Kid President Blog 3

Namaste!

It's actually #6 for my students, but I'm behind so I checked and the last one I did I labeled #2, so this is the 3rd one where I've decided to participate and model for them as they write their own blog posts.

I had them read #68, "Be Kind".  I think it's especially important to try and be kind to people right now, so that is why I chose it.
The helpful prompts to help the students out for this reflection were:

1. What do you think about kindness?
2. Do you find it hard or easy to be kind most of the time?
3. When is it easiest for you to be kind?
4. When is it hardest for you to be kind?
5. Was there something KP said that really stood out to you?

I think kindness is an extremely important trait to have and to show to other people.  I think grace goes hand-in-hand with kindness because you don't know what other people are going through and often need to forgive and show grace to others who don't show kindness to you.  "Killing" people with kindness is often quite an effective weapon, and when others are shown grace when they feel they don't deserve it, it can have quite a transformative effect on them.

Most of the time (I think), I find it easy to be kind most of the time.  I actually think I find it more difficult to be mean to people, but that's not necessarily the same thing.  The absence of kindness is not cruelty, and sometimes I think it's worse to be apathetic than it is to be in the negative about something instead of the positive.   As the saying goes, "there is a thin line between love and hate", but apathy is often a blurred line and it's hard to figure out how to cross it.

I think it's easiest to be kind when others are kind to you, so - obviously - it's hard to be kind when someone is being mean to you.  I do think there are people out there that make it impossible to be kind to them.  But, you need to at least try.  And, if your kindness doesn't have an affect on them, then don't be mean to them, that's when apathy is acceptable. 

Kid President's advice to pause and remember that that when someone is making it difficult to be kind to them, or are being mean to you, to remember that they are a person too.  I watched something once where a man explained what his wife did when people were just not being their best selves.  She always assumed that they did it for a very important reason.  For example, if someone cut them off in the car, she would say something about how they must be trying to get to the hospital, etc. I think that's really good advice that I especially need to heed when I'm driving.

Kid President #2

Source: Wikimedia

It's actually #3.  Or, it is for my students.  I didn't model blogging for them last time (shame on me).  But since it has been a while from my last post, I decided to do it for them today.  It's not that I haven't had anything to say.  I've just been busy.  I'm sure all of you more than understand that.  I envy those of you who are better blog stewards than I am.

So, this time around, I had my students read #8 in the book:  "Focus on the Awesome."  One thing that I think that is awesome is that my students are blogging.  They don't all particularly enjoy it yet (but they will), but one thing I've noticed about my students over the years, anything that is different = hard = don't want to do it.  Once it becomes easier for them, I anticipate that they will enjoy it.

Another thing that I think is awesome is the fact that one of the authors of the book is now following me on Twitter.  Never thought that one day I would get excited about who was following me on Twitter.  But then again, I never really thought I would be anywhere near active on Twitter either.

I'm hoping that the students will eventually not need the prompts I come up with the help them write their reflections, but here are the prompts they can mix and match for this particular assignment:

3. Reflect on #8: “Focus on the Awesome”
1. Do you agree with Brad and Kid President? Should we focus on the awesome?
2. What might be some benefits on focusing on the awesome?
3. What might make it difficult to focus on the awesome?
4. Who is someone in your life that helps you to remember to focus on the awesome?

I do agree with Brad Montague (the one now following me on Twitter) and Robby Novak.  We should focus on the awesome.  It makes you feel better mentally, which will only help you feel better physically.  It's not particularly easy to do, especially if you're predisposed to being negative.  It's going to take practice.

There are some days that will happen where it just seems like nothing is going right.  Those days might make it difficult to focus on the awesome.  But, the fact that you can survive days like that and come out on the other side is pretty awesome if you think about it.

I think Robby Novak himself is a pretty good reminder to focus on the awesome.  I especially feel this way since I've learned that he and his biological sister both have the same "Brittle Bone Disease" and were adopted by the Novaks.  If he can focus on the awesome, I certainly can.  The people who are currently in my life that help me to focus on the awesome are my best friend of 20 years, Christel, and her two boys (her youngest has a smile that can't be called anything other than awesome), and my students.  My students can also make it hard to focus on the awesome, depending on the day and/or period, but the fact that I can be a part of their lives and maybe make a difference for them is absolutely awesome.

Kid President Blog Post

I'm doing a little modeling for my classes today (two of them at least) and writing a blog as they do their first one of the school year.

Over the summer, I began to read Kid President's Guide to Being Awesome.  I thought it would be kind of neat to have my students read and respond to some of the vignettes in the book.  Today, with my 11th graders, I began that journey.

On Sunday, I went to four Barnes and Noble bookstores to get eight paperback copies of the book (one for each group in class).  Yesterday, I started the 11th graders on their blogs.  I helped them get their blogs set up and a draft post for their first blog post, which they are doing right now.

It was really cool to walk around the room and hear the students reading "The True Story of Kid President" to each other.  I'm really hoping they get something out of this.

They can write about whatever the story made them think or feel, but if my 11 years of teaching have taught me anything, it's that you need to have prompts anyways.  So, I came up with two to help those that need a little push:

1. What reason can you find to dance?
2. What could you stop complaining about? What could you start celebrating?

Source: WikiMedia

The fact that I had students reading to one another, and reflecting (in writing) during the first week of school without much push back is definitely a reason to dance. I'm kind of known for doing happy dances anyways. When students seem to take to something I took a lot of time to plan out for them, and it seems to go well, it is definitely dance time. I sometimes do it in front of the students too. Other times, I do it in my head.


I could probably stop complaining about how tired I always feel. I should probably go to the doctor and see if there is anything I can do to get a better night's sleep. That would probably help a lot. I could also work up my stamina again and do more walking. That's supposed to help sleep, or so I hear.
I am celebrating, on a small level, the fact that I did pretty well in maintaining my weight loss over the summer. I didn't really lose any more weight, but I was able to keep myself from really gaining any either. I might have even gained some muscle since many people are commenting that it looks like I lost more weight. I could also celebrate the fact that I was born without any debilitating disorders like Kid President was. I had a student a few years ago with "Brittle Bone Disease". I loved his laugh. It was infectious.