Monday Motivator #28 2024-25

 

Give Space and Time for Learning

Small habits, when repeated consistently, lead to remarkable results.
—James Clear

Ignore the Mess?

How many of us have supervised the car line before or after school? The elementary level is different from middle and high school. If you’re on preschool or elementary car pickup duty, then you’ve seen your fair share of back seats. Which is why you know exactly what people say when you open the back door for a young student—”Oh, ignore the mess.” 
Anyone who has ever transported young children in their back seat knows there’s always a mess: broken crayons, food wrappers, and loose socks. Those who transport active teens know that their backseats are littered with sports cleats, extra clothes, and balls of yarn (or whatever hobby consumes your teen). 
The truth is you don’t have to have kids regularly riding in your car to use this phrase. When a group of us went to lunch, I said, “I’ll drive if you ignore the mess of my back seat.” Then I moved my yoga mat to the trunk and picked up the three water bottles I’d been missing.  
I’ve been thinking about that phrase—ignore the mess—and whether it’s actually a good idea. I’m not saying that tidy back seats should be the goal in life, but I am wondering if there are other messes in our lives that we ignore, and it’s not helpful. 
This year, my husband and I made a pact to not go to bed until the kitchen counter is clean. That means there are no dishes in the sink, no piles of mail needing sorting, and all of the counters have been sprayed and wiped. It was an agreement we’ve had for the majority of our married life, but one we had let slide. “Just ignore the mess,” Andy would say as we shut off the kitchen lights. 
What happened was this tiny habit—cleaning the counters before we go to bed—led to a series of different decisions throughout the day. I returned to my practice of unloading the dishwasher first thing in the morning so that throughout the day dirty dishes don’t pile up next to the sink, but immediately go into the dishwasher. As we cook, we wash pans and cooking utensils. After dinner we spend a few minutes tidying up before we go for our evening walk. 
Is there a mess you’ve been ignoring? Perhaps the classroom library is a little disheveled, or it could be your school bag. Maybe your email inbox is piling up or your desk is in disarray. It is likely you are one tiny habit—just a few minutes a week—away from tidying up the mess.  
When we stop ignoring the mess, we make space for good things to happen. 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/march-21-2025-give-space-and-time-for-learning/ 

Monday Motivator #27 2024-25

 

Reveal Hidden Learning

By Karin Hess

The words metacognition and reflection are often used interchangeably. Although they’re interrelated, they’re not the same.

Metacognition happens “in the moment” during learning; reflection is the act of looking back on past learning, determining the meaning of what was learned; building (or not building) confidence as a learner; and carrying that mindset forward.

Deep learning engages students in metacognition and reflection activities – not as an afterthought, but crucial to students building independence as learners (Hess, 2023).

Metacognitive skills help learners to stay focused and monitor progress during learning.

Peer and self-reflection activities help learners identify their strengths and challenges and also evaluate achievement of personal goals for learning.

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How do we assess metacognition?

Teachers sometimes assess metacognition through direct observation and conferencing. However, the most powerful assessment is when students can attend closely to their own learning, knowing what evidence to look for – evidence that tells them they’re making progress and helps them decide how best to move forward.

In other words, metacognitive students understand that they’re on a learning path and that they’re in some control of where that path leads.

Student-led conferences and portfolio defenses can be powerful self-reflection opportunities to use at the end of a school year.

But if you’re short on time, here are variations on five metacognitive activities that require minimal upfront planning, and unlike many other assessments, are personally relevant to each student, uncovering learning that probably has not been formally assessed.

(I’ve included downloadable PDFs from my own work in several places here.)

1. Create “Actionable” Feedback Stems 

If the objective of giving feedback is to help someone reflect on and improve performance, then it’s important to teach and model for students the difference between telling someone what is wrong and providing descriptive feedback in relation to success criteria.

Feedback is “actionable” when it targets something specific, guiding the learner to reflect on whether to keep the work as is or to do something that will improve the quality. Feedback stems can guide peers in using descriptive language, targeting specific examples related to rubric success criteria (e.g., clarity, format, accuracy) throughout the year in any content area or designed as self-reflection stems for specific projects.

