Imagine a tablet project, which is starting off very slowly as it is, where the classes are already going on for about two months, but the tablets still couldn't be handed out.
The goal is to provide a couple of classes with some tablets to work with. These tablets should be used in almost all subjects. They won't be individual tablets per se, but there will be enough of them, so that almost everyone in the class is able to use one.
As I mentioned before, the school year has already started. Ideally the tablets should be used right from the get go, but in this case there has been a delay. Now this is where the first part of the question comes in, why the delay?
The tablets couldn't be delivered, because, apart from some random preparing of the administrator settings, the tablets will be outfitted with an anti-virus app/program. So the follow-up question now becomes, why is it necessary to install this, especially while well knowing what kind of delay it causes?
Doesn't this bring up great teaching possibilities? For one, this seems like the perfect time for the kids to talk and learn about internet security. Basic questions like, why do we have/need such programming, do you think it is necessary, what can we do to prevent mishaps etc.
Secondly, if someone decides that it is absolutely necessary to install it, why not let the kids do it? It seems like an ideal time for kids to learn about how to get started with a tablet, what kind of settings to use and how installing works. By handing them a fully equipped tablet, you take away many interesting and useful learning opportunities.
Why is that? Even if its a theoretical issue, how do you go about solving it?
Posts mit dem Label thought a week werden angezeigt. Alle Posts anzeigen
Posts mit dem Label thought a week werden angezeigt. Alle Posts anzeigen
Donnerstag, 29. Oktober 2015
Samstag, 4. Februar 2012
thought a week - feedback and teacher training
The last week of every semester our groups get together with our teachers to reflect and talk about the teaching practice. Depending on the leading teacher, this talk can go either in the direction of self-evaluation or just feedbacking about the teaching experience and the teacher.
I have experienced both scenarios with a different set-up. One time we had a pretty big group, with about 30 to 35 student-teachers and six to seven teachers and we’re supposed to give feedback on our experience. Another time we had only ten to 15 student-teachers with two or three teachers and we had to talk about our personal development and reflect on it.
From my point of view, the differences in content and arrangement made a huge difference in the style and outcome of the whole discussion.
If you have a big group with a lot of different people in it, with some of them you may have closer relationship and others might seem more unfamiliar. And now you are supposed to share very personal thoughts about your experience in school. I can imagine that is not easy to do. There are more outgoing people in this group too, for whom it’s not hard to share stuff like that, but I’d say for the most part (and especially in the beginning of teacher-training) there are more conservative people.
With the previous thought in my mind, I expected that it’s going be an awkward silence with nobody really speaking up. But the thing that was a surprise for me that somehow the exact opposite happened. Unfortunately not in a good way. Everyone spoke pretty openly about their experiences and about their teacher, but everyone was giving way too positive feedback. Not only that, but each one was scratching on the surface with their feedback.
It was 20 times almost the exact same monologue, ‘yes, I really learned a lot and I really enjoyed the experience’. And the really weird part was when most of the teachers replied in the same way, ‘yes, it was the best student group I had in a long time, they worked really good...’ and so on.
Now I know that every group (we had smaller groups of two to three student-teachers in a semester) had really good conversation with their teacher in private, in a confidential little circle, where was just the two other student-teachers and your teacher. During these meetings everyone opened up about their experiences and feelings and also gave valuable feedback to one another and the teacher. So in this case, I just don’t understand why it is forced onto bigger groups to do a group-talk, because it was obvious that nobody spoke honestly, and it’s understandable. On the other hand, it was great to talk with people who where closer to you during the whole semester, and nobody had a problem to share and give good feedback.
In the other scenario, I saw some other issues. First of all it was way better to talk in a smaller group, you wouldn't think that ten student-teacher really make that much of difference but it does. The other part was the self-evaluation process. The teachers asked everyone to talk about what they think their strength might be and what they’re planning on focusing for their future development. And their teachers were supposed to comment on that, and either confirm it or just give them some advice and encouragement. And out of this group, I’d say only two students said something about their weakness and that they want to work on a certain part. And also, there was only one student where the teacher said that he really needs to work on something, or that it might not be suiting for him to work with kids.
So even though the group was more private and the task was different it still ended up with the same results. Nobody was really honest in describing how they felt about themselves and nobody got valuable feedback for their development.
Giving valuable and appropriate feedback is enormously difficult, so not surprising to see almost everybody struggle with it.
