Do you remember when addiction meant a dependence on drugs or alcohol? Today in the news, experts speak of a very different kind of addiction affecting men and women of every age, even children and teenagers.
What is our society's new addiction?
Addiction to technology, specifically smartphones.
Are you addicted to your phone? How can you know?
Beginning in 2012, according to Nielsen polls, phone users spent an average of 18 hours per month on their phones.
Beginning in 2014, phone users spent an average of 30 hours per month on their phones, and that number is increasing.
To help users assess their own usage, or addiction to their Smart phone, two apps have been developed. The fact there are apps that can track our own addictions to the very phones we are using is somewhat ironic, but users believe the apps are helping curb phone usage.
One app is called Moment. Moment tell you the number of minutes you use your phone. Users can set a daily limit for themselves and Moment notifies you if you reach your limit.
The other app is called Checky. Checky monitors the number of times you check your phone, even the number of times you unlock your device.
It allows users to share their score on social media as well as tracks locations where you check your phone. Some people report checking their phone 200 times a day or more, and even locations such as the freeway.
The belief of each of these app developers is that once users have awareness of the amount of time they are either using their phones or checking their phones, with being able to set daily limits or goals, users will spend less time on their phones unnecessarily.
Do you believe you are addicted to your phone? Maybe one of these two apps can help you spend less time on your phone and more time on what really matters to you.
Showing posts with label Slice of Life 15. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Slice of Life 15. Show all posts
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Be glad of life . . .
"Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars." -- Henry Van Dyke
After a stressful couple of weeks of student high-stakes testing involving graduation requirements for both freshmen and sophomores, I have a rare evening at home as a high school principal. After the school day ends, the second "day" of the school day begins. In the winter we have wrestling, gymnastics, Boys BB, Girls BB, Swimming, Diving, Hockey, and Cheerleading contests. We are also fortunate to have phenomenal performing arts programs, including a recent musical production of Mary Poppins and OMEA contests and concerts for Band, Choir and Orchestra. When the bell rings at 2:42 PM every day the rest of the day starts.
And so when we have an evening at home, or even on the weekends, a free afternoon, it is a wonderful time to reconnect with family, enjoy personal activities, reflect, relax and relish the opportunity to wind down, or as Van Dyke puts it, "love, work, play and look at the stars."
What does that look like for me? A picture is worth a thousand words.
"Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love. . .
and to work . . .
This video is of our recent Chamber Orchestra performance at our Winter Concert. They are amazing!
and to play . . .
and to look up at the stars."
What brings gladness to your life?
After a stressful couple of weeks of student high-stakes testing involving graduation requirements for both freshmen and sophomores, I have a rare evening at home as a high school principal. After the school day ends, the second "day" of the school day begins. In the winter we have wrestling, gymnastics, Boys BB, Girls BB, Swimming, Diving, Hockey, and Cheerleading contests. We are also fortunate to have phenomenal performing arts programs, including a recent musical production of Mary Poppins and OMEA contests and concerts for Band, Choir and Orchestra. When the bell rings at 2:42 PM every day the rest of the day starts.
And so when we have an evening at home, or even on the weekends, a free afternoon, it is a wonderful time to reconnect with family, enjoy personal activities, reflect, relax and relish the opportunity to wind down, or as Van Dyke puts it, "love, work, play and look at the stars."
What does that look like for me? A picture is worth a thousand words.
"Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love. . .
 |
| My daughter and her husband epitomize LOVE and our time together makes my life glad. |
 |
| I LOVE my work. It is a great joy in my life. Here is our student section at a recent BB game! Great kids! |
This video is of our recent Chamber Orchestra performance at our Winter Concert. They are amazing!
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| Our hockey team won the District Semi-final and needs one more win to make it in the Div I State Frozen Four! |
and to play . . .
.JPG) |
| My husband and I love to XC Ski. Here we are on the frozen creek behind our house. |
and to look up at the stars."
.jpg) |
| The stars? No. But we take great pleasure in looking at nature. Here are 4 white-tailed deer in our backyard who stayed for almost 90 minutes raiding our squirrel and bird feeders. Love it! |
What brings gladness to your life?
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Everybody is a genius, but . . .
"Everybody's a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."
In these Ohio Graduation Test and PARCC high stakes testing days, I simply cannot get this quote out of my head.
Because of these tests, are any of our students leaving their testing rooms thinking they are stupid? I am guessing the answer is yes, and as a high school principal, it pains me greatly.
