Love & Forgiveness

The last couple of Sundays, I've gone back to the church I grew up in for services.  Many of the members there are part of my extended family and it's meant a lot to have some of them come up to me and tell me how much I'm loved and how happy they are to see me at the services.  It's helped me realize that letting disagreements take control robs you of time with those who, even when there's a disagreement, love you.

Today, I sat in church and reflected on an infant sent to us over 2000 years ago; a child who as an adult modeled unconditional love and taught us about forgiveness.  When you let anger and hurt feelings take control of your heart, you're letting a form of evil have control in a situation.  In finding the ability to move past hurt and move forward with love, you are doing what Jesus taught us to do.  I was Googling verses on forgiveness today as I reflected on what I wanted to say in this blog.  The verse below seemed to speak to me today:

Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.  Colossians 3:13

The ability to forgive and let go of hurt is one of the biggest challenges any person can face.  I hope and pray that during the holiday season, those who are holding grudges and struggling with being able to forgive and let go of hurt find the ability to do so.  Grudges and hurt only lead to suffering and misery for all involved.  This is the time of year to remember that God so loved the world that he gave us his only son.  If he can give us that gift, how can we not share the gift of love and forgiveness with one another.

Teaching Kids The Value of Money and About Gratitude

I've been reading about the family that has decided to cancel Christmas and it has me reflecting on what is being bought for children today.  I can remember as a child, Christmas was a special time and my brother and I often got very nice gifts at the holidays from "Santa", our parents and grandparents. At the same time, we were raised with a realistic view of what we could have and what things cost.  I earned an allowance from an early age and was encouraged to buy some things for myself to learn about the value of money.  We also learned about doing for others in need at the holidays.  At church, we collected items for the homeless shelter, observed our parents working with others at the church to help families in need around the holidays and learned that valuable lesson of what it means to be blessed to have the things we have.  

As a teacher, I now work in a school that serves the kids of those families in need and see those without coats, enough to eat and those in homes where neglect and abuse happen.  I have also worked with and known kids who come from homes where their parents can afford to buy them a multitude of things they want.  I have seen families who indulge kids with things to make up for being busy at work or as a way to try an make up for something unfortunate that may have happened in the child's life.   My observation is that many of these kids haven't necessarily developed an entitlement attitude; it's that they haven't learned what it means to earn some of these things that they have been given.   

 I often worry when buying things for my boyfriend's daughter, that I may be guilty of indulging her wants and not taking the time to teacher her about the value of earning things or that maybe we are not doing enough to teach her about the fact she is blessed to have things and not every child out there has these things.  As one of the adults in her life, I know that I have a responsibility to teach her about setting goals and working toward earning some of the things she may want.  I also have the responsibility of helping her develop an attitude of gratitude and a knowledge of the importance of doing for others.  The question I think many adults in the life of a child have to wrestle with is how do I teach these lessons in a world where so many of the kids around have.  Even my students who live in poverty talk about having iPads and X-Boxes at home because their families want them to be like most kids in our materialistic society and have these things.  These families go in debt or do without necessities to give their kids the things that are valued currently in the have the latest and greatest gadget culture.    

So, how do we teach our children to appreciate having things, that it's okay not to have everything our friends have and that some things we have are earned, not handed to us easily?  I think it starts with learning about money, it's value and it's use.  At school, part of the Social Studies curriculum is financial literacy.  The thing is, teaching kids about money at school doesn't ingrain habits of how to use money day to day.  Our kids get those lessons by watching and learning from the adults in their lives.  It's easy to want to protect kids and not let them know about money and the problems that come with managing expenses.  At the same time, it's important that kids hear about what things cost so they can learn to value what they have.  I know of some parents who explained to their kids that Santa has elves to pay and reindeer to feed and sends a bill for the things left at Christmas.  These parents gave their kids a budget once they were old enough and the kids had to make their wish list based on what that budget was.  Another family I know only allows their children three gifts at Christmas in connection with the gifts of the Three Kings who visited Baby Jesus. Kids earning an allowance by doing chores to contribute to the family and having that money to buy some of your wants on your own is another way to teach the value of money.  Talking about saving for something for the family, such as a new big screen TV, is another way to teach the lesson of valuing money.

There's also making sure kids learn those lessons about helping those in need.  Even if you are not involved in a church that provides opportunities for your child to learn these lessons, you can teach about helping those in need.  Taking your child to choose and buy a toy to donate to a toy drive, having your child help pack up old toys and clothes to donate to a charitable organization that helps those in need provides the opportunity to have those talks that develop the attitude of gratitude.  

Truly, the challenge of avoiding the "entitlement" attitude being formed in children is up to the adults in their lives.  Adults have to not give in to that peer pressure from society to give their kids or themselves everything wanted in our materialistic society.  It is our job to instill the attitude of gratitude and the ability to work and save in order to obtain some of the things we want.

Summer Means Both Fun and Worry

As excited as I am for summer and the time I will have to learn new things at ISTE in Atlanta and at the Alice training I am attending at Duke University, I'm also worried about my students at school.  Summer for them can be a time of uncertainty.  Many of the kids I work with live in poverty and the meals they know will be there for them at breakfast and lunch at school are not necessarily easily received in the summer.  Yes, my school hosts a summer feeding program; but that's no guarantee that the parents of my students will be able to get the kids to the cafeteria each day for the meals that will be offered.  I also worry about the academic backslide these kids will encounter when they are not in the rich learning environment that school provides.  So many of their parents juggle multiple jobs and deal with the stresses of living in poverty and as a result lack the time or energy to just talk with and read with their kids.  At a workshop I attended last week, we heard the data about how so many of our kids in the high poverty schools come in and make large gains and then they go home for the summer and the data collected shows that over the summer these kids can lose 4-6 months of growth during their summer backslide.  So, as we go into the last weeks of school, I know that we have to use every minute we have to grow our students as much as possible because the more they grow the better.

