Dawdling

As a parent and a teacher, one of the things that grieves me the most is dawdling. When I assign a task, and then see the child take forever to do it, I become greived and irritated. If the child would just buckle down and DO it, they'd be done and we could both move on to something more fun. But they dawdle and whine. Usually, the task gets done eventually, but at what cost of time and energy!

My mother was a master of negative motivation. Back in the days when it was legal to spank, she wielded that power with authority. But I recall a lesson on dawdling that really struck home.

We had finished a large dinner (I believe it was Christmas or Thanksgiving) and it was my turn to do the dishes. I think I was about eight years old, perhaps ten. I thought with all that mess, I would be given the assistance of one of my sisters. (Not Mother. She didn't do dishes. That's what she had girls for.) No. It was my turn; I would do it alone. I remember standing in the kitchen which seemed full of dirty dishes. Every dish, pot and pan in the house was used and dirty. I wailed "This will take three hours!" My mother said, "I'll give you forty-five minutes. If you aren't done by then, you'll get a whipping."

Now, THAT is motivation.

I don't remember the details, but I do remember moving as fast as my little hands and feet would go. I organized, washed, dried, and put up all those dishes. I think it took a bit over 45 minutes, and I was afraid I would be whipped for overshooting the time. But I was proud of what I'd done. I really hadn't thought it possible to do it all by myself, but there was the proof.

Now, if I could figure out a way to get students to actually DO their assignments when they have class time to do it... is there a Nobel prize for education?

I taught spinning today

I had the privilege of teaching four ladies how to spin yarn today.

Yes, there are people in the 21st Century who choose to spin yarn from wool. I'm not sure what causes this type of insanity, but it's more prevalent than you might imagine.

The scene was a nice yarn and fiber shop inside a beautiful home in Elbert County. I had wanted to visit there previously, but "never got around to it." The home is located on an alpaca farm (or you could say there is an alpaca farm co-located with the yarn shop) and specializes in alpaca yarns and fibers.

Three of the four ladies had planned to rent wheels to practice on. The fourth lady said she had a wheel. But when she arrived, the shop owner and I determined that she had an antique semi-functional wheel. Neither of us could spin on it, so we strongly recommended she rent a wheel with which she could learn.

During the three hour class, I helped each of them learn how to use their wheel, how to change the bobbins, and how to make yarn. One of the ladies decided that spinning was not her thing, and that was perfectly OK. (I recently made a similar discovery in a pottery throwing class.) She was much more interested in learning how to process the fiber. That's good, because a lot of us would much rather spin or knit than wash fleeces or card them.

All four students successfully spun a singles yarn. I sent them home with a bag full of different kinds of prepared fiber to spin. They need to practice a few minutes every day, or as close to it as practicable. A follow-up class about how to ply their yarn is offered in two weeks, but they have to spin some more singles to have something to ply.

The shop owner said something very nice about me. She said I was a very "gentle soul" when it came to teaching spinning. Aw, shucks...

Writing

I have found a book that I want to recommend to the world. After I write this here blog, I'm going to pop over to Amazon.com and review it heartily.
It was available at my local public library and is entitled The National Writer's Association Guide to Writing for Beginners. It was written by Sandy Whelchel, the executive director of the National Writers Association. It's a small volume, just 94 pages plus a few appendices. I'm up to page 26, and I have already learned so much! Each chapter is short, easy to understand, and has one or two exercises that are actually fun to do.

I'm trying to write (or work on) something every day, and I'm trying to read more. I've been reading more of the magazines that litter my house. Wow, there's all kinds of cool stuff in those magazines. Maybe that's why we've been spending our hard-earned money on them.

Sandy claims that the techniques to improve fiction writing will also work for non-fiction. I don't read fiction much, so I will be writing mostly non-fiction.

One of the things Sandy discussess for improving fiction is the use of the four-way sentence to hook the reader. So, here are some four-way sentences I wrote as an exercise.
Mary watched breathlessly as her grandson Jeff tore open the brightly-wrapped birthday gift. "Cool!" he squealed, pulling on the hat and mittens she had knitted. "Thanks, Nana! These are awesome." (Lead-in for a book of knitting patterns designed for boys.)
Johnny slammed the book shut and threw it down on his desk, his handsome face a mask of disgust. "Another frickin' fifty bucks wasted. And this is supposed to be an advanced book? There's nothing in it!" (Lead-in for an article about technical manuals.)
Lynn sat up groggily in bed, blinking her dry blue eyes, barely able to think. I need some water... or Gatorade... and I've GOT to stop this diarrhea! (Lead-in to an article about gluten sensitivity.)
Jim grinned broadly as he shook hands with his new manager in the interview room. (Lead-in to an article about how computer people need to learn to market themselves.)

So, hey, it's a start. Maybe you'll see these words in articles in Reader's Digest some day!

Maybe I'll write...

I've been considering changing careers to writer instead of teacher. Say, why not both? I've spoken with some folks at CTU about returning to teaching part-time for them. But I've also been thinking about doing some real research and writing.
Here's what's brewing:
1) For many, many years, I've thought of writing up a book of knitting patterns for boys that boys will actually want to wear. Most patterns I've seen were so "cute" that the boys I have known would not have been caught wearing them past the age of 3.
2) I've noticed that the open requisitions I've seen for software engineers require skills that I don't have, and I know CTU does not cover. Perhaps no college does. I'm going to look into that. At the very least, I should let CTU know they are not preparing their computer science students for the real world. But perhaps other colleges or Wired magazine would be interested as well.
3) My husband thinks I should write technical books that explore certain technical subjects. He thinks if I write The Joy of Oracle or The Joy of Solaris they would be big hits in the system administrator segment of the population. (Yes, we are nerds. Why do you ask?) The only problem with this option is... sigh... those would be a LOT of work, and likely require major investments in hardware and software. Besides, the way Oracle has behaved since taking over Sun, there may not be a market for Solaris books in the future.

But, I have noticed that I have not gotten around to checking out with the Colorado Department of Education how to go about becoming a teacher. So I'm not sure I really want to do it. Besides, we have learned this week that our county (Douglas County Colorado) is facing a tremendous budget shortfall in education, and may lay off many experienced teachers. What a great time to try to enter the industry!

PMS

To all my sisters, biological and otherwise, who have struggled with PMS for years... I'm sorry. I thought I understood and sympathized. I didn't. Now I do.
While I've always had a bad time with the actual "period" I never really had a hard time with the pre-days. Until the last year or so.
It's so sneaky! You just get the period in the rearview mirror a week or so, it seems, and suddenly molehills turn into mountains. Chocolate is not a nice little treat, it is a necessity. AUGH! You start doubting your sanity. What the heck is going on? Why do I feel this way? OH... waitaminnit... how long has it been.... oh, damn! Now I have THAT to look forward to later in the week.
Oh well. I have also noticed one good thing about it. The last day "before" I usually have a huge surge of energy and can clean the house in one day. Helps make up for losing most of the day #2 of the cycle... Don't ask, you don't wanna know. Just don't expect to see me then.