Dream Big

Jun. 19th, 2009 11:39 am
pameladlloyd: Alya, an original character by Ian L. Powell (colorful cats)
I just couldn't resist this lolcat:

funny pictures of cats with captions
see more Lolcats and funny pictures

This is such a wonderful sentiment and fits beautifully with the message I teach my students: your attitude and your willingness to work are the biggest indicators of your future success.

I see this every day with my students. While students who come to me with strong skills have often developed the attitudes and work habits that bode well for their futures, this is not always the case, and I've found that ability is not the strongest indicator of success, but attitude. I've seen students who have had very little success in their previous attempts at education absolutely blossom because they are motivated to succeed and willing to put the effort in. It is truly a joy to be able to share with my students the steps they can take to increase the likelihood of their success, including helping them learn the skills that will support their attitude and work ethic, and to see them take those messages and run with them.

The most important message I share with my students is the value of having a positive attitude. When we tell ourselves "I can't," we make it far more difficult to achieve our goals. When we tell ourselves that we can succeed, we make success possible and easier. Also, a big part of a positive attitude is being willing to do what it takes. There's no substitute for hard work when it comes to succeeding in school, work, or in any other aspect of our lives.

Busy Week

Apr. 10th, 2009 12:49 pm
pameladlloyd: Alya, an original character by Ian L. Powell (gingerbread house love)
I'm home for the weekend, but haven't had a chance to get caught up, yet. Karl was out hunting for used books (for his business as a reseller through Amazon.com), which he does in partnership with two of his sons. I spent the morning doing laundry, a load of dishes, and some mopping. I've also got a stack of homework papers and tests to grade that's about three inches thick, so much of this weekend I'll be spending grading. Ah, the life of a teacher. :/ But, I have to say that I'm just loving what I'm doing. Karl commented one night when he picked me up from work, that even while he worries about how little sleep my schedule allows me, he loves the way I come away from work smiling and energized.

Speaking of sleep, I'm going to go take a nap. I hope that once I've got my homework done, I'll have a chance to catch up on at least the last few days of everything that's been going on with all my friends. If there's something you especially want to share with me, please either send me an email (pdlloyd at gmail.com) or leave a note in the comments.

Love to all,
Pamela

ETA: My grading is finally done. Now, all I've got to do is write a make-up quiz for students who missed Quiz #1 (including some that are new), write Quiz #2, write the mid-term exam for Thursday (we're on a modular system, so my classes are only four weeks long), and prepare my lecture notes for the coming week.

This may seem like a lot of work (it certainly feels like it), but a lot of this is up-front work that will get smaller or go away, once I've got an established base. However, this means I won't have the time to do much catching up with my friends, which makes me sad. :(

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