Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock 01/12/2013

<ul class="diigo-linkroll"> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://guest.portaportal.com/sbataan">Stacey Bataan's portaportal</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">a Portal build for an elementary school with links that they'll be using on each module in class. This is a nice, concise way to share links with parents for the year.</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/elementary">elementary</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/portaportal">portaportal</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2012/01/10-ways-for-living-large-in-lunch-duty.html">10 Ways for Living Large in Lunch Duty Land</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">As I look back on the best of last year and am looking month by month, this blog post about Living large in lunch duty land got quite a bit of response. Each time you are around children you have time to make a difference in the life of a child. I have lunch duty next week and instead of being crabby about it, I'm going to challenge myself to live large, interact with students and make a difference. Take a reminder about lunch duty or any duty when you interact with students. </p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/excellence">excellence</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/administration">administration</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/connection">connection</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://www.theartofed.com/2013/01/11/timesaving-trick-making-time-for-weekly-lesson-planning/">Timesaving Trick: Making Time for Weekly Lesson Planning | The Art of Ed</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">I totally agree with Jessica - designate ONE period a week just for lesson planning. Nice post and right on.</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/lesson plans">lesson plans</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://edudemic.com/2013/01/becoming-a-better-school-leader-using-the-pronoun-test/">Becoming A Better School Leader Using 'The Pronoun Test' - Edudemic</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">Nice post about the words we use.. I'm reading a book my friend Angela Maiers recommended about "Why" and this post relating to Dan Pink's book, Drive, relates to it as well. A nice post from Bill Powers over on Edudemic "Another point Mr. Pink made in regards to the WORDS we use is that many times organizations and people focus to much on How something will be completed when we should be focusing more on the WHY we are doing what we do. I can’t think of a better way to explain our purpose and drive as educators. WE should focus on WHY are WE doing this. WHY are WE teaching this concept? WHY is this an important topic to teach OUR students? WHY do WE allow OUR students choice in producing and creating to show learning? WHY did a particular student act out? WHY do we include character education in what WE do? WHY – I could go on and on."</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/leadership">leadership</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rae-pica/a-dress-code-for-teachers_b_2458791.html?utm_hp_ref=education">Rae Pica: A Dress Code for Teachers? Or Anything Goes?</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">Dress codes are touchy. My school is pretty simple - jeans only on Fridays. Men should have shorter hair. Women should be modest and not show cleavage or wear clothes too tight. I think it is vital to remember, particularly if working with adolescents that being immodest introduces an element into the classroom of sexuality that can be a distraction. While a teacher can't help if he/ she is attractive, he/she can help whether he shows too much skin. This is a hot button, but I do agree with Rae that as teachers, if we want to be treated as professionals, that we should dress as a professional. We each have to define what that means for us, but certainly, if you're dressing like you would for a date or to "look hot" I would question your motives. I had a great conversation with a male friend who is a teacher about this topic and he told me, on the request of anonymity, that he wished I would mention this from time to time. He says that he has felt very uncomfortable when staff members or teachers have nipples hanging out of their shirts or such short skirts that they are flashing and that it isn't professional but also a distraction. While he's happily married, I totally agree with him. If we want to focus on our work, let's be professionals. Be beautiful but be covered. Some may think this crude, but I've heard it before the B3 should never be free: Breasts, Belly and Bottom -- keep them COVERED. ;-) Meanwhile, read this great article on Huffington from my new friend Rae Pica. </p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a></p> </li> </ul><p class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href='http://www.diigo.com'>Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href='http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher'>here</a>.</p>

Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock 01/12/2013

Stacey Bataan's portaportal a Portal build for an elementary school with links that they'll ...

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Cookie of The Season

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFEUUVS1pv53OsIMv0Xnt1ODF86kS4wgskNN044C5iX5xJVVtggCv5eOUp8GQLSYcxdREp4Rwyc4424GktCWFlr9femjzJaxfdMrDkdIE8QQk77naTdjFGIjOS0PkK8BANLIsgr9zztBg/s1600/Alternative+baking+co.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFEUUVS1pv53OsIMv0Xnt1ODF86kS4wgskNN044C5iX5xJVVtggCv5eOUp8GQLSYcxdREp4Rwyc4424GktCWFlr9femjzJaxfdMrDkdIE8QQk77naTdjFGIjOS0PkK8BANLIsgr9zztBg/s320/Alternative+baking+co.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whoa, a cross between a muffin and a cookie! </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No way!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Cookie of the Season is called Cranberry Orange muffin cookie.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://alternativebaking.com/">Alternative Baking Company</a> has a wide selection of cookies to choose from.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They are gluten free, contain no eggs or dairy.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It not only sounds good it is good!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I love muffins and cookies and Alternative Baking Co. has made this delicious cookie taste just like a cranberry orange muffin!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Love the tangy cranberries and the citrus zing of the oranges and the crunch and nuttiness of the walnuts!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Check them out online!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/alternativebaking?fref=ts">https://www.facebook.com/alternativebaking?fref=ts</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>

Cookie of The Season

Whoa, a cross between a muffin and a cookie!  No way! The Cookie of the Season is called Cranberry Orange muffin cookie. Alternative Baking ...

