JumpStart World Art Day (4/15/24)

Big Idea:    
Yesterday, I had the honor of teaching teachers for a full-day workshop.  They weren’t the K-12 classroom teachers like I usually work with, but yoga teachers.  One thing I noticed (besides the fact that teachers everywhere are just cool people) is that teachers often teach their students to explore and be creative, and that there is ‘no right answer’.   The WORST multiple choice exams are the ones where a) I and III are true, b) II and IV are true, etc.

Yet when they are the students, teachers expect one right answer.

In Western culture, there is little room for both/and (Okun).  We like to have one answer.  This can lead to either/or thinking and often arises as a necessity of our increasingly frenzied world when we need to make snap decisions based on a few facts.

And when we are working with people, there is no one right answer - in fact several seemingly contradictory truths can all be simultaneously true.  Light is both a particle AND a wave.  Teens can be dependently independent.  Animals are both predator and prey.  We can be both both loving and unloving with the same action.

During our Breathwork and Polyvagal class yesterday, we were discussing how new evidence contradicts the previous idea that our nervous system is either in sympathetic (fight/flight) OR parasympathetic (rest and digest).  Rather, our nervous systems can be in BOTH sympathetic arousal AND social connection (competition with rules) or dorsal vagal shut-down AND social connection (intimacy with a partner).  It’s more like a pie chart with 3 pieces in constant flux rather than one or the other. #mindblown

This Week, Try This:   Look up ‘paradox’.  Think of an example in your life where you can be two seemingly incongruous things at the same time.

Quote:  "The opposite of a fact is a falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth."  (Niels Bohr)

Educator Resource:  GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY
FREE APRIL PD COURSE:  Math Facts and Fluency: A Focus on Multiplication:  Immerse yourself in our professional development course, where we will unravel the research behind the development of procedural multiplication math fact fluency. Reflect on the three phases that mark students’ progression toward mastering basic math facts. Dive into an array of classroom activities designed to foster fact fluency development. Take a moment for introspection, evaluating your current instructional practices and strategically planning for future refinement.
SCHOLARSHIPS:  Bachelors:  Students who enroll in GCU’s BACHELOR degree programs that leads to initial teacher licensure are eligible to receive 32% off the tuition.  Masters:  Students who enroll in GCU’s MASTER of Education programs that leads to initial teacher licensure are eligible to receive 25% off the tuition!

Dad Joke:  For Sale:  Broken violin.  No strings attached. 
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A lot happening this week:  tomorrow is the last Spring Frost date for our area (Check your date here), and the bitcoin halving is expected on Friday. Have an excellent week!

~Matt