Fountain Inn Quilt Show

Last Friday I went to a local quilt show. I’m always impressed with the creativity that I see at these shows. I like to look at these designs as well as the combinations of colors used. I like to look at them and reflect on what makes it appealing to me and the ones I don’t like, I like to reflect on why they don’t appeal to me.

Here is the link to all of the photos I took at the show. Below you will find the ones that I really liked.

Fountain Inn Quilt Show

Original photos by Pat Hensley

2021 End of Year Review

Last year I did this review and I thought it was a good way to review the year so I will do it again this year. 

Describe 2021 in one sentence. 

2021 seemed like a very long year with lots of ups and downs. 

1. What’s one way your life has changed for the better? I learned to slow down and enjoy life more. 

2. What is the biggest challenge you faced? Teaching my first online class. 

3. What would you go back and change (under your control) and why? Decluttered more. I seemed to have accumulated more. 

4. What major life lesson did you learn? People don’t want to really know what I think unless I am agreeing with what they think. 

5. List your Aha moments. Teaching an online class is fun. 

6. Did you achieve your goals this year? Most of them but I could have done better.

7. If so, how? Reviewing my goals on a monthly basis is most effective for me.

8. If not, why? I didn’t seem to have the willpower to eat less. 

9. Set just one primary goal for 2022 using S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-sensitive) Lose at least 5 lbs.

How was your year? Please share. 

Photo by Behnam Norouzi on Unsplash

School of Life

In The “Short” Guide to Life from Engage Their Minds, the author shares about a podcast that he was listening to and something that stuck with him.

“Short reminisced about a tough period he was going through in his late twenties when he first asked himself, “What if your career was one of nine courses you took?” He explained that you could still get a “good GPA” even if you didn’t do well in one of the categories. You can read about the categories in this article by Ben Carlson. The comedian/actor reflects on his performance in each category about once a year.”

The article states these are the nine categories that Martin Short used to review his life each year:

“Category 1: Self. Your own personal health and safety.
Category 2: Immediate Family. The proverbial spouse and children.
Category 3: Original Family. The people you grew up with.
Category 4: Friends. The health of your friendships.
Category 5: Money. Right or wrong, the scorecard most people pay attention to.
Category 6: Career. How fulfilling your work is.
Category 7: Creativity. Your innate creativity outside of work.
Category 8: Discipline. Having the self-control to implement your goals.
Category 9: Lifestyle. Are you actually having any fun?”

I thought it would be fun to have my students do this review along with me.

Looking back at 2020, I think I did pretty well.

Cat. 1 – Grade: A. I self-quarantined with my husband for 9 months. We wore masks when we went out in public and we only went out when we needed groceries or had a doctor’s appointment. We did not do any large social gatherings. In December, we did go to stamp club meetings in person but there were only about 10 people in a large gym and everyone maintained social distancing.

Cat. 2 – Grade: A. I love being with my husband 24/7 and we have been this way for the past 13 years since we retired.

Cat. 3 – Grade: B. My sister lives hundreds of miles away and I have seen her in person for years. We tried to take the Amtrak train up to see her but had to cancel due to Covid. Her husband of almost 50 years died suddenly of heart failure in July and I couldn’t go in person to support her.

Cat. 4 – Grade: B. I didn’t keep in regular contact with some friends that I should have.

Cat. 5 – Grade: A. We spent a lot less because we weren’t able to travel. We were able to save a lot of money and buy my parent’s house after they died.

Cat. 6 – Grade: A. I’m agreed to teach 2 more courses for Furman even though I’m “retired.” The 2 courses are fully online. I’m still teaching 1 course every July and this past July the course was taught online which was extremely challenging.

Cat. 7 – Grade: C. I’m not very creative and I need to work harder on that. I want to do more knitwear designs this year.

Cat. 8 – Grade: A. I accomplished the goals that I set for last year and I’m extremely proud of that. This is the first time I was able to meet all of my goals.
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Cat. 9 – Grade: A. I am enjoying my life. I have several hobbies that I can choose from at any time. I love to read, knit, crochet, spin yarn, and garden. I also love to travel which I have really missed this year but I‘ve been able to do other things anyway. I also love being able to get on Zoom to meet with others.

So overall, I did okay but I can do better. Now that I know what categories I will evaluate, I may do a better job this year.

I always think it is a good idea to teach students how to reflect on their behavior and actions. The more we are honest with ourselves about how we have done, the better we can be in the future.

Give this a try. How did you do in each category? Please share.

