February Challenge Reboot

Several years ago I challenged myself to post daily during the month of February something positive about my day. I know this is a common November practice, but really, November isn't a rough month for me. I love the anticipation of the holiday season, Thanksgiving break is always a just in time chance to relax and spend time with the family, and the month always goes by fast. February on the other hand. . . let's just say it can be very long for me.

This February 1st I stood in a very long line for the visitation service of an amazing educator. He is the second outstanding educator I have known that has died in the last few weeks. While this is far from great news, the positive I am pulling from this is to let their lives inspire me. When the going gets rough, I need to remind myself of how these two educators never let up. They worked tirelessly for their students and did not accept anything less than the best from those they taught. They inspired countless students, as the long line last night once again showed. I am grateful that I got to know these two and in their honor I will work to inspire the students in my life.

Bigger Little Questions

I am huge fan of RadioLab. I listen to the podcast when I am walking in the morning, or when I am driving. I highly recommend you listen any chance you get. This episode was so interesting to me. I had no idea that there was so much space debris and how close we are to a catastrophic event.

Why Fake News Is Dangerous

"I check, I verify, I trust my gut, but I ask tough questions. Why is this person telling me this story? What do they have to gain by sharing this information? Do they have a hidden agenda?"

Such powerful words and reasons to change how we consume and spread news.

A game that is hard to play

I heard this story a while back on RadioLab, and found it really moving. Now seeing the video, it is even more so. I think my favorite line from her talk is "When your heart breaks, it heals differently." I think this captures what it means to grow and learn from suffering, and to make yourself a better person.

Brave Girls

I love her opening story - what a great way to talk about courage and trying something new. As a father of a daughter, this really hits home for me. I want my daughter to be confident and willing to try new experiences. I hope that I have encouraged her to try adventure, and trust in herself. I hope the same for all of you.

Obits

My wife has taught me to appreciate a good obituary. In her career as a museum professional, she has read countless obits and has helped countless people find obits of long lost relatives. A well written obituary is a powerful piece of history, and a poorly written one is evidence of missing information, that may be gone forever.

Learning Zone

This was rather eye opening for me. I totally agree with him that we need to create more times in school where we are expected to make mistakes, and then learn from them. I hope that in the future my classes will better reflect this. I am fond of saying that you learn more from the one problem you did wrong, than the 29 you did correctly. I hope that rings true for my students.

Science of Us

I must confess that I have always loved stats. I really find it fascinating to delve into all the ways we can describe a group of people numerically. This is just one more way that the numbers tell a great story.

What is Math?

I am also a huge fan of 4/3!!!

Unsubscribe!?!?

I love this guy! So, so funny.

Superheroes for All!

This is so powerful. As a father of a strong independent daughter I totally know how he feels and want the exact same things for my daughter.

Readjust your thinking

I am a huge fan of both RadioLab and Latif Nasser. I have never heard him talk and not been challenged to think a little deeper about whatever he is presenting. The best part is the end, where he uses the camel as a metaphor for how we should view history.

Making a Difference

A truly uplifting story.

Creative Thinkers

I love his message, and I totally identify with him as a fellow precrastinator. I also love how he used the graphics from the procrastination TED talk - see post below.

Procrastination

This is exactly how I feel a procrastinator's brain works. And it is pretty amusing as well.

10 ways to be a better person

Some really good points here. I was especially interested by her comment that perhaps we should be teaching this in school. I do think there is something there. Not sure how that would look, but I do agree it would serve students well to master these 10 things.

Power to the people

Wow! These two girls really took to heart what they learned and were willing to go the extra mile to change their world, and therefore the entire world as well. Their story is truly inspiring and goes to show what a difference anyone can make.

February Challenge (3)

I hate February. Mostly because it is eternal and bleak, and cold, and has the mother of all disappointing holidays right smack in the middle of it (if you don't know what I'm talking about, just wait - I don't know a single adult who doesn't have at least one story of V-Day gone bad). And yes, I know that is a bad attitude, but keep reading. Because February is such a hard month for me to endure, much less enjoy and embrace, each year I challenge myself to comment on this blog every day with something that was great about that day. I know many people do something similar in November, but seriously, November is a great month and really doesn't need much to make it enjoyable. So enough of the ramble/rant.

Feb. 1
Today I really enjoyed my time with my colleagues.  It is rare that teachers in a small school get time to connect with others who teach the same things. It is also rare that teachers in small schools get time to simply sit and work with each other. This time has been both enjoyable and valuable.

For a cloudy day. . .

I love Harry Baker's poetry and this seems so apropos on such a cloudy day. Good to remember that on a cloudy day, sometimes we have to be sunshine for each other.

The opening story is so powerful. I can totally relate to having to make do with tools that are often less than perfect, I think we all can.
I still refuse to use Comic Sans in anything, but I will now look at perhaps using some other fonts if I want the reader to slow down and absorb the text.