Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Day 333: Balance

Daily Blog Challenge Day 333/365

Balance is never 50-50. It is rarely equal on individual days, but the key is that it eventually finds equilibrium. It is also important to remember that there are always priorities and I need to make sure I spend my time on what is truly important.  When I feel stressed I have found that my priorities are usually on getting stuff done.  I am a bit of a neat freak and I feel better when my house is clean and organized, but I cannot let my life to become a to do list.

What my priorities should be: God, Family/Friends, Getting Better and learning.  Stress creeps in when my priorities get messed up.

How do you find balance in your life?  How do you set your priorities?

Thank you for reading.


Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Day 332: Modern Version of A Baby Calendar (Technology Tuesday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 332/365

Technology Tuesday

Before my daughter was born I had heard about the idea of setting up an e-mail account for her.  I didn't think a lot about it, but one of my coworkers mentioned it to me and I saw the idea online  I decided to setup a Google Account for my daughter.  I recently went through my baby bucket and was amazed at how detailed my mom kept my baby calendar.  I was given a baby calendar from our church for my daughter, but I am not always good about writing things down.  I keep my phone with my almost all the time, so I decided to start a Google Calendar for my daughter.  This allows me to write events down and write a description about each events without having to worry about limited space.

I am excited to be able to give my daughter a keepsake from her childhood and I believe that a Google Calendar is something that I can keep doing for her and for future children.

How do you keep track of keepsakes for your children or students?

Thank you for reading.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Day 331: Innovation Day (Music Appreciation)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 331/365

Material Monday

This year I am teaching a music appreciation class.  I have two sections of seventh grade and two sections of eighth grade.  I see each section every other day for one quarter.  I only have eight weeks of class, but one activity that I want to do for 2-3 class periods is Innovation Day.  My tentative plan is that this will be how we end the quarter.

My plan is to give my students 2-3 class periods to explore anything related to music.  The guidelines are that it has to be school appropriate and they have to be able to show what they worked on.  I have done Innovation Day with my fourth graders for the last two years and it has been a great experience.  I am nervous to try it with middle school students, but I am also excited to see what projects they will come up with.

Do you do innovation day?  How do you set it up in your classroom?

Thank you for reading.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Day 330: Learning

Daily Blog Challenge Day 330/365

I just stated reading the book "Mindset" by Dweck and one of my favorite messages so far is "do you want to learn or do you want to prove you are right?"

One of the things I like about Twitter is that it allows me to learn and it connects me to many other people who want to learn. Not being face to face makes it easier for me to admit that I am wrong or that I don't have all the answers.  Twitter has become a safe place for me to learn because I know I am surround by people that want to help and will not openly judge me (not being able to see eye rolls or body language helps.)

Imagine the level of success we could all reach if we looked at everything as an opportunity to learn and grow? What if we were always looking for things to learn and ways to make ourselves better?

Having the mindset that I am always going to learn is a challenge.  My ego gets in the way and sometimes I just want to be right.  I want to be smart enough and good enough.  Being willing to learn is less stressful than always having to be right though. Being willing to learn allows me to go into a situation with a clear mind and with a focus that I am going to leave a better/stronger/smarter person.  

Do you make decisions based on your ability to be right or on your ability to learn and make yourself better?

Learn  from each moment and be a better person tomorrow than you were today.

Thank you for reading.

Day 327: Specialization

Daily Blog Challenge Day 327/365

I am often told that I am techy because I am young. I took one computer class in middle school and another in high school and even since I was in school the amount have technology has changed dramatically.
I am a firm believer that I am successful now because I was taught a firm foundation of skills as a kid. This foundation has allowed me to adapt and learn new skills.

In youth athletics they often talk about how children who specialize in one sport from a young age have a higher risk for injury. Different sports train your body in different ways. Playing different sports allows your body to train on different planes of movement and in different ways.

I believe the same is true in school. We are specializing so young (getting rid of handwritting, no typing, etc) that some of our students do not have a solid foundation that allows them to adapt to new skills.
There is no way to know what our world will look like in a few years and what skills our children will need to be succesful, but I firmly believe that if they have a strong foundation of skills they will be able to adapt to new skills.  Specialization risks creating adults who can only do a specific task. In my opinion, truly successful adults are those who can learn new skills and can adapt to their conditions.

Thank you for reading.

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Day 329: What Do You Do With Your Time?

