Advantages of a 5 Year Plan

If there is something that I learned from being in public education, it is about the need to plan.

Not only to plan, but revise the plan, consult the plan, re-vamp the plan--a road map for future actions and goals.

Back in the 80's, each campus had to develop a yearly plan concerning the things that each of us wanted to accomplish professionally that year and I remember from being on the Strategic Planning Committee for the district that it was crucial that you have at least a five-year plan for a school district.

I don't know that they do those types of things anymore. At least I don't know about them. (I could go on and on about the late 80's to middle 90's and about how I think education was more creative and more committed than now...)

Anyway, that really stuck with me. I do 5 year plans and I go back and I revise (because sometimes, just like going on a trip, you may decide to take another route, or go another place altogether....) anyway, in doing this 5 year plan, I am thinking of making some drastic changes within the next 5 years.

I am thinking of downsizing to a smaller, newer living quarters. I love my house, but what does one woman do with over 3400 sq ft of house that is 55 years old....and since my income "post-retirement" has shrunk, it would be fiscally responsible to do so.... and of course, Andy probably won't return home, except temporarily, after June of this year.....

I am faced with choices....choices.....and a new found freedom that I haven't had in at least 30 years.....

The only way I can make those choices is to plan, plan, plan.....
Scary, but exciting....

Twists and Turns

So many little things to do in my "unfocused" life...

I have an interesting link this morning:
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/book-review.jhtml?t=technology&id=5205

This is really a book review about the new book, Naked Conversations.
This book talks about how "blogging" has crept its way into businesses and how blogging is very useful in professional areas.

So true!!!!

what a great way to "display your wares" professionally. and it puts the human face and personality with a technological twist. I couldn't agree more!!!

I wanted to link my blog with my career testing/planning business so that potential clients and people who share my interests and curiosities could learn about careers, education and life (which by the way is ALL connected!!) without having to wade through the little website I have.

Through my blog, individuals get to know me.

I have found a way to develop rapport online!! (of course, it is always better to gain rapport in person--don't discount the value of body language...

There was an article in the paper today about the value of www.myspace.com

Professionals especially in the arts are using this as a way of publicizing themselves and their "gifts"....very smart!! but one caveat here--when readers are anonymous they may do things that they normally wouldn't do--hacking, lude behavior....

so beware if you choose to use this technological medium..

Springing into action.....

I want everyone to know that I am, right at this very minute, sitting on my new "secret patio" off my bedroom, enjoying a very beautiful day. The weather is perfect, connected to the web, writing, and I am listening to "My Funny Valentine" by Miles Davis......too perfect. Now this is the way to write!!!
I was doing my daily Molly walk and happened to notice how quiet it was today and more than anything noticed the smell....no particular smell, just the smell of dirt, water, dead grass--but there was something familiar about it....gee I haven't noticed outside smells in a long time...I am thinking now....maybe like 20 years or more...had been too busy and too preoccupied to think about that. It seems like to one has to be "without care" to notice things like that. "Without care"....seems almost childlike, no responsibility, nothing to preoccupy your senses and thoughts. After you reach about 25, there is no such thing as "without care". When you are 6, you have no care, when you are 13-20--you don't care--and I guess when you creep into the 50-ish time, you start to be "without care"....

I want to read this new book called the "The Myth of the Bell Curve"--it has a number of essays by a lot of really neat people....Howard Gardner (remember him the 8 intelligences guy???) and one of my favorite people--Henry Louis Gates, Jr.--professor of black history at Harvard. I found out that you can do a Google Search on books and actually read entire books online....that is soooo awesome....what a way to do research. could do that all the time.....and now that I have found that I do the patio, internet, jazz-listenin' thing, I may do that more often.

speaking of Henry Louis Gates--PBS has a show called "African American Lives" Wednesdays @ 8. Scientists can now do DNA testing to find out your "ultimate" roots and examine migration patterns of the mitochondrial DNA to trace your ancestors. it is just the most interesting thing to me....

I wish that someone would just pay me to learn about things and write about them....talk about the ultimate career!!!

hope tomorrow is as nice as it is today!!!

"Doing Undercover Work"

Just couldn't resist sharing this picture with everyone today....this picture portrays exactly the way I feel: I know what I am but, I am sure that people may view me as an imposter.....

