Tonight I went to the US Premiere of The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard. It’s a fabulous educational video about stuff. It’s important to examine where stuff comes from and where it goes and all of the seen and unseen pieces in-between and this video short does a great job of outlining the process. The Story of Stuff website has numerous resources, including some generic educational materials, drop down menus for the different aspects of the production-consumption cycle and a well documented source list for the facts sited. Share the video with your students, colleagues and friends. We’re watching it tomorrow in my classroom. I was thinking about also showing the artwork of Chris Jordan and his collection called Intolerable Beauty. If you haven’t seen his stuff, I highly recommend it.
The project is the result of a collaboration between the Tides Foundation, GAIA, Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption and Free Range Graphics. My dear friend Erica Priggen works for Free Range Graphics and was the Producer of the video. Great work Erica and all of the people who worked to make The Story of Stuff!
Dr. Noah St. John has created a way to help you change your life. It’s called afformations. It’s a method of asking questions that focuses on what you’d like to create. Most people, including teachers and our students, ask lousy questions. Questions such as “Why am I so broke?” and “Why is math so difficult?” are rampant. The problem is that when you ask lousy questions, you get lousy answers, and hence create a less than desirable life circumstance.
I taught my students a little about how to use afformations at school and at home to change their lives and many had incredible shifts. Some of my colleagues also used it in their classrooms with delightful outcomes.
Spring break isn’t quite here yet, but you don’t need to wait to take a vacation. You can start today! Take a vacation from complaining.
When people complain, they actually enforce and unfortunately attract more negative experiences. Taking the simple action of not complaining can shift the energy in your life in dramatic and joyous ways. The Secret is to focus on the things that bring you joy.
I like to do take a vacation from complaining with my students. It can really make teaching and learning a much more pleasant experience when the room isn’t filled with tattling and whining. Of course, students are still encouraged to set healthy boundaries and have them respected, but the finger pointing can be erased with a collective intention.
On Monday, I am going to invite my students to take a vacation from complaining with me. I will have them write “day 1″ in their daily planners marking the beginning of the vacation. We will also determine how long we’re going to take a vacation from complaining. We’ll write the end date in the planner as well. Each week on our warm-ups we’ll take a couple of minutes to write a reflection on how we’re enjoying the vacation.
I usually like to set the vacations for 30 days. 40 days is also a nice amount of time for a vacation, especially if the number 40 has spiritual significance for you. Lent is a great time to give up complaining. Well, by the time this vacation is over, Spring Break will have arrived and I can go on another vacation.
If you haven’t heard about The Secret, it’s a movie that will change your teaching and your life in profound and joyful ways!
The Secret is that our thoughts attract similar thoughts, which then become manifest on the physical plane. This is often referred to as the Law of Attraction. The movie includes interviews with people who have been using the power of positive thought to create their lives. People like Jack Canfield, author of Chicken Soup for the Soul, as well as quantum physicists, share their wonderful stories. Even Oprah is out promoting it. It’s a must see movie!
Think about all of the people, including perhaps you, who have said, “Teachers are underpaid” (which may be true in this moment), but are we creating more of that in the future? Another one that is commonly repeated is, “Teachers don’t get any respect.” I’d love to have a whole bunch of teachers around the world see this movie and start creating a different reality for our profession and our students on a mass scale. You can start by clicking on the link below and getting a copy at Amazon. Invite over some colleagues and watch it together. Support each other and share the secret.
I’ve been investigating strategies to improve the quality of the cooperative learning group interactions in my math classroom. I figure that if I really want students to support each other, I need to teach communication skills and clearly state my expectations of the group.
This week I decided to have the groups focus on engaging all students in the activity. Here is what I did:
Clearly Stated the Focus Before they started working in groups, I let the students know that I wanted all students to participate and contribute to the group discussion. I also mentioned that at the end of the period, they would have to give me evidence of what was said or done that supported this focus.
Brainstormed Ideas
Prior to starting the activity, we spent about a minute or two as a class coming up with ideas about how to engage group members. For example,
We haven’t heard from you, Michael. What do you think?
Micaela, can you tell us what you got?
Self-Assessment
After completing the task, each group had an assessment sheet that they filled in together. Lots of websites, such as YouTube and Squidoo, have viewers rate things on a 5 star system. I decided to use a similar model. I had a few questions on the 1/4 sheet of paper. They filled in the number of stars that best represented their group’s behavior for the day.
Getting started
Staying focused
Including everyone
Overall performance
They also had to provide evidence of how they got everyone engaged by writing things that were said or done.
Wrap Up
As a class, I had a few groups report out about how well they managed to include others and if they needed any support.
Overall, I heard a lot more people actively soliciting answers and input from group members. There is definitely more work that needs to be done though. I may adapt the survey, but I like the general idea and structure of the assessment. Each week I’d like to have a different focus for the groups until the students naturally integrate these ideas into their interactions.
