2020 Vision

Hello, Blog.  Nice to see you again.  I'm having a bit of an existential crisis, so I need to write it out.

I might be seeing more of you here, because... I think I'm going to break up with Facebook.  I love Facebook because I have a lot of friends that I don't live close to.  Facebook lets me see their babies and know their news and keep up with their lives.  I hate Facebook because so much of my feed is filled with my Facebook friends reposting articles and memes that make my stomach hurt.  I love you, Cousin Fanny from Tallahassee, but your racist rants give me dry heaves.  I get a kick out of you in real life, high school classmate, but if you post one more fake news story from two years ago, I'm going to poke my eye out with a fork.  And, former teaching colleague from 15 years ago, trust me.  I'm just as much a liberal feminist as you, but your divisive comments on posts that have nothing to do with you make me want to punch you in the face.  These things are sucking all the joy out of Facebook for me.

Let me see pictures of your new puppy.  Tell the world about your vacation to Yellowstone.  Praise your kid's grade improvements.  Share a great meal you had at a new restaurant.  I use Facebook for connecting, not for driving people away.  Life is too short to focus on differences.  I can't handle your negativity, World.  I'm sharpening the saw and to quote Hamilton, "erasing myself from the narrative."  At least for a while.

Life Lessons from Rubik's Cubes

My 5th grade TAG students got done with a Rubik's Cube unit before Christmas.  I've never had a better activity for growth mindset with kids.  Ever.  Even with the algorithms, solving a Rubik's Cube isn't easy.  There was frustration, yelling, crying, quitting, and starting over from the very beginning.  But, every single kid managed to solve a cube before Christmas break, and the joy was pure magic.  They were so darned proud of themselves.  It was a delight to watch and experience.  Today I read their reflections, and they made me smile so much.  I wanted to share some of them with the world.

Here are the questions I asked them to reflect on when we were done.  They wrote their responses on their own blogs:

1. What was the hardest part of solving Rubik's cubes?  Explain.
2. How did you feel when you finally solved the cube?  Describe.
3. What are the life lessons that people can learn from Rubik's cubes?
4. What advice do you have for other kids trying to solve Rubik's cubes?
5. What advice do you have for other kids trying to do hard things? 

"How I felt when I finally finished the Rubix cube is, 100 percent complete and when I finished my second Rubix cube I felt 200 percent complete. What I mean by 100 or 200 percent complete is, I felt really really good just because I finished my Rubix cube." -T.

"Also when kids are doing hard things if you are struggling they should break it down and take things step by step to make it easier for you to do" -F.

"For other kids that are doing hard things,'' Don't ever give up no matter how hard it is.'' -L.

"Solving the cube to me was a miracle and it got rid of me having self-doubt and thinking I couldn't do it anymore. And after I solved it and I got better at it, it was getting easier and more fun to do because I was challenging myself to get faster and faster!" -Q.

"The frustration was really hard and self doubt was also a factor." -K.

"The hardest part of solving the cube was that when I was super close to solving it I would try to do an algorithm and it would completely mess it! For me, this was the hardest part! When I finally solved it I was soooooo proud of myself! I felt like all the hard work had finally paid off!" -A.

"If you are trying to solve a Rubiks you are going to mess up sometimes but keep trying." -A.

"People can learn life lessons when solving it like to never give up when you feel like your doing badly, or to always believe in yourself to finish something." -M.

"My advice is to keep on trying and don't give up, believe in yourself and you can get it done." -I.

"When I solved it I was so proud, it took a long time but I did it!" -M.

And, I think this is my favorite comment of all: "My advice for people that are trying to do hard things is stay calm,try your best, stay hydrated, and tell yourself you got this." -J.