tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8911029231081379492024-02-08T05:14:00.219-08:00Kathy's BlogKathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870828348395753155noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891102923108137949.post-54448190244635973322016-04-03T21:40:00.001-07:002016-04-03T22:41:29.593-07:00Using Proven Strategies to Improve Time Management<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="color: #45818e;">Time Management Improvements:</span></u></b></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As part of my coursework with Five-Star Technology
Solutions, LLC, I am completing an interesting class called; ‘Successful Online Learning’, and that course has a Time Management component where I took a
quiz on my time management skills, discovered I could improve on my prioritization of tasks, and I learned strategies for how to apply that new learning by making improvements over the past few days. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Over the last few days, I have been evaluating the choices I
make with my time based on the ‘Urgent/Important’ matrix from Grantham
University’s module because I know that I sometimes chose easy fun tasks first,
even though they may not be the most urgent or important, because I think that
I will later have time to get to less pleasant or more tedious tasks, and as a
result, I sometimes end up more rushed on those than might be desirable. I tend
to prefer to work to get five quick and easy things off of my list so I have a
feeling of accomplishment and don’t have to think about them anymore, and then work on
the two or three more demanding tasks afterwards. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Reprioritizing my time and
actions by asking myself if it is urgent and/or important has helped me chose
which of my many responsibilities to work on first. This has been helpful for
me to structure more of a schedule to meet the most urgent needs and
accomplishing them, and consider what is most important. One example was
getting the update done for the board meeting tomorrow night, and choosing to schedule
time for that over other choices. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Secondly, I also considered what was said in the TED talk on
Health and Habits from November 10, 2012, where the professor spoke on starting
with a small change that can be associated with another activity that triggers
you to do that new change, such as starting with flossing one tooth after each
time you brush your teeth and then working up to more teeth flossed over time,
rewarding yourself with cheering yourself on. He also gave the example of
starting with two pushups six times a day, and working up to ten pushups six
times a day, triggered by a regularly occurring activity, followed by praising
yourself for doing a good thing for yourself. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I actually do need to work on flossing more regularly
with brushing, so I chose this, and saw some improvement. I notice that it is
not natural for me to do positive self talk as a reward. During part of my formative years, I was
raised by a very modest grandmother who did not believe in boasting about
accomplishments, so I find myself feeling it is vain to do so, and it would be
good for me to work on allowing myself to feel proud of my accomplishments and
saying to myself that I am doing a good job on something. This was the hardest
part of the assignment for me, because I want to say to myself that I should
have been doing this good change all along, so I am negative towards myself
rather than positive, which probably does the opposite of providing an
encouraging support for the behavior. I praise others all the time, but to do
so for myself feels silly, and that was interesting to learn. I wonder how much of this response comes from a gender based culture mindset. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I also benefitted from the ’26 Time Management Hacks I Wish
I’d Known at 20’ by Etienne Garbugli. I was most intrigued by the statement to;
“Only plan for 4-5 hours of real work a day”. I have always over planned and
over booked myself, and things always come up that cause delays. Additional
processes get added, or more people are included in the process, requiring time
to coordinate and bring them up to speed, or it just takes longer, sometimes because
I do focus on quality more than completion, another mindset addressed here. I have tried to plan ten to twelve hours of
work because that is what my life seems to sometimes demand, and then I end up
staying up late trying to finish. I
probably need to work on accepting that things I would like to do may never get
done. It was further mentioned that; “More work hours does not mean more productivity.
