Letters to Santa

For every Letter to Santa that gets delivered to a Macy's store before Dec. 24th, Macy's will donate $1 to the Make a Wish Foundation.  This is their annual Macy's Believe Campaign.

In class today I will ask each student to write a letter and then our letters will be delivered to Macy's.  Write your own letter to Santa today...

Newscaster gets bullied

The following video was shared with me by a student...
After receiving a harassing letter from a viewer, this newscaster stands up for herself against this bully and describes the overwhelming support she received from friends, family and other viewers.  She addresses adults and children everywhere encouraging them to not let their self-worth be defined by bullies.

Man Learns to Read

The linked video shows an interview with a man who learned to read at the age of 89.  It was so inspiring that I had to share it with my classes.  This story shows that it's never too late to reach for your goals.  More importantly it highlights an opportunity that so many of our students take for granted.  I'm assuming that this man did not attend high school.  After watching this video, one of my classes wanted to look at literacy rates across the world.  There are people in other countries who are desperate for the opportunity to learn and some of our students resent the opportunity.  As one student put it... "education is an opportunity - not an obligation!"
Another point I wanted to leave my students with is the realization that they have all accomplished so much already.  I think all of my students know how to read.  This is an amazing feat.  When they start to feel that things are challenging, they should stop and give themselves a little credit for everything they've managed to learn and overcome.

Nelson Mandela

 

"As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison." ~ Nelson Mandela

After the passing of Nelson Mandela yesterday, I wanted to discuss with my classes who he was, what he stood for, and how inspiring his message is.  After a good discussion I encouraged them to read more about him over the weekend.

Take a Seat - Make a Friend

Another lesson in the power of reaching out to strangers...

Thanksgiving

Today in class I asked students to give thanks for the teachers that have made a difference in their lives.  They were given some stationary and asked to write a thank you letter (or two) to one of their teachers.  Based on the reaction I saw upon delivering these letters...this is a very valuable activity.  Teachers work HARD!  They invest themselves, intellectually, emotionally, even spiritually to help the youth of our nation grow.  It is so nice to know that our efforts are appreciated.  I have kept every note, card, letter that I have ever received from a student and in my darkest moments - when I wonder if I'm having any impact at all - I look through these treasures and it refuels the passion that I have for my work. 

Take a moment today to give thanks - for all the people who have supported you!!  It will make their day!

What would you take...

After hearing about the terrible typhoon in the Philippines last week I got to thinking...what possessions would I want to take with me if I had to flee my home?  I thought it would be an interesting question to pose to the students...

In an impending natural disaster (assuming that family members and pets are all going to be fine), what is the one thing you would grab on your way out the door...

My first thought is my personal identification (birth certificate, social security card), my next thought is my guitar or a deck of cards to help pass the time and bond with strangers...

My favorite student responses...

• A chainsaw (for the zombies or firewood or whatever)
• Money
• Food
• My Bible
• Family photos
• My piano?
• A phone charger (I wouldn't have to grab my phone cause it's physically attached to my body at all times!)
• My Nintendo DS
• Mac 'n' Cheese
• A blanket
• My survival kit (a prepackaged stash with food, water, emergency first aid kit...)
• My bike (so I could get around after all the cars run out of gas)
• My sword! (?) (Me - Do you really have a sword?  Student - Yeah.)
• A bear trap (Me - Do you really have a bear trap?  Student - Yeah.)
• My pants! (Me - good idea!)

If your home and all of your possessions would be gone the next day, what's the one thing YOU would grab on your way out the door??

100 words every freshman should know

I stumbled on a blog the other day that had lists of words... the one that caught me eye, since I work with a lot of high school freshmen was 100 Words Every Freshman Should Know. I thought it would be interesting to see how many of these words my freshmen actually know...
 Words like...

• marsupial
• nocturnal
• immune
• decorum
• particle
• fallacy

How many of these words do you know?

The more words you know, the easier it is to comprehend written language.  Many high school textbooks are written at a college reading level!!  School can be very challenging if you don't have the academic vocabulary to succeed.  We may start having a word of the day - from this list... Or maybe we'll save that for the English teacher!!  :-)

Choosing Positive Influences

Think about the people that you are closest to...

Maybe it's your best friend, your boyfriend/girlfriend, a sibling, a parent...

Choose two or three people in your life and, on a piece of paper, answer these questions...

1) Is this person a good influence in your life - how?

