#lifeafterhighschool

[boychickblonde]

stoned in a bubble bath eating cinnamon twists from taco bell

[live-laugh-love-teach-blog]

Five Fabulous Friday Finds - Week 9

With the advances in technology, how are we utilizing technology in the classroom?  Are we being passive users or are we being active users?  How do we encourage our students?  In what ways are we preparing our students for world after high school?

(1) Let’s first start with the technology piece of this week’s thoughts.  It’s no secret that we all learn in different ways.  Brooke Hahn discusses how people learn by looking more in depth at Active vs. Passive Learning.

(2) Now that we have read a little more about Active vs. Passive Learning, let’s look at a visual of Active vs. Passive Learning, especially since we all do not learn and comprehend material in the same manner.  

(3) Alright, now that we have a solid foundation of Active vs. Passive Learning, let’s look at how this translates into technology.  I actually attended a Professional Development during the previous school year, and our tech director presented to us by utilizing a Power Point presentation.  Wouldn’t you know that Mr. Juliani mentioned a method that has stuck with me since?  I present to you all: The SAMR Method.  This method discusses how we can utilize technology in a way that is meaningful not only to our students, but to our communities as well.

(4) Well, that’s all fine and dandy, Ms. J, but how does this help our students?  Does this technology integration really help our students?  However in the world do we prepare them for life after high school?  Well, my friends, the answer to that question lies within this idea of working as a team.  Being a special education teacher, I constantly am working with my colleagues and the families of my students to determine what all we can do to structure the remainder of my students’ high school experiences to prepare them best for life after high school.  In order to have this be effective, though, I also start by having my students finish this sentence: When I grow up, I want to...

(5)  Regardless of what my students end up telling me, I am sure to encourage them and help them along the way.  We never know what awesome and amazing things our students can do, so it’s best to be their cheerleaders and remind them that they too can change the world, whether they want to believe it or not.  Even the smallest gesture means the world. ❤️ 

Keep being awesome, friends!

Always,  Ms. J

[joshlfuture-blog]

How I Found My Direction After High School

             Right After High School

I graduated school back in 2013 with a choice to make; do I go to college, join the military, or skip both and just work like my family.  Coming to the end of my high school career my best friend gave me the opportunity to leave my kitchen job at Texas Roadhouse, and start a job at a Mortgage company where his dad was a CFO (Chief Finance Officer). At the time it sounded like an amazing opportunity where I would be able to gain valuable experience to help me achieve success without a college degree.  Once I started to work up there I quickly realized that it wasn’t going to be the type of job I thought it was, which I quickly learned was also what my best friend had been thinking.  Within 3 months we both quit because of some disputes within the company, and after that I tried to find out what I really wanted to do.  After about 3 months of being unemployed I became bored enough to get up off of the couch and go job hunting. I  found a job at a local Sears and started off as a Hardware Sales Associate, but after 2 months I was quickly moved to Large Appliances where the “real” money was.  My first year I made 16 thousand, which was great at the time, but I wanted more.

The Beginning of my Life Direction

During my second year I met a girl who at the time seemed nice, but the kicker was she was pregnant by another guy who happened to be in jail.  Now while I can look back at this and see how poor of a decision it was at the time, I felt responsible for her future.  With knowing, at the age of 19, I was with a girl who was going to have a child. I quickly came to the realization that it was going to be expensive, and I didn’t make enough.  I immediately applied to a Kay Jewelers in the area, all with the hope to make more money by working 2 jobs.  The second I started I quickly dove into learning about the history of diamonds, and the inventory that we carried.  After a brief product training period I understood that selling diamonds wasn’t something that I particularly cared about, because in no way was it beneficial to people.  My manager on the other hand, while a very hard manager, always thought very highly of me through the brief stint of time I was there.  Within 3 months I realized that working 2 jobs wasn’t going to cut it I needed more, but where?  Luckily at this time my dad was looking for a car and shopping local car dealerships.

