Encouraging Growth in Global Education
My Shouts
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- GTL
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Are you "an island of excellence in a sea of mediocrity"?
- 15 July 2010
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- Brian Asselin wrote a great song for teachers
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Encouraging and inspiring
- 13 July 2010
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- Today, I begin the book study. Join me!
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Let's see what Stephen Covey has to say about finding our VOICE
- 1 June 2010
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- Today I choose to be solution-oriented!
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It's a choice. Choose solutions!
- 12 May 2010
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- Tanya
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Thanks to all those who have helped make this site possible.
- 12 April 2010
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teacher of the month
Current teacher of the month: Andrea Taylor
I have been teaching since 1998 and have had a variety of experiences in and out of the classroom. I have wanted to be a teacher since I was in Grade 4 when my own teacher at that time inspired me. I saw her devotion and passion to want to be our support and encouragement through out the school year. It was through watching her that I realized, I wanted to pursue the same dream. I have had 100's of students go through my class but there is one that I will always remember. He was a child from an abusive home and was therefore struggling to fit in. I tried everything- eating lunch with him, giving him extra special jobs, working one on one with him but he still didn't fit in. There was one day that he got extremely frustrated and ran out of the classroom, out of the school and starting climbing the tree in the front yard. I ran after him and began to climb the tree....reminding myself that I never climbed trees as a kid and certainly didn't expect to be doing it as an adult!! After we came down from the tree, we talked and I remembered why I had chosen this career in the first place. I want to be every childs support and encouragement to see them be successful and feel like someone is on their side. Everytime I see a Birch tree, I remember my day of climbing, it puts a smile on my face and I walk into a school ready to help another child. Andrea Taylor AISI Area II Learning Leader 403-862-5401 adtaylor@cbe.ab.caWelcome Global Teachers' Lounge!
This is a site for globally-conscious leaders who want to positively change the world. It is an inspirational, creative, solution-oriented environment in which we may chat about our ideas and struggles and where our colleagues and mentors have an opportunity to provide constructive comments, resources, advice, and ideas for growth and improvement.
To your success
Growing Good Corn
Author Unknown
There once was a farmer who grew award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon.
One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbours.
“How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbours when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.
“Why sir,” said the farmer, “didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbours grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbours grow good corn.”
He is very much aware of the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbour’s corn also improves.
So it is with our lives. Those who choose to live in peace must help their neighbours to live in peace. Those who choose to live well must help others to live well, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others to find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.
The lesson for each of us is this: if we are to grow good corn, we must help our neighbours grow good corn.
Thought 4 Good Success…
Ambition, fuelled by compassion, wisdom and integrity, is a powerful force for good that will turn the wheels of industry and open the doors of opportunity for you and countless others. ~ Zig Ziglar
The 8th Habit Blog 3 Define Voice
According to Stephen Covey, VOICE can be discovered at the intersection between your talents, passions, needs and how you are needed, and conscience. The need to express your voice becomes a void that draws you to your next level of self-awareness and achievement. People who cannot or will not strive to find their voice often wander aimlessly and feel frustrated without realizing what they’re missing.
In the Industrial Age, Covey discusses how the primary drivers of the economy were things. Machines, capital, and people were all assets which could be managed, controlled, and replaced as necessary. This mindset gave us the carrot-and-stick motivational strategy as well as the common “spend it so you don’t lose it next year” budgets so often found in departments.
The current age operates too quickly for the industrial model. Information is so readily available and changes so often that the old model cannot keep up. This Information/Knowledge Age is forcing management to adjust, to stop treating staff like “things” that can be controlled or manipulated like sheep. Instead, there’s a paradigm shift beginning to take root in establishments. They are starting to recognize and capitalize on the talent, ingenuity, creativity, and vision of their employees and giving them the freedom to be their whole person – mind, body, heart, and spirit.
Just imagine how effective you could be if you were allowed to express all of your ideas and creativity without judgement or restraint from authorities. Imagine the freedom to be creative and resourceful in your workplace. Imagine how commited you would be to a employer that encouraged you to be all that you know you can be…
Encouraging Song for Teachers
My name is Brian Asselin and I am a recent graduate from the teachers college program at the University of Ottawa. Towards the end of school we, the students, are reminded how fortunate we are to have principles, administration, and teachers who help inspire students everyday. While in teachers college I realized how fortunate I have been to have had such great teachers in my life that have helped shape the person I am today. I wanted to say thank you to all those who go beyond the daily job requirements so I co-wrote a song entitled “You Have Made A Difference”. I would really appreciate it if you would take a couple minutes to listen to the song and if you felt so, share it with your staff.
Thanks so much in advance
Brian Asselin
Here is the youtube link for the song
The 8th Habit Blog 2 The Void
There are voids that firmly draw us to different stages in life. Each void acts like a vacuum drawing us through desire or need. We barely arrive before the next stage asserts its voracious appetite to suck us further onward toward the next void.
