Dear colleague,
I'm the last person that's going to tell you school is all about relationships. Because it's not. It's all about advancing the long-term flourishing of young people by teaching them to master things that, apart from school, they'd be unlikely to master.
That said, few factors are as critical to long-term student and teacher flourishing as good, working relationships between educators and students. And when you're a secondary teacher working with 100+ kids… building those relationships is a tall order.
Enter MGCs — moments of genuine connection. They involve printing a piece of paper, slapping it on a clipboard, and crafting simple, consistent micro-moments. During those moments, we seek to signal to students that we value, know, and respect them. We keep track of these things on a clipboard.
MGCs are a special kind of strategy: I can explain the what/why/how to you in just a moment or two — so simple — but here I am, thousands of MGCs into my career, and I'm still learning, tweaking, adjusting, and improving — so deep. And in the past couple years, I've been blown away by how complex it is to get whole schools to adopt and gain proficiency at something so basic.
All of which is to say that I'm going to host a Zoom-based PD session soon on my most up-to-date thinking about MGCs.
- When: October 8 @ 4 p.m. EST, via Zoom
- How much: Pay what you want (recommended price = $25 but you can pay as little as $1, up to you)
- Who: the first 100 people who register
What we'll cover:
- The fundamentals: I'll Woodenize MGCs for you as an individual practitioner (teacher, counselor, administrator — I've seen all roles use MGCs effectively). How I track them, what I write down, what obstacles I face, how I overcome them, etc.
- The whole-soul power: I'll discuss how I've found MGCs to deepen my soul and expand my experience of the goodness of life (sounds cheesy, but it's true).
- The school-level implementation hurdles: I'll share what works best in getting MGCs installed at the baseline “this is who we are, this is what we do” level of faculty culture. (I've seen this happen now in severals schools, e.g., this one.) I'll share what hurdles are common and how to overcome them.
- Answers to your questions: This'll be a chance to get my thoughts on your specific questions and comments.
To register, click here and pay what you think is fair ($25 = recommended price).
Teaching right beside you,
DSJR
P.S. You doing okay? I hope so. Have a good rest of your day. 🙂
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