tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65333086401307678162024-03-13T04:10:30.237-07:00EducatingMeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02256807793850567506noreply@blogger.comBlogger87125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-26031381932949931432024-02-03T14:17:00.000-08:002024-02-03T14:17:16.712-08:00Am I Too Late to Join this Game? <p>I recently stumbled upon a session by George Couros, the maestro behind "The Innovators Mindset" and a bunch of other fancy book titles. I first saw him in 2016, I think at ISTE. He was so inspiring, he was like the Gandalf of inspiration and I was interested to see if that is still true today. I wondered if I even still had anything to learn from him. But surprise, surprise, even in 2024, George is still dishing out nuggets of wisdom! I was so inspired that I found his podcast scrolled all the way back to the first episode which was released in 2016. It got me thinking... </p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhhJgNMKOPBSUDXbtkRj0rhGpUtReE0-I6z7ivRJxd6tHsnpGgK4ptDVTM9rKogh19d6ckJ7GdmfABnitCg41jp-QFh2IqZ1INb26ktsXT2AfPTxs3Qlnq4O8mefUMjHIKJrMLhxM_GsIja5GJtBUaOAATAOEHU4DdKm0tUzNl-jYzTEjXs5KXAFp_9-ICj" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhhJgNMKOPBSUDXbtkRj0rhGpUtReE0-I6z7ivRJxd6tHsnpGgK4ptDVTM9rKogh19d6ckJ7GdmfABnitCg41jp-QFh2IqZ1INb26ktsXT2AfPTxs3Qlnq4O8mefUMjHIKJrMLhxM_GsIja5GJtBUaOAATAOEHU4DdKm0tUzNl-jYzTEjXs5KXAFp_9-ICj=w240-h320" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>In 2011, I became a full-time teacher. I taught three grade levels in this brand-new start-up virtual charter school. We were going to be like the nationally known K12, but oh so very different. In my first year with the school, I taught preK-1st grade. How you ask? I am really not sure. Like every first-year teacher, I was flying by the seat of my pants. Unlike every first-year teacher, I was not certified to teach PreK-1st grades. I got my certification in 3-8th grades because I was sort of a dumb dumb and thought that would be the easiest path to teach. I was a high school dropout, so I knew if I couldn't even finish that work there was no way I would be able to teach it. But the founder of the school told me that if I wanted a job, I would teach those grade levels and that being in a charter didn't require a cert at all so the fact I had one in the first place was a plus. I did so much learning that first year. I was mid-word-wall when I realized I was saying C-a-r like a Bostonian because I was using the short A sound. I told the kids that wasn't right. I would go home, figure out why it wasn't right, and come back tomorrow and tell them where we went wrong. <b>That whole first year,</b> I had to teach myself the content sometime the night before I would go and present it to the class. You know, just casual superhero stuff. I just knew that I had to dedicate myself to the process. </p><p>The next year was different. I wasn't in the same type of setup, that's a-whole-nother long story. I was running a small-ish co-op out of my home with 25 students spanning nearly every single grade level. You see the digital curriculum was to do the heavy lifting and I was there to fill the gaps. Except there were sooooo many gaps. And the progression of the digital curriculum was wonky. The skill might be for a 4th grader to plot a coordinate on a graph, but the math to get the coordinate was 5th or 6th-grade math. Teaching bass-ackwards was hard, but I was making it work. I truly was reaching these kids. I brought my concerns to the school and over the summer I helped build the out-of-the-box curriculum into an actual flowable product. Often times I was stealing lessons from a grade above or below to make it fit our state's standards. The problem was still that the digital curriculum was still sort of just a textbook. We were giving these animated textbooks to children and telling them to just move through it. </p><p>If you read my past work you know that I am an asker of forgiveness, not a shouter of where I am going to deviate from a plan in place. I have sort of always hacked my way through life, so when I saw that it wasn't (all the way) working I decided to create some projects and writing assignments to supplement the curriculum. </p><p>Now it's the 2013-2014 school year and this was the year I found Twitter. I started to get lit, and I had a burning desire to teach and teach other how to teach. I could see what I was doing was working. The kids were having fun. They were self-paced in the digital textbook but were learning through my wild antics as well. In this model if kids "like you" they can choose to stay with you year after year because we "teach" every grade level. Not only did I keep my students (up to 37 students now) from the previous year, but I was growing in popularity in my small-ish town. There was a waitlist to get on my roster so I asked my husband to join in on the fun. He tested and was certified to teach. Now we had 55 students coming to my home on a rotating schedule depending on grade level. I was on Twitter daily and nightly joining in conversations about teaching. Teach Like a Pirate had just come out by Dave Burgess. I was following his mentality around education. We had the OklaEd Twitter chat that at one time was the longest consecutively running weekly Twitter chat centered around education. I was a podcaster with a friend where we talked about EDU. I was a planner in this homegrown professional development movement called Edcamps. I was so ate up with EDU that I drove to Chicago and Stlouis to attend them. I felt like not only was I learning so much, but I started to gain some EduNotariety/followers around my ideas about mixing up the education system. And then, I focused so hard on climbing a ladder at my school that I stopped attending and stopped following the chats. I lost touch with my Twitter pals. I didn't lose my drive and passion for education it just shifted to a more professional world than the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants world. Maybe, I became lame. </p><p>Flash forward. I started writing a book 4 years ago, but imposter syndrome decided to camp out in my brain, so finishing it became as elusive as Bigfoot. I have yet to finish it. It's close. I went to my first conference in like 8 years this year and the setup has not changed. In 8 years we are still doing it the same. The keynote was a unique snowflake out there teaching like a pirate, teaching and creating and the room hung on every single word. I was floored that I had been out of the conference game for nearly a decade and the keynote was the exception to the rule...still. So like the book get hot and cold to me. It seems NOTHING has changed in edu. Flashforward to the present...the purpose of this write-up. In the inaugural episode of his podcast, he says we have to tell our stories especially if the things we are doing are working with our students. I know they do still work because I am still implementing them and the students keep coming back for more, but an educators, have we had enough? We are post Covid now and the EDU world was thrown up and down and tossed all around from 2020-2022. Are educators done hearing about all of this or is it still a prime time to teach it? I feel like I still have a message to teach especially for teachers of students with ADHD and Dyslexia, but it's not like I have anything more than my anecdotal success. None of my work is research-backed. I just have 13 years of success in my small world. Am I too late to be jumping on this train? I feel like it's still relevant. </p><p>Do I still have a story to tell or are we all just burnt-out marshmallows at this point? Are there still educators out there looking for ways to reach their kids? I will tell you. The higher up you go in education the more it looks like doom and gloom and that everyone is over it all. So, I guess I am asking, Is that right? </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-57720390731776609762023-01-28T17:56:00.003-08:002023-01-30T15:51:09.120-08:00My Nervous Breakdown...Check Yourself<div style="text-align: left;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd23c3a9-7fff-7359-0549-2acc007faa2d"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd23c3a9-7fff-7359-0549-2acc007faa2d"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd23c3a9-7fff-7359-0549-2acc007faa2d">Welcome to the wild world of nervous breakdowns! </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWyn6H1gQA3S5HTlNhplsZ6UyhquRlTiIhNpL62U-NqSJtuWLSo1NedzqzaDNLOupZZGAP2X5XyumUGzyKpRRPAN2i8cBy5t61sZwvbvGqMDp3SuoyhBtqxsqiT4LYzm6MWlds7HF4q3Q6Nyyzj7oO10N48tnhwyLykI761tokBJ0jOLsf0nRwwmEzow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWyn6H1gQA3S5HTlNhplsZ6UyhquRlTiIhNpL62U-NqSJtuWLSo1NedzqzaDNLOupZZGAP2X5XyumUGzyKpRRPAN2i8cBy5t61sZwvbvGqMDp3SuoyhBtqxsqiT4LYzm6MWlds7HF4q3Q6Nyyzj7oO10N48tnhwyLykI761tokBJ0jOLsf0nRwwmEzow" width="240" /></a></div></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd23c3a9-7fff-7359-0549-2acc007faa2d"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Yep, I’m taking a short pause on writing about leadership and education to bring you this very important message on stress. <br /><br />In case you're unfamiliar, a nervous breakdown is like a giant I-can't-take-it-anymore sign that your body and mind put up when things get too overwhelming. Only you don't know that that's what's going on. <br /><br />It's a sign that something needs to change, and quick. The important thing is to understand that it's not something to be ashamed of, and that seeking professional help is essential in order to get back on track. So, let's dive in and learn how to handle this little curveball life has thrown our way!<br /><br />When it comes to the symptoms of a nervous breakdown, your body is talking to you and is sending you a neon flashing sign that says, "HEY, SOMETHING'S NOT RIGHT HERE." But you’re either too blind or too busy to realize it.. <br /><br />But don't worry. It's not always as dramatic as a screaming fit in the middle of the office (although that can happen too, lol, trust me). These symptoms can manifest themselves in various ways, both physically and emotionally.<br /><br /><br />For me, it started in April 2022 with weight loss. I dropped around 20 pounds over three or four months. My armpits and the bottoms of my feet would sweat incessantly and for the first month, I was throwing up…like, a lot and I had this weird feeling of vibrating from within. <br /><br /><br />After going to the doctor to have them run a complete blood count (CBC) to check for signs of cancer, and a thyroid test to check for hyper or hypothyroidism, the tests came back clean. So we began a battery of additional medical tests to find out what was “wrong” with me…because something was clearly wrong with me. Another more comprehensive thyroid check came back clean. The doctor asked if I had anxiety. No. Historically, I’m the most chill person I know. After a couple of weeks, a new symptom emerged and that was an excessive heart rate for no good reason. My resting heart rate is around 55-60 beats per minute. I could get up to go fold towels and my heart rate would rise to 120. I know what you are thinking, and, no, I do not run on a treadmill while folding towels. Not only was it fast, but I could feel it throughout my whole body. Another doctor’s visit for a referral to a cardiologist for an EKG. The heart doctor asked me to wear a chest monitor for 3-4 days, which I noted the 16 times this occurrence happened in that time…to which they said it was not outside of the normal range for women my age. So now we do an echocardiogram and a stress test…all of which I pass. There is NOTHING wrong with me. <br /><br /><br />A few months pass and I’m still experiencing “the weirdness.” By this time, I am not sleeping. I feel these weird heart things in the middle of the night. I am afraid to exercise because my heart rate goes so high moving from one room to another, getting on a treadmill or a bike seems out of the question. Now it's the fall of 2022, and I’ve had a panic attack now and a few others that I have warded off by breathing. I was talked through the first one by one of my team members…super embarrassing. We thought maybe I was going through menopause so we started checking hormone levels. I had a CT taken on my chest, abdomen, and pelvis looking for tumors.<br /><br />For you readers, it might be pretty obvious what’s going on…for me, it still was not. <br /><br />In December, I called the doctor again because by this time, people could see me physically trembling. We had an appointment set but then the day before that appointment they called and pushed my appointment back to January. I flipped out. THAT IS NOT NORMAL FOR ME!<br /><br /><br />Let’s back up here a bit. I work as a communications director for one of the largest schools in Oklahoma and here’s what was going on all at once:<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd23c3a9-7fff-7359-0549-2acc007faa2d">In November 2021, my boss was let go and more than half my team was, too. We went from a department of 11 to a small team of five. Same workload as when we had 11.</span></li><li><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd23c3a9-7fff-7359-0549-2acc007faa2d">The school was re-branding, which falls under me.</span></li><li><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd23c3a9-7fff-7359-0549-2acc007faa2d">In the reorganization of the company that year, I had four bosses that ran things completely different from one another.</span></li><li><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd23c3a9-7fff-7359-0549-2acc007faa2d">A consultant was brought in to “train” me but all she did was tell us we were right and then stole our ideas as hers.</span></li><li><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd23c3a9-7fff-7359-0549-2acc007faa2d">The gubernatorial race was going on and both sides were using my school as a political football.</span></li><li><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd23c3a9-7fff-7359-0549-2acc007faa2d">I felt as if I was not being trusted at work to do a job, which, by the way, I was nowhere near qualified for.</span></li><li><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd23c3a9-7fff-7359-0549-2acc007faa2d">I began taking classes toward a second Master's program to learn the job I was currently doing…so that I could be trusted to do it.</span></li><li><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd23c3a9-7fff-7359-0549-2acc007faa2d">My health was deteriorating and we were unable to find the cause</span></li></ul><br /><br />Yeah, none of this dawned on me while also going through it all, I was probably stressed out. <br /><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd23c3a9-7fff-7359-0549-2acc007faa2d">I was smiling.</span></li><li><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd23c3a9-7fff-7359-0549-2acc007faa2d">I was super happy and incredibly blessed to have my life.</span></li><li><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd23c3a9-7fff-7359-0549-2acc007faa2d">If you have read my past blogs you’ll see that I now consider myself wildly successful compared to my meager and super humble beginnings.</span></li><li><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd23c3a9-7fff-7359-0549-2acc007faa2d">I loved a new challenge and I always rose to occasions.</span></li><li><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd23c3a9-7fff-7359-0549-2acc007faa2d">I am an overcomer who doesn't play the victim very well at all.</span></li><li><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd23c3a9-7fff-7359-0549-2acc007faa2d">I was fine!</span></li></ul><br />That is until I wasn't. <br /><br /><br />One day my blood pressure bottomed out. I was sitting at 90/65. I semi-recovered but didn't feel like I could drive when I came around. The very next day I was in the hospital to get lab work done for more tests and another “episode” happened, my blood pressure was through the roof, and the lab called the ER to come to take me. We had a giant event (also falling under my purview) so I am taking Zoom meetings from my hospital bed. They sent me home with NOTHING wrong with me. For the third day in a row, I was in the shower and could not stand anymore. It was as if I was far inside myself. I could hear and I could not get up. My husband helped me to stand and get to bed where I lay paralyzed for three hours. Y’all, like I legit could not move.