Slice of Life Challenge #8: The Ability to Marvel
A few weeks ago, I heard that Steve Jobs was not only incredibly innovative as the head of Apple, but an amazing speaker. I heard that Steve Jobs would often just stand and marvel at the new item he was presenting, whether it was taking the Macbook Air out of a manilla envelope or looking at the size of the new iphone. As he marveled at the new product, so would the audience, be equally as enchanted.
I couldn’t help but keep thinking about this and how effective this could be. I wonder, what if we spent more time just marveling at our students works. I feel like Lucy Calkins does this really well that captivates you when you’re listening to her speak. After going to the summer institutes at teacher’s college, I love how she marvels at the writing of students and teachers. (I’m going to the July Reading Institute this year!)
As a teacher, that’s something I need to do more of. I can do it in the mini-lesson, or during individual conferences. I need to just sit and marvel at my student’s writing. Maybe it’s a powerful sentence, maybe it just a simple word that sticks out or maybe it’s the whole piece. Not only do I want to marvel at my students’ writing, but at all the writing everyone is doing for the slice of life challenge.
SO true. We get so caught up in what needs to be “done” that is is easy to forget what we really need to DO to inspire our students. Thank you for sharing.
I agree. Sometimes, a student will write something that just takes my breath away and I think: now where did that come from? Can we get some more of that? Those are the moments that make an entire day seem magical.
Kevin
I like this, a lot. You are right. We should marvel more.
I love that word marvel. I’m going to use it more when I talk to teachers about their students’ writing. They don’t marvel, they groan, “They didn’t put in periods, capitals, on and on . . .” They don’t see the story and savor the idea. Thanks for bringing this out. I marvel at all the slicers this year.
Note to self: marvel more
Thanks
Maah-velous! Marveling is akin to finding the positives. For some reason the negatives are much easier to note, and when working with anyone, much less helpful
Interesting! Today as I looked over some writing and couldn’t help but smile at the growth I noticed in my students.
My mom used to do this – maybe that is why I occasionally master this technique. It is a good one.
Very encouraging words. Marvelous!