May 27, 2026
The Disney secret that every teacher should use: Take 5
What can Walt Disney World teach us about connecting with students? A lot, actually. In this episode, we explore the Take Five strategy from Lee Cockerell's Creating Magic, spontaneous, intentional moments that cost nothing yet mean everything to the person on the receiving end. I walk through practical Take Five ideas for every grade level. Whether you're a preservice teacher, a veteran in the classroom, or a coach working with educators, this episode will have you walking in tomorrow asking: Who in this room needs me to take five today?
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Hello Edu Magicians, welcome to
the Edu Magic podcast with your
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host, Doctor Sam Fessich.
Doctor Sam is a professor of
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education, author of Edu Magic,
and a Pumpkin Spice Latte fan.
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This podcast is designed for pre
service teachers.
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Remember friends, teaching
doesn't begin at graduation, but
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during that first class at 8:00
AM.
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Let's get this party started.
This podcast is a crowd member
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of the Teach Better Podcast
Network, Better Today, Better
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Tomorrow, and the podcast to get
you there.
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Explore more podcasts at
www.teachbetterpodcastnetwork.com.
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Now let's get on to the episode.
Hello magicians, and welcome
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back to another episode, the
Edgy Magic Podcast.
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My name is Doctor Sam Fessage,
and today we're going to be
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looking at the Take 5 strategy
for teachers, making every
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student feel like the most
important person in the room.
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So let's talk about it.
What is the Take 5 strategy?
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I am currently listening to the
book Creating Magic by Lee
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Cockerel.
It was suggested to me by a
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wonderful colleague, Doctor Amy
Orville.
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And Lee Cockerel is the former
executive vice president of
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operations for Walt Disney.
He was there for 10 years.
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And in one of his chapters, he
describes a quick strategy
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called Take 5.
And it's based on Disney's
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culture.
So Take fives are spontaneous
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moments where cast members,
they've been trained to look for
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opportunities to do something
special for guests.
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For example, child looks an ice
cream cone.
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The ice cream falls off the
cone.
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The cast member replaces it for
free, asking a little girl who's
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dressed up in her favorite
Princess dress for their
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autograph.
Maybe sharing some history about
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a ride or a fun fact about the
park.
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So just some different ways to
make guests feel honored and
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special.
Just to go above and beyond just
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that little minute, just that
little bit.
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And they're called Take Fives
because they take under 5
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minutes, usually about 5 seconds
to blow a guest.
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Mine just through real world
acts of kindness and just
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showing up for people.
Because in his.
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Book Lee Cockerel shares that
magic isn't a grand gesture.
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It's a moment of deliberate
noticing.
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And if you remember back in
previous episodes of the End of
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Magic podcast, I talked about
the empower of noticing your
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students, pausing, taking a
minute and noticing something
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about your student and sharing
that because it goes and it
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shows the student that they're
respected, appreciated, and
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valued.
This is exactly the same thing.
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It's deliberate noticing where a
cast member pauses, takes the
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time to show, hey, I see you and
you matter.
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And that's exactly what we do as
teachers, right?
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That's what we do every day.
So in this episode, we're going
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to talk about how this Take 5
strategy relates to teaching,
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and we're going to give some
examples.
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Now I do have them separated
into grade levels, but they
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could work across different
grade levels if you would like.
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And if you wanted to, you can.
Also incorporate these in the
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professional development or in
professional learning
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communities if you are a coach
or maybe in higher Ed, using it
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as a way to model for your
college students, your future
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teachers, how to use this
strategy in their classroom.
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All right, so let's go ahead and
talk about that.
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So the Take 5 strategy relates
beautifully into the classroom
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and his book Lee Cockrell shares
about leadership principles and
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one of them is everyone's
important.
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And in the book he.
Means everybody.
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And he talks about the rave
theory, but maybe I'll talk
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about another episode.
The respect, appreciate, value,
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everyone.
And this is exactly what we do
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as teachers in inclusive
learning environments.
