Your mindset in and out of the classroom affects more people than you think.  Monique Valcour argues people’s mindsets at work not only impact their coworkers but also impact people’s partners, their family members, their networks and even the larger community. She explains people take  work related stress home and it negatively impacts the  well being of family members, and it can even affect children’s school performance. Valcour illustrates this  point by giving us the following example:  Individuals with a distrustful mindset who are very competitive at work and try to get ahead by taking credit, withholding or distorting information, assigning blame, or  shifting allegiances undermine the organization’s effectiveness by driving up stress and burnout in others.

I totally agree with Valcour.  I’ve worked with educators who’ve had negative mindsets and their negativity did affect me negatively at work and at home.  I’m sure you can think of instances when you’ve been affected negatively by a colleagues negative mindset. On the other hand, I’ve worked with educators who’ve had positive mindsets such as the mindsets of openness, trust and generosity.  These mindsets affected me positively at work and affected my family positively at  home. I’m sure you can think of  times when you’ve been affected positively by colleagues’ positive mindsets.  I can also think of times when I might of had a less than positive mindset and affected others negatively. I regret those instances but what can I say except I’m not perfect.

I just thought of an example when I changed my mindset about something  felt much better about my situation at work and went home happy and much less stressed. Bruce (not his real name)  and I taught the same subject for years. When we first started working together, I had hoped we could work together and create materials to use in our classes.   I’d worked with a colleague before in just this way and absolutely loved co-creating or creating and sharing lessons, handouts, etc. Unfortunately, Bruce and I didn’t have this type of working relationship. Bruce would simply take the  lessons, handouts etc. I’d created and use them but not give me any in return.  I thought that was so unfair and developed the mindset that Bruce  was exploiting me. I became very stressed by this. I talked about “the Bruce situation” all the time. My husband (bless him) finally told me he didn’t want to hear any more about Bruce- so you get the picture.  One day, for some reason,  I decided I would just share everything with Bruce that I created and not expect anything in return. I felt so great after I’d made that decision. I don’t know why I felt that way but the stress and resentment was gone.   It was so easy once I changed my mindset about “the Bruce situation” from resentment to generosity. I still don’t quite understand it, but being generous brought me well being.

It is astonishing how important the positive mindsets of our coworkers are to our well being. Valcour, citing Adam Grant , shares data from a 20-year longitudinal study of healthy people that reported people with social support from co-workers  were two and a half times  less likely to die prematurely than individuals who didn’t have positive co-worker  support. I’d come to realize over the years that positive support from my colleagues was psychologically beneficial , but I had no idea positive support from colleagues was that important  for  my physical well being.

Obviously a positive mindset is better for us and everyone around us. My question is how do you  recognize your negative mindsets and how do you go about changing them?   Any suggestions?

Your mindset in and out of the classroom can affect more people than you think. originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on May 18, 2013.

(T)ake an area, a school, a district, you change the conditions, give people a different sense of possibilities, a different set of expectations, a broader range of opportunities, you cherish and value the relationships between teachers and learners, you offer people the discretion to be creative and to innovate in what they do, and schools that were once bereft spring to life.

Robinson explains we could learn other lessons about improving our education. The high-performing education systems in the world attribute a high status to the teaching profession. Robinson explains you need great people to teach and give them the ongoing support and professional development they need to do their best. He argues that professional development is not a cost; professional development is an investment.

I agree with Ken Robinson. What can I say. He has hit the nail right on the head ( my Dad was a carpenter). Schools need to respect students’ curiosity, individuality, and creativity and give them a different range of possibilities, expectations and opportunities so they can flourish as students. The education system also needs to respect the teaching profession by ensuring the best people become teachers and provide them with the on going support and professional development they need so they can flourish as teachers.

I’ve posted the Ken Robinson video below so you can hear and see him speak. Robinson is very entertaining as he calls for a revolution in the education system.

We need nothing less than a revolution in the education system originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on May 11, 2013.

