First day of school – handshaking all around - Peoriatimes.com: Feature Stories

Great Article! I love what Capturing Kids' Hearts training can do for not only the staff but also the students. They're the reason why we do what we do!

 

First day of school – handshaking all around - Peoriatimes.com: Feature Stories: It starts with a handshake. Seventh-graders were greeted at the door to their classroom by their teacher, Ms. Reisenbigler. She teaches reading reading and writing. But her first lesson on the first day of school at Peoria Elementary School was a handshake greeting to each student assigned to her class.

Reisenbigler is just one teacher at PES who is now teaching under a new program called “Capturing Kids’ Hearts.”

“It’s phenomenal,” she said. “The kids are excited; we’re excited.”

The excitement is a result of a three-day lesson in what PES principal Phil Stanfield calls “a philosophy, not a classroom management plan, not a discipline plan, just building relationships with kids and kids developing relationships with adults.”

This past year, the Peoria Unified School District invited Flip Flippen @flipflippen, a psychotherapist with The Flippen Group @flippengroup, to present his program.

In Flippen’s words, “If you have a child’s heart, you have his head.”

Every PES teacher is now...

10 GREAT WAYS TO CONNECT WITH YOUR TEAM OR CLASSROOM

I love an article written by Aditi Rao on her blog TeachBytes about 10 icebreakers that use technology and fit with 21st century students. I think these ideas can also apply to our Admin and Teacher teams.

1. Have students create a Pinterest board with 10 pins that summarizes them.
2. Ask students to create a 30 second podcast that introduces themselves. Then allow students to present them or play them on separate devices as an audio gallery.
3. Create a classroom blog and ask each student to write a blog post introducing themselves to the rest of the classroom.
4. Have students create a quick comic strip to describe themselves or to recreate a recent funny moment in their lives.
5. Use PollEverywhere to ask students interesting questions and get to know them as a class, like their favorite subjects, bands or TV shows.
6. Use GoogleForms or SurveyMonkey to survey students about their interests, academic inclinations, and background info – a 21st century alternative to the “Getting to Know You” info sheet!
7. Have students create word clouds to describe themselves and share with the rest of the class.
8. Have students go on a QR code scavenger hunt in teams to get to know each other and learn about your classroom rules in a fun, engaging way.
9. Ask students to create their own Voki avatars that introduce themselves to the class. Encourage them to be creative with the backgrounds, characters and details of the avatar to reflect their own personalities and preferences.
10. Have students create graffiti online that speaks to their interests and personalities and share with the class.

THE FLIP SIDE BY FLIP FLIPPEN

Great Book! The Flip Side, "Break Free of the Behaviors That Hold You Back" is one of my favorite books. I'm on my 5th time reading it. This book has helped me identify my behavioral constraints and I have built a Traction Plan to help me break and overcome my constraints.

Not only has this book helped me at work but it has also helped me at home to communicate better with my wife and 3 children and build deeper relationships with them.

I recommend this book to everyone!

 www.flipsidebook.com

USE WORDLE WITH YOUR SOCIAL CONTRACTS!

I love Wordle! It's a fun and creative way to illustrate your social contracts. Use it to emphasize what's most important to your classroom and team. If a word is mentioned more than once, put a check beside it for each time it is stated.  The more times a word is entered, the bigger it is printed. http://www.wordle.net/

BARBARA DAY, "CAPTURING KIDS' HEARTS." DAY IN THE CLASSROOM. JUNE 30TH, 2011

Barbara attended The Flippen Group's Capturing Kids' Hearts training last year and wrote about her experience on her blog, Day In the Classroom. She said, "I can say this is some of the best training I’ve taken in a long time." Click here to read Barbara's article and the comments made from others about Capturing Kids' Hearts.

Barbara, thanks for sharing your training experience with us on your blog!


Check out this Flippen Group video... "Why should I attend Capturing Kids' Hearts"

DR. MARJORIE STEALEY FEATURED IN VIRGINIA TEACHER MAGAZINE

Congratulations to my friend Dr. Marjorie Stealey, Principal of Norview High School at Norfolk Public Schools. She is featured in Virginia Teacher magazine on page 7.

LEADING AND LEARNING 2.0 BLOG BY DR. TODD WIRT

My friend, Dr. Todd Wirt is the Executive Director of Secondary Education at Mooresville Graded School District and he has created a great Blog called Leading and Learning 2.0 His blog provides great resources and information for teachers and administrators.

Dr. Wirt led a full digital conversion at Mooresville High School in a one-to-one 24/7 mobile computing environment focused on digital content and project-based learning for the past four years.  Under Dr. Wirt’s leadership Mooresville High School has increased its performance composite on state end-of-course exams twenty percentage points from 69% to 89%.  Mooresville High School has risen to the top ten in North Carolina on graduation rate and dropout rate, as well as being recognized nationally as an Apple Distinguished school for its amazing use of 1:1 technologies. Dr. Wirt was nationally recognized as North Carolina’s 2010 High School Principal of the Year by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).

Check out his Blog Leading and Learning 2.0 and follow him on Twitter @toddwirt! 

I highly recommend it!

EDUCATION WEEK: BUILDING THE DIGITAL DISTRICT

EDUCATION WEEK: BUILDING THE DIGITAL DISTRICT 

Find out how you can create a Digital Culture in your schools.

My friends at Mooresville Graded School District are hosting another SOLD OUT Summer Connection Conference on JULY 31-AUGUST 2, 2012 at Mooresville Intermediate School in Mooresville, North Carolina for Superintendents, District Administrators, Principals, Teachers, and Technology Staff.