Bust the Stress!!

While I was at the grocery store, on Thursday, waiting in line to be checked out, there was a problem. The lady who was at the very front of the line checking out wrote a check and it required a manager, the family in front of mine, became very upset. The mother started yelling at her child, she grabbed his arm and said to him, “You’re really starting to make me get upset, and you better stop acting like this.” Then, She looked at me and said, "I am just so stressed out with these kids, I wish they would just stop, you know?." She looked to me for comfort all I could offer was, "You need to relax, relieve some of that stress." I saw myself for a short moment and snapped back into reality and said to myself, “I needed to relax myself”.

As a full-time student and a single parent, I have a lot going on, I have two kids and five classes, a total of thirteen credit hours. Let’s just say tired, is a word I use to describe myself often, it might not help that I refer to myself as super woman. Sometimes, I get so busy and weighed down with all that I have to do, I forget to eat, and sleep. I forget to call people to notify them that, “Yes, I am still breathing and “NO, I haven’t forgotten you”. Drowning under all the papers that I have to write, exams that I have to pass and the closer the due date, the more I panic. When I go home my job, as a mom, isn’t done, it’s endless. I am a chef, housekeeper, financial planner, judge, jury, activities coordinator, and a teacher. Those are just to name a few; I don’t want to overload you while you’re reading this.

At the end of my day, I ask myself, what else do I need to do? What am I forgetting? Will I have time tomorrow? Yes, I am serious, still after all that I have done, because I know there is more for me to do, and I know I’m not done. The bottom line here is: I am stressed! I am overworked and under”rest” compensated. Are you stressed? Do you feel the same way I do? Are you drowning in high levels of “stuff to do?”

So I found some ways to help me relax, they might help you as well, at the World of Psychology! They have 10 Stress Busters that will help you bust the stress; I summarized them below, Some of these things helped me they might help you.

1.Simplify: Cut down your to-do-list! Ask yourself: Can this wait until tomorrow? I haven't tried this but it worth it.
2. Prioritize: Put things in order from1-10, 10 being "life threatening" to 1 being"stupid things I sign up for." I have to do this all the time.
3. Use Pencil, Not Pen: If you rely on your to-do-list use pencil instead of pen so you can erase things . Things change by the minute.
4. Give away your Cape: You aren't a super hero, I am not superwoman, take it off!
5. Collaborate and Cooperate: Share some of your work load and work together.
6. Laugh: Humor can heal! Need, I say more?
7. Exercise: A quick stroll around a few blocks won't hurt you, but stress can damage you.
8. Stop Juggling: Some multi-tasking is OK but not all the time.
9. Build Boundaries for yourself so you don't go overboard, stop breaking the rules.
10. Think Globally: Don't sweat the small stuff, and most of its small stuff. We have all heard this before but sometimes hearing it again helps.

Although, I know I'm not superwoman, I must admit I do try sometimes. But I am tired so I am going to take off my ridiculous cape, set some boundaries, stop juggling everything and collaborate and cooperate so I can bust some stress. I laugh, prioritize and exercise everyday, with my kids and my schedule you have to do that. So if your stressed you might want to consider some of these solutions to find mental peace.

The Impact of Sports on both Individuals and Society

Everyone know the importance of sport in our lives, personality, societies, business, personally and in people's behaviors.


It was interesting to read an article titled "An Upliffting Power" written by Tony Blair. It is talking about the power of sport and how it is important in our life and in our society. It is an interesting essay to read. Blair said in his essay "Now is the time for sport to show how much sport can acheive beyond aport" In other words sports can teach self decipline more than we do in our schools. My question here; why our schools missing that (Sport)? Why our school make huge plans of dicipline once sport can do. Finally why the absence of sport in our schools? It is started late maybe 7th grade or uper.
I used to play sports all my life through my schools outside the State. It started earlier. Now I can not stop doing sports of any kind. Adding I feel if I miss doing sport one day like I miss a male. Personally I feel strees releafe once I play any kind of sport. Our Education systems know the importance of sport, but unfortunatly it started late. I do beleive of the importance of sport in our kids life earlier is a key of alot of dicipline methods, self eficacy and self diciplane.
I like to share those sites about sports.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/117005/the_importance_of_sports_for_the_youth.html?cat=25

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UozCYu9e65U&feature=player_embedded

Misbehaving in Public

In a subject like misbehaving in public there is a lot to observe more than to dare to say. I was reading an article called Are you a Misbehaving Parent?. It is talking about how parent misbehave with their children in public resturant, that is a place in which the familly should gather and relax. But the fact is it is the opposit, it is a place to fill your physical needs of being hungry for those kind of parents.

