Time Flies: My Wishes for the Future

By Jacqueline Boratyn – Two weeks in Rome has flown by SO quickly.  This week we saw the glorious Sistine Chapel, The Jewish Ghetto, and Santa Maria Aracoeli.

When we were sitting on the steps of Santa Maria, we were posed a question by Dr. Fine as to what we think our thoughts would be if we were to return to that very place 10 years from now. As I was journaling I realized that when I was younger ’10 years from now’ seemed like a lifetime, but as I grow older days and even years continue to go by faster and faster.

I feel like just yesterday I was arriving in Rome and I’m only days away from leaving this beautiful city. Over the past two weeks I have not only learned more about my role as a teacher, but about myself as a person and the relationships I engage in.

now before remembering a book I found when I was at home. It was a journal book that asked questions that ranged from ‘who’s your best friend?’ to ‘where do you see yourself in 10 years?’…all of which I filled out when I was 12 years old. I giggled as I flipped through the pages seeing that although my best friend Beth hasn’t changed, I don’t think I plan on getting married, having 2 kids, a dog, and my own house in the next 2 years. The concept of time to me as a child was so different than it is now…in the blink of an eye everything can change.

As I sat on the steps of the church, I remember thinking about how I can only hope to be able to return 10 years from

Ten years from now I hope to be teaching, having those kids, a dog, a house…all of which a mere 8 years ago I would have thought I would have accomplished by now. This book not only showed me the distortion of time, but how things can stay the same but change drastically as well. Although things may look the same if I were to return to this place in Rome in the future, my life definitely will be different. My experiences (such as this one) make me who I am.

I will hope to be able to make the changes in the lives of those I teach and in turn learn from them and change myself. I will hopefully learn to expect the unexpected; prepared for the worst, and hope for the best. Through doing this I will be able to see the changes I hope for in my future. I challenge every person to live every day to their fullest because those ’10 years from now’ aren’t promised to everyone…as a close person use to always say to me, ‘don’t put off for tomorrow what you can get done today’.

Space Camp: Turning Blunders Into Best-Practice

By Maureen Look-Ainsworth, Wisconsin Teacher of the Year – Imagine spinning in a Multi-Axis Trainer, experiencing microgravity and similar experiments that the astronauts went through in training to go into space!

I got a chance to participate in these activities as the 2011 Wisconsin Teacher of the Year at SpaceCamp in Huntsville, Alabama, one of the nation’s education space centers for NASA. Teachers of the year from around the nation and 14 international countries participated.  

In one of the experiments, I put on a space suit (not quite the large bulky one that astronauts use), I was tethered to a chair, put on real space gloves and attempted to piece together a scaffolding of rods and center pieces with 16 holes, somehow managing to hold onto the spacecraft as we experienced microgravity. I tried but was sometimes unsuccessful, floating helplessly, profusely sweating inside the suit, losing seconds on the clock as I blundered my way through this new experiment.

I took this last activity to heart as I prepared for the upcoming year of teaching at a STEM academy in a new, unchartered position. 

Sometimes I blunder my way through my education whether it be the lifelong learning or throughout university experience (perhaps we all blunder…).

I found refuge in a book that I am reading, “Brain Rules” by John Medina, that might also help you in preparation for this upcoming year in your educational endeavor. My endeavor is to be the most effective, highly trained educator I can possibly be and to meet the needs of the learners in my classroom as much as I can.

I see the start of the new school year as a way to create innovative, new activities that would qualify as zany and outside the box. I read books to satiate my desire for learning.  In this book, I read a highly informative yet humorous account that yields current brain research and how best to care for our brains. The author highlights 12 rules that assist us to live more effectively. We desire to become highly trained educators, to satisfy the requirements of courses and achieve the highest goals.  Basically, I want to only study half the time, with double the retention rate. Don’t you? That is an attainable goal using strategies from this book. Here are the “Brain Rules” that John Medina writes about:

• Rule #1 Exercise boosts brain power. Getting out of your bed and walking to the coffee pot doesn’t count!
• Rule #2 The human brain has evolved too.
• Rule #3 Every brain is wired differently. Study the way you learn best.
• Rule #4 We don’t pay attention to boring things. Is this boring yet?
• Rule #5 Repeat to remember. What is that girl’s phone number?
• Rule #6 Remember to repeat. How old am I?
• Rule #7 Sleep well, think well. Ahhh, sleep is never underrated.
• Rule #8 Stressed brains don’t learn the same way. Exercise the stress away, then study, remember and repeat.
• Rule #9 Stimulate more of the senses.
• Rule #10 Vision trumps all other senses. Make visuals, word webs, write on your friends’ T-shirts…
• Rule #11 Male and female brains are different. (radically!)
• Rule #12 We are powerful and natural explorers. Two year old tantrums actually are just a way for toddlers to explore the world.

In conclusion, take a look at your life, be honest about what lifestyle you are living, be self-reflective and give this year your best shot. Get sleep, exercise, eat balanced meals, study while walking, talking and generating words and you will find that studying will take half the time with twice the retention! And yes, I am a mother of 6 kids and out of our family of eight, five are in college. And Yes, we survive very well.

