Supporting Students with Reading Difficulties in the Educational System

Supporting Students with Learning Difficulties in the Educational System on Prezi

Haiti

Haiti: the world banding together... what an incredible reminder of the importance of thinking globally in our everyday lives.

There have been so many phenomenal gestures of love, humanity, and care signifying unity of all humankind. We are all connected and sometimes it unnecessarily takes a devastating tragedy to remind us of our connection with each other, no matter our race, continent of origin, beliefs, or cultures.
Examples of heroism in this tragedy (in North America):

• Canadian government matching all donations to a maximum of 50 million dollars to go toward Haiti relief efforts
• Fundraisers in schools and other various institutions across the country
• Hope for Haiti (American- raised over 66 million and Canadian- raised over 58 million)
• Red Cross relief efforts (78 million raised- 70% going to food and water (enough water to provide 300,000 people with water everyday)- 100 relief specialists on site working with over 600 international Red Cross volunteers and 2500 Haitian volunteers)
• Volunteers from across North America helping collect materials and/or traveling to Haiti to help
• Text Haiti relief (32 million raised)
• Radio telethons
• Musical artists creating and dedicating songs for the people of Haiti and donating the profits of all sales to Haiti relief
• Families from all economic statuses making generous donations
• Speeding up adoptions of Haitian children across the world
• Many more volunteering, monetary, and material donations
• Prayers and positive energy filled with well-wishes and messages of strength from across the globe

There have been so many beautiful acts of kindness to help those suffering from this devastating earthquake, and because of advanced technology and global communications, people all over the world have seen the devastating effects of this natural disaster. This has most likely aided in relief efforts, because we have seen with our very own eyes the suffering that these people are experiencing and it is more difficult to "move on with our lives" and forget about it.
Now that the media has moved on to other things such as the Olympics, and other news in our communities, it will be easier to forget... it will take billions of more dollars, volunteer hours, and aid materials to even partially recover from this disaster whether the media is covering it or not. It is our choice to remember the unity that we have among all humankind. We are collectively responsible for our species’ success or failure and it is time that we take responsibility.

Let’s begin not only to focus on help in Haiti, but all beings that are suffering.

Let’s remember! All-days, all-ways!

Lots of Love,

Chanel and Heather

Idea

Now congratulations is in order for Heather and the newest member of her family!

A quick idea for showers, if you're having them once your baby is born: Heather did a wonderful thing, recognizing that she already had everything she needs for her and baby, and asked people to bring donations for a local charity, the Saskatoon Crisis Nursery. What an incredible amount of donations she received, along with some gifts for herself! So many families will benefit from your generosity Heather and all of those who donated!

Tryin' to make the world a little better,
Fighting Footprints

Resolutions Shmesolutions?

Now that we are a few weeks into the New Year... has anyone kept their resolutions? If you are the "making resolutions" type, always trying to better yourself and this universe, good on ya! There's a famous struggle that many people who commit to resolutions encounter... failure! Sometimes the plan to carry out the resolution may have a few characteristics that lead to "falling off the wagon" and leaving it to next year :)

A top ten list compiled by About.com of the most popular New Year's Resolutions:

1. Spend more time with family and friends- always a great goal to have when starting the New Year!

2. Fit in fitness- getting rid of the "I'm too busy to exercise" theory is a tough thing to kick!

3. Tame the bulge- yes, their words!

4. Quit smoking- definitely a goal in need of an effective plan...

5. Enjoy life more- a lot of das go by without appreciation and enjoyment! But how??

6. Quit drinking- after the holiday season it would be fitting for most... :P

7. Get out of debt- a strong goal to tackle in one year for most people, but productive habits can arise from this one!

8. Learn something new- always important to stretch your mind!

9. Help others- something this world needs a lot more of!

10. Get organized- once tackled, this can be INCREDIBLY rewarding!

New Year's resolutions are usually intended to be SUSTAINABLE and LIFE CHANGING... but when taken on with a whole bunch of other changes, without a plan, or cold turkey... they can become quite daunting, stressful, and lead to failure... failure leads to self-loathin,g self-loathing does NOT lead to anything productive! So how can we make these goals achievable? Let's explore!

The New Year always sneaks up on me some time after Christmas right before going back to work, and I am never ready to make a meaningful resolution and create a practical action plan. I never end up creating a resolution at all... this year I may be a bit late, but better late than never, right? And maybe his time, I will be able to carry out this resolution... we'll see.

LET'S MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE! Starting with our lives!

How can we keep resolutions? Ahhh... the age old question... For decades, studies, theories and programs have been developed to help people keep resolutions and stick to a plan, especially when attempting to achieve difficult goals. In North America, I would associate the aforementioned top ten list with the most difficult goals to achieve. Today we are taking helpful pieces from several recommendations to compile a helpful tool for us all to stick to goals that are important for us to achieve!

What can we do to make our plans more successful?

Really important from my experience: WHY are we trying to achieve this goal resolution? What are the consequences of failing to achieve this goal? What are the benefits of overcoming this challenge? It is much easier to attain a goal when the benefits of successfully im[plementing the change into our lives have been comsciously examined and contemplated~

Planning ahead helps us prepare physically and mentally for executing and successfully creating new habits and kicking old nasty ones! Throughout the busy holiday season, try taking some time to think about this! Or... if you're a "plan ahead" type of person, try thinking about it earlier!

When planning, setting short term goals and "checkpoints" may be helpful in actually creating habits that become part of our daily life.

