RefinED Friends,

This scenario is likely all too familiar.

Child 1 says or acts in an inappropriate way toward Child 2.

Child 2 reacts with tears, anger, or retaliation.

Adult observes scene and approaches Child 1 and Child 2.

Adult discusses disagreement with children then says to Child 1, "Now tell Child 2 you're sorry." 

OK, so the adult wouldn't actually call the child "Child 2", but you see my point.

It is a natural and well-intentioned instinct to ask children to apologize. We want to teach re...
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RefinED Friends,

Whether you are student or teacher, these past few weeks have been rather taxing (at least in Pennsylvania). The dreaded four-letter word. PSSA. The Pennsylvania State Standardized Assessment (don't worry Keystone Exam-takers, you are included as well). 

Surprisingly, I look back fondly on this time of year when I was a classroom teacher. Standardized test time also meant our poetry unit. We studied all types of poetry forms, experimented with free verse, and even conducted a p...
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RefinED Friends,

So there I was just last week, co-facilitating resiliency training for a group of fourth graders. I glanced across the gymnasium and noticed a familiar face. My third grade teacher! 

When I reached 99% certainty it was her, I called her name. She eventually put two-and-two together who I was, and we caught up for a few minutes during a break in the action. Needless to say, we both felt old in our own ways.

Part of feeling old is reminiscing, so today I dug...

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RefinED Friends,

Several days ago, I sat in an elementary school office waiting for a meeting.  It was bus arrival, so the office hummed with teacher, parent, and student activity, all facilitated by a lone, kind administrative assistant. At one point, nearing the morning bell, two girls, likely fourth or fifth grade, came into the office looking very concerned.

"What can I do for you girls?" the administrative assistant asked.

"We have a problem on the bus," the girls replied.

"What's the proble...
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RefinED Friends,

You may have run across a recent compilation from @Amazing_Maps that labels each of the fifty US states with the most common word that auto-completed this sentence in a Google search: "Why is ___(state name)___ so...?"

The results are sometimes predictable, occasionally telling, and relatively consistent with societal stereotypes.    

With this in mind, I decided to apply the same curiosity to education-related questions. According to Google's auto-complete function, which highl...
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RefinED Friends,

They burst through the glass doors before I had taken five steps from my car.  Flanked on both sides by hugs, I walked inside with them and was met with dumbfounded looks by Starbucks patrons.  Had a celebrity entered just now? By the smiles and excitement of my two former students, with whom I was visiting this Sunday, you might have thought so. One student's mother, accompanying the two, had already secured a table and treated me to a beverage.  The girls had a handmade card...
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RefinED Friends,

Today, two weeks post leg surgery, I visited my surgeon for a follow up appointment.  In four weeks, I can return to my athletic passion--running.  "Go slow," the surgeon warned me.  "The biggest mistake people make after a surgery like this is trying to get back to it too quickly.  Go slow."

Confession:  I am not a patient person.  

"But Scott," you say, "aren't you a teacher?  Doesn't that necessitate patience?"  

True, in the classroom I can often channel my patience in servic...
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RefinED Friends,

It's human nature.  We gravitate toward what we love; we avoid what we loathe.  So why expect any different from our students?  With that in mind, let's discuss a common practice--class jobs.

When I began teaching, I followed the model I'd observed in my field experiences.  The teacher took each student's name, developed classroom job titles, and assigned each student a job.  This rotated on a regular basis.  But as time went on, I noticed human nature creeping in.  I spent eac...
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RefinED Friends,

In their influential 1999 book, First, Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman sifted through 25 years of Gallup Organization data from organizational interviews covering the workplace gamut.  Their goal--to identify critical questions "truly measuring the core of a strong workplace (27)."  Their answer--twelve questions that, if answered positively by employees, would indicate that the environment is a great place to work.  

When I read this back in my second y...
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RefinED Friends,

I remember finding it stuffed in a cabinet among some rarely used curricular materials when I moved into the classroom during my first year of teaching fifth grade.  A simple, cardboard box marked with the word "Questions?" in bold, black print. Turns out, this box was meant for collecting those delicate questions that often pop into fifth grade brains when participating in the annual human growth and development talk.  It got me thinking--if we're inviting questions about a s...
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Friends:

A popular Greek myth is that of Theseus and the Minotaur.  As the story goes, King Minos of Crete, after an attack on Athens, was asked by the Athenian king for a truce.  In return for peace in Athens, every nine years the Athenian king would send seven Athenian boys and seven Athenian girls to Crete as food for The Minotaur in its labyrinth.

Now before you click the "New Tab" button on your browser, wondering all the while why RefinED Character chose its first blog post to feature chi...
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