Believe in Your Students - Even the Bad Ones

I am a teacher. Part of building a better me also involves exploring ways to be a better educator. This following video shows something very important to me. I think I do my best to follow all the advice in this Ted Talk, but I know I can be better at it. If you aren't an educator, but manage people or want people to do their best for you, the advice given works the same way; just substitute students with people or employees.

First, students won't learn from you if they don't like you.
Second, they won't like you if you show that you don't like them (verbally or non verbally).

If you want to improve motivation and inspire students, believe in them. Show them you believe in them. Even when they fail; Believe in them. Sometimes you will be the only person that believes in them. Even if you don't like them; Believe in them. Did I mention...? Believe in them.

If you believe in them, they will work for you, they will learn. They will believe in you.

-P
Creative Challenge: 15/30 -50% of the way there!!!! WOOT WOOT

A whole lot of shake-ups.

It's a real challenge to juggle everything we need to juggle. Having a child is a lot harder than people let on. So I'm trying to now juggle quite a few things, raising my daughter, my relationship with my wife, teaching, getting back in shape, finances, and then hobbies like magic, history, fantasy.

I am hoping by renewing my commitment to blogging about my struggles and successes, I will be able to push through. I am going to be adding new content that is in line with those things above. I need to stop worrying about what other people are catching, and start learning how to truly catch happiness myself. As I overhaul my focus and try to get a feel for what this blog will be about, you will notice changes. Some posts might go missing. Some might get edited.

 You might have noticed that I changed the title from "Catching it Myself" to "Catching it Together". The reason for this change, is because I need to open myself up more in my relationship. I will be inviting my SO to check into my blog. She is an important part of the journey and she will help me be the best that I can be. Maybe I can even get her to be a part of this blog time will tell.

Catch you all soon.
  P

Challenge 007: Plan a Birthday

I hate planning things. My wife hates that I hate planning things. I always worry about not having the perfect outcome, so I waffle on the details until the time to plan has passed and the event falls apart or never becomes.

In honor of my wife, I decided to plan her birthday this year. Today I made plans to go to a restaurant, and ordered flowers sent to her work through an online flower company near her work.

On Friday I made reservations for her friends, family, and ourselves to go to dinner and then follow that up with a ghost tour. I did need her help making sure that she would enjoy the events, and I did hit up her friends for advice, so I cannot give myself the most XP points available. But I am planning. It makes me nervous, but the follow through is important. I believe by following through, I can improve my success rates in my challenges.

XP for succesful outing: 50 XP