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New York City Hospitals to Tie Doctors’ Performance Pay to Quality Measures - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><nyt_text style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div id="articleBody"><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">In a bold experiment in performance pay, complaints from patients at New York City's public hospitals and other measures of their care — like how long before they are discharged and how they fare afterward — will be reflected in doctors' paychecks under a plan being negotiated by the physicians and their hospitals.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The proposal represents a broad national push away from the traditional model of rewarding doctors for the volume of services they order, a system that has been criticized for promoting unnecessary treatment. In the wake of changes laid out in the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/supreme_court/affordable_care_act/index.html" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Affordable Care Act</a>, public and private hospitals are already preparing to have their income tied partly to patient outcomes and cost containment, but the city's plan extends that financial incentive to the front line, the doctors directly responsible for treatment. It also shows how the new law could change longstanding relationships, giving more power to some of the poorest and most vulnerable patients over doctors who run their care.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"I would expect that we're going to see this become more and more prevalent in compensation arrangements," said Alan Aviles, president of the city's <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/hhc/html/home/home.shtml" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Health and Hospitals Corporation</a>, which runs the city's 11 public hospitals and is the country's largest public health system, handling more than 1 million emergency room visits a year.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The corporation's plan would make doctors' raises dependent on their performance on quality measures. The details are being negotiated with the doctors' union, but both sides expect to reach an agreement that incorporates the idea.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Still, doctors are hesitant, saying they could be penalized for conditions they cannot control, including how clean the hospital floors are, the attentiveness of nurses and the availability of beds.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">And it is unclear whether performance incentives work in the medical world; studies of similar programs in other countries indicate that doctors learn to manipulate the system.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"The consequences in a complex system like a hospital for giving an incentive for one little piece of behavior are virtually impossible to foresee," said Dr. David U. Himmelstein, professor of public health at the City University of New York and a visiting professor at Harvard Medical School, who has reviewed the literature on performance incentives. "There are ways of gaming it without even outright lying that distort the meaning of the measure."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Over the next few years, the federal government will financially reward or penalize hospitals based on how they perform on benchmarks that are believed to be correlated with better patient outcomes. By aligning doctors' pay to the same benchmarks, city hospitals hope to perform well enough to qualify for federal bonuses.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Under the proposal, bonuses of up to $59 million over the next three years would be distributed to about 3,300 doctors, and would be given to physicians as a group at each hospital, rather than as individuals, so that even the worst doctor would benefit. They would amount to up to 2.5 percent of salaries, which range from about $140,000 for entry-level primary-care physicians to $400,000 for experienced specialists.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Dr. Bruce Siegel, president of the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems and a former head of the hospitals corporation, called the plan "unprecedented for American public hospitals, in terms of scale, in terms of moving us into a new model."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Los Angeles County, which has the nation's second-largest public health system after New York, does not have anything similar, said Dr. Anish Mahajan, director of system planning for the <a href="http://www.ladhs.org/wps/portal/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Los Angeles County Department of Health Services</a>. "What an intriguing idea," Dr. Mahajan said. "That's something we would hold out as a potential thing we do in the future."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Administrators at several private New York hospitals said they were considering incorporating the federal benchmarks into their salary structures, but have not yet done so on a significant scale.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The public hospital system has come up with 13 performance indicators. Among them are how well patients say their doctors communicate with them, how many patients with heart failure and pneumonia are readmitted within 30 days, how quickly emergency room patients go from triage to beds, whether doctors get to the operating room on time and how quickly patients are discharged.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Union officials said they were still fighting for wage increases, in addition to performance bonuses. The union has also proposed expanding the indicators to 20, including measures that would give doctors bonuses for going to community meetings, giving lectures, getting training during work hours, screening patients for obesity and counseling them to stop smoking. It has also proposed excluding some patients — like developmentally disabled patients, homeless people and those who have no place to go — from incentives aimed at reducing the time patients spend in the hospital.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">A union official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to upset negotiations, said doctors considered the proposal demeaning. "To say we'll stick a carrot in front of you and therefore you're going to be a better doctor is a little disingenuous," he said.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">In a written statement, Dr. Barry Liebowitz, the president of the union, the Doctors Council S.E.I.U., said it supported performance incentives in theory, if they "will improve patient care." But he called for a team approach and hinted that the union would demand more doctors and support staff.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The traditional physician incentive payments, tied to the income they generate for hospitals, have been roundly blamed in recent years for driving up costs. (The hospitals corporation had not used these incentives but, in some cases, had required doctors' groups to meet minimums for billing.) Studies have found that they can lead to excessive testing and "upcoding," or diagnosing ailments as worse than they really are, to justify more patient treatment and higher payments. Mr. Aviles said the corporation's plan would not tie payment to the volume or intensity of care.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">But Dr. Himmelstein said there were still hazards in the city's plan. He said that when primary-care doctors in England were offered bonuses based on quality measures, they met virtually all of them in the first year, suggesting either that quality improved or — the more likely explanation, in his view — "they learned very quickly to teach to the test."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"I think the most interesting finding is, things that were not measured, in a few studies, appeared to have gotten a bit worse," Dr. Himmelstein said. For instance, patients were not as likely to stick with the same doctor, possibly because they were encouraged to see whichever doctor was available — speed was one quality measure — rather than the doctor who might know them best. In another example, while the doctors reported that they had controlled blood pressure in virtually all their patients, a random survey showed no downward trend in blood pressure or strokes.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">There could have been any number of ways of outsmarting the system, he said: "If you take blood pressures three times and report the lowest, is that lying or merely tipping the numbers in your favor?"</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Dr. Himmelstein also said doctors could try to avoid the sickest and poorest patients, who tend to have the worst outcomes and be the least satisfied. But physicians within the public hospital system have little ability to choose their patients, Mr. Aviles said. He added that he did not expect the doctors to act so cynically because, "in the main, physicians are here because they are attracted to that very mission of serving everybody equally."</p><nyt_correction_bottom><div class="articleCorrection" style="margin-bottom: 2.8em; "></div></nyt_correction_bottom><nyt_update_bottom></nyt_update_bottom></div></nyt_text><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important; float: none; "></span></div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/nyregion/new-york-city-hospitals-to-tie-doctors-performance-pay-to-quality-measures.html?&pagewanted=print">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/nyregion/new-york-city-hospitals-to-tie-doctors-performance-pay-to-quality-measures.html?&pagewanted=print</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

New York City Hospitals to Tie Doctors’ Performance Pay to Quality Measures - NYTimes.com

In a bold experiment in performance pay, complaints from patients at New York City's public hospitals and other measures of their care —...

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3 characteristics of a people builder

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="zemanta-img"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Children_in_a_Primary_Education_School.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="English: Group of children in a primary school..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="225" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Children_in_a_Primary_Education_School.JPG/300px-Children_in_a_Primary_Education_School.JPG" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a></div></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;">English: Group of children in a primary school in Paris Español: Niños en una escuela elemental en París Français : Enfants dans une école élémentaire à Paris (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Children_in_a_Primary_Education_School.JPG" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">In my <a class="zem_slink" href="http://rickwarren.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Rick Warren">Rick Warren</a> devotional today he made a point about being a people builder and that you should do three things if you want to be a people builder: </div><ul style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><li>challenging</li><li>encouraging</li><li>honest</li></ul><h2>CHALLENGING</h2><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I am writing these words on the whiteboard by my desk. I think that I'm encouraging and honest but I think I have to do a better job this year of challenging both myself and you to be more as well as doing these three things with my students in the classroom.</div><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Before we can challenge others, we must challenge ourselves. I'm doing some simple challenges - every day I want to do one more pushup and one more situp than yesterday. Are you challenging yourself physically? Mentally? </div><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Are you challenging your students to do more and be more? They will rise or sink to the level of your expectations.</div><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I've got to challenge you more as you read this blog to take the actions to be the incredible, unstoppable teacher that you can be.</div><h2>ENCOURAGING</h2><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I'm all in on the Habitudes as shared in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.angelamaiers.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Angela Maiers">Angela Maiers</a>' book <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.lulu.com/content/4903951" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Classroom Habitudes">Classroom Habitudes</a>. It isn't about feeling good, it is about the research and about moving from extrensic, rewards based motivation which DOESN'T WORK (see <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkrvAUbU9Y">Dan Pink's video TED video</a> on this - embedded below) to intrinsic motivation. i.e. I am curious and want to learn more. I am persistent and will keep working even when it is hard. I am innovative and create new ways to do things.<br /><br /></div><object height="315" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rrkrvAUbU9Y?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rrkrvAUbU9Y?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br /><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I'm also in on the genius hour and Passion Driven Classroom, this totally fits with what I"m also doing with Flattening the Classroom and helping students learn to collaborate. Angela just spent two days at my school with some of the most transformative, motivating workshop teaching I've ever experienced in my life. I left with hope AND practical ideas to make my classroom a better place.</div><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">She was encouraging, but she was also honest and challenging. Angela exhibited in a masterful way all three characteristics of a people builder and I thank her for coming. If you haven't read her two books, you're totally missing out.</div><h2>HONESTY</h2><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I think sometimes in an effort to try to be an encourager that many educators have been swayed away from being honest. Not every child deserves an award AND THEY KNOW IT. Not every child deserves a good job AND THEY KNOW IT. When you praise for a job well done when the job was half done YOU ARE LYING.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Yes, find things that every child does well but BE HONEST about it. Not rude, not hurtful... honest.</div><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">It is my goal to find something that each child does extremely well. When I do this, often the "A+" grade student will come up to me and say, "Don't I do that well too?" Often these students think there is some kind of finite amount of talent in the world and when someone else has it, it is less for the A+ student. I'll often answer, "You know, you have many things you do well and you might do this well, I don't know everything about you, but right now, this person is exceptional - they've found an ability that they do extremely well, and I'm so proud we found it. Let's work to find your talents and I'm sure they are many."</div><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">By refusing the temptation to just dole out undeserved praise, my students know that I'm honest with them and they can trust me.</div><h2>Are you a People Builder?</h2><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Are you a people builder? If so, how?</div><br /><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_c.png?x-id=ac69c359-6dfe-4330-a43d-a1dbda210a4d" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>

3 characteristics of a people builder

English: Group of children in a primary school in Paris Español: Niños en una escuela elemental en París Français : Enfants dans une école é...

