The #Edcamp Experience

Wow....what a summer!  I am so fortunate to have a job that allows me sometime off in the summer to spend with my kids.  These two beautiful little ones keep my life interesting and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Luckily one thing that doesn't have to happen is that I don't continue to enhance my professional career even when I am not at work.  Twitter has opened up my world of Professional Learning.  To be able to connect with other educators from around the area and the country has been awesome!  I haven't been as faithful to my weekly twitter chats-but I did have the awesome experience of attending the #Edcampldr KC this week!  It was fantastic-to see the passion and excitement from educators around the area.  To see the Kansas Commissioner of Education make his way to the sessions along with BOE members, Supts, Principals and teachers galore.  It was an amazing day of learning, collaborating and enjoying.  The coolest thing about #edcamp?  Everyone is a leader-There are no planned sessions, no planned out leaders or agendas.  What you want to get out of the day you get out of the day.  If you get a chance to attend one in the future, I would recommend it.  

Thank you to those who had the passion, drive and commitment to put on such an event.  

#edcampldr Kc

-Jarred

@jfuhrman3932

Trust and Hope

Trust can be difficult.  Trust is something that can easily be broken.  Trust is something that takes times to rebuild.  We have opportunities each and every day to earn trust and gain it from individuals that we work with.  We also get the opportunity to teach trust-How do you learn to trust.  Many of our students may come from homes where trust doesn't exist.  Parents are separated, siblings are sent different ways, among other things.  There are so many situations that we may not know about that students don't know how to trust.

We as educators have a job- to teach children. Not to just teach them how to write essays, how to read, how to figure the square root of the 2nd power to the 3rd(No idea what I just wrote:)), but to teach them how to live. Teach them how to look towards the future and know that it is good.  Teach them to TRUST and have HOPE.  We have to give them that security to work hard, strive, be motivated and be Special. That is our job.

One question to ask yourself tonight:

What are you doing in your classroom to teach "Trust" and to inspire Hope?

Have a great week! 

-Jarred

@jfuhrman3932

Simplify

Everybody has things going on. In every house hold we hear things many things being said, some of them might include:

I've gotta run to the store.
I have to make sure I get the right stuff for the party tonight.
What are we doing this weekend?
I have to finish this book.
Man, I need to get my work-out in today.
Can you pick up the kids from Soccer? From dance? From gymnastics?
Can you take out the trash, pick up the house, make the bed, do the laundry, wash the dishes and make sure you pick the kids up at 5 and take them to piano practice?
I have to work tonight, finish this project and make a few phone calls.  
I have a meeting at 7am, lunch meeting and then finish it off at 3 with a conference call.

Whew--Out of breath!

As all of you know-That is just the half of it.  We have such busy lives that we never take time to enjoy it.  As I look towards 2015, I am looking to Simplify my life.  I have come up with 5 suggestions that have helped me in the past year begin that process and a few that I plan to explore to make life a little more enjoyable for me and my family.


1. Get rid of Cable TV.

I am a sports nut.  I love my KC Chiefs and my K-State Wildcats.  I love baseball and enjoying catching a St. Louis Cardinals game on Fox Sports every once in a while.  It was hard to get rid of my cable-We made a family decision to take the plunge in May.  Many times we would watch shows just to watch them, cartoons would be on all the time just to keep the kids busy while we could work.  It has made a huge difference in our lives and changed our priorities.  Yes, I do miss much of my sports, but now I get to do other things like hang out with my family and actually play games or enjoy conversations or for goodness sake- read a book.

2. Keep at least one/two days open a week.
Once your kids get older they get busier. They want to do everything-athletics, music, dance, etc.  Keep one day at least a week where no activities are allowed.  Don't work all week and then spend all day, every Saturday and Sunday at Volleyball/Basketball/Softball/Baseball/Dance(just to name a few) tournaments.  If you have weekend tournament, keep a week night open to spend time with family where you don't work.

3. Learn to say NO

I have always been a people pleaser.  I want to do a good job and many times I feel like I let people down if I tell them no.  I have learned it's ok to say NO.  You can't do everything-give some responsibility to others and say NO once in a while.  (This one is tough-you may have to practice it a few times)

4. Eat at home
"Busy" people eat out a lot.  They don't take the time to cook a meal.  Cooking and eating at home with your family can be a good time to visit, ask about each others day, etc.  (Another added bonus of no cable is we sit around the table to eat, not in front of the TV) Also if you eat at home, it will save you a little money!

5. Buy things for their usefulness, not their status
Do you really need that new car?  Do you need the biggest truck?  Did you really need that 75" TV or could you have gotten away with the 35"?  Seriously-don't purchase something just so you can be "cooler" than the other guy.  Make it simple.

