Tracking Self-Reg via #onemilliontweetmap

Doug Peterson posted a fun new interactive tool on his blog this morning: #onemilliontweetmap. The One Million Tweet Map is pretty self explanatory - it plots tweets in real time on a map of the world.

But where it gets interesting is when you start to explore some of the features. For example, you can track tweets in real time using a hashtag. I decided to track #selfreg to see where people were located who were tweeting about this topic.

Self-reg is truly a worldwide phenomenon as you can see by this map, which I took as a screenshot at just over 100,000 tweets.  While much of the activity was centred in North America, there was also activity in South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. There's even someone tweeting about self-reg in Iceland!

There are some caveats with a twitter map. Not everyone is on twitter. The Pew Research Centre estimates that about 19% of American adults aged 18+ use Twitter, and that Twitter users are more likely to be college educated and under 50 years old.

from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/demographics-of-key-social-networking-platforms-2/

But #onemilliontweetmap does give us an indication for the global spread interest of a topic.  Try searching #worldcup2018!

Your Caring Fuels Me

Diana Maliszewski titled her blog post last week, Feeling Stressed, Feeling Loved, and by the time you read about all the things she managed to accomplish in one week, you'll know why she was feeling stressed.  But then she shares a lovely story about colleagues who planned a surprise appreciation for her at the OSLA conference and she even got a cake with her face on it!

This line from her post resonated with me:

Your caring fuels me

Wow!

How many other teachers, EAs, secretaries, administrators, parents, and students are running on fumes right now? How many barely have enough energy left to make it to the end of the month, especially as the heat and humidity climb and we sweat it out in schools with no AC?

It only takes a moment to share a few words of kindness with a colleague, a parent or a student and you may just give them the fuel they need to make it through the day, the week or the rest of the month.

Note:
I found Diane's blog from a link on Doug Peterson's summary: This Week In Ontario Edublogs which is a great way to find interesting posts that I might otherwise miss.

Class lists - Reframing 'that' child

As the school year winds down, the discussions in the staff room begin in earnest about who has what teaching assignment next year and what students are on which class list.  And, unfortunately, you may sometimes hear talk about who is going to have 'that child' in their class.  The child with the challenging behaviours; the child who hits, or kicks or misses so much school that their learning is fragmented at best. Aviva Dunsiger wrote a blog in September 2017 that you may wish to share that asks us to reframe 'that child.'

Aviva says: This student is doing the very best job that he/she can. This student — like all students — deserves a positive space in the classroom. At one time or another, any child can be “that child”, and every child needs to know that he or she has the additional love and support to make it through a challenging time. 

A former principal said of Aviva's blog, This is one of my favorites. I have shared this with former colleagues in the past. “That child” was the reason I took the Foundations course in the first place. I knew there was something I was missing; something he needed that I wasn’t giving him. This would make an awesome staff meeting discussion starter.

Years ago, I went to visit a very experienced kindergarten teacher and she had a student with some really challenging behaviours in her class.  As I watched him, she said to me, "He's making me a better teacher." She was reframing his behaviour which made it a positive experience not only for the student but for her as well.

As you and your colleagues consider your class lists for next year, think about how you might reframe 'that child.'

Bullet Journal - Day 2

For the past two days I've been working intermittently on my new bullet journal and I LOVE IT!  The list making and organization combined with the artsy decorations and colour engage my right brain and my left brain. For an non-artsy person like me, it's a non-threatening way to unleash my inner creativity.  No one else is going to see it (except yes they are because I'm sharing it online). So no one is going to see it unless I decide to share it.  It's not like a painting that's going to hang on a wall.  Plus it's art but it's functional.  Why am I just finding out about bullet journals now?  I've been missing out!

Yesterday I had to take my daughter to an appointment and instead of sitting and scrolling through mindless entertainment on my phone, I just worked away in my bullet journal while I waited for her.

Here's what I have so far

In the front of the journal:

An index page. The original bullet journal instructions suggest a checkmark when a task is complete but I prefer to highlight it. It stands out more and I can still read what the task was, instead of crossing it out.  Then I left some blank pages - just in case.

My June 'title page' and monthly goals. I envision adding lots of little bumblebees, flowers and other summer pictures to this page.

Month-at-a-glance and Monthly Habit Tracker

Weekly Planner - the first week of June only had two days, so it was a good practice week for me.  Both of the things on this page need to be reworked next week because this isn't working for me.  I wanted to start planning my menu out in advance so I would have the ingredients I need on hand. Now that we live out in the country, it's not so easy to run out and buy missing ingredients on a moment's notice. And two, there would be less chance of me not having any idea what to eat for dinner and resorting to cheese and/or hummus. But it didn't work for me and this was only two days. I think what I'll try next week is just having a list of possible meals so I can have ingredients for those, and then pick from the possibilities each day. I do like keeping a food diary each day - keeps me honest!

And I didn't leave enough room for tasks.  I need more room for each day next week.

At the back of the journal, I'm keeping my ongoing tracking sheets:

Running Log - I'm hoping that I had some treadmill runs that I didn't bother to log on to the Garmin site because this is a pretty sad running log, so far.  I'm going to be much more diligent about logging my runs. I'm also going to add my training plan for the half marathon next to this page.

House Projects - every time I think of something we need to do in the house, I add it to this page.  It's going to be great to check things off this list.  Next up, is a page for outdoor projects.

What other tracking pages do you use in your bullet journal?  I'm thinking of adding a bucket list, places to visit, and books to read pages.

Bullet Journals

Have you seen all the bullet journals on Pinterest, Instagram and blog sites?  I've been searching for a better way to organize all my to do lists, calendar events, shopping lists and mental notes. When I worked full time I was pretty efficient at using my electronic calendar to track where I needed to be and what I was supposed to be doing.  I had a notebook that I kept my to do list in and I would cross out each item in highlighter once it was completed. That way I knew it was done, but I could still see what was on the list.

Since retiring, I have not had an efficient system to track all the stuff I've got going on.  I've got a gratitude jar where I write gratitudes and good news with the intention of rereading them on New Year's Eve. I've got a calendar on the fridge as well as the calendar on my iPhone to track events.  I have a list app on my phone to share lists with my husband including a grocery list, a list of house projects and a list of things we want to plant in the garden. On Facebook, I've saved posts where people have shared books that I think I'd like to read. My Fitbit tracks my steps for me. And in my head, are all kinds of other lists and things - exercise, diet, places I want to visit, restaurants and recipes I want to try, and on and on.  Needless to say, having lists and ideas in so many different places is not working.

Recently, I stumbled upon bullet journals or bujo.  They seemed like a good idea - one place to keep track of everything.  They were originally developed by Ryder Carroll and you can visit his website at bulletjournal.com  There's even a bullet journal app available now.

Some of the bullet journals on Pinterest and Instagram are works of art!  Everything is written in fancy script. People add watercolour illustrations, detailed borders, colourful doodles and it's all a bit overwhelming.

Some inspiration from chasingfoxes.com 

I don't think my bullet journal is going to be a work of art. But hopefully it will be a helpful tool for keeping all of my lists in one place.  Tomorrow is the first day of June so a new month is a perfect tie to start a new project. I find writing to be very relaxing. It helps me reduce stress and relax so I think the bullet journal will be a good self-reg practice. I can reflect at the end of each day as I journal.

Are you using a bullet journal? How is it working for you? Or are you using another method or planner to keep track of your lists? What are you using?

Some bullet journal inspiration sites:

Pencilling it in - Bullet Journals 101

9 Bullet Journal Ideas That'll Organize Your Entire Life

How to Start a Bullet Journal

5 Essential Bullet Journal Pages