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Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 01/12/2013

<ul class="diigo-linkroll"> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://edudemic.com/2013/01/becoming-a-better-school-leader-using-the-pronoun-test/">Becoming A Better School Leader Using 'The Pronoun Test' - Edudemic</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">Nice post about the words we use.. I'm reading a book my friend Angela Maiers recommended about "Why" and this post relating to Dan Pink's book, Drive, relates to it as well. A nice post from Bill Powers over on Edudemic "Another point Mr. Pink made in regards to the WORDS we use is that many times organizations and people focus to much on How something will be completed when we should be focusing more on the WHY we are doing what we do. I can’t think of a better way to explain our purpose and drive as educators. WE should focus on WHY are WE doing this. WHY are WE teaching this concept? WHY is this an important topic to teach OUR students? WHY do WE allow OUR students choice in producing and creating to show learning? WHY did a particular student act out? WHY do we include character education in what WE do? WHY – I could go on and on."</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/leadership">leadership</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/01/rfid-suspension-appeal/">Student Appeals Suspension for Refusing to Wear RFID Tracker | Threat Level | Wired.com</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">The RFID tracker on student badges caused quite a stir when a student refused to wear one on religious grounds. I do think this is only the beginning, not on religious grounds but all it will take is for someone to compromise a school network and use it to locate a child for a snatch and grab and it will all blow up. Most schools, I don't think, take hacking seriously and are not equipped to handle such sensitive data. I understand the need for RFID trackers but they do make me uncomfortable. The way I read Revelations, I would refuse to have a chip of any kind put in my hand or forehead -- but I understand that she considers this a precursor to such things and indeed, she may be right. I understand her religious beliefs on this matter, however, the verses concerned are in revelations and up for interpretation, so if you're curious and want to determine what you think, you'll want to read Revelations for yourself. Meanwhile, here's a synopsis for what happened, "Sophomore Andrea Hernandez was notified in November by the Northside Independent School District in San Antonio that she would not be able to continue attending John Jay High unless she wears the badge around her neck like all students. The district said the girl, who objects largely on religious grounds, would have to attend another high school that does not employ the RFID tags. The devout Christian sued, and on Tuesday a Texas federal judge concluded the 15-year-old’s right of religion was not breached. That’s because the district, the court ruled, eventually agreed to accommodate the girl and allow her to remove the RFID chip while still demanding that she wear the identification like the other students. </p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/rfid">rfid</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/legal">legal</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/lawsuit">lawsuit</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rae-pica/a-dress-code-for-teachers_b_2458791.html?utm_hp_ref=education">Rae Pica: A Dress Code for Teachers? Or Anything Goes?</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">Dress codes are touchy. My school is pretty simple - jeans only on Fridays. Men should have shorter hair. Women should be modest and not show cleavage or wear clothes too tight. I think it is vital to remember, particularly if working with adolescents that being immodest introduces an element into the classroom of sexuality that can be a distraction. While a teacher can't help if he/ she is attractive, he/she can help whether he shows too much skin. This is a hot button, but I do agree with Rae that as teachers, if we want to be treated as professionals, that we should dress as a professional. We each have to define what that means for us, but certainly, if you're dressing like you would for a date or to "look hot" I would question your motives. I had a great conversation with a male friend who is a teacher about this topic and he told me, on the request of anonymity, that he wished I would mention this from time to time. He says that he has felt very uncomfortable when staff members or teachers have nipples hanging out of their shirts or such short skirts that they are flashing and that it isn't professional but also a distraction. While he's happily married, I totally agree with him. If we want to focus on our work, let's be professionals. Be beautiful but be covered. Some may think this crude, but I've heard it before the B3 should never be free: Breasts, Belly and Bottom -- keep them COVERED. ;-) Meanwhile, read this great article on Huffington from my new friend Rae Pica. </p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Opinion+tier+university+education+answer/7807855/story.html">Opinion: Two-tier university education isn’t the answer</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">A fascinating conversation this week about a proposal in Canada that certain universities be designated for "excellence and research" and others JUST academics. I agree with the author of this op ed that such a proposal is completely clueless that excellence can happen anywhere and everywhere greatness is combined with a person who shares openly and such greatness is no longer confined to ivory towers. Looks to me like some are trying to guarantee the existence of certain ivory towers without understanding that a fundamental shift in education is happening. I would say two tiers, but a blended be the second -- a blend of bricks and clicks and a flattening of courses between colleges that cover the same topic - one prof at a college may lecture Monday f2f with others listening from another place and another on Thursday in reverse and beyond. The combinations are endless and opportunistic as education is being increasingly divorced from the requirement to be in a "certain" location. Read more... "In a column this week, Mr. Aubin suggests that Quebec create two classes of universities — higher-funded institutions oriented toward research, and lower-funded universities that would focus only on offering a solid academic program. Using Maclean’s magazine’s ranking of Canadian universities as a basis for creating these two tiers, he puts McGill University and Université de Montréal in the first category, where they would “actively pursue excellence,” and relegates universities such as Concordia and Université du Québec à Montréal to the second, where they would “not aim for stardom.”</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/highered">highered</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/opinion">opinion</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://mashable.com/2013/01/11/yotaphone-2/">E-Ink on a Smartphone? This Android Phone Has 2 Displays</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">e-ink on one side and a full display on the other -- Yota phone -- that's right Yota will use the force its close namesake Yoda would watch with curiousity. We are moving to devices with dual displays and even different types of displays. What if an iPad was a kindle paperwhite-like display on one side for reading - a lower power requirement with an HD power-sucking display on the reverse side? Interesting. this review from Mashable talks about the Yota phone which is a fascinating thought. Either way -- e-ink is in the future for schools, don't doubt it for a moment. Librarians should be considering how students will be able to check out books on their edevices for many reasons including the inevitability of the demand. I was just talking today with a teacher talking about how Learning Ally, a company contracting to provide service for the US government talking books program, is so much better as an app on the ipad. Harbinger of things to come.</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/phone">phone</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/ebook">ebook</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/01/11/homeland-security-disable-java-security-vulnerability/1828011/">Feds warn PC users to disable Java due to security flaw</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">This is a big deal that someone better fix quickly. We are supposed to disable Java - I see many sources saying do it NOW, but in the blended classroom and one where we're using Gradebook systems like PowerSchool that are Java Based and online classrooms like Blackboard Collaborate that are Java based, we literally can't do our jobs without Java. Please, say it isn't so. Get a sick computer or not do your job. This is a problem, but I need to let you know and share this so IT directors can follow this very important issue: "Hackers could exploit the flaw to install malicious software or malware that could make users vulnerable to identity theft or allow their computers to be exploited by "botnets" that could crash networks or be used to attack web sites. "Note that applications that use the Internet Explorer web content rendering components, such as Microsoft Office or Windows Desktop Search, may also be used as an attack vector for this vulnerability," the warning adds. </p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/security">security</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/java">java</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/hackers">hackers</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/malware">malware</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/virus">virus</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://blogs.acpsk12.org/virtualbookclub/">Virtual Book Club - Flat Classroom projects</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">Kyle Dunbar is running a virtual book club. The first book is Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds. This website includes a blog that talks about the takeaways and the recordings that they are discussing. Please feel free to join in and mark your calendars - they are meeting on Tuesdays at 7:30 pm. I hope you'll join in. It is vital that you and I both connect with other classrooms around the world. Students are the greatest textbook ever written for each other - they need to connect and learn from each other. You'll meet other educators and model the kind of learner you want your students to be. If you want your students to innovate YOU must be innovative. If you want your students to collaborate YOU must be collaborative. Here's the schedule: January 7th – Meet the Flat Classroom, Chapters 1 & 2 January 21st – Connection and Communication, Chapters 3 & 4 February 4th – Citizenship, Contribution and Collaboration, Chapters 5 & 6 February 18th – Choice and Creation, Chapters 7 & 8 March 4th – Celebrating, Designing, Managing a Global Project, Chapters 9 & 10 March 18th – Rock the World</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/flatclass">flatclass</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/evernote">evernote</a></p> </li> </ul><p class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href='http://www.diigo.com'>Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href='http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher'>here</a>.</p>