What if they think they are stupid because our curriculum scope and sequence did not reach one of the topics on the PARCC Geometry? This is most likely a distinct possibility, for how do we get students ready for a test that we have never seen? Especially in the first year the test is given, despite the best efforts of our district and our staff in their collaborative Professional Learning Community work. Or in English? Or in Physical Science?
You see, by every external indicator, we are a high-performing high school. A National Blue Ribbon School, one of only 41 high schools in the nation the year we were selected and less than half of those were public. On the International PISA test, we outscored the highest performing school system in the world, Shanghai, in reading, math and science, and in Ohio, we had the highest PI score on last year's Ohio Graduation Test of any other public high school in Ohio.
We have wonderfully hard-working students, educated parents who value education, and a staff that is committed to the best Professional Learning Community principles every day, in every classroom, for every class period, for every student.
And yet, in this era of new generation assessments such as PARCC, I feel that our students are leaving the assessments feeling like a fish required to climb a tree-- hopeless.
Schools should be places full of hope, full of dreams, for every single student. IEP students. English Language Learner students, 504 students, AP students, IB students, Hispanic students, Muslim students. All students. Every student.
My daughter is a high school ELL teacher who wrote a beautiful post Defeated about her wonderful, motivated students who work so hard for her. But they too, most likely, feel like a fish being tested on how well he climbs a tree.
Normally we enter testing with staff and students brimming with confidence, for we employ best practices and our students always strive to excel.
But after now 5 days of PARCC testing, I worry and wonder, do our students feel like geniuses, for many of them have gifts seen and unseen, or do they feel like fish being judged by their ability to climb a tree. And if they do, what do we now do to better help and support them?
In these Ohio Graduation Test and PARCC high stakes testing days, I simply cannot get this quote out of my head.
Because of these tests, are any of our students leaving their testing rooms thinking they are stupid? I am guessing the answer is yes, and as a high school principal, it pains me greatly.
What if they think they are stupid because our curriculum scope and sequence did not reach one of the topics on the PARCC Geometry? This is most likely a distinct possibility, for how do we get students ready for a test that we have never seen? Especially in the first year the test is given, despite the best efforts of our district and our staff in their collaborative Professional Learning Community work. Or in English? Or in Physical Science?
You see, by every external indicator, we are a high-performing high school. A National Blue Ribbon School, one of only 41 high schools in the nation the year we were selected and less than half of those were public. On the International PISA test, we outscored the highest performing school system in the world, Shanghai, in reading, math and science, and in Ohio, we had the highest PI score on last year's Ohio Graduation Test of any other public high school in Ohio.
We have wonderfully hard-working students, educated parents who value education, and a staff that is committed to the best Professional Learning Community principles every day, in every classroom, for every class period, for every student.
And yet, in this era of new generation assessments such as PARCC, I feel that our students are leaving the assessments feeling like a fish required to climb a tree-- hopeless.
Schools should be places full of hope, full of dreams, for every single student. IEP students. English Language Learner students, 504 students, AP students, IB students, Hispanic students, Muslim students. All students. Every student.
My daughter is a high school ELL teacher who wrote a beautiful post Defeated about her wonderful, motivated students who work so hard for her. But they too, most likely, feel like a fish being tested on how well he climbs a tree.
Normally we enter testing with staff and students brimming with confidence, for we employ best practices and our students always strive to excel.
But after now 5 days of PARCC testing, I worry and wonder, do our students feel like geniuses, for many of them have gifts seen and unseen, or do they feel like fish being judged by their ability to climb a tree. And if they do, what do we now do to better help and support them?
Monday, March 2, 2015
Good things come to those . . .
Normally this quote would end, "Good things come to those who but wait." But today's quote is a new twist: "Good things come to those who go get them."
I never did understand the waiting ending of this quote anyway, but the go get 'em part, yes. That resonates and defines me so much better.
In life, I have been "all in" at every stage. I have never been able to wait and hope for good things to come; I would much rather go hard and fast after them.
I went to college on the GI Bill thanks to my WWII Marine father, my hero. His sacrifice by going in on Day 1 of Iwo Jima and his subsequent paralysis by being shot in the spine by a Japanese sniper gave me the opportunity to get a college education. It is funny that a tragic life sacrifice can lead to hope for me.
While I did not attend what most would consider a high performing high school I received a solid education. As a first-generation college student, I completed all of the forms myself and with my father's advice decided to attend The Ohio State University. The defining decision for its selection? We knew how to get to Columbus on the interstate. Ohio State was three times the size of my small southeastern Ohio hometown of Marietta and I had never set foot on campus until orientation. I had never seen a "city"so big but I immediately loved it! And with the GI Bill I had 12 quarters, no more, to graduate.
