Moving at the Speed of Creativity - Be Kind, Do Your Best, and Become a Voracious Reader

Be Kind, Do Your Best, and Become a Voracious Reader

Published by Wesley Fryer in books, leadership on December 3rd, 2010

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Dr. Charlene Kohn, a multi-age primary classroom teacher at Wells Elementary School in Wells, Maine, has wonderfully summed up the approach we should all take to learning and work every day: “Be Kind” and “Do Your Best.”

She also has posted some clear, specific elaboration on what both of these phrases should and do mean for learners in her classroom.

I particularly like the last three lines under, “Do Your Best:”

If you mess up, don’t get mad. Remember, everyone makes mistakes.
Practice, practice, practice.
Always try…. and never give up!

I had the pleasure of not only meeting Charlene this morning but also eating a fine breakfast at the Maine Diner with her and other multi-age teaching members of Bob Sprankle‘s educator family at Wells Elementary. What a great way to start the day, and what great reminders from Charlene to us all about the attitudes we should take toward our work and our play!

I also LOVED the encouragement to become a “voracious reader” which was evident in Charlene’s classroom!

She and her teaching partner have hundreds of books in their classrooms for students to enjoy.

It doesn’t take long when you’re in the professional home of a master teacher to know the lucky students in her room are blessed to be enjoying, “the real thing.” Learning with passion and energy… It’s contagious! We need more of it in all our schools!

“The CAFE Book: Engaging All Students in Daily Literary Assessment and Instruction” and “The Daily Five: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades” by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser are two books Dr. Kohn enthusiastically recommends. Boushey and Moser are literacy voices we need to heed. I’ve added them to my Amazon Wish List.

Technorati Tags:
best, learn, learning, maine, wells, rules, kind, charlene, kohn

On this day..

5 Comments »

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Jan Wells

Wesley, Thanks for being our ‘eyes and ears’ and bringing us such great examples of educators and resources that lead the way.
Lidia

Thank you for this great idea!
In my classroom I post the rules: Be kind, Be safe, Be your best and we talk at the beginning of the year about what they mean, but I think posting a list like this of the actual things that show you are being kind, safe and your best, and keeping it up throughout the year will really help my students continue to live by these rules all year long.
Thanks again for the post!
https://sites.google.com/site/drkohnsclass/ Charlene Kohn

Thanks for sharing our ideas & classrooms, Wes! Just want to name and give credit to my teaching partner, Mary Beth Clason, one of the finest educators I have ever known–and I get to work with her everyday! Stop by any time!
Brooke

I really enjoyed reading this post! As a future educator I hope to one day have an inspiring classroom like this one! I loved how she has so many books for her students to read. I also liked how she had examples posted of each the the rules. This seems like it would be really useful throughout the school year. Thanks for sharing this post!