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 01/12/2013

Becoming A Better School Leader Using 'The Pronoun Test' - Edudemic Nice post about the word...

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Matt Said, Jay Said 8675309

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />Matt blah-blahs … Jay blah-blahs … You pretend to listen.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgdtcrlwThUzeUYfVbJ6MGh4WhGvhd3qqxgUxOkr3RZE_e5zeqgMpcHAE628IxK0JXYVFRGCsxhoH_UCoUZpvxJ3I8MdKXDivRXQiH9ahSOwahDTZU4oQCTXNkMybVSxPLyziqwupXyQ4/s1600/Lita+Ford+Nude+Hot+Sexy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgdtcrlwThUzeUYfVbJ6MGh4WhGvhd3qqxgUxOkr3RZE_e5zeqgMpcHAE628IxK0JXYVFRGCsxhoH_UCoUZpvxJ3I8MdKXDivRXQiH9ahSOwahDTZU4oQCTXNkMybVSxPLyziqwupXyQ4/s400/Lita+Ford+Nude+Hot+Sexy.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><b>Matt:</b> How may I direct your call?<br /><b>Jay:</b> I’m calling for a Matt … Man?<br /><b>Matt:</b> One moment please.<br /><b>Jay: </b>*dances to hold music*<br /><b>Matt: </b>Matt-Man here.<br /><b>Jay: </b>Wait, put me back on hold. Love Kenny G’s version of “Kiss Me Deadly”<br /><b>Matt:</b> Sorry, it’s probably over by now, but that’s a great one!<br /><b>Jay:</b> Dude rocks!<br /><b>Matt: </b>Totally. AND … His hair is almost as awesome as Lita Ford’s!<br /><b>Jay:</b> He probably spends more time on it.<br /><b>Matt:</b> Gotta be tedious to put all those kinks in his long hair.<br /><b>Jay:</b> Probably takes all afternoon.<br /><b>Matt: </b>That’s just ridiculous.<br /><b>Jay:</b> I need a haircut.<br /><b>Matt:</b> Me too.<br /><b>Jay:</b> Okay then!<br /><b>Matt: </b>Good talk!<br /><b>Jay:</b> See ya!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><b>Matt: </b>Oh wait!<br /><b>Jay: </b>Yes?<br /><b>Matt: </b>Why did you call?<br /><b>Jay: </b>I called you?<br /><b>Matt:</b> That’s what my personal assistant says.<br /><b>Jay: </b>You’re personal assistant is probably drunk.<br /><b>Matt:</b> Noooooo … He’s a professional.<br /><b>Jay:</b> A Professional who’s been into the Scotch.<br /><b>Matt:</b> Not on what I pay him! More like Moonshine.<br /><b>Jay:</b> We had a big Moonshine bust here a couple of weeks ago.<br /><b>Matt:</b> No kidding?<br /><b>Jay:</b> Yup, FBI and ATF were all over their asses.<br /><b>Matt:</b> We have a world full of people wanting to do harm to America.<br /><b>Jay: </b>And we’re worried about hillbillies having a drink.<br /><b>Matt: </b>Welcome to America.<br /><b>Jay:</b> Where the Fun Police are in charge.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiq4yAkJGZYoHdAQTVLPPUIWN7daN3KCu0m4Qzi9q9rsFO4OJVsDoAb1IFOYKo9CCn6wEOlulS6Gn_3kv4vqKznUvA5PMnMj3TojfsQDH4Omk7-5AfQdMlblhaaBiQktO3raqkuEaCYYU/s1600/Adriana+Lima+Legs+Nude+Smile+Hot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiq4yAkJGZYoHdAQTVLPPUIWN7daN3KCu0m4Qzi9q9rsFO4OJVsDoAb1IFOYKo9CCn6wEOlulS6Gn_3kv4vqKznUvA5PMnMj3TojfsQDH4Omk7-5AfQdMlblhaaBiQktO3raqkuEaCYYU/s400/Adriana+Lima+Legs+Nude+Smile+Hot.jpg" width="266" /></a><b>Matt:</b> Hey! There’s an idea.<br /><b>Jay:</b> For what?<br /><b>Matt: </b>This week’s show. That’s why you called right?<br /><b>Jay:</b> Ohhhhhhhhhhhh …. Yeah, that’s it.<br /><b>Matt: </b>Well there we go.<br /><b>Jay:</b> Go where?<br /><b>Matt:</b> Another “Local News Show!”<br /><b>Jay: </b>That’s brilliant!<br /><b>Matt: </b>You’ve already got a story to talk about.<br /><b>Jay: </b>What story?<br /><b>Matt:</b> The Moonshiners who were busted.<br /><b>Jay: </b>Oh right! Good call.<br /><b>Matt:</b> Are you a little distracted?<br /><b>Jay: </b>No why?<br /><b>Matt:</b> Oh just wondering.<br /><b>Jay: </b>You’re acting kind of weird.<br /><b>Matt:</b> Oh sorry.<br /><b>Jay: </b>It’s okay.<br /><b>Matt:</b> Thanks.<br /><b>Jay:</b> So? Local News Show?<br /><b>Matt:</b> Hell yeah!<br /><b>Jay: </b>Okay! Got it!<br /><b>Matt:</b> Sweet!<br /><b>Jay:</b> Maybe people can call in with news in their towns?<br /><b>Matt:</b> That would be fun too.<br /><b>Jay: </b>Yeah.<br /><b>Matt: </b>Yeah.<br /><b>Jay:</b> Okay, thanks for calling.<br /><b>Matt:</b> Uh … Sure thing!<br /><b>Jay:</b> Laterz.<br /><b>Matt: </b>See ya!<br /><br />Don’t forget to tune into the “<a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2013/01/13/local-news-show-2" target="_blank">Local News Show 2</a>” on IWS tonight at 11 pm ET!<br /><div><br /></div></div>

Matt Said, Jay Said 8675309

Matt blah-blahs … Jay blah-blahs … You pretend to listen. Matt: How may I direct your call? Jay: I’m calling for a Matt … Man? Matt: One ...

