Prosperous Teaching Prosperous Learning: Inspirational Thoughts for an Educational Paradigm Shift

by Andrew S. Palumbo

Overview

Prosperous Teaching Prosperous Learning is the beginning of an educational shift. This shift is about educators actively embarking on a journey that allows them to discover their power in fostering genuine individuality in the children that we teach. Now is the time to embrace this paradigm shift that will be the inspiration of teaching for all of our children for years to come. It is time for us to be the heroes of the 21st century…Let us take back our power as educators and show the world that we know what is best for our children!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452535012
Publisher:	Balboa Press
Publication date:	06/16/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	64
File size:	354 KB

Read an Excerpt

Prosperous Teaching Prosperous Learning

Inspirational Thoughts for an Educational Paradigm Shift

---

By Andrew S. Palumbo

BALBOA PRESS

Copyright © 2011 Andrew S. Palumbo
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4525-3499-2

---

Chapter One

Prosperous Thought

Prosperous teaching is about making every student feel important regardless of his or her circumstances. A prosperous teacher inspires students and teaches them to know that they are worthwhile. Prosperous teaching helps students to discover who they are and what their role may be in society and life.

Prosperous Thought

Write down your strengths as a classroom teacher and read them at the start of the day. End each day with thoughtful reflection and appreciate all that you do for children. Always remember that you are an important part of their lives.

Prosperous Thought

As you enter your classroom, picture in your mind the student that you struggle with the most. Find one thing positive about this student and refer to that thought as you move through the day. If you do this consistently, it begins to shift the energy of negative thought patterns, and a new pattern will emerge where positive attitudes and outcomes begin to flourish for you and this child.

Prosperous Thought

Children have an innate sense of what is and is not genuine. Know that they can intuitively feel the energy that is radiated from you. Be who you are as a person and bring the "you" into your instruction. For example, if you have a passion for music, then through the use of music, bring your excitement and enthusiasm to the lessons that you teach.

The Prosperous Classroom

Visualize yourself bringing your passions and hobbies to the lessons that you teach. See your students learn with enthusiasm because of the joy that is emitted by your teaching.

Prosperous Thought

When your class or a student is not on task and is misbehaving, instead of figuring out what the students are doing wrong, ask yourself, "What am I doing that may be causing them to react in this manner?" So often, children are simply reflecting back to us the energy that we are emitting. Check in with your internal self to get to the root of their behavior. For example, if you are not prepared when delivering a lesson, the students will also be discombobulated, and it will reflect in their behaviors.

The Prosperous Classroom

When you realize that the class developed a lack of focus for something as simple as pacing, organizational deficiencies, or lack of preparedness, you will also realize that you, as a teacher, can affect their focus. See yourself making the necessary changes in future lessons. This will make you a better teacher and improve students' behaviors.

Prosperous Thought

Instead of trying to force a child with a disability into the conformity of your classroom, conform your own thinking and actions to those of the student!

The Prosperous Classroom

Make a conscious choice to accept students with disabilities in your classroom. See yourself tolerating the students who need to self-stimulate by making noises or moving freely around the classroom while you deliver instruction. Embrace their needs and work with them from where they are in their learning styles.

Prosperous Thought

Actively seek out the dominant intelligence (logical/ mathematical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, linguistic, musical, spatial, bodily kinesthetic) in your students. Offer opportunities within your classroom to enhance these intelligences.

The Prosperous Classroom

Design your classroom so that areas are set up to engage students in the various Multiple Intelligences. Develop and deliver lessons that tap each of the intelligences.

Prosperous Thought

At the end of a lesson or the day, tap the students' understanding by having them close their eyes while you talk them through everything they have learned in that lesson or day. Visualization is a very powerful tool that can reinforce and tap intrinsic learning for students as well as all other people!

Prosperous Thought

Once a week, lock into your consciousness a vision for each of your students. See them as being productive members of society. Factor in their strengths and skills as you visualize them in society, thriving and contributing. For example, picture a student that you have taught who shows strengths in mathematical logic. See this student designing a new tool for an engineering firm or teaching mathematics to college students.

