TED Ed - Flipped Lessons

I have discovered creating flipped lessons through TED Ed (http://ed.ted.com).  The site allows instructors to use any of the pre-formatted TED Ed Flipped lessons and personalize video lessons  for the instructors classroom and curriculum. Teachers can use any TED (http://www.TED.com/video) or You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/user/SMARTERTEACHER) video to create a flipped lesson.  The format allows the instructor to create 15 multiple choice or short answer questions that can be directly linked to the video.  Also included in the lesson format are options to create discussion questions and additional assignments based upon the topic of the flipped lesson.  

The flipped lesson format of the TED Ed site is a functional means of introducing new topics through multimedia formats.  Creating support lessons for extending the classroom for additional work and/or review of material.  Or to supplement the curriculum with additional topics that cannot be completed within the guidelines of the curriculum.    

The 6 C's of Education for the Future Infographic

Project Based Learning - Left Brain Teacher and Right Brain Student

Too often we as educators design assignments that meet our confort levels.  We schedule due dates and create format details that meet "our" needs for "our" curriculum.  But, do we look at the students needs? 

What will be on the Final Exam?

Invariably at the end of a semester, despite the organized meandering of the teacher, a group of students will ask, "What will be on the Final Exam?"  Not that they hane not sat through every class and taken copious amount of notes, and completed all of the homework including all of the in class work and the study guides that the teacher has provided. But,without fail, the question will be asked.

What will be on the Final Exam?

 

By the way, I have discovered XtraNormal.com and I am having way too much fun with it.

Not only making my own videos, but looking for ways to incorporate it into my classroom curriculum and have the students creating these video pieces, to share information, create reviews for the "Final Exam" etc...

I will keep you posted when I decide how this will happen in my classroom.

Creating a Classroom Environment for Today's Learner

Questions I Would Love Students to Answer. (Or, maybe just a rant on my part.)

Questions I would love to have students answer...

Why does your calculator disappear before every math and science class?

Why do you leave your book, pen, pencil, notebook, jacket, lunch bag, in my classroom everyday at the end of class?

Why do you stand in the middle of the hallway, and look at me like I'm crazy when I try to walk down the hall?

Why do you congregate for discussions at the top or bottom of a stairway?

Why must you slam your locker door to get it to closed?

Why do you close the door as you enter the building, without looking back to see if someone else may be trying to get in?

How come you know when the bell rings to the exact second, but can't understand time limits on quizzes, tests or labs?

Who cleans up after you in your own home?

Can I come to your house and dismantle the faucets and gas lines in your kitchen or bathroom?

Why do you drink less than a quarter of your bottle of water before you leave it in my classroom?

Why can't you ask a teacher if they need assistance when they are trying to balance a stack of papers, their computer bag, umbrella, coffee cup, while trying to get their keys out to unlock the classroom door?

Why do you jiggle the handle on a locked door or bang on it instead of walking over to check if the other door is open?

Is the empty water bottle so heavy, that you cannot walk the extra five feet to the recycle bin and must throw it in the trash can?

Do you you not realize that every quiz is difficult if you not have prepared?

Also, every quiz is easy for me, because I wrote it!!!!

Why can't you have your homework prepared to turn in when you arrive at class: with your name on it, stapled and organized?

Why do you tell me as the bell rings all of your excuses for not having your homework instead of emailing the night before?

Can I come and touch, move, take, misplace everything on your desk at your home?

Have you not figured out that the things I repeat several times might be important?

I would love to read your additions to this list of rants...

Student Choice

John Wooden posted the following note on the Bruin's bulletin board on the values of the choices we make:

There is a choice you have to make, 

In everything you do.

So keep in mind that in the end, 

The choice you make makes you. 

The world of today's adolescent is wrought with choices, some good and some not so good. Definitely more choices than most of us grew up with.  But, with these choices comes the consequences of the path chosen. 

One of the most valuble skills we can provide for our students is the ability to see the effects of choice. 

How to measure the causal relationships of choices made. And, how to create a balance between choices made for safisfaction today and choices made in preparation for tomorrow. 

One of the most troubling trends I have noticed in recent years is the lack of understanding of the ramifications of what is done today and how it will effect the future.  Whether students have simply grown up in a society that values immediate gratification or if they have simply lost hope in a sense of the future, high school students today have great difficulty in dealing with any issue that requires them to see beyond today and most definitely if they must see beyond tomorrow. 

