Spoon Chucking our Life and Learning out the Back

"Sometimes we throw more out the back door with a spoon than we can bring in the front door with a wheelbarrow," said my Poppa Adams. (My great-grandfather.)

I've been thinking about this saying and how it applies to my classroom, my pocketbook, my life. I guess it is another version of the "small holes sink big ships" kind of thinking.

Classroom

• Are we spoon chucking away our classroom time?
  
  Add up all the distractions: fire drills, testing (if you're stuck with mandatory testing), assemblies, kids leaving for sports and how much time do you really have to teach? Perhaps if administrators look at the classroom time that is being "spoon chucked" out the back door it will help improve learning because kids will have more time to learn.
  
• Are we spoon chucking away the time we do have?
  It is rare that I will end 5 minutes early. Multiple 5 minutes by 5 days and that is 25 minutes a week. Multiple that by 30 weeks and you have 750 minutes or 12.5 hours a school year. You could teach so much. If you HAVE to finish early, use this time for thought provoking conversations or something of meaning in your topic. You could do the same at the beginning of class if you don't start on time.
  
• Are we spoon chucking away our relationships with our students?
  Researchers have shown that even eye contact helps people feel more connected and that those who don't feel connected aren't as happy. That extra few moments at your desk grading while the students come in might be you spoon chucking away your relationship with your students. Perhaps you should be at the door making eye contact and calling them by name.

Pocketbook

• Are we spoon chucking away our money?

Every so often, I call and get a new credit card from the same company just so I can discontinue using the old one. That way, I have to consciously decide that I am going to keep spending on those debits on my credit card. Do I really need all those things I'm charging every month?

• Are we spending our money on the wrong things and spoon chucking away the happiness?
  
  A new study shows that we are happier when we buy experiences -- when we go places with people -- than when we buy things? Will that extra rug in the den make you happier -- no? But if you took that money and went out with your family, it might just. Things don't make you happy. Makes me want to live in a shack and travel the world when I think about it.

In Conclusion

Poppa Adams was a smart man and I am collecting the sayings that he passed down to my Dad (his grandson.) I'm pondering this whole thought in all areas of my life and putting up my spoons. Sometimes our solution is to get more wheelbarrows, when instead we should look at what is being thrown out the back door.

Photo Credit: Big Stock

Read more »

I am teaching

Image via Wikipedia

I'm tired but today I am going to give all I have to my students.
It isn't much but all I have is enough.

When I look at their bright faces,
part of me wishes I could be a personal one on one Socrates or Plato to each one...
pouring out everything I have but more importantly, helping them extract all of the greatness within.

Great teachers are always known by the great minds they inspire...
if I were only that great.

I doubt Plato had poofy hair that just wouldn't sit down and Socrates probably didn't have a hole in his sock.

The thing we have in common is that they showed up. Consistently and daily, they were there teaching.

And there is the difference.
There is a big difference between being called a teacher and teaching.

That is why some people are so mad about teachers. Some teachers aren't really teaching at all.

Teaching doesn't mean I'm in the middle of a quiet circle of cross legged agape children hanging on my every word.
Sometimes it means they are in the middle of a loud circle of conversation close to hanging on the rafters with excitement.

Many Don't Want Excitement
I don't subscribe to this new model of destroying the classroom and everything it has been because I think that great learning experiences have always been exciting. It is just that we've gotten to the point that many administrators and teachers don't want excitement. They don't want surprises. When surprises happen, they're afraid of ending up on the front page of yesterday's news.

Most educators would rather float quietly in the cess pool of monotony than surf the big waves of learning. Big learning can be scary and have a bit more excitement than you want.

We're supposed to have stoplights on our wall that show the sound level and that get to red when the kids get too loud.

The kids think it is fun to make the light move so they work together to get louder.

Instead it should be fun to learn our topic. Instead of gami-fying misbehavior and thus, making it attractive, we should be gamifying the learning process. Leveling up. Challenges that seem insurmountable. Personalizing learning in powerful ways.

Today, I will be a teacher who is teaching with all she has. I have a plan. I am ready. I am armed with arms that love and appreciate these kids.

I am teaching. Are you?

