they taught middle or high school. One seemed to be in math, one in science and I'm not sure about the third. I can't imagine why they were teachers. They seemed to hate kids. They talked about them like they were despicable...below them in value as human beings. They were the elite...the teacher...while the kids were lowly servants whose job was to listen to their every word and obey their every command.

I heard one story that really bothered me. One girl talked about a kid who had to go to the bathroom. She wouldn't let him go until he had earned enough of some kind of points. What??? Sure kids sometimes will ask to leave the room when they don't really have to go to the bathroom... The way she was talking, I'd have developed quite the bladder problem just to get out of her sight.

But come on, let's get real. we can't treat kids like that. We have to find a way to teach our kids without treating them poorly. No wonder so many kids hate school. It's bad enough we're making them all learn the material on the same day for a subject. That surely doesn't honor the fact that we all learn at different rates. Let's not top it off by treating kids badly too.

Let's try to find a way to make our class the reason kids want to show up for school. It can be done... and it makes all the difference in the world...in their attitude, in their grades and even their test scores. I know. I saw it happen, over and over again. Let's treat our students like they were our own kids...or how we would want to be treated.

September 11 - the day the world changed and Strategies for Success was born

2011-09-11T21:44:00.000-04:00

Ten years ago today, my principal announced that our country was at war. I had just started teaching my brand new Strategies for Success program, the one I had asked to create after one of my students had taken his life after being bullied. I had a TV in my classroom and I turned it on, just in time to watch the towers fall. Like the rest of the world, we were stunned.

We stayed in school the entire day with a faculty meeting to follow. The principal had called me in to ask me to write up some strategies to share with teachers so that they could work with students in the days to follow. Although I had studied my material for years prior to creating the course,I felt I was too new at this to help, but of course I had to try. It was a daunting task to come up with the words to share with everyone. But I did my best...and the lessons in the course began to resonate throughout the school the next day, that year...and still to this day.

I think Strategies for Success helped my students, my school's students and the faculty cope with the new life in America. I know I was grateful to have learned the lessons in the course from the masters - both in print and in person. Knowing the material in Strategies got me through what was the most difficult time in my life.

You see, not only was I teaching a new program that September day, I also owned a flight school at our major airport, a flight school that would be shut down for weeks as the FBI sifted through our records for information about terrorist hi-jackers. And did I mention that my wonderful business partner had recently passed away not leaving a will? And that one of my customers had died in a plane crash on September 9 and one of my planes had crashed in Maine on September 10 (both pilots survived without a scratch gratefully)?

September 11 changed our lives. The lessons changed lives too...and continue to do so 10 years later back in my old school and several schools around the country. I hope you never have to deal with all I did at that time but I do know that these lessons are here for you and your students... should you ever need them.

With gratitude to those who taught me, those who shared, and with great sadness to all we lost on that terrible day...

A Bully Free New Year

2011-01-09T20:34:00.000-05:00

We’re one week into the New Year, one week past making those resolutions that most of us don’t keep for a variety of reasons. We quit making whatever changes we’re looking to make too soon (Research shows that it takes twenty-one to twenty-eight days to build or break a habit) or we take on something we think we need to change but actually don’t want to change. Keeping resolutions is just not that easy.

One resolution that I hope many people will make this year despite the fact that we’re already past New Year’s Eve is to make 2011 a bully-free year. What? You’re not a bully! Or are you without even realizing it? Some of us are and we’re setting a very bad example around people who need it the most – our kids.

I’ve been working with teens most of my life and as any parent or teacher will tell you, kids don’t do what we say, they do what we do. And many of us haven’t been the best of role models lately.

Think of the recent election. Politicians on both sides of the aisle spent their advertising dollars berating their opponent incessantly. Yes, I’ve heard the argument that playing nice doesn’t win an election. But our children are watching and modeling what they see. All we have to do is notice the prevalence of bullying lately to see that they’re exhibiting those same behaviors – often with catastrophic results.

We as adults realize that the political rhetoric is all part of the game, disturbing as it is at times. But teens, whose brains don’t fully develop until they’re 21, aren’t as capable of deciphering what’s real and what’s done for effect.