2. Random Roll of the Feedback Dice

When students critique or give feedback on the work of their peers, they naturally have to reflect on what they know, using an understanding of the related success criteria. This quick strategy uses a cube with different questions on each side. Either the teacher or small groups roll the die to see what the focus of the peer feedback will be.

For example, after students solve a mathematics performance task, a roll of the dice determines the peer review focus (based on rubric criteria). Feedback dice can also be used for gallery walk feedback. Note that each sample question below requires a supporting explanation.

● Are calculations, labels, and terms accurate? Explain how you decided.
● Is the graph, table, or diagram accurate, complete, and useful in showing the math relationships in the problem? Explain how you know.
● Does the reasoning explain how the calculations, representations, and strategy used all support the final solution? Explain how you know.
● Is a related mathematical connection made between the problem and a math concept or real-world application? Explain how you decided.
● Is there an error? Explain how you know, or how you would correct it and why.
● Does the answer make sense? Explain how you know.
● What good idea in this work can you apply in yours?

3. The Six-Word Memoir or Story

Students use only six words or phrases to introduce themselves or describe a “mystery” person or story character; to summarize a story line, historical event, or science procedure; or to reflect on memorable events. Each word is then illustrated with either a still picture or short video clip.

Six sticky notes or a storyboarding template can be used to plan how the visuals will be matched with each of the six words, using a prompt such as “6 important things I learned this year.” Teachers can introduce the six-word strategy turning down the sound of a TV commercial as inspiration for using 6 words to tell a concise story in less than 60 seconds.

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4. Investigations with Interactive Checkpoints 

Student investigations with Interactive checkpoints create an ongoing dialogue between the learner(s) and those giving feedback. For example, with a multi-step science investigation, break the task into smaller parts, inserting checkpoints along the way.

After completing each part, students receive feedback or guiding questions that help them determine whether they are ready to move on or need to rethink their approach before starting the next part. Checkpoint feedback can be elicited between peer groups or with informal student-teacher conferencing using a few quick notes that reference rubric success criteria.

5. Reflective Journaling

Reflective Journaling provides ongoing dialogic opportunities between students and teachers about progress made on specific projects or as a means to build a more collaborative classroom environment. Journal entries are not assignments for the teacher to grade, but for learners to uncover and selectively share their thinking.

For summative projects, reflective journal entries can communicate how a learner is or isn’t making sense of the content or share feelings about the learning activity. Students can describe things that confuse them, use sketchnotes to visually plan or connect ideas, or explain rationales for decisions made during product development.

At the end of a project, students can draw upon journal entries that have captured their thinking in the moment to create a reflective essay. Be sure to remind students to date each entry in case they want to reference it later on.

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To Sum Up

Peer feedback and reflection strategies are useful in deepening engagement and driving learning forward. Some strategies target multi-day performance assessments and projects, whereas others can be embedded into any lesson.

The bottom line is that “metacognition breeds agency. Students who are practicing reflection, goal setting, and then monitoring and adapting their actions based on an ongoing reflection process begin to take ownership in a way that exemplifies an empowered learner” (Vander Els & Stack, 2022).

References

Hess (2023). Rigor by Design, Not Chance. ASCD.

Vander Els & Stack. (2022). Unpacking the Competency-Based Classroom. Solution Tree.

https://www.middleweb.com/48968/5-metacognitive-tools-to-reveal-hidden-learning/

Monday Motivator #26 2024-25

 I recently learned about this resource, The First Five:

• FREE daily resource for educators!
• Practical ideas and activities that are perfect for the first five minutes of class time!
  
  
• Arrives in your email inbox every morning at 7 AM EST.
  
  
• 19+ NEW activities and ideas each day to choose from that focus on classroom connections, self-care, care for others, and the development of character.
• Ideas and resources for building dynamic and trusting relationships within classroom communities. 
  
  
• Users pick 1 of the 10 activities from either the Primary or Secondary First Five.
  
