Pick Me Up

Now and then we all need a pick me up!

It takes different things to pick us up at different times, depending on what is bothering us and depending on our state of mind. The solution may be a good meal, a good book, a special time with a special someone, a vacation, or we may just need to win the lotto!

If it is your vocation you are questioning, grab a coffee and take a few minutes to watch and listen to An Inspirational Teacher Quote Presentation.

Math Challenges!

Summer Reads - Not Textbooks!

After a season of reading textbooks, be it for instruction purposes or a necessity for one of the many night courses I have taken, it is great to be able to take time out to relax in the summer sun and enjoy a leisurely read.

On of my favorite authors is Sally Armstrong. I admire her spirit of adventure in pursuing a story, and her passion shown in her books. A well known human rights activist, she has won awards from Amnesty International and is a member of the Order of Canada.

Bitter Roots Tender Shoots, Armstrong's most recent book revisits the Women of Afghanistan eight years after the Taliban was ousted. She interviews women from all walks of life, delving into the effects of the environment of insurgency and the activists, activities and strengths that are taking them into the twentieth century.

Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan. In this book Armstrong strategically enters Afghanistan, putting fear and danger aside, and examines the lives of the women living under the Taliban rule.

The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor: The First Women Settler of the Miramichi. Charlotte Taylor left her native England in 1775 with her family's Jamaican butler. After a challenging journey to his native Jamaica, he died of yellow fever, leaving her pregnant and unsure of her future. She boarded a ship headed for a trading post in the "new world", settled in northern New Brunswick, where her only women friends were the Mi'kmaq. This is a true story that holds a special place in Sally Armstrong's heart as Charlotte is part of Sally Armstrong's heritage and I am pround to say, mine as well!

The Value of Icebreakers

We have all been to meetings, training seminars or other functions where we have had to participate in an icebreaker. Did you feel comfortable doing this? Do you think icebreakers have value; in a classroom? in a meeting? At what point during the day? evening? class?

I have mixed feelings on icebreakers. I will admit there have been times I have been at a meeting or training function and while forced to put my coffee aside and participate in an early morning icebreaker, I would have rather proceeded with business and moved on. However, there have been times where I have learned valueable information and gotten to know people and I admit enjoyed "playing" the icebreaker "game".

Why use icebreakers? Many professional facilitators cite the following reasons;

• Create a positive group atmosphere.
  Help people to relax.
  Break down social barriers.
  Energize & motivate.
  Help people to "think outside the box".
  Help people to get to know one another.

I have a friend who loves to entertain but also feels the evening is not complete without gathering everyone to participate in a few icebreakers. While some try to seek refuge with the family pet or another means of hiding, the end result is usually participants enjoy themselves and have a few laughs.

I recently discovered a website created by students of Winona State University that has a great variety of Icebreakers. I look forward to surprising friends and coworkers by incorporating a few of these ideas into various functions!

Motivation - Must Thinking

Several years ago, my husband and a group of coworkers were required to take the Dale Carnegie course. Since he was already away several nights each week with his job, a night out to take a course as opposed to an activity did not initially appeal to him. However, he did great and received the top award for his class. He also became an advocate of the course...trying to convince me I would enjoy it as well...I was really not interested and was already too busy!

As a followup to the course each week an E-Motion Newsletter would appear in our email from S. Paul Kearley. In reading them I began to enjoy them and found the topics were diverse, relative to our daily work and life experiences, and not like many of the standard motivational material I had been exposed to by various employers.

A recent tip that I found interesting from S. Paul Kearley's weekly E-Motion Newsletter was his acronym of M.U.S.T. Thinking. This process of personal goal achievement focuses on four steps; Motivate, Ultimatum, Strategy and Take Action. I think this is a good tool to revisit when one stops to take stock and realizes you have strayed from a personal goal, or also a good process to help one achieve a new desire!

Group Projects Made Easier With Wikis

During the last three years while completing my MBA I had both the opportunity and misfortune to participate in many group projects. Earlier this year while listening to my students complain about the challenges of group work...personality conflicts and work ethic dynamics, I relayed a few examples from my learning experiences. The bottom line is that no matter what age, educational or professional level of the group participants, challenges will occur. After a few meltdowns, our group soon realized that we were all educated professionals, yes with diverse personalities, however, we also had time and energy constraints so in order to complete our goal we must be organized.

As the years progressed, our comforts with each others knowledge increased and our group routine became; meet, establish a project outline and divide the work. This worked great, however putting together the final document became a long process of emails until we learned about a wiki.

A group member learned about wikis on you tube, shared this knowledge and our project flowed...without the numerous emails and cutting, pasting and reformatting each others work. We now had one document at an address accessible to all of us.