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We create these spaces where
everybody is valued, supported,
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appreciated for the unique
individual that they are.
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So every student that comes into
your classroom, take try to do a
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take 5.
Let's go ahead and look at a few
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examples because these take
fives, they don't cost anything.
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But remember that phrase.
Kids don't remember that test
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you gave or, or that worksheet.
They remember how they how you
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made them feel.
That's exactly what this is
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going for.
And this can be something that a
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student remembers for the rest
of their life.
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All right, so a take 5 for some
K to 12 examples.
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Let's go ahead and talk about
early education.
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When when I was listening to the
book and he shared about the
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child in the Princess dress and
getting her autograph, I thought
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that was really cool.
So I think it might be neat if
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you were given some artwork from
a little one, ask them to sign
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it because you can then display
it maybe in a frame or on the
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fridge, or maybe you have a
bulletin board that has plastic
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sleeves that you can put in
there.
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Each of their artwork or each of
something that they're proud of.
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So it's not all the same
assignment or assessment.
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Students can pick and choose
what they're proud of and
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display that in their plastic
sleeve and then have them sign
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their work just to show, hey,
I'm a legit artist or I'm a
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writer or something like that.
Another one, super easy right
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off the bat, greet every student
by name.
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And we've seen something like
this where teachers have secret
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handshakes with students,
individualized handshakes with
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students, high fives, all those
wonderful things.
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Maybe you've also seen the
example of students can choose
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how they want to be greeted.
Like a fist bump, a high 5.
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Something like that, that's
really cool too.
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Thumbs up.
All kinds of stuff you can do
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there.
But you can add a little bit
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more in addition to, hey, good
morning Amy, how are you doing
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today?
And a little bit to it.
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So how was the play last night?
How was rehearsal?
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How was Girl Scouts?
Whatever that child is into, you
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can ask them about it and just
make a little note and remember
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to ask them.
I've seen this next one in a lot
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of different kindergarten and
1st grade classrooms where they
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have something like student of
the day or student student of
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the week, a guest of honor.
This is something where I've
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seen it done different ways.
One is during morning meeting,
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the student gets to sit in a
special chair, maybe it's the
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special reading chair or
whatever, and they get to share
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about their family.
They get to share about their
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hobbies, their interests,
something throughout the week
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that was a specific question
that they get asked by their
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peers and they get to share
about it.
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I've also seen this.
Done on bulletin boards where
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there's a student of the week or
student of the month and they
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bring in pictures of themselves
and their families and their
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friends and they decorate A
bulletin board that's up for the
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month for them.
My favorite is relates back to
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Danielson's framework where it
talks about communicating with
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families.
Remember teachers, you do not
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want your first communication to
families be something negative.
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You want it to set that positive
tone.
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So.
Make a mental note.
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Observe what students are doing.
Notice what they did, Did they
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help out a friend?
Did they support a peer?
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Did they help somebody out or
jot it down?
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And throughout that first week,
make sure every student has one
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thing that you noticed about
them and send a positive note
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home.
That's a great way to set the
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stage for positive parent
communication, positive student
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interaction.
All right, upper elementary.
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Let's talk about some ideas for
3rd through 5th grade.
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So if a student's returning a
paper or maybe they're.
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Doing a research project on an
animal, you can ask them, oh
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hey, I saw you wrote about my
daughter loves cats, so you
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wrote about cats.
You research cats.
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Do you have one at home?
And if you know my daughter, you
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know everything about our cats.
That way the student feels seen,
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they feel heard, and they can
talk about their passion and
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their excitement.
What about something where you
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share with the student?
Hey I noticed so something like.
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Hey, I noticed you're doing.
Really Well this week you're
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focusing on your work.
You have really improved on your
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spelling test this week from
last week.
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I noticed that you have a new
friend with you eating lunch.
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I noticed that you were really
good in the hallway with
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transitions, whatever that is.
So it shows that the.
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Student is progressing and
you're honoring the progress and
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the process instead of just the
final product.
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What about having a student or
groups of students come eat
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lunch with you in your
classroom?