Students need to develop the steps necessary to set goals, develop plans, create paths for success, recognize obstacles, adapt to change and actualize success.     

The "I want it now", attitude of the 80's and 90's will not suffice in a world where the only constant is change.  Students need now, more than ever a sense of future and the path necessary to get there.  No longer can the path be culminated in an end but must be toward development of skills for change.  No longer can the students of today depend on a career path that may not be there a decade from now. Technology has changed the game and continues to do so with each new device, program or operating system.  

The choices students make today will serve them only if they understand that the greatest ability is in the ability to see ahead of the curve and look to a future where change is the norm and the skillsets for success are the ability to think critically, communicate effectively and work collaboratively.  

        

Be the Best of Whatever You Are

"The Three Dimensions of Life"

"Length" 

"Now let’s turn for the moment to the length of life. I said that this is the dimension of life where we are concerned with developing our inner powers. (Yeah) In a sense this is the selfish dimension of life. There is such a thing as rational and healthy self-interest. (Yeah) A great Jewish rabbi, the late Joshua Leibman, wrote a book some years ago entitled Peace of Mind. And he has a chapter in that book entitled "Love Thyself Properly." And what he says in that chapter, in substance, is that before you can love other selves adequately, you’ve got to love your own self properly. (All right) You know, a lot of people don’t love themselves. (That’s right) And they go through life with deep and haunting emotional conflicts. So the length of life means that you must love yourself.

And you know what loving yourself also means? It means that you’ve got to accept yourself. (All right) So many people are busy trying to be somebody else. (That’s right) God gave all of us something significant. And we must pray every day, asking God to help us to accept ourselves. (Yeah) That means everything. (Yeah) Too many Negroes are ashamed of themselves, ashamed of being black. (Yes, sir) A Negro got to rise up and say from the bottom of his soul, "I am somebody. (Yes) I have a rich, noble, and proud heritage. However exploited and however painful my history has been, I’m black, but I’m black and beautiful." (Yeah) This is what we’ve got to say. We’ve got to accept ourselves. (Yeah) And we must pray, "Lord, Help me to accept myself every day; help me to accept my tools." (Yeah)

I remember when I was in college, I majored in sociology, and all sociology majors had to take a course that was required called statistics. And statistics can be very complicated. You’ve got to have a mathematical mind, a real knowledge of geometry, and you’ve got to know how to find the mean, the mode, and the median. I never will forget. I took this course and I had a fellow classmate who could just work that stuff out, you know. And he could do his homework in about an hour. We would often go to the lab or the workshop, and he would just work it out in about an hour, and it was over for him. And I was trying to do what he was doing; I was trying to do mine in an hour. And the more I tried to do it in an hour, the more I was flunking out in the course. And I had to come to a very hard conclusion. I had to sit down and say, "Now, Martin Luther King, Leif Cane has a better mind than you." (That’s right) Sometimes you have to acknowledge that. (That’s right) And I had to say to myself, "Now, he may be able to do it in an hour, but it takes me two or three hours to do it." I was not willing to accept myself. I was not willing to accept my tools and my limitations. (Yeah)

But you know in life we’re called upon to do this. A Ford car trying to be a Cadillac is absurd, but if a Ford will accept itself as a Ford, (All right) it can do many things that a Cadillac could never do: it can get in parking spaces that a Cadillac can never get in. [laughter] And in life some of us are Fords and some of us are Cadillacs. (Yes) Moses says in "Green Pastures," "Lord, I ain’t much, but I is all I got." [laughter] The principle of self-acceptance is a basic principle in life.