The Prosperous Classroom

See yourself sitting down to write out your weekly plans. Be cognizant of your students who demonstrate an interest in the various topics being taught. See if there is a way to foster their interest to greater degrees on the subject being taught. All of our students have their particular niche, and it is our job to consciously foster their interest and understanding of that niche.

Prosperous Thought

Know that you are a powerful force in the lives of your students. The energy that you radiate in your teaching can define a student's potential for success in your classroom as well as society! Tell your students what their strengths are and how these can be used as they proceed in life.

The Prosperous Classroom

See yourself genuinely engaging your students in conversation. Initiate individual discussions with students to get to know them more personally. Share your experiences and interests during these informal talks to let the students know that you are much more than just their classroom teacher.

Prosperous Thought

We as teachers need to refrain from making judgments about parents, administrators, students, or other staff. People's complexities may not be recognized through surface appearances or interactions. It is really easy to form false perceptions about people if you don't genuinely interact with them and get to know who they are as individuals.

Prosperous Thought

Think back to when you were in school and try to remember when you had an interaction with a teacher that really made a positive impression on you. Think about how you felt and what the teacher did that made you feel that way. Try to do the same for a student in your classroom.

Prosperous Thought

Discover or rediscover what makes you great as an educator and person. Make a list of your positive attributes and qualities. Once you have a grasp of your greatness, then you can turn to your students and help them to discover their greatness.

The Prosperous Classroom

Throughout a school day, see yourself actively telling your students that they are working hard, being kind to each other, sharing, displaying empathy toward each other, and so forth. Notice the change in the feel of your classroom as you make this interactional shift.

Prosperous Thought

We, as teachers, need to learn how to deliver instruction that fosters and promotes self-actualization for our students. The students need to know their internal mechanisms that will assist them to become productive members of a community where they work, live, and play. Until we are able to do this, we have not fully educated our children.

Prosperous Thought

As a teacher, it is important to constantly search for the uniqueness in your students. There is always more to a student than what meets the eye.

Prosperous Thought

When one sets an intention they make a mental note of how they want a situation or circumstance to turn out. The intention is a goal or purpose that you would like to see transpire. At the start of each day make an intention for you and your class. The intention could focus on you connecting with each student in a positive and powerful way or delivering a meaningful and potent lesson. Revisit the intention you are working on throughout the day and know that intentions are powerful tools for affecting the outcomes we desire.

Prosperous Thought

No matter what challenges you may have in a school year, you have the choice as to how you want to see the final outcome. Where do you want your energy to be placed—on the negative components of the situation or on the positive? Work through challenges by focusing on the positives in any given situation. As you build upon the positive aspects and focus on success, all of the challenges will dissolve, and solutions will flourish.

The Prosperous Classroom

See yourself working with colleagues, parents, and administrators to solve a school issue that has arisen. As you work through the problems of the issue, focus on the positive aspects and build to resolve the issue from a point of pure positive solutions, rather than by focusing on the problem itself.

Prosperous Thought

It is not by chance that teachers chose their profession. At a soul level, we were brought forth to use our strengths and wisdom to touch the lives of children and help nourish who they are as humans.

Prosperous Thought

It is our job to present lessons that demonstrate all of the roles that make up our society. In our teaching situations, we need to empower and offer opportunities for our students to discover their roles within society.

The Prosperous Classroom

Picture yourself delivering instruction for math, science, social studies, or language arts. See yourself sharing with the students various workers in our society who use the skill being taught. Help the students who show strong interest in the topic to see their potential to utilize the skill later in life.

Prosperous Thought

Always keep in your thoughts that each and every student that we teach has a role in our society. We need to guide and assist them to learn what their individual qualities are and how they fit into the culture in which we live.

Prosperous Thought

Energize your top students. Tell them how much you appreciate their attentiveness, drive, respect, hard work, and so on. Do not ignore their excellence of being great students! As educators, it is easy to neglect the academically and behaviorally gifted students.

