LJones

Chapter 13 is on relational. "If you get along, others will go along."Relationships are the glue that holds the team members together. Look for the following : respect;shared expereinces; trust; reciprocity; and mutual enjoyment. To better relate to your teammates focus on others instead of yourself; ask the right questions; share common experiences; and make others fell special. Showing true concern and interest helps the team. I think the work place and the classroom is in great need of this.

Chapter 14 is on self-improving. You need to apply what you've learned. This is sometimes difficult because it requires change. To help , become highly teachable; plan your progress; and value self improvement above self promotion. 

Chapter 15 is on being selfless (there is no I in team). Avoid internal politics, display loyalty, and value interdependence over independence. wow

Chapter 16 is on being solution oriented. Don't find fault; find a remedy. This speaks for itself.

Chapter 17 is on being tenacious. Work harder and/or smarter. I think Ive heard this one before. Stand for something. Make your work a game. 

This was/is a great book. It probably has to hit the person at the right time - and it did me. Great book - school focus - professional development - to create community/support. 

Chapter 7 is on discipline. To be a more disciplined team player take on a challene, tame your tongue, strengthen your work habits. .. I love this quote " Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not, it is the first lesson that ought to be learned, and however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly."

Chapter 8 is on enlarging. Enlargers value their teammates , enlargers value what their teammates value,  enlargers add value to their teammates,  enlargers make themselves more valuable.  To become an enlarging team player, believe in others before they believe in you, serve others before they serve you, add value toothers before they add value to you.

Chapter 9 is on enthusiasm. To improve your enthusiasm show a sense of urgency, be willing to do more, and strive for excellence.Enthusiasm gives the energy required to accomplish even the most difficuolt task.

Chapter 10 is on being intentional - make every action count. This quote goes with school - " YOu've got to think about "big things" while you're doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction." To improve your intentionality explore strengths and weaknesses, specialize in your specialty, and plan your calendar with purpose. Great truths in this chapter.

 Chapter 11  is being mission conscious. To improve in this area check to see if your team is focusing on its mission, keep the mission in mind, and contribute your best as a team member. remember - what's the big picture?

Chapter 12 is on being prepared. To improve your preparedness, become a proces thinker, do more research, and learn from mistakes.

This is another great book for me at this moment in time. Seeing the title I wasn't too sure how this would apply in the classroom - it may be more appropriate for the business world - but this is hitting home for me, for the classroom, and for our work environment.

Chapter 1 is entitled adaptable.I love the quotes given - "inflexibility is one of the worst failings."  " blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape." Chapter 1 gives a marvelous story on life and experiences of Quincy Jones. He has reflected amazing adaptability - his flexibility and creativity have served him well and challenges have not been a problem for him because of his adaptability. Adaptable people: teachable; emotionally secure; creative; and service minded. To become more adaptable the chapter says to get in to the habit of learning; reevaluate your role; and think outside the lines (good story of Napoleon Bonaparte).

Chapter 2 is titled collaborative.This chapter gives the sotry of a Nazi prisoner of war camp where the prisoners worked together to create the Great Escape. Collaboration is working together aggressively - cooperation is working together agreeably. To be a collaborative team player : perception; see teammates as collaborators, not competitors; attitude - be supportive, not suspicious: focus, on team not self;and results, create victories through multiplication.

 Chapter 3 is committed - there are no half-hearted champions. Great story on Jonas Salk - Hernan Cortes. Some things on commitment - usually is discovered in the midst of adversity; "the hearder you work, the harder it is to surrender". commitment does not depend on gifts or talents; commitment comes as a result of choice not conditions; and commitment lasts when it is based on values. To improve your commitment tie your commitments to your values, take a risk . . .'nobody who ever gave his best regretted it'.

Chapter 4 is communicative - a team is many voices with a single heart. Communicative players   . . . do not isolate themselves from others; make it easy for them to communicate; follow the 24 hour rule; give attention to potential difficult relationship; and follow up important communication in writing. To improve your communication . . .be candid, be quick, and be inclusive.

