Update: Accountability 101 - Christmas in July

Today's update is brought to you by Santa Claus!  It's Christmas in Mid-July, and I wanted to make sure I could be included on the NICE list, not by avoiding my projects and ending up on the NAUGHTY list...

What I notice is that I tend to avoid topics that are larger projects, especially when I don't have large chunks of time to tackle them.  However, I also notice I don't work well when I have long time and lots of little items.  Those TIME VAMPIRES seem to suck my time up.

However, with summer school in session, my time is a bit more limited so I expect that I can get more items checked off as the summer progresses.  Onward!  I need to earn more points to be in good standing with Santa!

Am I on track to get these tasks completed by September 1?  Of course, I always seem to add items to the lists as well.  That's part of my downfall. 

How many of these can I get finished by September 1?
Here's the status as of July 21st, now 4 weeks in, and I feel very accomplished.  Many of the sections came in chunks (like the Scouts checklist), and some have been put off (by Queen Procrastination).  However, I will say that I am getting some other items taken care of that are NOT on this list but should streamline my personal and business life significantly!  The summer is on the downhill slide, and the list is getting shorter!!!

• Home
• Organize Under Kitchen Sink
• Organize Linen Closet
• Paint Kitchen and Hallway
• Organize Dining Room
• Build Bedroom Wall
• Build Attic Stairs/Entry
• Build Bedroom Closet
• Organize Basement Closet
• Clean Basement Carpets
• Organize My Closet
• Closet Curtains
• Help Kids organize rooms
• Glassware into storage

• Yard
• Paint Bulkhead
• Fire Pit (dig out, border, pit, rocks)
• Screen House Office - replacement due to storm damage :(
• Organic Veggie Garden
• Side Shade Garden
• Trellis (Pallets)

• Personal Development
• Schedule Doctor Appt
• Life Insurance (pending)
• Read 5 Fiction Books
• Inferno
• Divergent
• Insurgent
• Allegiant
• Four
  
• Pieces
• Read 5 Non-Fiction Books (or Audiobooks)
• Smart Money, Smart Kids
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
• Start
• Book #4
• Book #5
• 30 day challenge
• Abs (day 15)
• Arms (day 15)
• Thighs
• Butt
• Shoulder
• Back
• Budget
• Annual Budget
• Emergency Fund Baby Step 1   95% of the way there!!!
• Sinking Fund +$2000
• Debt Snowball +600/mo

• Office
• Organize File Cabinet
• Organize Manuals
• Shred Documents
• Strong Box Break into Old and Purchase new
• Create Legacy Box
• Organize Bills
• Tutoring Business Cards
• Linkedin Account 
• Eric's Office
• Eric's Job!!!  

• Upload
•  TpT
• Essential Questions Blue/Purple
• Line of Best Fit Project
• Rule of Four
• DC POWs

• Worcester (AxiD Corporation):
• Furnace Cleaning (Scheduled August 8)
• Sprinkler Inspection (June)
• Alarm Inspection (scheduled August 8)
• Washer Service (scheduled August 8)
• Fire Extinguisher Inspection (June)
• Spackle Walls
• Hot Water Heater Moved (scheduled August 8)
• Exhaust Installed (Scheduled August 8)

• Canning:
• Tomatillo Salsa
• Red Salsa
• Pickles
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Chili Sauce

• Thirty-One:
• CONFERENCE (end of July) THIS WEEK!!!
• Year Analysis ($25K in PV)
• Budget (Jan - June)
• RSS
• Set Goals

• Family
•  Jiminy Adventure Park Raincheck
• Tubing (tenative) - CANCELLED July
• Comic Con (July) - CANCELLED
• Comic Con (August)
• Jiminy Adventure Park - reschedule August or Fall 

• Scouts:
• July 3rd Firework Games (rescheduled to July 5th)
• Boards of Review 
• Star Review - A (At Camp)
• Personal Fitness - A
• Citizen of Nation - A
• Metalwork - A (At Camp)
• Climbing - A (At Camp)
• Tenderfoot Review - C (At Camp)
• Canoeing - C (At Camp)
• Nantucket Trip (August)

Summer School: How to Tame the Paper Overload!

As summer school has started, I realize how much organization and streamlining I accomplish during the first day of any school.  It's always overwhelming, and stressful, but once my systems get into place, things tend to run fairly smoothly.  The expectations are in place, and the summer blahs that my resentful students seems to go by the wayside (for the most part).  With the program we have in place, they feel like they have control of what they can work on, as long as they are given timeline and score parameters, and it works.

This year, we set up a modified Interactive Notebook, mostly for accountability with scores, attendance, a table of contents, and scrap paper for the skills.  Training the students in our routine was half the battle.  Simple systems like numbering pages and writing the day's date at the top seemed basic, but until a routine was established, proved quite difficult.

Another paper overload area was tracking scores on the computer program.  We created two types of trackers.