2) Is this person a bad influence in your life - how?

It is entirely possible for someone to be both!

 Discussion:  Do you have "friends" that you sometimes wish you weren't friends with?  Do you have friends that might not really care much about you?  Do you have friends that bring nothing but chaos and drama to your life?  Why are you friends with them??

Why are you friends with the people you are friends with?  Did you get to know them, realize you had a lot in common and choose to become friends?  Have you known them so long you don't even remember how you became friends?  Do you participate in the same activities?  Do you have friends in common, which automatically makes you friends by association?  Are your friends a positive or negative factor in your life?

We all have positive influences and negative influences in our lives...

It can be very difficult to sever relationships with people, even when you know it is not a healthy relationship.  Especially when you are young, if you see them all the time, or if they are friends with other people you spend time with.  The older you get, the easier it becomes to choose who will be present in your life and who you will spend time with.

In the mean time - you don't have to turn your back on these people.  Just BE AWARE.  Know who the positive influences are.  Who helps you make good decision, who supports you and will be there for you?  Who brings stress and anxiety into your life?  Who encourages you to make bad decisions?  Pay attention to these influences and be aware of the people in your life.

If you were a superhero...

In class today we discussed which super power we would choose.  Many students chose super strength, some chose money (like Batman - he's really just a billionaire).  One student chose the power of luck (for yourself or choosing luck for other people too??).

I heard a story on the radio the other day about the psychology of choosing superpowers.  The guest on the show theorized that given a choice between the power to fly and the the power of invisibility, people choosing flight identify as "hero types" while people choosing invisibility are more self-centered, wanting to get away with robbing banks and what-not.  Another guest had determined that anyone who says they would choose flight is really lying - that we would all wish for invisibility!!

It was an interesting conversation to have with my students...

Photo Project

When was the last time you hugged a stranger??  Do you open yourself up to interactions with people you don't know?  Do you get enough physical contact? 
I'm not necessarily suggesting that you go around hugging random people, but there is research that shows that human touch is a crucial aspect to the development of children.  And the more we interact with the people around us, the more connected we become.
The attached video shows an interesting photography project pairing complete strangers in intimate poses and the results are surprising and encouraging...

Photo Project

Worst Thing Ever

WRITING PROMPT:

What's the worst/meanest thing you've ever done or said to someone?  How did it make you feel in that moment?  How does it make you feel looking back?

They also had the option to write about something mean that had been done or said to them.

Students took a few minutes to write about this prompt.  They wanted to know if they had to put their name on it, if I was going to collect it, if it had to be school appropriate.  The answer was no to all three questions.  This is not an attempt to pry into their private lives and see who's the worst.  This is a chance for them to reflect, privately, on some things that they may regret.

Student shared stories about yelling at their parents, telling them they hated them.  I shared a story from a former student.  He had told his grandfather that he hated him and that was the last time he ever spoke to him.  He died the next day.  This student will never get forgiveness from his grand father.  But I told him then, and I told these students now, that it is okay to forgive yourself.  You can learn from your mistakes and try not to repeat them and move on with your life.

Their challenge this week is to apologize.  Maybe not for this WORST THING EVER, maybe that's too big and too impossible, but for something.  If you bump into someone, say you're sorry.  If you accidentally knock something out of someone's hand, apologize.  If you catch yourself making insensitive comments, take the time to correct yourself.

Less and More

I recently discovered a blog that was doing a 31 day challenge of less and more.  There are lots of things that we can do with less of... stress, work, anxiety, fear, greed.  We can choose to replace these things with more of something positive...naps, bubble baths, courage, compassion, generosity.
The blog http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/31-days-of-less/ discusses these things at length.

Today for our Warrior Way warm-up we will discuss their day 1 challenge - less fear, more courage.  Then we will brainstorm our own lists...
The starred entries represent recurring ideas between different classes...