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What did that be?
Fun?
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And it's just to get to know
them and have them get to know
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you have you get to know them a
little bit and just have them
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eat lunch, maybe have a special
snack and students and you can
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rotate that until every student
gets in to have lunch with you.
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Just a nice little small group
type thing where they can chat
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with you, snap and eat and talk.
So I think that's really fun
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too.
All right, let's talk about
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middle schools where it gets a
little awkward, right?
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We got puberty, we got stuff
going on.
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So for this one, maybe give a
private acknowledgement.
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Jon it down on a post it note,
pop it on their desk so they can
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see it.
So you're like praising them
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privately, but you're giving
them a little sticky.
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I think that'd be really fun
that they can see it, connect
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with students, show them that
you know about something that
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they like.
Maybe they're really into video
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gaming, so maybe share about how
today's lesson relates to video
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gaming or basketball or whatever
is going on in their life or
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whatever it is pop culture thing
there is using check insurance
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with students.
This is really easy on a tool
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called Classroom Screen and I
have a wonderful post about it.
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I'll post it in the show notes.
You can check it out.
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Classroom Screen has wonderful
little check insurance.
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They can be anonymous where
students can check in and share
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how they're feeling.
That's just a nice way to see
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how students are doing.
Or you can use a Google Form or
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Microsoft form if you want it to
be wanted to have their names so
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you can follow up have students
catch.
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Them.
Outside of class, maybe attend
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their rehearsal or attend their
games or attend their concerts.
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Wouldn't that be fun?
They get to see you outside of
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class and it shows.
Hey, I'm invested in you.
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All right, let's talk about high
school.
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So for example, something that
you could say to students that
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would just really take that 5
seconds would be if you have a
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student who's doing very well,
they're they hand in quality
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work, they're on time, they're
punctual, you'll have their
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energy.
Like you're really vibing with
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that student.
You can say you know what, when
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you need a letter of
recommendation, please make sure
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you come and talk to me.
You can do something like that.
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And that way it's an intentional
little nudge.
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Hey, when you need those letters
or recommendations, please come
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and talk to me.
You can have students who maybe
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that this one reminds me of 20%
time where it's a passion
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project that students love.
And you can do that in your
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classrooms where you get 20%
time for students to invest in a
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hobby that they like and they
become the experts on and then
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they can share about that to the
class.
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So that's just a fun way to get
to know students and have them
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get to know each other.
And then as students leave, just
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be like, hey, really nice job
today.
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I really like how you
participated or you showed up
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today.
It really matters.
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Something like that.
As students leave, you can just
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say something really quiet and
meaningful to them.
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So the biggest take away for me
from the attacks by Lee Cockrell
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was don't leave these moments to
chance.
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Make it a habit.
Look for those things who
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haven't you connected with this
week.
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Keep a note or a tally that
shows, hey, did every student
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get noticed this week, this
month?
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These moments of belonging and
value can really help a student
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who's struggling or just might
need to be noticed.
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And these take fives are a great
way to do that.
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So in his book Lee Cockerel
shares, Disney's magic isn't
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magic at all.
It's the intentional, trained
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behavior of people who decided
that every guest deserves to
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00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:17,000
feel like the most important
person in the park.
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00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:21,720
So what if every teacher walked
in their classroom tomorrow
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asking who in this room needs me
to take 5 today?
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It's not extra.
It's what we do as teachers.
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So I hope you take that
challenge.
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Take 5 this week, see who you
can notice intentionally and
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just share that with them.
Make them feel like they're the
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00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:42,440
most important person in the
room.
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00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:45,840
Make them feel I see you and you
matter.
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00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:48,960
Guess what friends?
If no one's told you today, you
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00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:51,400
matter and I appreciate you
listening.
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00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:55,320
Today's episode.
Have a fabulous day and remember
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00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:57,360
you have the edge of magic
within you.
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Bye for now.
And there you have it, Edu
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00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:11,440
Magicians.
If you enjoyed this episode,
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00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:14,320
please subscribe and share it
with your friends.
