September, Plus August, Revisited

[all of these, plus eat more ice cream. duh.]

Most of August was spent transitioning from the wonderful, glorious summer to the return of the school year. My goals were simple, but maybe not completely obtainable:

1. Be in bed 10:10 on work nights- I'd say I basically did this, at least 90% of the time. The problem? I'm not going to sleep, whether it's because I'm on my phone or I can't turn my brain off (<-- font="" this="" usually="">

2. An average of 12,000 steps a day- Thanks to the work Fitbit challenge group I'm in every week I am able to do this. Even with that many steps (or more) I still don't usually win! I generally come in third or fourth, since we have some super active people in the group, but it's motivating and fun.

3. Yoga three times a week- I started off doing really well here, but the heat has really put a damper on things, as has choosing cardio as my exercise of choice lately. 

4. Grade summer work- YES! I left work this week with it all in the grade book. Sadly, this is probably the fastest I've ever gotten it done.

5. Spend less money- This didn't happen for two reasons. The first is because I started buying myself things to make myself happier about going back to work. The second is because I had to spend $400 on new brakes. 

September

September is a long month, but we have a lot of fun things planned and the weather is getting cooler which makes me SO happy. I'm fine with the heat when I'm off during the summer and can hang out in the pool, but now that I'm at work I want to be able to walk to my classroom to the car without sweating, not to mention that I miss our long afternoon walks before dinner. Here's what I'm hoping will magically happen this month:

1. No social media, email, or blog-reading in bed at night: I don't care about texting, because there's an actual a purpose there (twenty-first century communication, thanks), but I'm done checking Facebook or answering work email when I get into bed at night.

2. Planks every day: Man, what sad excuse for abs I had at one point are long gone. I love planks because they work you core, arms, and legs, so you get so much bang for your buck. We'll see what I can do in a month. It's important to be in the best shape possible for the holidays, so when I let myself go to shit I am really just getting back to the shape I am in right now. If that makes sense. 

3. Watch 10 TED Talks: I love TED Talks, but for some reason haven't watched any for awhile. I don't have time to watch full documentaries right now, so this is the next best thing. 

4. Finish an audiobook: I have a serious Audiobook Situation right now, which maybe I'll post about later. But finishing one this month would be progress.

5. Sign Up for a 5k or a Toe Surgery (or both?): I have been buddy-taping my useless piece-of-shit toe to the one next to it so I can run and it's helped a tiny bit, but I'm done with the pain and the inconvenience. I see the podiatrist later this month and I refuse to leave without a plan. There's a a 5k I want to do at UCLA in November, so if I haven't had surgery (if I end up going that route) I'll do it, pain and all. 

TED Talks to Watch- Inspiring Women (1)

I'm a huge fan of documentaries (see the above "Document This" tab), but it's hard for me to commit to ninety or more minutes to watch one these days. TED Talks have been the answer, though, since most are between ten and twenty minutes. I watched many over the summer and am going to start trying to show one a week in my AP Language class to compliment whatever we're studying or just as a reason to practice their listening note-taking skills. I love that there's a talk for pretty much anything. The ones I feature today are about things that I'm passionate about or interested in: women's rights, equality, health, literature, and education. I'm going to periodically try to put some of the ones I've found particularly interesting up here to share the wealth. And yes, they're all women today, but I do watch ones by men as well. 

Aspen Baker- A Better Way to Talk About Abortion (10:58)

Aspen Baker discusses the need for women who have had abortions, or any sort of difficult experience, to be listened to. She makes an excellent point about the divide between what is happening in politics, which many people get swept away in, and what happens in emotional real life. She created a foundation called Exhale to help provide women with support. Her message and advice at being a better listener was also insightful.

Yasmmin Abdel-Magied- What Does My Headscarf Mean to You? (14:01)

I showed this one to my sophomores last week and received a lot of positive feedback; they really appreciated the message on unintentional bias and seemed to take a lot of away from her talk. Abdel-Magied is an engineer in Australia but is also Muslim and wears a Hijab. She discusses how as a society we are so quick to judge others based on reasons we may not even be aware of. She is incredibly dynamic and powerful; she demands respect for others but does it a in such a way where you aren't feeling lectured. There are many activists that need to take note of her style. 

Linda Cliatt-Wayman- How to Fix a Broken School? Lead Fearlessly, Love Hard (17:07)

I appreciated this talk because I too teach at a school that has seen major changes over the last six years in order to follow the Turn Around Model (her's is a similar system, I believe). Granted, her school needed a great deal of more help than ours, I still appreciated the sentiment of a leader that worked on developing sincere relationships with students and a positive working environment. In order to do this she managed the lunchroom herself and got to know the kids and held town halls meetings for input, just to mention a few of the strategies that I most appreciated. Her passion was palpable.

Isabel Allende- How to Live Passionately No Matter What Your Age (8:16)

I'm a huge Allende fan (despite not reading near enough of her work!) and have been lucky enough to see her twice in person. This TED Talk doesn't disappoint; she talks about how our passions might change as we age but that we don't have to succumb to being elderly. The best part was when she talked about rolling Antonio Banderas up in a tortilla and eating him. 

Alanna Shaikh- How I'm Preparing to Get Alzheimer's (6:26)

There are thirty-five million people globally with some form of dementia, so the chance of ending up with it to some degree are pretty high. Shaikh is confident that she will get it due to genetics- her father has it (there are some types of Alzheimer's, like early onset, that if you test positive for the gene you're pretty much guaranteed to get it). She's hoping for a cure by the time she's older to show symptoms, but in the meantime she talks about how to prepare. She's having as much fun as she can, she's improving her physical strength, and she's trying to be a better person. She says that is "the monster wants to get you, it's going to get you," but she's not going to go down without a fight. 

All images are taken from ted.com.