Last summer, my husband Jediah, had a three day meeting out of town. When he is gone, I typically have to take on the extra responsibilities of feeding our small cattle and sheep herds (which I enjoy). As I backed the ranger out of the garage that morning, to my surprise, I was welcomed by the entire herd of cattle staring at me in our back yard! Now, our cows get out on occasion, but this time was different - because to get to our back yard, they had to walk a quarter mile through the woods to get there!!
Long story short, Jediah had forgotten to shut the gate three days prior and they picked the day he was out of town to explore. After a little over an hour of chasing, running, and maybe even crying a bit, my Aunt Marlene and I were able to find the entire herd and get them back to the pasture where they belonged. I will never forget this morning!! The small mistake of forgetting to latch the gate ended up in a fiasco and a really good story that my husband will never live down. I can promise you one thing - we learned to NEVER FORGET TO SHUT THAT GATE!
Mistakes happen everyday. Some we can laugh at and some can be very life changing. Regardless, powerful learning is occurring.
We should celebrate our mistakes in and out of the classroom. All to often, mistakes are looked down upon, especially in education! I think the entire education system teaches students to shut down, when really we should be celebrating the opportunity to learn! This shift in a mindset has proven to be powerful in Carol Dweck's Growth Mindset research. We must teach our students to embrace learning through mistakes!
One of my favorite classroom activities is called "My Favorite No". You can find a video clip HERE. In this activity, the teacher finds their favorite mistake that a student makes and shares it with the class, allowing everyone to learn. It is a great way to create a culture of growth mindset in the classroom and help all students know that making mistakes is a very normal part of the learning process. (I challenge all of you to try this activity this week!)
School Notes:
* Bill Reed, math specialist, will be here to meet with our math department on Friday, October 6th. We will be looking at vertical alignment, grades 4-12 along with ways we can help struggling students in math. Looking forward to a great day of learning!
* Perry County College Fair, Monday, October 2nd. Perry Central will go from 9:30 - 10:20 a.m. A list of students will be shared with faculty and staff Monday morning.
* All 8th grade students will participate in the Tour of Opportunity on Friday, October 6th. Students will get to visit several large employers in Perry County and learn about job opportunities that are here in the county. It will be a great day for all students. Students from Tell City and Cannelton will be participating as well.
* Pep Session - Also, On Friday, October 6th, we will have a Pep Session for Cross Country and Volleyball teams.
* This Friday is the end of the first 9 weeks. Report Cards will not come out until Friday, October 20th due to Fall Break. Also, SLOs are due Friday, October 20th.
Important Dates:
Monday, October 2nd - College Fair 9:30 - 10:20 a.m./ Varsity Volleyball @ South Spencer 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, October 3rd - Senior Night - Varsity Volleyball @ Home vs. Forest Park 5:00 p.m./ Commodore Table - Elementary Cafeteria/
Thursday, October 5th - Assistant Meeting during lunch in Adjunct Room/ Financial Aid Night for senior families to learn about FAFSA - 6:00 p.m./ Varsity Volleyball @ Springs Valley 5:30 p.m.
Friday, October 6th - 8th Grade Tour of Opportunity (All Day)/ Pep Session 2:35 p.m./ Blood Drive in high school gym/ Math Team Meeting
No comments:
Post a Comment