While he was getting ready to buy his car I had the chance to have a conversation with our car salesman, and about the amount of money that he was on track for making for that year.  He said 100,000, and naturally my eyes grew wide.  $100,000 was 3 times as much as my dad currently made, and 5 times more then I made.  That day my dad decided that he wanted to give our local car dealership one last shot, and this time I was with him.  We walked in and he talked to the sales woman to try to see if they could beat the price and payment.  Although they couldn’t beat it I asked our sales woman if there were any sales job available, and to my luck there was so I picked up an application.  As I looked through the application I realized that I had a couple of things going against me with this application; first I was 19 in an industry with people twice my age in it, second I didn’t have my driver’s license, and third I was going to be a provider within 2 months.  I immediately told myself if I wanted it I would have to work for it so that weekend I went to our DMV to take the ride along, which I failed.  Yes, I know who fails a ride along?  Well I did. I then had to wait 2 weeks for me to be able to take it again, and this time I passed it.  I then had the answer to my second fault, and immediately filled out the application.  I turned in the application, and waited for a week for a phone call, but it never came.  At that point I knew if I wanted this job I was going to have to work for it, so I gave them a call and set up an interview.  The interview became one of my most memorable adult moments.  The interview consisted of me talking to each manager, which at that time seemed like a daunting challenge.  The manager who set up my interview was the first person to interview me, and everything went well.  The second manager to interview me didn’t look at me one time, but instead kept texting on his phone.  That threw me off of my game just a little bit and kind of annoyed me, but I made it to the next manager.  The third manager then came and asked me some philosophical questions to see how I thought, which I answered well enough for them to tell me that I was hired.

Finding my Direction the Hard Way

After being hired my mind stopped worrying about whether or not, as a 19 year old I was going to be able to provide for a child.  In between the time I started and the moment I was hired the baby was born on.  For the next 4 months I proceeded to be a father to the baby, but my relationship with his mother began to deteriorate drastically. I held on for as long as I could before enough was enough, and I knew that meant I had to make a decision. I knew from my parents that I had to make a decision about my future; did I want to break off all ties to make my future better, or did I want to stay with them and let it drag down my potential?  I decided the most selfish, hurtful, and hardest decision that I have ever had to make. I chose to break off all ties to make my future better, but I did try to stay in the baby’s life only his mother didn’t want me there. The only way that I could follow through with that decision, was if I made it my mission to influence as many people as I can to impact their lives in a positive way.  Creating a positive influence in others life at that point became my mission.  Everyone has to go down their own paths to find their specific life mission or goal, and I had to have something happen to me that I will carry for the rest of my life.

What I was able to Learn

-Don’t pass up your dreams for a relationship.

-Life is full of choices; good, bad, or indifferent make them quickly and only look back to reflect, and understand.

-Never stop self-growth.

-When your back is up against the wall you will either die, or push out of it to be a better person.

-Life happens, shape it into a positive, don’t let it shape you in a negative way.

-Failure either makes you, or breaks you but either way it’s your choice.

-Also helped me adopt the sentence that I now live the rest of my life by; Anything worth doing is worth overdoing, moderation is for cowards. -Marcus Lutrell

[leleleeleleelee]

#lifeafterhighschool #hellodrmorrisson #ecumenicalfriendships (at San Diego, California)

[chasingmine]

Day 204: It’s just life after high school.

This is also going to be a very quick post. I have been overthinking things again and I’ve been really sad so I reached out to a friend..well..he’s more of an acquaintance but that’s beside the point, and asked for some advice. I was explaining to them that my friends are gone; they are no longer my friends and I feel alone and I was asking him like...why I can’t make friends easily anymore. Why I’m so alone. Was it something I do or the way I act? He responded back to me with a reassuring message and this statement:

“Honestly, I think it’s just life after high school”

That quote stuck with me and has not left my head since he said...or texted...it to me that night. He’s right and he made me feel so much better about myself so I thought maybe it could do the same for some of you. 

Yes, it sucks watching people walk out of your life or watching yourself drift away from people who were once your closest friends after high school, but that is normal. I don’t want you guys thinking what I was because it’s a dangerous thought process especially if you have anxiety or depression. After high school, things will change. People move on with their lives. They part ways and grow into their own selves. They make new friends, meet new people, they grow and that is what you should be doing too. 

That’s what I should be doing too...

[modelmatrix]

Navy after high school

I’m going to the navy after high school, and when I made that decision I was solely looking at the income (what teen wouldn’t?) I didn’t really think it through, and now I’m getting closer to actually swearing in… Everything is becoming clear to me. We’re about to go to war with ISIS.. The Middle East.. For the next four years. I’m going to actually shoot a gun for the first time . I know you’re probably thinking “well DUHHH that’s what you’re supposed to do” but.. It’s different when you actually do it, especially for a girl like me. I’m actually… Nervous.

[jobeecapili]

Even i am not feeling well (literally) yesterday, this person next to me made my day. (And it's pretty ironic after all these years, i'm still fond of calling her by surname which i think made our friendship more special) #foreverfriends #afteroneyear #lifeafterhighschool