  

To read the back story, watch a brief 2-minute introduction video of the First Five and sign up to receive their daily emails, check out: https://www.edtomorrow.com/first-5

Monday Motivator #25 2024-25

Expanding Our Teacher “Zone of Tolerance”

Effectively managing resilience has never been more important for educators. In the second of her five-part series Resilient in the Middle, Julie Schmidt Hasson looks into how educators can expand their Zone of Tolerance.
By Julie Schmidt Hasson

My husband is a former college baseball player, a pitcher. Over our 36 years together, I’ve learned a few things about pitching. A pitcher’s most important task is to throw strikes, which means staying in the strike zone. The strike zone is the width of home plate (17 inches), and the height spans from the top of the batter’s knees to a few inches above the batter’s waist.

Because the strike zone is determined by the batter’s height and stance, it differs for each player. The home plate umpire judges whether a pitch passes through the strike zone, and each umpire may be more or less generous with the exact size of the zone. Consistently throwing pitches outside of the strike zone makes a pitcher less impactful and eventually gets that pitcher pulled out of the game.

As educators, we also have a zone in which we can make a greater impact and stay in the game. It’s called the Zone of Tolerance. Although we don’t have to deal with umpires (I won’t try to stretch this analogy that far), our zones are also not static. They shrink or expand with our levels of well-being and stress.

Just as pitchers welcome a larger strike zone, a larger zone of tolerance helps us be more successful in our classrooms and schools.

The Zone of Tolerance

Psychiatrist Dan Siegel refers to this zone as a Window of Tolerance because it represents the optimal window of psychological and emotional arousal. When you are in this window or zone, you can effectively manage emotions, process information, and respond to situations with clarity and intention.

In the zone, you feel calm and in control. You are able to interact with others in a constructive way. In other words, you can tolerate the normal stressors and challenges of life.

Staying in the zone is important for emotional regulation – the ability to monitor, manage, and adapt your emotional responses to situations that arise. As an educator, you navigate emotionally charged and difficult situations every day, and being in the zone of tolerance allows you to respond to those situations in ways that are good for others and good for you. Out of the zone, you have less impact and could end up out of the game.

Several Factors Influence Your Zone

Your zone of tolerance is unique to you and can shrink or expand according to your circumstances. Your zone is influenced by your genetics, temperament, physical well-being, and stress level. Past trauma can also impact the zone.

When you are not in the zone, you become dysregulated, struggling to manage emotions and reacting in ways that may feel overwhelming or disproportionate to the situation. This can manifest as outbursts of anger, feelings of anxiety, or the urge to withdraw.

Outside of your zone, you can experience hyperarousal, characterized by heightened states of anxiety, panic, anger, or hypervigilance. The “fight-or-flight” response gets activated, making it difficult to think logically or remain calm.

Or, you can experience hypoarousal, which leads to feeling numb, detached, or shut down. This state is linked to the “freeze” response and is marked by low energy and disengagement. It’s normal to be outside the zone occasionally, but frequently being outside your zone can lead to regret, strained relationships, and eventually to burnout.

Maximizing Our Battery’s Charge

In this Resilient in the Middle series, we’re exploring ways to keep our educator batteries charged. We are much more likely to stay charged when we are in the zone of tolerance. Being outside the zone can deplete our batteries quickly, and our reactions outside the zone can cause us to spend additional energy cleaning up a personal or interpersonal mess.

With practice and the right tools and strategies, we can all learn to return to our zones with greater ease.

The first step is cultivating awareness. In the first post of this series, I shared steps for checking in with yourself throughout the day. A check-in begins with focusing on your physical state, noting how your body feels and any areas of tension, pain, or fatigue. When you tune in, you can assess whether you are feeling tired, hungry, thirsty, or have any unmet physical needs. Physical comfort and well-being are foundational for staying in the zone.

If you couldn’t get to sleep or couldn’t get to lunch, you are not destined to be out of the zone and dysregulated. Just being aware that you are not feeling your best can help you take extra care and precautions. When lacking physical well-being, you may decide to delay an important decision or conversation. Or you may just let others know you’re not at your best.

I still have a clear memory of one of my favorite high school teachers, Joan Barrentine, telling our class that her beloved pet had passed in the late-night hours. She changed her plans for the day’s lesson, and my classmates gave her extra grace. She was a model of self-awareness and self-care. Mrs. Barrentine wasn’t just physically tired that day, she was also emotionally drained.