The Ministry of Education established an alternative program for students called the Student Success Program to support academically at risk students so they would graduate from high school. I taught the Student Success class for two semesters and found it was a good support for some students but it was not a good support many students. In one of my MEd courses a couple of years ago,  I learned  “Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher (Palmer 2007, p10).  I  agree with Palmer good teaching is more than good technique, and good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher. But, I’m not convinced good teaching leads to student learning. The teacher is only one factor in student learning. The education system is giving students intellectual support. But, my teaching experience leads me to think giving intellectual support to students is not sufficient. Kessler (2000) suggests students need spiritual support as well as intellectual support in order for them to do their best. So, I have to ask: why is the education system not giving students spiritual support? Kessler (2000) maintains that the education system has purposely excluded heart and soul from the curriculum and the classroom. Kessler explains: “Many communities decided years ago that the inner life of our children was simply not the business of public schools” (p. xii). When the heart and soul is excluded from the curriculum, Kessler (2000) notes: “Students in growing numbers become depressed, attempt suicide, or succumb to eating disorders and substance abuse. Students struggle to find motivation to stay in school or to keep their attention on what is before them” (p. xii). Students need safe, emotional spaces in school where they can explore answers to questions such as: Why am I here? What gives meaning to life? Does anyone really love me? Nash (2002) suggests “spiritual teaching can lead to passionate learning”(p. 198). It would be prudent then for schools to provide spiritual teaching for students if spiritual teaching did indeed lead to passionate learning.

Until recently, I didn’t have a good working definition of spirituality- certainly not a definition that would let me make sense of what spirituality in my classroom might look like. I knew being spiritual was not necessarily being religious.  Jones (2005) and Nash (2002) helped me refine my definition of spirituality. Spirituality in education (Jones, 2005) is the deep connection teachers and students make with one another other and a given subject “Religion is head; spirituality is heart” (Nash, p. 166). As I stated earlier,  I didn’t have a definition of spirituality that really made sense to me; similarly,  I didn’t have a definition of soul that made sense to me either. I had a vague notion the soul was something inside of me that felt good sometimes and not so good at other times. I’ve used the expression that something is sucking the soul out of me meaning that I something has deflated me in some way.

Kessler (2000)and Miller (2000) have helped me refine my definition of soul so that it makes sense to me. Kessler (2000) defines the soul as a dimension of inner life, of human experience, of longing for something more than  the ordinary, materialistic, fragmented life we lead while Miller(2000) defines the soul as an animating energy or process that we can feel. When I combine Kessler’s definition for soul and Miller’s definition for soul, I have a definition for soul that makes sense to me. I have felt that inner longing for something more than the ordinary, materialistic, fragmented life the 21^st century encourages, and I have felt that animating energy called soul as well.

Student learning needs to include spiritual learning to help students better develop the spiritual dimension of their being. Intellectual development may be thwarted by a lack of spiritual development. Schools need to support students’ spiritual dimension by implementing a soulful curriculum Miller (2000) says “a soulful curriculum would provide a nourishing environment for the soul’s expansion and animation.” What would a soulful curriculum entail?  There are many suggestions for what should constitute a soulful curriculum. Miller (2000) suggests a soulful curriculum should include “guided imagery, mediation, dreamwork, journal writing, the arts and a study of Earth. Nash (2002) suggests a soulful curriculum should include personal narrative, and Kessler (2000) suggests soulful education should include the practical strategies derived from the language and framework of seven gateways to the soul.

I think public education system needs to educate the whole child. The whole child consists of a cognitive dimension as well as a spiritual dimension.  There are many students who do not do well because they have a spiritual void that prevents them from achieving their potential. But, I don’t know what a spiritual but not religious curriculum would look like. Any ideas?

Miller, J. P. (2000). Education and the soul: Toward a spiritual curriculum. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Nash, R. J. (2002). Spirituality, ethics, religions, and teaching: A professor’s journey. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.

Palmer, P. J., & Scribner, M. (2007). The courage to teach guide for reflection and renewal. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Palmer, P. J. (2007). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Public schools need to educate the whole child including the spiritual dimension of the child originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on May 3, 2013.

Advertise an essay writing site on my blog- are you kidding. originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on April 22, 2013.

Do you ever feel as if you are a clog or a resource used by the educational system? Do you think that’s just the way it is or do you think we could change the education system so it doesn’t treat teachers like a resource?

Do you ever feel as if you’re just a clog in the education system? originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on March 5, 2013.

Sometimes things are difficult but fun to do. originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on March 5, 2013.

For most of my teaching career, I’ve been teaching my special needs high school students strategies to enable them to help themselves to graduate from high school. I’m always extra proud of my special needs students  when they walk across the stage at graduation and receive their high school diploma. They’ve made it. They’re ready for the next phase of their lives.  But are they? Are they really ready for the next phase of  their lives as start up adults  simply because they’ve earned a high school diploma? 

Susan Traugh a mom of a special needs student and an advocate for special needs teens and their teachers recognized from personal experience simply because students graduate from high school they aren’t necessarily well prepared for life after school.  Susan wrote Transition 2 Life  to help teachers help their students better prepare themselves for life after high school.  I think Transition 2 Life is an excellent resource because it helps students develop the practical skills they need in an engaging way to successfully navigate their way through their daily lives.

