Teaching made easier

Is it possible to use mindfulness techniques to interrupt my emotions? Is that a bad thing to do? I've been meditating for a year but I still find myself triggered by strong emotions.  First of all, not matter how long you have been practicing mindfulness, you are going to have strong emotions. Strong emotions are what make life wonderful and beautiful. You can not have high wonderful feelings like love without their inverse. That is to be human and is beautiful.  But, it is no fun to be trapped in negative emotions and our thinking when we are angry is not to be trusted at all. Thoughts when angry might sound correct, but they should be trusted about as much as you trust thoughts when you are very drunk, totally high or in any other very strongly altered state.  Here is what I do. I sometimes use a hand tally counter for my thoughts when I meditate. (f you don't know what a hand tally counter is, do a google image search). I will use the hand counter tally for 10 minutes...

What about thought? Have you ever tried to erase a thought or scribble over a thought?    As a teacher, I get to see this frequently. A student will write something that they decide they don’t like. Sometimes the student will try and erase what they wrote. Other times they will scribble over their old thought.  If the child tries to erase what they wrote, they often create a much bigger mess on the paper than they had before. All of the aggressive erasing ends up creating a big smudge, potentially ripping the paper and wasting an enormous amount of time.  Erasing a thought would be like trying to not think something you already thought. You might laugh reading that sentence. How can you not think something that you already thought? But, I’m sure you have said, I need to stop thinking about this at some time in your life. That is trying to erase a thought. You can’t actually do it.  Other kids prefer the scribble over technique. They will start by making a few li...

  Aha thought: When should I listen to the voice in my head? I’m sitting in my house wondering - what should I do? I don’t know what to do. This  question seems like one I really need to answer right now. I have some free time and I want to do something but I don’t know what that something is.  But do I really want to do something? Is that a question I should even be listening to? Is it bringing me forward movement, joy or peace to my life?  Meanwhile I’m stewing about a situation at work. I have student has not been doing their work for weeks and they are about to do a presentation with their group. He then proceeded to delete the work of another student and pretend it was his own.   But I know I really don’t want to spend my free time stewing about this situation. I called the parent. I restored the presentation. It really isn’t a big deal worth my attention during this afternoon of freedom.  What should I do? I want to do something.  The though...

This is not directly about teaching, and yet it can be. If you are like me and get lots of anxious thoughts around work, I hope this analogy will make a difference to you. If it does, please let me know and or let another person know. Thank you so much!  I do not write this to make money in any way, just to share things that I feel inspired to write and feel compelled the share with others.   We had our carpet redone at the house. Now, when my husband and I decided to redo the carpets, I was under the mistaken impression that the amount of work involved would be minimal. Sure, we would need to move a few things - but how hard can it be?   We have a two story home and everything except the entrance, bathrooms and kitchens are covered by carpets. Not to mention, the two guinea pigs, one cat, two dogs, one fish and three children we have. Turns out, we needed to move 90% out of the house. Of course, we decided that if we needed to do that, we might as well Marie ...

  These are some reading strategy videos some college students created for you to use. Each video models a comprehension strategy. I hope you enjoy the videos. I’ve included pictures of the strategies below for reference. Click on this link if you want to see the full document with the strategies. If you do not have The Reading Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo, I highly recommend it! The strategies that are modeled are all taken from that resource!  Enjoy!   Strategy Name Titles of all books Link to videos  Lean on pictures Petting Zoo Weather The Moon Part 1 The Moon Part 2 1. https://youtu.be/bKOalVfpqxU 2. https://youtu.be/SgkGWWfXUak 3. https://youtu.be/NHoNUBLWMBs 4. https://youtu.be/PJvthu7qBEQ Title Power Maurice the Unbeastly by Amy Dixon + The Boy Who Grew A Forest by Sophia Gholz  Melia and Jo by Billy Aronson & Jennifer Oxley + Dragon Night by J.R. Krause +Tough Guys (Have Feelings Too) by Keith Negley Just Like a Mama by Alice Faye Du...

Classroom Management with Google Meet  This is a potential plan that you could use. Feel free to have a different plan in place. The most important thing is that you have a plan, that you follow it consistently with all students.  You may have a student who needs something different due to an IEP or other behavioral challenge. In that case, create a plan specific for that student and ensure that you teach it to the student as well. (You need to teach it at least twice as many times as you teach the regular plan. Otherwise, you are setting yourself up for frustration.) Rules:  Listen and follow directions  Stay visible and on screen if possible during lessons Use digital hand raising to be called on (or an actual hand if that does not work) Be kind to your classmates and your teacher  Guidance:  Reminder or reteach if necessary.  Place in waiting room for 5 minutes and try again.  Place in waiting r...