I've been an educator for most of my adult life, but have only been a parent for about two years. And yet, there are already some interesting crossover lessons I've been reflecting on concerning classroom management and intentional language.
I've always run my classroom management on the dual ideas of "be firm an consistent" and "purposefully front-load to avoid the need to dole out the firm and consistent logical consequences." (Front-loading in my classrooms looks like creating classroom rules together, developing safe and secure student relationships, and making learning as engaging and individualized as possible to list the basics.) What's interesting to me now, as a parent of a toddler, is how much raising one child is similar to teaching an entire classroom full of children. Both work best in a positive environment based on developmentally appropriate benchmarks that cater to individual interest. Obviously, my toddler and I are not creating house rules together, but you can bet good money that once that activity is age appropriate we certainly will be! But the underlying concept of thoughtful front-loading is foundational. Good parenting looks exhausting at the beginning, but pays off in almost exactly the same way that good teaching can feel intense in the fall, but make it a breeze by spring! As for intentional language, it's already been in my practice for years to give as many directions as possible in the positive form (i.e. "Walk safely," rather than "Don't run!") That is even more necessary for the younger children. I've been amazed how many times a day I catch myself saying no, not, or don't and having to fix my language to better support my toddler. By the way, some references for this are here: Responsive Classroom Article and Montessori Article. I'm grateful for some new resources that have guided me into adding even more intentionality and specificity into my language. My favorite takeaway with this concept is that all of your language reflects your values and aims. Rather than saying, "Be careful," I now say something like, "Notice where your body is in space. What could happen?" Certainly, sometimes I say "Stop," or "Danger." But when we're not on the boundary of an emergency, I am crafting as much of my language as possible to allow my child to build the skills he will need. I hope for him to focus on positive actions to move him forward in life. I want him to notice his body, his surroundings, and the emotions/needs of the people around him. I aim for him to be thoughtful and answer questions for himself. I desire for him to have the sense of agency and competency to choose his actions. I would love to hear from other teacher/parents to hear what other crossovers you've found! What crossovers hit at older ages? How has becoming a parent strengthened your teaching practice? *Photo credit: rawpixel.com
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Trying my hand at AI-generated coloring books on Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing has certainly been a learning experience full of thrills and hurdles alike. Throughout, I've continued to reflect on one main takeaway: our current market is completely focused on quantity.
This is no surprise; I sometimes feel helpless against the globe-destroying rampages known as capitalism and consumerism. Yet somehow, I'm surprised to see how completely this idea has penetrated into every corner of the market. I wanted to make a series of interesting, high-quality coloring books the like of which I had never seen before and therefore would be proud to create. Oh no no. One must make dozens and dozens of books. One must pay for ads for these books so that they even show up. One must constantly be churning out new products. And one must make content about those products. And that content must be on oodles of platforms. And one must do everything possible to build "the brand." And one must use multiple paid programs to help discern which niche could possibly be successful with the perfect combination of SEO/keywords and posting, posting, posting. Today I watched a youtube tutorial on how to use a specific program that will take information from your blog and turn it into hundreds of different postable images/ads. Is that incredibly efficient? Yes, absolutely. Does that then promote everyone posting everything all at once all the time? Yes, that too. [clicks "post" with hot dog fingers] It's... not as it should be. The way the market currently runs leaves very little space for high-quality products to be sold. This market encourages more and more and more, while leaving less for both buyer and seller. You see, I don't want to inundate my Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram with ads. I don't want to create a Pinterest business account. I am not interested in creating a TikTok account and then linking that to all my other accounts which can then be programed to share the media I post. I get it, sure. I understand the need for publicity and advertising. I am aware of the competition and how important it is to have a following. But I'm not interested: it feels like just such a lot of a lot. Lots of posts, lots of ads, lots of products made just to fit into a niche market. I would argue it feels soul-less. As an educator, a parent, and an entrepreneur, I am very curious about how to navigate this with my values intact and how to support the next generation as they inherit a saturated sort of life. How to turn a profit on a smaller selection of products I believe in will still take some amount of content creating, posting, and advertising. I'm still figuring out what that balance looks like. I would love to talk about this concept with any entrepreneurs out there who feel like you can't win unless you spit out more, more, and more. How can we find the happy medium of good quality with beneficial quantity? Also, an additional thought is, what does this all look like when combined with continually-improving-AI? *image credit: Chris Rubin |
Jessica LaneBeing a lifelong learner means intentionally seeking out experiences that enforce growth and personal development. Archives
January 2025
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