Lil O's First Job Offer

UPDATE:  Look at this shout-on on REI's tweet.  Love. This. Company.

UPDATE II:  This story was featured in REI's internal employee newsletter, January 2013.  

Thanks, REI and REI awesome employees for reading it and caring.

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Lil O's first job offer came today.  REI.  Not bad, wouldn't you say?

She was way happy about it as you can see from her grin below.  And by the way, she is home sick today. Although, she doesn't look that sick in this photo.  Hmm......

The quick back story of her job offer goes something like this.  We are all - Mr. UpCyclist, Lil O and I - taking Stanford's free online creativity class.  It started about four weeks ago and we are now in the last few weeks of the class.  I think Mr. UpCyclist has lost interest, but Lil O and I are in it until the lovely end.  

For one of our homework assignments, we had to choose a store and answer three pages of questions about it.  Questions like:  Was the door open to the store or closed?  How did you feel about it?  What were the salespeople like?  Did they greet you?  Was their noise in the store?  If yes, where was it coming from?  And the questions went on......

After answering the questions, the second part of the assignment was to look for opportunities and insights.  Evidently, creative thinkers do this regularly; they observe and look for opportunities.

(Sick-at-home supplies) 

Lil O picked two stores - REI and Peak-a-Boo Toys in Breckenridge.  We had just been at REI that day, so her observations were fresh.  I scribed for her while she answered the three pages of questions.  Then, I asked what opportunities and insights she had for REI.  Her answer, "So many."

What?  I love REI and I don't have "so many" insights for them.  Could she?

Lil O went on to list about 15 things she liked about REI and opportunities for REI to improve.  I won't rehash her entire list, but some of my favorites include:

• You can tell what REI sells by the look of the store and the salespeople 
• REI needs a bigger toy section
• REI doesn't offer that much merchandise for teens.  They need sporty shoes and more jewelry 
• REI should allow dogs in the store.  It is an outdoor store, after all, and dogs love the outdoors.  (By the way, Puppy Jedi is "that" dog outside our local REI who is secured to the bicycle rack.  Thankfully, many REI customers pet him while he waits for us to shop.  Sweet puppy.)

Our family then submitted our creativity class homework and off we went.  Ironically, the next day, I received an email survey about our REI visit the day before.  Since I adore feedback myself and I adore REI, I took the time to answer the survey questions. Many of the questions were related to Lil O's observations, so I made certain to include her insights.  I even typed in the narrative box at the end of the survey that our family had just completed a homework assignment for a class and REI was part of that assignment. I also mentioned many of the responses I included in the survey were from a 7-year old's perspective.

This post is getting long....

Let me cut to the chase.....

1) I answer the REI survey via email and include Lil O's ideas

2) A week later I get an email from the assistant manager at our local REI; he had read the survey comments and wanted to know more.  He asked if Lil O would share her thoughts with him.

3) Lil O agrees; I then email her ideas to him.

4) He likes them and thanks her via email.

5) AND BECAUSE REI AND THIS LOVELY MANAGER ARE A CLASS ACT (how's that for emphasis), he sends Lil O a handwritten thank you note, a new REI water bottle (see above; Lil O loves it) and writes, "Keep doing A+ assignments and call us in 11 years if you're looking for a job."

Ha!

Lil O gets her first job offer and a lesson that thinking creatively has its absolute merits in the real world.

Go get 'em, my-creative-smart-loving-wonderfully-fantastic Lil O.  I sure am proud of you.

Love,

Mom

PS - Big thank you to Mr. S from REI for valuing Lil O's feedback and for sending me an REI coupon.  Woot, woot!

What's a Favicon? {for Tech Tuesday}

When I first started blogging here, I had no idea what a favicon was.  I saw that I could add one for Upcycled Education, but again, I wasn't sure what it was or why I needed one.

After a quick Google search, I learned all about favicons.  This post does a good job of explaining them if you want to learn, too.  I made Upcycled Education's favicon in Photoshop Elements.  The trick is to make the favicon image square and not too large of a file.  This is Upcycled Education's current favicon.  It looks a little blurry because I wanted to enlarge it to show it to you.  It generally is super small (look above and see if you can find it).

Favicons are spicy, aren't they?  They add eye candy to those cute, lil tabs and URL line in your internet browser.

