Today is another one of those days, and I actually look forward to having a tiny bit of down time during which I can play a little bit. It is good for kids to see me doing artwork. The interest and excitement are contagious! When students see me engaged in a drawing, and see what it is I am making, they get excited and want to draw, too. Kids coming and going from testing would peek at my drawing and offer me a thumbs up, high five, or exclamation of "OMG!" In teaching terms we call that "modelling behavior." In the classroom it is difficult to show students the serious and concentrated focus that I put into my artwork as there is no time to do so -- 48 minutes with 26 students full of questions and behaviors that need feedback. Showing kids actual process motivates them to try harder and see what they can achieve, and if it takes PARCC testing to do it, so be it!
An article that came through my Facebook feed today highlights another skill teachers need to be effective -- the ability to assess whether a student is confused or has a good understanding of material. The BBC described a study featuring a functional MRI that shows the parts of the brain that assesses understanding. It is amazing to me how much we are learning about the brain -- can intuition and creative acts be found in there, too? So interesting. I can only imagine what we will know about the human brain a hundred years from now.
What will you make today?