This week my friend Kathleen told me about “The Great Little Book of Afformations.” Many people are familiar with affirmations and haven’t had a lot of success using them. That’s because when you say, “I’m thin” and your body and mind say, “No you’re not”, there is a split and it’s hard to override the negative mental chatter.
The Universe responds to feelings and questions. I’ve known this for years, and this week I really started to play with asking question. The question I was asking all week was “Why does money flow to me so easily?” In four days, I generated $470 of unexpected income, a teaching award and 4 gifts. I also received an email from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, which serves over 100,000 math teachers, that informed me that my integers website will be included in their March “News Bulletin.”
On Thursday I told my students about my manifesting experience and the power of questions. We talked about the type of questions that people normally ask. They tend to be negative questions and the Universe answers those - unwittingly.
You’ve probably heard some of these:
* Why am I so bad at math?
* Why do I always get in trouble and my little brother doesn’t?
* Why do you always pick on me?
* Why can’t I ever find my homework?
* Why am I so broke all of the time?
* Why can’t I loose weight?
We practiced asking some different questions:
* Why am I so organized?
* Why is it easy for me to concentrate in class?
* Why do I love school?
* Why do I get such great grades?
At the end of the period, one of my resource students who really struggles with math called me over and said, “Ms. Newburn, I totally get how to do this. I did it all by myself. I didn’t even need any help.” Then he threw his arms open wide and said, “Why does math come so easily to me?” with a huge grin on his face.
Yes, I made extra money this week by asking questions from “The Great Little Book of Afformations” and this ah-ha by my student was priceless!
Be mindful of the questions you ask.
For example, “Why do my students love my class?” may be because they have lots of friends to talk with. Whereas, asking “Why are students so engaged in the lesson?” would have the desired result of less classroom management and an increase in learning.
Questions you may want to use to transform your class:
Why are students so helpful?
Why do I love my job so much?
Why do I have such engaging lessons that require little prep?
Why do my students listen to and follow directions the first time?
And here are some to transform the teaching profession (and a lot of other jobs too):
Why do I get paid so well?
Why is my work appreciated and acknowledged?
Why am I so respected?
Why do I love my job?
Play with using afformations to change your life and transform your class. If you enjoyed this post, you would also like reading about The Secret. Resources You Can Use The Great Little Book of Afformations is a fun and easy way to transform your life and teaching. I’ve been amazed at the changes is just a week. You can purchase this book for $12.95 by clicking on the book link below.
If you find the information on this blog helpful and are interested in any of the resources I’ve highlighted here, I’d be grateful if you purchased them through the links on my blog as I earn a small percentage from each sale, which supports my writing. Thanks.
Kids of today are used to working collaboratively. It’s a characteristic of the Millennial Generation. Yet how effective is your group work in class? Is it hit or miss? If so, here are some great ideas to get you and your kids back in the spirit of cooperation.
I was struggling with my students’ group work because they are grouped in tables, yet when they do homework some of the traditional roles that help define a group, such as reporter and recorder, didn’t make sense. They weren’t going to report out. They were doing their homework and everyone had to write so there wasn’t a need for a recorder. This week I came up with some new roles that reflect the new era and the new direction in the classroom. They are:
The Task Master
Makes sure that all people know the assignment.
Makes sure that all group members are working on the same problem.
What did everyone get for #4? – Ok. Now let’s go to #5.
Can someone explain to the group how to do problem #3?
The Understanding One
Makes sure that everyone is doing what s/he is supposed to be doing.
Makes sure that everyone is talking only with his/her group members.
Makes sure that everyone understands the problem.
When no one in the group understands, this is the person who communicates with the teacher.
Does everyone know how to do the problem?
The Organizer
Makes sure that the group has the necessary supplies to do the task.
Makes sure that all people take out the materials they need: toolkits, paper, etc.
Makes sure the desk and area around the table are neat at the end of the period and that materials are returned.
Does everyone have the materials they need? (If not, help the group members get what they need.)
Can you please check under your desk to make sure there is no trash?
The Compassionate One
Makes sure that everyone feels included in the discussion.
Acknowledges group members for what they did that made the group the work better.
We haven’t heard from you in a while, Jake. What do you think?
Thanks, Nick, for explaining how to solve the problem to the group.
Monday I introduced the new roles. They are already grouped in tables of 4 and by each seat is a colored star. I have an overhead transparency that I use that has the four colored stars on it. I explained before I showed them the roles, that we would rotate each week. It was absolutely precious to see the middle school students say, “I’m the Compassionate One” or “I get to be the Understanding One this week.”
A few minutes into the homework, I would check in with the class to see if the entire group was on the same problem. If so, I would either say “Give yourself a pat on the back”, “Give a high 5 to your group members” or “Thank your Task Master for doing such a great job.”
