Another First Week in the Books

Whew! I'm beat! I feel like I just ran a marathon with a refrigerator tied around my waist. Any teacher will tell you that the first few weeks are exhausting. We don't know students' names, they don't know procedures , and let's face it, it's not easy getting up at 5:30! Yet, I am thrilled with my first week. I was able to implement so many things that I learned over the summer! I read countless posts by Catlin Tucker, Jen Roberts, and Alice Keeler who I now consider my Twitter mentors! I also read Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess and Ditch that Homework by Alice Keeler. All of this reading reignited my passion and excitement for teaching and provided me with countless tools and strategies to make this my best year yet!

Rather than bore the kids to death by going over my syllabus the first day, we embarked on the spaghetti/marshmallow tower challenge. Students competed to build the tallest structure using twenty pieces of spaghetti (uncooked), a yard of tape, a yard of string, and one marshmallow. The marshmallow had to be played on the top. Overall, it was a complete....failure...sort of! A few students were able to assemble some kind of structure but certainly nothing to brag about. They seemed a little frustrated, but that was okay. I knew my plan!

The next day I showed them a Ted Talk in which the speaker talks about the group dynamics of the challenge, as well as what group of people is the most successful with this challenge and why. Would you believe kindergartners do better than business students? After watching the video, we discussed what had transpired in their groups the previous day. Then, they attempted the challenge a second time with a new group. It was amazing how much more successful they were the second time.

Afterwards, we debriefed, and I talked about failure and how it CAN lead to success if you are willing to try again. I will be emphasizing this mindset throughout the year!

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