“True wealth does not glitter. It is revealed by the beauty of a life well lived.” ― Debasish Mridha At the beginning of this year, I chose the word “life” as my one little word for this year. I felt like I was not fully living, but instead was surviving. I created my life list with the intention of finding more life in my days. Tonight as I lay on the couch enjoying movies and a beer, I am happy to say that this year got me over the hump of surviving into the land of thriving.
Reflecting on the year that has been, I am happy to say that I have found more joy, more creativity, and more peace. I have stopped worrying so much what I am feel obligated to do and instead am working on choosing joy. Happiness comes easily and gratitude is full. And I am blessed At the start of a new year, there are new items to add to my list: Make 25 new recipes Bedtime routine Month long minimalist challenge Morning routine Take a trip with mom Raise a caterpillar to butterfly Fly in a helicopter Do 24 hours of silence Photobomb someone Make paper Get fitted for a bra Make a tie dye T-shirt Learn to make fudge Nanorimo Read a magazine cover to cover Take the stairs to the top of a tall building Run a half mile without walking Run a mile without walking Try a new vegetable Jump rope Throw a surprise party Try caviar Drink a gallon of water in a day Shovel snow for a neighbor Make a rubber and ball Get your face painted at an event Go to a POW wow Send yourself flowers Get a spray tan Suck helium and sing a song Have your character made Learn a card trick Attend a same sex wedding Meet a world leader Write a thank you letter for great service Create a personal logo Go to a murder mystery dinner Go play bingo at a bingo hall Duplicate an outfit from a magazine Take a ditch day and practice radical self care Make a list of 40 things I like about me Learn hand lettering Apply for intellectual property Complete a daily December project Take a photo a day for a year My goal for this year is to finish 40 more items as I turn forty and to look for the simple abundance in the everyday. I have two year long items I am going to tackle--completing 2-4 projects per month for the LIFE-BOOK class I signed up for and record 1000 items of gratitude in a year. There will be many others along the way too--I can’t wait to see what adventure comes next. Cheers!
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"Knitting not only relaxes me, it also brings a feeling of being at home." -Magdalena Neuner Today I went to a hand knitting class to make this BEAUTIFUL and sensational new blanket. The first try did not go too well--I missed one loop and had to take a bunch of it back out. But then, it became a sensory experience that made my heart calm and find the coziness of Hygge. The yarn is soft, the color soothing, and the weight when I crawled under this blanket made my heart happy. What a great way to spend a day and I look forward to MANY nights curled up in this blanket throughout the rest of the winter.
"If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life."-Unknown My life work is to teach children to love STEM. Building, making creating, asking questions, and believing that we can make a difference in the world. Well today, I had the aha that my life work has been manifested in these two amazing humans I call kids. Jaxon spend the day building with his Christmas gifts--screws, cardboard and duct tape. Blake and his dad problem solved and made Blakes new AWESOME gaming computer run. It wasn't forced, it wasn't faked, it was a genuine moment that filled my heart and soul.
"Have yourself a merry little Christmas, let your heart be light."-Lyrics We had a very merry Christmas this year. My parents came and spent several days with us leading up to Christmas Eve. We celebrated Christ's birth with "bed church" thanks to streaming. I got all my wishes--including these adorable boots! And best of all, I saw the joy in each of my family members eyes as they realized they were loved. What more could a girl ask for? I am blessed!
"The maker movement is about people who want to gain more control of the human design world that they interact with every day. Instead of accepting off-the-shelf solutions from institutions and corporations, makers would like to make, modify, and repair their own tools, clothing, food, toys, furniture, and other physical objects." -Mark Frauenfelder Being a STEM teacher, digital making is discussed at every training and conference I attend. Raspberry Pi, Robotics, Arduino--these tools are filling classrooms around the country to help create a pipeline of STEM ready students. I have puttered and played with this equipment, but never fully engaged in the process of creating my own project. That changed this semester for my Engineering class at Tufts. I have created a self adjusted heating pad. Here are deeper explanations of my project:
Kickstarter Report This project taught me determination, perseverance and that I can do hard things. I'm not sure yet how to incorporate this into my classroom, but that will come with time and reflection (and a long break during vacation!) "Christmas is the season of joy, of holiday greetings exchanged, of gift-giving, and of families united."-Norman Vincent Peele A pretty gingerbread house--this has been one of my Christmas wishes for years. However, as a boy mom, instead I often am left with a pile of frosting a big as the house covered with a mishmash of candy coating. However, this year, something changed. The boys slowed down, the time was savored, and this cute little Christmas creation came to be. It didn't long, it wasn't a fuss, instead it was a moment to savor and smile and love.
Link to Video "Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty and persistence." -Colin Powell Learning to engage in digital making has been one of my items on my list (as well as a professional goal.) So, when the opportunity to build a project for my class came up to use Arduino, I jumped on board. Little did I know the frustration that would ensue. I have spent the past 3 weeks trudging through a huge slew of tutorials, trial and error, and feeling like a failure. But tonight, after 3 hours of office hours with my professor and hours of work with Luke, I built a functioning hot pad! I felt like a million dollars. I still have a lot to do to finish my project, but I have used my failures to finally feel like a success.
"I want to ask you to consider finding a viable, long-term solution to school funding."-Jess Noffsinger Colorado recently had a blue wave as we elected the most democratic state government in a generation. This made me realize that it was an important opportunity to change how education in Colorado is funded and I vowed to write a letter to our new governor, Jared Polis. A few days after the election, Chalkbeat Colorado asked readers what we wanted the governor to know, so I wrote my letter to him and submitted it there as well. Guess what? It was published. So, here is what I asked:
I want to ask you to consider finding a viable, long-term solution to school funding. The approved text for my science class was approved the same year my students were born. We have not had money to adopt newer texts. My books do not address gravitational waves, Pluto is still listed as a planet, and climate change is barely mentioned. Students in my classroom have never lived in a world without an iPhone. They crave technology in learning, but with current funding levels we are unable to provide students with enough devices to access on a daily basis. We are looking at sharing devices or passing this cost on to families. All 440 students in our school are serviced by one amazing counselor, but as we expand next year, this ratio will continue to go up. My students have lived in a world of trauma. Since they started kindergarten, there have been 188 school shootings nationwide. Parents have deployed to Afghanistan, and teen suicide rates have risen. They need more support! My students have never participated in middle school sports or outdoor education, and have seen average class sizes slowly increase. With the defeat of Amendment 73, future opportunities will continue to be a juggling act for our system as we try to equip students with the needed skills to be successful in the future. Please work with the legislature to find an answer. — Jess Noffsinger, eighth-grade science and engineering teacher at the STEM Lab School in Northglenn I was shocked how quickly this made its rounds. Within moments of being published, it had been shared by no less than 10 other teacher to my feed with a thank you. The next day, someone at Luke's work I had never met talked to him about it. It was an amazing opportunity to use my teacher voice to ask for what my students need. Here is hoping this is a first step, not a final step, to using my teacher voice to advocate in a positive way. Want to see what other teachers had to say? Click this Link to Chalkbeat Colorado Article |
AuthorAlmost 40 and tired of the treadmill, I am going to LIVE each day as a new adventure while finishing todo items on my life list. Mom, wife, teacher, geek! Archives
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