<br /><br />During this time, Travis (the hubs) calls some buddies in the medical world and tells them all that’s going on. They said it sounded like the stress had finally gotten to me. <br /><br /></span></span><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span>Stress. </span><span><br /></span><span><br /></span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We were about to head into a two-week break, but that was too far away. I took a week of PTO leading up to this break. I got set up in talk therapy. I bought a snake plant and some English Ivy for the bedroom. I bought a diffuser and some lavender oils to add because it was supposed to relieve stress, and my boss told everyone to leave me alone. </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These relievers worked. I couldn't believe it, but the stress in my life that <u>I COULD NOT SEE</u> was trying to kill me. </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, there you have it, folks: a quick rundown of what a nervous breakdown can look like. The causes can be different for everyone and the levels of tolerance can obviously be different, too. You will be forced to handle it, though. Either you will recognize it and seek treatment, or you’ll experience some of what I endured above, or you can die. Unchecked stress is so bad. The most important thing to remember is that recovery takes time and patience. I have now been healing for about a month and a half, so don't be too hard on yourself, and do NOT expect it to change overnight. And remember, you're not alone in this. There are plenty of people out there who are going through the same thing. So, if you're feeling overwhelmed, don't be afraid to reach out for help. Whether it's a therapist, a support group, or just a friend, there's always someone who's willing to lend a listening ear. I am a huge fan of my village who, if I am being honest, was trying to tell me all along that it was stress. I just didn't know what stress felt like. </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span></span><span><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Seek rest and stay healthy friends. </span></span></p><div><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-42090492814252554092023-01-18T15:42:00.003-08:002023-01-18T15:42:41.595-08:00Finding the Right Mentor for You<span id="docs-internal-guid-8622da61-7fff-86c3-5e46-6ae8fb0b2a0e"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span face="Montserrat, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ya'll, starting out in the world of education nobody had more imposter syndrome than me. I had the degree and the certificates, but I was a high school dropout. How would anyone want to listen to me when I quit doing what I am asking them to do? So immediately I find the most read educators and start diving into their tip and tricks and styles and flare. I found Ron Clark, Geoffry Canada, and Mark Barnes to be incredibly helpful in shaping the type of educator I wanted to be like. As I switch interests and move "up" the ladder, I continue to search out individuals who will shape me into the me I want to become. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span face="Montserrat, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finding a mentor can be a valuable step in achieving success in your career or personal life. A mentor is someone who has experience and knowledge in your field of interest and is willing to share it with you. They can provide guidance, advice, and support as you navigate the challenges and opportunities that come your way. Here are three simple steps to help you find a mentor who can help you reach your goals:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span face="Montserrat, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. <u>Define your goals:</u> Before you begin looking for a mentor, it's important to know what you want to achieve. What are your career or personal goals? What do you want to learn from a mentor? Having a clear understanding of what you're looking for will make it easier to find the right person. Who do you admire that is already doing what you want to be doing? </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span face="Montserrat, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. <u>Identify potential mentors</u>: Start by making a list of people in your field of interest who have the experience and knowledge you're looking for. Look for people who have achieved success in their careers or personal lives, and who you admire and respect. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I was asked to find a mentor for my grad classes, I went to the person I wanted to pour into me not the first person available. I could have used my boss or my boss's boss, but I wanted to be a shark that was seen as an adorable stingray. I chose a shark to be my mentor. I also needed to know the person wouldn't just tell me what I want to hear, but be an unabashed truth-teller. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span face="Montserrat, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. <u>Reach out:</u> Once you have a list of potential mentors, reach out to them. It can be scary for sure. Its easy to build up a list of reason they might say no to you, but honestly, they will likely be more than flattered that you want to learn from them. Explain to them what you're looking for, and why you think they would be a good mentor. Ask if they would be willing to meet with you to discuss your goals and how they can help. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once you have a mentor willing to meet with you, schedule a time and place that works for both of you. Be prepared for the meeting by having a list of questions ready and being on time.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span face="Montserrat, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A mentor-mentee relationship is built on trust and communication. Be honest and open with your mentor, and be willing to listen and learn. Keep in touch on a regular basis, and be willing to adjust the relationship as your goals and needs change. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Remember to show appreciation for your mentor's time and advice. It could be a thank you note, a small gift or even a small token of appreciation.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span face="Montserrat, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By following these steps, you can find a mentor who can help you achieve your goals and reach your full potential. Remember that mentorship is a two-way street and that you should always be willing to give back to your mentor and help others in the same way.</span></p><div><span face="Montserrat, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-29766306450243481992023-01-05T15:15:00.000-08:002023-01-05T15:15:04.461-08:00Staying Focused with ADHD<p> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a student with ADHD, it can be challenging to stay organized and focused in school. However, there are a number of strategies that can be helpful in managing ADHD symptoms and improving academic performance.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdU8BJAc6F8KfaOgyId_qwkWWL0xGPjLIIGi6B4ZZ7xbGxITdz3U2NfPotkrOWvarW7F6taD4futt7eRViojUwzmmMqjGt3coCyRQdfVmie30arLSDVO979GO2V499cQc8YXmH0fEONX3lhWf8eCCideM36CJ8-dB4OtrvUQwRAQIAEVZCF7J-OcpruA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1194" data-original-width="536" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdU8BJAc6F8KfaOgyId_qwkWWL0xGPjLIIGi6B4ZZ7xbGxITdz3U2NfPotkrOWvarW7F6taD4futt7eRViojUwzmmMqjGt3coCyRQdfVmie30arLSDVO979GO2V499cQc8YXmH0fEONX3lhWf8eCCideM36CJ8-dB4OtrvUQwRAQIAEVZCF7J-OcpruA=w195-h434" width="195" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A group of students at Epic Charter Schools was surveyed. Here are the six most commonly identified strategies that may be helpful for your student(s) with ADHD in managing their symptoms and improving their academic performance:</span></div></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b9ff39a3-7fff-7b86-9940-f5ced826abf5"><br /><ol style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use a planner or schedule</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Having a consistent schedule and using a planner can help students with ADHD stay organized and on top of their responsibilities.</span></p><br /><ol start="2" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Take breaks and practice self-care</span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This may include getting regular exercise, eating a healthy diet and getting enough sleep.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><ol start="3" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use assistive technology</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are many tools available to help students with ADHD stay organized and focused. These may include apps for tracking assignments, note-taking software and timer programs. Some favorites include Bionic Reader and the microphone tool in Google Docs.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><ol start="4" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Find a support system</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It can be helpful to have a network of friends, family and your Epic teacher, all of whom can provide encouragement and assistance when needed.</span></p><br /><ol start="5" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seek professional help</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as needed</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If symptoms of ADHD are affecting a student's academic performance or overall well-being, it may be helpful to seek the help of a mental health professional. A therapist or counselor can help them develop coping strategies and work on skills such as time management and organization.</span></p><br /><ol start="6" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Keep your comfy shoes on</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes, you heard that right. Wearing comfortable shoes can contribute to an overall sense of well-being and potentially can help with focus. While there is no scientific cause-and-effect relationship to this suggestion, enough people do it that it can be a great additional strategy for combating attentiveness and distraction.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Having ADHD should not stand in the way of our students and their goals. Whether your student wants to join the military, attend a college or university, enter the workforce directly, or take a gap year to travel before making any decisions, overcoming the pitfalls of ADHD will be necessary to finding their best version of success. </span></p><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-32992514192333977092022-11-28T18:12:00.000-08:002022-11-28T18:12:25.259-08:005 Apps I Cannot Live Without<p> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5 Apps I Cannot Live Without</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-4c245627-7fff-5ac7-ffdf-dd0730f302f6"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is no doubt that apps keep us entertained, get more organized, and are there to generally make our lives easier. Recently I was asked what my 5 top used apps on my device…to which my answer was… which of my four devices? I use different devices for different jobs, but upon closer examination, I did notice there were a few that stood out as ambi</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">tech</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">trous. See what I did there? Now I am not planning to list my Gmail app which is probably the top app no matter the device I use. I imagine that anyone reading this probably doesn't need to be convinced to check their email or get an app to do so. I am also not listing my social media apps that are time suckers. Of course I have those and waste just as much time as the normal human in them. I am only listing the apps I use daily that are amplifiers of productivity. </span></p><br /><ol style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grammarly - Even as I write this post, it is working its magic. I only use the free version right now but have contemplated it a few times, getting the premium version. I have even gotten to the point of pulling out my credit card to purchase, but stop short when I remind myself how free and great the FREE version is. It shows me things like my streak, tone, and words per week, and it reminds me often that I like to use unique words like ambitechtrous. I write like I speak and that can become messy to read. Grammarly will reorganize my thoughts and make suggestions on how my readers would prefer to see a sentence. But more than anything, I know for a fact that I come off as bitchy in print. I used to add smiley faces to the end of emails when I had to be direct because my tone is atrocious. What Grammarly does is tell me how the message comes across before I send it. As a new to the role Director in the world of Communications, I love seeing that I have become a little more formal and confident in the messaging. If you are one of those members with a premium account, tell me, what am I missing? </span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 392px; overflow: hidden; width: 229px;"><img height="392" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/5IVK6IRgY1rNlzRscpSu3uA_b2-46BRVxszFTcLD01s8shUr4_IvfPKjFZPOSzDZGWX8ReiF5R-tSJbCrioXelogzdpVCDmIUEkCjDJdLWUnkOl8-TaI0XBx_IQJkn5VfC3_iCFQNNme-6d6XVyXkIyLZvF63D_UH-rmPr94UEN0BOqCGioixc72Zuwrkw" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="229" /></span></span><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 297px; overflow: hidden; width: 371px;"><img height="297" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/QsSKuvVlkb4qtYUtimY_h3aYRnO-37P_fL4887jvANMnY07gN4cTGSXyhe5n7daOFPrX4-k8fJNIUY3bWiB4-QipYuQz0dJohhF-CJL4_pDdDRa3ievgUFjzU7YZY0PZTBvdn7H23gVz_x3rAyTUpt3d2zH8-7AzPK3bKImDSPtWTzMnH_Ym2PI1SKLQog" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="371" /></span></p><br /><br /><ol start="2" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple Podcast - I drive quite a bit for my job and with the kids in their sports activities. I could listen to the radio, which I used to do…mostly talk radio, or I can grow and expand my mind by listening to a few podcasts each week. There are 22 shows I rotate between, but I spend most of my time with Adam Grant, Tony Robbins, and James Altucher. I am not, nor do I ever imagine I will be the smartest person in the room, but these three give me golden nuggets of information to chew on each week and then disseminate into my conversations and lifestyle. More than several hand fulls of times each year I will stop an episode because I found a way to make it work AT MY WORK and had to write a proposal. Once, I even stopped an episode in mid-sentence because my thoughts were too powerful and racing, only to find upon resuming the episode, after writing out my thoughts, that Malcolm Gladwell had the same summation and idea. If I had just let him finish his thought I might have saved myself some work. I listen to podcasts daily while I am folding laundry, washing dishes, or hanging out at tennis practice. </span></p></li></ol><br /><ol start="3" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Calendar - I use Google as my main digital calendar. I have an analog calendar/agenda too where I take notes and doodle, but I would be nowhere without my calendar. Several of you are probably going to assume that this would be a gimme app like my Gmail app, but until I started really figuring out all it can do for me, it was not a commonly used app. Like I didn't know until a couple of years ago that I have ADHD with an emphasis on the attentiveness. Now, I hyper-schedule out my days. Sometimes by the 30 minutes and sometimes down to the 15 minutes. If I set my calendar to an hour for everything, I find myself finishing a task and then wasting time on Facebook, Insta, and TikTok or getting distracted from the task altogether because I had an hour to complete it. Yes, I am also a procrastinator, but I hear that goes hand and hand with the diagnosis. In my world, I can move in and out of that same task 3 times in a day in 15 min intervals and get it complete in 45 minutes versus the half day it would take without breaking it into smaller chunks and diversifying my time. </span><a href="https://esseandmore.com/how-to-create-an-aesthetic-and-practical-google-calendar/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This was a blog</span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I read last year that changed the way I work and play. If I dont put it on my calendar…I miss it. If I put it on the calendar and its pretty…my world is more productive. </span></p></li></ol><br /><ol start="4" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bi</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">onic </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Re</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ader - This app is super new to me but has already reduced the number of times I have closed out of an email on my phone to answer it later on the computer. I am on the move regularly and throughout the workday am not always at my desk. On top of ADHD, I found out I have dyslexia. Before this app, if an email “looked too long” on my phone screen I would mark it as unread and get to it later. Yes, I am an educator who also suffers from a lack of stamina in reading. If I pick out a book or article and I am super into it, reading isn't “hard”. However, not all of the reading I do each day is selected by me. My Superintendent or Deputy superintendent will regularly send articles to me to read and incorporate into our mold. With Bionic Reader, if these are long based on how they look on my phone, I will open the app paste the text and it will process it into text that allows the words to not only stay put on the screen, but </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">be</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">cause it </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">lo</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">oks </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mo</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">re </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">li</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ke </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">th</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is, I </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">do</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">nt </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fat</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">igue as </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ea</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sily </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">nd </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">no</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">t </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">on</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ly </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">pro</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">cess </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">th</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">e </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">te</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">xt for </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">com</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">prehen</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sion</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">be</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">tter, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">b</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ut it </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">re</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">duces the </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">num</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ber of </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ti</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mes I </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ne</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ed to </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">re-</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">read the </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">te</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">xt. It's not ready for everything just yet. It hates my Google docs, but with copy and paste as a simple workaround, this app is growing on me.</span></p></li></ol><br /><ol start="5" style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5. Notes</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - There are hundreds of notes on my phone spanning over 11 years. I love that the cloud keeps my notes from phone to phone and that all 4 of my devices will allow me to pick up where I left off. Most of these notes are made at conferences or while listening to podcasts. I have 5 analog journals where I keep scraps of my genius, but while I am driving down the road it's hard to write a sonnet. ;-) Siri allows me to open notes and spew my word vomit. I do have to go back from time to time and try to remember what I was thinking when I wrote them, but in my 19 folders, I can assign my thoughts into categories and bring them back into the fold when I need them. Two of these folders are shared. I am planning a bachelorette party with a group from across the state in one of them and am planning the year of tennis with three other coaches in another. I love notes because I will think of a process to refine or something to research…or my favorite is listening to research on something completely unrelated to my fields of work but know it will be usable at some point in the future, so it goes into notes. The Notes app is essentially my 6th and digital journal. </span></p></li></ol><div><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now I have a ton of applications that I use daily, but if I didn't have these 5 life would be a LOT harder. Leave a comment if there are better versions of these apps and I am just stuck in a process and you can help me upgrade my productivity. If you also use one of these apps and it's life-changing for you too, let me know. </span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-22223340623501100782020-05-03T11:27:00.003-07:002021-04-18T14:24:37.552-07:00Staying clear of the work-from-home-pitfalls<div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.75); counter-reset: list-1 0 list-2 0 list-3 0 list-4 0 list-5 0 list-6 0 list-7 0 list-8 0 list-9 0; cursor: text; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; line-height: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
We all want students to learn what we teach. We really want it to stick. As educators during this "new normal" pandemic world of teaching and maintaining professional goals, the "hours of operation" have decimated work-life balance. I see so many people on my social media feeds posting about their day with kids hovering around and the hours being so much longer, and their work space being spread all over the place.</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.75); counter-reset: list-1 0 list-2 0 list-3 0 list-4 0 list-5 0 list-6 0 list-7 0 list-8 0 list-9 0; cursor: text; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; line-height: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I get it. I have been working from home for almost 9 years now. My husband too. There are so many mistakes to work-life balance that I thought I would write a few down to keep others from the same time wasting traps I fell into. </div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.75); counter-reset: list-1 0 list-2 0 list-3 0 list-4 0 list-5 0 list-6 0 list-7 0 list-8 0 list-9 0; cursor: text; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; line-height: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; margin-top: 3.2rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Working into the evening goes both ways. It can be a blessing and a curse. I will often wake up at 5 AM during the work week to answer emails and I will also sneak in more at 9 or 10 PM as well, But I also get to walk to the mailbox holding hands with my husband...everyday. About 2 years ago we made a pact to do this simple 1 min task together. I also find time throughout the day with this trade-off to fold a load of laundry or empty the dishwasher. Placing a silver lining on the time exchange is necessary. BUT - here is the big BUT. The work will always be there. I was in a trap several years ago where I thought if I could just clear this inbox, or if I just mine the data tonight, then tomorrow will allow me to go into a deeper level of productivity. That is a lie. There will be more emails tomorrow and there will be more _______, insert whatever you thought you were getting ahead of. </div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.75); counter-reset: list-1 0 list-2 0 list-3 0 list-4 0 list-5 0 list-6 0 list-7 0 list-8 0 list-9 0; cursor: text; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; line-height: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; margin-top: 3.2rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are also the immediate wins that we see people joke about. Like no commute, being able to wear pajamas to work, not wasting the time to slap on make-up or tie that tie, but there are lies that hide beneath these too. I learned very early on that not dressing for the day can still leave you empty at the end of it no matter how productive you thought you were. You can actually trick yourself into a sort of self loathing after some time. Dressing for the day sets the tone. Even if you enjoy jeans and a t-shirt, get up, shower and put them on. The commute time for me was always about growing myself. Whether a podcast, a book, or talk radio the drive time was quiet time spent on me. That time is harder to find now. </div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.75); counter-reset: list-1 0 list-2 0 list-3 0 list-4 0 list-5 0 list-6 0 list-7 0 list-8 0 list-9 0; cursor: text; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; line-height: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; margin-top: 3.2rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Taking time to plan your day will make a huge difference. There are many people that are to-do list adverse because we all know things come up and not getting to the last box or two are a real downer. Creating a to-do list each day can keep you from falling into the "what? It's-2-o'clock-and-I-havent-accomplished-anything" trap. To-do lists are good, but don't over fill it. If my kiddo comes to me mid-day, because they do and will, I want to be able to enjoy the art, game or thing they feel is important. I try to make sure that whatever time I am flexing for work, that it is a priority to keep my family time in place. Kids are only kids for so long. Insert the classic <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLOFnCfG_uo" rel="noopener nofollow" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #665ed0; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; touch-action: manipulation; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Cat's in the cradle, by Cat Stevens</a> here. </div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.75); counter-reset: list-1 0 list-2 0 list-3 0 list-4 0 list-5 0 list-6 0 list-7 0 list-8 0 list-9 0; cursor: text; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; line-height: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; margin-top: 3.2rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The last pitfall I'll bring up of the work from home life is workspace. I have tried the bedroom, the living room, I even bought a she-shed to work out of. It boiled down to needing to decide on a space and make that space THE SPACE. Moving the office around the house gets taxing. You cant find a pen or sticky note. Having a private or confidential phone conversation will need to happen, so plan ahead when thinking about where to lay down your work roots in the home. TV will be a distraction. Kids playing will be a distraction. Food being readily available will be a distraction. Set boundaries with yourself when it comes to workspace and be strict enough that you can remain productive. </div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.75); counter-reset: list-1 0 list-2 0 list-3 0 list-4 0 list-5 0 list-6 0 list-7 0 list-8 0 list-9 0; cursor: text; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", serif; line-height: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; margin-top: 3.2rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the end of the day, this is where we are. Places will open again, but in my opinion enough companies were on the fence about moving this direction that a portion of the new normal will remain in tact. Will you be prepared? </div>
elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-52006079098491258212020-04-01T05:39:00.001-07:002020-04-01T06:04:16.652-07:00Quarantine Zine<div style="text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Are you home? You should be...</span></b></div>
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Are you bored? Really, bored is a state of mine. </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JgRdHdN32Mg/XoSCZhhztYI/AAAAAAABA9c/sRlCtzQ6k4Y2bkQhNYpCq5makspdK264QCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-04-01%2Bat%2B7.00.11%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="992" data-original-width="998" height="318" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JgRdHdN32Mg/XoSCZhhztYI/AAAAAAABA9c/sRlCtzQ6k4Y2bkQhNYpCq5makspdK264QCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-04-01%2Bat%2B7.00.11%2BAM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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I have seen so many things. All the<span style="color: purple;"><i> <b><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/10DfDWnHvzK03kk__QWSXVRUM9GXSdeXZsi7r0kdzUBI/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">"things"</a> </b></i></span>people have been doing to pass the time. You should have click on that link to see them too. If you do #5 send it to me and I will pass it through the webiverse.<br />
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In this time I have binge-watched the television show Alone. After watching I felt the need to walk into the wood in my backyard and build a teepee. I have refined a few skills in videography...I am no master of this skill, but I am trying to get better. I have written. I have finished a book and began another. I have finished a plan on the Bible app. I have downloaded an app to learn a new language. I found a way for our church to <b><a href="https://youtu.be/Ntm72zq0zQA" target="_blank"><span style="color: purple;"><i>come together in worship</i></span></a> </b>during the first Sunday morning in isolation. Oh, and I still have a full-time job. Here is a pic of that teepee.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e48xZt9rWT8/XoSGCm2f9SI/AAAAAAABA9w/iH3RLsTScuIwxh9V0osGjY9Wz2MwrMWvwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_7259.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e48xZt9rWT8/XoSGCm2f9SI/AAAAAAABA9w/iH3RLsTScuIwxh9V0osGjY9Wz2MwrMWvwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_7259.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I am been super impressed at my own kids. They have spent most of this time outside. We run a one-room schoolhouse here at the house, so the idea of not having friends over every day hit them pretty hard at first. These girls hate summer break because they don't see their friends as often. They have built paper rockets, built roller coasters out of Legos...Here is a fun Lego challenge if you want to have some fun.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uT4_Mu8cLfE/XoSFws3nIZI/AAAAAAABA9o/47VceRmSi24p5ixNyMbFCNcChwCMbC5hQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-04-01%2Bat%2B7.14.28%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="1084" height="247" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uT4_Mu8cLfE/XoSFws3nIZI/AAAAAAABA9o/47VceRmSi24p5ixNyMbFCNcChwCMbC5hQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-04-01%2Bat%2B7.14.28%2BAM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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I also like to throw out fun Facebook posts to see how many fun ways to get people engaged. Some bring 100-200 comments like the <span style="color: purple;"><i><b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/corvid19?source=feed_text&epa=HASHTAG" target="_blank">best Coronavirus memes post</a>.</b>.</i></span>.and others fell completely flat on their face, but produced some laughs like this picture. I asked everyone to find a pic of animals on the Googles and then recreate the pic.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Nothing...but that's ok. I am NOT bored. </span></b></div>
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<br />elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-19525320947691036662020-03-02T18:34:00.002-08:002020-03-02T18:34:30.421-08:00What is OneHub?<br />