Related articles

• On Teaching, Sailing, and Swimming (bokcenter.harvard.edu)
• Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock #teaching 01/03/2012 (coolcatteacher.blogspot.com)
• Collaboration 1: Collaboration is the key influence in the quality of teaching (edu.blogs.com)
• The Most Successful Thinkers (espliego.wordpress.com)

Read more »

10 Ways to be Wonderful: Happy Birthday Kip!

The greatest learning experiences of my life have never been on mountaintops. They have almost always been in closets, in holes, and in the mud. Today, my incredible husband, Kip turns another year older. (Note: I began this draft on his birthday in November. Just finished today.) I want to write a post of inspiration and encouragement dedicated to him because he is a safe haven for me. He gets me to sit still when I won't. He helps me understand why I do what I do. He is my perfect match not perfect because he's perfect but perfect because we love each other even though we are imperfect.

As we enter the holiday season, I'm using examples from his life to show what I think helps us all live "a wonderful life."

1 - Put love last and you put it first
Kip makes sure the last thing he says to each of us when departing or going to bed is "I love you." I like to do this too because if something should ever happen, I want each person I love to know that I love them with all my heart. Love transcends crabby moments and petty disagreements.We don't have to be alike to love each other.

When do you say I love you to those you love? Is it often enough?

2 - Know that hard times give you the chance to be a hero
One of the things that totally won my heart was when I was expecting each of our three children. I was not a blushing expectant Mom. I was literally, physically sick 6-7 times a day so that the mere mention of the word "chicken" or certain colors would send me running for the ladies room.

My husband took care of me. Cooked dinner. Brought dinner and never complained once for 9 months x 3 children. He was there. Because of his service, loyalty and total selflessness in those months as well as many other times when I was just having a hard time I totally adore him. He was there for me when I wasn't attractive and not even pleasant to be around. He loved me unconditionally. Such love is rare. So many people want to have the enduring love but don't want to endure when times get tough. Kip is a modern hero in my book because he saved me during some very dark days for me with his kindness and love.

When you have rough times, think of how that person will feel when you make it through that time and stayed loyal no matter what.

Are you willing to go through hard times with those you love? Everyone has them.

3- Have your priorities straight.

Do you know your priorities? Are they good priorities?

My husband does: Creator, Companion, Children, Calling, Church. In that order. He tells us that and he lives it. Many men talk such things. To live with a man who lives it every day is a dream come true.

Wow.

4 - Set your morning routine for greatness
Kip has a morning routine. He doesn't like mornings so it isn't my get up at 5 am routine but it is still a routine that fits with his priorities. Shower. He wakes up every kid in the house and keeps them on time. When he is out of town we miss him because he keeps us all in order. He sits on the edge of the bed after getting dressed, reads his daily devotional, checks the kids grades for email, checks Facebook for some inspirational pages he follows, and heads to breakfast where he reads his daily news on his ipad2. He heads out after knocking on everyone's door to say goodbye and "I love you." His morning routine is a stabilizing force in our household because he is so incredibly consistent.

What is your morning routine?

We saw this snail/slug in the mountains and
Kip stopped to explain how they move. Their body chemistry.
And wouldn't let the kids touch him as he crawled across
our path one day on our annual trip to the mountains.

5 - Be trustworthy
When my husband says he will be somewhere, he is. He is there. I can count on his word. He keeps his promises no matter what. I need to be more like him as my concept of time is not as good as his and I lollygag sometimes. I've seen him keep his promises even when he realized he made a mistake.

Do you keep your promises?

6 - Never ever quit
I told part of our story of never quitting back in 2007 in Happy Anniversary CoolCat Husband. I was washing the dishes two weeks a go listening to Brian Tracy's book The 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires where Tracy says that his research shows that the average millionaire loses everything 3.2 times. I called up Kip and we laughed together, "Well we only have .2 to go, don't we." We've had layoffs, pecan groves go under water, and me become a stay at home Mom all of which had dire consequences to our checkbook and had us searching the house for quarters to buy milk. Now, we have me staying home to help with tutoring one of our children and not speaking as much this year. These are the struggles of life. It is OK, it is part of life and we will not quit. He has never quit.

Do you persist?