However, I do work in a resturant and I felt what this writer mean by talking about those parents, in my opinion, those parents who think for a momoent they do own their kids. I would tell those parent no one own his kids, but our obligation in this life toward our kids is to raise them in a nice and good way, also to prepare them to grow in good manners too.

For example one day I was serving a familly of one father with one doughter maybe she is 6 years old, with son maybe 8 years old and another son maybe 13 years old. However, the dad was in a hearry I was not and I was so patient because I saw the dad under some stress, the dad welling not to delay the line behind him so what he did worse than delaying the line he pull his son of 13 years old ear and screem "can not see me busy with your brother help me and order to your sister, can't you understand". Here the boy's face turned red and I got that time a lot of bad emotions, maybe symbathy to this young gentelman, maybe angry from this father. It took me soconed what to do at least to solve this problem for this 13 years old, immediatly I talk to the father that my freind can help you and I will help your son. So I started in purpose using a very proffessional wards showing too much respect to him and I asked him very gently "Sir, take your time I am not in a harry, what can I get for you" He looked at me as wonderring is she is talking to me? Is she telling me Sir? I took my time to serve him in a very good way and tried to jock with him showing him I am not in a harry. That day has gone. But the picture still stick in my mind every time I see these things infront of me.

For myself I am thinking as a future teacher I am going to work hard to build behave people. Because I do beleive of the power of education to solve some of our society problems. Those problems that no one can solve just because they are parents.

For those who is interested please visit the following site to read more about Are You a Mibehaving Parent? And I ask everybody to think for a moment what we do else as adults with misbehaving sometime?

http://johnplaceonline.com/relationships/are-you-a-misbehaving-parent/

Truth in Advertising

For more than a decade I worked in the advertising business, my clients were mostly small business owners who wanted to advertise on television locally. My job was to make their business look as good as possible and motivate people to use their services. Sometimes this meant making a not so great place look better than it was. I sometimes had to overlook the slimy car dealer or the slightly shady store owner and make them a commercial that would get people to do business with them. I never lost any sleep over this, for every "bad customer" I probably had ten good ones. We all know that advertising is not the "truth", it is more of a representation of the best case scenario. I was sometimes asked to tell out right lies by customers but I always found tactful ways to stretch the truth and avoid telling an actual fib, at least that's what I tell myself. Which brings me to the reason for this post, a few weeks ago my mother treated my family and I to a night at the Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City. We had a luxurious suite and could order all the room service we wanted. The kids got to swim and then that evening the kids settled in to a movie in the room and the adults went down to the casino. I have seen the television commercial at the top of this blog many times and expected some representation of that when I entered the casino. I was in for a shock! Now mind you, I am a veteran of television advertising and know that sometimes you have to make a silk purse out of a pig's ear, but the disparity between the television representation and reality was jarring. There seemed to be an air of desperation in the casino, there were no smiles and there was an overall shabbiness about the majority of people bellied up to the slots. There was a sadness to the atmosphere that was disturbing. My wife is much more in tune with emotions and overall impressions of a group, so I turned to her and asked her if she was having the same impressions as I. The look of horror on her face answered my question right away. We decided to people watch for awhile and we did find people enjoying themselves, mostly we found them in the bar listening to the live music. We took in the general atmosphere of the place and decided that if we focus on ourselves and just tune out the oppressive sadness of the casino we could have fun, and we did. I do not mean to condemn the Blue Chip or gamblers but I do have a deeper understanding of why there are such strong opponents when a new casino wants to open in a city or town. This is not a place of joy or pure entertainment, this is a place of desperation and addiction. I have had some experience with addictions and I see a very familiar look on the faces of many of the people in the casino. There is a huge rift between what we see in the commercial for the Blue Chip and the reality of the Blue Chip, if you ever get the chance I invite you to see for yourself. If you are a fan of people watching as I am you will not be disappointed.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1086175,00.html

Musings

It is Easter's eve, and I have just finished watching Julie & Julia for class. I loved the love story between Paul and Julia. Oftentimes those we love the most are taken for granted, or go unappreciated for the things they do. As I sat here musing over Paul and Julia, my thoughts go back to last night's conversation with my mister. He's 3 1/2 hours away in Illinois, so I am mindful never to take anything for granted. Anywhow, I was telling him about my dance final and how I almost had all my choreography done, and he says to me , "It's going to be great." He doesn't say this to shut me up, or so he can change the subject. He means it. You see, he believes I can do anything, just like Paul thought Julia could. And I may not always think I can do it, but I'm always willing to try because I know that he'll be there to push me when I need to be pushed, be proud of me when I need his praise, and be my sanctuary when it all blows up in my face. So on this Easter's eve, as I sit here watching the lit fuse burn ever closer to the bomb about to burst in my face, I take a moment to remember there are still things in my world to be grateful for.