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I heard the announcement in the church over the last several Sundays, the talk about a new type of small group, but maybe a small group on steroids. Elliot Freeman had mentioned it and Ricky Bowlin told me as someone heading up the social media, that I just had to go.<br />
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Now, I am a busy gal. I have a full-time job and I have about 4-5 side hustles. This one thing was going to be ANOTHER thing. I say all of this now, knowing full well that I told a group the other night...and now I tell you...that if I have the capacity, I will offer more of myself. All I would really be missing out on are some of the guilty pleasures, like endless-without-a-point internet nothingness or television watching. So I went.<br />
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What is OneHub? The subheading tells the story. It's about reaching the lost. When I accepted the role I have in the church with social media it was about one thing only...reaching the lost. I wanted to have a bigger reach than myself to find those that were completely lost or searching. The meeting was opened by Elliot saying that this group would be about <b><i>disciplining people...and more.</i></b> I was hooked in the first line. This is exactly what I wanted to do, become equipped and make disciples of men. It's one thing to have your quiet time and read God's word daily. It's quite another to turn his words into application and spread the Gospel. I have read, and as long as someone comes to me and asks the right kind of questions I might be able to have a conversation with you, but being <b><i>PRO</i></b>active?<br />
As he went on he talked about a temperature check given monthly to gauge our involvement in reaching out but also where we were in our commitment to spreading the Gospel; how often we were thinking about it. Not only will be learning how to be better witnesses and cultivators of those we are trying to bring to Christ, but we would be held accountable monthly as to whether or not we were trying. I got really excited and on fire for what we could do as a community if we really got into this.<br />
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The next item for discussion was a 9/11 rule. Several have probably already heard of this because there are a few Sunday school leaders who have already been going to this group for some time. The point here is you set a daily reminder on your phone. You can incorporate your Alexa or Google Home devices here too if you prefer.<br />
<b>- At 9:00PM </b><br />
<b>- you pray for 1 person</b><br />
<b>- for 1 minute. </b><br />
You pray for the one lost person in your life. It can literally be "the lady in the checkout" if that's who you want. You pray daily over that person with the hopes of reaching them. Who would your one person be?<br />
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You know the premise, do you really have to join? Probably not. But why wouldn't you? You can do all of those action items on your own and at your home, but here is the long and short of it - we are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus. The finger cannot and should not operate apart from the hand. We should be in fellowship with each other and encourage one another. We should hold each other accountable to living out the Great Commission. So won't you join this next month? We will meet again on the 5th of April. Its Palm Sunday and you will have every excuse not to be there...but ask yourself if those excuses are good enough. Meet with us at 3:30 and become fishers of men.elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-75895209310230465232020-01-28T13:40:00.003-08:002020-01-28T13:40:25.940-08:00Coming HomeDay 10<br />
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Today, our last day in Israel and the feelings are mixed. On the one hand, I am ready to get home to see my husband and youngest kiddo. I know the rest of my fellow travelers feel the same. On the other hand...I have learned so much here and I could probably stay another 10 days and still not know enough. I look forward to the familiar, but I love the broken box I have escaped. We have tried new things and seen sights that our small town, small state, or large country just cannot provide.<br />
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We started our day at Garden of the Tomb. This is the second candidate for where crucifixion of Jesus could be. It’s disputed because we are 2000 years later and many people have ruled this city between then and now. The Romans, Byzantine, Muslims and Crusaders all had a say in the destruction and rebuilding this land. We had an on special guide to walk us through the different markings around the site Showing why this was the actual crucifixion place and tomb. One thing he said that I love and it was something I thought all week long...<br />
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We do not worship the site. We worship Jesus. That can be done here at the rock or back in Sapulpa OK.</blockquote>
You do not need to be in Israel to know my God. You do not need to touch or kiss the rock to make you feel closer. We read again the chapter of Isaiah 53 talking about the sacrifice that would need to be made. <br />
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Psalm 22: 30-31 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn - for he has done it.</blockquote>
We met together in a small section within the garden where Pastor Smokey gave us a lesson on unleavened bread and the pressing of grapes to make wine. His lesson brought us to the partaking of Holy communion together. It was simple, quiet, perfect.<br />
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Our next stop was at the museum, Friends of Zion. It was interesting to see how many people came together...non Jews, to save the Jew and Israel. One room we entered had the largest digital mural with 36 interactive touchscreen displays. When you touch on a single image it comes to life and it gives you a few lines of information about that person‘s history. In another room we heard about the different people trying to save different Jewish communities and families during the Holocaust. At the end of the presentation they were beams of light across the room shooting out of the ceiling. When you reached your hand out into the beam you could see the name and face of a person that was saved. It was like holding a life in your hands.<br />
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The question we were left with...and the question I will ask you to ponder too...What does it mean to say, “Here am I”? Is this something you are willing to say at God’s request? What if it means sacrifice? What if it is hard? What if you have to die completely to self?<br />
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We began the long drive back toward the airport. Another stop along the way...Caesarea. This is where the Gentiles first heard the good news and were baptized by Peter. King Herod built another site that also went the rough the same takings over and destruction that Jerusalem met. This city, however, is by the Mediterranean Sea. He could go to Greece or Rome very quickly. Say I love you and come back more powerful. This place was huge. Thousands of workers/slaves to build.<br />
Smokey offered us another lesson about Jonah who left from this port to run as far away from his calling as he possibly could. He also reminded us that God calls us to love those that are unloveable...love those that hate us, our enemies...from here Paul went to spread the gospels. From this port the Word and the story of Jesus left Israel and went out to the world. We sat in the oldest theatre in Israel. We walked along the beach of the Mediterranean Sea finding sea shells and searching for remnants of the past. We posed for last day photos and tried to soak in the views. <br />
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Old Jaffa for supper. It was another amazing spread of food this time with some kabobs. Best falafel I have ever eaten. And y’all, I have eaten a lot of falafel this week.<br />
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We are at the airport now awaiting our long flight home. This time, this airport we sit as friends, not as the acquaintances we were 10 very long days ago. We shared tonight at the dinner table some of our favorite moments of the week, our highlight reel. It’s a semi-romantic end to a trip of a lifetime. See you all at church this Sunday. If you see us in the halls ask us about the trip. If you are on the fence the next time the opportunity comes up, talk to us. I took an informal survey of the group and the overwhelming consensus was yes, take the trip.<br />
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<br />elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-8824911426553732062020-01-27T11:25:00.001-08:002020-01-27T11:30:14.407-08:00Prophecies FulfilledDay 9<br />
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Today started it with a little bit of a world history lesson for Tatum. She had heard of the Holocaust but only by name alone. Debbie and Gene Presley helped me teach her about all the things she was about to see at the Holocaust museum/memorial. It wasn’t like life was floating around and all of a sudden concentration camps… There was a lot of buildup beforehand entire anti-semantic movement began. A brainwashing of a nation to decide to abolish a group of people.<br />
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Walking to the museum I tried to explain the best I could to Tate why people were the way they were and what they did and how the Nazi ideology invaded country by country. The countries who excepted it were scared so they conformed to become just as brutal. There were many images I couldn’t look at and I told her not to look at them either. Not to turn a blind eye, but because it was enough. It was too much. I interviewed a couple of our church family members after and Mark had said, “...evil can sneak up on you and you better beware”.<br />
No pics allowed inside the museum. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/roni.houbani" target="_blank">Roni</a> snapped this one on the way out.<br />
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We walked into a church that was built upon the hill where Jesus was crucified (possibly). Steps led us to a rock...”the rock”. Roni lead us back down the stairs where there was a line waiting to get in to see what was considered THE tomb. We did not wait in the line he took us around the corner to see another tomb.<br />
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We were led all around the tiny storage locker shops in the streets of Jerusalem. We made a few purchases here and there and then went back to the heart of the Jewish quarter for lunch. <br />
Mark, Becky, Tate and I had an extra 20 mins at lunch so we went back to the shops to grab one more thing....well...we got all turned around. My fault. There I said it. With the help of a few amazing locals we made it back.<br />
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Walking through the streets on our way to the south wall to sit at the steps of the temple we ran into Michael Cohen… Writer of the song El Shaddai.<br />
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On the steps of the south steps, we stop to read. John 8. Jeremiah 17:12-13 is a connection to John 8...Writing in the dust. Smokey pointed out that everyone wants to speculate what was it he was writing in the dust. That wasn’t the point. The point was...prophecy fulfilled. Boom.<br />
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From here we walked the Via Dolorosa backwards. This meant we walked down hill...the easy route. Our final stop was St Anna’s church. Pastor Smokey offered another lesson in John 19 there is the courtyard, which used to be the sheep baths before the people offered their sacrifices. One after another after another after another we read of prophecies from the old testament fulfilled with the crucifixion of Jesus. We kept flipping back-and-forth between old testament and new testament to read with the prophets wrote and then back to see how the apostles told the story.<br />
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After Smokey was done preaching we went into the small church and sang again. When I said we sounded like a choir yesterday, it pales in comparison to the acoustics in this place. We sand “Amazing Grace” together and our voices just traveled up and around. </div>
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We all huddled into one space tonight to debrief on the happenings of the day. You all already know this and I do too, but we have a pretty special church family. The bond that binds us together at FBC Sapulpa is pretty strong. I am only about three years new to this church and after this week the list of people that would get on their knees for me (and I for them) has grown.</div>
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If you are reading this and feel like you are sitting on the outside looking in at church find me. I am Erin. I would love to get to know you and make you feel the love that I have for my church family. </div>
<br />elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-61986454797554830992020-01-26T10:45:00.000-08:002020-01-26T10:45:29.656-08:00Away in a MangerDay 8-<br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/roni.houbani" target="_blank">Roni</a> took us to the Israel Museum today. When we walked in, there was an enormous 50:1 scale stone village replica of the city of Jerusalem. A person would be the size on a matchstick. I mentioned to a friend of mine, that this trip not only is an amazing experience to walk through a living textbook, but it solidified for me learning styles when it comes to a child’s education. I can read the scriptures and know that Jesus had to walk a ways with people spitting on him and hitting him. I have read that he had to carry the cross for a while and grew tired and someone helped him... I have read the research and it goes back and forth. I have taught on it even using music as an anchor. I know that I am a tactile and auditory learner...turns out living the education is a game changer. Y’all, a ways is a ways...and the hills are fierce. The streets are narrow and filled with people. This was a heart wrenching ordeal to see to scale what it was for him.<br />
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In the pictures I tried to show it the best I could as <a href="https://www.facebook.com/roni.houbani" target="_blank">Roni</a> took us on around the replica town. Jaffa Gate was the edge of town. They would have taken Jesus with his cross through this gate to Golgotha for the crucifixion. There was a second site that some people believe this happened just around the corner. Roni said and I quote...<br />
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I know what is under the ground. Because of my job taking television crews under ground. My opinion isn’t influence you if I had money to bet it would be where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is. </blockquote>
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Walk to to the Shire of the Book<br />
Important artifacts archeology and history. Inside was a replica cave built to show the inside of the cave where the Dead Sea Scrolls were located. No pictures were allowed inside, but I used my voice memos to record some of the writings on the scrolls. In the middle of the room was a model of a giant scroll. Incased in an air proof glass display was a single scroll of the book of Isaiah. Oldest known book of the Bible in existence.<br />
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The artifacts inside these museums were pretty amazing and brought to life many concepts in my head.. here are pics of what the tombs were like. They shelf life on a dead body was one year. Are the end of the year the family comes back and grabs the bones and places them in a box as long as the femur and as tall as the head and chest bones.<br />
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The only place outside of the Bible that the name Pontius Pilate has ever been written was this one stone. He was so insignificant anywhere else in history, yet his name will live forever in the best selling book of all time.<br />
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Tate really like the Hieroglyphics explained...<br />
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Gene may have like the artifacts a lot too...<br />
