200 Words, Less is More

"I am taking part in the #IMMOOC “3 Blog Challenge” this week.  3 blog posts under 200 words.  If you are interested in participating, details can be found here."

Sometimes, less is more. I am reading The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros and participating in the Book Study / IMMOOC (Innovator's Mindset Massive Open Online Course). Part of the IMMOOC is blogging. This week our blogs are to be short, 200 words or less and more frequent, three times this week. Because the blogs are shorter, I have been able to read, process and respond to more of them than in the weeks prior. Sometimes, fewer words make more of an impact.

Here are a few of my take-aways for the week:

"Be the spark...Then get out of the way..." ~Tara M. Martin, @TaraMartinEDU Check out Tara's full post here.

"What if at the end of the school day a student asked you 'What did you learn today about your teaching?' instead of the other way around?" ~Jamie Wiitala, @Jamie_Wiitala   Check out Jamie's full post here.

"Today, will I innovate, or let the excuses win?" ~Aaron Hogan, @aaron_hogan  Check out Aaron's full post here.

"Give me a leader who is humble all day because I know that they are that and more!" ~Justin McKean, @JMcKeanK12

"But really, I just needed to ask the right questions and then get out of her way." ~Amber Teamann, @8Amber8   Check out Amber's full post here.

How can we apply less is more? 

Less mandated PD so teachers can get more out of PD they are passionate about.

Less homework for students in trade for more learning in the classroom.

Less "No", more "Yes, I will support you in taking that risk".

Less teacher doing, more student doing.

Less schooling, more learning.

Less talking, more listening.

The ... list... goes... on! But remember less is more, the less I say the more thinking you can do!

Simply stated, sometimes less is more. Let's get the most out of the time we have with our teachers and students.