Making room in our lives

Guy Kawasaki posted a great article about Arianna Huffington's new book, Thrive. See it here: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140324113914-2484700-let-s-stop-the-glorification-of-busy?trk=mp-author-card

Guy points out some of the highlights of the book, and I acknowledge that these people are probably the biggest hypocrites of all time. They have worked 80 hours a day to get where they are now making hundreds of thousands of dollars so that they can now live the life they want. I know that most Americans would rather sit back and enjoy life than sit at a cubicle writing up TPS forms and answering emails. With the cost of groceries, electricity, gas, and healthcare skyrocketing, how can we do this? It doesn't seem like an easy task to me after spending the last three years near poverty. We are finally digging our way out, but not without a lot of sacrifice and a lot of challenge.

All that being said, I admit that I glorify busy. I have to get this done or I have to get that done, and I'm always on a time limit. My house needs to be cleaned, dishes need to be washed, clothes need to be laundered, and the countless hours of computer work that I do on top of it all leaves little time for actually enjoying my life. If I regret anything, that would be it.

I love my life, my daughter, my husband, my garden, and my home. We aren't perfect, and we've said many times before that we don't have a lot, but we have each other. This means more to me than anything in the world. This may mean that I have to cut some things out of my life in order to fit the big ones in. I'm okay with that. I don't want to be too tired when I get home that I can't sit down with my daughter and draw a picture or read her a story. I don't want to be too busy when I get home that I can't give my daughter a bath and put her to bed.

As the world gets busier and busier and we go along with that trend in keeping our phones anchored to our side checking everyone else's lives instead of our own, we lose sight of what is really important in our lives. This summer I have connected with new people and reconnected with old friends. I have taken my daughter to the park and to the Farmer's Market. There are still things that I want to do with her. I still want to do yoga with her out on the front lawn, swim in the pool at City Park, go to the zoo, hike a local trail, walk the dogs, go fishing in the lake, and pick raspberries in the mountains.

All this being said, I can also relate this back to teaching, too. An article that I found on LinkedIn also mentions how we must teach our kids about how to wonder and see the world in a different way. As a teacher, I have a great opportunity to be able to do this.

Annie Murphy-Paul writes, "Focus and concentration are essential, of course. But so are introspection and reflection, and Immordino-Yang and her colleagues recommend that adults help children find a balance between the two modes: by regularly unplugging our kids’ blinking, buzzing devices, and by providing time and space for a quieter, more inward kind of entertainment. By making room for wonder in our children's lives, we'll help them develop a more genuine and gratifying definition of success." Read full article here: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140324115341-84796303-making-room-for-wonder-in-children-s-lives

This sort of contradicts what I'm teaching, which is computers; however, there are ways to stop the class and the students and have them introspect and reflect on what they have done or what they are going to do. I've even done this with my daughter when she gets frustrated with a toy. Stop, put it down, and come back to it later. We all need to step away from time to time, and while this may not provide a deep, wondrous experience every time, we often are able to come back to our work with a new sense of experience and perspective. Throughout my career in learning software development, web development, and social media, I have often taken a break and come back to projects with a greater depth of understanding and renewed wonder in the project.

I learned a great deal about education through my studies at Colorado State University, but I've learned even more about education through my own life. I've learned that it takes time to learn a new skill. It takes time to connect and create valuable relationships. It takes time to create. We have to take time for ourselves so that we can bring our best selves to our students, our relationships and our lessons. In my efforts to be optimistic, I believe that this is achievable, and we can change and grow from our experiences.

One tip for today that I hope will make your life easier! I found Canva.com as an alternative to Photoshop. It costs to publish your designs, but it is easier to use and can provide professional graphics at a much lower cost. It's been out for a while, but if you've overlooked it before, you might want to go back and take another look.

An Inspiring Video About WHY?

My seminar teacher showed the following video in our final seminar last night. It really hit home for me in finding purpose with what I'm doing. One of the popular interview questions is, "Why do you want to be a teacher?" So, I sat back and asked myself, "Why do I want to be a teacher?" My answer, while simple, is always the same: I want to help people to find their best self. Really, this has been my purpose for a long time now, but teaching has been the most direct method of reaching this purpose or intention. As a teacher, I have an opportunity to help students to learn about business, economics, computers, and marketing. These subjects can help students to discover a clear path for themselves and their future. Whether they go on to get jobs or careers just out of high school or if they go on to college, it is my intention to help these students find their best self through discovery and inquiry and education.

