Are we nurturing the right qualities in school?
I had an educator in one of my workshops tell me that some recent research showed students today have 40% less empathy and compassion than their predecessors of 15 or even 10 years ago.
I truly deep in my heart hope the research is wrong! I truly hope that we as people are not facing such a troubled future. But it startled me into thinking. If the research is only 1/2 true, if the students of today are even just 20% less empathetic and compassionate than their predecessors, this is a staggering thought.
It requires some pretty deep consideration about what we are doing and where we are going in education. Maybe we need to ask ourselves a few questions that will help us hit the reset button on our educational computers:
- What does it mean to be a human being?
- What does it mean to be truly human?
AND
- Are we nurturing the right qualities in school or are we serving the intellectual mind beyond all else?
I'm not saying that intellect isn't important. It is really important!
But maybe it's not the simple number on a test or the numerical score of the Intellectual Quotient that is the be all end all of our educational process.
Maybe it is more to do with IQ as the Quality of our Intellect - how we use our minds and how we think.
Maybe it is what we do with our lives and what we contribute of ourselves to society and what legacy we leave... maybe these are better measurements of our humanity and of our success.
No numerical score can ever measure that. No number can place me on the Dean's list of Life. I have to live it to be there.
And the questions above have guided my actions and tempered my words making me a better human being - a more compassionate caring individual - as I progressed through the seasons of my life.
And if I might be so bold, maybe these questions can help us rethink and reinvent our educational process so that it more closely aligns with the long walk of life rather than the shorter sprint through the halls of learning.
The Gang of Five Responds!
The Illustrious Gang of 5 found me... How cool is this hyper-connected and wonderful world that I can think out loud on a blog and straight away the beautiful Donna and Antonella send me an email. So here's the scoop.
These five ladies are from the St. Paul Apostle North School Endeavor Hills in Victoria Australia.
The Gang of 5 consciously keeps the training alive in the field. The 'field' is the field of life where we put into practice what has been learned in the training room. Each member of the team, in their own way, carries the flame of inspiration and energy to their students and the entire campus. I call it "intentional positivity".
This photo shows you that energy
L to R: Lisa Bonner, Donna Evans, me, Antonella Gray and Barbara Miciuk - Karen Unwin is missing in this photo
Keep up the good work ladies! Thank you for who you are!
Being intentionally positive works!
You remind me of a saying from Margaret Mead, "A small group of thoughtful (and inspired) people can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
The Farrington Team
A great big THANK YOU to Laurie Leuczak for her support during the day and to the entire team of 9th Grade Farrington Teachers. From your sharing, it sounded as if you had a great kick off to the year utilizing the IQ, EQ, SQ activities from the 9th Grade manual and the Breaking Out of the World Game Program.
I promised that I would make the slides available to you for download from my blog so here they are.
I look forward to an amazing session on October 20th with more new material to support your goal of student engagement.
Networking Activity
While I was teaching and speaking in Australia, many of you expressed an interest in a specific activity that I designed to enhance social networking in any group. I almost always use this activity because everyone enjoys it and it gives everyone a chance to expand their thinking on any given subject.
I tend to use this activity when asking people to reflect on their life values and philosophy, but it can be used whenever you ask people to reflect on a subject. It can also be used with students as an SQ classroom activity.
I think you'll enjoy the results.
This activity should take about 15 minutes in your classroom:
- Choose a subject for the team to reflect on.
- Ask them to write down their reflections on a storyboard.
- Give them a time limit to do so based on how complex the item is. I usually say 4-5 minutes. If it's really complex, I watch until I notice that most of the people in the room are slowing down or have stopped writing.
- Explain that, 'We do better together than we do apart.'
- Ask everyone to get a different colored pen than the one they used.
- Ask them to stand up.
- Explain that this will be a standing only exercise.
- Explain that the purpose or goal of the activity is to expand our thinking, our insights and our list of items.
- Ask people to, Intend to increase your items and expand your thinking and write down new insights or ideas that you feel you're aligned with on your own sheet.
- Give them two minutes. Say, "Begin".
- At 2 minutes, ring a bell or say, "Time. Thank your partner. And switch. Find another partner".
- After 3 rounds ask the participants, "How many of you expanded your thoughts by a minimum of 15 items?" Or you could reduce this to 10 items or 5 items.
- Remind them that the goal is to expand their ideas or insights by a minimum of 15 items and they have one more round to do that.
- Give one more round and ask about their numbers again.
- Debrief with a discussion on how important it is to share and interact with others. It's good to learn from everyone you meet as it always expands our thinking. End with a full room share.
I have written these notes into a take away activity you can download it here - Network Activity
The Legendary Gang of Five
The Gang of Five has become a legendary favorite of VIEU. Every time I do a workshop at VIEU the gang swoops in early to share hugs, stories, storyboards and exchange life updates with me.
They take the entire back row in the training room, share storyboard notes as the program progresses and engage 110% in everything that is going on.
And how did they come by their name? Susan, who puts all the logistics together for the seminars and prepares the roll call list for the day, told me she had an easy way of identifying them."I call them the Gang of Five," she said jubilantly,"And they are all going to be here today."
That day was August 3rd. It was the first program I was to do since my August arrival in Australia. And sure enough, 35 minutes before the opening of the day, the illustrious five descended on the room in full regalia, excited, anticipating another great day, capture and rearranging their territory to suit their creature comfort needs in the back row.
So I'm putting out a call to the Infamous Gang of Five...
Please connect with me because I would love a copy of the photo you shared with me in class... I'd like a copy for myself and I'd like to share it with others...
August in Australia
I was reflecting about 5 days ago as I kicked back and relaxed on my flight from Canberra back to Melbourne. For 9 years Lynne and I have been coming to Australia, yet this tour has been one of the most amazing and exhilarating ever.
Relationships are everything! It is what invigorates me and brings joy to my life and this particular trip was one was about making new connections and reconnecting with old friends. I had an opportunity to spend time with many of you that I now hold dear as family, and I also had a chance to meet many new friends. (The pictures are friends from the CEO Women in Leadership Program. Check out those gorgeous smiles!)
I received a note from one of the graduates from a leadership course I did in Canberra and wanted to share this person's thoughts with you: "You parted the clouds for the light to beam into my consciousness, and you opened my heart to a new way of being. By the end of the 2-days.... (an) internal transformation ... was underway....This morning I awoke refreshed, rejuvenated and renewed, truly reborn in spirit. I know now what I want to do with my life." This person's message touched my heart... It is truly why I do the work that I do and this is why my passion and my purpose, my fun and my play have so merged and become one in the same!
I'm back home in Hawaii now recouping from close to 24 hours on the road and trying to catch my breath before heading into a busy week with principals and teachers in two of the major schools here.
I just want to say thank you to my Australian family! Thank you for letting me participate in your life, and thank you to each and every one of you who continually enrich my life.
Storyboard Template
For many years now I have been using Storyboards in my training sessions.
Lots of people have asked for the template to use in your classroom, so here is it
These are the instructions on how to use them
This is the template that is good for Middle and High School students to use
This is the template that is ideal for younger students
Thank you to the Elves
If you read my blog in a feedreader you will have missed the beautiful new website design I launched this week. Head on over to the blog and check it out. Just click here to come and see for yourself.
A big huge thank you for the elves that have been working around the clock to make the blog design come alive.