:)

Jen

Why You Don't Hate No Child Left Behind

Students, parents, teachers, community members, yadda, yadda, yadda love to tell me how much they hate the federal law No Child Left Behind.  When they do, I ask just one poignant question, "What do you hate about it?"  Their response, "I just hate the whole law.  I mean, they are leaving children behind!"

Really?  Have you seen the law?  Have you seen what it includes?  Then, I educate them.  I am a teacher, after all, right?

No Child Left Behind (also known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act), like most federal laws, is divided into chapters.  Well, they are not called chapters, but instead the law is divided into titles.   Each title speaks to a different topic related to providing the most high quality, public education the US Department of Education can encourage and/or require.

The titles are hard to "hate."  Who doesn't want....

Title 1:  Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged (Meaning, children who are at risk for not having successful experiences in school.  This includes children from poverty, students who struggle with literacy, and a discussion about high school drop-outs)

Title 2:  Preparing, Training and Recruiting High-quality Teachers and Principals (includes a useful section about preparing teachers to use technology.  Huzzah!)

Title 3:  Language Instruction for Limited English Proficient and Immigrant Students (My favorite group of students to work with - English Language Learners - Yay!)

Title 4:  21st Century Schools (Sadly, this includes topics that need addressing:  drug- and gun-free schools.  Boo!  But, it is reality)

Title 5:  Promoting Informed Parental Choice and Innovative Programs (just say, "innovation" and I'm in!  This section talks about magnet and charter schools and gifted instruction.  Woot, woot!)

Title 6:  Flexibility and Accountability (Think standardized assessments and lots of metrics to measure student progress)

Title 7:  Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native Education  (You know how much I adore my Navajo students)

Title 8:  Impact Aid Program (Think construction of buildings. This section is a snoozer, to me)

Title 9:  General Provisions (Think "the basics" - how many days of schools should be required, defining key terms, prayer in schools policy, etc.)

Title 10:  Repeals, Redesignations and Amendments to Other Statues (This title is a bit of a default for topics that might be addressed in other federal mandates or have been amended)

Do you see what I mean?  What's to hate?  

If you are going to "hate" anything, hate the fact that only a small percentage of the federal budget is allocated for education (explained here) and thus, laws like No Child Left Behind could use more financial support.  Period.

Who knows what the next four years will bring with re-elected President Obama.  I am not thinking miracles as far as education goes, but maybe some updates to No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.  Remember what my inside source said here.  Some freshening up could be on the horizon.

All the best,
Jen

PS - Just in case you want to read the entire No Child Left Behind law in all its splendor, click here.

Orbiting the Giant Hairball

After my recent coaching session with Sue, I remembered how much I love the book, Orbiting the Giant Hairball, and how I could really stand to reread it again.

Have you read it?  It is soooo good.  And so true if you every feel like you are caught up in someone else's agenda, yet you want to stay true to yourself.

See what you think.

Jen

UPDATE:  My four-pack of coaching sessions with Sue is just about to end.  Mr. UpCyclist and I just chatted today about the benefits of coaching and how I love it and need it.  Guess what?  I am going to extend.  Sue, you haven't seen the last of me!

PS -  Confused about me & life coaching?  If yes, read here.

Updated Blog Colors - You like?

You might have noticed Upcycled Education got a color lift.  Yep, those little circles all changed colors. PS - For my mobile users, you might need to go to "web version" to see the new and improved changes :)  Here is the new blog header:

What do you think?  Do you like the new, semi-strange color scheme?

In case you were wondering, I aim to recolor the blog every season or two - part of the allure of the design I was thinking.  I am using the Pantone color guide to help me.  Since I am a wanna-be-designer, you will have to consult this Wikipedia entry to explain Pantone and their expertise a la color.

According to Pantone, this is this fall's color guide.  I used just a portion of this season's colors.  And since I am a wanna-be, I still have a long way to go to 100% color match.  But, I tried.  And I am happy.  Or at least, I think the colors look interesting.  Slightly different.  Unexpected.  And less perky than they were before.  Not that I don't like perky; I just prefer less perky colors to roll into winter.

I'm curious, which colors would you have chosen?  Maybe in the spring, we can have a contest to recolor Upcycled Education using the 2013 color guide.  Interested?

Jen

PS - In case you can't remember what the blog header used to look like, here is the before/summer blog header:

Now, the after/fall-into-winter blog header:

Which is your favorite?  I might like them both.