We all find ourselves hurting at times, and it is helpful to recognize when we are experiencing difficult emotions. When you check in with your body, be sure to check in with your emotions, too. Also notice what thoughts are occupying your mind. Checking in with your body, heart and mind gives you important information about your zone of tolerance. When you are aware, you can adjust.

Getting Back and Enlarging the Zone

How do you know when you’re out of the zone? You may be in hyperarousal if you find yourself overreacting, easily frustrated by small inconveniences, or overly anxious about upcoming tasks. You may be in hypoarousal if you feel overwhelmed, avoid tasks, or struggle to recover from stressful situations. Again, it’s important to be aware of your current state.

You can shift back to your zone of tolerance from hyperarousal by relaxing your body, releasing tension, and taking a few slow, deep breaths. You can return to the zone from hypoarousal by seeking help and support from a colleague, putting what’s on your mind onto paper, or saying no to unnecessary tasks.

Naturally, it’s easier to stay inside a larger zone. A smaller zone of tolerance may result in big emotional energy spent on small issues. A larger zone is optimal because it expands your ability to navigate challenges, cope with adversity, stay flexible, solve problems, and interact with others constructively.

In high-stress professions like teaching, a larger zone of tolerance supports better decision-making, more creativity, and effective classroom management.

How do you expand your zone? Consistently caring for your physical well-being is essential. Quality sleep, moderate exercise, and balanced nutrition support brain and nervous system health, which are foundational for tolerating stress.

Strong relationships also contribute to an expanded zone. Supportive relationships enhance co-regulation, the process in which one person helps another regulate an aroused emotional state through a calm, empathetic, and supportive presence. We will dig into the zone expanding practices of relating, reframing, and reflecting in future posts of this Resilient in the Middle series.

Back to my baseball example…

A pitcher must be in a good physical, mental, and emotional state to keep those pitches in the strike zone and stay in the game. An educator also needs to attend to physical, mental, and emotional well-being to keep being effective. By understanding your zone of tolerance, what it feels like to be in the zone and out of the zone, you can adjust when needed.

You can teach with more peace, joy, and energy. You navigate a complex interplay of student needs, job demands, and personal responsibilities every day. When you operate within your zone of tolerance, you are better able to manage it all. By staying in your zone, and by returning to the zone when you slip outside of it, you can go longer, grow stronger, and keep making an impact.

Dr. Julie Schmidt Hasson is a professor in School Administration at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. A former teacher and principal, she now teaches graduate courses in school leadership and conducts qualitative research in schools. She also works with schools and districts to increase teacher resilience and retention.

Monday Motivator #24 2024-25

 

The Uncertain Mind: How the Brain Handles the Unknown

Our brain is wired to reduce uncertainty. The unknown is synonymous with threats that pose risks to our survival. The more we know, the more we can make accurate predictions and shape our future. The path forward feels more dangerous when we can sense essential gaps in our knowledge.

In fact, fear of the unknown has been theorized to be the “one fear to rule them all”—the fear that gives rises to all other fears. Unfamiliar spaces and potential blind spots make us uncomfortable. This fear makes sense from an evolutionary perspective, but can be unnecessarily nerve-wracking—and sometimes paralyzing—in our modern world.
Fortunately, we have also evolved an ability that’s deeply human: metacognition, or thinking about thinking. Metacognitive strategies can help us think better and manage the anxiety that arises from the unknown.

How the brain reacts to uncertainty

Humans react strongly to uncertainty. A study from researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison shows that uncertainty disrupts many of automatic cognitive processes that govern routine action. To ensure our survival, we become hypervigilant to potential threats. And this heightened state of worry creates conflict in the brain.

First, uncertainty impacts our attention. The sense of threat degrades our ability to focus. When we feel uncertain about the future, doubt takes over our mind, making it difficult to think about anything else. Our mind is scattered and distracted. We feel like we’re all over the place.

