Self Esteem = Poker Chips?

My husband, Preston, is a behavior intervention teacher at a Title 1 high school and he deals with a lot of really hard issues with his students.  I recently shared with him my plan to Raise the Responsibility in my 2nd grade classroom. He was very impressed with Marvin Marshall's Discipline for Promoting Responsibility and Learning and is also planning on implementing this system with his students. The beauty of this system is that it can be modified to work with any age student, but in order for this system to be successful, the teacher must provide positive feedback. Sometimes we may find it hard to be positive when dealing with difficult or impulsive students.

At the same time I was researching the Raise the Responsibility system, a social worker in Preston's PLN shared this compelling video on Twitter. After watching it I understood why positive feedback is so important not only for learning disabled students, but ALL students.



           

  When the chips are down
- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Today at school, as I spoke to my students as a whole group or individually, I tried to imagine that my words were the poker chips described in this video.  It really helped raised my awareness of what I was saying to the students and how I was saying it.

Be a Great Mom...Capture Memories to Last a Lifetime

I am not a scrapbooker.  I do not have black and white photos of my family displayed in stylish frames around my home.  I take a lot of pictures and post them on Facebook. I have boxes and albums full of photos taken on 35mm film from when my kids were little, but when the digital camera took over, I stopped getting prints. I'm a terrible mom!


Now that my oldest daughter will be a senior next year, I thought we better get some family portraits done before she goes off to college.  Our last family photo was taken at Walmart when she was 8! I'm a terrible mom!


So!  I asked my friend Sarah of Photography SJB to do some family shots.  My husband and I celebrated our 25th anniversary this year and I wanted some special pictures of us before we got too old-looking.  A few days ago she sent us a "sneak peek".  She is still editing the rest, but so far I am VERY happy.  Now, here's the problem:  When I finally get the disk with all of the pictures, I need to do something immediately or it will end up a drawer.  I'm a terrible mom!

But wait!  I have found a solution! CanvasPeople.com is offering a free 8 x 10 or $50 off any size canvas as a special introductory deal!  I can apply this coupon toward a larger size canvas, creative effects, or beautiful frames.  I could also get a 50% off my second canvas and 50% off shipping.  Now there's no reason why I can't get beautiful, high quality portraits to display in my home! I'm a GREAT mom! 

We're jumping for joy over CanvasPeople.com's great deal!

*All opinions are my own.  No compensation was received for this post.

** I will receive a small compensation for each sign up at CanvasPeople.com.

Look What My Husband Found *UPDATE*

*UPDATE* We made the spice mango shrimp for dinner and it was awesome.  We didn't use the chili paste, but added some red pepper flakes to help heat it up a little.  A pinch of the 5 spice is all you need - don't get too heavy handed with it.  We served it with with rice pilaf and grilled asparagus.  The vegetarians ate the sauce with veggie chicken nuggets. Thanks Rock Recipes @barrycparsons!


My husband, Preston, has aspirations of someday visiting or retiring in Newfoundland. I wouldn't mind tagging along...it's beautiful up there...Check it out:

While researching Newfoundland, Preston found this blog:

Rock Recipes has all kinds of recipes and beautiful pictures that make your mouth water!

Today's recipe for Boston Cream Pie looks pretty darn good!

Take a moment to visit this blog! Maybe you'll find something good to fix for dinner.  I'm thinking about this:

Spicy Mango Orange Grilled Shrimp
PDG...Pretty Darn Good!

FortWorthChild - A Day in the Life of Sarah Brockway

So proud of my teacher friend Sarah. She is a gifted teacher AND photographer. Check it out: FortWorthChild - A Day in the Life of Sarah Brockway