We tend to think that we could hurt the persons feeling by giving feedback, so instead we don’t say anything or we say something superficial and overly positive.
It is extremely hard not to judge immediatly and get personal, we have to take a little time, really think about it and formulate a proper answer.
Easier said then done, but it’s actually not that hard to talk about something objectively, and explain what one saw and how one experienced it, and then suggest a solution based on that.
I think it’s really important to know about giving valuable feedback, because both parties can benefit. And especially if it’s needed in education or for a job, then all the participants should be taught about proper feedback and what they need to understand about the whole process.
I have experienced both scenarios with a different set-up. One time we had a pretty big group, with about 30 to 35 student-teachers and six to seven teachers and we’re supposed to give feedback on our experience. Another time we had only ten to 15 student-teachers with two or three teachers and we had to talk about our personal development and reflect on it.
From my point of view, the differences in content and arrangement made a huge difference in the style and outcome of the whole discussion.
If you have a big group with a lot of different people in it, with some of them you may have closer relationship and others might seem more unfamiliar. And now you are supposed to share very personal thoughts about your experience in school. I can imagine that is not easy to do. There are more outgoing people in this group too, for whom it’s not hard to share stuff like that, but I’d say for the most part (and especially in the beginning of teacher-training) there are more conservative people.
With the previous thought in my mind, I expected that it’s going be an awkward silence with nobody really speaking up. But the thing that was a surprise for me that somehow the exact opposite happened. Unfortunately not in a good way. Everyone spoke pretty openly about their experiences and about their teacher, but everyone was giving way too positive feedback. Not only that, but each one was scratching on the surface with their feedback.
It was 20 times almost the exact same monologue, ‘yes, I really learned a lot and I really enjoyed the experience’. And the really weird part was when most of the teachers replied in the same way, ‘yes, it was the best student group I had in a long time, they worked really good...’ and so on.
Now I know that every group (we had smaller groups of two to three student-teachers in a semester) had really good conversation with their teacher in private, in a confidential little circle, where was just the two other student-teachers and your teacher. During these meetings everyone opened up about their experiences and feelings and also gave valuable feedback to one another and the teacher. So in this case, I just don’t understand why it is forced onto bigger groups to do a group-talk, because it was obvious that nobody spoke honestly, and it’s understandable. On the other hand, it was great to talk with people who where closer to you during the whole semester, and nobody had a problem to share and give good feedback.
In the other scenario, I saw some other issues. First of all it was way better to talk in a smaller group, you wouldn't think that ten student-teacher really make that much of difference but it does. The other part was the self-evaluation process. The teachers asked everyone to talk about what they think their strength might be and what they’re planning on focusing for their future development. And their teachers were supposed to comment on that, and either confirm it or just give them some advice and encouragement. And out of this group, I’d say only two students said something about their weakness and that they want to work on a certain part. And also, there was only one student where the teacher said that he really needs to work on something, or that it might not be suiting for him to work with kids.
So even though the group was more private and the task was different it still ended up with the same results. Nobody was really honest in describing how they felt about themselves and nobody got valuable feedback for their development.
Giving valuable and appropriate feedback is enormously difficult, so not surprising to see almost everybody struggle with it.
We tend to think that we could hurt the persons feeling by giving feedback, so instead we don’t say anything or we say something superficial and overly positive.
It is extremely hard not to judge immediatly and get personal, we have to take a little time, really think about it and formulate a proper answer.
Easier said then done, but it’s actually not that hard to talk about something objectively, and explain what one saw and how one experienced it, and then suggest a solution based on that.
I think it’s really important to know about giving valuable feedback, because both parties can benefit. And especially if it’s needed in education or for a job, then all the participants should be taught about proper feedback and what they need to understand about the whole process.
Samstag, 28. Januar 2012
thought a week - creating and filling a lesson plan
Even tough there are plenty of lesson plan templates out there, working with a lesson plan and actually filling it can be very hard for student teachers in the beginning. If you are fortunate enough you get to know all sorts of different styles of lesson plans during your studies. Our professors always told us that it’s not mandatory to use this or that specific lesson plan, but it’s key to know what’s out there and how to work with all the different versions.
But in this post, I won’t talk about lesson plans and how you’re supposed to use them. I’d like to write about the creative process that goes behind designing a lesson.