When the homework was on a different sheet then the classwork, I wrote on the board and told the class, that The Organizer would have to bring up all group members’ papers before I would give them the homework handout. This ensured that groups had more reason to help each other.
Overall this week, the groups worked much better together. There was much more inclusion of other people’s ideas and team members worked together to support each other. I also heard a lot of nice comments said to teammates, which made teaching even more pleasurable.
Sometimes we can get caught up in the drama of our lives, and even other people’s lives. That’s when it’s time to get a different perspective. Why not take a Universal one?
I was over at my friend Navyo’s house yesterday and he told me that he was journeying into Deep Space. As he said this, his screensaver activated and these magnificent pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope emerged from his computer. Heart opening! Spectacular. The vastness and breadth of beauty contained in these photos of the Universe are enough to help anyone put their troubles in perspective and remember the grandeur and elegance contained in the Universe from the Eagle Nebula to this galaxy to this planet and their own divinity.
I went home and changed my screen saver to the Eagle Nebula, which interestingly enough used to be the graphic on my last business card.
May we all be aware of our own divinity and that we are a part of this spectacularly beautiful and elegant Universe. May we connect with our delicious creativity. May we remember who we truly are as we teach children so that they become fully aware of their own inner wisdom and beauty.
The selection of the starting point of a calendar year is a cultural one, as evidenced by the different days of the new year celebrated around the world. However, I still like to take time and reflect on what I learned, how I changed and what I am glad to see end. We live in amazingly fast times, and even though the mark of the new year is an artificially set date it is valuable to take time out and pause, reflect and appreciate.
A big part of the coming of the new year is deciding how you would like to change aspects of your life. Many people attempt to make changes by creating New Year’s resolutions. Some popular ones that millions of Americans will choose this year (and have probably done so for decades) are:
1. I will lose weight (or I will go on a diet).
2. I will exercise more. (Sometimes this looks like , ” I will join a gym.”)
3. I will stop procrastinating.
4. I will quit smoking.
I believe we do create our own lives. I am a big proponent of creating the life you want to live. However, many people don’t have the tools to do that consciously and thus create by default. There are a variety of tools to support people in creating the lives they would like to live that are becoming increasingly more well known. New Year’s resolutions is not one of them! In fact, most people state New Year’s resolutions and don’t manage to follow through, then they go into blaming and self loathing, which usually compounds the original problem.
So how do you change your life? Here are a few easy tools that you can use:
1. Focus on the Positive
If you’re focusing on what’s wrong, like being too heavy, then you are drawing your attention to “too heavy” and that’s more of what you’re likely to see. Some people call this the Law of Attraction. Basically, the Law of Attraction states that what you give your attention to you draw more of to your experience. I like to think of it as the lens that you see the world through. For example, if you think people are basically nice, you continually find data to support your point of view. If you think you are bad at math, then every time you make a mistake (and I’ve made thousands in math), then you say to yourself, “Look. See how stupid I am. See how bad I am at math,” and with your negative focus you make it more real. When you have that belief, you don’t notice all of the times you do things right.
How do you create your life consciously and with intention? Start envisioning yourself being the type of person you’d like to be: kind, healthy, fit, great at math. Maybe saying, “I’m great at math” or “I’m thin” doesn’t quite feel truthful to you yet. Is there something that you can think of that will get you closer to that feeling and reality? Maybe you can say, “I am getting better at math every day” or “I’m getting healthier daily.” Experience how great if feels in your body being this new way. Just creating the sensation of how that feels begins to make it real.
2. Chunk up the Year into Manageable Parts
Instead of committing to something for the whole year, do it for 30 or 40 days. Make a commitment that you can be successful at achieving.
Self-defeating: I will run 2 miles every day.
If you haven’t exercised all year this is fabulous, but probably not the first step. Start with a smaller more achievable target. Great chance of success: For 30 days, I will get on my sweats and go outside for at least 20 minutes on a route that I would like to run.
Chances are after a few days of getting dressed to run. You’ll probably actually start to do it. Even if you don’t, you’ll have taken a nice hike, which is healthy too.
Self-defeating: I’m going to quit smoking.
A statement like that is hard for many people to do, especially when it’s been a lifelong habit. Yet when you say, “I’m going to quit smoking for 30-days” it becomes more manageable. “30 days? I can handle that,” you say to yourself and you’re on your way to successfully quitting for life. After 30 days of not smoking, you’ve got 30 days of a new habit under your belt. I had a friend who did 40-days without smoking successfully. She was so delighted that she’s now adding exercise a few times a week to her next 40 day plan. Great chance for success: I will stop smoking for 30 days.
Self-defeating: I’m going to lose 10 pounds.
Don’t focus on the weight, focus on a healthful habit that you are willing to do for a month or so. Great chance for success: I am going to eat a piece of fruit at lunch.
