Olaf Olsen

Educators who believe effort and attitude determine abilities will be able to intentionally provide equitable opportunities for all students to grow and thrive. Think about the power of the word Yet: when a student says “I can’t do that,” their self-perception and motivation can be transformed by simply adding “I can’t do that…yet!”

The most common signature strengths, in descending order, are kindness, fairness, honesty, gratitude, and judgment.

I learned that goals can be self-oriented (for one’s own benefit or based on one’s own preferences) or self-transcendent (for the greater good). Research has shown that setting goals that are both self-oriented and self-transcendent is especially powerful because it enables students to develop intrinsic motivation for everyday tasks and schoolwork.

The most prevalent character strength in human beings is kindness, followed by fairness, honesty, gratitude, and judgment. Be kind!

The word agency refers to people’s capacity to make choices and take action on their own behalf. We want students to internalize that they do have the ability to problem solve and complete challenges. 

When we use individual white boards or post-it notes for students to write their response, we know when everyone has had an equal time to respond. Everyone gets an equal thinking opportunity.

When students are curious, they naturally start to ask questions. As more and more people ask questions, the curiosity builds, and questions become more complex and lead to hypothesis generating. Ask open-ended questions in class

It’s important to work to gradually replace a reliance on grades with an emphasis on qualitative, meaningful assessments during productive talk activities. Have students participate more readily in productive talk.

One way to evaluate the various career areas is to develop a pros and cons list about the career. Have students simulate this experience by providing them with a list of careers to research and having them prioritize the career matches based on the information they find. 

In the retention stage, professional development helps students to stay curious and engaged with their positions, preventing boredom and stagnation. There is some much to learn about “professionalism”. Have students write emails.