by Gretchen | Nov 30, 2011 | MuseCubes, Random Stuff
Sitting might cause cancer?! It sounds extreme, doesn’t it? That’s the announcement in a growing body of research. According to the American Institute for Cancer Research: As many as 49,000 cases of breast cancer and 43,000 cases of colon cancer occurring...
by Gretchen | Nov 27, 2011 | Academic Coaching, Study Skills
Many educators — myself included! — have espoused learning styles as an important factor in increasing student motivation and performance. When I was a classroom teacher, I had students take learning inventories, and then I would use the results of this...
by Gretchen | Oct 10, 2011 | Creativity & Edges, InterPlay, Random Stuff
Do you remember the first time you realized that everything is connected to everything else? For me, it was first semester of freshman year at Macalester College. I was shocked to discover that each of my classes, disparate as they were (Theatre With a Global...
by Gretchen | Oct 4, 2011 | Academic Coaching, Study Skills
I have a confession to make: I love to read and sleep at the same time. Well, not literally at the same time (that would be impossible). But interchanging napping and reading is one of my favorite ways to learn new material. In my work as an academic coach, parents...
by Gretchen | Sep 15, 2011 | Academic Coaching, Organization, Study Skills
One of the most important tasks as an academic coach is to help students understand how to leverage their learning styles to study more effectively … and hopefully more pleasurably. This week one of my 9th grade clients came in beaming. She couldn’t wait...
by Gretchen | Sep 6, 2011 | Random Stuff
As an academic coach, I work with a lot of fidgety teens with ADD and ADHD. Every fall I buy some new toys to add to my collection. This year I ordered from Fat Brain Toys. We’ll see whether my coaching clients enjoy the Acrobots, pictured left . I also ordered...
by Gretchen | Sep 4, 2011 | InterPlay
Here’s a crackpot theory I’ve been testing lately in my InterPlay classes: to be a good teacher, the more selfish I can be, the better. It seems that, if I teach a class to meet those needs, I generally meet the needs of the class participants as well....
by Gretchen | Sep 3, 2011 | Academic Coaching, blog
School began this week all over the Bay Area! I love the first week of school because students are full of hope and their organizational systems haven’t yet succumbed to a sea of papers. As an academic coaching, I work one on one with students, but no session...
by Gretchen | Sep 3, 2011 | Entrepreneurship, Random Stuff
I need to start reconciling my finances every Friday, but it’s not my favorite task. Perhaps a playlist of money-related songs will help inspire me each week? (I recommend that my academic coaching clients create playlists for uninspiring tasks, but I’ve...
by Gretchen | Aug 27, 2011 | Academic Coaching, Creativity & Edges, Organization
Every year I encourage my academic coaching clients to decorate their planners (otherwise, time management can be so uninspiring). Because I practice what I preach, I made a collage too. Can you tell what my intentions for the school year include? The poem (made of...
by Gretchen | Jun 8, 2011 | InterPlay
In InterPlay storytelling, we believe that some of the most important messages about living and loving come in the form of mundane details. For example, I could begin a story by saying how life changing it was to witness the birth of my niece… OR I could...
by Gretchen | Mar 11, 2011 | Academic Coaching, Procrastination
I just finished a coaching session with Amy, a high school junior who is a notorious procrastinator. Actually, most of my high school students are procrastinators; I’m starting to believe that this is just a natural part of being human! I’m mean, I notice...
by Gretchen | Mar 9, 2011 | Academic Coaching, blog, Procrastination
A 17-year-old client of mine just discovered a brilliant way to motivate herself doing homework: If she dedicates an assignment to a friend, she finds she’s more inspired and puts more effort into it than she would have otherwise! Although I’ve never tried...
by Gretchen | Dec 9, 2010 | blog, Speed Reading
“This book is soooooooooo boring!” That’s the refrain I heard over and over during my academic coaching sessions today. Tom was annoyed with My Antonia; Grace couldn’t handle Huckleberry Finn. I used to try to convince my students that the...
by Gretchen | Nov 29, 2010 | Creativity & Edges
I’m on an Advent(ure) right now. A few weeks ago I posted the following ad to the personals section on Craigslist: I know this is kind of an odd request for Craigslist but…anyone wanna go to church with me this advent season? I haven’t been in years,...
by Gretchen | Nov 13, 2010 | Creativity & Edges
Today’s Art Every Day piece was inspired by a skype call with my sweet nephew. I’d just woken up, and as I stared at my bed head in the webcam, I thought, “Sheesh! I could make art out of this!” So… I hauled all my make up into the living...
by Gretchen | Nov 12, 2010 | Creativity & Edges, InterPlay, Random Stuff
OK, if you’re one of my teen coaching clients, don’t read this. My image as Perfect Adult With No Bad Habits will be forever destroyed. I just frittered away 2 hours on the computer designing a t-shirt on Cafe Press while IM’ing with a friend on...
by Gretchen | Nov 11, 2010 | Academic Coaching, Organization
Please enjoy this glimpse into A Day in the Life of an Academic Coach: This is a picture of what emerged after my client Cashew* unloaded his backpack during our academic coaching session. Sheesh! Needless to say, by the time I left all the paper had been uncrinkled...
by Gretchen | Nov 11, 2010 | Creativity & Edges
Now that my painting is done, I couldn’t wait to mess around with some of the other random art supplies I’ve been collecting. I love how Art Every Day Month is giving me an excuse to explore! Today I pulled out the water soluble crayons. Inspired by...
by Gretchen | Nov 10, 2010 | Creativity & Edges, InterPlay
I did it!! I finished the painting! My first one ever. Today I worked with my white, silver and gold paint pens to add some highlights. Despite a small niggling feeling of dissatisfaction, I decided the painting was done. After signing it, I headed over to my altar...
