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July 13, 2017July 13, 2017

Personal Best like Pioneer Woman

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My classroom mantra is “Personal Best.” When students ask how long a piece of writing should be, I say, “do your personal best.” When a student asks me if an assignment is good enough, I ask, “Is it your personal best?” When conflict arises in my school or community the students want to talk about, it starts with, “Did that person do their personal best in that situation?” My students hear it so much it gets to a point where I don’t have to say it anymore, they say it for me.

Learning is a very personal experience and each student (no matter what is being learned) learns differently. How could I compare students, assuming they are all learning on the same level? A student who works incredibly hard and grows from a 32 on their math test to a 56 on the next math test, is doing their personal best. A student who did just enough to get by and nothing more, resulting in a grade of 89, is not doing their personal best. It goes back to the old adage, you get out of it what you put in.

As learners, we should always try our personal best. Only then can we feel that we have done all we can and should be proud of what we have accomplished. In those cases, when we do our personal best, we should celebrate those successes and the successes of others.

In 2012, a preservice teacher who worked in my 3rd-grade class 2 days a week introduced me to The Pioneer Woman and changed my life. If you are not familiar with Ree Drummond, I recommend you become familiar now. She is a mom of 4, with a rancher husband, a warm personality, and a fun approach to cooking. After watching my first Pioneer Woman show on Food Network, I was hooked and wanted to learn more about her. What I found after a Google search was an array of recipes, blog posts, and interesting facts. Additionally, I found critics. Critics who took her many accomplishments and tried to discount them. I was saddened as I read them and thought, I hope Ree never sees these. While they were no more than people jealous of her success, she was being shamed for doing her personal best. She had worked hard, hadn’t been given anything, and was giving it her all. How many times do we give our personal best and are made to feel like it isn’t enough? Do the same things happen to our students?

I still use my Personal Best mantra with my college students, helping them realize the importance for themselves and their students, but I also stress celebrating successes for achieving our personal best. These celebrations help lessen the voices of critics and help us realize when we truly did our personal best and we should be proud.

July 10, 2017July 13, 2017

Learning Identity

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I have been reading a great deal lately on identity development, specifically learner identity. It appears in content related learning, social development, personal information, cultural understanding, and in my most recent case, stereotype identity in Claude Steele’s Whistling Vivaldi (affiliate link), where he talks about stereotype identity (or stereotype threat as he terms it).

Have you ever thought about your identity? How would you identify yourself? The first time I ever was asked that question, I described my identity as an educated Christian woman who was a wife and mother. I have since learned that while that may be part of my identity, there is much more to me. What do I stand for? What do I believe in? What motivates me? What holds me back? There are so many aspects to my identity.

Taking it a step further, have you ever thought about your learning identity? What type of learner are you? How do you learn well? Poorly? What are you good at? Not as strong at? I immediately think about aspects of learning that are difficult for me, areas I struggle with. The first one that comes to mind is math. I would say that I am not a strong math student, but that wasn’t always the case. I LOVED math until 6th grade. I won’t go into details, but in 6th grade, I decided I wasn’t good at math and I began to identify myself as a weak math student and from that point on I struggled with math.

While I know what changed my mindset (affiliate link), how damaging was that to my identity as a learner? Do you do the same thing? Do all learners create negative stereotypes for themselves regarding what they cannot do? If so, then don’t our students do that as well.

I think about the students I have taught over the years that identified different areas they struggled and developed a fixed mindset regarding that discipline. I used to think that I could get them to change their mindset if I showed them they could do it. While this wasn’t completely incorrect, maybe I should have focused more on helping them understand the identity they had created for themselves and help them work to look at their “weak” identity differently.

July 10, 2017July 13, 2017

Pomodoro Teachnique for Learning

Pomodoro Technique

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Does time keep you from learning something new? What about distractions that keep you from learning optimally? If so, the Pomodoro Technique may be a good solution for you. Created by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980, the Pomodoro Technique is a method of time management that enhances learning time – helping you do more with less time.

Cirillo’s method uses a timer to break down work or practice sessions into intervals. Traditionally, Cirillo determined 25 minute time segments were ideal, but amount of time can be adjusted. Each interval was separated by short breaks from the work.

A typical hour long Pomodoro type work session would look like this:

Decide what you are going to work on (if you have a learning schedule already established on your calendar, this part is easy) for 25 minutes.
Put away anything that could distract you (smartphone, email, etc…turn it all OFF).
Set your timer for 25 minutes.
Start your timer and get to work. Do nothing else for those 25 minutes.
When the timer goes off, take a break. Really, do it, even if you are on a roll.
Set the timer for 25 minutes and repeat.

You will be amazed at how your productivity increases.

This technique works for multiple reasons.

It keeps you on track.
It keeps you motivated because it is easier to convince yourself to do something for 25 minutes, even if you don’t want to do it.
It keeps you engaged because even when you are on a roll, when your timer makes you stop, you are excited to get started again.
It helps you work on your time management, realizing how long things really take you, which helps you plan your calendar.

This technique works for anything you are learning, but also works on tasks like cleaning the house, exercising, organizing, etc. You can buy a Pomodoro timer, or you can use any timer you have. I often use the timer on my phone. There is even a Pomodoro timer app that will help make the process easier.

If you have something you want to learn or a task you have been putting off, try out this technique and let me know how it goes. We waste so much time when we sit down to work because we often get distracted, this technique greatly reduces the distraction.

Note: Pomodoro means tomato in Italian. Francesco Cirillo had a tomato timer when he began this technique, which is why the tomato timers are sold as a Pomodoro tool.

July 10, 2017July 13, 2017

The Perot Museum of Nature and Science

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If you are ever in the downtown Dallas area, I HIGHLY recommend visiting The Perot Museum of Nature and Science. It is the best interactive museum I have ever visited.

The museum was perfect for my 2.5 year old, but amazing for all of the adults as well. There are dinosaur exhibits…

Many interactive elements…

An entire section dedicated to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)…

A sports section (sorry no pictures of this)…

And many other elements for all ages.

Starting with an escalator ride on the side of the building and ending with water and sound elements as you leave the museum, the atmosphere is rich for learning and engagement. If you have never been, schedule a vacation soon. You won’t regret it. If you have ever been, leave me a comment and let me know what you think. What was your favorite part of the museum?

June 24, 2017July 13, 2017

Grammarly.com

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I spent years wishing that I could magically become a writing expert. I read articles and books amazed at the quality of their writing. While I’m sure that many of the authors I was enamored with were truly amazing writers, I have realized over the years that many writers hone their writing skills, but leave the bulk of grammar and editing to helpful tools that guide them along the way. One such tool is Grammarly.com.

Grammarly.com is a FREE online editing tool that will help anyone edit their writing. Plus, it has a feature you can download to make it automatically give suggestions for anything you type using Google Chrome or Microsoft Word.

See this tutorial to get started.

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