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00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:20,560
For more Edu Magic, check out S
fessage.com and follow Doctor
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00:13:20,560 --> 00:13:24,560
Sam on Twitter and Instagram at
S fessage.
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00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:28,600
Until next time you have the Edu
Magic within you.
00:00:02,760 --> 00:00:07,280
Hello Edu Magicians, welcome to
the Edu Magic podcast with your
2
00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:11,480
host, Doctor Sam Fessich.
Doctor Sam is a professor of
3
00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:16,239
education, author of Edu Magic,
and a Pumpkin Spice Latte fan.
4
00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:19,720
This podcast is designed for pre
service teachers.
5
00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,480
Remember friends, teaching
doesn't begin at graduation, but
6
00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:25,600
during that first class at 8:00
AM.
7
00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:32,800
Let's get this party started.
This podcast is a crowd member
8
00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:36,080
of the Teach Better Podcast
Network, Better Today, Better
9
00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,440
Tomorrow, and the podcast to get
you there.
10
00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:44,160
Explore more podcasts at
www.teachbetterpodcastnetwork.com.
11
00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:49,560
Now let's get on to the episode.
Hello magicians, and welcome
12
00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:52,200
back to another episode, the
Edgy Magic Podcast.
13
00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,160
My name is Doctor Sam Fessage,
and today we're going to be
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00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:59,600
looking at the Take 5 strategy
for teachers, making every
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00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,560
student feel like the most
important person in the room.
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00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,680
So let's talk about it.
What is the Take 5 strategy?
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00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:08,920
I am currently listening to the
book Creating Magic by Lee
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00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:10,800
Cockerel.
It was suggested to me by a
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00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:12,880
wonderful colleague, Doctor Amy
Orville.
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00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:16,520
And Lee Cockerel is the former
executive vice president of
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00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:19,840
operations for Walt Disney.
He was there for 10 years.
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00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:24,560
And in one of his chapters, he
describes a quick strategy
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00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:27,640
called Take 5.
And it's based on Disney's
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00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,640
culture.
So Take fives are spontaneous
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00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:34,280
moments where cast members,
they've been trained to look for
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00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:37,480
opportunities to do something
special for guests.
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00:01:37,960 --> 00:01:40,760
For example, child looks an ice
cream cone.
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00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:42,920
The ice cream falls off the
cone.
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00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:47,160
The cast member replaces it for
free, asking a little girl who's
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00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:50,480
dressed up in her favorite
Princess dress for their
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00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:53,440
autograph.
Maybe sharing some history about
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00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:55,760
a ride or a fun fact about the
park.
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00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:59,400
So just some different ways to
make guests feel honored and
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00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:01,880
special.
Just to go above and beyond just
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00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:03,520
that little minute, just that
little bit.
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00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:06,760
And they're called Take Fives
because they take under 5
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00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:09,600
minutes, usually about 5 seconds
to blow a guest.
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00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:14,760
Mine just through real world
acts of kindness and just
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00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:17,600
showing up for people.
Because in his.
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00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:21,160
Book Lee Cockerel shares that
magic isn't a grand gesture.
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00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:23,840
It's a moment of deliberate
noticing.
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00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:27,640
And if you remember back in
previous episodes of the End of
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00:02:27,640 --> 00:02:31,720
Magic podcast, I talked about
the empower of noticing your
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00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:34,760
students, pausing, taking a
minute and noticing something
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00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:37,640
about your student and sharing
that because it goes and it
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00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:40,480
shows the student that they're
respected, appreciated, and
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00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:43,040
valued.
This is exactly the same thing.
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00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:47,320
It's deliberate noticing where a
cast member pauses, takes the
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00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:52,240
time to show, hey, I see you and
you matter.
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00:02:52,640 --> 00:02:55,120
And that's exactly what we do as
teachers, right?
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00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:59,120
That's what we do every day.
So in this episode, we're going
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00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:03,000
to talk about how this Take 5
strategy relates to teaching,
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00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:04,640
and we're going to give some
examples.