Chapter 5 is competent . . another great quote - "people forget how fast you did a job - but they remember how well you did it." To improve your competence  . . . focus yourself professionally; sweat the samll stuff; and give more attnetion to implememtation.

Chapter 6 is dependable. Great story on Christopher Reeve. The essence of dependability . .  pure motives; responsibility; sound thinking; and consistent contribution. To improve your dependability . . . check your motives; discover what your word is worth; and find someone to hold you accountable. 

Now to transfer this to work and to the students. I' 

Recognition is most appreciated and effective when it is individualized, specific, and deserved.

There are unique and specific ways to fill each person's bucket.

Generic one size fits all awards don't work - neither does recognition that seems forced or false.

The author gives a funny example of what an employer thought would be a great public reward but it backfired. The employee was not appreciative. Byt the next year, the employer had found out what was important to the employee and was able to give reward that was appreciated by the employee. So the lesson here is

Individualize.

The rest of the book goes over five strategies to increase positive emotions.

1. Prevent Bucket Dipping - make a conscious effort and stop and think before you make a comment - were you dipping from one's bucket? cCn you reach the magic ratio of five positive interactions for every one negative interaction? 

2. Shine a Light on What is Right - and every time you fill a bucket, you're setting something in motion - also it has a positive impact test question to give yourself

3.  Make Best Friends - people with best friends at work have better safety records, increased work productivity, and acheive greater customer satisfaction.

4. Give Unexpectedly - it does not have to be tangible, it can be a gift of trust or responsibility or sharing a hug ,etc . 

5. Reserve the Golden Rule - Do unto others as they would have you do unto them - the Golden Rule redefined.

This was a great book - very uplifting and empowering - for the classroom for the workpllace for my life. 

Chapter 3 - the title says it all - every moment matters.  I tell my students ( and my children) every thing counts - don't think any assignment is too small - that it doesn't matter - it does. Well, that applies to life - every thing counts - every moment matters. What are you going to do with it?

We experience hundreds of turning points in a given day.Are we filling or draining a bucket?  We have all had the experience of how a simple smile, gesture, or word can make everything change in that moment - will it have a negative or positive impact?  We all want positive emotion but it is so much easier in our society to give negative words - to find fault. The chapter ends with the benefits of positive emotion.

 Chapter 4 - the author gives his personal story of having a reserve positive flow, one that is constantly being filled by friends and family members,  that helped him  endure , grow, and survive adversity.

Wow! I'm excited about this book - positive strategies for work and life. It's simple and true and uplifting ...The first two chapters basically explain the theory of the bucket and the dipper. We each have an invisible bucket. It is constantly being filled (feeling great)or emptied (feeling awful)  by others. Each of us also has an invisible dipper that may be filling others' buckets (also filling our own) or dipping from others' buckets (decreasing our own).  A full bucket gives us a positive  outlook and energy  - an empty bucket saps our energy and undermines our outlook. We have a choice - every moment - every day - and it influences our relationships, health, productivity, and happiness.

 The author tells of the Korean War POW camps and the high death rate - the strategy used was negativity.   The author also provides statistics for how recognition and praise in the workplace increases productivity, safety, longevity, loyalty, satisfaction, and employee engagement (not as in marriage). He also tells of how a negative employee can be "like a tornado wreaking havoc". Another example given is of spiraling downward. Chapter 2 ends by stating that sincere and meaningful bucket filling increases the morale of the organization . . . creating this difference is inexpensive . . . it takes a little inititative.

Can't wait to read more. 

Chhapter 11 focuses on planning for the writers' workshop. She suggests topics  for focused units of study (p. 215 & 216). There are suggestions of units of study for the year - interesting. And ends with how do I start?  start with something powerful that will reverberate throughout the year . . .  and final note - read aloud is the single most important thing you cam plan for the entire year.

