Category Archives: Attitude

Teacher and student rapport, how is it in your classroom?

22 Friday Jan 2021

Posted by in Attention, Attitude, Communication, Leader, Leadership, Listening, Reflection, Relationships

≈ 2 Comments

As a teacher, have you really ever listened to what students talk about? Believe it or not, there are some pretty good conversations out there. A casual “ear to the ground” can let you know a lot about what is happening up and down the halls and in classrooms. For some reason, it seems to me, we do not give students enough credit sometimes to be able to think on a more mature level. Now, I am not saying that we should always provide them with a platform, but just listening and acknowledging goes a long way.

For example… the other day, I heard a student talking about another student’s conversation and their teacher in class. Work with me here; you know how this will go… it is worthy of being a case study…

Teacher… Here are the directions. Don’t ask me again, because I am not going to repeat them.
A few seconds go by…
Student… Could you please say what you said again?
Teacher… No, you should have been listening.
Student gets upset.
The teacher sends the student to the office.
The student is now out of class.
Much time has now passed.
The administration walks the student back to class.
Instruction time is stopped again.
Administration, teacher, student all get on the same page.
The teacher gives students the needed information.
The student goes back to class.
All is good?

Wow, know any teachers like this? Ok… I know we all want students to be attentive. My question is, why and how did it get to that point? I know we all want them to come in, sit down, be quiet, sit appropriately, etc. However…

If this is the worst thing you have to deal with, you have it pretty good as a teacher. So the student asked again. Did you set the stage for all of them to pay attention, to begin with? What did you do to help? It would have taken little to no effort to restate the directions. The teacher could have spun it to be a teachable moment of comedy. The teacher could have even gone back to the student’s desk and had a one on one moment. I don’t know, but telling the student no, did not help anyone.

Another question I have is what type of rapport are you establishing with that student and others? Remember, everyone in the class saw and heard the teacher’s response, and you know how student talk gets spread…

I do not know what was going on with the student or the teacher that day. I do not know why the situation had to escalate as it did. I know that we can get aggravated with students. But… I do know that in the end, the teacher had the opportunity to be the bigger, better person.

I have said this before, “If you can create an environment where your students feel invited, regardless of the subject you teach, they are going to give you more than a fair shake.” Be the teacher your students need. It will make a huge difference.

Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2021 J Clay Norton

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Passion and the Why – Is it good or bad?

15 Friday Jan 2021

Posted by in Actions, Agenda, Attitude, Authentic, Character, Choice, Deciding, Decisions, Emotion, Know Your Why, Leader, Leadership, Motivation, Passion, Perception, Value

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In last week’s blog, I wrote on “Decision Making – Emotional or Factual?” One of the three areas where I believe decisions are made is with passion. A few people commented on it enough that I thought I would just use “passion” for our topic this week.

Going along with the title, is your “passion” for what you believe in good or bad? How you answer this, I know, is based on one’s perception and relativeness. However, I also know that putting perception and relativeness aside, your passion is defined by your values and even more by your core values. One of my great mentors at Mississippi College stated, “Values are what you believe in, core values are where you draw the line in the sand.”

A few friends emailed or stopped by to discuss “passion” as they see it regarding making decisions. Here are a few specific comments…

“To take positions we have to take for our clients, I must not only believe in the “rightness” of that position, but I need to have some passion for advancing that position… There are sometimes I do not believe in the “rightness” of what they wanted me to advance. The facts didn’t ‘geehaw’ with my core beliefs.”

“My experience is that some measure of passion for your positions on issues and core beliefs is necessary; otherwise, you come across as passive and lack genuineness.”

“It’s when passion is inappropriately expressed does it become detrimental. However, when you can exhibit passion properly (non-inflammatory), can passion help your cause.”

These are “spot on” with my belief as well on passion. Our passion has to be for the right thing. The “right thing” is where it gets fuzzy… I would say that the “right thing” depends on your “why”… the outcome you want (tangibles and intangibles), goals, motivation, attitude, etc… Is it for good or bad? Do you want revenge or to promote unity? Is your passion for selfish reasons, or is it being for others? Mostly, what is your agenda? I believe these are underlying thoughts as to what “fuels” our passion.