7 - Always move onwards and upwards
When Kip was laid off the Monday before Thanksgiving 8 years a go he could have thought the world was over. He applied and applied and went for the jobs he felt called to go for. He kept us in this small town even though it was hard to find an engineering job here. He took an entry level job as an engineer at a local plant even though in some ways it was a step backwards. He is now Engineering manager for the entire plant with over 1/3 of the people in the plant reporting to him.

A few years back, he was faced with having to lay off some people around the holidays. He did everything he could to keep as many of them employed and worked hard for transitioning others. Happily, he's been able to hire most of them back. He had been there and used that experience to help others who had to travel that hard path.

He could have had a pity party but he chose to move on and see it as an opportunity. Because he didn't get stuck in a pity party, he can now have a victory party. Yes, it took time and a whole heck of a lot of very very hard work and still does.

Do you let yourself get stuck in a rut or are you willing to move onwards and upwards?

8 - Channel your energy in positive ways
When he was having a hard time after we lost the pecan grove, I came home and our entire back porch was completely knocked out and Kip was wacking away rebuilding it. After the layoff, he built the most beautiful corner cabinet I've ever seen with his bare hands. In fact, we don't have room for it now and I can't bear to let it go because it represents so much of who he is to me.

Working with wood has always been therapeutic for Kip because he says he can see the impact immediately. It also is a benefit because our children saw their father still working even though he was in the midst of a transition.

But after 3 tornadoes that hit Camilla in 2000, I saw this in action. Kip literally took over the volunteer recovery efforts. We're not really sure how it happened but he was president of the Rotary club and I was president of the chamber of commerce and he showed up at 5 am after it happened in the command trailer and poof. He received many awards for that work and many people here in Camilla know my husband for who he is. When he's upset he doesn't sit around, he does positive things.

When you are upset or anxious, do you have a positive channel for your energy?

Taken in the Smoky Mountains. Yes, we laughed.

9 - Laugh and Laugh
There are so many times when life gets completely preposterous around here that Kip and I just start laughing at the dumbest things. "What can you do?" Is a statement we often say when things get so tough we just can't imagine it could get any crazier.

The best laughs don't come from a movie (although we do love pulling out old Pink Panther, Stooges, or the Great Race movies) they usually come from circumstances. Circumstances that would make one of us angry if we let it.

Like the time in my pregnancy lack of coordination I literally almost knocked myself out with the freezer door. I ended up on the ground when I thought I grabbed the handle for the bottom fridge and hit myself in the head with the top freezer door. It hurt and left a mark. But "what could I do?" We laughed and still do to this day. We still laugh about the worst dish I ever cooked (when my oldest son was 3 - he still remembers it! I do have to admit I wish he'd forget that one!)

Do you relax enough to laugh at yourself and see the funny things in life?

South Africa at Microsoft Innovative Educators with Stacey Rainey

10 - Encourage others around you
This blog is here because Kip believed in me. The book in January is here because Kip believed in me. My husband believes in me and encourages me.

I'll never forget last year when I was debating if I should take extra personal days and have my pay docked to go to the Microsoft Innovative Educators Technology Conference in South Africa. I was talking myself into not going.

He said,

"Vicki, I know you. I know who you are. I will take care of things at home. You know this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. It fits with your mission of encouraging educators and loving teaching. I believe the people at Microsoft are a top notch company and they'll keep you safe. I think you'll regret it the rest of your life if you don't go. I'm your husband and I'm telling you to take the time, take the pay cut and go. If you don't, you'll have problems living with yourself. I can't let you do that."

So, I went, and my life was changed. I found many stories I have shared here, many new friends, and I got to see one of the most beautiful places on the planet.

It was 6 years a go just about right now (my blog-birthday is next week) when I came to my husband after my morning routine and said,

"Kip, I think God has called me to blog. It is crazy. I don't really know what it is, but I have something to do with this and it is an important part of our future."

He said,

"Vicki, I don't know what it is, but if you feel called to do it, know that you have my total support. Do it. Follow it. If you're going to do it, be the very best at it that you can be."

I'm so grateful. By telling me to be my best and do my best - it wasn't a ticket to blindly follow some dream. It was a ticket to excel. To study it. To learn it. Some people think they are helping others follow their dreams with just blind faith. My husband always expects to see actions behind my dreams. He wants to see me live it -not just say it. (That is why I'm very careful to filter things before I take him my dreams!)