As an infant, we cry for food. Once sated, we’re soon hungry, and crying, again. As children, we yearn to grow up only to look back and wish for the freedom of youth as we get drawn toward the vortex of the workforce. As young adults, we’re full of optimism and ideals that we’re sure our elders have forgotten. In our young minds, we believe that they’ve lost their edge and drive and promise ourselves that “it” will never happen to us. We strive for acceptance into the elite cohorts, premier colleges, and best job only to find that we still need to achieve more. We read, study, climb corporate ladders all in an effort to be even more effective than those around us.
Finally, we arrive. According to the usual standards, we “have it all”. We have the spouse, kids, job, financial status, friends, and toys that shout our success, but whispering in the shadows of our mind is that void. You would think we would have learned to deny it, avoid it, outgrow it, or at very least, expect it. We suddenly feel “stuck in a rut” or like we’re on a plateau. It’s frustrating and unsettling, as we replay the same chorus in our minds. “Shouldn’t I be happy? What’s wrong with me? I have it all but I’m not satisfied.” The nagging feeling of emptiness, if ignored, suddenly asserts itself in the need to make big changes. So, we buy big toys, move, change jobs, change life partners, but nothing works. Nothing fills the void until we realize what we’re missing: “unique personal significance” (S. Covey) or voice. Voice is the answer to our need for purpose, calling, and reason for being.
The 8th Habit Book Study Blog 1
This set of posts is dedicated to a step-by-step walk through “The 8th Habit” by Stephen Covey. I discovered this book by accident while walking through Costco. It was one of the best “impulse buys” I’ve made in a long time. Within the first few pages, I felt like Mr. Covey had read my mind. I expressed my excitement to my husband. “It’s like he’s read my mind. This is exactly what I want to convey through the website; voice, calling, purpose, vision, the next step – going beyond excellence and effectiveness into greater purpose and legacy.”
Please join my journey through the pages. I’ll share exerpts and thoughts but I want to hear your thoughts and experiences. Please take me past my limited vision so that I can see outside of my own mind.
9 Ideas for School Volunteers
Help your school reduce the effect of limited budgets by using the FREE labor, commitment, and talent of parent volunteers.
To cover a broad range of needs and abilities, your school should offer volunteer jobs to fit a variety of schedules and interests. Some ideas include:
1. Sporadic classroom opportunities, like readers and science helpers
2. Ongoing day-time opportunities in the library, cafeteria or copy room
3. Take-home projects like packaging materials and updating the website
4. Weekend cleanup/beautification projects involving the whole family
5. Special-skill projects like gardening, accounting, and updating computers
6. Fundraising and Booster committees
7. School Council membership and leadership opportunities
8. Newsletters that need updating for publishing or posting online
9. Guest speaker opportunities for a “Stay-in school field trip”
It takes a village…
As seen on www.worldvillage.com, it is important to consider all of the influences that effect your child. If it takes a village to raise a child, who is in that village? Do they have similar values? Are they willing to invest in your child? Do you want them to do so?
My children are still in elementary school so their primary influences out of the home are their school friends, teachers, and neighbours. I am highly involved in their school so that I can keep vigilant and positively contribute to that village. In our neighbourhood, I want to be the house where all the kids congregate. In this way, I can watch their interactions and help guide my children in good choices when necessary. This means that my house and yard are often very full, and very well used. My house is clean, but well “lived in”. This is the sacrifice I make to invest in my kids and their “village”.
I would love to hear stories of how you keep up with the lives of your children. Please share.
Learn to grow
I’m sitting in a meeting with my mind exploding with ideas. The material is pouring out of the mouths of our InfoMedia instructors faster than I can write or even think. At times it just all spins while I try to keep up. This is exactly what I signed up for. I want too much information. I want to know more than I thought I needed. I probably won’t use it all right now, but I’ll come out with more ideas and options than I went in with. I am excited to begin the process. I am excited to continue to learn and grow. Only good can come from this type of growth. Only good can come from gaining another perspective. Now the responsibility is to use the information to make the world a better place. I think I’ll start by checking out WorldVillage.com. It looks like a great site to converse in and share ideas. Just grow.
What is the purpose of this site?
Created by educators for global educators in every country or vocation.With encouragement, inspiration, sound advice, and solution-oriented training, we can retrain or raise up teachers who are positive, globally-conscious leaders. Through inspiring better teaching habits, thought patterns, time management, work relations, we believe we can build teachers who will create a culture based on solutions instead of negativity. This will ultimately positively affect future leaders and progress in education.
Call to the experts
Teachers! You are the Education Experts! Please share your ideas. If all of the experienced educators throughout the world worked together to improve education and “rose above” the cut-backs and cynics, imagine the global impact we could create. Imagine… How could we work within the system without depending entirely on the financial support or even the administrative support that normally limits us? What innovative ideas can you think of for your subject or grade?