Smart Phone Apps that Keep You Learning Behind the Wheel

If you are often mindlessly behind the wheel of your car logging windshield time, perhaps with the radio on or maybe in silence, you could be missing an opportunity to engage your mind with positive or enlightening messages. Last year I read something Larry Winget wrote in one of his books about using driving time as another chance to learn.

Since then, I have used several different apps with my Android smartphone to listen and learn while in the car. I commute to my teaching job 40 minutes each day, and the average nonfiction audiobook is six hours in length. If I play an audio book on my way to and from school for each of the 190 days I make the trip, over the course of the school year, I will go through roughly 21 books!

These are the best and most used free apps I use to beam content to my Bluetooth connected radio:

Overdrive Media Console. This app will connect to your public library's audiobook collection and play them with a very nice interface. You are limited to your library's offerings just like you would be for regular books to check out, but if your library has a decent stock of titles, you'll be set. There are over 22,000 libraries that use the system, so chances are good you're a member of one. The other nice thing is that the audiobooks are automatically returned if you don't renew them... No late fees!

Umano. This app is unique in that it offers a curated list of interesting articles from major publications on many different subjects narrated by professional voice actors. I have found many thought provoking and interesting items using Umano. The people employed to read do a quite respectable job. At one time, I had a search in place for inspirational items. The app didn't disappoint, offering a wide array of news and general interest items that fit the category.

uListen is my current "go to" app in the car. It is just great. There are thousands of videos on the youtube with motivating, inspiring, informational, and fascinating topics. Many of these videos are perfectly understandable with no video playing at all (like taped motivational seminars) or are already audio only. uListen will search all of YouTube and will play only the audio from any given video. On the road, cell towers can be spread out. No video means less bandwidth and a smooth playback experience despite poor reception!

Stitcher bills itself as a kind of internet radio. What it actually is is a streaming podcast app with a wide array of content in 18 different subject areas, from current events to religion and spirituality. I like Stitcher because of its streaming platform. Podcasted shows aren't downloaded and don't take space on my phone. Episodes are also dynamically refreshed to the most current without my help. The app also allows the creation of a list of "favorites" to return to time after time.

Do you have favorites in this genre of app? Please share below. I'd love to hear from you!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Talk Positive to Me!

If I'm not careful, I can be a pretty negative talker. I can get down on the person I talk to the most, and can be a brutally negative force in his life. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but it's true.

And that person is me. All of us carry on more conversations with ourselves than with any other person. Of all the continual banter going on between the ears, a good portion of it can be quite negative.

• I'm not going to do well...
• I'm not ready for...
• I'm too this or I'm too that.
• I can't....
• This is too hard...
• I don't want...

A student who does well in her classes and studies hard for a big test may walk into the classroom on test day saying things like "I hope I do well. I'm not a good test taker." Or "I don't want to bomb this too badly!" That negative self talk programs the mind to go in the opposite direction of the desired result. Of course she wants to do well! In an attempt to lower expectations in her mind to cushion the blow of a possible lower grade, she is opening the door to poor performance. Instead, walking into the classroom with an attitude of "I got this!" leaves no room for negativity.

On the golf course, a golfer tees up the ball and promptly hooks it into the lake. Walking back the the cart he exclaims loudly, "I knew I was going to do that!" (In the interest of full disclosure, I have done AND said this a few times over the years...) Well goodness. If he knew he was going to do it while standing over the ball, why didn't he back away, set his mind on the positive thought of hitting it down the middle of the fairway, and let it rip? I can attest that clearing negative self talk usually works in this case!

To go one step further, imagine all your negative self talk and doubt projected externally to other people. Yuck! Why do you think it is that we can be so outwardly positive but so inwardly negative?
 
Keep your head full of positive information and positive messages. It takes work, but keep your noggin full of ideas from positive and motivating people. As Zig Ziglar was fond of saying, you are who you are and where you are because of what you've put into your head.

Read good books, read the Bible, find inspiration and keep the negative self talk at bay. in doing this, you will be able to more easily recognize then repell negative self talk when it creeps into your head.

