Unspoken

There are so many people out there with secrets, with torment and pain.  We go on knowing that what we are doing is wrong.  Believe me, I know this, because I’m one of those.  I’m certain you are too.  You have something you haven’t told others about yourself or there is something that you do that you know you shouldn’t.  You try not to, but it happens. Sometimes we may do it and not even realize it until it’s out there–like a lion released from it’s cage!  I could start listing specific things, but I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.  WE ALL SIN.

Most of us judge our sins by others’ sins.  We tend to think our sin is better or “cleaner” than someone else’s sin so it’s not so bad.  Some of our sins are culturally accepted so what’s really bad about it?  We think such sins are just “ok.”  It’s not.  It’s still dark, ugly and of the devil.  Anything that is “of the devil” is NOT ok.  Still, we don’t think that way… we don’t see the sin for what it truly is and keep on doing it, not concerned with what it may be doing to ourselves or to those around us.

What is it doing to your TESTIMONY?

I have an unspoken prayer request for someone I know who needs God’s strength to overcome sin.  We all need that.  We all need to pray for each other.  We need GOD’s strength to get satan off our back and to pull away from all the sins that plague us.

Prayer is power!  We are blessed with this power in the present world …helping us prepare for the world of reward promised to us by the blood of JESUS!

Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

I’m a horrible teacher.

I don’t see how homeschooling parents do it.  I can’t teach my child a concept from her homework without going totally psycho.   There’s no way those parent/teachers do it without taking some kind of FOCUS meds themselves!

I try to teach her, thinking I’m doing the best job ever.  Then, she doesn’t get it.  I try it again.  She looks at me like I’m growing a second head.  I begin to get a little testy and with the next explanation, I’m pretty much talking through my teeth because I’m clinching them so.  This time she grows quiet –like  it gets right before the storm.  I try my best to not go off like a roman candle, but it doesn’t help.  I start spewing here and there and I can feel the blood pressure rising so that my eye balls feel as if they might pop out of my head.  I’m certain it was not pretty at all.  Ugly probably doesn’t even begin to explain what it looked like.  *sigh*

Looking back at the “episode” I think of it as some kind of alien attack.  It was some other crazy being jumping in my body and taking over.  Yes, a total possession that needed a major exorcism.

How in the world did that help my child understand what I was trying to “HELP” her get?!?

I’m a horrible teacher!

I did finally calm down enough to make the mood of the room lighter and somehow, God granted us the peace and tranquility we needed to continue with the lesson which ended in SUCCESS.  Only by the grace of God.  ONLY.   I can still feel the tension in the back of my neck from the cray cray moment.  Another ridiculous side effect of what should have never happened.

The first step to overcoming is admitting, right?  Well, that is what I’m doing.  When it comes to teaching my own child, I’m a horrible teacher.  So, overcoming comes next!

 

RECOGNIZE AND REINFORCE

SUCCESS!!!!!

Oh the sweet taste of victory!  You did it!  You made it!  YOU –ARE– AWESOME!

Who in the world does not want to hear those words?

I do admit, I don’t like people to go on and on about how awesome I am, but it feels pretty good when someone takes time to stop and let me know I’m doing something good or I’m looking pretty sweet or even I SMELL GOOD!  I know you probably think I’m off (join the club), but the smell good compliment is my fave.  It’s a daily goal of mine to SMELL GOOD and when someone confirms the fact that I met that goal, I’M ELATED!

Think back to elementary school when you got your paper back with a huge RED STAMPED SMILEY FACE at the top!  I remember those.  That was back in the day when that stamp meant YOU DID A GREAT JOB!  Thanks to digital graphics and the invention and mass production of smiley face stickers, you might see something like this:

Seriously, you cannot tell me you wouldn’t love to see this on your paycheck!  How awesome would THAT BE!?