Best Practices With Digital Resources

Graphic I created during a DPI
training session I attended
in the winter of 2012.

For my EDTC 6070 class,  I was asked to blog about the best practices in use of digital resources in the classroom.  As a technology teacher in a high poverty school, I see students and teachers on a daily basis who struggle with using technology as an educational tool.  In terms of best practices, I think the key is that the curriculum has to drive the activity and the technology has to be a tool.  All too often, I see teachers who use technology as the means to keep students occupied through games so they can assess or work with small groups and they fail to see technology as a tool that can foster student learning through project based learning activities where technology is a tool used to build knowledge. 

I think we are failing our teachers in providing the support they need to start using technology as an instructional tool as part of the T-PACK Model.   Content standards should drive instruction and teachers need to have knowledge of how to effectively integrate technology tools with the instruction they will be offering.  Pedagogy is moving towards the teacher serving more as a facilitator with students rather than lecture style instruction.   In order to support that shift in pedagogy, schools need strong instructional technologist coaching our teachers with how to best utilize technology tools as part of their instruction.  Project based learning is one of the best ways for having students use technology as a learning tool.  In my school, I have been collaborating with our Science specialist on a project with fifth graders.   In her classes, groups of students have been inventing their own brand of sneakers.  With me, students are working in collaborative groups to develop a commercial using iMovie or Animoto to sell their product much as an inventor would to profit from his or her invention.  The focus of the commercial project is to develop persuasive writing skills.  This is an example of how to use technology as a tool with students to reach that “Sweet Spot” where engagement and learning are maximized.

Sorting the Professional and the Personal in My Blog

Well, I've blogged off and on in spurts for years.  Going back to college as spurred me to return to the world of blogging and for my classes, I'm creating labels in my blog...one for those personal observations I make on life from time to time and one for my professional life, which revolves around my job as an elementary technology teacher.  Click on the labels at the right to see the blogs that interest you.

Lucy Moment of the Week

Well, today is definitely comical but that comedy is going to cause drama in the house.  My passed down to me from my parents 15 year old wicker furniture that is in the den is the source of the comedy and drama in the world today.  I sat down on the sofa prepared to fire up the laptop and get the blog I need to do for my online summer school class finished when I hear a crack and started sinking towards the floor - yes, this is where you picture the comical scramble to pull myself up before sinking to rock bottom.  I quickly pulled the cushions up to see the back side of the frame has separated from the support pieces for the seat.  After the exasperated sigh, I admit I couldn't be too surprised since the same thing happened with the chair to this set a few months back when Dwayne sat down in it.  Both times, I pulled out my handy Black & Decker drill and some super long wood screws and went to work.  The chair has held a few months, but I must say we really don't trust it.  Now, the sofa is in the same shape.

As to where the drama comes in, that is going to be the disorder my house is going to fall into the first chance I can gather some helpers to do the great furniture shuffle.  The shuffle has been considered for months in order to create Dwayne an office for his job since he works from home.  The living room furniture is making way to the den...the living room is being converted to the dining room and what was the dining room is becoming a home office.  The uproar this will cause in my normally organized house is not going to be fun and I hate to see what Noelle is going to do.  She's been trained that she's allowed on the den furniture but not allowed on the living room furniture.  I have a feeling we're going to have one confused dog...and an upset one too since the wicker love seat that is her main napping spot will have to become history with the chair and sofa that it matches.  Oh well, it could be worse...at least I'm handy with the tools and was able to make a temporary fix.  I knew better than to ask Dwayne since, to quote his 10 year old daughter, "Daddy just isn't handy!"  A remark she made just a couple of weeks ago when she called me to help her fix the broken towel bar in the bathroom instead of yelling for her Daddy.  I love you, Dwayne...but I definitely have better fix-it skills than you do!

Oh, and anyone reading this...I'm looking for a free desk if any of my friends have one that needs to find a new home.  I'll be glad to get it out of your way and off your hands.  Now, enough procrastinating...on to my homework!

Noelle

The picture at the left is my dog Noelle.  Noelle found her home on Christmas Eve 2010 when she came up in my yard while we were having a family Christmas gathering at my house.   She came up to my brother, Mark, and he could see her ribs sticking out and the fact that she did not have a tag or collar.  Soon, Noelle was sharing in our Christmas ham and making herself at home in my house.  I quickly realized that Noelle was already house broken and soon spread flyers in the neighborhood and place a "Found Dog" ad on Craigslist seeking to find her owner.  Noelle was never claimed and soon had a permanent home with me.  She is part hound and part lab, which means she is a very vocal and energetic dog and is spoiled rotten.  That said, Noelle has provided some challenging and entertaining days...multiple fence climbing fiascoes followed by being chased through the neighborhood, then there was the day she ate my prescription glasses, the underwear she drug out her dog door and scattered in the backyard and her latest love of bringing cardinals from the backyard into the den through the dog door.  Despite those crazy moments, nothing is better than coming home to a loving dog who is thrilled to see you at home.  Noelle may have found me, but I think maybe Santa dropped her as a special gift right at my front door!

Back to Blogging Again

Well, I have once again come back to the blog that I do in spurts and then get busy and allow to fall by the wayside because I'm busy with that thing called life.  This week, I am spurred on by the fact I am going back to college to finish up an Instructional Technology add on licensure for my teaching license that I started several years ago but never finished because I got side-tracked dealing with those things life throws your way - family illnesses, increasing job responsibilities, home ownership...the list goes on and on.  My first class back in school has a blogging component, so I'm back.  I'm sure for a while my blog will be a combination of things related to that class with a few of my observations on life.  Looking forward to getting back into the blogging world.