As Autumn has created a change in the season... 
we should review the climate in each of our classrooms!

"I have come to a frightening conclusion. 
I am the decisive element in the classroom. 
It is my personal approach that creates the climate. 
It is my daily mood that makes the weather. 
As a teacher, I possess tremendous power to make 
a child's life miserable or joyous. 
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. 
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. 
In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis 
will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or de-humanized."                     

                                         (Ginott, 1972, p.16)

Great Parent & Student Workshops being offered locally!!

The Lebanon Special School District is offering some great workshops this school year.

You can find the .pdf file of the listing for all of this years workshops by clicking HERE.


Also, you can find a great workshop coming up on "Teenage Risky Behaviors" at this link HERE. This one is coming up in September so be sure to print out several copies and bring students and parents alike!

Secondary Transition materials and infor from Tennessee's SPED website...

The state of Tennessee offers some great information for Secondary Transitions.   The information is organized well and is a great resource for parents, teachers and administrators.

Here's the link:   http://www.tn.gov/education/speced/secondary_trans.shtml


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Are you listening??

Julian Treasure offers 5 ways to improve our listening.

We, as educators, need to listen more and talk less. I experienced this on the first week of school. The teacher was talking and talking and the students were trying to ask questions to get a better understanding of the information, but the teacher had a pace and didn't listen. I watched the student shut down and not attempt to ask anything further. We corrected that at the end of the instructional session, but the damage was already done. We now have repair work to do that should never have been needed, if we had just listened in the first place.


Check out the TED talk at the link here: http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_5_ways_to_listen_better.html



Thanks to Free Technology for Teachers for sharing this link in our personal learning network.

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How does the internet filter what we see?

This is a great TEDTalk about how the internet gatekeepers filter the searches that we make and why we need to make sure that searches are under our control and not some electronic coded control. As educators we need to make sure that as we are teaching critical thinking, we understand that not everything is as we think it is.

Take a look.

http://edupln.ning.com/video/eli-pariser-ted-talk


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Be careful in the social network world and in blogging!!

Please check out the article below and the link back to it regarding the information that is stored on your Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts -- EVEN IF YOU DELETE THEM!

From the Miss Techs website: http://www.misstechs.com/2011/06/social-network-slipups-stored-7-years.html

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Your social networking slipups to be stored for 7 years

In a world where potential employers will almost certainly toss your name into a search engine before considering you for a job, we should all be very careful about what we put online. However, sometimes we slip up, leaving a nasty smear on an otherwise pristine social networking persona. Now, thanks to a ruling by the FTC, background checking services can store those unfortunate moments for up to 7 years after you've deleted them from the web.

A company called Social Intelligence - which provides background checks for companies during the hiring process - recently drew ire from would-be employees due to its practice of building detailed files on applicants. The company keeps these records, which can contain embarrassing pictures or comments that have long since been deleted, in case they are requested by other potential employers in the future. The FTC, after taking a microscope to Social Intelligence's information gathering methods, declared that the company fell within the guidelines of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Individuals who believe their social record is tarnished through no fault of their own are welcome to dispute the firm's findings. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people affected have no idea what information Social Intelligence has on them until they are denied a job. So before you update your Facebook, Twitter or other social networking status, remember that the information you put forth can come back to haunt you, years after you've wiped your web slate clean.

In other words, think before you fire off, spew off or write something done that will be retained forever. 

Remember we are always saying, "If it isn't written down, it didn't happen." So the reverse can also be true -- "If it's written down, it DID happen," even if we delete it right away. 

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The SLA Slam Poets presented this beautiful poetry 

at the ISTE 2011 closing address last week in Philadelphia, PA. 

This is where we need to be as teachers. Listening to the students. 

I want to thank them for the inspiration they brought to me as they

challenge each of us as new teachers or teachers that need to have the passion rekindled.    

Thanks to each of these young people for making it real1