Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Daniel Goleman Speaks about SEI...







Promoting SEI through Procedures and Protocols

In today’s session we talked about the importance of having a variety of procedures in place to not only create a structure for the successful functioning of the classroom, but to also support the social-emotional development of students. Structure provides safety and predictability in a classroom, even as the content changes. Safety in the classroom translates into students who are more willing to take risks, and of course we know risk-taking is a desirable behavior because ultimately it promotes growth – both academic and social-emotional.

In the Write Around activity, each of you shared your ideas for developing procedures and structures for a variety of management “needs”:

• Entering/exiting the classroom
• Getting to work immediately
• When you are tardy
• End of period class dismissal
• Listening to / responding to questions
• Participating in class discussions
• When you need pencil/paper
• Keeping your desk orderly
• Checking out classroom materials
• Indicating whether you understand

In reviewing the suggestions on the poster you originally started with, please type the ideas in the comment box for this blog post. Also, please close with your impression of this activity. Was it helpful for you to share ideas with your colleagues? Were there any ideas that you plan to try?

August 21 Inservice Evaluation

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Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Teaching through the Multiple Intelligences

Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences is both profound and cliche. Throughout the educational world, the phrase "multiple intelligences" gets bandied about again and again, the same way as so much edu-jargon until it has almost become trite. In few places are teachers and schools succeeding in truly meeting Gardner's vision of teaching "consequential" content in a way that actualizes the various intelligences inherent in us all.

Consider the following video showing how a school district in Indianapolis is attempting to actualize their multiple intelligence approach. In what ways are they achieving Garnder's desire for student understanding that is both deep and "consequential"? In what ways is thier approach falling short (in order words, "inconsequential")?







Social Emotional Intelligence

Social emotional intelligence is a huge part of what we do here at Seven Arrows. Take a look at the following videos for a brief overview of what it means to help students develop their social-emotional intelligence!

Dr. Maurice Elias, Rutgers University









Anchorage, Alaska "Change of Heart" Program






NEW STAFF INSERVICE -- Evaluation

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