Parent's : The New Teachers Greatest Ali

As a single parent of more than one child, it's difficult at times to stay on top of everything. We always find energy when we don't have any, we become so busy and overwhelmed with our responsibilities but we still find the time for our children. They are our most important responsibility, I know to me my children are my world.We are always giving all of ourselves to children to make that they have what they need, even what they want. It's almost as if we as parents would be nothing without them.

When my daughter was in the second grade she began to struggle in school, even worse she struggled alone. I can't even tell you how upset I was when I found out. In the beginning of the school year like most parents, I gave the teacher my contact information telling her, she could call me at anytime concerning my daughter for any reason. When the first round of progress reports came out, I found out my daughter was having a hard time, we were doing homework together every night and each day she would bring home graded work but never a note, and the teacher never called.

As a future teacher, I don't want any parent to experience the way I felt when I found out. I felt like I had failed her as a parent , for the first time, I wasn't there when she needed me. When I called the teacher, the first thing I asked was, "When did you try to contact me to let me know my daughter wasn't doing so good?" Her answer was simple ,"What I would like to talk to you today about is her grades." Surprised ? I was, I wanted an answer to my question but after several minutes of conversation back and forth she answered me with a , "Well now that's not really important." This was unacceptable to me as a parent and as an up incoming teacher.

This is not how we as future teachers want our parents to feel when we communicate with them. We need to reach out to them so the can be involved in their child's education. As a teacher;each and every year that you teach you should devote some time to positive parent communication. In an article by Jan Zeiger, "Teacher-Parent Communication; Tips for Developing a Positive Relationship with Students' Families" There are small things that you can do as a teacher to keep parents involved and informed, sending them home a class newsletter, positive phone calls, and having a classroom website. Something simple as sending home a parent survey to gain their valuable insight or making sure your conference hours are flexible for the parents that work. This article is filled with tips that you can do to keep parents informed and as a parent, as well as a soon to be teacher, that is a priority on my list.

To view the article please click the link below:

http://newteachersupport.suite101.com/article.cfm/communicating_with_parents

Education in Next Decades How it Will be? Is it guesing or knowing?

I am interesting to share my ideas after a reading I made for my class of w-270, and it was very interesting to me. The reading is from an introduction wrote by Bill Gates back on maybe 1999 it was guidlines to me of how the world will be in the coming decades of that time that is what we are in now. After reading his article "Business @ The Speed of Thoughts" it prepared to talk to "CEO's, other organizational leaders, and managers at all levels" (Gates Int. Speech). It was amzing and so interesting about his ideas of what the global will be. He gave an exact idea's of how it will be the amzing part is how he reached his predection? After could we consider it predection of future in other words "gusing" or he exactly know what he is knowing. He talked about building a system simillar to human nervous system and called it the "Digital Nervous System". If I can borrow his mind for a moment and think how we will have like that mind but in education. Howe we can set the next decades education and how it will be based on knowing not gusing.

I find another article about 2020 vision of education that also started long time ago and it still understudy and the good thing it is started to be practiced inside education system that is how to prepare and how to teach our teacher to understand the brain process of all ages. It is interesting material to look at. Please visit this link

http://iae-pedia.org/20/20_Vision_for_2020_Challenges

Teaching Values in the Classroom

“Everyday our lives are influenced by many people. Everyday a student is actively making the choice of who they will become. Teachers, you are teaching not only information but life lessons, everyday you have the chance to make a difference in a student's life. If you choose to make the best of this special gift, you will be doing your part to make the world a better place."
--- Written by A.B., Age 16 --- Washington

