“Adjust the brightness on your movie screen.”

When you go to a movie, you see a movie screen with the movie playing. Your mind is similar to a movie screen. It has a movie with the events that are happening around you. You can adjust that screen and make it lighter or darker. It gets darker when you are upset and stressed. The good news is that you can make it brighter. It will still be the same movie—the same events, but YOU can adjust the brightness on the movie screen by shifting your attitude, and saying words to yourself, words like, “I can handle it!” You can also make it brighter by singing a song to yourself, a fun song that makes you feel better. The brighter you adjust the movie screen, the brighter your day, and the brighter day you create for the children.

Have a wonderful day and a great week-end. You are a difference maker.

Maryln

“Excitement creates more excitement.”

I love to look at children when they get really excited. It is so neat to listen to their excitement and to see the expressions on their faces. I have been feeling like a child with excitement these days. I feel like I gave birth to a baby. The baby is a brand new book published by Corwin Press called, How to Handle the Hard to Handle Student. It was a fun and lengthy process to publish the book. It involved conceiving the idea, writing it, getting peer reviews, making revisions, then getting edits and making more changes. The book is now out, and it is so much fun to receive catalogues with my book in it. I just feel like saying, “Whooopeee!!!” You can purchase my book at our Teacher Boutique – online store. Here is the link to click on http://lintel.atiseminars.org/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=551&zenid=94b10e7f930fc0f8a35a9128815aebc3&myrand=99535).

Help your children feel excited when they learn or do something new. Learning is a process, and the fun is in the doing, and then there is even more fun in seeing the final result. It’s an awesome feeling to create that kind of excitement in your students.

Have a great day.

Maryln

Look for the silver lining.

Hi,
I am back in Houston, and it is every bit as bad as the media is painting the picture. There are fences and trees and branches down. There is still no electrical power including for our company Appelbaum Training Institute. There are long lines to get gasoline at higher prices. There is a problem getting food. Some restaurants are opening, and last night we went to one. We were there for 3 hours because it was so crowded with people who wanted to "cool off" because they too had no food or electricity!
I personally had to empty my refrigerator and freezer and put it all out for trash. Everything was ruined.
But there is always a silver lining. Today is my grandaughter's birthday, and it is sooooooooooo fine to be able to celebrate it together with family. Most of my friends and family do not have power at their homes, but everyone is upbeat and doing the next right thing and looking at the bright side...that this storm could have been much worse and grateful that it wasn't.
In your classrooms, you too can look for the silver lining. Yes, circumstances around you may not always be ideal, but look for the things that can make you feel happier. There are those things if you seek them. The happier you are, the happier your students will be. Your attitudes are contagious.
Have a great day.
Maryln

"Someday...."

Many times, people say, “Someday, I will…,” and then they describe what they will do someday in their lives. For many people that “someday” never comes.
This past week-end, we in the Houston area were struck hard with Hurricane Ike. We take so much for granted...that the people we love will be there....that there will be a refrigerator that has food...that there will be a place to cook it...that we will have telephones that work...and we got to find out that this does not always happen. Our company has no electrical power at the office. My home has no electrical power. My son's home has no electrical power. I was out of town last week to be with a friend going through a difficult divorce in her life, and then I could not come home because our airport was closed. Today I am coming home, and I am so glad to be able to be with my family again.
This hurricane reminds us all not to wait for “someday.” Start today to do the things you have dreamed of doing. If you have a student for whom you were waiting for that special moment to connect and to show you care, do it today.

Today is the anniversary of my dad’s passing away. It reminds me that we don’t always get that “someday” with our loved ones or our students, so let today be the day that you reach out to your students, to family, to co-workers, to friends and make their “today” more meaningful and yours too!

Have a wonderful day and a wonderful week. You are a difference maker.

Maryln