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00:03:04,640 --> 00:03:07,480
Now I do have them separated
into grade levels, but they
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00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:10,920
could work across different
grade levels if you would like.
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00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,120
And if you wanted to, you can.
Also incorporate these in the
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00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:18,400
professional development or in
professional learning
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00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:22,840
communities if you are a coach
or maybe in higher Ed, using it
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00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:25,760
as a way to model for your
college students, your future
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00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:28,760
teachers, how to use this
strategy in their classroom.
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00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:31,640
All right, so let's go ahead and
talk about that.
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00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:38,000
So the Take 5 strategy relates
beautifully into the classroom
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00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:42,280
and his book Lee Cockrell shares
about leadership principles and
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00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:44,680
one of them is everyone's
important.
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00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:47,640
And in the book he.
Means everybody.
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00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:51,560
And he talks about the rave
theory, but maybe I'll talk
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00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:54,120
about another episode.
The respect, appreciate, value,
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00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:57,280
everyone.
And this is exactly what we do
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00:03:57,280 --> 00:03:59,560
as teachers in inclusive
learning environments.
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00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:03,760
We create these spaces where
everybody is valued, supported,
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00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:07,080
appreciated for the unique
individual that they are.
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00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:12,840
So every student that comes into
your classroom, take try to do a
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00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:15,080
take 5.
Let's go ahead and look at a few
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00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:18,959
examples because these take
fives, they don't cost anything.
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00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:23,720
But remember that phrase.
Kids don't remember that test
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00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:27,520
you gave or, or that worksheet.
They remember how they how you
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00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,160
made them feel.
That's exactly what this is
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00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:32,320
going for.
And this can be something that a
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00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:34,280
student remembers for the rest
of their life.
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00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:39,800
All right, so a take 5 for some
K to 12 examples.
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00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:41,840
Let's go ahead and talk about
early education.
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00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:46,600
When when I was listening to the
book and he shared about the
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00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,080
child in the Princess dress and
getting her autograph, I thought
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00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:53,720
that was really cool.
So I think it might be neat if
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00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:57,280
you were given some artwork from
a little one, ask them to sign
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00:04:57,280 --> 00:05:01,080
it because you can then display
it maybe in a frame or on the
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00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:05,040
fridge, or maybe you have a
bulletin board that has plastic
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00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:06,600
sleeves that you can put in
there.
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00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:09,960
Each of their artwork or each of
something that they're proud of.
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00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:12,800
So it's not all the same
assignment or assessment.
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00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:15,400
Students can pick and choose
what they're proud of and
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00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:18,560
display that in their plastic
sleeve and then have them sign
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00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:21,960
their work just to show, hey,
I'm a legit artist or I'm a
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00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:26,080
writer or something like that.
Another one, super easy right
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00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:28,400
off the bat, greet every student
by name.
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00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:31,280
And we've seen something like
this where teachers have secret
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00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:34,040
handshakes with students,
individualized handshakes with
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00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:36,480
students, high fives, all those
wonderful things.
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00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:39,600
Maybe you've also seen the
example of students can choose
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00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:43,640
how they want to be greeted.
Like a fist bump, a high 5.
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00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:46,320
Something like that, that's
really cool too.
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00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:48,440
Thumbs up.
All kinds of stuff you can do
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00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:50,480
there.
But you can add a little bit
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more in addition to, hey, good
morning Amy, how are you doing
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00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:55,600
today?
And a little bit to it.
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00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:59,000
So how was the play last night?
How was rehearsal?
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00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:02,520
How was Girl Scouts?
Whatever that child is into, you
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00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:05,320
can ask them about it and just
make a little note and remember
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00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:09,360
to ask them.
I've seen this next one in a lot
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00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:12,360
of different kindergarten and
1st grade classrooms where they
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00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:17,280
have something like student of
the day or student student of
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00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:20,480
the week, a guest of honor.
This is something where I've
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00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:23,720
seen it done different ways.