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AFTER THE DARK NIGHT: HOW I PRAY THESE DAYS

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QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Calibri;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why should you care how I pray? What does my inner subjectivity have to do with yours? Certainly not that my inner subjectivity is anything to emulate. I am not an example in the sense of doing it right. But I might be an example of something larger than myself. I might be a particular expression of a whole – a whole of which we are both parts – so that each of our inner subjectivities has enough in common we can learn from each other. I do not mean that you should pray the way I pray. Not at all. But the spiritual and cultural influences that shape my prayer might touch you too in some way. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Since college days I wanted to “be spiritual.” I was spiritually competitive. I wanted to be the most spiritual person in the room. If you had done a 3-day Ignatian retreat, I had done an 8-day; if you had done an 8-day, I had done the 19^thAnnotation. I had more degrees and certificates in spirituality than most anyone I knew because I took care not to know the people who were better credentialed than I was. In addition to Shalem and all the Christian hot spots, I had been to Esalen, Omega, Kagyu Samten Choling in New Hampshire and Karma Dzong in Colorado. I had studied vipassana with Larry Rosenberg in Cambridge and shamata with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in Boulder. Does this sound like Paul recounting his mystical flights and missionary ordeals (I was a Marine for Jesus) in 2^nd Corinthians? Do you think there may have been something not quite right in my spiritual quest?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I don’t for a minute regret my prayer and meditation practices from those days. Some of them are still with me, but they are no longer the staple of my spiritual diet. These days my prayer is pretty simple. Any child can do it. I pray for people. What might that be about?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Relationships have become precious to me. It may be the loss of relationships that teaches their value. No longer having parents in this world, no longer having siblings, makes it a different place. Being an empty nester changes the home. That sounds sad; and it is sad, but also poignant. I value my marriage more. I value my ties across the miles to my children and their families. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When I was a parish priest, relationships were close and personal – especially since I stayed in the same church for 14 years and the same small city for 18. I don’t have that now. But I do know people around Nevada, and I value them more than I would have once. Driving hours and hours through miles of arid loneliness makes me look at people differently when I arrive.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So I pray differently. After the basic daily office intro including some praise, thanksgiving, and the Our Father, I pray for my ancestors, for my family, and for a list of people who are in some sort of need (for Lucy’s metabolism, Karen’s cancer, Robin’s heart). I pray for those individuals purely hoping to open a channel of grace.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I pray for the Church, especially the Episcopal Church and our PB Katharine. I pray for Joseph and the Diocese of Machakos, for Alex and the Diocese of Santiago; and then for this Diocese of Nevada, for the Standing Committee, the staff, for particular parishes and clergy who are in the midst of troubles or on the threshold of opportunities.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What is going on here? I would be quite happy to have mystical experiences again. I would like to be a tranquil, serene, soulful person both for the intrinsic value of equanimity (like lower blood pressure) as well as the status of having people say, “he’s so spiritual.” But to tell the truth, I am not nearly as interested in myself as I once was. St. Augustine said, “I have become a great problem to myself.” That was my experience. Life is better now because I am no longer my own production. I am no longer a homework assignment to be turned in for a grade. The people with whom I am in relationship matter to me -- not my ego credentials.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My prayer parallels my work. Over the years I have taken on causes. I still have causes today. “A life without a cause is a life without an effect.” But through community organizing, I have come to value the relational network of public friends even more than the causes. The danger with the causes is that it is so easy invest one’s ego in them. Then we wind up using people to further our ego-infested causes. Friendships don’t make us proud. They make us human.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am describing a shift from private heroic spirituality to relational spirituality. I don’t claim to be good at it. I wouldn’t last long in an intentional community. I tried once. Too tight for me. But whether I’m any good at it or not isn’t the point. The point is that I appreciate these people I pray for. I value them and my life is better because they are in it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Maybe it’s just me. But maybe it isn’t. The best theology I am reading these days is relational theology. Roberto Goizueta’s book, Caminemos Con Jesus is subtitled "A Theology of Accompaniment." Marcus Borg can be summarized, “It’ about the relationships.” Same thing might be said of St. Paul. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Community organizing is on the rise as a means of both missional engagement and congregational development. Parker Palmer’s Circles of Trust model is teaching us how to create safe places in which genuinely human encounters are possible. Maybe it isn’t just me. Maybe it’s us -- us at this point in our human story.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone is about the decline of community in our culture. Bill Bishop’s The Big Sort is about the division of communities into little clusters of like-minded people, what Robert Bellah calls “special interest enclaves.” No wonder we listen to Garrison Keillor’s stories of Lake Woebegone with a kind of longing. We miss human community and it isn’t just nostalgia. Human community is an incarnate expression of the unity and diversity of God, of Reality itself, represented theologically by the Trinity. To fracture into a society of scattered individuals is to lose touch with our authentic human nature, the nature of God, and the imago dei.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So for me prayer these days is about connection. It’s about caring for the well being of my “poor earthbound companions and fellow mortals.” It’s nothing to write home about. But my longing for human bonds of affection is laced with hope.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><!--EndFragment-->

AFTER THE DARK NIGHT: HOW I PRAY THESE DAYS

Why should you care how I pray? What does my inner subjectivity have to do with yours? Certainly not that my inner subjectivity...

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Fwd: New York City to Restrict Powerful Prescription Drugs in Public Hospitals’ Emergency Rooms - NYTimes.com