I believe it’s very important for student teachers to find out how and when you get your creative side out while designing a lesson plan. At first I struggled with these things. When I had to design a lesson we sat together with our teacher and we got all the basic information about what we need to do. Just the main theme to the lesson, what skills we should focus on and what material we can/should use and so on. During those sessions I felt pretty much lost. It sounded like way too much and kind of overwhelming. Intuitively I thought, ‘that is absolutely too much and I don’t even know where to start’.
Of course the first thing you start to do, without even thinking about if it actually makes sense, you just sit down and try to work something out with the input you got. As the hours went by and no progress was in sight, I decided to take a break and let it rest. It was frustrating because you like to get the lesson done as soon as possible, especially if you know what kind of lesson you want. Since we had enough time to finish the planning, I thought it’s not a problem if I just came back to it the next day. Two days later I was supposed to meet up with my colleague in the library to work on the lesson plan. I arrived earlier then the appointed time, but I thought to myself I’ll just wait till he arrives. So as time went by I started to do something else, checking up on seminars and so on. But right at this point the back of my mind starting working. And right in the middle of it, I just took out our template and started to fill it out. After that, it was smooth. By the time my colleague arrived I completed the lesson plan and the only thing he needed to do was check and fill out his closing sequence.
The next time I planned a lesson, I tried a different approach. First of all, at the planning session with our teacher, I just made sure I listened carefully, took notes and nothing more. No immediate planning and no thinking about the lesson. The next step was to stay calm and relaxed and let it come to me. And thankfully it worked again. This time I was writing something completely different for on of my seminars when it hit me. Again, I just took out my sheets and notes, and started working.
Now this all sounds easy, but the point I’m trying to get across is that it may take some time to figure out how and when you have your ‘creative bursts’. I remember planning one of my lessons sitting in the tram. I was on my way home and these ideas popped in to my head, only thing I needed to do, take down notes and write it down properly when I’m home.
It really helped in the sense, that I’m calmer in the beginning, I don’t worry when I’m starting, I just try to let it flow somehow.
As soon as you figured out if you’re the kind that gets a lesson done, while researching everything from the first minute on, or you have to wait one or two days and sit down quietly and then get to work, or maybe you are like me and you have creative bursts and the ideas come when they may.
But in this post, I won’t talk about lesson plans and how you’re supposed to use them. I’d like to write about the creative process that goes behind designing a lesson.
I believe it’s very important for student teachers to find out how and when you get your creative side out while designing a lesson plan. At first I struggled with these things. When I had to design a lesson we sat together with our teacher and we got all the basic information about what we need to do. Just the main theme to the lesson, what skills we should focus on and what material we can/should use and so on. During those sessions I felt pretty much lost. It sounded like way too much and kind of overwhelming. Intuitively I thought, ‘that is absolutely too much and I don’t even know where to start’.
Of course the first thing you start to do, without even thinking about if it actually makes sense, you just sit down and try to work something out with the input you got. As the hours went by and no progress was in sight, I decided to take a break and let it rest. It was frustrating because you like to get the lesson done as soon as possible, especially if you know what kind of lesson you want. Since we had enough time to finish the planning, I thought it’s not a problem if I just came back to it the next day. Two days later I was supposed to meet up with my colleague in the library to work on the lesson plan. I arrived earlier then the appointed time, but I thought to myself I’ll just wait till he arrives. So as time went by I started to do something else, checking up on seminars and so on. But right at this point the back of my mind starting working. And right in the middle of it, I just took out our template and started to fill it out. After that, it was smooth. By the time my colleague arrived I completed the lesson plan and the only thing he needed to do was check and fill out his closing sequence.
The next time I planned a lesson, I tried a different approach. First of all, at the planning session with our teacher, I just made sure I listened carefully, took notes and nothing more. No immediate planning and no thinking about the lesson. The next step was to stay calm and relaxed and let it come to me. And thankfully it worked again. This time I was writing something completely different for on of my seminars when it hit me. Again, I just took out my sheets and notes, and started working.
Now this all sounds easy, but the point I’m trying to get across is that it may take some time to figure out how and when you have your ‘creative bursts’. I remember planning one of my lessons sitting in the tram. I was on my way home and these ideas popped in to my head, only thing I needed to do, take down notes and write it down properly when I’m home.
It really helped in the sense, that I’m calmer in the beginning, I don’t worry when I’m starting, I just try to let it flow somehow.