One was a standards post-it tracker taped on the wall above each students' computer.  These trackers had the computer program coded skills on post-it tabs and allowed the students to self-monitor the skills assigned to the class.  They could move the tab along the spectrum, in four color-coded areas.  We discussed how they should set a small goal when they start a skill, like reaching a score of 50, then when that goal is reached, to modify it to another goal.  I was trying to get them into the 70% range (the orange, Satisfactory, area), which depending on the skill, could be quick, or could be quite challening.  However, many of the kids wanted to reach MASTERED (100%), and were frustrated when that proved too challenging.  They also noticed that their risk was greater the higher their score was.  Getting one question wrong while in the 90% range dropped significantly, and they needed one question correct for every point they wanted to earn back.

The other tracker was a hanging folder for each student and demonstrated where to access the daily data measuring their progress.  Having each student document their own data, rather than the instructor gathering everyone's, proved helpful in two ways.  They documented not only their cumulative scores,  but also their performance and time practiced.  The weighted average was calculated by me, as a percentage of time spent,

First, it allowed the student to reflect on their performance immediately.  Yesterday, in fact, I had a student who commented that they were very off track, as their total practice time was only 15 minutes (when we typically have two 20 minute target sessions).  He noted that he was very unfocused.  I hope that this reflection will allow him to keep himself on track today.

Second, it allowed me to keep all the students records in one place, in the classroom, for evidence on their progress.  Our summer school this year is set up to be more remediation practice rather than pure instruction, so this allowed us to document the skills practiced and provide evidence for the administration once the program is complete.

We'll check back in a few weeks to see how the systems are maintained.  It's giving me hope - especially for kids who are not as strong mathematically, reluctant and resentful to being here in the summer, and are weak in organizational skills.  They CAN find success and improve in their skills - especially when they feel like they are in some control, have immediate feedback, and can set and meet goals.

Right now, were working on intrinsic motivation with some electronic motivation built into the computer program.  My back up for the last week is some extrinsic motivation (in the form of stickers and candy).  We'll see how their resentful attitudes are in a few weeks.  I'd LOVE to report that I don't need to break out the stickers!

Update: Accountability 101; Independence from my list!

 

On this rainy Independence Day, while I watch the History Channel's "America: Story of Us", and reflect on my to-do list, I realize that my LONG list can certainly be daunting.  But I am determined to meet MY Independence Day target:  September 1.

Already, I've been sidetracked along the way, and I'm only 2 weeks in.  It's a long haul, like Westward Expansion, and I feel as though I only have made it through the Cumberland Gap.  However, the journey to the Pacific will still happen... slow and steady wins the race.  I must stay focused, timely, and not add TOO many new things to my list.

One thing we hadn't added to the list was the Family section.  That was still under debate when I published last.  Fortunately, we now have a few things on the calendar during these summer months.  Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate (she hasn't been too friendly the last several days).


Am I on track to get these tasks completed by September 1?  Of course, I always seem to add items to the lists as well.  That's part of my downfall. 

How many of these can I get finished by September 1?
Here's the status as of July 4th.  2 weeks in, and I feel fairly accomplished.  However, the weekend before summer school starts will be a whirlwind as I try to tackle much of this before school items hit!

• Home
• Organize Under Kitchen Sink
• Organize Linen Closet
• Paint Kitchen
• Organize Dining Room
• Build Bedroom Wall
• Build Attic Stairs/Entry
• Build Bedroom Closet
• Organize Basement Closet
• Clean Basement Carpets
• Organize My Closet
• Help Kids organize rooms
• Glassware into storage

• Yard
• Paint Bulkhead
• Fire Pit
• Screen House Office
• Organic Veggie Garden
• Side Shade Garden
• Trellis (Pallets)

• Personal Development
• Schedule Doctor Appt
• Life Insurance
• Read 5 Fiction Books
• Inferno
• Divergent
• Insurgent
• Allegiant
• Pieces
• Read 5 Non-Fiction Books
• Smart Money, Smart Kids
• Book #2
• Book #3
• Book #4
• Book #5
• 30 day challenge
• Abs
• Arms
• Thighs
• Butt
• Shoulder
• Back
• Budget
• Annual Budget
• Emergency Fund Baby Step 1
• Sinking Fund +$2000
• Debt Snowball +500/mo

• Office
• Organize File Cabinet
• Organize Manuals
• Shred Documents
• Strong Box Break into Old and Purchase new
• Create Legacy Box
• Organize Bills
• Tutoring Business Cards
• Linkedin Account 

• Upload
•  TpT
• Line of Best Fit Project
• Rule of Four
• DC POWs

• Worcester (AxiD Corporation):
• Furnace Cleaning
• Sprinkler Inspection (June)
• Alarm Inspection (August)
• Washer Service
• Fire Extinguisher Inspection (June)
• Spackle Walls
• Hot Water Heater Moved
• Exhaust Installed

• Canning:
• Tomatillo Salsa
• Red Salsa
• Pickles
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Chili Sauce

• Thirty-One:
• CONFERENCE!

• Family
•  Jiminy Adventure Park
• Tubing
• Comic Con

• Scouts:
• July 3rd Firework Games (rescheduled to July 5th)
• Boards of Review 
• Star - A
• Personal Fitness - A
• Citizen of Nation - A
• Welding - A
• Tenderfoot - C
• Canoeing - C