Daily Blog Challenge Day 329/365

I have been listening to a lot of Podcasts lately and one powerful take away for me has been the question "What Do You Do With Your Time?  This question was asked in a podcast by Joshua Medcalf and is a cornerstone of the Train To Be Clutch philosophy.

What Do You Do With Your Time?

One fact the podcast point out was that time is the only thing in the world that everyone get equally.  Regardless of who you are, you only get 24 hours a day.  This is a simple truth, but one that I had never really thought about.  While the amount of time we have is equal the distinguishing factor is how we use that time.  True success is directly related to how much time was spent working.  I can not expect to become a master at something if I only spend an hour a day working on it.

How Do You Spend Your Time? What do you want to accomplish? Are these two mission aligned or are they at odds with each other?

Thank you for reading.

Friday, July 25, 2014

Day 328: More Than A Game

Daily Blog Challenge Day 328/365

I always say that athletics helped prepare me for life and I see the benefit of them outside of wins and losses.  Sports can teach us many lessons if they are organized the correct way.  We do not teach people anything if we allow athletes to get away with poor choices, we elevate the status of athletes, we allow talent to overshadow hard work or we allow the heat of the moment to impact our behavior.

Why do we play sports?

Sports can help us stay in shape.  Sports can teach us how to interact with other people.  Sports can teach us how to control our emotions.  Sports can do many things to benefit our lives.

Sports can do these things, but they will only do this if coaches and parents hold athletes to high standards.

Thank you for reading.


Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Day 326 Is This Normal?

Daily Blog Challenge Day 326/365

I am the proud (and tired) mother of a five week old baby girl. Since June 18th I can't even begin to count how many times I have asked my mom, doctors and friends "is this normal?"  I learned very quickly that normal does not really exist when it comes to babies. Just when I get used to something she would do, she grows and starts doing something new.

What if we got rid of the word "normal" from our vocabulary and from our schools? What if we just saw each child as they are and each experience as a chance to learn?  I believe this change could be powerful. Instead of labels, we try to help each other grow and learn. In the end, who can really define normal? We are all "normal" in our own way.

Thank you for reading.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Day 325: Media Portfolios (Technology Tuesday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 325/365

Technology Tuesday

During fourth quarter I decided to have my students use Google Sites to create a Portfolio for all of their projects from the semester.  Basically it was just a way for them to link all of their projects in one spot.  This is not only very useful for me and others who want to see their work, but it also introduce them to building a website.  I created a template on Google Sites and had my students add their content to it.  This helped save time and limited a few steps for my students to have to do themselves.

How do you use portfolios in your classroom?

Thank you for reading.

Monday, July 21, 2014

Day 324: Word Wall (Material Monday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 324/365

Material Monday

This year I am trying something new with my word wall. The last two years I have used two pocket charts to display my word wall and organized it by grade level.

This year I am going to organize my word wall by letter under a alphabet line. I found this alphabet line at the Dollar Store and thought it would add some nice color to my room.


Each grade is going to have a color and I am going to write their words on construction paper. I am going to use our die cut machine to cut the paper into circles so it matches the design of the alphabet line.

Thank you for reading. 

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Day 322: I Apologize

Daily Blog Challenge Day 322/365

This blogging journey has been a challenge and I have learned a lot about myself as a writer.  Frustration seems to help my creative juices and I find myself writing a lot more when I am irritated. The main problem with this is that I tend to write very quickly when I have the ideas.  This means that occasionally the formatting, grammar and spelling may not be perfect and I apologize for this.  Sometimes I do not proof read as carefully as I should.

I thank you for joining me on this journey and I hope that you are able to overlook my mistakes.  This blog has been a great reflection tool.

Thank you for reading.

Friday, July 18, 2014

Day 321: Blessed

Daily Blog Challenge Day 321/365

I recently read an article about how Christians should stop saying they are blessed and I agree with many of the points the author made. In this post, I am referring to blessings as the wonderful nuggets that make up my life.

I am writing this post using my phone because my daughter is taking on my chest. This is one of my favorite moments as a new mom and it reminds me of how blessed I am.

Regardless of the many frustrations I experience,  my life is full of many wonders as well.
What actions or words remind you of the wonders that fill your life?  It is so easy to miss them if we do not take the time to slow down and enjoy life.

Our students are bombarded with tests and reminders of how good or bad they are at certain skills. How can we as teachers help them see the blessings in their own life? How can we help them understand their life has positives and meaning even if it seems chaotic and messy?