Upon a little digging… “The root of the word “passion” is found in the Latin word “passio.” From the late 1500’s “passio” began to take on the meaning of emotion and, in some cases, controlled emotion. And now we know why passion can help or hurt… it all depends on the “why” and if it is controlled.

Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2021 J Clay Norton

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My Pet Peeves… Drives Me Crazy…

06 Friday Nov 2020

Posted by in Attitude, Balance, Choice, Emotion, Family, Importance, Intentions, Leader, Leadership, Pet Peeves, Reflection, Relationships

≈ 4 Comments

Ok… showing our age now…

How many of you remember the song “She Drives Me Crazy” by Fine Young Cannibals? Sorry if that song is stuck in your head now…

“…She drives me crazy
And I can’t help myself…”

Well, consider everything that is going on around us and the differences of many opinions we each have; instead of opening the phrase with “she,” open it up with “whatever” drives me/you crazy…

I have a lot of pet peeves. I have so many; I have a zoo. The bad thing is, I feed every one of those peeves; messy little critters, they are. Just like any other pets, I love on them, play fetch, rub their belly, scratch their ears… You get the idea. Also, those peeves rub me the wrong way, make me cringe, get under my skin, pull what little hair I have out, wake me up at night, and shut down my breathing sometimes (my mom and dad should get a laugh out of that one).

But… what I have come to realize, while those peeves are always going to be there, it is ME that drives myself crazy. I have a choice as to if I feed them and welcome them into my life… or not. Also, I choose what I want to think about, and for some part, how I feel about them. I know it is hard to get “stuff” out of your mind, and for some reason, “things” will always linger around, triggered by something or someone to make you start thinking again.

I do acknowledge that there are real problems in people’s lives. I am not dismissing or diminishing that fact. What I am talking about is trying NOT driving yourself crazy with all those peeves.

Things that I have to sometimes tell myself…
Go to sleep and don’t wake up at midnight about something you saw on social media.
Quit keeping up with what all you have done wrong lately. Laugh at your trivial mistakes.
Set some reasonable, attainable goals. Get things done early; that way, you can have accomplishments.
Hang out with like-minded, kindred-spirited people. This is huge…
Most of all, be thankful for the love of family and your real pets (not those peeves).

As we approach Thanksgiving, start thinking about your “thankfulness” and quit feeding the pet peeves. They don’t taste very well anyway, and they are tough to chew.

Yes, some things drive me crazy, and maybe, I can help myself…

Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2020 J Clay Norton

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What are your thoughts of what a leader should be?

30 Friday Oct 2020

Posted by in Attitude, Leader, Leadership

≈ 2 Comments

Have you ever made this statement, “We need better leadership?”

Yes, I have. More often than not, here lately. We need better leadership in many areas. You can just start a running list…

The older I get, the more I am amazed at leadership in general, and these are my opinions only… I see both strong and weak leadership everywhere. I see people who need to be in leadership and are not. I see people who are in leadership and should not be. I see people in positions of leadership and wonder how they got there (I have many thoughts on that, but that is a different blog post…). Nonetheless, what constitutes better leadership, regardless of who is leading or the area of leadership?

If you look up the definition of leadership, you will get a general definition. Here is the Google answer: “The action of leading a group of people or an organization.” But what actually makes the person a leader by definition? Is it more than influencing others and just leading? Yes, because the leading could actually be bad. Good, great, quality leadership is what we are after.

A few quick thoughts on what I think a “leader” needs to have…

Mindset – What you have to be.
Knowledge – What you need to know.
Performance – What you need to do.
Growth – What you need to develop yourself.
Wisdom – What you need to lead others.
Service – What you do to help grow others.

The list above goes against much of where we are in society. We live in a time where the “me first” mentality gets what they want without any notion of how others are affected. Somewhere between yesterday and tomorrow, we have a one-day chance to help change leadership for the better, and it seems every day, we are missing the opportunity to do so.

Yes, we need better leadership, but it starts with each one of us wanting to be a better leader. It is much more than a “title” and a “following.” What will you do today to help make it happen?

Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2020 J Clay Norton

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