The underlying biology is still poorly understood, but research in primates conducted by Dr Jacqueline Gottlieb and her team at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute reveals that uncertainty leads to major shifts in brain activity, both at the micro-level of individual cells and at the macro-level of signals sent across the brain. Put simply, their results suggest that our brain redirects its energy towards resolving uncertainty, at the expense of other cognitive tasks.

Uncertainty also affects our working memory. You can think of your working memory as a mental scratch space where you jot down temporary information. Working memory is attention’s best buddy. It’s what helps you visualize the route to a new place when you drive and keep several ideas in as you write down a sentence.

Our working memory capacity is limited. Cognitive load is the amount of working memory resources we use at one given time. A high cognitive load means that we’re using a lot of our working memory resources. And uncertain situations force us to use additional working memory resources.

In the words of Samuli Laato, a researcher at the University of Turku: “Uncertainty always increases cognitive load. Stressors such as health threat, fear of unemployment and fear of consumer market disruptions all [cause] cognitive load.”

Cognitive overload makes it harder to keep crucial information in mind when making decisions or to think creatively by connecting ideas together when we experience. Because it has such a big impact on our cognitive functioning—decreasing our attention and using up more of our working memory resources—uncertainty often leads to anxiety and overwhelm.

The good news is: the heavy load of uncertainty is not inevitable. Studies suggest that responding to uncertainty is resource-intensive, but metacognitive strategies can help us reduce the impact of uncertainty.

By using thinking tools, we can offload some of the burden uncertainty puts on our mind, so we can regain control of our attention and free our working memory resources—and, ultimately, think more clearly in times of uncertainty.

A thinking tool for dealing with uncertainty

Uncertainty is not a binary concept—“I am certain or I am uncertain.” Rather, uncertainty is multifaceted, with many flavors that should be treated differently.

Former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld famously said: “…there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”

The Uncertainty Matrix, sometimes called the Rumsfeld Matrix, is a tool that can be used to help make decisions when facing an uncertain situation. It can be used to differentiate between different types of uncertainties, and to come up with possible solutions for each.

The matrix consists of four quadrants: Known-Knowns, Known-Unknowns, Unknown-Knowns, and Unknowns-Unknowns. Each quadrant represents a different type of uncertainty, and each has its own set of possible solutions.

• Known-Knowns are uncertainties that are known to us, and that we can plan for. For example, if we know that there is a high possibility of a layoff at our company, we can make a plan for how to deal with it.
  
  
• Known-Unknowns are uncertainties that we know exist, but where we don’t have enough knowledge to make a plan. For example, we may not know if our company will be acquired by another in the future. Or, you may be aware of the inherent uncertainties of leaving your job to work on a venture of your own, but you can’t make a step-by-step plan of what to do because you don’t have enough data yet.
  
  
• Unknown-Knowns are uncertainties that we’re not aware of but that we tacitly understand, which may lead to biases and assumptions in our decisions. Hidden facts.
  
  
• Unknowns-Unknowns are uncertainties that we don’t know about. For example, a new technology may be developed that makes our product obsolete. “ unknown unknowns are risks that come from situations that are so unexpected that they would not be considered.”

Once we know what type of uncertainty we’re dealing with, we can come up with possible solutions.

For example, if we’re dealing with a Known-Known, we can exploit the factual data at our disposal to make a contingency plan, which will allow us to mitigate known risks.
When dealing with a Known-Unknown, we conduct experiments to gather more information, so we can close some of our knowledge gaps and turn those Known-Unknown into Known–Knowns.

For Unknown-Knowns, explore our assumptions—the things we don’t know we know—and identify biases in those assumptions, so we can potentially replace them with factual data.

Finally, in the case of Unknown-Unknowns, we can conduct market research and use strategic intelligence to try and uncover blind spots. It’s a good practice to have in place, but it should be noted that there is no guarantee we will be able to turn Unknown-Unknowns into Known-Unknowns. There will always be events we could not have predicted.

The Uncertainty Matrix is a useful tool for dealing with uncertainty, and can help us make better decisions when faced with it. It’s even better when used as part of a team, as different people may have different perspectives on the same uncertainties.

“The oldest and strongest emotion of humankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown,” wrote H.P. Lovecraft.