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Bethlehem is actually located in Palestine (to my friends who do not recognize Palestine as a place, all I can say is that we went through a border and checkpoints to get there). So we took the short drive across the border. It was an entire hillside and valley of olive trees and terraces in the middle of Palestinian and Arab apartment complexes. At the first checkpoint we were turned away. There was a complication with a bad guy and say that they could not handle our bus...that maybe it wasn’t safe?.? Roni told us that a bad apple spoiled that checkpoint for a bunch. We had to drive another 5 minutes to a different checkpoint. They were large red signs that read do not go this way especially if you are an Israeli.. it is forbidden and you will be risking your life.<br />
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We met a new guide (Sana)...a Palestinian Christian. Gun shots could be heard off in the distance. She took us to the fields where the shepherds had been watching over their sheep where they saw the star and came running INTO the town of Bethlehem. Here we read Luke 2:8-20.<br />
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She took us to another small domed building with the most amazing acoustics. Sana asked us to sing a Christmas carol inside and I got to lead our group in “Angels We Have Heard on High” then she asked us to sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and Mrs. Debbie Presley carried the team on her back. We sounded like a full choir.<br />
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Lunch was another shared spread of color and flavor.<br />
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After lunch, she guided us to THE birth place of Jesus. There was a line which was apparently nothing compared to the norm (much smaller). We crowed together down and down into a cave that three churches have built on top of. Three churches. Three different faiths (Armenian, Catholic, and Greek Orthodox) sharing the same building over the birth place of the baby Jesus. The building is under renovation right now and they have just unearthed (last year) under the plaster more mosaic of the heavenly host. It was very ornamental inside and very beautiful.<br />
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After this we spent a little time shopping before retiring to the hotel for the night. Another busy day in Jerusalem tomorrow. </div>
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I leave you with the best of Tate today. </div>
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<br />elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-65271819236846695782020-01-25T22:00:00.002-08:002020-01-25T22:00:30.890-08:00Masada is the StrongholdWe had a 2 Hour Dr. through the countryside of Israel today. When you leave the city limits where the homes cost millions of dollars for a 2000 square-foot flat to find tarp covered 250sq ft slums. You realize what a blessing space is. I am a teacher. I have working in several types of schools and I must say that with the exception of abuse, even our poorest kids are living a good life in comparison to what I witnessed today.<br />
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We passed by the City of Jericho also known as the City of Palms, on our way to Masada and the Dead Sea. Jericho is the oldest known developed city in the world.<br />
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Much of today was spent at En Geti and Masada. This is a a time in the Bible when King Saul was chasing David and there was quite an exchange between the two. We read all of chapter 24, but this<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
1samual 24:22 <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And David swore this to Saul. Then Saul went home, but David and his men went up </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-7862X" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-7862X" title="See cross-reference X">X</a>)" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">to the stronghold.</span></blockquote>
After reading we walked in the spot where it is believed that David wrote or could have written Psalm 18. There were two paths to get to the waterfalls. Some of us followed ‘ol Smokey through a tougher path to get to a larger waterfall. Before the climb, it was brown. Brown everywhere...and then all of a sudden there is a waterfall system in the middle of the desert. A true oasis.<br />
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Masada = stronghold<br />
Herod built a palace on the plateau of a mountain in the middle of nowhere nester to the Dead Sea. It was a stopping point on the road from Egypt. Two palaces were built and weapons for 10,000 The water in the Dead Sea is completely unusable, so initially he has to have water shipped in. There was no Amazon Prime, and this place was a two day journey from Jerusalem.<br />
Water cisterns that can hold water for 7 yrs with one flood. Flash Floods happen 5-10 per year. Property of King Herod king of Judaea. The extravagant lifestyle was obvious, but the most mind blowing part was the filter action systems built for their cisterns. I’m no hydro engineer so I would sound like a dumb dumb trying to explain it. There was a heavy rain here yesterday that caused a smaller flash flood, so we were able to see the system in work. Roni said he’s never seen water in the spot we were looking. It was crystal clear water.<br />
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this place was in operation from around 4BC to 70AD<br />
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This morning Tatum told me she had no desire to get into the Dead Sea. As a mama it kind of stung my heart a little hearing her say that, because we came all this way and, well, when in Israel...you swim. I asked my husband if I should make her or not and he said no, she’s 13 and she’ll probably be back here again someday. So when we got on location I didn’t say a word I just got into my swimsuit and went out into the water with the others. After about 3 to 5 minutes she was ready to join us. It was a blast. You aren’t supposed to just float like that...but you do.<br />
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The wandering Jew...doing what people tell them to do or allow them to do. Now I make my own historyelynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-83901662793122973222020-01-24T10:35:00.002-08:002020-01-24T10:35:56.672-08:00Walking Through TimeToday is our day six and we spent it walking the streets of Jerusalem. We tried to make an earlier start of the day as there were about 40 world dignitaries here for the 75th memorial commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz. The list included Prince Charles and our very own VP Mike Pence. Because the traffic was expected to be high we got out about 30 minutes earlier than normal. It was a chilly 35 this morning with intermittent rain. We all knew there would be much more walking today than in the past, so we bundled up and pushed forward.<br />
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We hit so many sites of the city today and many of them we just for a moment. Roni, our friend and tour guide advised us early in the tip that we had several hundred year plus three to see in 10 days. Now the advice seems more like a warning...lol...we stayed moving today. Roni SHOULD have a PhD in history because we are filled with it all along the way. On the drive into the city center we were told that the town was built on the bedrock of Mt Moriah. If you remember reading in the book of Genesis, this is where Abraham was sent to sacrifice his son Isaac. I suppose I had never really thought about it, or maybe I am a dumb dumb but I had no clue that Jerusalem was literally built here.<br />
Sidebar - Not to be pious or anything, but I am trying to read through the Bible this year. I kind of wish I had made this my goal before coming, because I am working with Sunday School story knowledge here...I just wish I knew more.<br />
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Our first actual stop was to the Garden of Gethsemane. This was probably what I had been looking forward to the most. After Smokey read from and contextualized Matthew 26:30-45. We had a little time to pray in the garden alone. Tate and I ran to a smaller olive tree and prayed together. It was probably the last time Tate will ever hold my hands because she is too old for that, but I cherished it. We all did. Everyone found a little quite spot and then we met up and moved on after. There is a special clover that grows on the ground in the garden. It has little spots on it. The story goes that they are the remnants of the blood Jesus sweat in the garden as he prayed.<br />
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Our next spot was at the St Peters...grrr...something. I missed it in my notes. Because of the rain we had to alter plans at the last minute and I missed the full actual name. It was actually the house of the high priest Caiaphas (that has obviously been rebuilt) where Peter denies Jesus three times.<br />
This town is so impressive. There are new things built and they know there is stuff under it, so the begin excavation under these structures. The was a place where the road was so preserves and so originally constructed that it is one of the few places they know Jesus walked on the same exact street. The same, same street.<br />
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This is a mezuzah. You will find them on the right side of Jewish houses at the entrance. This one is on the side of a walkway/ road. Inside the Mezuzah is a tiny scroll with Deuteronomy 6:4-9 written on It.<br />
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4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.</blockquote>
This is a scripture that they memorize and recite three times daily. Morning, noon, and night. On the airplane to Israel I wrote a note to myself to research more about the Orthodox Jew because at the same time many men got up and dressed ceremonially in the prayer robe, placed a little box on their heads and wrapped their hands and wrists in a leather strap. I had no clue what this was, but Roni told us today and it went along with this Mezuzah. This little box as well as the leather strap have the same verse written on it. Practicing Jews and Orthodox Jews do this daily. This mezuzah is actually made out of the bullets that have been removed from the wall from the conflict.<br />
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Our next stop was the upper room. We were obviously working a little out of order due to the flow and not having to back track across the city. In Matthew 26:18, Jesus told the disciples to go into the city and look for a certain man...that is where they will eat the Passover, AKA the last supper for Jesus. Now the room they believe this took place looks like the room in The Last Supper painting by Leonardo DiVinci. The oddest this in the room was a stained glass window...obviously placed after the fact. It was beautiful but when you looked closer, you could literally see the devil disguised I the glass. It was placed there while the building was still under Turkish rule.<br />
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We have to remember that while Israel has been around for a very long time, it has only been a country since the 1940’s.<br />
Roni was telling us all about the different wars and nations that have controlled Israel. As it sits now Jerusalem is a melting pot of people with four quadrants inside. There is the Jewish quarter, the Christian quarter, the Arabian quarter and the Armenian quarter. All get along most of the time, but dependent on the day and the lesson taught inside a specific house of prayer, the riot gear can come out and panic happens in the streets. There was none of that today, but there was a heightened presence at The Wailing Wall as we passed through.<br />
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The last stop before the bus was just a found walkway that was dated back to the time of the prophet Isaiah. The description of the building of the wall was found in perfect formation here. After all of the archeological sites we have visited, I can see there WAS a house just outside the wall, and that the wall was built. This is the first wall of Jerusalem when they were battling the Babylonians. Ya’ll this stuff still exists! You can see across the pic that the wall would have been 8meters high. What you are seeing I’d the wall and then the street to the left of the wall. But in the far right of the pic, you can see the houses coming down to make room for the wall.<br />
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What I loved even more then this is another prophecy fulfilled right next to the historic site...<br />
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Zechariah 8: 4 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of great age. 5 And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.</blockquote>
Look what is right next door?<br />
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This was the first night we debriefed after our day. It was awesome coming t get her tonight and hearing everyone’s “ah-ha moments” for the day. Our group is so diverse in age and wisdom. And each had a time in the day to reflect on where everyone else thought, “yeah, that was cool” or “I didn’t know that either”.<br />
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Thank you to my fellow travelers for some of your photos today.elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-2469577305293794352020-01-23T08:07:00.000-08:002020-01-23T10:37:52.053-08:00Day 5 - New BeginningsWe are leaving the Sea of Galilee area today. Before taking off we had two brave souls decide to be re-baptized in the Jordan River like our Savior Jesus was by John the Baptist. If you know me, you know I love a good baptism. I tear up for young and old. To say I was pumped for this would be an understatement. Today was the warmest day yet at 49 degrees this morning. Water was much cooler than that.<br />
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9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Mark 1: 9-11</blockquote>
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Our next stop was at Gideon Springs. You can find the story of Gideon in Judges chapters 6 and 7, the spring specifically in chapter 7. At this spring Gideons men thirsty for days knelt and began drinking the water. Those that put their face in the water to drink were sent away and the 300 who lapped up the water in their hands to drink went on to be victorious in the battle. God didn’t want to show that Israel could be powerful with many, but rather powerful with the faithful. Smokey talked with us about here is another example of God using someone who is not powerful to prove a point. I don’t know about you, but that is incredibly encouraging to me. I am nobody from nowheresville. We all can still have significant roles to play in delivering His word to many.<br />
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Our third stop of the day was was this history teacher’s dream. Bet-she’An. This was a Roman Byzantine city that was destroyed and covered by a volcanic eruption in the year 749. This city was completely discovered by accident in the 1970’s and 80’s. You can see in the first picture the pool that is still covered in dirt. </div>
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Before the Roman Bet-she’an, was the biblical Bet-She’An. This was the city where Saul’s sons were killed and before defeat he fell on his sword. The Philistines hung his head and his sons on the city wall. A few of us made the climb to the top. You could see down on the entire ruins of the Roman city...the amphitheater, the spa, the circus...they believe based on other cities this size that there is still a circus-maximus (race track for horse and chariot) to still be unearthed. </div>
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Another amazing lunch was enjoyed by all. Roni, our guide and now friend at this point, took us to an establishment owned by two brothers. One was burned inside a military tank and the other a victim of terrorism shot in the face and in a coma for two months. They and their sister run a small eatery where we enjoyed Schnitzel and Sausage dog in pita bread. It was delicious!</div>
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Our last official sight seeing portion of the day led us to the Dead Sea area, specifically Qumran. This is where in 1947 THE Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Let me repeat, in 1947 the oldest known Hebrew bible to the world was found in a cave in the middle of the desert. So the story goes, two dudes in go walking in the middle of the desert, happen into a cave with these clay jars. Inside, scrolls. They travel to Jerusalem and sell them to a souvenir sop for some cash. The shop owner starts cutting up these souvenir pieces of ancient Hebrew. One of those pieces made it into the right hands and now we have a 2000 plus year old artifact. The picture here does it no justice, but what you are looking at is a small hole in the left side of the bottom cliff. That hole is actually a man sized cave/tunnel where they were found. </div>