For any student that believes that being a part-time writer is a glamorous job....it isn't...there is nothing glamorous about being alone 99% of the time--although I , myself really like being alone most of the time because my thoughts allow me to make my own reality --when I don't have the phone and the door bell ringing and I can let thoughts ramble into the "whys", "whats" and "whereforearts" and back again. It is not very glamorous, however, to be in your flannel pajamas at 1:45 in the afternoon, trying to articulate thoughts and feelings in writing and within a context that the outside world might want to read. It is not very glamorous to check your bank account everyday to see if you can eek out another cent or so...it is not very glamorous to have to answer your friends' questions: "gee, what do you do all day...." so there you go, I feel as if I am doing undercover work each day. I know what I am, but I don't appear to be that to the outside world.

One of the things I am really monitoring lately is the PACE program. This program is the product of a national "think tank" with renowned educators, industrialists, higher education academics, politicians and scientists whose aim is to attract more young people to Math and Science and therefore, be able to maintain the USA's competitive edge in those areas. I watched Charlie Rose (PBS) last week and one of premises of the program is to get outstanding teachers into these areas in the public schools who are not only experts in their field but who are MOTIVATORS!!! I almost stood on my chair and applauded when I heard this!!! Someone gets it, someone gets it!!! maybe this is a move in the right direction. but wait.....we need this in all areas of education, in every area of education!!!

American public education needs a "Sputnik" type initiative in education in every area. We will lose our competitive edge if we don't create an interest in education GENERALLY....maybe we need to recruit MBA's to go into education. Maybe we need to recruit the best salesmen and saleswomen from every commissioned salesforce in every FORTUNE 500 company and recruit them to teach at least ONE class in the public schools. Perhaps this could be an idea for a new charter school...totally run by the community's business professionals--small teaching stipends for professional's to give back to the community. This was an idea that "flew" a long time ago. In really poor areas that needed a teacher--they didn't pay them money, they gave them a place to live and an occasional cow or chicken. Hmm...an old idea reborn??

that's why I am working undercover....

Geneaology, Life, and History

I have missed posting the last few days because I suddenly decided to work on some family history---a very impulsive decision, since I have other issues that need attention.

That is the nice thing about being self-employed, if your mind chooses to take another direction, it can do that, because no one is looking over your shoulder.

Of course, there is down side to that, also, because when one is self-employed, not producing, means no income--well at least not for that moment because you never know what sort of "muse" pops up that may be a writing opportunity for later. Being self-employed means being POOR..which on the other hand can be a wealth of opportunities for writing---lololol....welcome to Carol's little philosophical mind.

Back to the subject at hand....reflecting on family history helps us to understand how we arrived at this point in time....not that we cannot change our many destinations if we choose to do so...but the realization that all the DNA that is in our bodies is a result of all of our ancestors over the years....and that their experiences, the choices that they made or HAD to make had a hand in us...where they chose to live, move, etc. It is so fascinating. I just wish I could have a trip back in time to experience some of their life. It would make a great screen play!!!!

People are what life is about...pure and simple.....if you think about historical events....and look at the biographies of famous individuals who had a role in shaping history....history wouldn't be what it is today. All of us bring our physical genetic histories and our experience histories to the table and it does affect what happens in our day to day.....a leader, policy maker--affects the future even more. It is a very complex concept.....but fascinating.

and writers....well, they can be immortal....and their pain, pleasure and everything else inside can spew forth onto a page--whether it is fiction or non-fiction....and change the way we think or feel.
what a fascinating puzzle is the human psyche....

Shifting Sands in the Dunes of Thought

I know, I know I said previously that I was going to talk about creativity, but I had one of those morning "epiphanies" that I have quite often (I don't know why I have these constantly "racing" philosophical thoughts about things.....) and it suddenly occurred to me that ALL of us are on this rolling journey to "find our voice"!! whether we realize it or not.....

Normally the term "find your voice" is limited to writing or to singing. In these areas, it means that you have found YOUR UNIQUE niche in writing or singing--it flows, it is easy, you own it, it is original. In our experiences, we have met those who attempt to imitate or model someone else's style--whether in singing, writing, lifestyle, physical appearance, or thought--it doesn't mean that we can't be influenced by others--it is just that we don't clone ourselves in that model.


Every profession has a term for "finding your voice"--marketing--your niche--art--finding your style, business--finding your specialty. To borrow a phrase from literature--a rose by any other name.....etc. But make no mistake, all of these expressions have the same meaning. "Finding your voice" is life, isn't easy. Discovering your "life voice" is a series of two steps forward, four steps back, trial and error, try-on/take off...much the same way that we look for clothes, test drive a car, or browse in a book store.