As a soon to be first year teacher I am quickly realizing that I will be teaching much more than the significance of certain battles during the Civil War or the role of women in the Civil Rights Movement. As a high school teacher I want to send productive, creative students with critical thinking skills out into the world. But is it the teacher’s place to teach values? What values would I teach? What if the values I possess are in contrast to the family of a student? Where do morals fit in to the classroom discussion? When do I start doubting my decision to become a teacher? Just kidding about that! Certainly values do have a place in the classroom, but the values have to be characteristics that everyone would want and value. These characteristics are called “life skills” and they are currently adopted by more than five hundred schools in Indiana. These life skills are: trustworthiness, truth, personal best, active listening and no put downs. Any teacher or employer looking at this list would certainly agree that any person with all of these traits would make a wonderful employee or student. I think this list is a great guide for helping to run any classroom. These traits are such that they do not interfere with the personal beliefs of the family or the student. The life skills are also effective because they do not speak to morals, which are a personal choice. The skills are what every citizen should strive for to make our society as good as it can be.
So we have our life skills list, now what? As a teacher one of the most important things we can do is modeling. Be the person you want your students to be. At the top of the list is trustworthiness, always follow through with your students, if you say you will do something then do it. Let the students see how a professional performs their duties. Next is truth, even if the truth is unpleasant find a way to say it tactfully, but do not ever lie. Show your students that telling the truth is always the best option. Next is personal best, always have a plan each day, students will know if you are winging it. Take the job seriously and do the best job you can everyday. Students will notice you are dedicated to what you are doing. Active listening is next on the list. Really hear what your students are saying to you. Sympathize and relate, let them know you are listening and that you care. And lastly is no put downs, never denigrate a student for a wrong answer or for not doing well in class or for any reason at all. Make your classroom a place where students will feel safe to be themselves, a place where mistakes can be made and their point of view is important.
Whew! That’s a lot to put on one person, oh yeah, you also have to get each student prepared for the standardized test at the end of the course or they will not graduate. Teachers make how much money again? I have believed my whole life that if you go in to teaching for the hours and the summer off you are a criminal, students need dedicated, passionate people who will give all they have to each student and then occasionally a little more.

This is a teacher with passion!

Dare we hope? The Overhaul of No Child Left Behind

One of the things that concerns me as a pre-educator is No Child Left Behind and how that translates to my future classroom. I have to say that, as the law currently stands, I'm not a fan. I believe teaching to a test is harming our children, not helping them. The emphases is figurative learning, not operational learning, and the curriculum is pruned so that only tested materials are covered. So, when I saw this article on my Yahoo! news page, I began to get a little excited.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100201/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama_education

I say a little excited because it's not done until it's done. It appears to me, though, that President Obama feels similarly about NCLB as I do, so I am cautiously optimistic. As was said earlier in class, music IS important. Art IS important. Drama, physical education, band, orchestra. These are all important areas that are the first to be sacrificed because no one tests to see how well a student plays the flute or draws a flower. Progressing schools should be acknowledged and rewarded, not punished because they failed to meet an arbitrary number on a test. This is what I mean about that. A school's standardized testing results show that 65% of the students failed the math portion of the testing, and the target number is 30% or less. I am making these numbers up for illustration purposes. The school makes changes and the following year, only 45% of the students failed the math portion of the test. This is a 20% improvement and not necessarily a small thing depending on the size of the school. Yet because the target number is 30% or less, this school would be punished instead of recognizing that a significant improvement has been made and giving incentives to continue this improvement. The proposed overhaul would address this, and hopefully correct it. I'll be interested to see how this plays out. It's encouraging to me, though, that we have an education-focused President in office.

