While cruising the Internet, I found a heart-warming story in Carol Deckerts’ blog: Paying It Forward

Hello, all, and welcome to the month of March 2010. It seems like just yesterday I was putting new calendars on the wall for Jan 1st, has it been two months already?

Re Olympics, I want to congratulate all the Olympic athletes and their coaches for all the hard work getting ready for what might be the ultimate moment in a person’s lifetime. Not winning a gold, silver, or bronze… COMPETING on a world-wide stage!

Beyond the athletes and coaches, congratulations to all the Moms and Dads who put up with crazy schedules, scraped up knees, and broken bones to get their kids ready for a momentous time – representing their country.

And one more mention…. kudos to Procter and Gamble for their advertisements focused on Moms. Simply a great choice of theme.

LOL.  Google sent me an alert for the name “Carl Bromley” which I have set up just to see if I’m in trouble anywhere in GoogleLand.  Turns out I published a short article in 2006 which I’ve now incorporated into this blog.  Check it out if you have time… it’s cute.

http://splat.local4all.com

If Nolan had not created this map for his mom's business, I would have gotten lost finding it for our one-on-one interview.

Nolan found our “Help Wanted” ad on a Local4All placemat and called in to check it out.  After talking with me for a while, he got busy with our free tools that anyone can use to help anyone else…  Cool, yes?

Nolan published two new maps to help customers find his mom’s kennel and another family business.  This one has a link to his mom’s website!

http://m417.local4all.com See photo above.  The real map(s) can be zoomed in or out before printing with two independently configurable maps on the same page, VERY handy to have in the car with you.  Google Maps had the wrong name for this section of Glade Run Road.

Senator Jane Orie's Kids' Fest

I really did have a great time but I was a little late getting there… for some strange reason my BlackBerry calendar had it starting at 11:30 am but it started at 10:00. Oops!

High Points:

• Doing my “Parent Quiz” routine and watching the kids watch their parents. Of course, I gave parents the answers along with the quiz… how else are you doing to help parents help their kids?
• Building paper airplanes with kids – it’s part of the Parent Quiz “How can making paper airplanes help your child/kids?”
• Showing one young man the difference between an All_American handshake and what is preferred among other cultures, in this case Chinese.  (He was a good listener, quick learner)
• Showing off the custom map made by Jenna who works in Senator Orie’s Cranberry office.  (m344.local4all.com)
• Learning:  While showing off the map, I realize we should have/could have put the starting time and other details on Jenna’s map, then I would have been on time!
• Telling the “I love you, Tigger” story.
• Passing out copies of  our most recent Butler placemat and telling folks the origin of “Words for Kids” in our word search puzzles.
• Almost the best… Making a video of Cole, his younger sister Ebby, and mom.  I found out the grandfather has an ice cream store down in Cranberry so we included a plug for it.  Cool!
• The best….! On the way home, seeing Cole and Ebby at a yard sale not far from where the Kids’ Expo was held and both of them waved at me!

Coming soon! Cole gave me a great idea for a new Local4All feature.  Watch for it soon, it will be FUN!!!!!

Have a great day,
Carl

Sticky: Postings you find here are intended to help families come together and stick together.  Years ago, a friend who is a family counselor suggested writing down lists of “what you absolutely must have in your life” and “what is absolutely not ok” to share with a spouse or, better yet, a prospective bride or groom.  To contribute to this forum, please comment below.

Hello Local4All readers,

If you know any Bowsers from Kittanning or the Apollo area, please check to see if they might be related to Robert Bowser, now of Lompoc, Calif.  Bob’s email to me is copied below with his permission:

Here is a list of some of the Fairs and Festivals in southwestern PA this summer.  They are some of the best family-friendly events possible.

That being said, the two where you will most likely run into me are in bold font…

Kaleidoscope Arts Festival – Apr 15-26

Vandergrift Fine Arts Festival – May 30-June 14

Ford City Heritage Days – June 30-July 5

Westmoreland Arts & Heritage Festival – July 2-5

Butler Fair – July 3-11

Derry Township Agricultural Fair – July 12-18

Lyndora Carnival/Bazaar – July 18th.  Read Comment #1 for details  THANKS, DAWN!