One is during morning meeting,
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00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:27,560
the student gets to sit in a
special chair, maybe it's the
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00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:30,920
special reading chair or
whatever, and they get to share
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00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:33,840
about their family.
They get to share about their
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00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:37,600
hobbies, their interests,
something throughout the week
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00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:40,240
that was a specific question
that they get asked by their
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00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:41,800
peers and they get to share
about it.
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00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:45,080
I've also seen this.
Done on bulletin boards where
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00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:48,040
there's a student of the week or
student of the month and they
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00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:50,760
bring in pictures of themselves
and their families and their
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00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:53,960
friends and they decorate A
bulletin board that's up for the
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00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:58,440
month for them.
My favorite is relates back to
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00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:01,440
Danielson's framework where it
talks about communicating with
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00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:03,520
families.
Remember teachers, you do not
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00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:06,520
want your first communication to
families be something negative.
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00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:09,040
You want it to set that positive
tone.
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00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:12,240
So.
Make a mental note.
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00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:15,800
Observe what students are doing.
Notice what they did, Did they
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00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:19,120
help out a friend?
Did they support a peer?
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00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:22,160
Did they help somebody out or
jot it down?
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00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:25,240
And throughout that first week,
make sure every student has one
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thing that you noticed about
them and send a positive note
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00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:29,560
home.
That's a great way to set the
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00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:33,280
stage for positive parent
communication, positive student
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00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:35,840
interaction.
All right, upper elementary.
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00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:40,400
Let's talk about some ideas for
3rd through 5th grade.
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So if a student's returning a
paper or maybe they're.
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Doing a research project on an
animal, you can ask them, oh
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00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:51,280
hey, I saw you wrote about my
daughter loves cats, so you
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00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:53,120
wrote about cats.
You research cats.
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00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:55,720
Do you have one at home?
And if you know my daughter, you
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00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:59,640
know everything about our cats.
That way the student feels seen,
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00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:03,120
they feel heard, and they can
talk about their passion and
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00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:07,080
their excitement.
What about something where you
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00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:10,400
share with the student?
Hey I noticed so something like.
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00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:12,760
Hey, I noticed you're doing.
Really Well this week you're
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00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:15,800
focusing on your work.
You have really improved on your
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00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:17,960
spelling test this week from
last week.
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00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:21,400
I noticed that you have a new
friend with you eating lunch.
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00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:24,240
I noticed that you were really
good in the hallway with
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transitions, whatever that is.
So it shows that the.
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Student is progressing and
you're honoring the progress and
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the process instead of just the
final product.
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00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:39,039
What about having a student or
groups of students come eat
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00:08:39,039 --> 00:08:40,320
lunch with you in your
classroom?
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00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:41,360
What did that be?
Fun?
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00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:44,800
And it's just to get to know
them and have them get to know
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00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:48,360
you have you get to know them a
little bit and just have them
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00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:52,040
eat lunch, maybe have a special
snack and students and you can
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00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:55,200
rotate that until every student
gets in to have lunch with you.
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00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:58,840
Just a nice little small group
type thing where they can chat
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00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:02,040
with you, snap and eat and talk.
So I think that's really fun
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00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:05,560
too.
All right, let's talk about
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00:09:05,560 --> 00:09:07,520
middle schools where it gets a
little awkward, right?
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00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:09,160
We got puberty, we got stuff
going on.
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00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:13,280
So for this one, maybe give a
private acknowledgement.
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00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:17,240
Jon it down on a post it note,
pop it on their desk so they can
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00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:21,560
see it.
So you're like praising them
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00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:23,680
privately, but you're giving
them a little sticky.
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00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:26,960
I think that'd be really fun
that they can see it, connect
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00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:29,800
with students, show them that
you know about something that
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00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:31,960
they like.
Maybe they're really into video
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00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:35,400
gaming, so maybe share about how
today's lesson relates to video
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00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:38,720
gaming or basketball or whatever
is going on in their life or
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00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:42,320
whatever it is pop culture thing
there is using check insurance
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00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:44,560
with students.