I jumped into my studies with a headfirst dive and never came up for a breath for four years. I studied, and studied, every day, every night, including Friday and Saturday night. Poor even by southern Ohio Appalachian standards, I never had enough money anyway to go out to restaurants and bars on High Street and so my life revolved around being "all in" in being the best student at Ohio State.
I graduated first in the College of Education with a perfect 4.0, had 10 consecutive quarters of 4.0, and spent my time pursuing perfection. By "going and getting" my opportunity I opened doors with other scholarships and with numerous academic honors I never thought possible.
As life has gone on, I have discovered that this pursuit for excellence, for good things achieved with hard work, was not an anomaly, Whether it was as a young Mom, as an English teacher, or now as a high school principal of Dublin Jerome High School, I have actively pursued and sought life with great enthusiasm, professionally and personally.
I have never believed that I should sit back and wait for whether life's good things could or would come to me. Perhaps it was growing up poor and realizing that life had no promises, no guarantees, no entitlement. If I wanted something I would have to work hard for it, and my Dad, my hero was my impetus. For a Marine, nothing is ever good enough. And life, he knew, would be hard. I am who I am for I am the daughter of a US Marine, the few and the proud. In the end, his toughness would become a blessing in my life, for life brings hardships and toughness is essential.
Sit and watch life go by? Not for me. Carpe diem. Seize the day. You bet. Yes, good things come to those who go get them, and I am always ready for the next challenge. I am in it to win it. For I know no other way. And for me, I hope that my drive for servant leadership as a high school principal, for the pursuit of excellence, has resulted in bettering the lives of our students, parents, and staff. I pursue the good things for them and know this pursuit has been my calling as a high school principal.
Perhaps author and motivational speaker Jon Gordon says it best:
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I never did understand the waiting ending of this quote anyway, but the go get 'em part, yes. That resonates and defines me so much better.
In life, I have been "all in" at every stage. I have never been able to wait and hope for good things to come; I would much rather go hard and fast after them.
I went to college on the GI Bill thanks to my WWII Marine father, my hero. His sacrifice by going in on Day 1 of Iwo Jima and his subsequent paralysis by being shot in the spine by a Japanese sniper gave me the opportunity to get a college education. It is funny that a tragic life sacrifice can lead to hope for me.
While I did not attend what most would consider a high performing high school I received a solid education. As a first-generation college student, I completed all of the forms myself and with my father's advice decided to attend The Ohio State University. The defining decision for its selection? We knew how to get to Columbus on the interstate. Ohio State was three times the size of my small southeastern Ohio hometown of Marietta and I had never set foot on campus until orientation. I had never seen a "city"so big but I immediately loved it! And with the GI Bill I had 12 quarters, no more, to graduate.
I jumped into my studies with a headfirst dive and never came up for a breath for four years. I studied, and studied, every day, every night, including Friday and Saturday night. Poor even by southern Ohio Appalachian standards, I never had enough money anyway to go out to restaurants and bars on High Street and so my life revolved around being "all in" in being the best student at Ohio State.
I graduated first in the College of Education with a perfect 4.0, had 10 consecutive quarters of 4.0, and spent my time pursuing perfection. By "going and getting" my opportunity I opened doors with other scholarships and with numerous academic honors I never thought possible.
As life has gone on, I have discovered that this pursuit for excellence, for good things achieved with hard work, was not an anomaly, Whether it was as a young Mom, as an English teacher, or now as a high school principal of Dublin Jerome High School, I have actively pursued and sought life with great enthusiasm, professionally and personally.
I have never believed that I should sit back and wait for whether life's good things could or would come to me. Perhaps it was growing up poor and realizing that life had no promises, no guarantees, no entitlement. If I wanted something I would have to work hard for it, and my Dad, my hero was my impetus. For a Marine, nothing is ever good enough. And life, he knew, would be hard. I am who I am for I am the daughter of a US Marine, the few and the proud. In the end, his toughness would become a blessing in my life, for life brings hardships and toughness is essential.
Sit and watch life go by? Not for me. Carpe diem. Seize the day. You bet. Yes, good things come to those who go get them, and I am always ready for the next challenge. I am in it to win it. For I know no other way. And for me, I hope that my drive for servant leadership as a high school principal, for the pursuit of excellence, has resulted in bettering the lives of our students, parents, and staff. I pursue the good things for them and know this pursuit has been my calling as a high school principal.
Perhaps author and motivational speaker Jon Gordon says it best:
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