First Day Homework 2015

I've been reflecting on kindness this summer just for the world in general and for my classes more specifically. I remember when I've been feeling out of sorts and how that may come across as grumpy or "female doggy" or such, but what I really was was sad and on those occasions when someone was kind to me in some way that went a long way in making my day better. 

I also happened across the book, Everyday Kindness by Stephanie Dowrick, and am enjoying reading it so far (uh oh, death knell for my liking the book if my history of book praising has anything to do with it).

Anyway, I would like to hang a big sign with the saying:  

Sprinkle Kindness Like Confetti 

outside my classroom, and I had the idea of the students creating little 3"x3" squares with ideas, you know, like confetti! Then I would pixelate using this alphabet:

Here is my handout that I will print on a variety of light colors of paper, and here are the first and second pages that the kids will get.

Voices in Your Head

We’ve all been there and will probably be there again, and if this doesn’t describe you, then I would sincerely like to know your secrets. I’m talking about that mean and defeated little voice inside your head that has the tendency to take any awesome accomplishment of another teacher or a perceived failing of yours and then start a non-ending dialog about it to make you feel bad.

I don’t know a long-term solution (if you do, PLEASE share), but I thought some guided meditations and humor might help alleviate some of the stress of the moment.

Situation: So-and-so had an awesome idea/task/accomplishment (again!) via school/twitter/blog.

Close your eyes and take a nice long deep breath and hold for a beat right before you exhale.

Picture that teacher being praised by everyone.

Take a deep breath.

Maybe it’s not too late to switch careers since you obviously are just taking up space.

Deep breath.

Your puppy likes you.

One last deep breath and open your eyes.

Situation: So-and-so got on your last nerve in class and you are now frazzled.

Close your eyes and take a nice long deep breath and hold for a beat right before you exhale.

The NERVE of that kid. I KNOW they got up this morning wondering, “How can I be most annoying today?”

Take a deep breath.

They succeeded. Kudos to them!

Take a deeper breath all the way down to your pinky toes.

At least you have no nerves left for anyone else to stomp on.

One last deep breath and open your eyes.

Situation: Your class just bombed and you may have to reteach later.

Close your eyes and take a nice long deep breath and hold for a beat right before you exhale.

Holy Cow! What were you thinking?

Take a deep deep deep breath.

On the plus side, you make other teachers look good. There is that!

Make sure your deep breaths reach all the way to the tips of your fingers.

And you are lining the pockets of future therapists of the traumatized children to rehash this experience.

One last deep breath and open your eyes.

Math In Real Life

I think that part of a life skills course should include the following: In any social situation you are in, find what percentage of the present people YOU are, and then make sure you are trying your hardest to only hog that percentage of the conversation without giving quiet space for others to participate if they so choose. Also, use your inside voice. 

That is my summer blogging contribution. 

I have been to 2 workshops so far this summer, one for Digital Electronics and one for APCS. I am currently at the AP Annual Conference. They have all taught me things or enlightened me on things in one way or the other. 

For example, I had students last year in various classes indicate that they felt stupid. That should never happen. I don't know that I did much more than reassure them that they were not stupid, but I didn't prove deeper to find out how to shift their perceptions. 

This came up in my DE training. No one was stupid, but there were some teachers that were rushing through the curriculum and being very vocal and thus there were other teachers who were going at an appropriate pace but who felt stupid because of the inevitable comparison. I need to reflect on how to alleviate this situation when it happens in my classes. I also need to scaffold more or provide more scaffolding available for various learners and to make sure the kids take advantage of this. It is not a race.