Today's Life Lessons

Today, I learned many valuable lessons: how to plan for math but most importantly in the process of learning a life lesson, I lost a friend.

Today's lesson, I need to be the Eagle Scout that I am. I need to remember an Eagle Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.   It seems lately, I have forgotten the way of the Eagle, the way I was raised.

Today's lesson, I learned that I need to be upfront immediately, I should not wait until hours afterwards to discuss the problem.  It scares me when I have to confront my problems, I just have to remember that I have to get out of my confront zone and strive through it. Experiencing what I experienced will make me a stronger person.


Today's lesson, I learned I need to be courteous and kind to everyone, especially my friends.  Under no circumstances, should I be the undesired, rude asshole. I need to be mindful of my tone and body language.  Most importantly, I need to provide clarification rather than responding to one worded responses.  I am a man, not some caveman.

With that said and done, from this point on, I am going to make a conscious effort
1. to follow through with all my engagements and appointments (this week, I need to email Chandra an updated schedule, bake sale, plan for science, setting up parent conferences, inputting the iep progress)
2. continue to be the way of the Eagle, especially being courteous and kind.  I need to be mindful of everyone, I should not say things that will harm anyone or in my case, losing a friendship.
3. what happened in the past, happened in the past. There is no sense in dwelling over it.

A process I am looking forward to, I need to become the better person I desired.

As a behavioral therapist, I had the opportunity to work with a 19 year-old child who does not know how to express himself when he is angry, tired, or asking for assistance.  Providing positive reinforcement and video modeling, the child now knows what to do when he is tired and angry. When he is tired, he would take a short break by washing his face and partake in some exercises. When he gets upset, he now knows that he needs to uncross his arms, open his eyes, take 10 deep breaths, count to 10, and talk to someone how he is feeling and why is he feeling this way.  He also knows to document his feelings on a feeling journal.

An example of student’s academic growth was when I was working with a fifth grader who was an emergent reader and was not eager to learn. Through environmental print, word games, repeated readings, Language Experience Approach, and reading to younger students, the child was eager to learn and was able to identify words on his own.

Inspiring

While waiting in the waiting room for my sister to conduct her endoscopy, CNN had a segment on the only Afghan women's soccer team and their struggles they've overcame. Tell me about something you are passionate about, something against all odds, you continued to pursue.

Act 1, scene 1. Take 1

 

Hola Seniorita,

How are you feeling?
Until you are better, I will defer the cost of $5 for the pictures and $50.99 for shipping and handling. :p
Word on the street is that virtual chicken soup cures migraines.  :)

Honestly, the rest of the vacation was a blur. Funny thing was that the tour group rode the bus from Vancouver to Seattle, US customs had to search all of our bags, requesting the 60 year old driver to remove all those bags himself. After X-raying our bags, one of the guys from the bus was detained for about an hour causing the rest of us to barely make it to the airport. Although I remained calm as everyone on the bus was feeling antsy,  it felt like the scene from Home Alone 2 where they were rushing to the airport. Have you had any experiences where your life seemed like a scene from a movie?

By the way, how was the remaining of your trip?

Wishing you a speedy recovery,
Phil

trapped in the vortex.

News reports noted the in the eye of the everlasting tornado is calm, the news reporters have not taken into consideration that this tornado consumes you even when her presence is not around.

trapped in a zoo.

After a month of being sober, I had another carving for desserts. Being trapped in a zoo, I can't even eat desserts in my home especially when my mom and sister are at home. I have to venture off looking for desserts. Normally, I look for desserts without considering looking at the refrigerator, yesterday I considered the other alternative being that I do not have income. Sadly, I went to a pastry shop and came home feeling ashamed of myself. The broken promises and the endless lies, I have become a monster trapped in a zoo where all I feel like I could do is just walk in my den. I could imagine being free from the zoo, the monster within will transform into the confident man, I always wanted to be. Rather than being restricted to just walking or countless hours of sleeping, having my own place, my animal instincts will turn on and I could freely chase gazettes, climb, swim, run, as I please.

While writing about animals, I am going to write about my favorite animals.
Favorite land animal- Horse, the sheer power and the majestic look.
Favorite aquatic animals: Sea Otter for its cuteness, dolphins for their intelligence
Favorite bird: Fried Chicken, all kidding aside, the Bald Eagle. I would have chosen the Griffin, if its real.

Las Lomitas Elementary School District Statement

My memorable experience with a child with special needs was my first consumer as a behavioral therapist.  Spending time with the child, I learned how to be a better teacher and a better person. At the time, Cade was a seven year old boy with limited verbal and was diagnosed with Autism.   Since Cade has limited verbal, I learned that everything a child does has a communication function whether Cade points because he wants an item or is crying because he does not want to work on the non-preferred activity, there are four communication functions: to get attention, to get a tangible object, to escape or avoid a non-preferred activity, or self-stemming behavior.  

In addition to learning about the functions of communication, Cade has shown me that I as the teacher need to provide two choices and to reduce the task if he has a tantrum. If Cade has a tantrum because of frustration from a non-preferred task, reducing the task helps regain control and compliance from the child.  Most importantly, I learned that children should not be blamed for any reason; children are smart individuals where they learned their behaviors from their environment.