What is a Leader? A Third Grader's Perspective

Today's Objectives:

I can identify the main idea and details in a nonfiction article.
I can learn facts about the life and contributions of Nelson Mandela.
I can form opinions about what makes a leader and reflect on how I can be a leader.

Third graders are really special people.  They have a keen sense of fairness and justice without the cynicism and subjectivity employed by many adults.  Third graders KNOW things...things that are not explicitly taught or tested.  They just know.  For example.  To start today's lesson, I asked my third graders to define a leader.  Without any prompting, here is what they had to say....

• a leader is kind
• a leader is someone who is willing to make peace
• a leader is someone who won't fight with you
• a leader will stop a civil war
• a leader will stand up for others
• a leader helps solve problems
• a leader is someone who makes you want to follow in their footsteps
• a leader unites people

Looks like my third graders are college and career ready!  Too bad they can't vote!

Go with it....

The Spin  

Wow, life has really sped up the last few years.  Every now and then I get a spinning sensation that seems to transcend the physical...  In these moments it feels something like getting on and off a merry-go-round; trying to balance and equlibrate all I have committed to and all I want to do.  I always come out a little dizzy but somehow eager to get back on and find that place where the whir swells up giddy inside.

Alive?....or just at the carnival...after too much sugar and too many rides....the ground moves a little...or is it the sky?

 Maybe it is because my kids are getting older, maybe it is because I am getting older, maybe it was the i-phone that changed the pace or when my father died.  Maybe it was the onset of all that has come with the corporate school reform movement or perhaps it was the realization that my grandmother has dementia and will never be the same.  Maybe it was the snowball effect of all these things on a middle aged girl from the 70's who dreams of a world where things are organized, meals are planned and people are happy.  Maybe I am just realizing that I am imperfectly human and that my physical "peak" may have already come and gone.  Maybe it is growing older, wiser or more aware of all that there is to fear, to learn, to conquer.  I don't know but I know I can't change it and so I must simply go with the flow....go with it, lean into it and be happy that even when I am spinning, I am still with myself and there is no one else I had rather spin with than me.

Best Seat on the Merry Go Round...just close your eyes....and enjoy the ride...even if you throw up...

The Membergots

         THE MEMBERGOTS

                                     "I coming coke, I coming fries"  Dylan on going to Nonnie's house
                                          "That's not Jossi's rule"  Jossi on potty training

The Membergots, they are not alien beings....No, you know those things that are important that you remember that you forgot?  Those are the membergots.  My son coined that phrase when he was two or three and it always makes me smile.  That's the magic of membergots...they make you smile when you remember them, because they are important.

My membergot today is that 1) I  am so fortunate and 2) I can ask for what I want to create in each day.  Setting an intention or cultivating the flow doesn't mean I get to control it but it does set a compass.  I see a lot of my kids need that compass set in the morning.  I am so lucky I get to do that with my morning meetings.  I have a theme, a game, a message, a writing activity...something to tap in.  I think this is the most magical part of my day.  It is non-negotiable in my work as a teacher and a human being given the mission of guiding little people through the world of third grade. It is the GROUND work.  It is not scripted but it is absolutely embedded in every program and everything I have learned and everything I believe and it is my best membergot in the classroom.  Now I will give my kids the gift of setting their own compass....asking for what gifts they want to see in their day.  My "true north" wall is a powerful and magnetic compass.  I membergot it....