Prosperous Thought

Embrace the high energy and activeness of your students and see this energy as a gift that will propel them into their greatness!

Prosperous Thought

It is our job to help children understand that the energy they emit impacts their environment and others with whom they interact. If children are disrespectful toward others, then they may receive the same treatment in return. On the other hand, if they are polite to others, then reciprocity will surely show itself.

The Prosperous Classroom

Provide opportunities for students to role-play personal and professional interactions. You, as a teacher, can show students how to respond to others in various situations and how the others involved may receive these responses.

Prosperous Thought

Children with autism came into this world to change the way we think and interact with them, not for us to mold them in ways that have been etched into our schools and society! No longer can we force them to learn in traditional ways. We have to work with their unique abilities and learning styles.

The Prosperous Classroom

See yourself as a classroom teacher embracing students with autism. Assist them in developing relationships with their peers while capitalizing on their strengths in any given area. See yourself accepting that they may not learn in the same manner as the majority of your class and try to tap into what mechanisms they use to learn. The results will be success for them and lack of frustration for you as a teacher.

Prosperous Thought

Negative reactions to disruptive behavior actually perpetuate the unwanted behavior. Your job as a teacher is to cultivate a positive approach so that students' behaviors drastically improve. Children will begin to feel their greatness and through this greatness, will seek out relationships with adults and other children in a positive and loving manner. To do this, you need to focus only on what the students are doing right academically and socially. Tell your students every time they are being responsible, and be relentless in this praise.

The Prosperous Classroom

Imagine a classroom where all of the energy that you release goes to the students who are following the rules and doing what they are supposed to be doing. See yourself giving minimal energy to the students who are being disruptive. Have your students seek your attention by staying on task, using polite words, sharing, cooperating, and so forth.

Prosperous Thought

When we build strong inner qualities, such as acceptance, diligence, persistence, and respect, in children through our interactions, setbacks in life will be managed with greater ease and grace.

The Prosperous Classroom

Picture a classroom where the students actively and independently praise and recognize each other for doing great things. See yourself as the facilitator that fosters and teaches your students how to recognize and empower each other.

Prosperous Thought

When things are running smoothly in your classroom and the rules are being followed, recognize the students for their part in this exchange of positive energy. Tell them specifically what it is that they are doing that promotes a positive learning environment.

Prosperous Thought

When a teacher makes a positive connection with a student, there is greater trust, and with greater trust comes greater security, which will lead to higher productivity in all areas of the child's development.

Prosperous Thought

View your classroom like a game. When the students are following the rules, the game continues to be played. When a student breaks a rule, then there is a temporary moment when he or she is taken out of the game. Get the student back in the game as soon as possible. It's more fun for everyone to be in the game!

Prosperous Thought

Know that some parents may harbor insecurities about their abilities to raise their children to be productive and honest members of society. You have the ability to empower and inspire them to become positive and powerful influences on their children.

The Prosperous Classroom

Take the extra step to offer ideas and strategies that promote positive parenting. Place tidbits of information in a newsletter or on your classroom website. When conferencing with parents, share one or two empowering ideas about being a great parent, such as how to help their child with homework or how to interact and communicate positively with him or her.

Prosperous Thought

Help your students to see that their positive or negative actions toward people and situations emit an energy that impacts their encounters and outcomes with the people with whom they interact.

The Prosperous Classroom

Thoughtfully model interactions in the presence of your students with various workers throughout the building. Point out to the students that if you interact positively with other people, then the reciprocity will more than likely be positive as well.

Prosperous Thought

The diversity that is presented to us by all of our students is a blessing that should be embraced and utilized to the fullest extent. It is our job as educators to embrace the uniqueness of the children and utilize these differences to help foster the growth of all of the children that we teach.

(Continues...)

---

Excerpted from Prosperous Teaching Prosperous Learning by Andrew S. Palumbo Copyright © 2011 by Andrew S. Palumbo. Excerpted by permission of BALBOA PRESS. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---