Another great way for students to create projects and become more efficient with group work! A long way from my first college years in the early 80s when the only way to complete a finished project was the Underwood Typewriter!

Smartboard Technology

Several years ago I was in a friend's kitchen having a coffee, her daughter was sitting at the computer doing her homework. I glanced over to see what she was watching on her computer screen and there was her Math teacher explaining a Math problem. Not being a parent, or in the teaching profession at that time, I was not aware of new classroom technology. I thought that the teacher must have had someone video him and then must have proceeded to go through the process of somehow posting the video to a website, which to me seemed like a lot of work. My friend noticed my curiosity and explained that the teacher was using a Smartboard. Her daughter explained that whenever he taught something new he recorded the lesson on the Smartboard, placed it on his Blackboard site and the students could view it later if they were having difficulty with their homework.

Wow...it was like bringing the teacher home as a private tutor!

Last summer I had the opportunity to watch a magician like presentation on Smartboards by a Salesperson. Okay...now that I was aware of the many benefits of this product I had to learn the basics and build. To do this I found a great introductory video by Teacher Trainer. This was helpful to me in establishing my comfort level, short enough for my attention span, and I was off and running to try something new!

Sharing Innovative Teaching Ideas

Last winter when sourcing out material to teach a course in Portfolio Management I discovered Stocktrak, a global portfolio simulation website.

Stocktrack allows individuals to create a virtual investment portfolio by making purchases of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options and futures that are purchased from various stock exchanges using real time data.

My students were each given $500,000 virtual cash and as we covered material in class on various investment products and related purchasing techniques such as short selling, options and futures, students were required to research various companies and make purchases to build their portfolio.

I was able to register my class as a group and we were all given access to daily portfolio rankings. This lead to healthy competition and before long I found the students were keen on researching "hot stock tips" both through various websites as well as Stocktrak's own research tabs found on their informative website.

The final results of their portfolios, along with their reflections on best and worst trades were summarized in a project each student submitted. In reviewing the projects, I was happy with this new teaching aid I had found. Stocktrak helped me hold the interest of students and gave them an interactive learning experience and essentially a skill which will help them in their future financial planning activities.

I look forward to hearing your innovative teaching experiences!

Student Focus

How do we become more Student Focused?

One dimension of student focus is getting to know our students...by establishing relationships.

In the business world we determine who our customers are and analyze their needs so we can establish the best client relationships.

What is the best relationship? Opinions vary...


Patricia Cranton in her book Finding Our Way, A Guide For Adult Educators tells us "In a collegial relationship, we step toward being a co-learner. Students and teacher alike share experiences, expertise, knowledge, and skills, and learn from each other. A close relationship between educator and learner leads us to know each other as people, to learn about each other's lives, values, and beliefs. Although it can be risky, it also can be the most satisfying of relationships in teaching."

Patricia gives us nine suggestions to help foster student relationships;

1. Use our first names and tell students we prefer to be addressed that way.
2. Be accessible outside of the classroom and encourage students to come to our office or meet us in the cafeteria.
3. Give students our email address and, if we are comfortable in doing so, our phone number and assure them we enjoy hearing from them.
4. Use examples and illustrations from our own personal lives when appropriate.
5. Refer to where we live, our children, pets, or hobbies in ordinary conversation.
6. Ask students to share their experiences in journals or autobiographies.
7. Regularly use humor and stories.
8. Be receptive to helping studens with problems and issues when it is appropriate and possible.
9. Follow up with students, asking if they need help or are feeling comfortable with the learning situations.

While her suggestions may not be within everyone's comfort zone, establishing relationships, while presenting challenges and risks is important. If students feel comfortable in our learning environment it will encourage them to become engaged.


What do you think?

Summer Highlights

We all look forward to summer! As I am writing this it is early July and while most of you are a few weeks into summer, as I look out at the thunder storm, I am wondering where exactly summer is?

For me this summer is about a busy mix of almost finishing, finishing, starting all mixed in with a bit of eating, relaxing and enjoying. I just finished MBA course fourteen of fifteen, I am currently in the midst of finishing my last IDP course, soon starting my new role as Department Head and really looking forward to spending a bit of R&R time camping!

Along with a few weekend camping trips, I am especially looking forward to spending time camping at Loon Haven Campground in the Sebago Lake Region of Maine. We are returning to this peaceful relaxing spot where I camped with family and friends as a child. While there we hope to enjoy a cruise on the historic Songo River Queen, eat, swim, relax and of course a trip across the border would not be complete without a shopping excursion! That to me is summer!

Please share your favorite summer activities, spots and stories!