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The last shot is of the Dead Sea. We will be there later this week, but it was beautiful with the sun setting and the rain coming in. </div>
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We drove into Jerusalem at it was turning dark. We will see it really for the first time tomorrow. And finally, Tate is coming out of her wheel. She is photobombing every shot. So here is a tribute to her goofiness today...</div>
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Pro tip 1: Its been chilly. Layers are awesome, but I think our timing is amazing. There haven’t been too many other buses around making this experience a Disneyland adve nature. I love our small group. We can move through things relatively easy and still see it all. </div>
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Pro tip 1: Try your tummy out on some food before you come. There have been some new dishes to us. Mostly because I have the pallet of a 7 year old child...Also, bring extra cash for lunch. Breakfast and dinner have been included daily, but it’s $30 daily to feed two people one meal. </div>
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elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-65918907767843891972020-01-22T11:10:00.001-08:002020-01-22T11:10:08.904-08:00Stories Coming to LifeGood morning and good evening. I will try writing through out the day today so that I am not falling asleep between paragraphs tonight.<br />
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Father God I pray today that our eyes and hearts are open to you.<br />
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Our first stop this morning was at the Mound of the Beatitudes. It was an absolutely beautiful place. On the way up you pass groves of Mango trees. We got quite an economics lesson on the way on the imports and exports of the country. I gotta say, the commercialization...probably the wrong word...lack of reverence...I don’t know...the place seemed a little off putting. In many of the places we have been to, there was an original house of worship that was destroyed by an event or war. In the same place another church or temple was placed on top. This space was original and placed in the late 1930’s. My favorite moment here at the mount was Pastor Smokey preaching to our group from Matthew 5 and 6. Our guide said something on the way up...he said you decide what is more important...the sermon or the mount? I loved the view though. You are looking out over the Sea of Galilee in the mist of the most amazing flowers and gardens and sitting areas. You could really imagine what it must have been like to be there hearing this sermon.<br />
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Our second stop offered a “short” hike over water and rock to the ancient city of Dan. Y’all, I mean like 1 Kings- Old Testament-City of Dan. These giant walls were over 3000 years old. To put that into perspective, when ol’ Columbus said the ocean blue...that was 528 years ago. Our country has history, but THIS is history. Smokey offered another lesson on Jeroboam and all that was going in the city of Dan. This is where a golden calf was place as an idol to worship. Throughout the hike and at the site we found many porcupine needles. The porcupine is a popular animal in this area along with wild boars. Brandon found a small piece of broken pottery as well. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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From the top of the fortress we could look across the mountain and see a Syrian military stronghold. All along the drive from Dan to Caesarea Philippi we saw yellow signs along the road that mark active live mine fields. This is crazy stuff. In the days leading up to our trip I had the worry in the back of my mind that we were headed to the Middle East during what feels like a time of great unrest. I quickly let go of those thoughts though. We have always tried to live a “God’s will” sort of life. If it was our time we could die in a wreck on the way to the grocery store or by a scud missile blowing us up. But this did bring back the fear a bit. We of course have heinous things that happen in the US, but land mines isn’t one that I am used to or worry about in Sapulpa OK. </div>
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The third stop was an incredibly short drive to Caesarea Philippi. Smokey taught again from Matthew 16 when Jesus revealed to Simon Peter that he was the Messiah, but that the apostles couldn’t announce it yet. This took place at a Greek/Roman town that was built as a shrine to the god Pan of the dancing goats. Leaving this place left me wanting to know more more about Pan. So when I got back on the bus I started searching. That google search lead down a dark road that could seriously be its own twisted blog post. The stories of the setting and the people that Jesus was up against in some of these towns made this story pop off the page. Seeing their alters for pagan and superficial sacrifice made the sin around him feel even worse than watching the nightly news. </div>
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We had the biggest shared lunch after. the man just kept bringing more and more. There was no more room at the table and he still managed to squeeze in more I can pronounce pita bread, hummus, and falafel, but past that all I know is that it was beautiful. After lunch we were offered the sweetest baklava and the blackest thickest “coffee” I have ever seen. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Word to the person planning. Take notes while you are here. We are sucking I nJesus three years and even more into a 10 day period. Research before you come. It has made the trip that much more enjoyable. Drink water. I completely missed the fourth stop today which was a look into a decommissioned Israeli military camp because of a severe headache due to dehydration. You don’t want to drink water on the plane especially if you are in a middle seat. You hit the ground running as soon as you are here, and the water isn’t the best tasting. It’s clean. But there is a saltiness that is hard to explain. Regardless of whether you like it or not, suck it up and drink it. 4 glasses of water and a Pepsi Cola for supper tonight. I am a new woman. </div>
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Ready for Jerusalem tomorrow. </div>
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elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-82316334778360706592020-01-21T11:43:00.001-08:002020-01-21T11:43:24.427-08:00What is long?<div>
Day two was basically flying. We arrived in Israel at 4PM, but after grabbing luggage we headed toward Tiberius in darkness.</div>
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This morning we awoke to the beauty of the Sea of Galilee.<br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19px;">Western eyes keep us from fully expecting our Holy scriptures. There were fewer words 2020 years ago. Because of the fewer word there has to be translation and interpretation.</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19px;">Hill =2000ft or > and mountains are 3000 <. The same goes for bodies of water. The Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee are smaller than some of our lakes back home. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I forget regularly that the Bible wasn’t written in my backyard. The men and women we read about are like ancient Lewis and Clark. Walking to and from over these hills and through swampy lands at times.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">In Capernium - Sea of Galilee modern Tiberius where Jesus reappeared to the disciples. Jesus called and made fishers of men. There is a holy site with dates in the 1st century....it now has a modern temple on top. I have heard this said before too. Now, there is a temple built on top. But like we could see the old temple still...built on top. It was so stinking cool. This is likely where Jesus honed in his teachings and did some of his own fishing. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Our guide is a Christian scholar, but is quite Jewish. He is able to remind us of the stories we know, but in National-Treasure-super-cool-Ben-Franklin-glasses style, he can explain what this meant to the Jews and people of the time. Jews ask questions with another question, he says. </span><br />
<span class="s1">“How much is two plus two?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Answer w/ another question... “Rabbi, how much is 8-4”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Rabbi, how much is sq root of 16.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">He told us of other symbols for Christianity , like an octagon w circle around. This was to display which house was the place of worship that day - 8sides for the 8 beatitudes. Near this site was another synagogue built before the new one. It was much larger and tucked in its deconstructed walls were w</span>ishes, prayers, petitions of other sight-seers. </div>
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After a boat ride out on the Sea of Galilee, we came into a Museum that was built around and for a single piece. Many museums have collections of art and artifacts to admire. This museum has...one. One thing. In 1986-87 during a year of an extreme drought a discovery was made. An ancient nail was found and then another. More nails and then a piece of wood. Wood from first century AD w/ proof in the carbon dating. The moment they began to unbury their discovery, the realized quickly that the mud it was encased inside was also preserving it. I don’t want to spoil too much for those coming on the next trip, but this “Jesus boat” is amazing to see and to hear the story.<br />
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A couple of miles up the road was Magdala. Until 2006 it was a little bed and breakfast/vineyard. A hotel bought up the land with plans to upgrade and bring up tourism in the area. In Israel if you are going to build, a minor excavation must be done first. In this small dig was the discovery of a lifetime...a first century synagogue. Through carbon dating they could tell that it was used from about 100BC to 70 ADish. Based on descriptions in the Bible and other writings, they assume this to be the town of Mary Magdelian.<br />
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<span class="s1">Nazareth- it blew me away hat the city of Nazareth has over </span>80k people living there now. Nazareth Village is a replica village right in the middle of the modern downtown that shows what life would have been like. We saw olive presses. We saw the natural grape presses for the wine. They rebuilt homes which really brought to life the ruins we saw an hour earlier. </div>
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<span class="s1">Isaiah 11:1 new root </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Yala in Arabic means go. Our guide would ask if we had any questions and then would say alright...yala. At the end of the village tour we were gifted small lamps that burn oil. She reminded us that Jesus said...</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“I am the light on the world. Those that chose to follow me will never walk in darkness.” John 8:12</span><br />
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<span class="s1">If you are planning a trip here or have it on your bucket list, all I can say is make it happen. We have a 13 year old on this trip and a 70 year old. It’s not too late it’s not too early. Make it happen. I cannot wait to see what day four has to bring us. </span><br />
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elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-80130268079278725262020-01-19T18:00:00.001-08:002020-01-19T18:07:46.305-08:00On our wayToday was long.<br />
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We all excitedly arrived at the church this morning at 4:15 AM for the long day’s journey. Tulsa to Houston was an easy leg. Your pastor talked some poor lady’s ear off the entire flight while many others enjoyed the rest of their night’s sleep.<br />
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In Houston, we were already prepared for a slight delay, but it ended up being the “three hour tour”. Our aircraft was sent back to the hanger for unscheduled maintenance. We of course missed he connection flight in New Jersey because of this delay.<br />
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The downtime, however, was actually nice. Many of us had never met before. We were essentially strangers traveling the world together. Having a church our size is a blessing and a curse at times. I had seen most of them at one time or another, but I did not have names ready on my tongue. We swapped stories and joked. I interviewed several about their expectations of the trip. The overwhelming response was that “we were about to walk the same road and same steps of our Savior Jesus Christ.”<br />
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Once we finally made it to Newark, we were made to wait again. Because the original flight was delayed so much we don’t board until close to 11PM EST later tonight. Most of you interested in keeping up with us will be at the end of your day as well.<br />
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We will leave here at 11pm...for our 10 hours flight.<br />
We will sleep on the lane for several hours<br />
We arrive in Tel Aviv Israel at 4pm tomorrow...this will be your 8am tomorrow.<br />
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Pray for us. Pray for safe travels. Pray for safety of each of the travelers.<br />
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<br />elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-65578078692746950472019-12-26T16:46:00.001-08:002019-12-26T17:46:22.925-08:00Hello, I'm the New Guy<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Confession time: I am a portrait photographer. I am sometimes a second shooting videographer. I took a volunteer position on the media team at church where I learned more about cameras. I found myself directing shots as a video switcher pretty quickly after. I have helped direct and produce the church services to stream on our website. It’s a low scale and fairly low budget. Everything I’ve done in media I’ve learned on the fly. YouTube is my best friend.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Our media director whom I might say was one of the best mentors in technology I’ve ever had, got an amazing opportunity to serve God and develop the media ministry many state lines away. In the weeks leading up to his ultimate move, I tried to absorb as much information as he was willing to throw at me. See, before this… I was his volunteer right-hand man. I say this just because the guy just let me help wherever. He carried the weight of the team on his shoulders...that is very clear now.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">He’s gone, and here I am. FBC Sapulpa has some of the most amazing volunteers in the media department. Most of us are incredibly green. I am old, they are young, but we are all willing. I had an opportunity to meet with the pastor so that we could discuss the church’s vision for how we were going to reach the community. I felt like a mustard seed so incredibly tiny, so unassuming, so ordinary. I say I felt like a mustard seed because I was ready to grow I was ready to move mountains. How much was I capable of? I really don’t. But here I am, ready to find out. Ready to grow and fail along the way. I’m not afraid to fail I welcome failure in many ways because it means I’ve got places to improve and grow. You see, I am a principal and ex-schoolteacher. Growth-mindset is kind of my jam. Always learning new things keeps the creative in me happy. </span></div>