I invited Susan to tell us about herself because I think Transition 2 Life is an excellent resource to help students better prepare themselves for life.

Susan Traugh- author of Transition 2 Life

Like so many parents of special needs teens, I was frantically fighting to help my son get through his high school classes so he could graduate and get a diploma.  Matt was really struggling to pass his math and science classes and my husband and I spent many hours every night trying to eek out those last few test points that might put him over the top.  Housework was secondary to homework, and we didn’t push him to get a job or do much community service as we put all our energy into class work.

When he graduated, we were ecstatic and felt like a major hurdle had been crossed.  And it had.  But as the weeks and months passed after high school, we realized that, while Algebra was important to get that diploma, balancing a check book or being able to read a map in order to drive to the bank were much more important in life.  And, we found that we’d been so focused ON graduation that we hadn’t supplied him with the life skills he’d need AFTER graduation.

Matt’s special education teacher also had a son Matt’s age and realized she, too, had focused on class work to the exclusion of life work.  So, we set out together to find a life skills program to help our boys.  As we looked, we found that programs were either written for teachers with lots of theory and educational jargon, or they were written for “children” without respect for a teen’s maturity and sensibilities.  The more we looked, the more dissatisfied we became.

But, the real impetus for action came with one frantic phone call.  I picked up the phone to hear Matt’s panicked voice.  His brain injury had destroyed the spatial skills center of his brain and made it hard for him to keep “a map” in his head.  We’d gotten him a GPS and he’d agreed to only drive within our city.  We thought we were covered.

But, on this night his GPS had failed. Matt had tried to find his way home and, when he got turned around, panicked and ended up making a left-hand turn into oncoming traffic.  When he called, he was stopped in the middle of the street, facing the wrong way.  He knew he was close to home (less than one-half mile away) but didn’t know how to get there.  I had him pull into a parking lot to calm down then talked him all the way home.

I called Matt’s teacher the next day and began writing my own curriculum.

Transition 2 Life was developed to give mild-to-moderately affected special needs teens a program that they can work on independently, modify to their own needs and then walk away with a portfolio that they can use during the first few years of their young adult life to navigate that transition.  Written on a third-grade reading level, it has light, airy pages with lots of bullet points and a font and pictures selected by the students who piloted the program.  And because I know how hard Matt’s teacher works each day, the program is teacher-friendly, with built-in grading sheets, federally mandated goals tied to the lesson plans and pre-printed parent letters so she can let folks know how they can help their teens at home.

Units include lessons on understanding their own Individual Education Plan (IEP), learning styles and career aptitude, writing resumes and business letters, using an ATM machine and balancing a budget, filling out job and college applications, advocating for themselves, and answering the phone.

And, yes, there’s a unit on transportation and how to get around in your home town…or around the country.

The program has been enthusiastically accepted here in California and, in fact, teacher requests have prompted us to write another series, called Daily Living Skills, which creates more in-depth units on basic adult skills such as grocery shopping, house cleaning or meal planning.  All books are sold at: www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Susan-Traugh.

It’s hard keeping all the plates spinning when you’re the parent (or teacher) of a special needs student.  Things that other parents can take for granted must be taught, and taught thoroughly, to our kids.  But, there are rewards.

Matt just took a 600 mile road trip with his sister to Utah.  Before he left, he came to go over the map and verify he knew the directions.  But, after reassuring himself, they got into the car, full of smiles and self-confidence, and went on their way.  Now, that’s a life skill.

For most of my teaching career, I’ve been teaching my special needs high school students strategies to enable them to help themselves to graduate from high school. I’m always extra proud of them when they walk across the stage at graduation and receive their high school diploma. They’ve made it. They’re ready for the next phase of their life.  But are they? Are they really ready for the next stage of life simply because they’ve earned a high school diploma? 

Susan Traugh a mom of a special needs student and an advocate for special needs teens and their teachers recognized from personal experience simply because students graduate from high school they aren’t necessarily well prepared for life after school.  To help teachers help students better prepare themselves for life after high school, Susan wrote Transition 2 Life.  I think it is an excellent resource because it helps students develop the practical skills they need to successfully navigate their way through their daily lives

I invited Susan to tell us about herself because I think Transition 2 Life is an excellent resource to help students better prepare themselves for life after high school.

