christmas ornaments
Energy,  Focused Attention,  Transitioning,  Willpower

Boss of the Day

Bharati is a master EFL teacher who taught at Living Wisdom in Beaverton for 15 years and now fills as a teacher whenever there is a need. She was recently filling in for Usha, teaching Communication/Language Arts to the 3rdgrade class. Since the class is 3-4-5th grade, the 3rd graders leave the classroom to do work, and they often work in a multipurpose room at the school.

On this day, the room had recently been drastically changed. All of the Christmas decorations were up. As is perfectly natural, the students were excited, and instantly were drawn to explore the room. Bharati let the students explore for a few minutes, but it could have taken up the entire learning period.

The 3rd graders have a routine called “Boss of the Day”. The Boss’s job is to direct the students in efficiently setting up the classroom area in the store. To shift their attention, Bharati simply pulled out her stopwatch and told the Boss of the Day, “Let’s see how quickly and quietly you can get everything set up.” Suddenly, the boss and the rest of the students were super-focused on setting up. They were quite pleased with themselves when they heard the result – it had taken them only one minute and twenty one seconds! It was completely their choice to participate in the setting up and they were driven and engaged.

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