Google Summit inspired teachers

I'm at the Midwest Google Summit watch Chad Kafta present Big PHAT Blogger. You can feel the energy in the room. Teacher, administrators, IT are here soaking in new knowledge.... brainstorming...collaborating...ultimately to bring innovation back to their schools to create a more engaging experience students. The Midwest Google Summit is giving us momentum to go back and change and improve AND THAT IS INSPIRING.

Books to Improve Your Life

The chaotic school year ended and I rolled right into teaching summer school and took a graduate class last week.  It's been so much of a whirl wind that my mind is spinning from all the things I want to do with the five weeks I have left.  One of the big things is finally conquering my summer reading list.  Just like my blog name, I am all about being motivated and inspired.  So when I have the time to read, I tend to pick books that will help me improve my life.

Recently, I came across this blog, Taking the Lid Off the Sun and was truly inspired by Alexis Ahren's post called Loves Place in the Classroom. 

"When I say I love my students, I mean that I am seeing them for who they truly are, appreciating and accepting them right there in that space. My love for them isn’t dependent on their cooperation or compliance. It’s not affected by their academic performance. Some take longer to get to know than others, and so it follows that some take longer to love than others, but love comes … always. "

Seriously, click on the link above and read more because it's truly inspiring.  Last week I spent time in a special education class and having a lot of discussions with other teachers about students with all types of disabilities including learning disabilities, ADHD, Autism and social, emotional or behavior disorders.  I've always connected to these types of students and I think its because of what Alexis mentions.  I see them for who they truly are and love them no matter what.  From the athlete to the rocker, from the skateboarder to the hippie, to the kid that sat in the back of the room with his hoodie over his head, I try my best to get to know them all.  And you know what, I think my students know it because I'll get that email once in a blue moon from an alumni or a hug after a semester is over - there is nothing better.

Now let's fast forward a week after reading Alexis' blog and I'm sitting in my grad class.  I come across information about social emotional learning during my class research.  I've always felt like life skills should be taught in schools and just came across how this is a growing movement.  I teach in Illinois and didn't even realize that my own state has adopted learning standards for this area.  Check out Casel, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning website that gives more information on this topic.  Also during my research I came across information about Daniel Goleman who has brought this topic to the forefront from his book Emotional Intelligence.  I'm hoping to read this and his book Primal Leadership with hopes its something I can integrate into the Management & Leadership class I teach.

Also on my summer book list is a recommendation Alexis mentioned - Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn.  This book is about what kids need and how we can meet those needs vs. how we can we get kids to do what they are told.  He feels that praise and rewards do more harm than good.  About 70 pages into it I can already see some parallels betten Kohn's book and Daniel Pink's Drive where Pink talks about how the carrot and stick doesn't work (rewards) for long term motivation.

Have you read these any of these books? I'm looking forward to having conversations on these books.  (

(Be on the look out for more posts relating to these topics and books)

Overcome Challenges: Living in the now

If you would of told me ten years ago that the future view from my road bike was going to be my furnace I would of told you that you were crazy. To think I road my bike 500 miles from Minneapolis to Chicago and now I ride in my basement.  All my life I've worked out religiously. It was my escape and my companion. 

Now I ride on my trainer when I sneak in 30-45 minutes of energy while my husband is entertaining my 2 year old as they play air guitar to the hairband music I play as I ride.  Not sure if this is still considered an escape!

I struggle mentally and physically to figure out how to be all things - mom, wife, homemaker, teacher, daughter, sister, friend and most of all I struggle to make time for myself. Many women have gone through the same stress, the same balance, the same journey.  I am constantly trying to work on this life challenge.

My mentor reminds me to stop blaming others, stop living in the past and stop worrying about the future.  Live in the now! Be grateful for what you have and look at the now as an unpaved path.

Now this life challenge is really not that big when you compare it to other challenges people face- disease, job loss, tragedy, and death. I've seen my family struggle through all of it and it breaks my heart. Why so much pain? Why is life so hard? But that's exactly the problem. We can't look at it as pain. We can't see it as a challenge or a fight. We have to see it as a journey and we are at a fork in the road. We choose the path. Do we see this as defeat? Or a lesson? A closed door? Or possibilities of a new opportunity? It's our choice if we let it defeat us or if it makes us stronger.

My best advice: Choose your life, don't let it choose you.

Someone inspired me to write this post who is going through a hard time right now. They connected to the lyrics of Eminen's song "Loose yourself" which I hope you'll find inspiring as well.. Music is a great way to get inspired and stay grounded in the now - what music have you been inspired by?

Comment on the blog and join in the conversation.

Get Out of Your Environment For Inspiration

If you're new to Motivate To Inspire you'll see my reflection on life experiences.  My hope is that these reflections help you live better, do better and be better to have a more fulfilling life.