CHapter 12 is on foucs lessons  - that deal with text sturctures and text that deals with ways with words. Chapter 13 explores structure conferences (a running dialogue with student) and ways with words conferences . Chapter 14 deals with assessment. It has questions to ask of ourselves about the projects, questions for our students, and asks us to listen to our students and learn how to respond.

 CHapter 15 ends with a wonderful story of a girl writing a poem about dolphins -   

Chapter 5 was about studying writers' office work - powerful writing begins long before the draft. It had a cute example of inexperienced writers pick out topics - they sounded very familiar.Then the chapter leads into experienced writers and good reasons to write - passion/or intruique; audience or occasion; purpose to fulfill; and pull of a genre. The chapter also gave ideas on how experienced writers develop their writing projects - taking photographs; research in a library; criminal records!; diaries; imagination; visiting a museum; interivewing; conversations; learning a skill of character; etc. Also expereicned writers develop a project before it is drafted! - good ideas on pg. 104. I love the saying new visions, new possibilites.

Chapter 6 was about organized inquiry - teaching students to read like writers. This chapter overwhelmed me. I like all that was said but to actually do it in the classroom - I would like to see/and do - over extended time period. It really seems bogged down - but good ideas I will use. see page 136 for summary.(137 is a personal reflection) . Chapter 7 is an invitation to her library - the craft of text structure. She discusses types of texts and making stacks of texts. Then she goes into suggesting stacks of circular texts; texts with thread-backs; seesaw texts; conversation texts;etc. This is a very helpful chapter with examples of books given that can be examined by the reader(me) to use. Chapters 8 and 9 also offer text examples for specific mini lessons or ideas. These chapters - 7,8,9 - will be a helpful resource for me. Chapter 10 ends with how I am feeling. It is making me rethink and at times be confused - but it's good. I like the resource information  and look forward to the time when I can pull these and think these through.

Katie Wood Ray knows how to write! I am enjoying what she is trying to say by the way she is saying it! Chapter 1 is about reading like a writer.She uses wonderful classroom examples that we can all relate to. There is the sweet, sweet story of Kyle trying to write  about how much he loves his mom. At the beginning what he writes falls flat - it does not convey all the emotion and depth that he feels. What was the teacher doing during this time while he was writing? Don't we want our students to do justice with their writing? She shares with him Eloise Greenfields's book, Honey, I Love, and other Love Poems. Kyle studies thiese poems and begins a completely new draft - one that shows his depth of feeling for his  mother ( a very important topic).Ray gives several other examples in this chapter of material used to 'learn to write from writers', to read like a writer, and that writing is individual (not unique).  

Chapter 2 is about the craft of writing. We need to know about all aspects of writing. Ray  lumps all of this craft into two categories - first, the craft of 'office work' - where do they get ideas, how they do research, how do they set up their offices. The other category is about how writers craft actual drafts, "how they make the writing come out in pwerful texts." She gives several examples  of examining writers crafts - such as - using print to match texts(righthtisveryminute), intentional vagueness, close echoes, repeating sentence structures, etc. . . Reading like a writer begins the process of seeing craft in text. Ray gives several examples as well as sharing authors to connect with and study.

Chapter 3 is envisioning text possibilities. Ray gives an example of a student writing about his relationship with four best friends. By studying other writers the young students 'envisions the possibilities of his topic and transforms his writing into something very powerful .Envisioning also helps with revision (a problem I have seen with students).

Chapter 4 is about reading aloud - filling the room with wondrous words. Reading aloud is an important teaching time. Ray gives examples of read alouds, reading like a writer, listening like a writer, and the sound of good writing. Ray also gives examples of echoes and choral readings . She talks about time, expectations, selection, and reading aloud well, and making the connection. This was very uplifting to me.

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Posted by: LJones    in: My entries

Modified on February 26, 2007 at 3:26 AM