I believe we can all find blessings somewhere (I realize this is easy for me to say as I live in the United States, have a house, clean water and live in safety), but I do believe there is always something that is good. Once we find the blessings in our life, how can we help others find the blessings in their life?

Do you feel blessed today?

Thank you for reading.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Day 320: To Do List vs Getting Better

Daily Blog Challenge Day 320/365

I am a bit of a neat freak. I want everything organized and in its assigned spot. My to do list is made up of many tasks that include cleaning and organizing various parts of my house. I realized this summer that my to do list is usually dominated by chores and things I have to do instead of tasks that will help me get better.

I think the same can be said for our students and people in general. It is easy to get caught up in the assignments and deadlines, but these are not necessarily the things that are going to help us improve. It is important to set aside time for reflection, relationships and reading.

Are you getting things done or are you getting better? How do you make sure your priorities are towards constant improvement?

Thank you for reading. 

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Day 319: Treat People Well

Daily Blog Challenge Day 319/365

As an elementary teacher I am routinely telling my students "just because s/he is being mean does not mean you need to." It seems like such a simple philosophy, but it is a daily challenge for my students.  I had to finally admit to myself that I too struggle with this.

It is easy to be kind when others are kind, but how do I treat others when I am annoyed and frustrated with them? During these times it is a challenge to still treat them well.  It is easy to come up with a hundred reasons (excuses) for treating others poorly based on my current situation.

No one wants to be around people who are only nice when things are going well. These types of people make life more stressful. The gut check for me was realizing that I am often one of these people. At times, I am the person who is happy when the times are good and cranky when things are challenging.  It is often easier to get sucked into this mindset that to stay focused on the mission of treating people well regardless of what is going on.  

Everyone deserves to be treated well all the time, not just when things are going well.  This is a challenge for me, but now that I see the behavior in myself I am able to work on it.

How to you make sure you are always treating people well?

Thank you for reading.


Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Day 318: Twitter Chats (Technology Tuesday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 318/365

Technology Tuesday

During a recent conversation with @sarahdateechur,  we discussed the idea of starting a chat for basketball coaches.

I have played around with the idea of starting a hash tag or chat for a while, but it always felt like all of my ideas were already taken. Sarah gave me the push I needed to take it a step farther and look up possible hash tags. After searching a few, I discovered that #bballcoachchat, #SBcoachchat and #Scoachchat are all available.

Sarah and I are in the beginning stages of setting up a chat for basketball coaches. We would like to have a formal time along with a hash tag for people to share ideas and advice. We have also discussed the possibility of doing a Google Hangout. I am excited to see where this journey leads and I look forward to learning from other people so I can become a better coach.

*Update*
Sarah recently learned that there already is a basketball coach chat, so we will see what happens.

Have you started a hashtag or a chat?  What was your experience like?

Thank you for reading.

Monday, July 14, 2014

What Is Your Super Power

Daily Blog Challenge Day 317/365

Material Monday

This year our reading theme is super heros and I am trying to include this theme where I can in my classroom. Last year I made silhouettes of five students, one for each grade level. As we accomplished things in class we put post it notes with the concepts we had done. It is one way I am tying to show my students all that we accomplish in music.

This year I am using Super Hero logos: Superman, Spider-Man,  Wonder Women, The Hulk and Batman instead of silhouettes.  Each grade will be a super hero and we will add the post it notes as we accomplish things.

Thank you for reading.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Day 311: Instagram (Technology Tuesday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 311/365

This year I am adding Instagram to my classroom social media repertoire. I also use Twitter and Facebook.

I started using Picasa two years ago because it was easy to add pictures from my phone. It has taken me a while to really understand the purpose of Instagram. My hope is that it will encourage parents to look at content that I was already posting.

Which social media platforms do you use in your classroom and how do you use them? 

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Day 304: Facebook Pages App (Technology Tuesday)

One of my duties at my elementary school is being in charge of the School Facebook page. Last spring I discovered the Facebook Pages App and it has been a great tool.

We have our Facebook Page setup using my school email address. People email things they want posted and I post them to the page. One cause for frustration last year was that I also use Facebook for my classroom. In order to post to our page I would have to be at a computer or I would have to log out (my phone and iPad are logged in using my personal account). I discovered the Pages App and this allows me to keep that App signed into the School Account, which allows me to update content to our page using my phone. It is very convenient and it saves me a lot of time.

Thank you for reading.