​"Good Morning Sweetie," Pops wrote as he had done so many moons before.  I took a look at the future this morning and teaching is looking quite good. 

There a good man who had four or five principles
His name was Dan and most wanted by principals. 
He said learning is fun 
if you start with a question 
and as you know that's like the quest we're on. 
Then there's principle two 
and for that I say 'dude!" 
says learning is struggle
but just need to Google
The words in your noodle 
"I can do" 
And there's principal three
 just written for me
says me as a teacher "I'm not the answer key"
phew, It sure was a drain and you know i couldn't sing
had my brain in a sling 
trying to immitate Bing  
instead of putting on a show
with everything I tried to know 
the better way to make them grow
Is to say three magic words: "I don't know." 
Then principal 4, this is a mess, 
to every idea, you're supposed to say "yes." 
That's right up your alley and right to those doors, 
to infinite stairways with infinite floors
Principal five will make you alive
he says learning is play
I could do that all day.  
How do we tell them all
that they'll have a ball
It's your turn this time to make the call. 

Here's a summary of what he says.  I had sent this to all my teachers and parents at the academy.  He call's it principles of math, but I call it principles of learning.  

1.       Principle 1: "Start with a question" (which could be your objective, your essential question, the purpose of your lesson) Start with a question rather than giving answers.  When you give answers, you rob the students of the thinking experience.  Let your questions feel compelling and authentic so that students may find answers that are "beautiful and profoundly satisfying."  "If I rush you to an answer, I will have robbed you of the opportunity to learn."

2.       Principle two:  "Thinking happens only when we have time to struggle." The longer students struggle with a question, they deepen their curiosity and are more willing to take a risk.

3.       Principle three (to parents & teachers): "You are not the answer key."  If you can say, "I don't know.  Let's find out," you can make math (learning) an adventure. 

4.       Principle four: "Say 'Yes' to your students' ideas.  Saying 'Yes' is not the same thing as saying you're right (in the context of a seemingly 'wrong' answer).  When you accept your students' ideas into the debate, and have the idea accepted, studied, debated, and disproven, it is a sign of respect. To say "No" to a student's idea right away, it is disempowering. 

5.       Principle five: "Play."   Mathematics (learning) is not about following rules.  It's about playing, exploring, and fighting and looking for clues and sometimes breaking things.  Einstein called "Play," the highest form of research. A (math) teacher who lets her students play with math (learning) gives the gift of ownership.

Today I got the idea of my own news channel, but i'm not calling it 'news.' 
Instead I'm calling it 'views."  This is for people who have the vision, the views of the future, of 2030, thus 2030views.com.  
​
That's it for today

Peace out Pops