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2011 Wisconsin Teacher of the Year, WI National Representative and Middle School Teacher of the Year, Maureen Look-Ainsworth, graduated from Marquette with a bachelor’s degree in human development and education. She earned her master’s degree in inquiry and brain research from Carroll University in Waukesha and is now seeking to complete a master’s degree in educational administration at MU.  Maureen taught  8th grade science and engineering at Horning Middle School for many year.  This year she will assume teaching 5^th grade at Randall STEM Academy in Waukesha.

Confrontation: Counseling as a Mirror

By Trudi Arnold –

“There’s a period of life when we swallow a knowledge of ourselves and it becomes either good or sour inside.”  ~Pearl Bailey

Recently, my beliefs and attitudes about change were tested and I was confronted with the possibility that I may be all talk. Throughout my counseling education, I’ve participated in discussions about theories of change and how that influences work with clients.

To be honest, if I didn’t believe in change I wouldn’t be able to sit across from someone with a 20 year history of addiction to multiple substances, a criminal record, and background of interpersonal train wrecks and tell them they can turn life around. When I’m in that room, I put my idealism out there and pump it full of positivity in the hopes that my clients will tap into whatever strength and power they possess to take a step in a different direction. It takes a tremendous amount of humility and willpower to admit that the journey you were on isn’t the one you thought it was and ask for another map.

But then something happened in my personal life that had me in that room by myself; with myself. I came into that room after my instinctual reaction rejected the idea that people can change. The counselor part of me said, “hmmmm…let’s look at the situation and your reaction and see why you feel so icky about it…”

I found myself looking at my own behavior in much the same way I guide clients to look at theirs. It was incredibly uncomfortable. Recovery mantras echoed in my brain: “Accept people where they’re at.” “Forgiveness is priceless.” “You can’t change the past, but you can change how you react to the future.” “When in doubt, do what’s hardest.”

Why was it so hard for me to accept change in someone I know when I do it effortlessly for strangers?

It dawned on me that there are likely many things about my counseling philosophy that will show up in the mirror either within myself or in my interpersonal relationships. I can’t “just react” to things anymore because now I have this perspective on human behavior that has me scrutinizing myself. I feel like a truth has been revealed. A truth that being in a helping field takes a lot of personal investment and personal integrity. A truth that it’s impossible to hold a set of beliefs for others and another set for myself.

It doesn’t work that way. I don’t know what’s more uncomfortable: this realization or the process of figuring it out. I still don’t know whether this truth will be good or sour, but I have my education as a map. If I follow my counselor’s advice, I need to treat myself with compassion, accept myself where I’m at and use that map to react with more integrity in the future.

How the National Board Process Has Made Me a Better Teacher

By Nick McDaniels — In the Fall I started the process of becoming a National Board Certified Teacher. The National Board of Professional Teaching Standards offers a program called Take One! that allows candidates to complete one of the portfolio entries required for certification before completing the other entries. The scores for this first entry are then banked.Since I am not eligible to becoming certified yet because of my lacking years on the job, Take One! is a perfect option for me, allowing me to bank my scores until I am eligible next year.

The entry I am completing (I am in the final editing and organization phase) for the English Language Arts – Adolescent/Young Adult certification, requires me to video tape a small group activity in my classroom and then respond to specific questions about the video tape, my planning, and my reflections for my future teaching. While the work to complete the entry has been tedious and time-consuming, the process of taping and then reflecting has made me a better teacher. I have come to understand this process as self-observation.

I strongly encourage any teacher that has not video taped himself or herself teaching to do so immediately.

Welcome to the Roller Coaster: A Reflection on the First Month of Teaching

By Ashley Fahey — Wow!  September is almost over and it’s been quite the whirlwind.

Let’s do a quick recap:  I started teaching August 19^th, met 130 freshmen, learned that I probably shouldn’t assign homework I don’t want to grade for hours, gotten sick (twice), called a sub (twice), enjoyed going to school on a Sunday, gave a unit test, started another unit, proctored standardized tests and have had multiple meetings with the associate principal (who is my official observer), my mentor, the other 9^th grade science teachers and new friends.

While I’ve been doing and accomplishing so many new and awesome things, I can’t help but think about my tenure at Marquette.  Yes, I miss going to classes and learning new things, and I miss walking along Wisconsin Avenue when the leaves are changing and the smell of the breweries is finally retreating.

But, what has really been in the front of my mind is “Cura Personalis.”  Because, really, how am I taking care of my students as a whole?

Looking back on my Marquette education, I realize that one of the biggest lessons that I was taught was how to reflect on what I was doing in order to appreciate it fully.  After speaking (or having mini-therapy sessions) with many of my colleagues, I’ve learned that the first-year of teaching is a roller-coaster of reflections.

The first question that pops into my head as I walk to my car is, “So, Ash, how did today go?”  I’m thankful for my 25 minute car ride from Cedar Rapids to Iowa City, because that’s where I come to terms with my performance that day, my students engagement in my lesson, and how I’m going to fix it for tomorrow, next week, and next year.