Which brings me to the TV, movies and video games in their lives. Over the years these media forms have become more outrageous catering to the weakest part of humanity. I read a statistic in doing research this past year that said by the age of 12, children will have been exposed to 12,000 simulated murders. By age 21, they will have seen over a million commercials.

We can’t change what’s shown but we can choose what we watch especially in front of our kids. We also need to be aware of what they’re watching so we can at least discuss the content, helping them to realize that just because something’s on TV or the internet, it doesn’t have to be fact. It also isn’t a true picture of who we are as humans. We’re much more than the news (News? Or the sharing of the ten worst things that happened yesterday?) and reality shows indicate. In recent research, I found the statistic that for every negative event that happens, ten positive ones do. But no one hears about them.

And then there’s our behavior. Cursed at a driver lately? Said something unnecessarily rude to a family member? Yelled at the TV? We’re human, of course, and there are times when we all just lose it. But if it’s the way we spend a majority of our time, if we walk around being offended all the time by everyone and everything like we’re the center of the universe, then we’re setting an example for kids that is leading to bullying and worse. (In the time between writing this on paper and typing it today, a young man shot at a congresswoman in Arizona and in the process killed innocent bystanders and injured many more.)

Let’s make a new habit, set a new resolution for 2011. If we all do our part and make even a small positive change, it will begin to ripple throughout our society and give our kids a chance. It can be done. I saw it happen in a public high school where it started with one class and spread throughout the school and community.

Given a choice between negativity, choose a kinder response instead. Go back to the Golden Rule of ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’. Dr. Wayne Dyer who is often seen on PBS with his wonderfully positive programs says that we actually get an increase of serotonin, the feel good hormone, every time we do a kindness for someone. We also get a boost to our immune system, not a bad thing for these winter months. The great news is that research shows that whoever receives the kindness gets the same benefit as well and….I love this part…anyone who witnesses that act. Talk about win-win!

Our kids are watching, listening, and mirroring what we do. I’ve heard several times that this is the first generation that doesn’t expect life to be better than their parents. They’re dealing with a world we created for them. The amazing thing is that when teens are given the opportunity to do good, to see a positive path in their lives, they embrace it. I’ve seen it happen over and over again. Don’t we owe them that chance?

Let’s make 2011 the beginning of a better life for America’s kids. Let’s have a happy, healthy, bullying-free new year!

Missing the point in education reform

2010-11-22T09:16:00.000-05:00

I had a conversation in the grocery aisle yesterday with a guidance counselor. She bemoaned the fact that schools are so focused on test scores that they're losing students. Kids who have varied learning styles are being ignored in favor of left brained math scores. Writing scores are going up because students are being taught to fill ina template that matches the testing. Programs that allowed non traditional students to thrive are being elminated either because of cost cutting or the fact that schools want to devote more time to prepping for tests.

What??? All of this makes no sense. Certainly we want our students to be able to compete in the world by havig them be successful in math and english. But times have changed and we need creative thinkers, people who will solve the problems the world presents, who will design the next inventions, find the newest cures. If we don't foster creativity in schools, if we don't allow kids to have classes that are worth coming to school for, then we don't present the kind of enviroment from which these new developments will arise. Noted author Daniel Pink in his book "Whole New Mind" says we MUST allow creativity because many of the jobs that are structured and left brain will either be done by a computer or will be done oversees.

Kids already have a low opinion of schools from the archaic methods used to teach - the pop quiz, putting kids on the spot, the lack of humor and warmth. If we take away music, the arts, the tech courses, there is no reason for students to get up in the morning. Would we want to work in an environment where nothing is to our liking? Or to our talents? Yes, we may have jobs like that but that's our own choosing for the most part. And we get to have other lives without homework adding insult to injury.

The other piece of this horrible puzzle is the bullying component. Everyone keeps saying that the answer to fighting bullying is education but not the kind of education described above. We need to create a nurturing enviroment and give kids the tools to cope. We need to treat them like the precious people they are. We need to create safe, empowering, inspiring classrooms where kids love to come to school.

Sound impossible? It isn't. We did it in my school. And years later, kids are still talking about it. We need to act and act now. We don't need disconnected, uninspired robots who can pass tests but have no enthusiam, no joy, no creativity. If you're an educator, please think about adding fun, creativity and inspiration to your class. If you're a principal, make that a part of your school's mission statement.