My First Year of Teaching and the Inclusion of All Students

Soon I will be a first year teacher! I do not mind saying that I am scared to death of this eventuality. I have wanted to be a teacher my whole life and I am now rounding the corner and heading into the final few laps of this journey. So what exactly is it that I am afraid of? Is it the students? Certainly that cannot be the issue I am raising three children and have been a football, basketball and soccer coach for all of my adult life. Children are a large part of my life already, so what is it that makes me sit up in bed at four in the morning? Just between you and me, it is the fear of failure. Not the fear of being a bad teacher, I have been a coach far too long to doubt my ability to teach. No, my fear comes from being afraid that I will miss the potential of a student and fail that student. I do not mean fail as in giving the student an “F”, I mean fail as in not recognizing that student’s potential and helping that student realize the possibilities they possess. I do not have that fear in coaching, I coach youth league sports and know that if I miss the potential of an athlete there will be a long line of coaches after me that will surely pick up on that child’s potential. But teaching is another story, I will teach at the high school level and potential must be recognized then or it may be too late for my students. So how do I swallow that fear and move forward with confidence? I will tell you what my gut and my heart tell me to do, treat every student as if they have the potential to cure cancer or write novels or design bridges or conduct an orchestra or teach or anything that will make that student a productive citizen. Each and every one of my students have will have some potential, some will want to be good mothers, others will want to be a great mechanic, some will want to go on to college and some will have no idea what to do with their lives.
So what is the reality I will face as a first year teacher that will try to derail my ideals and goals? My courses so far have taught me that the typical classroom will have students that do not speak English as a first language, students who live in poverty, students with disabilities and a host of other diverse backgrounds. One controversial subject in schools right now is the inclusion of special education students in general education classrooms. This is not a new practice but the majority of schools are moving towards eliminating the special education classroom altogether. Special Education teachers move from class to class with the students to provide the extra instruction they need. Often the special education students are pulled from the classroom during quizzes and tests to take them in other classrooms. This allows the special education teachers the give modified exams and extra help. Many would argue that the inclusion of special education students do not belong in the general education classes. Some would say the time it takes to keep the special education students up to speed will take away instruction time from the other students. I would agree that these concerns are real and something to be discussed. However, I would not agree that special education students should be excluded from general education classrooms. I would also argue that not having special education classrooms at all may be a detriment to the students who need extra instruction and time. I sympathize with the teacher who has a vastly diverse classroom with different levels of understanding and ability with a finite amount of time to prepare all of the students for a standardized test that is the lynchpin for not just the student’s success but also the school’s success and ultimately the teacher’s success. Preparing students for such a test is a stressful and daunting task that in the context of having to prepare students who may have difficulty reading or even speaking English, can seem impossible. I have been taught and assured that there are several instructional methods that will allow teachers to include all students regardless of ability or development level. These strategies include allowing students to learn new material in several ways. An effective teacher will often present lessons in manner that allow the auditory learner, the visual learner and the kinetic learner to succeed. Is this more work for the teacher? You bet it is! But teaching is a profession of passion and putting in extra work or going above and beyond what is required is standard for any good teacher. To gainsay a student the opportunity of a general education classroom is to give up on the student. It is impossible to know what each student is truly capable of until we, as teachers, have given that student every opportunity to flourish. Will I have a student in my classroom with the potential to do great things? I have no idea but I have made a commitment to myself to treat each student as if they do.

Teaching Our Teachers and Kids Advertisments

Through my observation to a Middle school class for my education major, I observed a health class for the ages between 8 through 10. I did not see this before, it was a candy for kids ages 5 years to maybe 11 years old. This candy is inside a backet looks exactly like a real cigarette backet, when the kids open it he will have the exactly cigarette shape and eat it.. wow it taste delicious. This back of candy cigarette was maybe made in the 1970's or around that period of time as the teacher mentioned.

However, what made me write this blog that unfortunately I saw my kid who is seven years old bring from his teacher's reward box, because he was doing good that day, a capsule and a round white bill but it is candy. I am wondaring if that advertisement was in 1970's and that period of time they did not reach what we are in nowadays from laws to technology and knowledge. Why we still have those problems with the all of knowledge we have now. Is it good to have bills or anything looks like it just to sell products and collect money for those companies or those are kind of advertisements go beyond marketing? What is the teacher role in this class? Is it to support those advertisments?

Whatever the reasons are the question here is how shall we protect our children inside the schools? And who is responsible for that? All in all just think of this question; How to teach our teachers?

Challenging the First Year Teacher

As a pre-educator, I often find myself wondering what it will be like to have my own classroom. What are some of the challenges I'll face? What kind of autonomy will I have? How much of a disadvantage will I be at because I'm new? I'm beginning to think I'm putting myself at a disadvantage by focusing on my newness. So, guess what? I'm not going to worry about it. Obviously, if I get hired, someone has faith in my abilities. I'm willing to go with them on this one.

That still leaves a lot of unknowns, though. Since I can't get anything done if I can't keep my zoo, so to speak, I think I'll focus first on classroom management.

"Always live up to the same rules you set up for them. Keep them simple and justifiable. 'Respect' is the only rule I have on my classroom wall." - Catherine McTamaney, 9th-12th grades, Tennessee.

I am big on respect and common courtesy, something I don't feel we have enough of these days. For whatever reason, people of all ages have decided it's perfectly acceptable to be rude, discourteous, and unappreciative. Respect, however, is a reciprocal process. They will give me their respect because I am their authority figure and that's what they're expected to do. However, by giving them that same respect in return, I'm hoping they will begin to learn the value of it and practice it outside of my class. Respect is a hydra; it's a single concept with many expressions. My students will show me the respect of being in their seats on time at the start of class. In return, I will be in class prepared to teach them at the start of class. They will raise their hands, and wait to be called on, not only showing respect to me but to their fellow classmates who may or may not be speaking already. In return I will do my best to remember who had a comment, or question, and call on all students who had something to say. If we run out of class time, and the raised hand was for a question, I will give that student time after class, or after school, if need be, to address their question. That's not to say class can't be lighthearted and fun. If respect is in place, then we can have a relaxed atmosphere where everyone can be comfortable participating.