My 3 Words

As I look back on 2015 I see trials, surprises, happiness and friendships.  I see courage, fear, and decisions.  My One Word last year was Faithfulness.  I have been challenged to seek out 3 Words that I vow to live by in 2016-(Thanks @jennifer_hogan)   So here goes....

SHINE

This past fall has been rough for me personally.  There has been many days where it's been hard to get out of bed.  My physical workouts have dimished, my diet has gotten worse, at times my attitude has not been as positive as I have been.  We are called to be the light.  Be the light that others want to follow.  Be an example.  Be positive.   My goal here is to SHINE each and every day no matter what is going on personally so others my be influenced by my actions.

SHARE

As a light-our goal is to SHARE.  Share what we know.  Support others with their goals and what they want to accomplish.  Be real and transparent. People many times will attach to people who are real. I want to share what I know and what I feel.  My goal is to be the best leader that I can be for others.

SHAPE

One struggle of mine as a leader and as a person is to share responsibilities and build leaders. I have been working on this in my personal life and with friendships, however at work I have fallen short.  As a light and leader my responsibility is to help shape others.  Whether it be a student who is struggling in Math or a teacher who has some struggles with classroom management- I have to help shape others.  My goal is to  SHAPE others so they can have the tools to go forward in their daily life.





These are my 3 Words for 2016.  I challenge you to think of your 3-How are you planning on changing lives in 2016??

Happy New Year and Blessings,

- Jarred
@jfuhrman3932

The Future...

Sometimes we forget what it means to look ahead.  We are so worried about the past, the present and what might happen.  We worry about what the future might look like and sometimes we go through our daily lives and work without a plan.  At my high school we try to take the approach of moving forward in a Vision kind of way.  Together as a staff we spent 2 years coming up with our Vision Statement and goals.  We changed, suggested, argued, and agreed on what was best for our staff and our kids. Here is what we came up with:

BLHS Vision Statement:

BLHS, through high expectations and a rigorous and relevant curriculum, will work together with the community to ensure each student will: 

*Become responsible citizens and leaders in family, community and work settings. 

*Maintain a positive lifestyle and accept responsibility for one's actions and successes 

*Develop and use effective communication skills. 

*Be provided with a safe and supportive learning environment through communication and cooperation with the community.

*Incorporate acquired knowledge while continuing to empower themselves to achieve challenging goals.


This past August we decided it was time to review these statements and see if this is still what we wanted for our students. Is this where we want our kids to be in 5 years? We came up with some interesting ideas of where we want to head to. Here is what we want our kids to accomplish in the next 5 years:

*Emphasis on Real-World Experiences for Struggling learners *Career Pathways courses drive curriculum *Further our ability to prepare students for career pathways *Digital Literacy for all students *Continue to be innovative *Students will become self starters and more independent learners *Students understand how to be civil with one another *Helping students learn to communicate digitally  *Service learning projects available for students * BLHS CTE programs lead into career placement, vocational training, professional cert. *Be the premier Career and Tech Ed. school in the KC Metro *Cross Curricular opportunities *Higher level classes *Technology is the tool not the goal *Digital Citizenship for all students*Graduate financially literate students *Increased student accountability *Helping less academic students find their careers *Focus on personal accountability, personal care for others *Integration of technology *Encourage students to be self-motivated and take control of their own education *Peer-counseling and acceptance *Become responsible citizens without losing personal identity *Challenge based learning *Students become critical thinkers *Having lessons built around career possibilities *Let kids take risks without fear of failure

I feel blessed to work with such an awesome staff. To see the vision of the staff moving forward for our kids. It is great to see that our group of teachers do care for them and can envision what each and every kid is going to need to be successful in the future.

The Question is-What is your Vision? What is your Dream? Are you worried about what might happen or are you working together to put some plans in place.

Do you see 2 cardboard boxes or do you see 2 Airplanes 

ready to take off??

-Jarred

@jfuhrman3932

Social Media is not the enemy....

Social Media is not the enemy...

Social Media is not the enemy. Say it one more time-Social media is not the enemy.
We as educators and parents in today's world think that many times Social Media is the problem with our world and the reason our kids are getting in trouble, getting picked on, etc.

But I will pose these questions to you as a parent or an educator:

Have you ever talked to your kids about proper use of Social Media?

Do you check your son/daughter's social media accounts?

Do your kids have access to it and do they really need it? Why are they using it?

Are you setting good examples on your Social Media?

Do you use Social Media?

True- Many people around the country mis-use Social Media.  They use it for bullying, taunting, and telling lies about other people and themselves. They also can hurt themselves by posting inappropriate words, pictures and videos and can cost themselves jobs, scholarships and even relationships.  Movie stars and so called celebrities use it to sell themselves or to put down others.

Is this the fault of Social Media????

The world today is changing every second.  More people are on Facebook than live in China.  Twitter is where all my professional development comes from. Many times all it takes it a quick "tweet" to connect around the world.  We need to help educate not only our students-But Educate OURSELVES on how to use Social Media.  

Don't let your kids go in blind when using Social Media

Social media is not the enemy. We as adults need to take responsibility to teach our children values, how to use Social media properly, how to talk to people, how to be respectful, how to be loving towards others.  Don't use Social Media as an excuse, don't say you don't have time, don't say you don't want to be in your child's private life.

Social media is a tool that we as responsible adults and students can use to learn, enhance our future and share our story.

How will you use it?  

It's all about them...

Have an awesome week!   

Please feel free to leave comments below & Follow me on twitter- @jfuhrman3932

Jarred

@jfuhrman3932

Things HS kids should know(and my video debut)

I thought this month I would switch it up and try the video thing.  Here are a few thoughts after the first week of school at BLHS.  Click on the link below to check out!



My first VLOG Experience.





Thanks for Comments!

-Jarred

@jfuhrman3932

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