<nyt_text style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><div id="articleBody"><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px;">Some of the most common and most powerful prescription painkillers on the market will be restricted sharply in the emergency rooms at New York City's 11 public hospitals, Mayor <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/michael_r_bloomberg/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Michael R. Bloomberg." class="meta-per" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: initial;">Michael R. Bloomberg</a> said Thursday in an effort to crack down on what he called a citywide and national epidemic of prescription drug abuse.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px;">Under the new city policy, most public hospital patients will no longer be able to get more than three days' worth of narcotic painkillers like Vicodin and Percocet. Long-acting painkillers, including OxyContin, a familiar remedy for chronic backache and arthritis, as well as Fentanyl patches and methadone, will not be dispensed at all. And lost, stolen or destroyed prescriptions will not be refilled.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px;">City officials said the policy was aimed at reducing the growing dependency on painkillers and preventing excess amounts of drugs from being taken out of medicine chests and sold on the street or abused by teenagers and others who want to get high.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px;">"Abuse of prescription painkillers in our city has increased alarmingly," Mr. Bloomberg said in announcing the new policy at Elmhurst Hospital Center, a public hospital in Queens. Over 250,000 New Yorkers over age 12 are abusing prescription painkillers, he said, leading to rising hospital admissions for overdoses and deaths, Medicare fraud by doctors who write false prescriptions and violent crime like "holdups at neighborhood pharmacies."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px;">But some critics said that poor and uninsured patients sometimes used the emergency room as their primary source of medical care. The restrictions, they said, could deprive doctors in the public hospital system — whose mission it is to treat poor people — of the flexibility that they need to respond to patients.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px;">"Here is my problem with legislative medicine," said Dr. Alex Rosenau, president-elect of the American College of Emergency Physicians and senior vice chairman of emergency medicine at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Eastern Pennsylvania. "It prevents me from being a professional and using my judgment."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px;">While someone could fake a toothache to get painkillers, he said, another patient might have legitimate pain and not be able to get an appointment at a dental clinic for days. Or, he said, a patient with a hand injury may need more than three days of pain relief until the swelling goes down and an operation could be scheduled.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px;">Dr. Rosenau said that the college of emergency physicians had not developed an official position on the prescribing of painkillers in emergency rooms and that he appreciated Mr. Bloomberg's activism in the face of a serious public health problem. But he said pain clinics in states like Florida and California, states where prescription drug abuse is rampant, as well as the household medicine cabinet, were probably a more common source of unneeded painkillers than emergency rooms.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px;">City health officials said the guidelines would not apply to patients who need prescriptions for cancer pain or palliative care, and drugs would still be available outside the emergency room. They said that in this era of patient-satisfaction surveys, doctors were often afraid to make patients unhappy by refusing drugs when they are requested, and the rules would give those doctors some support when they suspected that a patient might be faking pain to get drugs.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px;">"There will be no chance that the patients who need pain relief will not get pain relief," said Dr. Ross Wilson, senior vice president and chief medical officer of the Health and Hospitals Corporation, which runs the city's public hospitals.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px;">Similar rules have been adopted in Washington State and Utah. Dr. Thomas A. Farley, the city's health commissioner, said opioid painkillers were not much different from highly addictive and more taboo street drugs like heroin. He called them "heroin in pill form."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px;">More than two million prescriptions for opioid painkillers are written in New York City each year, the equivalent of a quarter of the city's population, Dr. Farley said, and about 40,000 New Yorkers are already dependent on painkillers and need treatment. Painkillers were involved in 173 accidental overdose deaths in New York City in 2010, a 30 percent rise from five years earlier.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px;">Officials could not say how many prescriptions were written at emergency rooms. Libby Holman, a spokeswoman for Purdue Pharma, which manufactures OxyContin, declined to comment.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px;">Dr. Farley said the city lacked the regulatory authority to impose the new guidelines on its 50 or so private hospitals. But several private hospitals, including NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan and Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, said they would adopt them voluntarily.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px;">Dr. Hillary Cohen, medical director of emergency medicine at Maimonides, said that even now, OxyContin was rarely prescribed in the emergency room.</p></div></nyt_text><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/nyregion/new-york-city-to-restrict-powerful-prescription-drugs-in-public-hospitals-emergency-rooms.html?hp&_r=1&&pagewanted=print">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/nyregion/new-york-city-to-restrict-powerful-prescription-drugs-in-public-hospitals-emergency-rooms.html?hp&_r=1&&pagewanted=print</a>

Fwd: New York City to Restrict Powerful Prescription Drugs in Public Hospitals’ Emergency Rooms - NYTimes.com

Some of the most common and most powerful prescription painkillers on the market will be restricted sharply in the emergency rooms at New Yo...

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Smooth out your week with the Pareto Saturday Principle #productivity

