The Art of War

This one has been sitting in the mental crock pot for a little while now.  I guess it has stewed long enough.



What do we lose when we walk just away from a fight, when we back down?  What do our kids lose when we tell them to just walk away from a bully?  What do they lose when they have to do it over and over and over and over again?

Now if you are wondering where I am going with this then just bear with me.  Lets take a look at Sun Tzo's Art of War.  It is an ancient book describing military strategy.  More recently it was adopted by the corporate business world on how to defeat your competitors.  Stick with me here.  In one of his teachings he talks about always giving your opponent a chance to flee.  Give chase and then let them flee again.  Keep letting them run from little battles.  Every time they run away it breaks their morale, it shakes their confidence a little bit more.  They are defeated a little bit more every single time.  It makes them easier to defeat next time.

I think that this is a concept that bullies understand.  They let their victim walk away just a little more defeated every time.  A bully knows how to escalate the situation just enough to keep the victim from doing something about it.

Every time the victim walks away without having done something they have become a little bit more defeated.  How many little defeats can a child endure before they are broken?

We need to stop this cycle of defeat.  I don't know the answers.  I do know that if those victims don't see some success - if they don't stand up somewhere, somehow then they will be broken - piece by piece - loss by loss - battle by battle.


Disclaimer - I know that bullies have needs as well and maybe if we found a way to meet those needs then they may not become bullies but that is not what I am focusing on here.


Photo Credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/mosc1/4513211016/

Push Me, Come on You Know You Want To.........

"Find some peers and push each other."
            Seth Godin

Interesting quote. Seth makes a good point (and I am going to use it a little out of context - just letting you know). It is easier to improve when you work with other people. When was the last time a peer walked into your classroom and challenged you on something that you did? I mean truly and constructively challenged you. I am not talking about administrators either. Conversations with local and division administrators are often fairly one sided. They are your bosses. Enough about them. I want to talk about peers - the people we work with. There is nothing better than to have a group of people who can offer critisizm without having some sort of private agenda. Critisizm aimed at making you better - not at improving their position.  Praise for a good lesson is also easy to get.  We hesitate to say anything negative.  Remember though, it is all about student learning - not about pride.  So stop worrying about whether you will look bad and accept the critisizm.

Right now I am team teaching a math class with two other teachers.  I love it.  I get to watch how other people teach.  I also have other professionals who are watching me teach.  We help each other out and ask for advice.  I use them to let me know when I did not quite get the ideas across.  Sometimes it is easier to notice these things when you are not actually the one teaching, when you don't have personal investment in the lesson.

Critisizm aimed at collaboration.  I like the sound of that.  Push me.  I can take it.

Skittles and Bits

Today we had our first installment of the new season of In School Instructional Support PD. We all complain about not having enough time to do things - well here we got that time. I really enjoyed having time to talk to other people. Time to discuss questions, issues, and successes. After talking to other people here I always leave with a good idea or two. I always appreciate having time to network with other people.



Donna DesRoches had a few warm up activities planned for us. They were great for getting us into the groove of things. (And lots of fun - check out REAL).

The afternoon sessions were interesting as well. I had requested a topic for discussion - and then I got to lead the discussion. That is ok - if I can wing it in class (just kidding administrators).......

More to be added later.....when I have time......