Saturday...Just Saturday - The Refreshing of My Creative Spirit?

I had a good day yesterday. I did two loads of laundry (one was bedding), went grocery shopping, wrote a bunch of ideas down for my new project, and watched lots of television. I am currently enjoying some British quiz shows and doughnuts. I have been craving doughnuts lately, so this was my major impulse buy yesterday when I went to the grocery store and actually went into the store. That's one of the problems with going into the store - the doughnuts are right there. (Now, I am writing doughnuts because that's what's on the package of the box that I bought. Usually, I would just order so the temptation is not as strong, but I felt that I needed to go out and be people-adjacent (masked and everything safe), so off I went!

It was raining early in the morning (my favorite time to go grocery shopping), and I set out. It continued to rain until I had brought in the trash cans and unloaded the groceries and then it cleared up and got HOT! I remained in my home for the rest of the day - mostly in the basement because that's the coolest part of my house. Warm air rises and cool air sinks - it makes sense. I was tired and more tired, but my brain was clicking. I could not turn it off.

Since my brain would not relax, I decided to channel that energy into creativity.

I am using yet another journal for this project - workboxes and activities for my clients. As you know, I have a shelf full of empty books that I have collected. Now, most of these books have been gifted to me. I have not bought ALL the empty books that I have, though it is difficult for me to NOT buy a journal when I find a good deal. I was thinking that I already have an ideas book, but that doesn't really work with this new project. Those ideas are music therapy, and this is not inherently music therapy. It is definitely something I love, though.

I took out a yellow lined journal for this particular project. I do not like lined journals as much as I did when I started up the entire process, but they are good for things like this project. I use lined journals for tasks and major projects, probably because I want the structure. I don't always write straight without lines, so when I have to write lots, lined journals are the best! For drawings and stuff where I do better without lines, I have lots of post-it notes to break up the lines.

All of this, but I haven't actually told you what I am working on yet.

After Thursday's wave of assertiveness, I started to think about what makes a good lesson for my students. I have strong opinions about this, so I am striving to make these ideas hold up to my ideal way of teaching and the ultimate goal of having my students do things that have meaning to them and to others. I don't know if my co-workers will come along on this ride, but I hope that they do.

Here are some of my thoughts on what workboxes or repetitive work tasks should be:

• Functional for others - not just folding washclothes but folding washclothes to put into hygiene kits for students to use in school. Students need to see the results of their work.
  
• Directly related to future plans - learning skills that relate to what clients will be doing in life - leisure or vocational plans.
• Purposeful - not just keeping busy, but having a real reason for finishing these tasks.
• Valued - each step is needed for the next step to occur. Cumulative tasks towards an end goal - so collating pages for the next person to bind into a book. ALSO, all tasks, once finished, are finished and NOT RE-SET BY STAFF MEMBERS IN FRONT OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE DOING THE WORK!!! (Pet peeve? This is more than that for me!)
  
• Varied - not just the same fifteen boxes that are stored in the cabinet but new things every quarter.

I am starting to put together some concepts and larger tasks that could be incorporated into the monthly tasks of some of the classes in my school. Some of the ideas that have flown through my brain and been captured on the first pages in my workbox journal (that's not its title, but I'm not sure what I am going to call that book yet, so...) are following here:

• putting together the books that our culture committee are sending out at the beginning of the month to examine different countries around the world - this would be a long task that would happen probably every three months per classroom.
• putting together craft kits for the culture committee or for gifts for family members around holidays
• making stationery - cards or kits or something

 These are the first ideas. The first one listed is the one that I have moved from ideation to task analysis. I have delineated specific tasks that are required to complete books for all students in the school. The analyses are not finished, but they have been started.

I love curriculum development and instructional techniques. I took a minor through the world of C&I during my last foray into education, and I loved learning about how people learn and how to expand my teaching strategies to help others learn. I have always been interested in how we teach and what we teach and how we tend to teach the way we learn best rather than the way our students learn best. I try to change how I teach concepts with my interns to accommodate their learning preferences. I think I do a better than average job at this presentation style than others, but I also think that I do a better job than those others because I have consciously studied this topic. Awareness of any particular concept, theory, or doctrine increases your opportunity to incorporate ideas into your way of being.

Back to the topic on hand. I am feeling better about what I might be able to do while I am at work starting on Monday. I can figure out some goals and make some files to distribute to the classroom teachers before asking if I can meet with them to get ideas for what they need. I can dream as much as I can about what my ideal program would look like, but my co-workers have to be on board before anything I do has any effect. The best materials just sit there if there is no buy-in from the people who are supposed to be using those tools. To get that buy-in, I will have to start with the needs that my co-workers have immediately. If they need more, then I make more. If they need different, then I make different. If they are not interested, then I can make all sorts of resources that will just sit there, unused. 

For the moment, I am enjoying sitting and writing things in my bright yellow journal. I am hoping to translate the scratching of my pen into actual things that my clients will work on and find value in during their education. I also want to be creating content that can be used in classrooms away from my facility. In addition, I want to take what I learn and translate some of that into my music therapy work. I also want to put together things that I can share with others in my TPT store or on my website or in my exhibits at conferences. There we go.

It is time to upload this and start my routine for the day. I have to get dressed and start my Saturday chore - unboxing things. I am focusing on downstairs today. I will focus on upstairs tomorrow - the kitchen needs LOTS of attention. It is supposed to be a bit cooler today and tomorrow, so I will take advantage of that as I move into the weekend.

Happy Saturday. I hope that you are feeling a rush of inspiration or creativity. Enjoy!