We want Less…	… and More…
*Homework **Anger/Depression/ Suicide *Global Warming/Pollution/Deforestation *Drugs Crime/Scams Gossip **Poverty/Homelessness/Hunger/Debt Selfishness/Greed Hate	*Free time **Happiness *Good environments/Health/Wildlife *Sane/Normal People/Health Peace Friends *Money/Food to go around Generosity Compassion
Boredom *Bullies Ignorance Rejection/Discrimination/Prejudice/Hate Doubt *Procrastination *STRESS Disrespect Deception Waste	Fun *Kindness/Friends/Freedom/Acceptance Knowledge/Experience Diversity/Acceptance Faith *Proactivity/Motivation/Efficiency TIME/Sleep/Peace of Mind Respect Honesty Thriftiness
Gangs/Violence Sleep Idleness Commercials Violence Boring Ideas/Monotony Separation Competition Judgement	Peace Exhaustion Productivity Air Time Liberty/Peace Creativity Unity Cooperation Love/Acceptance

Pink Week

To celebrate Pink Week here at AHS I thought about my grandmother, Sandy, who was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was in high school and then later with bone cancer.  This terrible disease stole this wonderful woman from us.  She was warm, compassionate, funny, strict at times, a good cook and a wonderful grandmother.  It was horrible to watch her turn into someone I barely recognized.  Years later I still carry that grief with me.  But every time I take the time to think about that experience, I remember so many wonderful things about her. 
For our Warrior Way warm up today I encouraged my students to think of a loved one they had lost. Whether it was to cancer or to some other unfortunate circumstance. I want them to take some time to process their grief and to remember all the things that made that person special.  They could choose to share by turning in their paper (with or without a name) or to keep it private.

Eye Contact

In our culture, eye contact is the primary way that we show someone we're paying attention to them, which is turn is one of the primary ways that we show our loved ones that we care about them.

The linked article discusses how technology has had an impact on the level of eye contact we share with one another.  More and more we engage in conversation while "multi-tasking".  We are distracted by our cell phones, televisions, and other electronic devices.  We read this article in class today and discussed students reactions and opinions.

Most students could think of a time, recently, when they had tried to get someone's attention and had a difficult time because that person was texting or otherwise distracted by some electronic device.  This happens with friends, parents, boyfriends, girlfriends, etc.  They agreed that it doesn't feel very good.  Several students said that they don't think it's a big deal!!  I happen to think it's a very big deal.  When the person standing in front of you is less important than a text, that's a problem!

I gave the students a challenge:  

For the next 48 hours... if someone is talking to you, stop texting and look them in the eye.  We'll see next week if this had an impact on their relationships...

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!

Goalie Gets Bullied

The day after the Whitney Kropp video we watched a YouTube video about Daniel Cui, a freshman goalie who was bullied after his team failed to win a single game.  His team rallied around him, followed by lots of other classmates.  They used Facebook to show Daniel how much he was appreciated.
The class really enjoyed the video, and we talked about what Whitney and Daniel had in common - people willing to stand up for them... Everyone deserves that!

Homecoming Prank

Today's lesson starts with a video introducing Whitney Kropp, a senior from West Branch Michigan.  Whitney was nominated to Homecoming Court as a prank.  Her classmates thought it would be funny to watch her be humiliated by this experience.  To Whitney's surprise the town rallied around her with an outpouring of support.  She decided to go through with the experience and not let herself be a joke to her bullies.  The second video shows Whitney at the half-time Homecoming ceremony.

The comments that came up after the video were very encouraging.  One boy asked "What's wrong with her?" What he meant was why shouldn't she be homecoming queen, he didn't see any reason why it would be funny...no reason why she should be embarrassed or self-conscious...she seemed totally normal.  The rest of the class agreed.  We talked about why it seems funny to watch other people be miserable.  We agreed that it has become a very real and unfortunate part of our society.

Stand-And-Deliver

This is a get to know you activity.  As you read each prompt aloud students will stand if they identify with that statement.  We will start out with safe questions about interests and family and move into more personal, emotional topics.  The goal is to help students see that we are not so different, that we all have struggles and challenges.  We are trying to build empathy and understanding.

"Please stand and look around if you..."

1) have brothers and/or sisters

2) like Mexican food

3)  enjoy school

4)  know how to ride a bike

5)  consider yourself to be a happy person

6) have parents who are divorced

7)  have fought with your parents in the past two days

8)  get embarrassed easily

9)  get depressed sometimes

10)  consider yourself to be a kind person

11)  have lost a friend or family member in the past year

12)  appreciate your friends

13)  appreciate your parents/family

14)  could do a better job of showing your appreciation to your friends and family

15)  respect other people even if they are different

16)  understand that people have the right to live their lives

17)  believe that  harassing or intimidating other people because of the color of their skin, the clothes they wear, who they choose to love, the music they listen to, the amount of money they have, the religion they practice, etc. is UNACCEPTABLE!