As soon as you figured out if you’re the kind that gets a lesson done, while researching everything from the first minute on, or you have to wait one or two days and sit down quietly and then get to work, or maybe you are like me and you have creative bursts and the ideas come when they may.
Samstag, 21. Januar 2012
thought a week - designing a test, englishman or mathematician?
Even though I didn't have the opportunity to design a test for school yet, I had the pleasure to be the part of the thinking process several times.
Two weeks ago we talked about designing a written test for the first grade.
It was a little different from the last planning session I was part of. This time it was supposed to be a shorter test, it should take no more than 25 minutes. The last time we designed one it was way more more extensive - the test lasted an hour.
But the two main differences I took away from both planning session was that the teaching background does have a pretty big impact on the design of the test, the evaluation and the basic instructions.
For me, you can divide the test forms by your teaching background. Here’s a look at the two:
Englishman-background (mostly language teachers): they’re used to do creative writing, a lot of dialogues and reading in their lessons.
These methods give the kids more freedom to be creative, but you still can lead them on to various topics you like to work on. Now because of this, you can’t really have a standardized grading-scheme. You have to take a lot of things into account while marking; the length, the depth, grammar and so on.
These tests tend to be very open with a lot of writing.
Mathematician-background: these types of teachers are used to work methodically and with strict rules, so the outcome is always easily calculable and verifiable.
Because of this previous knowledge they tend to design the questions in various styles, but always in the same pattern. For some examples:
The kids have to match the first part of a sentence in column A with the second part in column B, or the kids or the kids have to tick “right” or “wrong” in a chart.
Most of the time these tests are very systematical and methodical.
Both of these options have their pros and cons, but one thing they share is that both of them are hard work.
For one thing you have to think about questions and tasks where they answer it with a logical, mathematical sense, and for the other you have to read through all the different versions of a dialogue or story.
It’s not mandatory to be on only one side, you can pick and choose depending on your topic and the kids. But it’s good to think about why we think about designing a test a certain way.
Two weeks ago we talked about designing a written test for the first grade.
It was a little different from the last planning session I was part of. This time it was supposed to be a shorter test, it should take no more than 25 minutes. The last time we designed one it was way more more extensive - the test lasted an hour.
But the two main differences I took away from both planning session was that the teaching background does have a pretty big impact on the design of the test, the evaluation and the basic instructions.
For me, you can divide the test forms by your teaching background. Here’s a look at the two:
Englishman-background (mostly language teachers): they’re used to do creative writing, a lot of dialogues and reading in their lessons.
These methods give the kids more freedom to be creative, but you still can lead them on to various topics you like to work on. Now because of this, you can’t really have a standardized grading-scheme. You have to take a lot of things into account while marking; the length, the depth, grammar and so on.
These tests tend to be very open with a lot of writing.
Mathematician-background: these types of teachers are used to work methodically and with strict rules, so the outcome is always easily calculable and verifiable.
Because of this previous knowledge they tend to design the questions in various styles, but always in the same pattern. For some examples:
The kids have to match the first part of a sentence in column A with the second part in column B, or the kids or the kids have to tick “right” or “wrong” in a chart.
Most of the time these tests are very systematical and methodical.
Both of these options have their pros and cons, but one thing they share is that both of them are hard work.
For one thing you have to think about questions and tasks where they answer it with a logical, mathematical sense, and for the other you have to read through all the different versions of a dialogue or story.
It’s not mandatory to be on only one side, you can pick and choose depending on your topic and the kids. But it’s good to think about why we think about designing a test a certain way.
Sonntag, 15. Januar 2012
thought a week - winter break and reflecting
The first week after the winter break is in the books.
Over those two and a half weeks most of us just relaxed and tried not to think about school and university again. If that's the right approach depends on how you get back in your daily routine again afterwards.
Some of us may start getting things done one week prior to the first official school week, just to get their mindset right. This can be done by either checking your to-do list (assuming you have one) and planning your next steps or just going over them in your head. The key thing would be to get ones head back into action.
We all know how we tend to go in standby-mode when we’re done with the last task or seminar the week before Christmas.
But another way would be to stay active right from the beginning of the winter break. Probably the best way to stay active and involved, and even develop further is to reflect on the last few months.
