Here's a link to the article, the radio story, and the video is embedded below. Amazing examples of empathy in a world that is often a dark place. Enjoy these spots of brightness.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Today
My students are getting ready to start "book clubs" where they'll choose what they want to read from 4 titles I offer, then will have weekly book club meetings with their fellow classmates who chose the same book. Each of the books they're choosing from have a character with autism, so this is a great opportunity to teach about empathy. Before we start reading next week, I wanted to do some other lessons on this idea of empathy, because it's something that isn't just lacking in middle schools...it's lacking all over. So, in my search to find things to do that would engage my kiddos, I stumbled upon a site that had links to 3 different activities - a news article, a news story from NPR, & a video on YouTube made by a teenage girl. I knew I'd found a winner, but today after sharing these with my kids realized just how much so. The article is interesting, the radio story surprising, and the video is just downright inspirational...we did them in that order and at the end of the video each hour, my room was SILENT. Not just quiet...just silence like I've never heard before in my classroom or many other places. So...I thought I'd share. Powerful stuff.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
New Year...New Post
Happy New Year to everyone! I'm going to spend my day thinking about how I have to go back to work tomorrow and wondering where in the world my break went, but that's okay. It's a work day, which basically means I'll have great intentions of planning the whole semester only to barely get plans made for Thursday because I've spent all day catching up with all my friends. :) Yep...I've no doubt that's how things will go.
We had a great Christmas this year. It was really low-stress this year for some reason, which was so nice. We celebrated with my family on the 22nd and with Brandon's on Christmas Day. Of course, I forgot my camera on Christmas day, so other than a few Christmas morning pics, I've got nothing else to document the day. My camera was in my purse, but I took it out to fit something else in there and then managed to forget to put the camera back in. Christmas day fail. It wasn't my first & I'm sure it won't be my last!
Enjoy a few pictures from when I did have my camera:
The days since Christmas have flown by. Of course, I've used my time to get a lot of reading done. I took my tree down on the 26th, as always, and was both sad & relieved to see it go. Brandon left for an out-of-town work trip on the 26th, which left me in sole charge of everything. Ginger is still healing from her torn ACL and still is not supposed to do steps. Not that she doesn't occasionally sneak by us, but for the most part we're carrying her up & down to let her out every day, every time. Have I mentioned that she is also no a diuretic for her heart? That means that we can't go for really long stretches without taking her out. Then, Brandon came home with the flu (the respiratory kind) and he has been down for the count, leaving me with the sole responsibility with Ginger's bathroom duty still. I think he's turned a corner today, finally. I hope he's better enough to take care of her tomorrow!
We had a great Christmas this year. It was really low-stress this year for some reason, which was so nice. We celebrated with my family on the 22nd and with Brandon's on Christmas Day. Of course, I forgot my camera on Christmas day, so other than a few Christmas morning pics, I've got nothing else to document the day. My camera was in my purse, but I took it out to fit something else in there and then managed to forget to put the camera back in. Christmas day fail. It wasn't my first & I'm sure it won't be my last!
Enjoy a few pictures from when I did have my camera:
Cousins
Cutie-pies!
Actually, my sister took this one. Thanks, Kristen...this is the one & only photo of me this season.
Kristen took this one too...Ginger was a little sleepy after all the festivities. Can you tell?
She was ready to open her gift on Christmas Eve, though!
Christmas Eve
Christmas morning
Luke is a lover of the TV show Gold Rush & got a Lego gold mine set. This was hours of work & fun. We both enjoyed it (him the work - me the quiet while he was so diligently working!)
This was a little Post-Christmas gift for Ginger. She could not look away from the window. I swear that squirrel sat there for an hour.
The days since Christmas have flown by. Of course, I've used my time to get a lot of reading done. I took my tree down on the 26th, as always, and was both sad & relieved to see it go. Brandon left for an out-of-town work trip on the 26th, which left me in sole charge of everything. Ginger is still healing from her torn ACL and still is not supposed to do steps. Not that she doesn't occasionally sneak by us, but for the most part we're carrying her up & down to let her out every day, every time. Have I mentioned that she is also no a diuretic for her heart? That means that we can't go for really long stretches without taking her out. Then, Brandon came home with the flu (the respiratory kind) and he has been down for the count, leaving me with the sole responsibility with Ginger's bathroom duty still. I think he's turned a corner today, finally. I hope he's better enough to take care of her tomorrow!
So, that's it. We spent our New Year's Eve watching a movie and watching Parks & Recreation. We love that show. We started watching in the 3rd season, so we've gone back and watched the first 2 seasons and now we're re-watching the 3rd season. So. Funny. Once we start watching, we don't want to stop. We made it to 11:00 last night before we called it a day. Happy new year to us!
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