15)  have at least one thing in common with every person in this room

Dream Big - Unlocking The Truth

Unlocking the Truth is a heavy metal band composed of three 6th graders from Brooklyn, New York; Malcolm Brickhouse (electric guitar), Jarad Dawkins (drums) and Alec Atkins (new bassist).  They are focused and dedicated to their craft and are shockingly good.  They have dealt with their share of bullies and have a message for you...

Don't Try This At Home

This is one of my favorites from last year... 

Watch Danny MacAskill's video, he has fallen... A LOT!  It was probably really frustrating and embarrassing at times, not to mention painful.  But if he had given up the first time he fell off his bike, he would never have been able to achieve these amazing things.

Life is like this.  You will almost certainly fail (repeatedly) before you succeed.  The key is to keep trying, to not give up, to learn from each mistake, to gain experience from each failure!

Most of us have witnessed a baby or toddler learning how to walk.  It can be pretty funny, but for the child it can be frustrating and they may feel like giving up.  Imagine where you would be today if you gave up every time something was hard!!  You have persevered and overcome more challenges than you realize.  Most of us have learned how to walk, talk, tie our shoes, ride a bike, (do long division?).  These things used to be hard, now they are easy.  If you give as much effort to your education as you did to learning how to walk, you will be successful!  It's going to be hard...it's supposed to be hard.  But if you refuse to give up, you will get where you want to be.

Best Friends

As we begin a new school year you will see old friends and start to make new ones.  This video shows that you never know where those friendships will come from.  Your best friend may not look like you, dress like you or sound like you.  They may not like the same kind of music or have the same interests.  

Friendship is a funny thing.  As you get older you have more influence and choice over who your friends will be.  As an infant your friends were probably dictated by your parents.  They had friends who also had kids and so you were friends with those kids.  As you entered school you developed friendships with children in the same class or on the same team.  As you enter high school you will have more chances to interact with other students in a wider variety of activities.

My challenge to you is to be open minded, to look for friendship.  If you have one good friend, you can make it through life's most difficult challenges.  Try to make a new friend today!

School's Out for Summer...

As we approach finals week it occurs to me that I will not be posting over the summer and that there may be some dedicated followers that should be aware of that.  If you come across inspirational videos or news stories please leave a comment on this post and I will hopefully have some new material to start the new year.

We will be back up and running the first week of September...

Have a great summer and keep living The Warrior Way!!

What will you do?

As we approach graduation I wonder how many of our seniors have a sense of what they will do with their lives.  How many of them will invent and create a career that does not even exist yet?  The video in this link will hopefully inspire them to dream, to create, to invent themselves.  Education is just the key that unlocks the doors to your future.  Education gives you choice.  I'm sure that the man in this video did not grow up with a dream of one day designing prosthetic limbs.  But his education and experience led him to a career that is meaningful, challenging, satisfying and rewarding.  This is the meaning of education...

The following was shared with me by a colleague who participates in many of our Warrior Way activities.  She felt compelled to articulate how acts of bullying and torment have a way of staying with us.  Long after we have moved on physically, long after our self esteem and self worth have recovered, grown and matured, those memories can haunt us and come back around when we least expect it.  This makes it that much more important to speak with kindness, to treat others as you would like to be treated, to have compassion for the people around us.  Thanks for sharing!
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It’s been forty years since I last saw my best friend from high school in the cathedral city of Lincoln, England.  We had been through thick and thin – so many adventures, so many memories-in-the-making during our high school days.

We lost touch as soon as I left my hometown.  I had experienced a very difficult and tumultuous family life with an abusive parent, and as a result had very low self-esteem.  No doubt my outward demeanor communicated a dejected vulnerability – the perfect target for bullies.  At school, I was the victim of verbal abuse, name-calling, physical and emotional abuse.  Students would make false reports about me to teachers, and start false rumors that would spread like wildfire.  To make matters worse, I was bullied by the principal who took delight in caning me whenever she found an opportunity.  Needless to say, I was miserable.  When I left home at the age of 16, I chose to leave everything behind me, throwing the baby out with the bathwater – I abandoned my best friend in search of a place free of bullies. 

My journey took me through many places in Europe, the Middle East, and eventually brought me to settle in Oregon.  This week, through unexpected circumstances, I had the opportunity to reconnect with my friend with whom I had lost contact all those years ago.  I was so excited, so eager to find out what she had done with her life, to share my memories of her, and have her share her memories of me and our many adventures together.  My enthusiasm was tempered with nervousness, because of the way I left without telling her where I was going.  I wondered if she had ever forgiven me… or if she even remembered me.