 

These are just a few suggestions for making your 2015 simpler.  I'm am sure there are many more that you can think of.  Here's wishing you a 2015 that is better than your 2014!

Happy New Year and See you next year!

-Jarred

It's OK to discipline your Kids

My family is very important to me.  When I have free time I spend it with them.  I love seeing my daughter and son grow before my eyes and how they learn, how they smile and how they interact with each other.  Even as I sit here now blogging, I am watching them laying together on the couch side by side, best friends.

When dealing the happy times and all the situations where they are doing what they are supposed to be doing-I am happy!  Of course they are kids-So they will make mistakes(just like we do) and as much as I don't enjoy it they have to have consequences.  Kids need to be disciplined. I see examples every day with parents, some are friends of mine that give in constantly to their children and give them what they want.  What is it teaching them?  I have heard this.."I can't take my kids phone away, that would be social suicide!"  HUH?  or how about this one, "I can't get involved in my kids Twitter account or Facebook, it is invading their privacy."  Privacy?  They are kids---There should not be any privacy.
Here's a good article from the Wall Street Journal about Kids and Privacy online

Many situations that I see also have to do with split families.  Dad does one thing and mom does another-  It's important to put your differences aside for your children-Being selfish about what is better for you is not going to help your children.  If you ground your kid-don't send them to grandmas for the weekend so you can hang out with friends.  If you say no computer/electronics for a week-then that means no computers/electronics for a week.  If you have to stay home with your kid-stay home.  Disciplining your kids is most of the time harder on the parents than it is on the kids.

Remember:

Be consistent
Sacrifice your own wants for your kids
Don't give in too soon
Know what your kids are doing(Honestly they can have privacy when they turn 18!)

Just love on your kids- Teach them discipline, I promise they will thank you later on in life.

And Finally:

Don't be a "Friend" to your child: 

BE a PARENT

Have a Wonderful and blessed week!

-Jarred

@jfuhrman3932

Learning from my Mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes.  No one is perfect.

I make mistakes daily and reflect on them each and every day to see how I can get better.  Every day I meet with kids that have made mistakes.  Every time I meet with them I try to focus on the positive.  What can you learn from the mistake you just made?  How are you going to come back from the mistake?  Are there consequences?-YES  There are consequences for every choice we make throughout the day-some good, and some bad.  We can't help that, but we can learn something from every mistake that we make.

Don't Always hide your Mistakes

When talking to your kids, let them know that you make mistakes-They don't always need to know those, but they need to know that you aren't perfect.  They need to know that you have made them and work at correcting them.  The more you model that the more they will respond when you are talking to them about their mistakes.

For every mistake that is made there are two directions a person can go.  They can learn from it or they can not.  

Will you use it as an opportunity or Take it as a Failure?

-Jarred

Google Drive

Technology has played a large part of what we do in each of our jobs. We use it differently and frequently.  Recently in the past couple years, Social Media has expanded my knowledge with being able to add "Friends" and "Colleagues from around the country to my learning circle.  It has also made dealing with students sometimes more difficult with many more ways for kids to communicate.  

When I look at myself and see how technology has best helped me, I look directly at the move our district made to Gmail a couple of years ago.  Google Docs has changed the way I can communicate with my staff members and the way that we can collaborate when it comes to helping kids become better.  

We have meeting notes, shared documents, presentations, endless data reports, etc. that is available for whoever you want to see that saves paper and saves time.  It's not necessarily anything new, but it has really helped the way that we use technology and communicate in our building.  

-Jarred

@jfuhrman3932

When You Aren't Looking ...

I can remember back when my daughter and son were born.  It was like it happened yesterday.  I remember the first time she crawled, the first time he said "Daddy", I can even still remember the first time she looked up at me and giggled.  It's amazing what kinds of things we remember and what kinds of things we forget or miss.

Each and every day as Educators we have a chance to see something that many people don't get to see.  We see growth, we see potential, and we see innocence.  The teachers that work in my building are wonderful. They have worked hard to harness potential and be there for kids.  I strive to tell every kid that in one way or another we will help them get to where they want to go.  But we as teachers, administrators, counselors have to keep turning our heads and stay focused.  We don't want to miss anything.  Kids grow up before our eyes.  Last week I stood in front of a Senior class that I can remember as young, innocent freshman.  Now they are sporting beards and maturity.  It's crazy how fast they grow up!

In this past week, I sent my baby girl to Kindergarten and my boy to Pre-school.  It's scary for many parents to send them off into the real world to learn things and to lose their innocence.  I work hard with our teachers to focus on character, caring and showing all kids that you are there for them when they need help......

Here's praying that teachers take time to "SEE" my kids.  

Will you as teachers make this a priority?  Will Parents at home?

It goes by too fast when you aren't looking...

Have a great week---

Jarred

@jfuhrman3932