I have been an advocate of technology in education for a long time. But I have been an advocate of “people” for my entire career. People > Technology The…
Connected Principals Posts
My good friend and a colleague I highly respect, AJ Juliani, is offering an opportunity to get a copy of his book, “The PBL Playbook” by paying shipping and handling…
Read More “The PBL Playbook” and How PBL can Help You Innovate Inside the Box
My good friend and a colleague I highly respect, AJ Juliani, is offering an opportunity to get a copy of his book, “The PBL Playbook” by paying shipping and handling only. AJ does some incredible work, and I love his blog, and this is a great way to dive deeper into Project Based Learning. If … [Read more…]
Read More “The PBL Playbook” and How PBL can Help You Innovate Inside the Box
I often ask these questions of participants to get them to think about how we are using our time differently. The first question is the following: How many of…
The European Space Agency’s historical comet landing of the spacecraft Rosetta in 2014 was an amazing feat. Imagine organizing a team of scientists and space engineers who design and launch a spacecraft with the goal of intersecting with a comet 500 million kilometers from Earth. Then imagine ten years later, your findings show the spacecraft […]
“Student Voice” is something that many schools are focusing on and for a good reason. If we, as educators, understand that we serve our students and not the other way…
“Student Voice” is something that many schools are focusing on and for a good reason. If we, as educators, understand that we serve our students and not the other way around, getting their thought and feedback for not only problems but solutions in moving our schools forward, is crucial. From my experience though, I have … [Read more…]
Most educators are aware of the “Four C’s” (Critical thinking, Creativity, Collaboration and Communication) and their importance in schools for ensuring the development of today’s skills in our students (I…
Read More 4 Skills and Traits Great Schools Teach That Will Always be Essential
Melinda Miller and I joke about how October and February are the armpits of the school year. By October the newness of the year has worn off, the honeymoon is over and the hard work of growing students stretches out in front of you. As an administrator, one of the challenges is for you to mentally […]
The post Seasonally supportive..leadership through the ebbs and flows with the Enneagram appeared first on Technically Yours Teamann.
Read More Seasonally supportive..leadership through the ebbs and flows with the Enneagram
Curiosity might be good for you, and good for your students too, in ways you haven’t considered. One of our core values in our school is “start with questions.” We want our students to be more curious tomorrow than they are today. We want to design learning that develops curiosity. We believe in the benefits of curiosity. In fact, curiosity has been shown to contribute to academic success as much as hard work or intelligence.
But curiosity has many benefits beyond academic success. When we are curious in a whole variety of situations, we can better come to terms with who we are, how we fit into the world, and how we can make an impact on the world around us.
So here are 7 ways curiosity can be beneficial beyond academic success…
1. Curiosity About Feelings
We are seeing unprecedented levels of anxiety and depression among young people. But mindfulness principles are effective in addressing thoughts and feelings by leveraging curiosity, instead of angst or avoidance. Be curious about feelings in a nonjudgmental way. Recognize that feelings come and go and are neither inherently good or bad. Approach feelings with a sense of wonder, “I’m curious about why I’m feeling this way.” Be curious, not furious.
2. Curiosity About Relationships
Relationships grow stronger when we show empathy. And it’s necessary to be curious to develop empathy. You have to be curious about what the other person is experiencing. You have to put yourself in their shoes. When we are curious about others, it also makes them feel valued, listened to, and understood. Curiosity says, “I want to know more about you. You matter. You’re interesting to me.”
3. Curiosity About Perspectives
Our perspective shapes our mindset. We can view failure as something negative, or we can view it as an opportunity to learn and grow. Everything that happens to me can be useful to me and for my benefit. But that requires me to be curious to consider how I might reframe in a positive way things that on the surface seem to be hardships or difficulties.
4. Curiosity About Habits
After reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, I became far more curious about my habits and the habits that are common in our school. We want to create an extraordinary greeting for our students, every morning and each class period of the day. We want to make that a habit. I also want to examine my personal habits with curiosity, “Is this habit taking me where I want to go? Is this habit consistent with the path I want to be on?” Let’s be curious about the habits we have in the classroom and how they impact learning.
5. Curiosity About Risk Taking
What would you do if you had no fear? What do you fear? And why do you fear these things? What is holding you back? We need to be curious about these questions and why we aren’t willing to embrace positive risk taking. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. We cannot know what we are truly capable of accomplishing if we aren’t willing to push outside our comfort zone and take risks.
6. Curiosity About How Things Work
Have you ever wondered how electricity works? Or magnets? Or gravity? Science can explain these phenomenon, at least to an extent. But they also maintain a mysterious quality. They make me curious. But as a leader, I’m also curious about what makes our school culture work the way it does. I’m curious about how student’s motivation works. And I’m curious about how to facilitate positive change. There are so many examples of being curious about how things work. And sometimes, this curiosity leads to innovations and breakthroughs that make life better for everyone.