Posted with Blogsy

Digging for the Good

Andrew Carnegie was one of the richest men in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. He made his millions with keen business acumen and a sharp eye for developing the skill and effectiveness of the people around him. In fact, at one point, he had 43 millionaires working for his companies -- an unheard of occurrence back then. Depending on what index you look at, one million dollars in 1910 is the equivalent of between $25,000,000 (using the consumer price index) and $481,000,000 (as a percent of the US gross domestic product)!

Carnegie was once asked by reporter how he managed to hire 43 millionaires. He responded that none of them were millionaires when he hired them but observed that, "You develop millionaires the way you mine gold. You expect to move tons of dirt to find an ounce of gold, but you don't go into the mine looking for the dirt—you go in looking for the gold."

How often have we seen the "dirt" in other people and assumed that was all there was? How often do we stop digging and move on? Strip mining for gold creates holes in the earth thousands of feet wide and hundreds of feet deep using equipment larger than houses. Our personal gold digging landscape may look only like a sea of gopher holes in the grass.

The difference between the holes is belief. Gold miners dig broad and deep because they know gold is there. If it's easy to see potential gold in someone, we tend to dig deeper too. However, look for the gold in everyone, and not just the easy-to-see stuff. Invest and get digging!

 

Posted with Blogsy

One Foolproof Way to Get Your Kids Talking

Top Ten lists are quite popular. I thought about holding on to the idea for this article until I had nine more to go with it, but I'll throw caution to the wind and shrink that top ten list down to a "Top One." With kids all over the country starting back to school and dinner tables needing conversation starters, here is the number one way my wife and I get our kids to talk about their day...

... Insert drum roll... (I'm a band director. I can't help it.) ...

We Ask Questions.

What? That's it? Yep.

You see, what I realized at dinner sometime last year was that the asking part of "asking questions" is simple. "How was your day?" or "What did you do today?" are the perennial, no-thought-to-them greatest hits of question-asking. Unfortunately, those kinds of general questions usually get one kind of general response:

 "How was your day?" "Fine."
"What did you do today?" "We did some math, we had recess, we ate lunch..."

However, it is the "what" that we ask that can drastically improve the answers we receive. In my case, when I started asking questions that focused on one specific adjective, my children told my wife and I a whole bunch more than they would have otherwise volunteered. These adjectives don't need to have anything to do with school. As a matter of fact, it is probably better that they don't:

What did you do today that was fast?
What did you do today that was dark?
What did you do today that was rough?
What did you do that made you think?
What was sweet today?
What did you do today that was loud?
What did you do today that was tiny?
Etc. Etc. Etc.

Open ended questions like these are fun for kids to answer because they can be creative with their answers. My wife and I never know how they will reply. Not only that, but many times asking one of these questions is the beginning of a mini conversation that continues for quite a long time.

For example, when we recently asked my 6th grader "What did you do today that was dark?" she answered that the lights were turned off in her health classroom for a video. From there, she told us what the video was about, and that a boy clear across the room that had passed-gas rather loudly. From there the tangents flew from all five of us nearly as fast as that 6th grade boy's flatulence, and we had a great time as a family.

There is one caveat in asking these types of questions, though. By their nature, adjectives can describe more than one thing or event. Avoid boxing in your child's response when they ask questions like "What do you mean by 'shiny?'" Encourage them to answer however they want to. Asking "What was shiny today" could result in answers ranging from an art project to a teacher's bald head. It's all good. Ask your questions without preconceived notions.

I encourage you to give these kinds of questions a try. Ask as many as you can each night. You will be surprised at what you find out!

How do you get your kids talking about their day? Please leave your ideas below in the comments section!

What Will Be Your Legacy?

Legacy: [LEG-uh-see] anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor.

I am about half way through my career as a music educator. The school year is about to begin, and I am reflecting more this year upon where I have been and where I am going. In a previous post I waxed nostalgic about turning 40, and wrote about my optimism for what lies ahead. But what WILL lie ahead? How will I shape it? Who and what will shape me? No matter your age or profession, these are deep and important questions to ponder.

We are the sum of our experiences, and the resulting wisdom of that tally influences the choices we make today. I can't help but think that if I can approach each day as another opportunity to build my own personal legacy, I will be a better person.  