Bullying solutions

2010-11-08T20:15:00.000-05:00

Well I didn't win the Pepsi grant to donate my program to 100 schools. But I did get to see one of my goals materialize. As a contributor and actor in Kaleidoscope Theatre's play "High School BULLY", I was wondering if we were doing enough with the play and my Strategies for Success anti-bullying leadership/success curriculum. We knew our programs were reaching the students exposed to the material. But could we do better? Could we reach more students? Could be encourage our state to be more proactive in fighting bullying rather than reactive?

My goal was to gather interested parties from around the state - teachers, administrators, parents, students, community members, police, social workers - to communicate, brainstorm solutions and in general let the kids in the state know that adults were working hard to find solutions to the bullying problems that plagued them.

We were told that maybe 10% of the state would show up. Instead we had an overwhelming response and great interaction within the individual communities and between all the participants. They are about to form a statewide coalition to move forward.

Everyone did a great job to make this vision a reality and hopefully, we can provide more and more solutions to protect our precious children from the ravages of bullying. If you know of a school that can benefit from these programs, please check them out. They are making a difference in lives every day.

Help me stop bullying

2010-08-18T20:53:00.000-04:00

It's been a very long time since I've written. I've been working on the major update of the Strategies for Success curriculum for high schools. I taught the course to a group of college freshmen this summer (they raved about it!!) and I reprised the role of the Fairy Godmother again in Cinderella on tour this summer. Busy, busy, busy! But I love it and am very grateful for all the opportunities that have come my way.

But the biggest thing is the journey to end bullying. As many people know, I wrote my program after the suicide death from bullying of one of my students. The program changed my school and the lives of the over 85% of the students who took it. But bullying continues in our country. And we need to do something...all of us.

I'm working with a group on putting together an Anti-Bullying Summit for my state where we gather people from all communities with a stake in bullying and brainstorm solutions. Better to gather solutions and put them into practice than wait til another student is harmed.

I also applied for a grant from Pepsi and this is where I could use your help. You see the grants go to those people who have the most votes. Now lots of people have voted for American Idol or Dancing with the Stars. This time I need you to vote for my proposal which would get my program in 100 schools, train the teachers, turn the two bullying shows from Kaleidoscope Theatre into DVD's so they can be seen world wide and much more....

Please vote...every day in August...and tell everyone you know to do the same. We can do this..if we take the time to save a life...

Here's how: Text message 101886 to Pepsi (73774) or go to: http://pep.si/bDCjyz

Thanks!!!

Columbine Ten Years Later

2009-04-20T09:15:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone,

With what's happened in the economy recently and to reflect back on the tenth anniversary of the tragedy of Columbine, my company will be donating 300 copies of the award winning leadership/success program titled "Strategies of Success".

I began writing my program on the day of Columbine when I was vacationing in Florida and heading up to MGM at Disney to surprise my students from Mt. Hope High School band who were marching that day. Like the rest of the country, I was horrified by the events that day and felt that someone, anyone had to do something to give our teens the tools to not only survive but to thrive in high school. I didn't know what I could do but I grabbed a pad on the ride up there and started writing.

The list of over 100 strategies I felt teens needed became the course that debuted in my school two years later. It became the go-to course for students in grades 9 to 12, from special ed to honors. It won numerous awards because students took it to heart and made the kind of changes they wanted to create positive, successful lives for themselves, their friends, their fellow students, their parents.

If you know a high school that would like a chance to win this program for free, go to www.strategiesofsuccess.com and enter. The deadline for entering is July 2 with winners being announced September 2. Schools who win the program (or even those who buy it later) can choose to rename the course so it meshes with their own program of studies.

I'm back in Florida now ten years later. And my goal is still to help teens so that a Columbine-type event never happens again. If you know of a high school that would like to enter this contest, please forward them this email.

Thank you!

For those of you who are educators, thanks for all you do for kids! And to those on my mailing list who were my students, thank you for all you taught me!

Sincerely,

Marianne Douglas

'There are only two ways to live your life. One, is as though there are no miracles. The other is as though everything is a miracle.' Albert Einstein

Happy New Year and a quick request

2009-01-04T20:00:00.001-05:00

Welcome back from the holiday break! I hope your holidays were wonderful but I'm guessing that the vacation seemed way too short if not totally nonexistent! I know it always seemed that way to me.

