Stressed!

We had a great lesson on stress today, and boy, did I need it!  With reading assignments increasing in two classes and my microteaching approaching, I'm getting stressed!  I wonder if my stress level has anything to do with my weight gain over the past year.  I knew about the stretching and breathing method for reducing stress but this was a great reminder for me to put it in practice.

We also had an interesting lesson about media influencing our ideas for beauty and health, especially regarding females.  They did a great job.  This will be an important topic for elementary students and high schoolers alike.

We got a chance to see the Mr. Yuk box today.  It truly is yukky for him to make medicines and poisons that look so good to youngsters.  Even adults sometimes have difficulty making the necessary distinctions.  I will save the resource links in case I have the opportunity to present this information to kids.

Mindset, by Carol Dweck, PH.D. was a good read.  Belief in myself and my ability to learn new things, to have new experiences, to tackle new jobs, to take risks, to reach for the brass ring, are ideas I believe in.  I always have.  Look at me - 61 years old and beginning a new carreer - doing what I believe I was meant to do - teaching.  I don't wish to label others, but I have observed people with both types of mindsets, fixed and growth.  People would doubtless be reluctant to admit to having a fixed mindset.  When I teach in an elementary school I will have the opportunity to influence children towards the growth mindset.  This is one way I could change a life.