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elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-61633831949063837022019-12-23T13:32:00.002-08:002022-10-29T07:53:04.080-07:00Creativity and Lies<br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">I am creative. I am creative, but not in a crafty let-me-art-all-over-the-place sort of way. I am “the ideas are a dime a dozen” sort of gal. I cannot paint. I do not bake OR cook (apparently those are NOT synonymous with each other). I love banners and beautiful digital displays, but I cannot just whip things up with multiple fonts and colors. I have no eye for what goes together. I do, however, love photography. I can capture those beautiful things. I can see an empty room or building and create 10-15 ways the space could be used. The businesses that could be run inside, and I can see the design style that should fill the space, but I am not the one to do it. I am an ideas person. I am your not so average thinker who cannot get the ideas out fast enough before they are fleeting. My iPhone is filled with “notes to self”. I have been collecting these digital scraps of nothing since 2015 when I first thought I might write a book. But, I am not a writer either. I could, however, offer you a million ideas of things that you could write about. Sigh.</span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">So here it is, a list of lies we tell ourselves on why we can’t do or start the idea or thing that sits obsessively in our head. </span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><b><u>I don’t have the Time </u></b>- There isn’t enough time in the day. The time for like anything let alone our idea. We are all so busy doing this and that. I am a wife, a mama of two in different sports with practices that leave me feeling more like a taxi driver with really crappy tippers. I have a full-time job as a principal in a virtual school. On the side, I have a photography hobby that is turning into more than I ever thought it would. I am also a volunteer/work at my church as the director of the media team. Time to write a book or even a blog post could easily be laughable when explaining to my friends why I don’t have time to write. Even you are probably thinking, “right!?!?!, Can she really squeeze anything else in?” The answer...we have heard it everywhere since the beginning of time. We have time for the things we make time for. I also find time to watch an episode of Downton Abbey or two. (I know right? Yes, this is a late 2019 post, yes I am just now jumping on board the watch train.) I also find time to watch an episode of Monk with my youngest. I can easily get rid of Downton, but Monk is a quality time thing and I wouldn’t give it up for anything. Jo falls asleep holding my hand every night while watching it. So do I have time? Yes. I can give up some of the time I am wasting. Hard question for you...what time are you wasting? Could you be doing your thing in place of that time-waster? </span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><b><u>There are a million others better or farther along than me</u></b> - This is so true. I listen to a ton of podcasts and read a load of blog posts of people way better than me. So why should I do it? Do I even have anything to new to say? Of course, someone has thought this before and done that before. Why do I need to come along and do it or say it again? This is a lie I tell myself regularly. I don’t need to do this because it’s been done. However, one of my superpowers is seeing positivity in things and thinking outside of the box. I didn’t always think this was a superpower...and if I am being honest, I still don’t think they will write a movie about the positive overthinking woman or out of the box woman any time soon, but if I do think differently then maybe my take of all the things would be helpful. It’s like in the movie The Truman Show when Truman Burbank said that he wanted to be an explorer like the great Magellan. His teacher, in trying to keep the experiment going told him it was too late, that we have already explored everything. Well, that may be true, but you haven’t seen it through my eyes with my perspective. So I will write.</span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><b><u>I’m not organized</u></b> - This is no lie. I am not organized. I have thoughts written on scraps of paper, semi-categorized throughout my phone and in journals...so many journals. I am not organized. I suppose, however, that the lie that holds me back is that I cannot get organized. I am starting small. I have a newly created Google folder labeled with “just write”. That’s where this post resides. I also have folders that I have created that are3 titled with the chapters of the book I’ve been writing in my head. The plan over the next year is to write daily. Even if I don’t have anything to say, I have pinned many writing ideas, so when I have nothing to say, I will reach out to those. I will commit to merging my digital and analog worlds. Maybe I scan content in and publish the first half and half book. See that idea came from nowhere as I am writing. I suppose we will all stay tuned to see it that comes to fruition. I will commit to tagging and labeling my ideas and I will use my time to write about them. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3TnpS9tKJ89FaF03qL-2BbvlPKSB4JO89J8secETr7o0rgxsE35T-1Z6FMeJBE3gTpMmHHNlhWYryp24zXxcXwtqAWxfl2LTi5aevDuGVrInveVSws69Ew5Eroms1PNK_s_qfW7PNM_4tgLwGOPyJiLqnsUbFh2_iLOm9KCM9yCxPqiZQOG9uPbX1CQ/s320/IMG_4553.HEIC" width="320" /></div><br /><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><b><u>Is it even practical?</u></b> - No. I think we have already pulled the rug out from under the rest of the ideas, so this one will be debunked as well. Writing a book means more time, no original thoughts being written down for literally millions of people NOT to read. I will have to learn to become organized, so it’s not practical at all. So why do it? I have ideas. They have to go somewhere. Maybe if nothing else, I write them and someone brainstorms an idea themselves and puts something together that IS an original thought. See, that is the positive overthinking I mentioned before. I am also the queen of getting bored with a thing or distracted by another. I have 30 tabs open on my computer most days because the I find it easier to work of a project for an hour or so and then diversify my efforts. For this reason, I have three working writing books/projects as well as the “just write” folder. I love education and thinking of new innovations for student learning. I adore working with the media at church, but I’m a new guy to the whole thing so learning on the job is something I could write about. Photography is a passion project, so writing about the process and the places it takes me sounds fun. I have so many things to say about marriage and ways to make it feel effortless. I cannot be tied to a single project so I will write about them all. </span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">We all have lies or half-truths we tell ourselves and these become our obstacles to the other things. In this day and age, we can learn anything. I have used Youtube to learn how to administer stitches so that I didn’t have to take my dog to the vet for a third time for wounds he ripped open...yada yada yada. The short story is we can really do most things we dream up in our heads. I may always need my husband to open my Gatorade bottle, but I can do this thing.</span></div>
elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-43836698081544814542019-12-23T11:17:00.002-08:002019-12-23T11:27:19.244-08:00Road Trips and Resolutions<div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Long road trips always begin the same way in my family. We put on Willie Nelson’s “On the road again”, turn it up loud and sing along. The song and excitement usually help us get out of the neighborhood and started on our way. After this, we listen to our books or play our movies most of the way to our destination. Sometimes we will converse about “things”, but like a Seinfeld episode, it’s mostly about nothing. On the way home though...on the way home the long road trips always seem to be where dreams and plans are made. Today’s ride back home from visiting the parents and grandparents brought on conversations of tradition, tears of loss of tradition and plans for the future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You never really think about tradition much until something comes along to break the cycle and all of a sudden its front and center. A few years ago we started a tradition of snow skiing over the Christmas break. The lodge is nestled in the mountains of northern Idaho. Mrs. Claus would make hot cocoa and warm iced sugar cookies and then read a book to the children. Christmas morning we would unwrap a few small gifts and then go snow skiing with Santa who also gave the kids toys. It was a semi-selfish tradition we began after the hustle and bustle of other traditions became too much to bear. We used to spend Christmas Eve eve with my mother (which always made her kinda mad that it wasn’t closer to Christmas), Christmas Eve with Trav’s grandmother, Christmas morning with Trav’s parents, Christmas lunch with his other grandparents, then we would make the 6-hour drive to my dad’s house for Christmas night, before unwrapping presents the day after Christmas with my grandparents. It was exhausting...selfishly exhausting. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Several years have gone by since his grandparents passed. A couple of years back, Travis lost Travis’s dad. We did not go to Idaho that Christmas because the writing was all over the wall. We couldn’t leave. We are so glad we stayed because even though those days were some of the longest hardest days, we knew they were fleeting. The next year we left as soon as we could and had another amazing Christmas on the slopes. This year, we were sore to find out my brother was getting married on the 21st of December and the wedding was in the opposite direction of the slopes. We were bummed that it was going to interfere with our plans but honestly couldn’t miss the wedding because nobody EVER thought he would be married. We also knew we would be celebrating Christmas with the family while we were in town. It was great to see everyone. I am always reminded of what a blessing my life is when I go home. Typically there are emotions of hurt and feeling just on the outside of the circle. My parents were divorced and I was the only one of my brothers and sister who never lived full time up there. I remind myself of how much Trav and I love...and not just for print, truly adore each other. We never have to worry about sharing or splitting time with our kids. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Travis had me tearing up on the way home when he talked about missing it. Missing the tradition of family, missing the team feeling. He pointed out that you don’t always get along with family, but there was always someone who genuinely wanted to know what you were up to and wanted to hear your stories. It made me wonder. It made me think hard about whether or not we were robbing our girls of a feeling like that by scooping them up and taking off away from </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">those</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> traditions. This thought brought me to something Im am sure every parent before us has thought...How do you start the traditions of your own family while maintaining and not breaking the links of the past? I wish we knew. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Later in the drive, after many miles of silence, Travis mentioned that he thought he might print his book reviews. Trav loves to read. He also loves leaving book reviews. He just thinks about things in a way I never could or would. I told him it was a great idea, to which he followed up with I wish I knew more of what Papa Mutt and Dad thought. It lingered there. Trav loves these men so much, everyone did, that they are built to be larger than men. Popi is, was a living cornerstone to this family. These two conversations maybe forty mins apart were connected. Of course, I began to think they were probably just men. Sinners and as thoughtless as we all are most of the time, but something about them leaves this lasting longing for more. More time. More conversation. More wisdom. What will it be like when my grandfather is gone? I already know that my girls think their father hung the moon and I know he is the smartest man alive. What is it about </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">us</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that turn others into larger than life infinite souls in our minds. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Plans for the future include more. I joked to Trav that I want to be better than I was last year, but, in reality, I want to be kinder, more giving, a better mom, a better wife. I want to take more photos. I want to be more fit. I want to be the leader at my job that doesn’t care what others think, that doesn’t care about notoriety or kudos, that simply does what’s best for all in my charge. And I want to write more. I want to see the world hanging upside down.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The last hour was spent singing loudly to Garth Brooks Double Live album. Road trips are long and are oftentimes boring, but this one was one of my favorites.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“You may ask, how did this tradition get started? I’ll tell you, I don’t know”</span></div>
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elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-12941328792987603022018-12-31T15:24:00.002-08:002018-12-31T15:24:40.781-08:002019 Goals and Ambitions<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In 2018, I started a student-run/lead podcast. I went to New York and DC with an amazing group of 5th and 8th-grade students. I went to Boston with the ladies on my family. I was one of the closing keynote speakers at an education conference. I started back to school. I became a principal. I went on an amazing ski trip with my family. I successfully completed my second year of a weekly podcast. And, I began a side photography gig. 2018 was extremely busy but incredibly rewarding. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">According to books and tests, I am a Creative, an ENTP, an Orange. I am<span style="background-color: white;"> very active and usually able to get what they want done, without appearing on other people's radar. Often, I will look before I leap. I try to make plans, but </span>I have so many ideas that float around in my brain. All of them seem brilliant...to me. They seem brilliant until that is, I speak them out loud and someone comes along and pokes holes in them. My 2019 list of things to do seems big. Too big, maybe. It seems ridiculously ambitious. It seems as if I am looking forward to eating an elephant this year. I need hole patchers for this year. I cannot seems to get items 2-5 off of my mind. I need someone who knows how to butcher and someone with a deep freeze fridge because this is the elephant in front of me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1. Finish my Master's Degree - 3 classes left, seems like a no-brainer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2. Start my first steps toward building a Youth Camp - Research </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3. Write the book over educational things I have been sitting on for two years</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4. Write the book of marriage things I have been sitting on for 5 years</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">5. Ask for a job that doesn't exist in my company yet</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">6. Book 52 photoshoots in combinations of portraits, weddings, births, events. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">7. Homeschool my girls with the wisdom and help of my husband.</span><br />