If you have a moment this week I could use your input for a question I'm debating. Many of you on this list are here because I met you at a NAF conference. Some of you stated in your feedback that you thought I should be given a longer span of time to work with my participants. Thanks to your kind comments, that's exactly what's happening for the NAF 2009 conference in Phoenix.

As you know from my sessions, I focus on strategies to improve teaching and learning. In fact, that's why I wrote my book "When Am I Every Going to Use This? 101 Tips to Survive & Thrive in the High School Classroom." What I'd like to do this year is to tailor my presentation to what you as a classroom teacher need and want most in terms of practical professional development. Most of us have been exposed to PD sessions that felt like a misuse of our valuable time. I want my session to be immediatey useful to those who take it. With your help, I can make that a reality. If you can take a minute out of your busy schedule this week, I would greatly appreciate your input.

Thank you in advance and happy new year!

Happy Holidays and have a wonderful vacation

2008-12-18T10:16:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since I've had the opportunity to write with taking some amazing training with an organization called Peak Potentials and working on several books - my own and an author of a work of fiction. But I always have education on the mind and have much to share with you over the coming weeks and months.

But this is the time that most of you are wrapping up your lessons before the holidays and I think you probably have enough on your minds right now to absorb another educational conversation.

So here is what I wish for you:
* relatively sane final days of school before the holiday vacation begins (I know how challenging these days are with assemblies, students who can't figure out why they're still in school, and attention spans that are hard to capture)
* time over vacation for you to recharge your batteries and enjoy not waking up earlier than the crack of dawn
* a happy holiday season for you and those in your life

Marianne

Being prepared

2008-11-03T07:24:00.000-05:00

If you teach in the United States, today is a great day to discuss the value of being prepared. Why? Because tomorrow is election day and the lines to vote may be very long.

We know as teachers, that we have to be prepared. I know I had days when I wasn't as prepared as I wanted to be - maybe I had a late night because I was working a second job or maybe life issues prevented me from getting everything done. Those days were always the tougest in the classroom.

Now that I'm a motivational speaker also working with teachers for professional development, I know even more the value of being prepared. I had a few sessions when I wasn't as comfortable with my material as I should have beeen. Very stressful to say the least! Also, by not being prepared, we're not giving our audience/students our best. And we're certainly not doing ourselves any favors.

When we're fully prepared, the work seems effortless. When we have a file of backup activities that we can use in our classes when time prevents us from being fully prepared, our classes go much better. Being prepared is truly a key to our success.

Tomorrow's election offers us a chance to practice preparedness. With the passion that this election has stirred up, the lines promise to be quite long. Be prepared to wait - bring something to do in line, bring a lightweight chair if it's difficult to stand for a long time, wear comfortable shoes, bring a snack. Plan for the time in line to be long and be pleasantly surprised if it isn't because the best way to be prepared is to bring the right attitude.

These are lessons that students need to learn and by sharing how you will handle tomorrow's vote (your strategy, not your candidate), you give them a chance to not only see democracy in action but how thinking ahead makes any situation manageable and possibly even fun!

Happy Election Day!

Recognizing student talents

2008-10-20T19:52:00.000-04:00

Ever wonder what happens to those students who constantly talk in class? The ones who drive you crazy with their chatter? The ones that hear from some of their teachers that they'll never make anything of themselves unless they stop talking and pay attention in class?

Well some of them become talk show hosts on the biggest talk radio station in the state! That's what happened to one of my students. Luckily he and I always got along well. He not only was in my math class, he was also in the drama club which I advised for many years. I also had his 3 siblings in class.

I ran into him the other day at the local coffee shop/restaurant. It was great to see him again - a college graduate, extremely knowlegeable about every topic imaginable from local to national politics, from imigration to pop culture. He and I don't agree on many things but I am proud of all he's accomplished and how he's chosen to make a difference in the world.

He's invited me to come in and see him at work. In fact, I may even be a guest someday to provide the posiive viewpoint to balance all the negative news in the world (quite an honor to be asked and considered as a guest especially as the positive resource) and all the fired up rhetoric he uses to get callers to participate.

He's done quite well for himelf...the kid who was always talking in class...the auditory student who could quote every line of "The Little Mermaid" when he was in the 10th grade.