This can be done either in written form or just quietly by yourself. Especially at teacher training, the tasks keep piling up and if you’re not ready for all of this, it can become overwhelming. The funny thing is that we have reflecting tasks to write for this semester anyway, but as I mentioned above, it quickly can become overwhelming, and if it does, you just write and don't think about what you are actually writing. This way it's more about remembering than actually reflecting and thinking about what happened.
So I think its beneficial if you try to use the winter break for gathering you thoughts rather than strictly enjoying the free-time.
Other than that, I heard a few friends talk about how stressful the first week was and how hard it was to adjust to the schedule again, even though the schedule has been almost exactly the same as at the beginning of the semester. It seems like a lot of people have a hard time going back to their routine.
Upon hearing that, I was even more convinced that we absolutely should use the winter break, not only to regroup, but also to stay ‘in-shape’ during the break.
And if you enjoy what you’re doing, working with friendly colleagues, learning, teaching, being at the university and being at school, it shouldn't be a problem staying involved during an off-time like the winter break.
Over those two and a half weeks most of us just relaxed and tried not to think about school and university again. If that's the right approach depends on how you get back in your daily routine again afterwards.
Some of us may start getting things done one week prior to the first official school week, just to get their mindset right. This can be done by either checking your to-do list (assuming you have one) and planning your next steps or just going over them in your head. The key thing would be to get ones head back into action.
We all know how we tend to go in standby-mode when we’re done with the last task or seminar the week before Christmas.
But another way would be to stay active right from the beginning of the winter break. Probably the best way to stay active and involved, and even develop further is to reflect on the last few months.
This can be done either in written form or just quietly by yourself. Especially at teacher training, the tasks keep piling up and if you’re not ready for all of this, it can become overwhelming. The funny thing is that we have reflecting tasks to write for this semester anyway, but as I mentioned above, it quickly can become overwhelming, and if it does, you just write and don't think about what you are actually writing. This way it's more about remembering than actually reflecting and thinking about what happened.
So I think its beneficial if you try to use the winter break for gathering you thoughts rather than strictly enjoying the free-time.
Other than that, I heard a few friends talk about how stressful the first week was and how hard it was to adjust to the schedule again, even though the schedule has been almost exactly the same as at the beginning of the semester. It seems like a lot of people have a hard time going back to their routine.
Upon hearing that, I was even more convinced that we absolutely should use the winter break, not only to regroup, but also to stay ‘in-shape’ during the break.
And if you enjoy what you’re doing, working with friendly colleagues, learning, teaching, being at the university and being at school, it shouldn't be a problem staying involved during an off-time like the winter break.
Samstag, 7. Januar 2012
thought a week - Teachers and social media
At the beginning of the week I came across this news story on Twitter. After this article spread around a discussion broke out. But since this news story broke on Twitter and the people who where discussing it afterwards, where all obviously pro-social media teachers, it became pretty lopsided.
These teachers use Twitter and social media for sharing experiences and new learning technologies and also for educational discussions of all sorts.
I guess my reaction was mostly the same as of all the other teachers, the first thing that came to my mind was just, ‘wow’. That’s really straight up, practically forbidding them to use social media. I suppose this sentence was especially disturbing:
“Secondly, never make any comment about your work, about your employer, about teaching issues in general.”
One would think (hope) that teachers who use social media tools in their ‘private life’ (and not for teaching purposes) are smart enough to understand their position in society. Teachers have a special reputation, meaning, they have to act like role models and always do the right thing. So if you abuse this role, then it’s understandable where such policies come from.
But on the other hand, if a teacher is using social media tools as blended learning tools in class and using it successfully, the school would have to accept it and embrace it.
One of main things I heard over and over again during my training is to be authentic as a teacher. Don’t try to fake your personality, because the kids will notice it right away and it costs way more to energy than to be yourself. And if the kids find out, they can and will be fake too, and nobody wants to imagine a classroom where the fake-teacher is talking to fake-kids.
Since I’ve been coaching the last few years, it was not that hard for me because I’ve experienced learning environments and knew that there’s nothing better than to be natural and authentic. The kids appreciate it and the connection instantly becomes more personal.
And just think about how annoying it is to work or talk to adults who are fake, and everybody knows there are plenty of them.
So, as a teachers, you have the responsibility to act authentic, but theres’s a limit to everything. The most important thing is to find the balance between in-school use, socializing tool and professional portfolio.
These teachers use Twitter and social media for sharing experiences and new learning technologies and also for educational discussions of all sorts.
