Writing Those Thank You Notes Can Help.....You!

 


      Well, Christmas and the Holidays are over and 2013 is here. And soon it will be back to school and the march towards summer will begin. Even if you have already made that New Year's Resolution, maybe you have room to make another. Challenge yourself and your family to write thank you notes this year and say thank you to those who have helped. I know my kids have been busy writing lots of thank you notes the past week or so. They were very blessed and got many gifts from many people. I think each child got a gift from about 10 different people. But with 4 kids, times 10 gifts, that means 40 thank you notes have to be written this week. AACK!! But we have a system and we keep the notes short and to the point, but still make them very sincere. And most importantly, our children know how important these thank you notes are. It shows the people that gave them gifts that they are appreciated, they are cared about, and they are loved. But I have also been helping my own kids learn how writing thank you notes can help them. It can reduce their stress, can make them appreciate life more, and can help them later in life, maybe even get them their job. A thank you note got me my first job at Carlisle! But if you still aren't sure and don't believe me, here are some great links to click on to read more about the power of a thank you and why learning this skill at a young age can really benefit both you and the person you thank now and later in life. Happy 2013 and Thank You for reading and following this blog.

Jon Gordon's Thank You Research and Thank you Ideas click here!

Parenting Pink blog's thoughts on Writing Thank Yous click here!

Tanveer Naseer's Business thoughts on Thank Yous click here!

High School Teacher Jill Hathaway Launches Her Book "Slide" Worldwide!

  Since my blog posts today seems to be media focused (books and movies), here is one more very special book debuting this month right here in Iowa and all over the world. Our very own Jill Hathaway, a literacy teacher at the high school, has had her Teen Fiction novel published and it is getting great reviews. In speaking with Jill, she wasn't so sure this book was age appropriate for our young middle school kids, but thought 14 and up might be a good age range for her target readers. CommonSenseMedia.org has not reviewed it yet as they do not review a lot of books, but many other sites and reviewers have. In fact, just today the teen magazine "Seventeen" published an online review of her book. You can read it here!

   Mrs. Hathaway will be at the West Des Moines Barnes and Noble on March 31st from 2-4 p.m. for her book launch. You can read about the details here! on the Barnes and Noble website of events.

   I am so excited for Mrs. Hathaway as I know she worked very hard for this, all while balancing her growing family and her job as an educator. Carlisle is honored to have her working with our students every day, many of them hoping to be published authors themselves. Now they get to watch a teacher of theirs reach her dreams and go through the process and continue to inspire teens she comes into contact with to do the same. Congrats Jill and I am looking forward to your book launch and all the success that comes with it. Parents and teens who read this blog....look for "Slide" on your local bookshelf and give it a read and enjoy the ride!

More "Student Blogging" Links that Show Benefits to Student Blogging

As we enter 2nd semester, our 8th grade students will continue to run their own student blogs. Some students have really had fun with these and really grown in their writing skills. And some, some are still trying to remember to blog! So far, I have given them topics to write about and interacted with them by commenting on every blog (I think I commented on over 600 blog posts during the first semester!). Now, students will be posting blogs about their literacy topic they choose during the 3rd quarter. And students will be going out on the web and reading blogs they have interest in and commenting on those. So...students will start to interact with other writers out in our world and invite those writers back to their own blog. Students will be given some training on how to comment appropriately on other people's blogs and the importance of comments and feedback when writing before they actually go leave feedback and comments on blogs. These blogging assignments should be fairly easy for the students since they are not re-creating any new material (just blogging what they write for literacy) and they are reading and commenting on blogs they have interest in already. So, it should be a fun quarter for the students!

And just to re-visit why I have the students blogging, several new stories and research articles have popped up about student blogging that I thought parents and students might have interest in. Please click the links below to learn more about the powerful benefits of student blogging. Have a great 2012!

Student Blogs May Reduce Social Stress.

Six Reasons Students Should Blog

2012: Year of the Student Blogger?

And remember, if you want to view your child's 8th grade student blog, go to my blogsite (I don't use it much, but I do use it to house all of our student blogs) and look for their name down the left hand side of the screen. When you find it, click on it and you will be taken to their blog site. Enjoy!

Mr. Barry's Counseling Edublog Site

Students!! You Can Write About Something You Love (Technology) and Win Money!!

Students, I know you love technology and do not always love to write! I have the perfect thing for you: A 100-word or less essay contest about why technology is so great. One winner in each grade will get $500 and the runner-up will get $100. Now, I am sure many students across the country are entering, but what if, just what if, one of our students won the $500 award the the title of "Best Essay". Give it a shot...you never know!

Click here for rules and contest website.