So the next time a student is talking out, or doodling in their notebook, or fidgeting in class - consider that they may be the next budding radio personality, the next cartoonist or architect, or the next Michael Phelps. Seeing them in that light may help us cope with their actions while giving us the tools to inspire them to be what meshes with their strengths!

And remember to be kind to your students. They may have their own radio show some day!!

PS...I'm in luck! He liked me and actually spoke about me on the radio one day when asked who his all time favorite teacher was! Whew!

Settling in

2008-10-13T19:38:00.000-04:00

By about this time of the school year, things have settled in a bit. You know the names of your students and feel a bit more comfortable in each class. You're accustomned to your new routine, the way the classes rotate, the new rules that may have changed over the summer with perhaps a new administrator or just a new outlook for the school at large.

This was one of my favorite times of the school year. The year was still fresh but we were past that 'new year' feeling when students were usually too quiet because they didn't feel too comfortable in the class. In that first month, I had so much on my plate that I wasn't opened to one more new idea from anyone. I just needed to survive the day to day workload while trying to get a handle on the 150 or students who had joined that scholastic journey with me.

I know most of the people on this list because you were in one of my speaking sessions at a national convention. Most of you know that I've been working on a compilation of the strategies that worked for me in the classroom, strategies that caused my students to ask repeatedly, "Why doesn't everyone teach like you?" Those techniques also got me named Teacher of the Year and recognized as a leader in learning by Cable in the Classroom and the US Senate.

Well, that compilation is finally done and is now ready for those of who you feel you could benefit from some of the things I've learned in my 28 years in the classroom. You'll see a link for it to the left of this posting or you can just click here.

I dropped the price from $15.99 which was suggested by my publisher to $11.99 for those of you on my mailing list because of all the great comments you've left for me which has allowed me to get booked into other events.

This book will also be available in paperback form and as an audio CD later this fall.

This will be my only posting where I talk about my book although the link for it will always be on this site. Feel free to pass the link along to friends who might benefit from this book too!

Hope you're having a great school year!

Remember what's it like not to know - Part 2

2008-09-29T22:47:00.001-04:00

This entry continues what we were talking about last week...

I had an instructor in my flight training who had difficulty remembering what it was like when he started flying. I’d ask him for an alternate explanation to whatever he was teaching me but he could only repeat what he had said originally, which I didn’t comprehend or I wouldn’t have asked for clarification. He couldn’t see that I was having trouble grasping the concept. He didn’t understand that repetition works fine when we’re tying to remember but it’s useless in restating something that doesn’t make sense the first time.

When I was learning how to land the plane, which is one the most challenging parts of flight training, I asked him where I should be looking – out the front of the plane, out the side, or at the instrument panel. When should I round out - the moment when you change the plane from pointing down toward the runway to pulling it back so that the back tires land first? He said that I should look ahead at the runway until I got the right ‘look.’ What look? He said I’d get it. Probably true but, what was the look I was going for? I needed a visual, a picture to look at back at the hangar after the lesson. Or, perhaps a video from the cockpit perspective. Or, at least a few landings where he was flying and would say to me, “See what the runway looks like right now? That’s the ‘look!’ ” That’s what someone who doesn’t know needs.

When I taught math, I, of course, always used the proper terminology – quadratic formula, Pythagorean Theorem, and so on – but I always coupled the terms with alternative descriptions and often a real world connection. What is the Pythagorean Theorem? It’s the relationship between the sides of a right triangle. Why should they care? They might want to fit something diagonally through a doorway or take a shortcut from school. They may be designers or builders. To teach this formula, to teach anything, we have to step out of our roles as authorities on the subject and remember the time when our subject was as new to us as it is now for our students.

Remember what it’s like not to know the material we’re teaching.

2008-09-29T19:29:00.000-04:00

No one else in my immediate family is a teacher. They are huge football fans and in their quest to explain the game to me, they forgot that I have no references to football. They forgot what it’s like not to know.

As teachers we must remember back to the time when the information we now have at our fingertips was brand new to us. We must put ourselves into the mindset of the students who sit in front of us and create explanations that make sense to the newbie. Our explanations should contain the proper vocabulary, but each of these new words must be paraphrased so that our students can understand what we’re talking about.

More on this topic next week...

Have a great week (despite all the negative news...)