I hope that I do the same for him.

Do you support the dreams of others who are closest to you in positive ways that spur them to action?

Perfection is a lie
No, my husband isn't perfect but goodness knows I'm not either.

I'm not writing this to make you sick or jealous. I'm writing this because Kip and I have had times when we had to run through the house finding enough quarters to buy milk. We've had a time when we all bundled up in our winter clothes so we could keep our infernal heater's temperature down 5 degrees so we could save enough money for Christmas. We still have many struggles and dreams as of right now.

We've given up a lot so I could write "my books" as my family calls them. The Flat Classroom book comes out in January. The Common Core in the Cloud Collaborative Writing book (still looking for your collaborative writing stories) comes out in December of next year. Kip has sacrificed as much as I am.

Well, now it is 6:42 am and I hear Kip in the hall waking up the kids. I think I'm in the mood to go give him a hug and tell him how I'm the luckiest woman on the planet to have him in my life.

I hope you'll use this to realize that love is a great thing. It isn't always beautiful, sexy, nice, fun, glamorous where two people sit in a little cafe making moon eyes at each other. The greatest loves are often forged a midst dirty diapers, job loss, insecurities, and reaching for dreams that may or may not ever happen. These are the loves that define you and make you feel like you lived a good life on this planet. I'm grateful every day that the good Lord blessed me with Kip. I've been asking for my husband since I was a child of 10.

Happy (belated) birthday Kip, I love you.


Thank you blog readers, for letting me take a day to make a tribute to my husband and best friend. Have a great day!

Read more »

5 Ways to Cure the Common Crank

It is hard for a fussy teacher (or parent) to teach. Our negative body language is hard to overcome. Kids need to know we care. When I find myself going down this thorny path, this is what I do:

1- Start smiling
You feel better and somehow forget about the reasons you had to be fussy in the first place.

2- Do something kind and totally random
Find a stewardess or service person and call the company to give an honest compliment. Call a product support line of something you love just to tell them.

3- Give a public compliment to a person who has no clue it is coming.
Blog or tweet about someone. (@angelamaiers' hashtag #youmatter is a great one to include!)

4- Go "Little House"
This is what my family says I do. When I overload and I go home, I put on my favorite soft socks and sweats and crawl in my bed to watch a few episodes of Little House on the Prairie on the Lifetime Channel. I let myself go to sleep early. This uplifting show gives me perspective. The extra rest helps too.

Have a favorite feel good show or movie? Use it to help give you perspective.

5- Make a gratitude guide

The old wagon trains out west left deep ruts that others followed. This is using a rut in a positive way. Keep a page in your planner of the thoughts that get you back on track. Make it hard to get too negative.

I list the things I am thankful for. As a Christian, I take these to My Father in thanks. I was having a pity party just this past week about having 4 stitches from some very minor skin surgery when I remembered that just 3 years a go I didn't know if Mom would survive her cancer- it puts life in perspective.

It is easy to get cranky and tired this time of year. Students are ready for the break and teachers are too! Take time to save your thoughts from taking you away from all the good times you can have this season.

Your present is your positive presence. If you are always cranky you aren't leaving a good legacy for others to remember.

Live well! Have a great day.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Read more »

Keep Cranksgiving out of your Thanksgiving: Use it as motivation towards #success

Five years a go I was working with Julie Lindsay to create the first Flat Classroom wiki. Now, I'm proofing the final chapters of the book.

Twenty five years a go I was laying in tanning beds and doing "jazzercize" to get in shape for the beauty contests I entered as a senior in high school. Now, I'm sitting here getting ready to proof the book with four stitches just next to the smile line that runs between the corner of my mouth and nose where a small skin cancer was removed. (Yes, it hurts. Yes, when we feed everyone tomorrow I'm going to hide in the kitchen. ;-))

A year and a half a go I got fed up with myself when I couldn't even jog to the mailbox and started running. Then, I did weight watchers. Now I'm 50 pounds lighter.

Six weeks a go I became too busy to work out with a crazy schedule so I've gained five pounds.

Most Saturday mornings, I like to go see my Mom and have coffee with her. I try to call her as much as possible, so I am close to my Mom.

