Strength in Numbers

Ok.  So, growth mindset is the new thing right now.  I am loving it-- mainly because it gives you permission to screw up, and just keep going.

I mention this because a month ago I took this blogging challenge, and then I failed on the very first freaking challenge.  The very first assignment.  I just didn't do it.  FAIL.

So... When the second week's challenge came up, I figured it didn't apply to me-- I was already "OUT" --- like in dodge ball.  I got hit in the very first round.

Then my blogging mentor writes to me, doesn't even mention the fact that I didn't write anything the first week, and asks what I am thinking about writing this week.

Profound.  How many of my students feel this way in my math class?  Like they are OUT, because they didn't catch something on the first try?  Something very powerful to think about here.  How to re-engage kids who feel they are "OUT," because they missed the concept/lesson/skill the first time around.....


OK, KNOCK IT OFF!!!!!  THAT IS NOT THE POINT OF THIS ASSIGNMENT!!!  COME ON, STRONG.  GET ON TASK.  Welcome to my blog.  Getting off task while blogging about staying on task.

MY FAVORITE THING, my favorite teaching thing......Don't laugh, but it is a small bulletin board, with index cards ripped in half, labeled in Sharpie marker of things I have to do.

I am not naturally organized.  (UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE CENTURY.)  BUT I stumbled on this system of keeping myself chipping away at things that need to get done when I had to move from Puerto Rico to Boston a couple of years ago.  The number of tasks that needed to get done was ridiculous, and if I tried to write them down in a list, it would have taken a freaking notebook.  By putting one task on each card, pinning it to the board, and then just putting the most important things toward the top of the board, I could....

1. Leave space in my brain because I didn't have to carry these ideas around with me
2. Prioritize stuff naturally.
3. Feel amazing when took a card off the board (I kept the finished, crossed out cards in a ziploc bag at the bottom corner of the board-- so fulfilling to see that bag get filled and the board emptied by the time we moved!
4. Not get frozen nor overwhelmed.  (I didn't have to do the whole board at once-- just had to tackle one card at a time.  And if there were a bunch of things I had to buy, I could take off those cards and put them in my purse.  Or just take a picture of the board with my phone.)

OK.  Not rocket science. I know.   Not earth shattering either.  But for those of you who need a simple way to stay on track and not freeze in the face of too many things to do-- I recommend trying this.

(If you look closely at the board, "blog entry" is one of the cards.  I will be x-ing that one out, and taking it down now.)

Thanks for reading.  Catch you next week.