A Website for Every Classroom

Every once in awhile you stumble upon a website wondering, "Where in the world has that been? What a great find for my classroom!" You bookmark it, Tweet it, Pin it or add it to your Diigo page.   Well, I ran across one of those websites.  Actually, I did some research to find the website after the owner of the site came to speak at our school last Fall.  The owner of the website is Mike Smith and his website is Mike Smith Live, but the area of his website that has me so inspired is called "The Harbor."

Mike Smith is a professional speaker, but like it says on his website, "while other speakers talk about their past, Mike talks about his present."  And what a great message he has for all of us to hear.

This is my 15th year in the field of education and I have listened to a lot of professional/motivational speakers during that time.   I'm always a little leery of speakers coming into schools, getting paid a bunch of money and then leaving, never to be hear from again.  When I walked out of the gym after listening to Mike speak last Fall I was speechless.  Yes, that's hard to comprehend for those of you that know me.  But I truly was at a loss for words to describe what I had just witnessed.

I found myself wondering, "What was so different about Mike's message?"

After thinking about it for a couple of days I finally realized that Mike Smith's message is authentic. Students (staff and parents) can relate to his story.  Our students and staff were talking about it for weeks after had had been here.  The positive power of Mike's message continued to permeate our middle school and high school buildings.

A couple of months after Mike spoke at our school The Harbor was added to his website.  There is a new episode that comes out each Monday tied to things that need to be talked about in schools. Judging others, digital distractions and success are just a few of the topics discussed.  It's not always Mike doing the talking either.  We get to see a variety of different people from every walk of life in which one can easily relate.  Be sure to check out the "Critical Thinking" PDF for each episode as well.  There are some great questions that will lead to some powerful conversations in your classrooms.

I would highly encourage you to incorporate the weekly lesson someway, somehow into your classrooms on Monday mornings.