Legacies take many shapes and come in many different flavors. An elderly woman may leave behind a legacy of inspiring work for the poor upon her passing (Mother Teresa). An elderly man may leave behind a strong, principled family that goes on to dominate a country's political life (Joseph Kennedy). A misguided egomaniac can leave a path of death and destruction for millions of people who do not share his beliefs (Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, Slobodan Milosovic.) A math teacher in Lincoln, Nebraska can ignite generations of young minds to love math and the discipline it brings the mind (my wife's teaching icon, Mrs. Penner).

There are any number of people in your own sphere of awareness (living or not) whose life legacy resonates in yours. Further, your existence not only has the ability to leave a legacy, but WILL leave a legacy for others (if it hasn't already!)

Every decision you have made and will make continues your personal legacy design process. If you're not happy with your progress or how it might look right now, there is time to change it! Unfortunately, however, we don't know how much time we have until our life's legacy project will come due. Avoiding procrastination in legacy building is in all our best interests!

Care for the Caretakers

Did you know that many times one of the dirtiest parts of the kitchen is the sink? Seems counterintuitive, doesn't it; the place where the cups, plates, silverware and pans are washed is sometimes the dirtiest.

However, after finishing the pots and pans, we often pull the drain plug and walk away. Residue is left behind that we may not see. After a few days of repeating the same cycle, there might be some light stains on the steel of the sink or a little discoloration on the porcelain.

The sink has done its job, but in the process, it got dirty and we didn't notice right away. Effort by an outside force must be made to clean the sink after it has done its job.

All this ran through my head as I did dishes today. This summer, the high school band that I teach lost two students. One, a 2012 graduate, in a tragic accident and one, a junior to be, to a suicide. It has been tough for students, parents and teachers. Very tough.

In my role as a teacher, I try my hardest to be there for my students in good times and in bad. I believe this is just as important to them (and me) as effectiveness in the classroom. I know I'm not alone. I have surrounded myself with colleagues and friends in the profession who I know do and believe the same thing.

When tragedies occur in our school system, parents and teachers work together to make sure our students make it through the emotional struggle with the help they need. We give our best effort to help our students cope.

Now, here's the parallel between these two seemingly unrelated things... Those in need of care are the "dishes." The caretakers are the "sinks."

Caretakers must be taken care of too. If you are a caretaker, remember you are just as vulnerable, just as emotional, just as human as those whom you care for. Ask for help or accept it when offered. If you know a caretaker, offer encouragement, a shoulder or an ear. It will be appreciated.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Email the Snail Way

I've noticed lately that people want things from me immediately. Usually because of email, immediate responses seem to be the norm rather than the exception. Quite often I oblige and work diligently and quickly to shoot out response after response. Whether or not those responses are the best and measured answers to questions doesn't always occur to me....

... and bad or hasty decisions are usually more trouble than they're worth.

I've been slowly working my way through the great book by Doris Kearns Goodwin called "A Team of Rivals." In this wonderfully researched and presented history, Kearns Goodwin details the life of Abraham Lincoln and those people whom he both competed against (the Rivals) and later asked to join his cabinet (the Team).

The book is written using letters and first hand accounts from people surrounding Lincoln and his election to the presidency. What strikes me most as I read is the pace at which the communication happens.

One of the nice things about living in the era before email and immediate communication was that people took time to think about what they were going to say and think about how they were going to say it. The patience that would then follow -- as letters galloped across the countryside and back again -- would drive us nuts today.

And it's rare to have that patience anymore.

I've read suggestions from others about managing our intake of data. One of those suggestions is to limit our email use to once or perhaps twice per day, setting aside certain times to answer the notes filling our inbox.

I can imagine changing a habit such as checking email would be quite difficult. However I can certainly see the potential upside to this. My life at work could slow down and become more effective. On the other hand, I realize that the people on the other end of the email chain may not be as patient as I might be. This could undoubtedly cause problems.

So what's the answer? I think the best solution is somewhere in the middle of an instantaneous response and waiting for the Pony Express to arrive. When going through emails, why not answer those mundane emails that don't require much thought first, and then cycle back to the more heavier involved-thought questions? And even then, perhaps you will need to give a response a good bit more time (or pick up the phone.)

An email response to a heavier request perhaps later that afternoon or the following day is OK. Life was pretty successful for thousands of years before computers and email. It will probably be okay if that response happens in six hours or 6 seconds.

And perhaps taking the time to think through a response in those six hours will save you that much in headache later.

Posted with Blogsy