This week I attended a workshop on collaborative group teaching strategies.  My brain was in hyperactivity mode.  Can I complain about having SO many ideas?  Of coarse not, but it's always overwhelming trying to digest everything you learn at a conference.  It's hard not to think, "how am I going to find the time to incorporate all these new strategies?" Or, if I didn't have four or five preps maybe I'd have more time? Or, if it wasn't for...X...Y...Z.  OK, STOP RIGHT THERE!  Sure, stress can create those crazy thoughts but let's think about the big picture here.  Getting out of your environment shouldn't be overwhelming it should be inspiring! 

Whether the four walls in which you work are called school, a place of business or a home office - getting out of your environment point blank makes you BETTER.  Before teaching, I sold advertising for eight years, ending my sales career at MTV Networks.  Each year MTV Networks would take its entire sales staff to Puerto Rico for the ultimate, multiple day, sales meeting.  Of coarse I have fond memories of the social aspect of the trip but I got a lot more out of trip than that.  The best way I can describe it - it's like you're pumped up on a six pack of Red Bull.  You leave the conference with passion for the brand and new ideas to grow your business.

But have you ever turned down an opportunity to go to a workshop, conference or training? Often times we feel we can't afford the time away from the office or we don't want to deal with playing catch up.  Now, think of all the times you have gotten out of the office for workshops - are you glad you went?  Sure, not every workshop has been as beneficial as the next but I ALWAYS feel that I grow as a business professional or as an educator.

Now you come back from a workshop with all these new ideas and you're on that imaginary Red Bull buzz, how do you deal with it?  A veteran teacher gave me a piece of advice at the workshop this week, "pick one new idea you really like and try to incorporate it."  And that's how we grow.  We crawl, we walk, we run.  One little moment at a time.

REFLECTION: Take every opportunity you are offered to learn and be open minded to who and when you can learn.  Leave the four walls where you work - get out and live and you'll find the inspiration to move you forward.

3 Life Lessons You Can Learn From A Dog

If we take the time to observe, simple life lessons are right in front of us.  Here's three things we can learn from a dog:

1st Lesson: Soak in the sun
My dog could sit outside for hours on a beautiful day and just bask in the sun.  I see her close her eyes and enjoy the moment of the sounds of the outdoors.  Now, I'm an outdoorsy person so I can totally relate to this.  On every vacation where I've taken a hike, I find a few moments to stop, sit and think.  Even if you aren't into the outdoors, there's a big take away here - we need to take moments out of life, not just on vacation but every day of our life.  Whether it's our good fortune or our health, our family or our friends or all of the above - Appreciate all that you have, even the little moments in life like a sunny day.



2nd Lesson: Rest
If there's one thing my dog does is sleep.  To often we are running around in this busy game called life.  We juggle all the things we need to do - family, friends, work, home.  It's easy to run yourself until your immune system literally exhausts itself. Let's learn from our pets: Play hard and then sleep it off.  If you don't have time to sleep in or take a nap then do what ever you need to do to rejuvenate.  The more you can carve out time for yourself, the more energy you will have to accomplish all your goals in life.


3rd Lesson: Love life
Every day when I get home, my dog comes running with toy in mouth and tail wagging.  I always tell my dog, Brandy, that she's my first love. I adopted her during a time in my life when I was ready to start taking care of someone - before I met my husband and before I had my son.  But more than all the love I have for her amazing spirit, she loves me and most of all she loves life! She loves her family, she loves the hunt and she loves the simple things in life.  Be joyful, see the spirit in all things, open your hearts AND your mind - and just LOVE LIFE because it's there to love.

(Photo: My dog Brandy in the backyard)

Stop Blaming Your Environment - Create it!

Purpose, Motivation, and Choice - three topics I'm really passionate about so when I read Ryan Bretag's recent post on Metanoia it really lit a fire in me.  I urge you to read his thoughts that were sparked from Seth Godin's post "Are you doing a good job." We've been discussing topics such as these in the high school Management & Leadership class I teach so I posed Ryan's question to my students and I did some personal reflection as well.

PURPOSE:
Godin's post connects with Daniel Pink's research and how he states "What's your question?" I agree with Godin that people need to think about their mission. Does it tie into what they are doing in their environment? If there isn't a connection, are we truly going to be happy? This is the exact reason I changed careers from advertising sales to teaching and again connects with one of Daniel Pink's big mentions in his book Drive, you have to have "Purpose."

MOTIVATION:
My Management & Leadership students discussed the questions Bretag posed on his blog and here’s a google doc from our classroom discussion. We read, discussed and every student participated in an engaging discussion.   It was very inspiring to see students connect their thoughts from previous discussions (including various management/leadership philosophies and 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey). The students' ideas could fit any organization including business and education. From a room of 22 high school students, three main ideas came from our discussion.