Now the other thing about the length of life: after accepting ourselves and our tools, we must discover what we are called to do. (Oh yeah) And once we discover it we should set out to do it with all of the strength and all of the power that we have in our systems. (Yeah) And after we’ve discovered what God called us to do, after we’ve discovered our life’s work, we should set out to do that work so well that the living, the dead, or the unborn couldn’t do it any better. (Oh yeah) Now this does not mean that everybody will do the so-called big, recognized things of life. Very few people will rise to the heights of genius in the arts and the sciences; very few collectively will rise to certain professions. Most of us will have to be content to work in the fields and in the factories and on the streets. But we must see the dignity of all labor. (That’s right)

When I was in Montgomery, Alabama, I went to a shoe shop quite often, known as the Gordon Shoe Shop. And there was a fellow in there that used to shine my shoes, and it was just an experience to witness this fellow shining my shoes. He would get that rag, you know, and he could bring music out of it. And I said to myself, "This fellow has a Ph.D. in shoe shining." (That’s right)

What I’m saying to you this morning, my friends, even if it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go on out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures; sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music; sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry; (Go ahead) sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, "Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well."

If you can’t be a pine on the top of a hill
Be a scrub in the valley—but be
The best little scrub on the side of the hill,
Be a bush if you can’t be a tree.
If you can’t be a highway just be a trail
If you can’t be the sun be a star;
It isn’t by size that you win or fail—
Be the best of whatever you are.

And when you do this, when you do this, you’ve mastered the length of life."

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"The Three Dimensions of Life"

April 9, 1967

How easy would our jobs as educators be, if we could get our students to buy in to this idea of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?

Students would work to the best of their abilities and realize whatever grade they recieved was the best for them for that moment in time.

Students would not need to compare themselves in any way to other students, thereby eliminating the need to compete, be jealous or cheat.

Students would  not take things for granted, nor would they wnat for anything because they would realize that they are in the moment and that is enough.

Students would learn for learning sake and not for the score or grade or building their resume.

Students would come prepared everyday because preparation would allow them to maximize their potential for that day.

Students would appreciate others because it is in community that they maximize themselves.

Oh, how simple our jobs would become. 

Our classrooms would become an actual environment of learning.

Our relationships with the students could truly fluorish to maximize each students potential. 

Our classrooms would be emotionally safe for all members of the community of learning.

A tremedous resource for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., his life, accomplishments, sermons and letters can be found through Stanford University at  http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php



Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Yesterday, January 4th, marked the first day back from the holiday break and the beginning of the new semester.   In the tradition of Lasallian schools, we begin each class with prayer.  Quite often, I use the website, Praying Each Day, http://www.prayingeachday.org/reflect.html for the prayer of the day.

The prayer for yesterday focused on Sir Isaac Newton.  Who else would be a more appropriate focus for a prayer for the beginning of a science class?  However, it is in this prayer that we can see how all educators and their students should approach both teaching and learning.  I can not find a better way to articulate what the focus of education should be. 

Isaac Newton was born on January 4th 1643. What is Newton remembered for?

He developed Calculus, a branch of mathematics.

In studies of light, he showed via a prism that sunlight is made of a spectrum of

colors - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

Newton formulated Three Laws of Motion, which led to his theory of Universal Gravitation

(often remembered in the incident of the falling apple).

Newton’s work was a turning point in science, but he acknowledged that his progress and success were built on the hard work and achievements of people before him:

“If I have seen further,

it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

 

There is so much that I don’t know, and I ask you to inspire me with a thirst for knowledge.

I pray, too, for wisdom and understanding that I may use my knowledge well.

I give thanks for many people I have never met whose knowledge and understanding have been passed on to me.

I ask that I may benefit from their work and experience and may contribute, in turn, to the

well-being of others.

Collaborative Learning Teams

COMMUNICATE- COLLABORATE - THINK CRITICALLY

"The strength of the team is each individual member.

The strength of each member is the team."

                                                                 - Phil Jackson

The development of a network of collaborative learning teams within you classroom can create an educational environment where the responsibility for learning lies upon both the students and teacher who comprise that leaning community.

Learners learn by teaching one another. When students teach one another they take ownership of the material by passing it along they actually make it part of themselves. 

The process of teaching one another is by its very nature acive learning.  Student engagement increases the opportunities to learn. 

The saying goes that "Two heads are better than one."  Sharing knowledge creates opportunities for more ideas, alternate approaches, increased possibilites and new perspectives.

Students who have difficulty in the larger classroom may find comfort in smaller groups. This provides avenues for increased communication and the unleashing of ideas that may never be shared in a larger group setting. 

Collaboration brings about an ease and comfort that encourages further attendance in the class as interdependence breeds both responsibility and commraderie. 