Yesterday I read this book called THE FUNDAMENTAL 5 which basically goes over things that a teacher can do to help organize instruction and in essence–become a better teacher.  Our boss wanted us to read it before we came back from summer break. (Yep, I do what my boss says–I’M A VERY COMPLIANT EMPLOYEE! Hehe)  A lot of the book was some “duh” stuff.  You know, things that I was like, ok, I know this, but really, as teachers, we need to be reminded.  Some stuff was “LIGHT BULB” stuff.  You know, things like, “Oh, what a good idea!”

Anyway, CHAPTER 6 was titled RECOGNIZE AND REINFORCE.  It was the best chapter.  It was one that discussed why complimenting (recognizing) a student’s GOOD JOB is important.  We should all know that this is very important, but once you start the year, sometimes, this type of praise and REINFORCEMENT of good behavior, work, etc. kind of dwindles.

It should never dwindle.  The fire should continue to burn!  Compliments are like FIREWORKS!  No one wants the fireworks to stop! (Especially my friend Mary who is a firework queen!)

It should be something we all strive to do!

AND NOT JUST AS A TEACHER.

You know you love it when someone tells you that you are doing a great job, or you look great or YOU SMELL GOOD (or at least I do!).  As people, no matter what job we have, we should be the CHEERLEADER for others around us.

Everyone wants to be RECOGNIZED for doing good stuff and in doing that, you will REINFORCE the good stuff.

WHO WANTS MORE GOOD STUFF!!!

I DO! I DO!

I’d be happy even if my kids told me this:

So DO YOUR PART to get more good stuff going.  Take a compliment (recognize-ment) and give one:

RECOGNIZE AND REINFORCE!!!

 

You are trying to send a message aren’t you?

Today’s title is a comment I received from a friend earlier on Facebook.

I had posted a picture of my fresh new hair color yesterday and my face had NO-MAKE UP on it!  *GASP!*  Then, my post this morning was “I’m me and that is all.”  I really didn’t mean for those two things to go together, but they did anyway.

My “I’m me…” post was born from my mood this morning.  I really wasn’t thinking I was sending some message to every one.

A lot of times I wake up with crazy things running through my head.  The last few days have been reflection days.  I’ve just been on this emotional trip fueled by woman hormones (gag) and the fact that summer is coming to an end.  I do this every year, really.  Summer is marching out and the first day of work is quickly headed my way.  I’m not saying that saddens me.  I LOVE MY JOB and I cannot wait to be back with my coworkers (most of which are dear friends) and my students whom I most always adore.  It’s just this transitional period that gets me into this “reflection” state.  I start thinking about things I’ve gotten accomplished this summer and all the things that will be on my TO DO lists in the near future.  I was thinking this morning, I’M ME and that is all.  I can only do so much.  You can only get so much done and accomplish a certain amount of things within a certain amount of time.  I don’t want to worry myself with regret of what I haven’t done or with any kind of doom or gloom of what is to come.  I’M ME AND THAT IS ALL.  I will give my all and that is the end of it.

So, there.  No HUGE message, or was it?

As for the NO MAKE-UP me…I wasn’t really trying to send a message, but after this comment from my friend and thinking about my post above, I realized,

I’M ALWAYS TRYING TO SEND A MESSAGE!  (sometimes it’s easy to get…other times, it’s not–YA GET IT? haha!)

So, here is the next part:

The no make-up message is not one of a make-up industry boycott or anything like that.  Most of my summers are NO MAKE-UP DAYS!  I love the freedom of not having to put on any make-up.  In the summer, I don’t worry about being on a schedule; although, I do still like to get up quite early, eat the same thing for breakfast each day and get a walk in before 8 a.m.  So, NO MAKE-UP is just a message of freedom.  Not that make-up is a restriction to me.  Make-up just helps ACCENT my beauty, I believe.  I know that sometimes I may accent a little too much, but most of the time, I try to just use it as a supportive mechanism.  HAHA!  This message isn’t as complex as the first one, I suppose, but still a message.  Make-up or not—I’M ME AND THAT IS ALL!