When creating a plan, making sure that small steps are introduced into our existing lifestyle may help in creating a long-asting plan to achieve your goals as well! It has been discussed often that it's easier to make small changes at a time when trying to implement long term changes!

Track progress frequently... integrate some sort of appropriate progress method into your daily or weekly life in order to keep track of your sucesses and areas that you need to improve.

It takes at least 21 days to create a new habit in our lives, so if the first month is a little rocky, we need to understand that our body/mind has not learned the habit yet! Once in the habit, it is MUCH easier to maintain! Giving ourselves rewards or positive reinforcement for sticking to the plan will help us associate the successful development and implementation of our new habit with positive things and encourage us to keep going!

If this spring you have found that you have not kept on track... try again! Spring is a good time to do cleaning in your life! There's no RULE that bettering yourself can only happen at the signal of the New Year! Keep hope!

And a little encouragement from Fighting Footprints... please always consider your footprint on this beautiful earth when doing so!

Wishing you all the best in twenty ten,

Chanel and Heather :)

Photo from: Edgewater Technology Weblog

2010... Make a difference!

Let's make a difference in the ways we think and act this year, are you with us?
Which would you choose? (click on image to enlarge)



Ready to Change...

Heather and Chanel

Christmas Christmas Blessings!

Sorry it has been so long! Christmas season can change our priorities sometimes! For the better?? Let's think about it...

What an incredible time of year! Magical, really... tis the season where we can get together with the ones we love and let them know how much we appreciate them. What an incredible opportunity! I am sure many of you are stuffed to the max like moi, and feeling blessed to the nines with love and material goods. Well, I hope so. If not, you are not alone. There are SO many people struggling this year and in need of love and support. It is so important that during that this season the focus is on giving more than receiving, contrary to popular belief, but crucial to keep focused on others and giving our gifts to help others: other families, countries, family members, loved ones, strangers, etc.

This year, here are a few things we can all do to help the people in our world out:

- Donate time to organizations, assembling hampers, organizing charity events

- Give away excessively acquired material goods from Christmas that you don't need... the new definition for "re-gifting" to Community Living, Salvation Army, other community organizations... let's be real... how many of us need everything in our home and all of the gifts that we received this Christmas season? This can be a good time for house cleaning... I know I did and now my house feels a heck of a lot cleaner and I feel like I was able to give a little while feeling good about it!

- Go through your cupboards for excessive dry goods... we went through ours this holiday season and found some canned goods and other unopened non-perishable foods and donated it to an organization that our local grocery store promoted this year... all it took was us dropping by the grocery store to drop them off! Or... buying one small thing per grocery trip to donate to the organizations that your grocery store supports is also a great way to promote the spirit of giving without stressing about breaking the bank... a little at a time we can make change!

- Closets of clothes that are not worn... anything you have not worn in over 6 months... Community Living, Salvation Army or another organizations. Just do it... it will feel good, and someone will be able to make MUCH BETTER use of the items than you are!

Remember: giving doesn't always have to be material... there are MANY other ways, sometimes better ways, to show people we care.
Also: what was your give/receive ratio this year? Did you give more than you received? Can you imagine if we all gave more of ourselves than we received... what would the world look like??

Find a little way to spread some cheer!
Chanel and Heather

Before Leaving...

A lot of offices and places are closed over the holidays, and then is the time to begin making change when we start leaving the office! So many times electronics are left on, lights on, heat full blown, computers still running.... let's leave for the holidays with a conscious effort of leaving on a minimum amount of energy-sucking appliances on! Here are a few tips to check before shutting down for the holidays (if you're so lucky :P):

1. Turn off your computer AND monitor and unplug before leaving the office!
A PC left on over the holiday will use enough energy o produce 13kg of CO2 – equivalent to 3 inflatable garden Santas (which is another thing to think about before inflating them on your lawn...:P)
2. Make sure the kitchen hot water/coffee machine is turned off. The energy
needed to keep a water tank just under boiling point for hot drinks during the
break could be using enough energy to emit 240kg of CO2.
3. Switch off your office light, desk lamp, display lights and any
decorative lights as you leave. This is good practice and can save 33kWh
of wasted energy – especially if ceiling and desk lamps are not compact
fluorescent lamps - as well as removing a potential fire hazard in the form of
decorative lights.
4. Unplug any non-essential items rather than leaving on standby.
Appliances such as televisions left on standby still use energy – a 20watt
residual energy use equates to 2.5kg of CO2 emitted over the holiday period.
5. Turn off stand alone electric or wall mounted radiators at the
socket. A 3kW electric heater going flat out during the vacation can use
enough energy to produce CO2 for 77 inflatable Santas!
6. Turn off printers and photocopiers at the socket. It is good practice to
turn appliances off rather than leave them on powersave mode. A photocopier
on powersave can still require 90% of the regular standing energy
consumption, translating to 14kg of CO2 per machine over the vacation period.
7. Shut all windows and office doors. Open offices can allow fire to
spread, thefts, and thermostatically controlled room heaters to heat the rest
of the building.
8. Turn the thermostats a bit below room temperature while away... your space will warm up quickly when you return, and you will have saved a whole lot of energy!

These, and many others, could be performed daily when leaving the office... so let's start over the Christmas holidays! And possibly set a few New Year's resolutions for the world... environmentally conscious is the way to go!!

Have a great holiday season, keep your hearts warm!
Chanel and Heather