Although the goal is increased learning for all, the idea of positive competition among smaller groups may lead to greater problem solving success.

Collaboration encourages the development of leadership skills.

Students who work in groups learn to delegate tasks to maximize group success.

Collaboration increases the development of time mangement skills.    

"Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success."

                                                             - Henry Ford

I Love When Students Get It.

I really enjoy getting an email from a former student containing a lesson, a link or video from their college course work that reminded them of my classroom. 

For me it is validation that they got it!!!

I recently recieved this You Tube connection from one of my former
Environmental Science students.

It is a wonderful message about the life cycle of STUFF and
our ongoing pursuit of STUFF.

Procrastinate! Who me? I'll do it tomorrow.

Getting started is half -done.

And yet, half the battle is sometimes simple recognition of the problem.

Most of us at one time or another have come across an activity, task, assignment or challenge that we are just not ready, willing or able to attack.

In those cases we find every possible means possible to delay the inevitable. 

PROCRASTINATION

What kind of procrastinator are you? 

• Focus on what’s realistic rather than what’s ideal; work toward excellence rather than perfection.

• Seek support from others before you’re under too much pressure.

• Deliberately make one mistake each day.

• Make daily to-do lists with small, broken-down tasks that you can complete on a given day.

• Commit to rewarding yourself for setting and achieving realistic goals.

• Admit that you choose what you do with your time; work on self-acceptance skills

• Learn to make realistic judgments about the time and effort required to complete a task. Ask a friend for help, if needed.

• Remind yourself that choosing not to make a decision about a task or action is itself a decision.

• Don’t allow "what if" thinking to take you out of action.

• Break down tasks into manageable parts to reduce anxiety.

• Every day, do at least part of one thing you’ve been putting off because you’re uncomfortable about it.

• Consider the aspects of a project that are exciting to you, rather than just the challenges.

• Strive for moderation: avoid speaking and thinking in dramatic, emotional language.

• Remind yourself: you may not be interested in a task until you start.

• Identify motivators for a task and use them rather than using stress as a motivator.

• Keep a record of your "crises": what triggered them, how you reacted.

• Create deadlines for yourself as a way to use your natural adrenaline rush to complete tasks earlier.

• Regularly engage in activities that will give you an adrenaline rush-- play competitive sports, go out with friends, or take up a new hobby.

 

• Recognize and respect your personal limitations. 

• Rank your priorities in life and post this list somewhere. Make choices about your time in accordance with this list.

• Incorporate time to relax into your schedule—and learn to enjoy it. Don’t feel guilty about taking time for yourself.

• Focus your thoughts on how to gain personal control, rather than how tasks control you.

• Learn to say "no" to tasks when appropriate. Try saying a pleasant "no" each day.

• Envision life as an adventure in making choices, not a struggle to do everything.

• Make daily to-do lists based on true priorities

• Rank your priorities in life, and devote your energies accordingly. Post this list somewhere.

• Reflect on the ways you could potentially respond to a task before acting.• Be aware when you’re choosing defiance. Ask yourself whether long-term regrets are worth short-term pleasure.

• Strive to act, rather than react.

• Learn self-calming strategies.

• Own up to your actions—especially if you did not complete a task you agreed to.

• Choose one task every week that you will complete in your own way in order to satisfy your need for individuality.



• Try to differentiate between dreams that are vague and goals that are specific and measurable.

• Make your dream into a goal: define what, when, where, who, why, and how you will complete it.

• Keep a to-do list and assign yourself a few tasks each day.

• Use an alarm or timer as a way to remind you when to get to work.

• Schedule time for creative daydreaming.

• Plan out projects and tasks in writing.

• To counteract mind-wandering, get active—explain things aloud, teach the material to someone, or tackle a small part of your project.

 This information was given to me during a presentation on building student study skills

at an AP Workshop a few years ago. 

Partners and Groups

When students pair up for activities, discussions, peer editing or labs, it is very difficult to keep students on track when they only work with their friends or those they are most comfortable.  Creating variety in grouping students is vital to a classroom but can be time consuming.

One method I use is a partner sheet. I create a sheet with 6, 8, 10 items that are relevant to the subject or even the specific topic we are studying.  I have images and words for each item on the sheet along with a space for a name.  I try to put these on cardstock so that they can be kept and used for the entire year.
An example of a simple machine sheet I use in physics is below....

