As we come upon the holidays, my family and I visit the different local villages to enjoy the decorations and festivities.  On one of the visits I watched a candy maker making fudge.

Now, I don't know if you've ever seen fresh fudge being made but it's a pretty cool process. The ingredients are put into a vat and brought up to around 237 degrees Fahrenheit. In the middle of the room there is a large, cold granite table. The table has no lip on it.  It's  just a big slab of granite. The fudge maker carries the molten liquified ingredients to the table and pours them onto the middle of the granite. The liquid fudge starts to spread and begins to move towards the edges of the granite. The fudge maker then calmly and slowly walks around the granite table, gently pushing the fudge that's falling off the edges of the granite back into the middle of the table.
                                                     
He continues to walk around this rectangular piece of granite until the fudge has stopped running off the sides. Since, however, it's still not completely cooled he starts to gently push the sides inward creating a firmer form. Eventually it becomes this perfect piece of rectangular cooled fudge. Once it has cooled and formed, he then divides it into the pieces that can be consumed by the customers.

The thing that I found most interesting about this process is that the fudge maker simply kept walking the table, "training" the fudge to stay on the table. He had no negative emotions attached to the process, no frustration, no impatience.  He let the fudge cool and form at whatever pace the fudge needed to do so. He simply continued walking and forming, walking and forming. Watching him was an almost Zen like experience..

I realized that as an empowered teacher, that's really the most effective way for us to do our job, to gently and calmly walk around, continuing to nudge our student in the right direction, letting the student "form" at a pace that is right for that student.  And doing so without bringing any of your own frustrations or impatience to the process. 
                                                     
The important distinction here is the difference between nurturing and forcing.  This week, as you nurture your students to their fullest potential, let the fudge maker be your guide, as a matter of fact, I encourage you to "fudge" your way to success! Facilitate with compassion and kindness gently nudging, nurturing and encouraging your students toward their greatest success.  ​

The tips in this blog are culled from my two books, Coffee With Ray and Lessons With Matt.  If you would like  more strategies that will both nurture your students into self-directed learners while making your job less stressful and more rewarding, please check them out on Amazon.  

This week's blog is about the distinction between time management and activity management. I'm sure you hear students say it all of the time, you may even say it yourself, "I didn't have the time." When you really consider this statement, it's really not a time management problem because time is going to pass whether you do things or not. You don't have much control over time. What you do have control over are the priorities of your activities and this is a key principle for a student to grasp if they are going to become accountable for their progress. 

Often we fill our day with so much noise and so many activities that at the end of the day, we feel frazzled and unproductive. We don't feel like we've really accomplished much. Or, if you have gotten something done, you start to feel like a hamster on that wheel because you are tending to the busyness of life, instead of the business of living. In the case of your students, they need to become aware of the feelings of success they want to create in themselves based upon the goals they have set.  Accomplishing those goals is a matter of activity management, not time management.  If they learn how to manage their activities they will create the feelings of success and motivation that will continue to propel them forward. 

Is the process a quick one?  By no means, but education is a marathon not a sprint.      

That's your Diamond Distinction for today.

The tips in this blog are culled from my two books, Coffee With Ray and Lessons With Matt.  If you would like  more strategies that will both nurture your students into self-directed learners while making your job less stressful and more rewarding, please check them out on Amazon.  ​

Before I share with you the tools to manage the feeling of frustration, it's important to know that when you get fully frustrated, you can't learn anything except how to handle frustration. You certainly can't learn how to do whatever it is you were trying to do.  Often a caring adult will try to cheerlead the child through the frustration and that may occasionally and temporarily work, but it doesn't give the student the skills to control it on his or her own. ​

The first tool is to take a break.  How long is entirely up to the learner. It could be thirty seconds, a minute, a day, but you need to take a break.  The second tool is to ask someone who knows more than you for help. The third tool is to make the goal easier. Take a smaller chunk. Try playing separate hands. Do less.  A line instead of a page.  You want to create feelings of success for yourself and your students all of the time.

Solve your students problem for them and you will have to continue to do so.  Give them the tools and show them how to use those tools and they will be able to solve their problems on their own.

Focus on what you want.