11th Week: TCAPs Testing Week

This week was a testing week for the 9th and 10th graders at Poudre High School and the last year ever that the TCAPs (Transitional Colorado Assessment Program) will be given. The TCAPs provide the state with assessment data from each school district to determine how well a school is doing based on those scores. The unfortunate part of the testing is that TCAPs don't provide the student with any incentives to do well or to even show up. The TCAPs are solely for statistics purposes; they do not go on the student's transcripts or help the student in their grades in any way. Students are asked to do well as a reflection of the school, but in this narcissistic world, there needs to be more.

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The TCAPs took up three days: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The tests were given in the mornings, and the schedule for the week was changed to accommodate the tests. It was the week after Spring Break, so the staff and the students were feeling a bit ragged trying to get into the swing of things. Upper class students (juniors and seniors) weren't required to be at school in the mornings because of the testing, so they often didn't make it to class at all. Many of our classes had half the students there.

For me personally, the week was long. Proctoring a test is not fun, and we had more free time than usual built into the schedule. It was great to get caught up on planning and grading. I also provided Mr. Long with an observation opportunity, so I only have one more observation to complete for both Mr. Long and Mrs. Hixon. Whew. The semester is flying by. My teacher work sample is about finished, I only have two more seminars, and two more observations. I need to be finished by May 1st with everything, so I'll start reviewing everything this week and next week and finish a week early.

It's also job hunting time. I've been looking at school districts in the area as well as school districts in Texas. As of now, there are no business teaching positions in any of the districts that I have seen. Disappointed and overwhelmed, I'm going to keep searching and stay positive that something will come up.

7th Week: Successes and Failures

My 7th Week student teaching was better than the previous. I was still sick on Monday, which was an in-service day. I went to the doctor and got some medicine, and I even made it into school on Monday for about an hour to talk to Mr. Long. Although, the medicine didn't really start to help until the end of the week, but I muddled through the week with a hoarse voice and low energy.

In the two Entrepreneurship classes, we watched a movie, Ten9Eight, on the Tuesday back, so I didn't have to talk with my hoarse voice. I did, however, teach in the Economics 4th hour class. It was miserable and challenging, but I got the job done. It felt a little awkward to be back after being gone for a week.

The next day, I was able to get in a review of the Market Research section in Entrepreneurship and gave the post-assessment for my teacher work sample. I can now complete my teacher work sample before Spring Break as I had anticipated. We also started the next unit, which was the pricing unit. Some of the students will have more work than others on this section. Those that do retail will have to price out all of their inventory and their equipment and supplies; whereas, those that are doing service businesses will only have to price out their equipment and supplies. It seems to be getting more and more difficult to get the students to be motivated and engaged in the projects. Some of the students don't need any prompting but get the work done easily; however, I have to continually prod a few students to work during class.

A success I had last week was when one of my Entrepreneurship students came up to me after class and apologized for his behavior toward me and in my class. He was respectful and said he was working on getting caught up and doing his work. Just like the Grinch, "My heart grew three sizes that day." I don't enjoy having to stay on top of students to get their work done or having to reprimand students in class. It disengages the class as a whole. This particular student has stayed true to his word for the week, and he paid attention when I was talking and he got his work completed and turned in on time. It was a happy moment for me, and I hope that he continues with this behavior change through the rest of the semester.

On the other hand, I have a student that has been doing other classes' work in my class and not getting his work in my class completed. He is behind on all of the projects, and he is disrespectful to me. He keeps his headphones in his ears when I'm talking to him and he plays with his cell phone. I moved him away from the front of the room to sit next to me where he will have less distractions, and I can keep an eye on him. When Mr. Long returns, I will talk to him about the issue and see what further steps need to be taken in order to get this resolved.

This week was also the Career & Technical Education Advisory Board meeting and breakfast. All of the departments involved including Business, PaCE (a work study program), ACE, and Family and Consumer Sciences were all present along with the advisory board members, who gave input to the programs and how we can improve our work with the students. The Poudre High School catering team made the breakfas, and introduced themselves to the meeting.

A new week is a new opportunity to work on improving. Teaching is a work in progress, and I am continually finding new ways to communicate, engage, and motivate students.