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Find A Way to Make it Familiar By Laura McDonell
Listen Find A Way to Make it Familiar Eliminate the Knowledge Curse At first, I was overwhelmed. The terms confused me. I was caught off guard as I listened to the report from our veterinarian regarding my dogs. I was listening to a report that had my mind searching for...
What If Itś Not About You? By Laura McDonell
Listen What If Itś Not About You? Empowering Students To Be Their Best Over the weekend, I attended my husbandś 50-mile run. The Mohican ultramarathon featured distances that ranged from the marathon to 100 miles. In particular, ultramarathon running requires athletes to lean into a support system to achieve their...
Sit in a Student Desk By Laura McDonell
Listen Sit in a Student Desk The Advantage to Considering A New Perspective You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. (Atticus Finch, from To Kill A Mockingbird) I...
Teach the Students You Have By Laura McDonell
Listen Teach the Students You Have Be Present, and Be Where Your Feet Are We make it all about us and overlook the students we have sitting in front of us. If we aren’t careful and thoughtful, our classrooms can become more about teaching the students we want, rather than...
Sharing Our Stories By Laura McDonell
Listen If It Hasn’t Worked Out...It’s Not the End We are the author of our stories. We get the opportunity to share bold and amazing stories with the world. Some stories are nearly impossible to miss, while other stories are buried a little deeper and require us to uncover the...
Could I Have Done More? By Laura McDonell
Listen Could I Have Done More? No Matter How Exhausted We Are,We Still Ask the Question Wondering What You Could Have Done What if you missed an opportunity to accomplish a dream by one second? This week, The Boston Marathon Association announced the cutoff qualifying time for runners to be...
What’s Missing With The Growth Mindset By Laura McDonnel
Listen What does it mean to say you have a growth mindset? What does it mean to say that you facilitate a classroom that focuses on empowering students to have a Growth Mindset? Where are the gaps regarding the Growth Mindset in the classroom? New Light on Growth Mindset...
I AM Poetry? by: Laura McDonell
Listen The Possibility of Being a Natural Poet You Are A Poet I have had several identities throughout my life. There are several things I belong to. However, when I heard that I was a poet, I was surprised. I have never thought of myself as someone who writes poetry....
The Circles Between and Beyond Fostering Deep Connection and Community by Laura McDonell
Listen The Circles Between and Beyond Fostering Deep Connection and Community September of 2012, I sat through a meeting that changed my life. My oldest child was six at the time, and it was curriculum night for parents. I was excited to hear about what his teacher had in store...
Take the LEAP Creating A Classroom Of Courageous and Empowered Learners By: Laura McDonell
Listen Having courage means doing something when the answer of how it will turn out is unknown. It is Not Always Easy to Be Courageous Courage is not something that comes naturally to everyone. And even when it is a familiar value, it is not always easy to practice courage...
I Never Thought About That What If My Assumptions were Wrong By: Laura McDonell
Listen The Student Perspective Seeing things from the student’s perspective is challenging. After watching one of Dr. Kevin Leichtman’s videos, I realized that there might be a few things regarding education that I have never thought about. Understanding motivations behind student actions is a priority. The Perfect Ten offered me...
Add More Music How the Pepper Effect Taps into the Magic of Creativity, Collaboration and Innovation by: Laura McDonell
Listen Where words fail, music speaks. (Hans Christian Anderson) A Must Read A few weeks ago, I read The Pepper Effect by Sean Gaillard. After reading Gaillard’s book, I gained a new perspective on how I can do things differently to achieve the impossible. The book helped me to think...