OR I am going to eat a salad at dinner.
After the 30 to 40 days, access if the new habit worked for you. If it did, extend the habit for another 30 or even 60 days. If not, go back to the old way or try something else on to see how that feels.
3. Who are You?
Make a list of the qualities that you would like to embody. Who do you wish to be? How do wish to show up in the world? What qualities do you want to bring to your relationships, school and activities? What contributions would you like to make? Then feel how great that would be.
The fastest way to create a new habit or new way of being is to feel it in your body as if it was already fully true. From time to time look at this list, feel how magnificent you truly are and how much you have to offer the world.
4. Be Mindful of your Language - Take a Vacation from Negative Speech & Thought
We create thoughts, patterns and our reality with our words. Be thoughtful about how you speak to others and yourself. Take a vacation form complaining and negative thought. Whenever you hear yourself make a judgement about yourself or someone else, notice it and let it go. Every moment is a new moment. There is no need to judge yourself or anyone else. When you hear yourself going into judgement, send a thought of gratitude to yourself for noticing and to the other person. So relax. Take a vacation from complaining and judgement for 30 days. I’d love to hear about your trip.
My First 30 Days of 2007
I am instituting a new health plan of miso with greens before breakfast to support the liver and dry brushing before I shower, which helps exfoliate dead skin, increases circulation and supports the lymphatic system.
Who am I?
I am kind and thoughtful in all of the interactions I have with others.
I am mindful of the ecological footprint I leave on this planet. I continue to find ways that I can leave a smaller footprint and I help others find their own path.
I create engaging educational material that students enjoy doing. It helps them to learn the math concepts while exploring their own values and their relation to the world and others.
I gracefully handle all situations.
I am fulfilling my life destiny.
I’d love to hear what you’d like to create with your life. Feel free to share any 30 or 40 day plans that you’ve chosen.
Wishing you a wonderful year. May all that you dream and desire to create become true - quickly.
We all leave footprints in the sand, the question is, will we be a big heal, or a great soul.
‘Tis the holiday season for many of us. What choices will you make when it comes to the ecological footprint you place on the planet? Why not create a healthy footprint for yours and future generations! (This is a post from my class blog and I wanted to share it with you so that you can share it with your own family and students.)
First off, you may be asking, “What is an ecological footprint?” According to Wikipedia’s definition, “an ecological footprint is a metaphor used to depict the amount of land and water area a human population would hypothetically need to provide the resources required to support itself and to absorb its wastes.”
Take the Ecological Footprint Quiz to see how much resources you use. I hope you’re sitting down when you take it. It’s quite intense to hear the amount of resources we as Americans use. I also recommend you take the quiz pretending you are from another country. You’ll be flabbergasted at the difference!
Things to Consider About Sustainability and Your Footprint
1. When you buy something, it must last as long or longer than it takes to make the raw ingredients to be sustainable.
Water bottles: A plastic water bottle, which is made of petroleum, takes millions of years to create. Yet we throw it away after an hour.
millions of years to make > 1 hour to drink NOT sustainable
Jeans: Jeans are made from cotton, which takes less than a year to grow.
less than a year to grow < wear jeans for more than a year Sustainable
2. Packaging is a huge waste of natural resources. Buy things with a minimum amount of packaging. Also bring your own bags to the store. If it’s a small purchase, ask that they don’t put it in a bag.
Holiday Suggestions from My Family to Yours
My family used to do several things that I’d like to share with you to help you be more environmentally conscientious.
First, we often wrapped gifts in the comic section of the paper. It was fun and colorful, and we all agreed that it was an easy step we could all take for the planet.
We also had boxes that had tops and bottoms. The tops were wrapped in wrapping paper and we used these boxes year after year… not to mention the bows. This year I received some gifts for my 40th birthday and they were in the boxes that I remember from when a kid. What a nice childhood memory!
Create attractive cards or gift tags that identify gifts that can be used year after year. For example, “From Mom & Dad, To Rebecca.” We had little felt gift tags that we made and we used them every year for Christmas. Think of all of the paper we saved, and it was a sweet thing to see those little tags. We still have them 35 years later!
Another cool thing that we did is that we didn’t have a Christmas tree. In 2002, over 20,000,000 trees were cut in the US alone by commercial farmers. And that’s just for the US! We had a Christmas branch instead. We cut some large limbs from trees that needed to be pruned and from the limbs we created a “tree.” Everyone always commented on how beautiful our trees looked. UC Berkeley School of Forestry has an annual sale of trees that have been cut from national parks that are potentially a fire hazard. If you celebrate Christmas, see if there is an alternative that suits your family’s needs and concerns when it comes to Christmas trees.
For more information on ecological footprints, check out this web quest.
This holiday think about the purchases you are making and the gifts you are requesting. What ecological footprint will you leave on the planet for your generation and future generations?