I have students choose a partner for each of the items on the card.  Each student signs their partners card and their partner signs their card.  When I need students to partner up, I will tell them to get together with their pulley partner. Students check their cards and move to the students they signed up with as pulley partners.  I can change partners in an instant by simply asking students to switch to their wheel partner, and so on...

By creating three or four of these cards throughout the year, I can have a variety of groupings at any time.  English teachers can create cards with the characters from a novel, ie. "Move to your Holden Caufield partner."  In Spanish it could be vocabulary words. In Math it could be math symbols.  The options are unlimited. 

To increase variety in grouping, I have guidelines like, you can only ask one person from your current table to sign your card, or you must get a partner from each row of the classroom. I remind students to keep these cards in their notebook so that we can use throughout the year.  They can also be useful to trigger a quick review of material throughout the year.

30 MINUTE STUDY PLAN

"Failing to Prepare, is Preparing to Fail."

                                                               - John Wooden -

How many times have you, as a teacher, heard a student make the claim that they studied for over three hours the night before and still didn't do well on the test?

Now we all know that studying a little bit over a longer period is the best method to learn material for the long haul. But, we also know that our students are champion procrastinators.  They spread themselves to thin with school work, clubs, sports, social activities. And we also know that most teenagers know that the world might end anytime so why study at all until you absolutely have to.

Knowing all of this, I put together a suggested study routine to assist our procrastinators, overschedulers and soothsayers, in their methods of study.  This study plan works on 30 minute session to maximize time and memory.  For most people our brains can only retain about a half hour of material at a time.  If we study for two hours straight we will remember the first fifteen minutes and the last fifteen minues of what we study and very little from the middle hour and a half.  Thereby wasting a good hour and a half of functional time.  Unless the brain is given the opportunity to shift gears and restart, the brain functions best in half hour increments.  (Think about television shows. 30 minute sitcoms. Hour long dramas with commercial breaks about 13 minutes apart.)   

I go over this study plan with each of my classes to help students understand the ways our brain works and to assist them in improving their study habits and to maximize their abilities to learn.

Study Smarter

not Harder!!!

Homework Overkill

Teacher:     Alex, do you have your homework today?
Student:      No, I didn't understand it.
Teacher:     Can you show me your work?
Student:      No, I left it at home, because I didn't understand it?
Teacher:     What didn't you understand?
Student:      All of it.
Teacher:     Did you try any of it?
Student:      Not Really.

This is an all too common discussion in schools today. 

Students willingly admit to not completing their homework.  But, admitting that they did not even attempt it
is even more troubling. 

Their world is one where, video games are a thumb touch away,  www.bffs around the world are a mouse click away, music downloads, online shopping, movie uploads, you tube, facebook, twitter and the list goes on, are simply to teen friendly to pass up,  How, can homework compete with anything else in their lives?

Educators must understand the teenage mentality. 

Students have grown up in this world of political correctness and building self-esteem, most students find less discomfort in not doing the homework at all rather than doing something they may not do correct.  When a character in a video game dies, the game just gets reset and they try again.  Video games are mastered in the privacy of their own room and they are graded only against their own expectations for success and failing several times is not stigmatized by a grade, check or label.

Homework that is overkill, rote and monotonous becomes a strain for both the good student and the struggling student.  The good student looks at that list of ninety math problems and thinks, why should I do all of these if I know how to do this after the first five?  The struggling student thinks, if I don't understand the first five, why should I torture myself with eighty five more? Where is the value in this type of assignment for either of these students?  Both of these students are being programmed to despise the subject while destroying any possible value for skills of orgnaization and self-discipline that may have been developed.

Homework must be effective as a measurement tool for the student to monitor their own understanding of the material covered while allowing them to reinforce this knowledge and prepare for future use of the information. Therefore, homework should include just enough practice and review that students can validate their understanding or determine where they may need to review or relearn.  Homework should also include material that allows students to apply information learned in the classroom to real life practical problems.

The most effective homework assignments, are those that provide both the student and the teacher, feedback concerning the effectiveness of the learning path travelled and the possiblities for the learning path ahead.
Students should value homework as a necessary part of the learning process and a validation of the knowledge gained.







