Advice I gave my students in 2014.

2014 has been a year full of personal and professional growth for me, and as a homeroom teacher getting involved in the pastoral care of my students, at times I found my internal dialogue start up with, 

"Yeah, yeah, Ms. Kuiper. That's all well and good, but to what extent are you following your own advice?". 

So, that's the challenge. As the Argentinean band Los Enanitos Verdes song Solo Dame Otra Oportunidad (Just Give Me Another Chance) goes, 

'They say best advice is that which you give yourself.'

'Dicen que el mejor consejo es el que se da uno mismo'.

So here is a re-cap of some of the advice I gave my students, and I'll try to remember to check at the end of 2015 with an update on how well I followed it myself.

• Be proud of your successes but more importantly, learn from your mistakes. #GrowthMindest

• Hone your creative, oratorical and collaborative skills.

• Get to know your own personality and how it affects other people.

• Work on building rapport with your classmates, they are your partners in learning and understand your school experience like nobody else. #VisibleLearning

• Don't cut yourself off from feeling hurt. Numbing your ability to feel sad may actually numb all of your feelings and end up limiting your ability to feel happiness. (From: The Power of Vulnerability by Brené Brown)

• Invest in having positive interactions with everyone. Move quickly to sort out issues.

• Apologize properly - a proper apology has three parts. (This is an invaluable interpersonal skill that everyone, not just students, should learn from an early age.)

So, what advice did you give your students this year?

Ishigaki Island at dusk, Okinawa. By @MsKuiper.

Creativity Expert - Sir Ken Robinson

Revolutionary ideas on education and razor-sharp wit. 

Sir Ken Robinson is very widely-known, yet his ideas deserve even more spreading, especially around teachers, school administrators, politicians, parents, and basically everyone.

An expert on creativity and one of the wittiest public speakers I've ever heard, Sir Ken's TED Talks are so popular that he's done at least three - they keep asking him back. I'm having difficulty deciding which one of his books to read first. Any suggestions?

One of the anecdotes he gives in one of his talks is that of British choreographer and director Gillian Lynne, most famous for her work on the musical Cats. As a young girl of eight, she simply couldn't sit still in class or turn her homework in on time. Her mother was called in to school, and this is what happened...

Picking favorite quotes from his TED Talks is difficult, so here are just two:

1) Escaping Education's Death Valley

"you can't improve education if you don't pick great people to teach and if you don't keep giving them constant support and professional development. Investing in professional development is not a cost. It's an investment"

2) From Bring on the learning revolution!

"every day, everywhere, our children spread their dreams beneath our feet. And we should tread softly." 

See more on his website and on YouTube.   http://sirkenrobinson.com/?page_id=14