<br />elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-3825110585888912072017-11-16T12:45:00.000-08:002017-11-16T12:45:10.628-08:00Go Big<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of my great passions in education is making GIANT connections to learning. Once a year I try to go big in some way, shape or form. Going big (in my opinion) shows students that learning can be fun, but also that you care enough to make a grand gesture. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Over the past 4 years, I have organized a "Court of Dreams" Thunder basketball day of math experience for my school. This includes all grade levels (PreK through 12th) separated into grade bands working on math on the Thunder basketball court. This is a fun-filled day and the Thunder Broadcast Team usually make a point to interview one or two students and make a huge deal out of it. The Thunder has grown accustomed to fulfilling Court of Dreams requests so that HS basketball teams can get the experience of playing on the court of their heros, but our school was the first to use the basketball court to do math lessons. All of the lessons are centered around basketball and every kid got to shoot baskets as well.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then there was this time I create a once in a lifetime red carpet event for my 8th graders. I assigned each student their own standard with the expectation that they would have to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">teach</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the lesson. The students worked on these lessons for a month. Each of them becoming their own master of the knowledge. I asked another teacher to join in on this fun, because there were more standards to cover than I had students. It was a blessing that she was just as amazing at the over the top planning as I was...maybe more so. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While the students were researching, writing and planning their lessons, Jenn and I were busy making the event come to life. We grabbed students from the Tech center working their way through a cosmetology class to do hair and makeup for the students. We hired a limo to take the students to the location of the special event. The guy owed her a favor, so this was at no cost. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First, we did buy a "red carpet" from party city at the cost of $11.99. We thought it would really set the tone. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next, Jenn and I hired 5 photographers from Craigslist. All of them were up and coming photographers so they charged nothing. I take that back...one of them wanted $25. I paid it because I averaged the cost of the 5 photographers into the $25 and I needed more paparazzi. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I purchased a drag and drop logo'ed banner with the school's logo on it. I had a student whose parent owned a banner making company so they did the job at cost. I paid $50 for the sign, but I have re-used that sucker over and over. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We invited some VIP, like State reps, parents, principals and of course the founders of the school.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the day of the event, after hair and makeup were done, the students hopped into the limos for a ride across town. Upon arrival, they were greeted by a man decked out in a suit opening the door to a crowd of paparazzi shouting the names of our "stars". They walked the red carpet inside where another group of paparazzi was shouting for pictures in front of the banner. We finally entered the room and there it was showtime. The students took turns presenting the standards in order, in their own multiple intelligences. We had game shows memorized and performed, art colorfully depicting all of the battle scenes with a story narrated by the artist, songs written and sung. We have presentation after presentation. This was a huge risk to take as the students put so much time into one standard (at the time it was a tested topic) would they have received (from the other students) enough to make it into their brains and stick? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am thinking it's time to add a new event to the repertoire. I'm not sure what I am going to do exactly at this point, but I see it including movie making...maybe. I don’t know. Do you have any big ideas?</span></div>
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<br />elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-21678723178881468512017-11-07T10:24:00.001-08:002017-11-07T12:31:46.754-08:00Teaching is messyTeaching is messy.<br />
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I love trying new things. I want to work in new ways to present or receive (from students) the same old content. In order to do this, things do not always turn out the way I hoped. I also do my very best to personalize the education process. THIS TAKES A CRAP-TON OF WORK!!!<br />
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I make mistakes every single day. I am constantly revising, editing and polishing my craft. Every single year I think, "Ok, this year is going to be better." Every year I decide that I can do better and start from nearly scratch.<br />
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I am overwhelmed with this mess at times. Is it that I teach every subject and every grade level? Is it that I want every one of my students to be rounded and educated AND happy? I get to keep my students from year to year. As a matter of fact, a portion of my bonus depends on whether or not my students come back next year. The pressure of this is insane and it's sloppy and always has me on my toes to improve and keep it fun and relevant. Add to that mix the climate of teaching in Oklahoma.<br />
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I want to teach tech as well as content, life skills as well as how to find what you want via Google/Youtube. I don't have a Library Media Specialist to help out. I don't have a tech director to help out. It's just me and my husband...teachers. We are fundraisers, lunchroom duty persons, guidance counselors, the principal of the building, teachers, phys ed facilitators, the janitor, the LMS, the technology specialist. We are trying to do it all, but holy cow is it tough...and messy, oh so messy.<br />
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When I get this crazy feeling. When I start to think is it worth it? I recite a poem I learned in the 5th grade. It's still a favorite of mine.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry</blockquote>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-b18ff8b7-9786-e506-1dde-d98f39c0da64"></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-b18ff8b7-9786-e506-1dde-d98f39c0da64"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When despair grows in me</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-b18ff8b7-9786-e506-1dde-d98f39c0da64"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I go and lie down where the wood drake</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I come into the peace of wild things</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Who do not tax their lives with forethought</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of grief. I come into the presence of still water.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And I feel above me the day blind stars</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Waiting for their light. For a time</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I rest in the grace of the world, and I am free</span></div>
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Teaching is messy. Life is messy.<br />
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<br />elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-28947036178318465292017-10-24T13:18:00.000-07:002019-12-26T17:03:41.205-08:00Student Blogging, Student VoiceThe following is a response to a challenge from the totally amazing Noah Geisel, after <a href="https://medium.com/@SenorG/4-tips-on-gaining-authentic-audience-for-student-publishing-4da5e929af7d" target="_blank">he wrote a post</a> about finding that authentic audience for student publishing. I shared his post via a tweet touting success in this arena... and then he blasted me and asked me to share a blog post about this success. So here we go...<br />
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I have been a blogger, inconsistently, for about 3 years. In this time I have had several thousand readers take time to read my thoughts as I butcher my way through the mechanics of the writing process. I write like I speak. It's hard to follow sometimes, but alas, my readers keep coming back for more.<br />
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I really started having fun watching my analytics rise each week. Two years ago, I decided to answer a bloggers challenge. The blog was to answer the 5 things we should stop pretending in education. I asked 4 of my students to write an answer and I wrote one of them as well. This post received over 1000 clicks in a month. I was elated. The students were over the moon giddy with the power of a Twitter share. That is when I got the idea that the very next school year I would have my students do their weekly essays/daily writing assignments in Blogger.<br />
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It was a rough beginning. It took far more time to teach the blogging process than I thought it would. I literally thought my 4th and 5th graders would pick it up after one lesson and then we would blog our way to happiness for the rest of the year. Boy, was I wrong. I would say that for the first month it was touch and go. Things like bolding, underlining, linking and font styles were not things I had worried about before in writing but now were very important to cover in the blogosphere.<br />
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Once we were on a roll and well into our second month of posts...I only required one post per week per student...we started looking at the analytics of their posts. Most had about 5 to 6 reads per week. This alone was very fun for them. Their parents were sharing the posts with family and family members were taking an interest. How many writing assignments that get sent home are probably shared amongst the family? I would venture to say 1%...maybe.<br />
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In our second month of this adventure, I decided I would share a post per week out on my Twitter. We would vote as a class - picking a student to highlight. It wasn't always the best mechanically written posts that were voted on. We had a few very poorly written posts that were impressively creative and they were chosen based on the fun or creative content. The students followed their analytics like crazy after that because posts that were getting 5-6 views were now in the 20's and 30's. And guess what, something amazing started to happen. I had kids that hated writing... I mean loathed to write...I mean would rather get throw-up sick than think and write on paper...they started to look forward to it. They began asking what they were going to write about next week. I even had a kiddo call me on the weekend and ask if I minded him writing and posting without a writing prompt.<br />
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"Ummmm, sure kiddo. You go for it!"</blockquote>
The kids were hooked. Their passion for writing might have originally been motivated by going digital, which for these grade levels is anti-state testing. I have been questioned about the practices here by teachers worried that I am setting myself up for failure because these kids need to write on paper to be successful on the written portion of the Reading exam. To that, I stick my fingers to my nose and wave them back and forth. Who cares about that test when I have students excited about writing? Who cares. We are about to dive back into the adventure again this school year. Due to restrictions placed on our school Google domain, we haven't got access to Blogger yet. As soon as our status changes, you can bet I will share away on the Twittersphere again. And you, my readers and Edufriends, you should read what they have to say too.<br />
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Here are links to several students blog sites...they might resemble your old pal Erin's site just a bit. They are not all perfect, but to my students, they are a voice out in the world now. Go. Read their work. Make comments. Subscribe to their material.<br />
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<a href="http://educatingamanda.blogspot.com/">http://educatingamanda.blogspot.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://educatingevan.blogspot.com/">http://educatingevan.blogspot.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://educatinghugo.blogspot.com/">http://educatinghugo.blogspot.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://educatingtate.blogspot.com/">http://educatingtate.blogspot.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://poloman123.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://poloman123.blogspot.com/ </a><br />
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<b><span style="color: purple;">The challenge:</span></b> Try this with your students, kids, youth group, an afterschool program. Student voice shouldn't be - just another buzz word.<br />
<br />elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6533308640130767816.post-10575590384533615102017-10-07T12:12:00.000-07:002017-10-07T12:12:16.979-07:00The Omen of the Owl?I am not a superstitious person. I love being a dreamer and an idealist when it comes to education, but in all other matters, I am relatively pragmatic. Maybe, my husband tips his eyebrows as I say it. I am NOT superstitious.<br />
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Yesterday an owl shows up on the back porch. Wow! How lucky to see one so close up. We were extremely cautious because this bird had very long talons and it kept snapping its beak at me like he meant business if I got too close. Upon close inspection, I could tell this owl was hurt, so before doing anything else I called the Tulsa Zoo to find out proper protocol on handling and fixing up this poor thing.<br />
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The Zoo's <a href="https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/ornithologist" target="_blank">Ornithologis</a>t warned me to be careful, but that they would take it in if we could get it to them. I threw a towel over the owl's head and body and carefully pick up the animal. We stuffed it into a box and rush to the zoo. Once inside we had to fill out some paperwork then the man rushed off with the owl. The girls got 1,000 knowledge and helping points each in the Nature Exchange Center at the zoo. We decided to go ahead and hang at the zoo for a bit seeing as how we were already there.<br />
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Upon leaving the zoo, we decided to stop into QuikTrip for some drinks for the ride home. As we were leaving, some gal who thought she should have had the right away began cussing out my husband and I (and our kids by proxy). I was insensitive and began laughing that someone who was so wrong in the matter could also be so anger...and the fact that she couldn't see over my vehicle to make her right turn, did NOT make the situation less hilarious to me. She started to get out of her car to yell at me. In doing so she dropped her cell phone. We tried to get her attention that she dropped her cell phone which again my mouth was sarcastically offering her a "Your Welcome" didn't help either as I drove off.<br />
We were off, and now just trying to make it home. 15 mins into my drive COMPLETELY OBEYING ALL TRAFFIC LAWS, I am taking the fork to the left where the highway splits and becomes turnpike or New Sapulpa Road going toward my home. The gal on my left decides late in the game that she wants to go to OKC and not Sapulpa, and whilst not looking starts to come over. I mean I was right next to her. I am looking into her passenger window as all of this is happening. So I miss my exit to avoid being sideswiped and then have to backtrack once I hit the next exit to make it home. We just need to make it home at this point.<br />
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Sidebar here - Did I forget to mention that on the way to the zoo Travis looked up owl myths because his family had several foster kids over the years and thought he remembered several of them talking about owls. They are a bad omen, death, destruction, or generally something bad...well, we don't believe in this type of stuff...until...<br />
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Today is a new day. The events of yesterday are over. Fresh start. I drop my youngest at gymnastics at 9am today for a make-up practice. I stop for gas on my way home and lock my keys in the car. after waiting on the locksmith for an hour and paying $65 to get my car open, I grab my phone and call the hubs (who was on his way to OKC to ride mountain bikes) and he told me that he left his riding shoes at home. His petals and shoes go together, no shoes make for a tough ride.<br />
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Ok, so is this Oman of the Owl a real thing? Or are these coincidences just perfectly timed to make one think? Should I start believing? Did I have it all coming for being sarcastic to the first lady? I am a pretty lucky and happy gal. I am typically quick on my feet and roll with the punches, but man, I think I am staying home for a while.<br />
<br />elynnlllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11141276147613460501noreply@blogger.com1