Golf...enough said!

So I have been fortunate to be introduced to the game of golf at age 5. I am not good, I do enjoy, but I don't own a set of clubs. (It is me belief that if given time and a couple lessons it would be one sport I am good at, beside swimming) Any way, a friend and I had this random discussion the other day about how golf should be a required course in college. Anyone in the business world needs to know how to play and needs to know you to use it as a networking device. I think I would have taken golf in college if given the opportunity. Yet, over the last week, I was shown how golf goes beyond networking but to the point of inspiration. So I thought I would share this with you! (You might have seen some of this before, but this was my first time...bare with me)

Inspiration number 1: DJ Gregory

....Wow this was amazing to me! I have the privilege of watching golf anytime I am with my seventeen brother, the avid golfer, so when I heard about this story and the fact that he is walking 900 miles on the PGA tour, I thought about how every time I watch golf, this guy just walked the course too and was there. It made me not despise walking in my brother's tournaments as much! The neat thing is that DJ Gregory chronicled his experience, in his blog. and he became a staple in the tournament and an inspiration for so many people including myself! I suggest you check out his video too!

Inspiration number 2: Kyle Lagrasso

This too is another sweet golf story, watch the video from HBO and be amazed. Kyle is a cancer survivor and has the perfected swing of Tiger Woods, and he is only like 7 or 8! Wow! Check out his foundation and story! What a cool kid and family!

Both of these stories goes beyond networking, but more showing that with golf there is unlimited possibilities.

What's your Red Rubber Ball?

Okay so I finished my last class needed for my Master's Degree, it was great! It was taught by a great teacher from Omaha. The class was building communities in your classroom and it was a continuation from a class I had previously taken. Both classes were emotionally and sometimes physically draining ( we played so many different versions of tag it was ridiculous). But our textbook was probably the best part! It was called, "What's your Red Rubber Ball" and it's by Kevin Carroll and I highly recommend it! We had the opportunity to speak to Kevin via a conference call and even on the phone he is inspiring. It is a look at your life through the eyes of sports and goal setting! (I have to admit the whole time I was thinking of 2 people, my brother-in-law, and my little brother) This workbook, of sorts, guides you into deciding your life goal or your "red rubber ball".

Now your probably thinking, why do I need to know this...I hate sports, it is so much more than that! Seriously....check out the above website and you will be floored!

One of the parts in the workbook was the "Magic Box" and I had to present this magic box to my class. I am not anyone who ever has issue talking to people or making presentations, but this was DIFFICULT. In the process of making this box, I realized how selfish it was. And in the presentations I became quite embarrassed and almost angry at myself for being so emotional...I hate crying, and I really hate crying in front of colleagues. Anyway, so this magic box was magical....it opened me up and made me question things that I always put in the back of my mind. Who would have thought that could happen? Like I said this is a selfish box, but after presenting it, though the embarrassment and tears I realized that its okay! Its okay to be selfish, its okay to have no idea what or who your future will be with and look like, its okay to want those things in life that everybody has etc. But at the same time I was still mad, I was mad that I had to find that out, I was mad that I was so selfish, I was mad that my "encourager" was not very encouraging. ( That will make sense when you read it) No matter what this magic box exercise was just that magical and needless to say, that I have started chasing my red rubber ball...which is in one word, Happiness!

My Summer Reading List

Being a teacher, I have been blessed with free time. I have been using that time catch up on the necessary reading I don't always get during the school year. I also have to admit to another geek moment, I went to the public library this week and came across this 5 page list of necessary reads to be a life long learner, I of course went home and highlighted everything I had read on that list. I was mad fun of later!

My current summer reading list:

1. My Sister's Keeper ~ Jodi Piccoult (really didn't think I would enjoy this book that much)

2. Marshmallow's for Breakfast ~ Dorthy Koomson

3. Montana 1949

4. The Scorpion Room

5. A framework for understanding Poverty ~ Ruby Payne

6. Me 2.0

7. The Freedom Writers Diary

8. Yorkshire Terriers for Dummies (I can do much with out proper research)

9. There are no Bad Dogs

10. Teaching with Love and Logic

On top of all of these books I am reading through a collection of plays to pick out the new and exciting acting adventure I will guide my students on next year. Nothing is really tripping my trigger yet...

Any suggestions?

Investing in my happiness

So this weekend I put a deposit down on what maybe the biggest investment I make this year, a dog. Bradshaw Arthur will be coming to live with me in 2 weeks. He will invade my apartment and my pocketbook, and I can't wait. I have been waiting for this for a while and he is a gift from my parents upon the completion of my masters. I am very excited about it all and ready to fill my time with the idea of having some form of responsibility to something other than myself. Bradshaw is an investment for my happiness.

Why do I need this, some may ask, I need to feel responsible for more that what I have on a daily basis, granted I am responsible for my students' lives for eight hours a day... sometimes more than that and yet it is still not my own. I think this dog will be my welcome wagon after a long day, the constant companion that won't talk back and has to listen with out an opinion. He will be some one to cuddle with, laugh at and he will be my investment to my happiness!

What will education look like in the future?

An old colleague of mine asked me to answer 2 questions for one of the classes he is taking this summer, the first question was, "How long have you been teaching?" my response was 3 blissful years. Creative I know. The second question was, "What are you concerns that you have about teaching?" This is where I was stuck...what are these concerns? Well this is what I said,

1. What does the future of education look like through the eyes of technology?

2. How will the school structure look in the future, will it be community based, individually based etc.?
3 Will schools ever be "up to date" or all online? College is??
4. When will school require a parent education class?

5. How will the students change from one year to the next, and what will the needs become?

This in turn prompted a ginormous amount of speculation and discussion in my brain. I received my teaching assignments for the 2009-2010 school year in may, it is filling my brain with what I need to be doing and how I will be getting it all done. I am only teaching 1 class that I taught last year, Creative Writing, which I am very happy about. But to add to it I am teaching Basic or "remedial" English to sophomores. This is where these concerns for the future comes in. So I sit and ponder how to invoke passion into these kids who have low reading comprehension skills and a variety of other issues. Hoping that they can find something exciting about this crazy world of education. Most likely causing them to change what the future of education looks like, I can only hope.

Douchers

Last night, after catching up on my "Bachalorette" show I realized that in some ways I want to be the next bachelorette. I think the show should be Bachalorette ~ Chicago, so at least you show something in the Midwest, and not all of the Hollywood BS. Seriously, climbing down a building in LA...wouldn't it be cooler to climb town the Hancock Tower? (Than you can even had more dirty jokes to that name).

But while watching it, I realized that as much as I want to be the next bachalorette, I am not sure I want to be surrounded by all of these macho and egotistical douchers who don't know how to communicate effectively. Or Crazed eye Dave who honestly has maniac tendencies. He is hot, but still...those eyes are not endearing. And to top it all of, Jillian is from Canada...why not have a nice Midwestern teacher from medium town Nebraska.

Just a thought.