I took a chance and sent her a message, wondering, hoping, I’d hear back from her.  She responded within hours, and I was overjoyed.  She was just as excited to hear from me, as I had been to find her.  She described her path in life since she had last seen me, and went into some detail of her memory of a particular weekend we had spent together.

That weekend, we had each told our parents that we were spending the weekend at the other’s house.  In actuality, we were headed to London on the train, to see “The Who” and a number of other bands at a free rock concert.  We were 15.  She wrote about her memories of us getting lost in a major metropolis, wandering through the dark streets in the dead of night, running into some shady characters and stumbling upon a jewelry store with a smashed window.  About how we were tempted to grab some rings, but were too scared we’d get blamed for the robbery.  About finding safety in the tunnels of the London underground, and realizing I’d left my new blue coat on the tube train as it rolled out of the station.  How we’d come up with a convincing story to tell my parents to explain the coat’s disappearance.  She asked me to write back as soon as I could.  She was just as eager as I to reconnect.

It’s been almost a week, and I have not yet responded.  Not because she’s a different person now – she’s actually just like I remember her.  She even looks the same in the picture she sent.  And it’s not because of anything she said, or didn’t say; done or not done.  Not because I’ve changed my mind – far from it, I am determined now more than ever to re-establish our relationship.  It’s because it is hard.  So very hard.

For every good memory that surfaces from my school years, another twenty bad ones arise.  Memories of being bullied, harassed, beaten.  They are inevitably intertwined by the sounds and smells and images of school.  It may well be that there were more good times than bad.  I honestly don’t know.  What I do know is that the bad memories overshadow the good, even now. In my mind, I know those days are long gone, and the ghosts of the past are just that – insubstantial, distant memories.  Yet at the core of my being, they are still as real as they ever were.  The pain from which I thought I had escaped is still there, and hurts just as much today as it did then.

I WILL reply to my friend’s email.  I WILL reconnect with her.  I may even save up the airfare to pay her a visit.  Now that I’ve found her, I don’t want to lose her again.  But it is going to be a tortuous journey; one that I must endeavor alone in order to dispel those ghosts and reach my original destination – that place within myself where bullies no longer reside.

Just Laugh

Laughter can relieve stress and anxiety, it can boost low spirits, it can bring people together and research shows that it does much more than that... This is an excerpt from an article at the following link...

Laughter's Effects on the Body

In the last few decades, researchers have studied laughter's effects on the body and turned up some potentially interesting information on how it affects us:

• Blood flow. Researchers at the University of Maryland studied the effects on blood vessels when people were shown either comedies or dramas. After the screening, the blood vessels of the group who watched the comedy behaved normally -- expanding and contracting easily. But the blood vessels in people who watched the drama tended to tense up, restricting blood flow.
  
• Immune response. Increased stress is associated with decreased immune system response, says Provine. Some studies have shown that the ability to use humor may raise the level of infection-fighting antibodies in the body and boost the levels of immune cells, as well.
  
• Blood sugar levels. One study of 19 people with diabetes looked at the effects of laughter on blood sugar levels. After eating, the group attended a tedious lecture. On the next day, the group ate the same meal and then watched a comedy. After the comedy, the group had lower blood sugar levels than they did after the lecture.
  
• Relaxation and sleep. The focus on the benefits of laughter really began with Norman Cousin's memoir, Anatomy of an Illness. Cousins, who was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, a painful spine condition, found that a diet of comedies, like Marx Brothers films and episodes of Candid Camera, helped him feel better. He said that ten minutes of laughter allowed him two hours of pain-free sleep.

So, take my advice and be sure to laugh every day!

Teacher Do's and Don'ts

As I prepare to lead a workshop on modeling the Warrior Way for our students it occurred to me that the students have just as much expertise on Student/Teacher relationships as we (the teachers) do.  I decided to give them a chance to list the do's and don'ts of building relationships with students.  Students worked in groups of 3-4 to list their top five pet peeves and favorite things teachers do.  Some of them are unreasonable and unhelpful like - DO bring us McDonald's and DON'T give homework...  Other comments are insightful and will give us a little taste of their perspective like - DO get to know me and DON'T ignore me...