7. Curiosity About the Future
I’m curious about the future. I’m curious about what life will be like for my own kids and for my students. And, I’m curious about what educators need to be doing today to prepare students for their futures. When we are curious about the future, it helps us be more diligent in our decisions today. The choices we make today will shape the future. But we have to be curious and consider how today’s decisions might lead to future challenges or opportunities. Acting today with little thought for tomorrow is unlikely to end well. A long term perspective is needed to prepare for an uncertain future. Be curious about the future.
Can you think of any other unexpected benefits of curiosity? Is you school consistently making efforts to bring out curiosity in students? I want to hear from you. Leave a comment below or respond on Twitter or Facebook.
Curiosity might be good for you, and good for your students too, in ways you haven’t considered. One of our core values in our school is “start with questions.” We want our students to be more curious tomorrow than they are today. We want to design learning that develops curiosity. We believe in the benefits of curiosity. In fact, curiosity has been shown to contribute to academic success as much as hard work or intelligence.
But curiosity has many benefits beyond academic success. When we are curious in a whole variety of situations, we can better come to terms with who we are, how we fit into the world, and how we can make an impact on the world around us.
So here are 7 ways curiosity can be beneficial beyond academic success…
1. Curiosity About Feelings
We are seeing unprecedented levels of anxiety and depression among young people. But mindfulness principles are effective in addressing thoughts and feelings by leveraging curiosity, instead of angst or avoidance. Be curious about feelings in a nonjudgmental way. Recognize that feelings come and go and are neither inherently good or bad. Approach feelings with a sense of wonder, “I’m curious about why I’m feeling this way.” Be curious, not furious.
2. Curiosity About Relationships
Relationships grow stronger when we show empathy. And it’s necessary to be curious to develop empathy. You have to be curious about what the other person is experiencing. You have to put yourself in their shoes. When we are curious about others, it also makes them feel valued, listened to, and understood. Curiosity says, “I want to know more about you. You matter. You’re interesting to me.”
3. Curiosity About Perspectives
Our perspective shapes our mindset. We can view failure as something negative, or we can view it as an opportunity to learn and grow. Everything that happens to me can be useful to me and for my benefit. But that requires me to be curious to consider how I might reframe in a positive way things that on the surface seem to be hardships or difficulties.
4. Curiosity About Habits
After reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, I became far more curious about my habits and the habits that are common in our school. We want to create an extraordinary greeting for our students, every morning and each class period of the day. We want to make that a habit. I also want to examine my personal habits with curiosity, “Is this habit taking me where I want to go? Is this habit consistent with the path I want to be on?” Let’s be curious about the habits we have in the classroom and how they impact learning.
5. Curiosity About Risk Taking
What would you do if you had no fear? What do you fear? And why do you fear these things? What is holding you back? We need to be curious about these questions and why we aren’t willing to embrace positive risk taking. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. We cannot know what we are truly capable of accomplishing if we aren’t willing to push outside our comfort zone and take risks.
6. Curiosity About How Things Work
Have you ever wondered how electricity works? Or magnets? Or gravity? Science can explain these phenomenon, at least to an extent. But they also maintain a mysterious quality. They make me curious. But as a leader, I’m also curious about what makes our school culture work the way it does. I’m curious about how student’s motivation works. And I’m curious about how to facilitate positive change. There are so many examples of being curious about how things work. And sometimes, this curiosity leads to innovations and breakthroughs that make life better for everyone.
7. Curiosity About the Future
I’m curious about the future. I’m curious about what life will be like for my own kids and for my students. And, I’m curious about what educators need to be doing today to prepare students for their futures. When we are curious about the future, it helps us be more diligent in our decisions today. The choices we make today will shape the future. But we have to be curious and consider how today’s decisions might lead to future challenges or opportunities. Acting today with little thought for tomorrow is unlikely to end well. A long term perspective is needed to prepare for an uncertain future. Be curious about the future.
Can you think of any other unexpected benefits of curiosity? Is you school consistently making efforts to bring out curiosity in students? I want to hear from you. Leave a comment below or respond on Twitter or Facebook.
I have been sharing the below thought for years, and it is a crucial part of having empathy as an educator, as discussed in “The Innovator’s Mindset“: The key to this…
I have been sharing the below thought for years, and it is a crucial part of having empathy as an educator, as discussed in “The Innovator’s Mindset“: The key to this question is not thinking like you but thinking about your students and their point of view. For example, I have been in adult sessions where you are sometimes … [Read more…]
“Balance is stupid.” George Couros, primarily from 2007-2017 That was me. Maybe I didn’t say it exactly that way, but I was thinking it. For me, to be successful, you had to…
“Balance is stupid.” George Couros, primarily from 2007-2017 That was me. Maybe I didn’t say it exactly that way, but I was thinking it. For me, to be successful, you had to live a reasonably unbalanced life. I listened to the Grant Cardone’s of the world who focused on the importance of being “obsessed” to become successful … [Read more…]
I used to get teased mercilessly by some saying that everyone in education can be a “leader.” If you think of leadership in the traditional context, it is more about…
Read More 3 Ways to Develop Leaders in Your School or Classroom