While the fear of the unknown is deeply rooted in our biology, it is possible to elevate ourselves above our automatic reactions so we can make the most of uncertainty. Metacognition can be a great ally in reducing anxiety, freeing our working memory resources, and making better decisions when navigating unfamiliar spaces.

https://nesslabs.com/uncertain-mind

Monday Motivator #23 2024-25

Make Kindness the Norm, Not the Exception

In a world full of opportunities to connect and uplift one another, kindness has the power to shine brightly. What if we made kindness the norm—the foundation of how we live and interact every day?

Random Acts of Kindness Week, February 9–15, 2025, and Random Acts of Kindness Day, February 17, 2025, are perfect reminders of how thoughtful gestures can spark joy, inspire change, and create lasting impact. Let’s celebrate this week as a chance to embrace kindness as a daily habit and a way of life.

1. Kindness Builds Stronger Connections

Kindness fosters trust, empathy, and connection. When kindness becomes a daily habit, it creates a ripple effect that strengthens relationships—whether at school, in workplaces, or at home. By making kindness the norm, we cultivate an environment where everyone feels valued, supported, and inspired.

Real Impact:

• Schools: Students and teachers who practice kindness create a more inclusive and supportive learning environment, boosting confidence and collaboration.

• Workplaces: Teams that prioritize kindness experience better communication, higher morale, and greater productivity.

• Homes: Simple acts of kindness, like expressing gratitude or helping with daily tasks, strengthen family bonds and nurture positive relationships.

2. Kindness Improves Mental and Physical Well-Being

Engaging in acts of kindness has been scientifically proven to enhance both mental and physical health. Performing kind deeds releases feel-good hormones like oxytocin and serotonin, which help reduce stress and increase happiness. Regularly practicing kindness can lead to lower blood pressure, improved mental health, and even increased lifespan. By making kindness the norm, we not only uplift others but also promote our own well-being.

Quick Stats:

• Stress Reduction: Consistently kind individuals have 23% less cortisol (the stress hormone) and age slower than the average population.

• Enhanced Mental Health: Engaging in acts of kindness produces endorphins, the brain's natural painkiller, leading to decreased pain and improved mood.
  Increased Happiness: A 2020 survey found that 63% of adults reported improved mental health when kindness was shown to them, and the same percentage experienced mental health benefits from being kind to others.

3. Kindness Creates a Ripple Effect

Witnessing or experiencing kindness inspires others to pay it forward, creating a chain of positivity that spreads far beyond the initial act. This ripple effect has the power to influence entire communities and even spark systemic change.

Example:

A simple but profound act of kindness—like offering a genuine compliment or helping someone in need—can inspire a chain reaction of giving, reminding everyone involved that kindness is alive and well

4. Kindness Breaks Down Barriers

Kindness transcends differences in culture, background, and beliefs. By making kindness the norm, we create an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome and respected. Kindness bridges gaps, fosters understanding, and helps us see each other as humans first.

Why It Matters:

• In a divided world, kindness reminds us to take care of each other.

• It encourages compassion to everyone.

5. Kindness Inspires Action

When kindness is the norm, people are more likely to step up. Whether it’s helping a neighbor, supporting a cause, or standing up against injustice, kindness as a baseline encourages us to take meaningful action.

Takeaway:

Kindness isn’t passive—it’s a choice that leads to tangible change. When it’s normalized, we’re more likely to create a better world together.

How to Make Kindness the Norm

1. Start Small: Incorporate simple acts of kindness into your daily routine, like offering compliments, holding the door open, or lending a helping hand.

2. Model Kindness: Be an example for others, especially children, by showing kindness in your words and actions.

3. Amplify It: Share stories of kindness to inspire others and spread positivity.

4. Create Systems: Advocate for policies and practices—in schools, workplaces, and communities—that encourage and reward kindness.

What Truly Matters

Making kindness the norm isn’t just a lofty ideal—it’s a practical, powerful way to improve our world. When we choose kindness as our default, we create an environment where everyone can thrive. It’s not about waiting for the extraordinary; it’s about recognizing that everyday acts have extraordinary potential.

Together, we can make kindness the norm, not the exception. And that’s a world worth striving for.

https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/kindness-ideas