So here is the NO MAKE-UP ME:

 

 

I was doing a little creeping on FB earlier and found the image below on this cool crazy FIRED UP guy’s page.  This guy’s name is Aric Bostick as you can see on the image.  If you ever need a boost for your day, this dude always has some kind of awesome saying, picture or comment.  The image below which he posted TODAY, I’ve decided is THE  MESSAGE I’m trying to send not just to everyone, but mostly to me:

 

 

…AND THAT IS ALL.

 

Creativity is no longer an ELECTIVE

Learning, OH BOY, my FAVORITE!

Yes, once again I’m here to blog about LEARNING!  (YAY!!!)

It was a great day of learning for this gal today.

I was blessed to be part of our presentation group AS WELL AS being able to attend other sessions at the workshop today.

This is the design on the shirt we received for being presenters:

I

I  attended two sessions by Terry Carlile   (@youthservices tlcworkforcesolutions.com).  He had some great ideas for my leadership class especially.  Also, he had a session on how to cope with stress.  Both of those were really great MOSTLY because he is an upbeat happy kind of guy.  I love people who LIKE to smile and don’t smile just because they think they have to.

Another session I attended was done by two gals that were very knowledgeable in developing your PLN (personal learning network). They had some great ideas!  You can follow them on twitter if you want to learn more about PLNs or technology education: @twfelty and @jdavis43.

The last session was an ART PROJECT!  Besides learning about fun technology stuff and more about connecting with other professionals, I GOT TO CREATE ART!  It was a fun first day of school project that I will definitely be using this coming school year.  You can check out her Artsonia pages here: http://www.artsonia.com/schools/teachers.asp?id=36102.  Artsonia is a great website which allows you to post student artwork.  It has the mother load of artwork, lesson and products–from around THE WORLD–all student work!

It’s been a great day of LEARNING.  I can’t wait until tomorrow which will be mostly filled with presenting our session, but I know even though I’m helping with the presentation –I will still be soaking something up!

LEARNING, OH BOY, MY FAVORITE!

GO LEARN SOMETHING!

I talk about a lot of things here at AwesomeClawson.  Several are reoccurring such as the topic today.

LEARNING.

It is so important that you never stop learning.  Do not ever get to the point where you can’t learn or you THINK you know it all.  At that point, you are stagnant, dull and to tell ya the absolute truth, quite annoying.  We’ve all been around the type that you can tell nothing to. They know it already, right?  (RIGHT!?)  If you are one of these, please stop.  IMMEDIATELY.

ON LEARNING…

I believe to keep yourself young, you must continue to learn.  To keep yourself moving, you must keep learning.  To make yourself even more of a beautiful human being, you must CONTINUOUSLY LEARN.

As a teacher, if I were totally against learning then I’D BE DEFEATING MY OWN PURPOSE!

Learning.

It can take place just about anywhere.  To learn something new is like a gift to me.  Like, HAPPY LEARNING to me!

Today I learned…

that I can STILL learn new techniques and ways of doing things like collage, clay and shading.  Everyone has their own way of doing things and sometimes to observe this, helps US become renewed and revived!  At times it just reminds us of something we wanted to do or did at one time.  Other times, we discover we like the way we did it instead of this new way, but still, it’s cool to see the NEW WAY.  The best times are when there is that AHH HAAA moment when you go, “Oh wow, that is cool!”  THAT IS LEARNING! ((LOVE IT!))

I get so excited about learning new things and I believe that is why I love teaching—I love watching my students do the “OH WOW…” moment.  It’s more than rewarding—it’s why I do what I do.

GO LEARN SOMETHING.

I wish I were MY OWN student!

Tomorrow starts another week in my super fun ART CLASS.

I love creating.

I love seeing what my students come up with when I give them an assignment.
Our assignment right now is varied. I gave all my classes 5 different pieces to choose from. They actually get to choose which one to do. They vary in subjects (some are broad, some are specific) and in media (acrylic, watercolor, pencil to mixed media).

I would LOVE to have this assignment.

You, as a student, get to choose then interpret the assignment how you see fit. It’s almost like total creative freedom. They do have to use a certain size to do their work. The other variables are broad enough that they can get kind of crazy or specific enough that they can think less when it comes to subject if they are typically slow at finding what they want to create.