We have to realize that "finding our voice" is ultimately discovered by reflecting on our experiences. In order to reflect on our experiences, we have to HAVE SOME EXPERIENCES in the first place. You have to live as much as possible, try new experiences everyday, try to learn something new everyday, don't worry about the details, don't stress over every word, don't worry about doing it perfectly....

Then when we come to that "perfect voice"--it will flow, it will be easy, it will feel good, it will feel like you have returned home.

If you are interested in the concept of "flow"--read the book FLOW--the psychology of optimal experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. (that's a mouthful...)This is not some New Age philosophy--the author is a psychologist that has studied (for almost 30 years) optimal experiences. He contends that flow is a state of concentration so focused that it amounts to absolute absorption in a activity. People who experience "flow" feel strong, alert, in effortless control, unselfconscious, and at the peak of their abilities. It is a great reading experience and I know that if you read the book, you will realize that you, yourself, have experienced "flow"--it is a real brain function--that really happens and for many different reasons!!

Those of us who work with young people, especially need to remember this concept of "finding voice" --for it is only by trying on different personalities, roles, and behavior that adolescents and teens will find their true identities. It is only by this role play of "trial and error" that can discover the true path of their future.

State of the Union and Science and Math

I was very interested to hear the President speak of Science, Math, and Education last night.

Having students pursue more Math and Science areas is very important to our country---at the present time, we are soliciting thousands of individuals from other countries come to the USA to fill vacancies in career areas of Science and Math---because we don't have the talent to fill these vacancies in Engineering, Statistics, and Biomedical research.

Yes, I was very interested and my ears perked up like a little terrier untillll....That is...until I heard the next words....we will hire teachers who are the best and brightest, etc, etc....

that's great....but much of the problem that we have is not the teacher, but the way that we TEACH Science and Math....

I am not the only one thinking about this....click on this link and you will see that it has even been written about in the LA Times today!
http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-dropout30jan30,0,3211437.story?page=1

When I was working in public education, the high school exit exam had the most failures.....consistently in Science and Math.

Now first of all, I think that like everything in education---the teacher should be a SALESPERSON for their subject...every single day should be an attempt to justify to the student WHY it is important to learn this, how they will be using this, what careers will require the skill. The teacher of each and every subject should be a CHEERLEADER for their discipline. If they are teaching that subject --they should be WILD for that subject. I have seen many teachers in the Math and Science area that are about as exciting as a dried bone of a wildebeast!! I know from my own experience that sitting in Science classes in junior high...we entertained ourselves by throwing chalk pieces into the beakers at the front of class. But now as an adult, I am very interested in biochemistry and how toxins, food, and medicine affect our moods and behaviors--wow what if someone had told me about these things when I sitting in science class....maybe it would have created a different career path for me even then.....

My point is this.....in all classes....Science, Math, etc---create an interest for the student---show why the discipline is important to them. RELEVANCE....we have to establish a relevance of each and every subject.

which brings me to another point....after we have established RELEVANCE...it is necessary to USE what has been learned---students have to APPLY what they have learned....that is essential. Basically what we do in classrooms is have students learn theory--let's get them out of the school building.....they should be out in the world at least ONCE A WEEK, using what they have learned.....some people call this APPLIED LEARNING...and for some ridiculous reason, this has come to have a "dumbed-down" connotation.....that is ridiculous....how many times have you learned something and then later when you had to use it out in the world you had an "AH-HA" moment and said "yeah, that's what they meant, when they said......." then that cognitive concept is solidified for you....and it never goes away!!!

Let's begin in the third grade--work with the Dollar store down the street from the school, let's give the students "play money" and a shopping list and have them buy what they need for the week. Let's have Chemistry students in high school go to the USDA office and work with a researcher for the day and see the Chemistry principles that they have learned, let English students visit with copyrighters to see what really clear writing needs to be. Let's build a model roller coaster in Physics.... Let's apply the concepts we learn in Psychology to study the behavior of infamous individuals in history and how their behavior may have influenced history!!!

I get excited MYSELF just thinking about all the possibilities of how we could be having so much fun in classrooms and at the same time teaching, really teaching young people how wonderfully COOL life is, and how neat it is to learn things and expand our own worlds!!!

just remember these quotes from some very quotable individuals:

"Without involvement, there is no commitment. Mark it down, asterisk it, circle it, underline it. No involvement, no commitment." -- Stephen Covey

"Tell me, and I'll forget. Show me, and I'll remember. Involve me, and I'll learn." -- Marla Jones

tomorrow, I want to talk about creativity and what the President says about our preserving and cultivating creative talent. and one reason why we are having problems cultivating creativity with Echo Boomers

Until tomorrow......