Susan Traugh- author of Transition 2 Life

Like so many parents of special needs teens, I was frantically fighting to help my son get through his high school classes so he could graduate and get a diploma.  Matt was really struggling to pass his math and science classes and my husband and I spent many hours every night trying to eek out those last few test points that might put him over the top.  Housework was secondary to homework, and we didn’t push him to get a job or do much community service as we put all our energy into class work.

            When he graduated, we were ecstatic and felt like a major hurdle had been crossed.  And it had.  But as the weeks and months passed after high school, we realized that, while Algebra was important to get that diploma, balancing a check book or being able to read a map in order to drive to the bank were much more important in life.  And, we found that we’d been so focused ON graduation that we hadn’t supplied him with the life skills he’d need AFTER graduation.

Matt’s special education teacher also had a son Matt’s age and realized she, too, had focused on class work to the exclusion of life work.  So, we set out together to find a life skills program to help our boys.  As we looked, we found that programs were either written for teachers with lots of theory and educational jargon, or they were written for “children” without respect for a teen’s maturity and sensibilities.  The more we looked, the more dissatisfied we became.

            But, the real impetus for action came with one frantic phone call.  I picked up the phone to hear Matt’s panicked voice.  His brain injury had destroyed the spatial skills center of his brain and made it hard for him to keep “a map” in his head.  We’d gotten him a GPS and he’d agreed to only drive within our city.  We thought we were covered.

            But, on this night his GPS had failed. Matt had tried to find his way home and, when he got turned around, panicked and ended up making a left-hand turn into oncoming traffic.  When he called, he was stopped in the middle of the street, facing the wrong way.  He knew he was close to home (less than one-half mile away) but didn’t know how to get there.  I had him pull into a parking lot to calm down then talked him all the way home.

            I called Matt’s teacher the next day and began writing my own curriculum.

            Transition 2 Life was developed to give mild-to-moderately affected special needs teens a program that they can work on independently, modify to their own needs and then walk away with a portfolio that they can use during the first few years of their young adult life to navigate that transition.  Written on a third-grade reading level, it has light, airy pages with lots of bullet points and a font and pictures selected by the students who piloted the program.  And because I know how hard Matt’s teacher works each day, the program is teacher-friendly, with built-in grading sheets, federally mandated goals tied to the lesson plans and pre-printed parent letters so she can let folks know how they can help their teens at home.

            Units include lessons on understanding their own Individual Education Plan (IEP), learning styles and career aptitude, writing resumes and business letters, using an ATM machine and balancing a budget, filling out job and college applications, advocating for themselves, and answering the phone. 

And, yes, there’s a unit on transportation and how to get around in your home town…or around the country.

The program has been enthusiastically accepted here in California and, in fact, teacher requests have prompted us to write another series, called Daily Living Skills, which creates more in-depth units on basic adult skills such as grocery shopping, house cleaning or meal planning.  All books are sold at: www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Susan-Traugh.

It’s hard keeping all the plates spinning when you’re the parent (or teacher) of a special needs student.  Things that other parents can take for granted must be taught, and taught thoroughly, to our kids.  But, there are rewards. 

Matt just took a 600 mile road trip with his sister to Utah.  Before he left, he came to go over the map and verify he knew the directions.  But, after reassuring himself, they got into the car, full of smiles and self-confidence, and went on their way.  Now, that’s a life skill.

Transition to life for high school students originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on February 1, 2013.

I’ll be honest here. Participating in extra curricular activities is important for me as a teacher because participating in extracurricular  activities  would often help make my classrooms more bearable .  Over the years some of my classes have been very challenging- to say the least. Many of my academically at risk students  were disengaged from school.  They were only at school because the law said they had to be at school.  I felt really great when I got to see students who were disengaged from the classroom become more and more engaged in the classroom because they were  began participating in extracurricular activities such as  basketball, football or yes even the knitting club.   I’ll admit  I got to see my academically at risk students in a different more positive light during extracurricular activities and my students got to see me in a different light too that resulted in a more positive  student/teacher relationship.  That is a very good thing.

When I think of school and the student body, I think of classrooms as the head of the student body and extracurricular activities as the heart of the student body.We need to balance the head and the heart of the student body.  Life is not only lived in the head, but it is also lived  in the heart.   Students’ school experience and yes even teachers’ school experience needs to  include developing and satisfying the needs of their heads and hearts,  and  when teachers are told not to participate in extracurricular activities for political reasons, students and teachers suffer.

Participating in extracurricular activities benefits students and teachers originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on January 26, 2013.

Newbie teachers can really help more experienced teachers. originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on January 17, 2013.

Re-examining my philosophy of classroom management originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on January 14, 2013.