<p><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "> You are the air traffic controller for all of the planes in your life. You decide what lands, what takes off, and what doesn't leave the runway. The more planes you have in the air, the more planning and automation you have to orchestrate - you have to plan the flight path. Otherwise, you will crash and the things that are important to you: your health, your family, your life will crash too.</span></p> <p>Pareto's principal is that 20% of the causes have 80% of the effects. So, there are tasks that you can do weekly that will impact 80% of whether you'll have a smooth week next week. Also, 20% of the things give you 80% of the headaches. If you can identify those things, you can structure a Pareto Saturday that will help your next week go so much more smoothly.</p> <h2>Meet your new lifeline: Pareto Saturday</h2> <p>Pareto Saturday is taking time every Saturday to do the things that will help you the most the next week. It never fails, if I do these things the Saturday before, the week is usually a MUCH BETTER week than the harem scarem, topsy turvy, cliche inducing week that I have if I don't. Some call it planning but it is more than that.</p> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggApscKH51mvD4744hW_VtghNQT842ZEqGDUVAjhxcdaUth5mJVIzi_Hf2L_upetv9f60Suf6809eRC4gJXwBqPl4uzpuf9h_RL_TA4-NPDJHJyg2BprylMP80F4biKjfNMbX8eMqo9Zl9/s1024/Photo%252520Jan%25252011%25252C%2525202013%25252C%2525208%25253A15%252520PM.jpg" target="_blank" style=""><img alt="" class="alignnone" height="667" id="blogsy-1357955179266.1138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggApscKH51mvD4744hW_VtghNQT842ZEqGDUVAjhxcdaUth5mJVIzi_Hf2L_upetv9f60Suf6809eRC4gJXwBqPl4uzpuf9h_RL_TA4-NPDJHJyg2BprylMP80F4biKjfNMbX8eMqo9Zl9/s500/Photo%252520Jan%25252011%25252C%2525202013%25252C%2525208%25253A15%252520PM.jpg" width="500"></a></div> <p>The biggest issue is that any one of the tasks I need to do for Pareto Saturday can cause a time suck vortex never to release me, so I use the 30/30 app which allows me to put items in a list and sort of "race" through these tasks. I can always PAUSE if I have to, but I keep the app open and in my face to help push me through it. I also use this app for daily planning and other tasks including my morning routine to help me focus and get things done. It is great for a person like me who has no sense of time.</p> <h3> Items on my Pareto Saturday List:</h3> <h4>1. Read over goals - 2 minutes</h4> <p>I have a note in Evernote that I can read on my ipad. If you want to achieve you must first conceive. You must conceive the goal and write it down. Then you must retrieve it and put it in top of mind. These need revision every so often, but Pareto Saturday isn't the time to do that.</p> <h4>2. Master List - Evernote - 7 minutes</h4> <p>As I shared in my last post, I use the <a href="http://www.thesecretweapon.org/" target="_self" title="">secret weapon</a> Evernote method to keep track of my active tasks. I use this time to go over all of my active projects and just review them quickly so I have them top of mind.</p> <h4>3. Trello (FCP) - 5 Minutes</h4> <p>I review the current task list in <a href="http://www.flatclassroomproject.net" target="_self" title="">Flat Classroom</a>. While many of these have evernote cards, workflow is vital when you're collaborating with teachers everywhere. I check in here to see current tasks and big projects that may need to be on my schedule for the week. </p> <p>(<em>Note, I have this organization on the side from what I do at school, which is why I do it on Saturdays, you most likely would want to keep work separate and skip this step unless you want to spend this time handling money or reviewing a major organization you may work with like a church or civic organization.)</em></p> <h4>4. Master Calendar - 3 minutes</h4> <p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">I review my master calendar in my iPad but with my Levenger Circa planner OPEN as I compare and schedule things. If it is important enough, schedule it. I have 6 things I always schedule as shown in the clip from my Laminated "action sheet" that I keep on a clipboard in the kitchen. (I keep this action sheet in my face to make sure I've done it.)</p> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC_brrGWPklN4LjWLbR_vY9cTYlEgXAQYGEcVp2wW5gDjPkd0aS8MckFO__JYwWrccNykYpjkpFBzUxTP2Y7lr-C-OJ2AADk3k6Y_dkUH5JorPIddXLPfT9OdVWHRlhKILKPfK8bjdK2cb/s960/Photo%252520Jan%25252011%25252C%2525202013%25252C%2525208%25253A24%252520PM.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="667" id="blogsy-1357955179345.1057" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC_brrGWPklN4LjWLbR_vY9cTYlEgXAQYGEcVp2wW5gDjPkd0aS8MckFO__JYwWrccNykYpjkpFBzUxTP2Y7lr-C-OJ2AADk3k6Y_dkUH5JorPIddXLPfT9OdVWHRlhKILKPfK8bjdK2cb/s500/Photo%252520Jan%25252011%25252C%2525202013%25252C%2525208%25253A24%252520PM.jpg" width="500"></a></div> <h4> 5. Levenger Updated (3 minutes)</h4> <p>Make sure that each day is planned including the Routines that are vital as shown in the chart above. I have to see it to do it. The process of setting an appointment with myself increases the likelihood I'll do it 100 fold.</p> <h4>6. Wall Calendar Updated (2 minutes)</h4> <p>I have 2 months of dry erase calendars on my wall that are color coded by the type of event. School events are in orange (our school colors), family in blue, important birthdays in green, Kip's travel schedule in purple, and so forth. This helps me communicate clearly with my family (and my teenagers that don't listen well) what is happening WHEN.</p> <h4>7. Menu Plan (5 minutes)</h4> <p>I plan my menus for the week. What we'll eat when, include eating out. I try to cook more at the beginning of the week, when I usually have a bit of energy and when I know I'm going to be exhausted by the end of the week or will have a rough day, I go ahead and plan the days we'll eat out - then I can relax and not stress.</p> <h4> 8. Write the goals for the week (2 minutes)</h4> <p>I write down on a whiteboard in the office and in an evernote note (sometimes I just take a picture of the whiteboard) my 3 (or sometimes 4) big goals for the week. So, if everything goes nuts, if I can shoot for them, I've accomplished something. The process of writing goals makes a huge difference.</p> <p>The timer stops -- then, if I can, I do one thing that makes a TREMENDOUS difference in how fast I can get dressed in the morning. I can save 10 minutes if I:</p> <h4>9. Lay out clothes for the week</h4> <p>I just clear a place in my closet and go ahead and hang the pants and clothes together. If I know the week is rough or Kip will be out of town, I always just go ahead and do this. There's no last minute ironing or anything.</p> <p>To you naysayers out here:</p> <p>I take time management books from those without kids, or with a spouse at home to attend to their every need, or unmarried under advisement. I know they have a lot to add, but really, what is there to manage? Career. Sure. But I have a job at school, 3 kids to handle, feed, and clean up after, a wonderful husband that I love to cook breakfast and dinner for, a blog to write, Flat Classroom projects to manage, books to author, 3 businesses, and a nonprofit to manage as well as making sure I know how much money we have since I have the money black hole reaching into my wallet -- 2 teenagers of driving age - or as I call them teenangers ;-) And that's not to mention what happens if someone leaves a roll of toilet paper out and the new kitten decides to make snow!</p> <p>Some of you don't think you have to do it all ahead because you're doing just fine, but I would think that there are things you can do to have more time.</p> <p>But for those of you who feel like you literally almost hyperventilate you're running so fast from place to place, this is a lifeline that will change your life.</p> <h4>Try it once and see what happens the next week</h4> <p>You can do Pareto Saturday any day, but if you give it a whirl - even if you write the checklist down, it will change your life. Note that I also apply this in my classroom with a checklist that I do on Fridays to make sure I'm ready for the next week.</p> <p>Remember your noble calling... whoever you are and especially you educators. You Rock. Let me know if this helps or if you already do something similar that works, tweet me or leave a note in the comments. </p> <p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Written by Vicki Davis, author - Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds - Posted with Blogsy from my iPad" height="20" src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" />Written by Vicki Davis, author - Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds - Posted with Blogsy from my iPad</a></div>