 

90 Ways To Offer Praise

As an educator, you never know how far your reach extends into a child's life. Even the simplest words of praise and recognition can have an effect on the students entrusted to your care.

90 Ways to Offer a Student Praise

(I have edited this from a list I recieved in a graduate education course several years ago.)

Wow     Excellent     Great     Good     Neat    Well Done

Way To Go     Remarkable     I Knew You Could Do It

Super     I Am Proud Of You     Fantastic     Super Star

You Are Special     Nice Work     Looking Good    

Outstanding     You Are On Top Of It     Beautiful

Now You Are Flying     You Are Catching On     Smart

Now You Have It     You Are Incredible     Bravo

You Are Fantastic     Hurray For You     Hot Dog

Good Job     You Are On Target     You Are On Your Way

How Nice     That is Incredible     Dynamite     Beautiful

You Are Unique     Nothing Can Stop You Now    

Good For You     I Like What You Have Done     Bingo

You Are A Winner     Remarkable Job     Beautiful Work

Spectacular     You Are Darling     Great Discovery

You Are Precious     You Are Spectacular     Magnificent

You Have Discovered The Secret     Fantastic Job

You Figured It Out     Hip, Hip, Hooray     Marvelous

Terrific     You Are Important     Phenomenal    You Tried

Super Work     You Are Sensational     Creative Job

Exceptional Performance     Super Job     You Care

Creative Job     You Are A Real Trooper     You Are Fun

You Are Responsible     Fantastic Job     You Tried Hard

What An Imagination     You Are A Good Listener

How Exciting     You Are Maturing     You Learned It Right

Beautiful Sharing          You Are A Good Person    Correct 

You Are Important     Outstanding Performance 

You Are Valued     You Make Me Happy     I Respect You

You Belong     You Make Me Laugh     You Are A Friend

In My Opinion You Are Right     You Brighten My Day

Maslow and Learning

Every student of a teacher credentialing program has been exposed to the theories of Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) who theorized that a series of specific needs must be met before any child can learn.  

A student who is hungry cannot learn. A student under stress cannot learn. A student placed in an environment absent of care and concern cannot learn.

The brain of a student who experiences emotional or physical threat produces chemicals that actually inhibit the process of learning. Threat or stress places the brain in the mode of “fight or flight” and diminishes higher order thinking skills, and lasting threat or stress lowers the brain's capacity for understanding, meaning, memory, and analytical thinking. Therefore, the most important environmental concern in the classroom, is to ensure that students can maximize their opportunities to learn by creating a safe classroom environment that embraces the learning of each student entrusted to our care.

Teachers must provide an environment that allows a student to acknowledge what they do not know, to take risks, to make mistakes, to rethink what they thought they knew.  Students must be able to experience these uncomfortable - even scary – situations without the fear of feeling unprotected or exposed. 

The basic needs of Maslow’s hierarchy include:

·         Physiological needs: nutrition, sleep, exercise, health;

·         Safety needs: both physical and emotional;

·         Love and belonging needs: affection shown to the child, trust of those around him, someone who listens, daily order, a right to privacy, unconditional love;

A student who is secure in these areas will keep an open mind, will explore new options, will take risks and will accept mistakes as a part of the process or learning. These students are more apt to explore the reasons for a solution rather than the correctness of a solution.  These students share in ways that will enhance the learning process for everyone due to their willingness to hear and be heard.

Teachers in this classroom environment can make a reprimand feel like a hug, and a ‘C’ feel like a certificate of achievement, as students will understand that learning is a process of success and failure, with each success opening a new path, and each failure providing an opportunity to enhance understanding.

In “The Last Lecture”, Randy Pausch speaks of the brick walls in life.  He states that these walls are meant to keep those who do not want something enough from attaining their dreams.  A student who is secure in the safety of their classroom environment, are more likely to search for ways around, over or through those walls. 
Randy Pausch You Tube ot The Last Lecture

Teachers use CHALK

• Care – this must be authentic, students know the difference
• Help - provide assistance when they ask or they may not ask again
• Ask – about their day, their sports, concerts, plays, classes
• Listen – hear what students share with you, not just what they say but what they mean 
• Know – your students, their struggles, their areas of discomfort, their strength and limits