I guess my reaction was mostly the same as of all the other teachers, the first thing that came to my mind was just, ‘wow’. That’s really straight up, practically forbidding them to use social media. I suppose this sentence was especially disturbing:
“Secondly, never make any comment about your work, about your employer, about teaching issues in general.”
One would think (hope) that teachers who use social media tools in their ‘private life’ (and not for teaching purposes) are smart enough to understand their position in society. Teachers have a special reputation, meaning, they have to act like role models and always do the right thing. So if you abuse this role, then it’s understandable where such policies come from.
But on the other hand, if a teacher is using social media tools as blended learning tools in class and using it successfully, the school would have to accept it and embrace it.
One of main things I heard over and over again during my training is to be authentic as a teacher. Don’t try to fake your personality, because the kids will notice it right away and it costs way more to energy than to be yourself. And if the kids find out, they can and will be fake too, and nobody wants to imagine a classroom where the fake-teacher is talking to fake-kids.
Since I’ve been coaching the last few years, it was not that hard for me because I’ve experienced learning environments and knew that there’s nothing better than to be natural and authentic. The kids appreciate it and the connection instantly becomes more personal.
And just think about how annoying it is to work or talk to adults who are fake, and everybody knows there are plenty of them.
So, as a teachers, you have the responsibility to act authentic, but theres’s a limit to everything. The most important thing is to find the balance between in-school use, socializing tool and professional portfolio.
Samstag, 31. Dezember 2011
thought a week - Pre-Christmas Lessons
I’m not saying it’s bad to get so much input on Christmas lessons, but somehow it felt like it’s the most important thing to do the week before. It almost seemed like it's mandatory to have a Christmas lesson.
I believe there are more points to this story, and we should think about them a bit more, although I’m pretty sure most teachers are doing it like this anyway, but who knows.
On one hand, a lot of students do enjoy Christmas lessons. But I think there are a few teachers, who overdo the whole Pre-Christmas week. They decorate the classroom, play Christmas songs the whole time and always seem to mention Christmas in some way.
But there are also students in probably every class, who maybe don’t celebrate Christmas like some of us, it may depend on their religious background or it’s just not a big family tradition for them. Now what are those kids supposed to do during those special Christmas-themed lessons? It’s all about keeping the Christmas theme moderate. Nobody wants to put the kids in an uncomfortable situation.
I would make sure to talk to my colleagues before anybody starts the lesson plans for the Pre-Christmas week.
Because on the other hand, I think that too many Christmas lessons can be annoying to the kids too, so the easiest solution is to talk with each other and make sure that there are only one or two Christmas ‘specialists’ for certain classes.
This way, there’s a good chance all the important points get covered:
- do something for Christmas, because it’s fun and the kids enjoy it
- but don’t overdo it, because you can easily frustrate the kids too
- work as a team and make sure everybody is on the same page
- be tolerant and accept cultural differences
Of course it’s not a big issue, but the constant information overflow in the weeks prior to Christmas made me think about it. Turns out it’s really not that bad, you just have to make sure you think about it before you start to plan anything.
I believe there are more points to this story, and we should think about them a bit more, although I’m pretty sure most teachers are doing it like this anyway, but who knows.
On one hand, a lot of students do enjoy Christmas lessons. But I think there are a few teachers, who overdo the whole Pre-Christmas week. They decorate the classroom, play Christmas songs the whole time and always seem to mention Christmas in some way.
But there are also students in probably every class, who maybe don’t celebrate Christmas like some of us, it may depend on their religious background or it’s just not a big family tradition for them. Now what are those kids supposed to do during those special Christmas-themed lessons? It’s all about keeping the Christmas theme moderate. Nobody wants to put the kids in an uncomfortable situation.
I would make sure to talk to my colleagues before anybody starts the lesson plans for the Pre-Christmas week.
Because on the other hand, I think that too many Christmas lessons can be annoying to the kids too, so the easiest solution is to talk with each other and make sure that there are only one or two Christmas ‘specialists’ for certain classes.
This way, there’s a good chance all the important points get covered:
- do something for Christmas, because it’s fun and the kids enjoy it
- but don’t overdo it, because you can easily frustrate the kids too
- work as a team and make sure everybody is on the same page
- be tolerant and accept cultural differences
Of course it’s not a big issue, but the constant information overflow in the weeks prior to Christmas made me think about it. Turns out it’s really not that bad, you just have to make sure you think about it before you start to plan anything.
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