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The Braden Bin

What I'm watching:  Students react to being called important 

  • Thanks to @K1counselor for sharing this on Twitter!
  • It really is a powerful video.  It shows how the words we chose to use each and every interaction with our students really are impactful, both negatively and (hopefully) positively.  
  • We will be trying our hand at this in the upcoming weeks.  I hope to have a video to show soon!  
Website that has caught my attention:  www.choose2matter.org/
  • Again, thank you @K1counselor for sharing this website with me!  
  • From the website:  "When people choose to accept that they matter and that their actions count, lives and learning change, and the world changes."  
  • I couldn't agree more!  
What I am reading:  Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
  • I am really just getting into this book but I dig what I see so far.  
  • It peaked my interest because one of my favorite movies, Apocalypse Now, was "adopted" from this book.  I put adopted in parenthesis because Heart of Darkness takes place on the Congo River in Africa and deals with the ivory trade in the late 1800's while Apocalypse Now takes place in Vietnam during the Vietnam war.  From what I've heard, the central theme is the same and the message one can gain is consistent throughout both book and movie.  I cannot wait to dive into this some more this weekend!  
Song I am jamming to:  
  • @GCouros posted the following on twitter yesterday.

  • Mine was Drops of Jupiter by Train.  How could a high school graduation song be any better than that?  Feel free to find George on Twitter, if you don't already follow him (what are you thinking?) and add your high school graduation song.  Or, feel free to leave it in the comments on this blog!  
What I learned this week:
  • Maybe I should have said, "What was reaffirmed this week."  Either way, it was made evident (again) that we are in the business of relationships.  We all know that NOTHING can be done in the classroom without intentionally building relationships with your students.  Some of us take a week at the beginning of the year to just work on building relationships because we know that before content and curriculum comes love and trust.  Folks, this is the most rewarding job in the world.  Teaching transcends the traditional definition of "job" and is more of a lifestyle.  They mean a lot to us.  The future means a lot to us.  This is ok.  Sometimes we feel great from those relationships and sometimes we carry some of the pain from what our students are going through with us.  It's always worth it.  

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