Musical Motivation

Not gonna have much to say this morning, because I've been looking at this computer far too long and now my time is almost up.

It's days like today when I miss my weight loss gig the most.  Mostly because no matter what, I could always pull a weight loss topic out of my head to talk about.  It's not really the same, now.  I mean, I can always talk about how my day was yesterday.  You're run of the mill daily diary.  But, as amazingly awesome I think my day to day life is - it doesn't come across that way in words.  It comes across more as same stuff, different day.  That's not good writing material. 

Although, now that I think about it, I can mention that I tried something different yesterday with myself and my class.  While they were away at art, I put on some music.  I went with the Enya station on Pandora.  It's the station I created while in college to help me get through those long nights of studying.  It's mostly a mix of Enya-ish music... piano and guitar instrumentals, some classical... I call it "mood music".  Cause no matter what mood I'm in, listening to that will relax me and help me focus.

And you know what?  I got more done in those 45 minutes my kiddos were away than I've done in a long time.  I finished up a project that's been sitting there since the start of school.  I graded all the papers for the week.  I even started my plans for next week.  I was in the zone, and knew it was the music that got me there.

So, once the kids got back, I decided to leave the music on while they had their "study hall" time.  That's just the time of day that I allot for them to work on homework, silently read, and work on some practice sheets for the various skills we're covering during the week.  The room was so quiet while they worked.  I kinda expected them to whine a little bit because the music was "lame" or something.  But, I think telling them my college story made it a little more "cooler".  They were studying - and the music was helping. 

When it was time for science, I left the music on while they worked on reviewing for their test that's happening this afternoon.  Again, silence.  And the majority of the class finished their study guide - which hardly ever happens. 

I'm going to keep this little experiment going today when the kids have to take their assessments this morning.  We always end the week with some assessments - and being that they don't have school tomorrow, we have to do them today.  I'm going to try putting the music on and looking at how they do.  I have a strong suspicion that I may be on to something... but I'm not going to jump the gun.  We'll just have to see.

And lookey there - I was able to come up with something to write about.  I amaze myself sometimes.  If I would just start typing, the words will follow.

I feel asleep before 8pm last night.  No wonder after the past few nights.  I was tired, that's for sure.  I didn't even want to get up when my alarm went off at 4:30am.  But, now that I'm up and showered, I feel a lot more rested.  I'm ready for the weekend - but I wasn't able to fulfill my goal of not having any work to do.  That's only because I did that on purpose.  I really want to sit down and figure out some way of measuring my kids' progress on certain skills, and a way to really focus on the skills that are lacking.  I'm going to plan out some group activities, maybe come up with some station work....but I have a feeling I'm really going to need my music this weekend to help me focus.  Next week I also start tutoring, so I need to start planning for that, too.

Busy, busy.  Just the way I like it.  Ha!

Anyways, now it's time to wrap it up and go.