Focus on making things fun and challenging : Create an engaging environment

Focus on the people: Truly listen to the needs of your stakeholders

Focus on being happy: Connect to the purpose

CHOICE:
On Bretag’s post I commented, “When are we going to stop blaming the environment and start creating it? My motto is to live better, do better and just be better. It's all about choice and the perspective we take. I agree with you, as leaders, isn't it our job to motivate and inspire others to be better? I think as leaders we can help our colleagues or students see they have a choice in their perspective and providing them with opportunities to create and fulfill these ideas.”

After writing this comment on Bretag's blog and then having my classroom discussion, I was hoping to see my students make more of a connection with the idea that each person has the choice of the way they view their environment.  As Bretag mentions, “When I’m bored, I start doing the job” but I was hoping to hear more individuals turn this statement around and take ownership of their life. When I posed the question to my students “what motivates you?” (see google doc for all responses) one female student stated it best – “BEING BORED.”  And while that was a great beginning connection that was made, it wasn't followed through with the rest of our motivation and leadership discussion.  We need to take ownership for ourselves, be empowered and change our perspective.  We need to stop blaming others for our environment and know that we have the power to create it ourselves.





At the same time, as leaders we need to provide opportunities and a better environment to help people create!  I’m truly inspired by the leaders of the Glenbrook High School District in which I work.  Dr. Michael Riggle and Ryan Bretag show  how leaders build a foundation for their staff and their students to provide choice and growth in their organization.

What have leaders done in your organization to create a better environment? What motivates you? Do you have a take a ownership perspective or a blame others mentality?  Let's challenge ourselves and our environment - Let's play a part in our community and our organizations - And in the end, we will create amazing things.

(Image: ENVIRONMENT, a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (2.0) image from Enokson's photostream)

What motivates students to learn?  It's inspiring to see my students take control of their own learning.  Over the last two days students stepped up and initiated learning in my classroom.

Student: "Can we go see this guest speaker?"
A student walked into my business law classroom and explained that a 92 year old Holocaust survivor was speaking to the Junior social studies classes.  He made a great point - there wasn't going to be many more opportunities to hear a man speak about these experiences.  So I thought about it - how amazing was it that students wanted to take on this rare opportunity to learn.

Me: "You have a choice"
If we go to the speaker, there will be less review of the material we've learned for the next test.  There won't be any time for activities so what's left will be lectures.  If we stay in class there are review activities, debates and lecture.  It's your vote.  They voted to go to the speaker and I was really proud of them.  Sure it crossed my mind if they were just wanting to get out of the classroom but when we sat in the theater it was silent and the students were just as engaged listen to this elder with many years of wisdom as they were with the motivational speaker last week with his comedic twist.  REFLECTION: spontaneous learning moment = inspiring

Me: "Who has a smart phone?"
I tried something new today in my business law class.  I was going over new vocabulary like merger, conglomerate, asset acquisition, and franchises.  The definitions were on the guided note sheet and below that I left a space for examples.  I asked, "Who has a smart phone?"  I had seven students raise their hands.  I asked them to take them out and I wish I had a picture of their reaction - it was of shock!  I asked if they would volunteer to look up the vocabulary they had in front of them and search examples to share in the class.  What happened next was very cool!  As they found their examples they shared it with the class.  Students without phones started asking more questions and so the search continued to find more answers and more examples.  Students that don't normally volunteer where speaking, students were sharing their prior knowledge and the classroom became a learning community.  REFLECTION:  Great example of technology in the classroom!

Me: "Who's Judy?"
I was inspired by a blog post I read by Clarence Fisher where his students and students at another school collaborated in a Google Doc about the recent news of the tsunami in Japan.  It was inspiring to me how these students took control of their own learning and collected web links, videos, and facts about the recent news.  In my management class we are finishing up the management unit and going to start talking about leadership.  I showed them a video The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink  (which they LOVED by the way).  (Make sure if you go to this link you find the right video.  I linked to this versus Youtube or TED talks so you can see all of Daniel Pink's videos.)  I pre-setup the google doc and set invitations to all my student.  Before going into the computer lab I showed them the google doc and explained the concept of this collaborative learning space.  The time spent in the lab was really fun to see.  Some students gravitated towards videos, others went to pictures, and a few others went to find facts.  Some of it was top surface level and I wish they read and thought more versus a copy and paste.  But at the same time they got really engaged in the subject matter.  I asked them afterwards what they thought and they all gave me thumbs up.  Some students were excited for what they found and many students got really excited to start learning more about leadership.  To top it off -  we had fun too.  So who's Judy?  That's exactly what I asked during the IM chat my class was having during the Google Doc session.  Judy was this random person they popped into the IM conversation - I played along and we all had fun with the joke - Who's Judy?

REFLECTION:  Teachable moments = student driven learning = why I became a teacher!