Use constraints as opportunities,” and also stated that is it best to stick
with one project per day rather than toggle back and forth between multiple
projects. I certainly lose a little time
toggling between things as I switch gears, but sometimes I have to stop a process
to work on something that has become more urgent, or wait for another person to
contribute their piece, so while I can sometimes work on finishing one thing at
a time, I see this will still be a struggle because of constraints that are
probably beyond my control.</span></div>
Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870828348395753155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891102923108137949.post-61154260936755941932016-03-23T22:14:00.000-07:002016-04-03T22:25:01.122-07:00Observations of Responses to Various Novelties Presented to A Growing Child<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 18pt;">Response to Visual
Novelty </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Explanation of
Purpose: </span></u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This blog documents the
responses of a child, Christine, to various novelty stimuli. This is an
informal observational narrative. The writer has a background as a teacher,
holds a M.Ed., and is a mother of five children. The child shows some developmental
abilities that the writer hopes to document over time to form a basis and
understanding of the child's abilities, and perhaps at some point, an explanation
for the oddities of the child’s variations from high or advanced ability to delayed or disabled
presentations of the same skills.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Background of this
Observation:</span></u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">On March 22, 2016,
Christine, age six months, was presented with a never before seen book; <u>Flying High</u> by Sue Whiting. The book is three dimensional, with
six differently colored plastic jet airplanes, each approximately two inches in
length. All jets appeared on the cover of the book, and then, as the book is
opened, holes appear to reveal cut out spaces for the airplanes. As each page
is turned, one jet 'disappears'. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Christine has seen
airplane models before. Her father builds them and has hung some in her room,
and she has seen models during a tour of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., but
she has not seen them presented in color in a book previously. She has been
presented with other books before, but not ones with airplanes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The book was presented
directly in front of her while she was in a seated position. Once it was
presented, her heart rate increased, and she reached for the book with both
hands, with the left hand in a slightly raised position compared to the right
hand. The cover of the book was opened to reveal six cut holes on the left side
where the airplanes had been seen through from the cover side. The right side
contained the six airplanes. With her left hand, she reached for the cut out holes
first, rather than the airplanes. Approximately two seconds later, she reached
for the airplanes on the right with her right hand, and made an audible sound
of excitement, now holding each page. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As her mother verbally labeled
the airplane colors, she continued to lift her hands up and back down on the
pages in about the same location, repeatedly. At one point, she turned around
and lifted her head to face her mother. As each page was turned for her, one
airplane 'disappeared' with the previous page. When the fourth airplane
'disappeared', Christine grabbed the page with both hands to stop the motion of
the page turning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">By the last page, her
heart rate had dropped a bit, and her behavior changed from banging her hands
on the pages simultaneously as described above, to grabbing the remaining
purple airplane with her right hand and moving her fingers along its edges, her
focus more fixed on the individual airplane. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It should be noted that
each page provides a similar background of various shades of blue and colored
con trails. On one page, a cartoon crowd appeared, and Christine noticed and
looked at the crowd.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Normally, she is more
verbally expressive, but she was notably not this time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Conclusion and
Speculation:</span></u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Christine receives
occupational therapy to work on a variety of goals, but she shows considerable
ability and coordination. Christine shows some bilateral control of the
shoulder grapple muscles, brief eye contact with the reader by turning her head
momentarily, and excitability at a novel book. Her sight is sufficient for her
to immediately detect differences in book pages and cut out, demonstrated by
her quickly grabbing the cut out when the cover was turned. She responded to
the action of the pages turning by grabbing a page as it was turned, showing
planning, and a purpose of action and thought. She made only one sound of
excitement at the beginning of the book, but made no attempts to repeat or
mimic the words read to her or the colors identified for her by the reader. She
altered her behavior by the end of the book to a more focused fine motor
activity of grabbing the individual plane, closing her fingers around it, and
then moving her fingers along its edges, shows more control than her initial
action of banging the earlier pages as a whole with an open hand. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">From my studies as a
professional educator and mother, I think her behaviors show fairly typical
development, with some indications of high intelligence and coordination, which
I can address in later blogs. I might write about some of her perhaps atypical
presentations in future blogs,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">If others with a
background in infant and childhood development which to respond, please do so appropriately.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The book can be seen here on Amazon: </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">http://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=flying+high+sue+whiting</span></span></div>
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Kathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870828348395753155noreply@blogger.com2