Cranksgiving?
Every holiday season we will get together with family. Often it is stressful because we look at ourselves and say, "Hey, I don't like this about myself" or we look at someone and they look at skinny and we are jealous. Or we get with our family and wonder why we don't do this more often.

The holidays can be hard because we often feel the tug of a misalignment in our lives. We also miss those who aren't with us any more.

Sometimes it makes us be thankful: I have my health. I have my family.

But sometimes it makes us be cranky. We feel like we don't measure up. We feel like our family isn't proud of us. We feel misunderstand. We feel like we were happier a long time a go and can never regain that joy. If we focus on ourselves it is easy for Thanksgiving to become cranksgiving and that is no fun for anyone.

When you're cranky at Thanksgiving the only turkey is you. 

A different kind of crank.
I'd rather us turn it into a different kind of crank. Here you are one year later than last year, ten years later than ten years a go, twenty years later than twenty years a go.. and to state the obvious, you are a product of the decisions you have made up until this point. Whatever you crank into your life day in day out is who you become.

Take a Good Look at Yourself
The first step to improving yourself is to look at yourself for who you are and what you have become. Take a good look. What do you like? What do you not like?

What is one habit, if you start it now, you would be so thankful that you did it next year? What is one thing that you're tempted to quit but if you stick it out it can have powerful results?

Let me give you some examples:

• My youngest son has been struggling. I couldn't get a handle on why he was making the grades he was, so I changed my schedule, cancelled some things and now he and I do his homework and studying together 2-3 hours a night. His grades are improving and I'm better understanding what is going on. It has made a huge difference in his life.
• Because I rearranged my schedule, I haven't had time to speak as much lately and it has tightened up our budget. I have to balance my checkbook every morning to stay on top of it.
• When you take the time to be kind and help others with their dreams, they help you with yours.

You reap what you sow. It is a fact.

You are a product of your habits. (See the Routine of Being Amazing.) How you think. What you do with your time. What you read. Who you associate with. These are all things that make you who you are.

This Thanksgiving, the moment you find yourself turning it into "Cranksgiving" look at that turkey and decide you're not going to be one. Write yourself a note of what happened the moment you took a turn towards being cranky so you can figure out the trigger.

Maybe Old Uncle Frank sets you off. Think about him. Why does he set you off? Does he not know you love him? Do you not love him? Is there something you can do between this year and next to help the relationship with Uncle Frank to help improve that relationship?

Maybe your plate is incredibly full and you're pigging out on your second helping of pumpkin pie and you look at lean trim Sally out there throwing the football with the kids in her size 4 blue jeans and you just can't stand it. Decide you're going to be the talk of next Thanksgiving and realize that you can lose weight and eat food you love if you're smart. (I lost 50 pounds on weight watchers while having a Dairy Queen blizzard once a week.)

Maybe you look at a certain member of your family and you know that he/she probably won't make it to another Thanksgiving. Decide to treat that person like a king or queen TODAY and figure out how you can live this next year with no regrets by really going over and beyond for that person. Realize that sometimes people in their final days are uncharacteristically cantankerous and "cut them some slack." 

You set the pattern for future generations

And know this if you have children or nieces and nephews: they watch everything you do. You reap what you sow more than you can understand because one day you may be Old Uncle Frank or that person who won't see another Thanksgiving. You are setting a pattern that the children will follow in future years.

Thanksgiving is a great word. But it is our actions that matter as we celebrate.

Words without actions are just hypocrisy. Be real. Be thankful. Set yourself patterns for this holidays that are noble, kind, loving, and will make you and those around you better people.

You have choices today that will determine how tomorrow will go. "I" turns thank into think. When you think only of yourself you often lose the ability to be thankful. Be giving, be thankful, be unselfish. Then, you'll have a very...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo: Bigstock

Read more »

3 Gifts to Make Your Holiday a Jolly-Day

from Serenity in Design Blog

Nippy air. Football playoffs are here. One Act play competes today. The Fall Festival is Saturday (and so is the SAT.) Looking ahead to Thanksgiving (where there are 60 people to feed) and then Christmas (some shopping to do.) It is easy to just plain old lose hope.

Lose hope?!?!?

Live through it or enjoy it?
I can go through this time one day at a time and just let it come what may and live through it. Or, I can look ahead, plan ahead, pace myself and go through with a grin on my face and a hidden secret that I've decided to enjoy this holiday season.