Again, I would LOVE this project.

My favorite class in college was a design class where we had to basically take a “problem” in design and create an artwork to satisfy the problem. The problem to me was a challenge and I always loved to figure out what I would create. I wish more of my students looked at our projects like that.

A lot of times, our projects are specific–they use a specific media and study a specific element or principle of art, but this assignment we are doing now–it could just about go anywhere. Even if all the students chose the exact same project out of the 5 choices I’m giving them, every artwork could (and of course should) be totally different. To me, that is EXCITING!

To some of my students, they will just do whatever they can to just get a grade. Some students will try their best and give up half way through. Some will follow through, but still be unhappy with what they ended up with. A few students look at the project like I do and when they have completed, other students will marvel at their product and wish they had thought that way. If ALL students would just look at the project with an excitement and view it as a challenge, their work would end up so much differently. (THAT’S LIFE!) All have different abilities when it comes to creating and designing, but if their attitude started out like that—their art would ALL be amazing. I know, I know, beauty is still in the eye of the beholder, all critics’ opinions are different and art is so subjective, BUT attitude is the first part of anyone’s project—and in my class, IT’S THE FIRST PART OF YOUR GRADE!

I can’t wait to see what our artwork looks like this week–IT’S SO EXCITING! I wish I were my own student–I WOULD SO ROCK THIS PROJECT AND GET AN AWWWWWWWESOME GRADE!

LET’S HAVE FUN! ZOOOOOOOOOOM ZOOOOOOOOOM!

It’s actually “THE HOLIDAYS” and I must admit, it came really fast this year.  It seems like just a bit ago that we started the school year.  Thanksgiving has already come and gone!  PHEW!  That was fast!  They say times gets faster as you get OLDER.  *boo*  I say, it’s more like that other saying: “TIME FLIES WHEN YOU’RE HAVING FUN!”   I sure do have fun…  That has GOT to be the reason time is going by faster.  The ONLY reason.  ha!  I do have fun. 

I have fun with my family–almost no matter what we do.  Unless it’s grocery shopping –gag. 

I have fun teaching.  I have fun LEARNING. 

I have fun hanging out with my co-workers, with my friends who happen to be SOME of my co-workers. 

I have super fun with my bestie. 

I have super fun reading stuff–social stuff (if it’s not DRAMA), twitter tweets, blogs, books, etc. 

I have fun brushing my teeth!  Oh, what joy it gives me! 

I just love to have fun.  So, time does fly, because I like FUN.  Fun makes the time zoom by.  

I know you may be thinking that you don’t want time to go by so fast, but let me tell you in bold print–YOU HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THE TIME!  So, why spend your time NOT having fun?  and I’m not talking about crazy evil fun–I’m talking about just looking at life and enjoying it.   If there is something in your life you do (such as your job) that you don’t ENJOY, perhaps you need a different path or at the very least change your outlook.   There’s gotta be something about it that is enjoyable.  FIND that something!  (And stop making your face look like a wrinkled up prune!)

So, let’s circle back around–It’s the “Holidays.”  I know it seems like it came up quick this year, but no matter what time of year it is, LET’S HAVE FUN!  ZOOOOOOOOOOM ZOOOOOOOOOM!

ART CONFERENCE TOMORROW

So, I’m about to go on an adventure tomorrow–the TEXAS ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION State Conference.  I can’t wait to pour new information into my head!  I love to learn.  I think I’ve said this before.

I’m so excited about learning new stuff that I might not be able to go to sleep for a while.  I know that may sound dumb to you, but I do get so wound up about the opportunities to put more wrinkles in this ole brain. 

I learned new stuff today thanks to my boss who likes to help us teachers by providing tools for our classroom.  He showed me an app today that will help me share all the pictures I take at this conference I’m going to.  So cool! 

Click on the picture above and go check out the TAEA website.  There is so much art on the site that is all STUDENT CREATED.  Creativity at its best!  

More to come on ART INFO!