Marcia Tate

On Monday we had professional development the entire district went to Northwest to see Marcia Tate speak. She was amazing!!! I learned so much and when I left I was fired up about teaching. I had never been to an outside of school professional development speaker, so it was a wonderful 1st time experience.

10 things I learned on Monday...

1) A person needs 12 positive interactions each day (kids who come from difficult homes may only get those 12 positives while at school so make their day worth it!)

2) Playing music as your students come in each morning is a great way to get the day started.

3) Natural colors work best in a classroom (brown, blue, and tan)

4) EVERYONE needs a purpose - make sure your students have a purpose each day.

5) Brains in today's schools are different so you need to find ways to connect to the "new" brain.

6) Students can only focus for 1 minute for their age (example 12 years old = 12 minutes of focus) so you need to have a variety of different activities planned so students don't loose focus while in the lesson.

7) Having a peer greet students at the door with the teacher can reduce bulling (I am starting this one next week!)

8) Self-helplessness is a condition not a disorder but you can work with a student and parents to help create a better attitude towards learning.

9) Laughter is good in the classroom as long is it is not sarcasm young minds don't understand and accept sarcasm well.

10) Yelling doesn't grow dendrites.

If you want to know more about Marcia Tate check out her website! If you ever have a chance to hear her speak you should take it! Monday was such a great day!!!