I had arrived this morning with the intention of thinking about how our four words — inspirational, altruistic, influential, and consistent — might help us think about some of the daily issues we face.   I wanted to write about it; my genius student teacher suggested that we make a carousel of it.  So we gave each of them a magic marker and walked the classroom weighing in on how these words might help us with:

*constant, disruptive  cell phone use
*sleeping/withdrawing from the group
*regular side conversations
*mean-spirited commentary
*arriving late

(If were a good teacher, or one not so desperately pressed for time, I would have had them identify the issues that distract from our community.)

The results were exciting and part of the never ending quest to help students follow through.   I began the post-conversation by asking everyone to think about how these issues linked together and the answers were telling — these are all things that make it hard for us, they’re all things that we do, they’re all things that we can manage — but I was also impressed how aware the students were of they could be managed with moderation.

It’s part of our place, that we try and find a middle, respectful ground — no group of teachers I’ve been around manages side conversations particularly well — and I hope that we can continue to build on these ideas.