While I scroll through my Google Reader, my head just spins! So much information, I am overwhelmed. I want to read it all but I just can’t. I star the ones I want to go back and take a closer look and clear the rest. I love Google Reader, because it brings everything to me in one place. It is a lot less clicking!
Today on my Google Reader I found… The Importance of Stretching. As I read the post, I had to laugh as I was reminded of the “cold tortilla” theory from my youth. The post talked about the importance of stretching before exercising. Kids need that warm up time before diving into the lesson at hand. Just like the teacher from the article, I like to get to school before everyone gets there so I can get everything set up just the way I like it. (Not that I am OCD or anything!) I am pretty sure there are many students that don’t even think about stretching before coming to school. But is it stretching or warming up?
Have you ever tried to roll a cold tortilla? It just breaks or rips…right? The same things happen to our mussels if you try and stretch them without warning them up! The Cold Tortilla Theory! The brain is a mussel, right? So, the same thing would happen to the brain, it can’t stretch if you don’t warm it up. Got to get the blood pumping! So I don’t disagree with what Patricia is saying in the post, just the title. I want my students to warm-up before class because I want to stretch their brains to new lengths they didn’t think possible.
**A special thanks to the Stretch Gang for ingrained the phrase “Life is a Journey; Not a Destination” and the “Cold Tortilla Theory” in me. **
The last 2+ years of my family's life, with moving to North Carolina from many many years and deep roots in South Louisiana, resulted in our motto being exactly that! "Life is a Journey, Not a Destination"...which is mirrored in the title of my blog. And the "Cold Tortilla Theory".. I had never heard that one! So so true, for exercise but yes! for learning! Hence why not much happens productively mentally for me in the morning until my first cup of coffee.. I'm gonna start calling it "cold tortilla coffee".. lol.
ReplyDeleteAnd to reflect on your comment about Reader, I feel like my brain has gotten a crazy insane workout since I stocked my reader with stuff a few weeks ago; I want to keep reading and reading! I think that would be the key when teaching students how to use reader, to teach them to scan for the most important stuff and not get bogged down with ALL of the articles, how to star those to come back to, etc.
PS: Still feeling the Mardi Gras vibe from this blog! Can we put "Mardi Gras" mambo as your theme song on here, just until Ash Wednesday? lol
Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog post and I really enjoyed your thoughts on your blog about this! I loved your Cold Tortilla Theory! What a great analogy! Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. I hope you come back and visit again! :)
ReplyDelete