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Showing posts from November, 2015

Caring for our Students through the Work we Assign

November 20, 2015 Caring for our Students through the Work we Assign When I was young, I worked on my grandfather’s farm from February until the harvest in the fall. One day during our lunch break, my grandfather began reminiscing about the “good old days”. Whenever grandpa told a story, we listened, partially because he didn’t tell very many stories. It also owed to the fact that his dry sense of humor usually left you laughing, if you listened well. Grandpa related a story from growing up during the Great Depression and how, to help get people back to work, certain jobs were created. One particular job that Grandpa could remember was the moving of dirt. Each morning, when Grandpa and the other men arrived on the job site, they were handed their shovels and work gloves and sent to the task of moving a pile of dirt and gravel from one side of a work site to the other. By the end of the day, if the men worked hard, the job would be complete. Then they would sign out and
SHARE YOUR STORY As I grew up, I listened to my grandparents, great aunts and uncles and my parents spin stories of “the good old days.”   “Great Grandpa did this…,” my grandma would begin.   “Oh yea,” My great aunt would reply, “Well, Aunt Beatrice did that…”  As I sat and listened, my imagination ran wild with pictures, some of which were actually based on places I had visited and people I had known.    I pictured younger versions of the people before me, and my mind’s video editor filled in the rest of the picture for me. Recently I listened to a podcast about the brain and what is happening when we use language.    In the podcast, Dr. Ginger Campbell interviewed Ben Berger about his book,  Louder than Words.  Listening to this podcast, I took away some wonderful insight that helps me as a teacher, and it easily connects to stories and teaching. As it turns out, the excitement that helps us remember all of the stories of childhood has its basis in science and how we a