Jill Sand

When students own their learning, they view mistakes as learning opportunities 📷 Sketchnote by John Spencer

I absolutely love this story........ It made me cry. "An 87 Year Old College Student Named Rose The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned round to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being. She said, “Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?” I laughed and enthusiastically responded, “Of course you may!” and she gave me a giant squeeze. “Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?” I asked. She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids…” “No seriously,” I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age. “I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!” she told me. After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months, we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this “time machine” as she shared her wisdom and experience with me. Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up. At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, “I’m sorry I’m so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I’ll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.” As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, “We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. 1) You have to laugh and find humor every day. 2) You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it! 3) There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. 4) Have no regrets. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.” She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Rose. She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year’s end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it’s never too late to be all you can possibly be. When you finish reading this, please send this peaceful word of advice to your friends and family, they’ll really enjoy it! These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE. REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL. We make a Living by what we get, We make a Life by what we give."

Go beyond the simple “do nows” and reminders at the beginning and end of class. edut.to/3PbLTr7

Can we take a note from Ted Lasso? 🍎🍏🐟 Have a great week, yall💙 📸 via @sjunkins #teachers #k12 #teacherlife

There’s always TOMORROW 💙 📸@weareteachers #teacherlife #edchat

Here are some factors to look out for when noticing if a college is on the rise. nytv.to/BMow7

“Creativity should be encouraged along with technical knowledge since the two go hand in hand. And maybe more importantly, creativity infuses life with a different sort of depth and richness.” bit.ly/2Bwdb3w

Saturday Night Shenanigans with @SamHeughan and @grahammctavish! Wish you were here! ❤️ #Clanlands

💡 Allow Students Time to Reflect on Their Learning #TeachingTip Use opportunities like office hours and breakout groups to encourage discussion among peers. Also, utilize discussion forums to solicit questions from your students. #KeepTeaching #EngageOnline

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” – Mother Teresa

Our leadership has less to do with our position and more to do with our disposition.

There's nothing more powerful than a humble person with a warrior spirit who is driven by a bigger purpose.

💙💙💙

The research team found that the thinking scaffolds — the prompts and support instructors used to guide students through the curriculum and activities — were instrumental in generating a shift towards more expert-level reasoning. ow.ly/PNBL50yG6NL

“15 strategies for students to reflect on their learning. Modeling the use of each up front can go a long way towards making sure you get the quality of work you’d like to see throughout the year–and students learn more in the process.” bit.ly/2mgKlyj

“What happens when you empower students with choice and purpose? What do the new roles and responsibilities look like? The biggest takeaway might be the change in focus from content delivery to purpose discovery.” bit.ly/2fBk6Ti

“In this post, we’re sharing a graphic from Flipgrid that provides ideas for using FlipGrid in the classroom for every grade level.” bit.ly/2uNEgAs

10 Characteristics Of A Highly Effective Learning Environment bit.ly/2fA0Hll

Why don’t more girls grow up to become scientists and engineers? I'’s not that they're bad at #math, a new study argues. It's that they're even better at #reading @latimes ow.ly/WM7a50vddvg #edchat #STEM