I have two teenagers and an elementary age child. These teenagers won't be home much longer. By now I should have mastered how to truly relax and enjoy these times but the truth is, I say on the edge of hyperventilation most of the time. I really do.

Some think teachers have it easy.
So many people think teachers have it easy. A shorter work schedule. Holidays off. And perhaps there are a few souls who do live like this. But then, there are the Mama's and Grandmama's and busy Dad's and Grandad's who teach. Those brave souls who live life full tilt. In addition to our own babies, we choose to adopt the children of others into our hearts and lives and love on them.We decide to help them find their strength and never give up on them even when they've given up on themselves.

I remember when I was in the business world and was bone tired from a conference or event and would drag into work. I'd have my secretary move my appointments, "so I don't have to see anybody" and I'd immerse myself in one of those solo tasks that needed to happen in the quiet solitude of my office with the door closed. As tired as I was, soon, I'd have my music playing and would be making progress on something meaningful to me.

by Hoyasmeg on Flickr

Never alone.
Now, I come into school dead dog tired and I have to make the Herculean effort to get my attitude up, my chins (yes I said chins ;-) up, and my heart up to give 100% to these kids. Honestly, sometimes I wish I could just put on a movie and some teachers do that. But I have things to do and so do these kids. Some say "you do it to yourself" but really, I have to live this philosophy of teaching and be it or I'm just a fake. We do projects and work together doing things that have meaning.

Today is my tough day. I basically have 7 straight periods with my room full of kids - 5 classes and a study hall but during the study hall I also have a class of current event kids to help with a simulation/ game. Last period every kid in high school has study hall so my room will be packed with "Miss Vicki" dropping from their lips like tobacco juice from major leager's mustache.

I won't be a major leager - I'll be major beleagered. But then I have to grade. I stayed yesterday till 5:15 pm grading and just can't seem to get caught up. I like to comment on their blog posts (every one of them) and write notes.I want to give them the chance to do corrections, otherwise, the grade I give is a wasted opportunity to LEARN.

So, here's to you teachers.

You are FAN-tastic and I'm your fan.

I love the old spiritual

"Nobody knows the trouble I've seen
nobody knows my sorrow." 

(great rendition here by the late great Louis Armstrong - good for a listen today)

Somebody knows the trouble I've seen
But you know what, in our case, somebody DOES know the trouble we've seen.
Other teachers, we get it. Sure, every circumstance is different and nobody's trouble is quite the same trouble. But teachers are your best audience. They understand. Lean on them.

Teacher Pyramid by Photographic memories, July 2011

You don't have to be alone all the time. I do think it is wise to steer clear of office gossips especially during the holidays.

You have enough of your own worries, you don't need to have worries of others on your back.


Gossipers are people who don't have enough life of their own so they decide to mess in the lives of others. No time for that, "mess."

But somebody does know.

Make Your Holiday a Jolly-day
So teacher, I'm asking you to give yourself the gift of a good attitude this season. That is the gift that truly keeps on giving because it multiplies back to you. When you give the gift of a good attitude to your classroom, they give it right back. Sure, you've got a lot of work to do but you can do it in a pleasant way.

To some of you, the thought of being jolly in this season stinks. You miss family members or what used to be and you're not happy about going through another holiday alone. You are literally hurting. I'm sorry.

Realize that you may be jolly but that others may be hurting. But the best way, I've found to lift my own spirits is to do something for others. Reach out to another person. Sign up to help at a food kitchen at Christmas. Sign up to DO SOMETHING for another person. There are tons of places on Christmas Day or Thanksgiving Day that NEED YOU.

I have a sign I inherited from my Mom that says "no whining." I have to admit, I have a problem with that sometimes. Especially as tired as I am right this moment at 6:51am getting ready to sprint off to school for a parent teacher conference.


3 Gifts to Give Your Heart This Season
1 - I'm going to decide that I'm going to give myself the gift of a good attitude.
2 - I'm going to avoid office gossips and getting into any gossip myself this season.
3 - I'm going to intentionally reach out and do things for other people this season.

As we say in South Georgia "bless your heart." And remember that a sure fire way to bless your own heart is to bless others.

Read more »