Photo by Christopher Sardegna on Unsplash

My Self Awareness

Recently I got an email from Angela Maiers who encouraged her readers to do this exercise,

“One of my absolute favorite exercises to help bring the awareness of our talents to the forefront and to set us free of their self-imposed limitations is called “Give Me 10”

1. We are going to share how you feel, how you see others and ourselves is in the form of a poem.

a. Write these two words on your paper: I AM…
b. There are no rules except that each stanza and statement will begin with “I am…”
c. Write ten "I am" statements on your paper
d. Statements can be positive, negative, or neutral, but they should be true.

2. Hold a mirror and say those ten statements to yourself. Give me ten qualities of YOU and what makes you unique!”

Angela is such an inspiration to so many people that I had to share this exercise with you. I am going to give it a try and I hope that you do too.

I AM a good teacher.

I AM happy when I can help others.

I AM a person who loves learning.

I AM able to do many things that I want to do.

I AM happy with my life.

I AM lucky to have people who love me.

I AM a spinner of yarn and I use it to knit things.

I AM a person who loves nature.

I AM a shy person when I’m in a group.

I AM a person who enjoys being around other people.

This was a fun activity and it really had me thinking about what I am. I wrote some statements and then realized that they weren’t really what I wanted to say about myself. I don’t think we stop to reflect on this enough and we should encourage our students to do this. It might be a fun lesson to do at the beginning and the end of the year to see if our views of ourselves have changed.

Give this a try and see how you do. Share your results on Twitter with @angelamaiers.

Photo by Andre Mouton on Unsplash

Reflecting on Behavior

In Never Ask a Student This Question About Their Behavior from @DavidGeurin Blog, the author states,

“Keep the focus on the behavior and not the underlying motivations. If the student tries to justify their behavior, keep coming back to the specific choices and how those choices aren't acceptable in this space. When we keep the focus on what happened and how it had an impact on others, we encourage full responsibility.”

I disagree with the author about not focusing on the motivations. I totally agree that we need to focus on the behavior but I think motivation is also important.  Just because we think we have a good reason for doing something, doesn’t mean that it is always appropriate to act this way.

If I get pulled over for speeding, I might have a good excuse such as having to go to the bathroom for feeling sick. But the reason there are speed limits is for safety and having a good reason doesn’t make speeding alright. But if I break the law by speeding, because I’m bleeding and need to get to a hospital, it may be justified. Even though it might not be safe to speed, it might be fatal if I don’t get to a hospital quick enough

There are rules of behavior that are acceptable in society and just because a student feels they have a good reason to behave a certain way doesn’t make it right. But I feel when helping students to change their behavior, I need to understand why they acted a certain way, Once I understand their motivation, I can help them see that there are better appropriate alternatives that they could have chosen.  By knowing the reason they behaved a certain way may help me understand the behavior even if it was wrong. There may be circumstances where there were no other alternatives that were available.  Also, helping students verbalize why they did something may help them realize that their actions were not reasonable and we can look at other options.  Reflecting on why we do things is an important part of changing behavior.

I find reflecting on my own teaching behavior helps me see that my motivation may not be a justification for what I’m doing. I either need to change my motivation or I need to change my behavior. Without this reflection, I might get into a bad habit that needs changing but I don’t see that the change is necessary. By reflecting on the reason for doing something, I might see a better way to take action.

Just knowing the behavior without knowing the motivation is only seeing half of the picture. Knowing what happened and why is important but it is also important to look at a broader view to see if there were other alternatives to take. It takes all three in order for people to take responsibility for their actions.

How do you feel about behavior, motivation, and reflection? Please share.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Deep Reflection

In 5 Questions for Deeper Reflection from  @DavidGeurin Blog,  David Geurin shares,

“Reflection is important for growth. But we have to be intentional about it. Our reflection is meaningless unless we do something with it. It has to change us. Or, it has to help us change directions. Effective people are reflective people.”

I like to reflect on the things I’ve done because it gives me a sense of accomplishment. I like to think about the things I’ve accomplished during the day and what I need to do the next day. The main questions that I ask myself at the end of each day are:

1.     What have I accomplished today?

2.     What did I not do that I wanted to do today?

3.     Why did I not do those things?

4.     What do I need to do tomorrow?

5.     What would I do differently if I could do today over?

6.     Did I get enough exercise today?

7.     Did I eat healthy today?

8.     How can I make tomorrow even better?

At first, I used to keep this list handy and at the end of each day, I would write in a journal about my day. I would answer these questions and seeing my answers in writing helped me get a better picture of my day. Eventually answering these questions became a habit and I no longer need the list of questions as a prompt for my reflection.

I feel that these reflections have made me more effective and efficient in my life. I feel happier than I would be if I didn’t reflect on my day. I also think my attitude about my life is noticeable to others and this helps them see me as an effective person also.

Do you reflect on your day? If so, please share.

Photo by Jeremy Vessey on Unsplash