This is really easy on a tool
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called Classroom Screen and I
have a wonderful post about it.
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I'll post it in the show notes.
You can check it out.
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Classroom Screen has wonderful
little check insurance.
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They can be anonymous where
students can check in and share
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00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,800
how they're feeling.
That's just a nice way to see
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00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:00,760
how students are doing.
Or you can use a Google Form or
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00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:03,920
Microsoft form if you want it to
be wanted to have their names so
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00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:07,760
you can follow up have students
catch.
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00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:09,960
Them.
Outside of class, maybe attend
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00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:15,800
their rehearsal or attend their
games or attend their concerts.
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00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:18,640
Wouldn't that be fun?
They get to see you outside of
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00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:21,280
class and it shows.
Hey, I'm invested in you.
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00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:23,840
All right, let's talk about high
school.
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00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:29,080
So for example, something that
you could say to students that
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00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:32,600
would just really take that 5
seconds would be if you have a
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00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:35,680
student who's doing very well,
they're they hand in quality
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00:10:35,680 --> 00:10:37,640
work, they're on time, they're
punctual, you'll have their
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00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:39,160
energy.
Like you're really vibing with
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00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:41,280
that student.
You can say you know what, when
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00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:43,400
you need a letter of
recommendation, please make sure
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00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:45,440
you come and talk to me.
You can do something like that.
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00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:48,400
And that way it's an intentional
little nudge.
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00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:51,160
Hey, when you need those letters
or recommendations, please come
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00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:56,160
and talk to me.
You can have students who maybe
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00:10:56,160 --> 00:11:02,600
that this one reminds me of 20%
time where it's a passion
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00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:05,360
project that students love.
And you can do that in your
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00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:08,920
classrooms where you get 20%
time for students to invest in a
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00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:11,360
hobby that they like and they
become the experts on and then
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00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:14,120
they can share about that to the
class.
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00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:16,800
So that's just a fun way to get
to know students and have them
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00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:21,520
get to know each other.
And then as students leave, just
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be like, hey, really nice job
today.
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I really like how you
participated or you showed up
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today.
It really matters.
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Something like that.
As students leave, you can just
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say something really quiet and
meaningful to them.
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So the biggest take away for me
from the attacks by Lee Cockrell
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00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:44,920
was don't leave these moments to
chance.
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00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:47,240
Make it a habit.
Look for those things who
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00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:48,840
haven't you connected with this
week.
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00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:52,320
Keep a note or a tally that
shows, hey, did every student
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00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:54,080
get noticed this week, this
month?
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These moments of belonging and
value can really help a student
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who's struggling or just might
need to be noticed.
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00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:05,120
And these take fives are a great
way to do that.
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So in his book Lee Cockerel
shares, Disney's magic isn't
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00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:11,600
magic at all.
It's the intentional, trained
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00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:15,000
behavior of people who decided
that every guest deserves to
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feel like the most important
person in the park.
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00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:21,720
So what if every teacher walked
in their classroom tomorrow
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asking who in this room needs me
to take 5 today?
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It's not extra.
It's what we do as teachers.
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00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:31,200
So I hope you take that
challenge.
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Take 5 this week, see who you
can notice intentionally and
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just share that with them.
Make them feel like they're the
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most important person in the
room.
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00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:45,840
Make them feel I see you and you
matter.
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00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:48,960
Guess what friends?
If no one's told you today, you
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00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:51,400
matter and I appreciate you
listening.
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00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:55,320
Today's episode.
Have a fabulous day and remember
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00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:57,360
you have the edge of magic
within you.
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00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:08,480
Bye for now.
And there you have it, Edu
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00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:11,440
Magicians.
If you enjoyed this episode,
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00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:14,320
please subscribe and share it
with your friends.
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00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:20,560
For more Edu Magic, check out S
fessage.com and follow Doctor
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00:13:20,560 --> 00:13:24,560
Sam on Twitter and Instagram at
S fessage.
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00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:28,600
Until next time you have the Edu
Magic within you.