productivity Smooth out your week with the Pareto Saturday Principle #productivity

You are the air traffic controller for all of the planes in your life. You decide what lands, what takes off, and what doesn't leave th...

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Fatally Ill, and Making Herself the Lesson - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><nyt_text style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div id="articleBody"><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">It was early November when Martha Keochareon called the nursing school at <a href="http://www.hcc.edu/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Holyoke Community College</a>, her alma mater. She had a proposal, which she laid out in a voice mail message.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"I have cancer," she said after introducing herself, "and I'm wondering if you'll need somebody to do a case study on, a hospice patient."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Perhaps some nursing students "just want to feel what a tumor feels like," she went on. Or they could learn something about hospice care, which aims to help terminally ill people die comfortably at home.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"Maybe you'll have some ambitious student that wants to do a project," Ms. Keochareon (pronounced CATCH-uron) said after leaving her phone number. "Thank you. Bye."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Kelly Keane, a counselor at the college who received the message, was instantly intrigued. Holyoke's nursing students, like most, learn about cancer from textbooks. They get some experience with acutely ill patients during a rotation on the medical-surgical floor of a hospital. They practice their skills in the college's simulation lab on sophisticated mannequins that can "die" of cancer, heart attacks and other ailments. But Ms. Keochareon, 59, a 1993 graduate of Holyoke's nursing program, was offering students something rare: an opportunity not only to examine her, but also to ask anything they wanted about her experience with cancer and dying.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"She is allowing us into something we wouldn't ever be privy to," Ms. Keane said.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">So it was that a few weeks later, two first-year nursing students, Cindy Santiago, 26, and Michelle Elliot, 52, arrived at Ms. Keochareon's tiny house, a few miles from the college. She was bedbound, cared for by a loyal band of relatives, hospice nurses and aides. Both students were anxious.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"Sit on my bed and talk to me," Ms. Keochareon said. The students hesitated, saying they had been taught not to do that, to prevent transmission of germs. What they knew of nursing in hospitals — "I'm here to take your vitals, give you your medicine, O.K., bye," as Ms. Santiago put it — was different, after all.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">They had come with a list of questions. Ms. Keochareon was suffering from pancreatic cancer, and they had researched the disease ahead of time. They were particularly curious about why she had survived for so long. She had lived with her illness for more than six years — an extraordinary span for pancreatic cancer, which often kills within months after diagnosis.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Why, the students asked, had she managed to keep eating and keep on weight? What was she taking for the pain? How long had it taken for doctors to give her a diagnosis?</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"They ask good questions," Ms. Keochareon said one morning, her lips stained red from the liquid <a href="http://www.drugs.com/oxycodone.html" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">oxycodone</a> she was sipping frequently between doses of other drugs. "I forget half the stuff I learned as a nurse, but I remember everything about pancreatic cancer. Because I'm living it."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">For Ms. Keochareon, this was a chance to teach something about the profession she had found late and embraced — she became a nurse at 40, after raising her daughter and working for years on a factory floor.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"When I was a nurse, it seemed like most of the other nurses were never too happy having a student to teach," she said, lying in her bedroom lined with pictures of relatives, friends, and herself in healthier times. "I loved it."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; "><strong>A Last Project</strong></p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Now, her disease had left her passing the days watching Animal Planet, reading a book about heaven and calling friends — so much that her cordless phone never left her side. She also was planning meticulously for her death, down to the green wool cardigan and embroidered shirt she would be buried in. But Ms. Keochareon wanted more as she prepared to die. The project she envisioned would be not just for students, but also for her — a way to squeeze one more chapter out of life.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Spending time with the dying is not fundamental to nurse training, partly because there are not enough clinical settings to provide the experience. The <a href="http://www.aacn.nche.edu/elnec" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium</a>, a project of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, has provided training in palliative care to some 15,000 nurses and nursing instructors around the nation since 2000, focusing not just on pain management but also on how to help terminally ill patients and their families prepare for death.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">In addition, some students do rotations with hospice nurses, said Pam Malloy, the project's director. But Ms. Malloy said that nursing schools still do not focus on end-of-life care nearly as much as they should. "We live in a death-denying society, and that includes nursing," she said. "People have begun to understand it's important, but we're nowhere where we need to be at this point."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">In their conversations with Ms. Keochareon, the students learned that her symptoms had included a burning sensation after eating, for which doctors prescribed an acid blocker. Then came wrenching abdominal pain, which she said doctors dismissed as psychosomatic. She also developed diabetes, another potential sign of pancreatic cancer, and itchiness, possibly from blocked bile ducts.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">In 2006, after she had felt sick for several years, a doctor finally ordered a CT scan, and the cancer was diagnosed. Ms. Keochareon was 53 and working at a hospital in Charleston, S.C. She was told that she would probably die within a year or two.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Ms. Santiago and Ms. Elliot were outraged on her behalf. But they were surprised, they said, to learn that instead of anger or shock, the first emotion that Ms. Keochareon felt after her diagnosis was relief because she finally knew what was wrong with her.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The best advice she could give future nurses, Ms. Keochareon said in her reedy voice, was "to just dig a little deeper — you know?"</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Ms. Keochareon — who had several unhappy marriages before finding her current husband, Joe — also offered some personal advice. "Don't yell at each other unless the house is on fire," she told the students.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Perhaps more than anything, the students were learning about the challenge of managing late-stage cancer pain in a patient who had outlived her prognosis. Ms. Keochareon's cancer had spread, and there were tumors in her bones and around her throat. By early December, the pain had grown unbearable; Ms. Keochareon was hospitalized for nearly a week while doctors assessed how to control it.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; "><strong>'Let the Patient Talk'</strong></p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">At her request, the students kept visiting. The sessions provided a brief respite for Ms. Keochareon's caretakers, including Roy Christensen, a cousin who moved back from Texas last year to help, and Peggy Casey, her favorite aunt. Seeing their exhaustion, the students learned another lesson: "The patient isn't Martha per se," Ms. Keane said, "it's the entire family."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">At Ms. Keane's urging, the students eventually stopped asking questions and practiced what she called "therapeutic communication" instead.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"The way we've learned in school, and haven't applied enough, is just saying, 'I'm glad to be with you; you must be frustrated; you look uncomfortable,'" Ms. Keane said. "And let the patient just talk and talk and talk, and see where they're at."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">On a bright day shortly before Christmas, Ms. Keochareon had less to say than usual as Ms. Santiago perched on her bed.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"You look good," Ms. Santiago said softly after they had chatted for a bit. Ms. Keochareon was clearly in pain; she mustered a brief smile and closed her eyes.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"I'm ready to go," Ms. Keochareon told her, opening her eyes again.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Ms. Santiago paused. "Aw," she said, patting Ms. Keochareon's hand. "Well..."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"Don't feel bad," Ms. Keochareon added.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"I know," Ms. Santiago said, shaking her look of concern into a smile. "I know."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">She wept after leaving the room. Her father has prostate cancer that has spread, she said; Ms. Keochareon's declaration had left her thinking about him.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"I kind of wanted to break down," she said. "I know I'm going to get there with my dad eventually."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Ms. Santiago said she was afraid of death. Ms. Elliot, having seen it in her job at a local hospital, was less troubled by it. She is a licensed practical nurse who is pursuing a registered nurse degree to advance her career. Still, Ms. Elliot said that when her 81-year-old mother recently asked if she would accompany her to a funeral home to "pick stuff out and get everything ready," she recoiled.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The new drugs that doctors had prescribed during Ms. Keochareon's hospital stay failed to keep the pain at bay. She was trying another combination when Ms. Santiago visited again, shortly before Christmas, but with little relief. Ms. Santiago watched, arms tightly crossed, as Ms. Keochareon grimaced and moaned.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"In school they always teach us that pain management is the biggest thing — like, you know, we have to treat the pain," Ms. Santiago said. "With her it's like, how do you treat it? Like, you've tried everything. What else is there to try?"</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">She rubbed an anesthetic gel on Ms. Keochareon's back and, with Ms. Keane's help, tried to position her hospital bed to be more comfortable. Sunlight streamed through the window into the small, warm room; birds flitted around a feeder just outside. Ms. Keochareon briefly felt better and wanted Ms. Santiago to see her portfolio: a binder that contained her résumé, nursing licenses and letters of recommendation.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Learning from books was good, she said; learning from patients was better.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"When you look back," Ms. Keochareon said, "you associate a certain person with a certain diagnosis."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Ms. Santiago planned to return two days later. But Ms. Keochareon seemed to be saying goodbye.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"I'm sorry I went downhill so fast," she said. "I thought I could teach more."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; "><strong>Running Out of Time</strong></p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Later that afternoon, Mr. Christensen, her cousin, called with an update. Ms. Keochareon had asked for an intravenous sedative that would make her sleep, delivering her from the mounting pain. That morning's visit, it turned out, had been the last.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Ms. Elliot, who had planned to visit Ms. Keochareon after her shift that day, regretted not having asked more about how she felt about death.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"She already seemed to be at that spot where she had that inner peace about it," Ms. Elliot said that evening. "You want to ask them the questions: So what does it feel like to be dying? Do you know something we don't know?"</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Ms. Keochareon died nine days later, in the evening on Dec. 29. Mr. Christensen had asked her to wait for snow; nearly six inches fell that night, the first of the season. Only her husband was there for her death — a consequence of the weather, but perhaps also part of her plan, Mr. Christensen said.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">At the funeral, Ms. Keochareon's sister Ruth Woodard spoke in her eulogy about "just what prompted Martha to offer her situation up as a teaching tool." Ms. Keochareon deeply wanted nurses to understand her illness from the patient's perspective, she said. But that was not all.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"I notice that every time that Martha gave of herself she received far more," Ms. Woodard said. "In fact, she received a few moments of less pain and I suspect that she received life itself — a few more hours, even days, with purpose."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">When the new semester starts this month, Ms. Santiago and Ms. Elliot will return to more conventional coursework: a pharmacology class, for example, and rotations in maternity and acute care. But they will also present to their classmates what they learned in the little house in South Hadley. Ms. Santiago said she would remember Ms. Keochareon "until the day that I die" — especially her resolve.<strong></strong></p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"Who in her situation, to be like that, would call up and say, 'Hey, I want to teach a student about my cancer?'" she said.</p><nyt_correction_bottom><div class="articleCorrection" style="margin-bottom: 2.8em; "></div></nyt_correction_bottom><nyt_update_bottom></nyt_update_bottom></div></nyt_text><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important; float: none; "></span></div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/us/fatally-ill-and-making-herself-the-lesson.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0&pagewanted=print">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/us/fatally-ill-and-making-herself-the-lesson.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0&pagewanted=print</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Fatally Ill, and Making Herself the Lesson - NYTimes.com

It was early November when Martha Keochareon called the nursing school at  Holyoke Community College , her alma mater. She had a proposal, w...

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