Sewickley Township Community Fair – July 27-Aug 1

Fort Armstrong Folk Festival – July 30-Aug 2

Butler Farm Show – Aug 10-15

Dayton Fair – Aug 17-22

Westmoreland Fair – Aug 21-29

Indiana County Fair – Aug 30-Sept 5

The Great Stoneboro Fair – Sept 2-7

Ox Hill Community Fair – Sept 7-12

Green Township Community Fair – Sept 14-19

Lower Burrell 50th Anniversary Harvest Festival – Sept 19

More…

I will be glad to add yours if you post details to our website ->> http://PostEvents.local4all.com

As a Baby Boomer, I come from a generation where spelling, vocabulary, and grammar were top shelf “you need to know these” type subjects.  I remember spelling bees in third grade where Jackie Breese, Ed Heckman, and I were in the final five.  Since then, I’ve thought about how easy it was for me to memorize words, lists, etc. but, back then, I didn’t give much thought to ‘how’.

As an older guy, it’s not as easy as it once was but there’s a method I use to make it easier.

Suppose you’re in a room with 20-30 people and there’s a definite advantage for them to notice you.  Addressing them by name during breaks WILL get their attention and create a favorable impression.  That being said, your motives need to be good up front.  Selling ice to an Eskimo is not it.  Cheating someone out of their life savings is absolutely not ok.  But let’s say you do have a valid reason to get to know people… you might be in sales or have your own business to promote.  Whatever.

What I do at the beginning of a session is note the layout of tables and chairs on a clean sheet of paper, then I jot down the first names of everyone as we introduce ourselves.  Whenever the subject material is repetitious and therefore boring, I memorize.

Tips:

1. Scan all the names on the paper and associate them with individuals and where they are seated.  Notice what they are wearing, their hair, etc. because during breaks you will most likely not be sitting still.  Try to memorize the names – name+person, name+person, name+person until you’ve covered everyone.
2. After 30 seconds, test yourself by looking around the room and seeing if you can name everyone.  Chances are you won’t but that’s ok.  You’ve done the first step.
3. After the first go-round, look at your seating chart and focus on those names and faces you didn’t remember.
4. After another 30 seconds or so, test yourself by going around the room again.  Can you remember all the names this time?  You might get them all or you might miss by one or two… either is ok, you’re above 90%.  Focus on any you miss or were unsure of.  Repeat those while, of course, listening to the speaker.
5. After a minute, check yourself again.  After you’ve done this a few times, you’ll be at 100% the majority of times you put this plan into action.  Until you’re there, reinforce the ones you’re unsure of.
6. After two minutes, test yourself again, even if you get them all right.
7. After five minutes, test again.

The key is that it takes about five minutes for thoughts and ideas to burn themselves into long-term memory instead of short-term memory.  You may have heard “Use it or lose it”… it’s true.

The steps again, briefly:

1. Memorize for 30 seconds, then test yourself.
2. Update yourself and reinforce for another 30 seconds, then test again.
3. Reinforce for one minute, then do your third test.
4. Reinforce for two minutes as needed, then test.
5. After five minutes, test again.  By this time, you should have it down pat!

Spelling and arithmetic are two skills that MUST be acquired through rote memorization so share this technique with kids, too.  Teach them “how” to memorize and why the steps are important.  You’ll only have to do it once, kids are FAST learners.

About Carl as a teacher:  I’m not, at least not in formal settings.  In High School, everyone thought I would be a teacher and I even started college with secondary Ed as my career path.  After hearing from a prof that it gets boring covering the same material year after year, I fell out of love with that idea but now I teach every chance I get.

I taught construction apprentices while I lived in California… #1 topic, safety.  I enjoy teaching computer classes, from beginner to advanced.  My ‘parent quiz’ is a form of teaching, but definitely not a lecture.  Do you know how to make a screenshot?  I use them in email all the time to show others

Thumbnail for "Accountability in Education" screen shot

what I see on my computer screen.  What they say is “a picture is worth a thousand words”.  Here’s an example, click on it if you want to read my thoughts on “Accountability in Education”.

Teaching is fun for everyone if you have the right subject material and student in the right place at the right time.

I was browsing through some of my Google Alerts this morning and stumbled on this video of Mrs. Obama in an interview.  Part of it was her about to read “Cat in the Hat” to a bunch of kids and her interaction with them was just so cool…  and the kids there knew her kids by name.

Her interaction with the interviewer was cool, too.  Check it out.  http://newsclipper.org/#74501

PS:  An afterthought… want to share this posting easily?  Use the URL “firstmom.local4all.com”.  It works over the phone, too!