6 Super Foods To Help You Look Younger

 

Nutrition fascinates me – we can cure, build, and sculpt ourselves with food.  When I retire from the teaching profession, I’m delving into the health/fitness world for sure.  Here’s the latest research I discovered.  According to MSN Health & Fitness, the key nutrients in certain foods will help you look younger. My only complaint is I don’t seem to see anything with frosting on the list. 

1. Blood oranges. These are full of antioxidants which decrease aging, increase collagen production and thicken the skin.

2. Shellfish. The fatty acids in shellfish nourish the skin, help maintain skin integrity and keep skin cells performing optimally.

3. Dandelion, turnip and mustard greens. Eating these slightly bitter greens has been shown to lessen your sweet tooth.  (GG hint:  to get my daily dose of greens, I blend mustard greens, a freshly squeezed lemon and strawberry egg white protein in a blender.  Green power smoothie without the bitter taste)

4. Oregano, thyme and parsley. If you have puffy bags under your eyes in the morning, you are likely consuming too much sodium. Instead of salt, season your meals with herbs and spices such as oregano, thyme, rosemary, parsley and garlic.

5. Crunchy vegetables. Celery, carrots, string beans and cauliflower contain cellulose, which helps scrub stains from your teeth — giving you a whiter, brighter smile.

6. Almond milk. Doctors say almond milk is a nutritious dairy alternative because of its high levels of magnesium, potassium, manganese, copper, vitamin E, selenium and calcium. Its natural fatty acids will keep your mind sharp, your immune system strong and your skin glowing.

Go for it.  Even if these don’t tickle your fancy at first read, we’re all looking for some form of fountain of youth, right?  Try it.

 

NCTE11 News and Notes

My school district afforded me the wonderful opportunity to attend my very first National Council of Teachers of English conference held in Chicago, Illinois this year.  I met wonderful national colleagues, many of whom I’ve been conversing with online but never had the opportunity to meet face-to-face, and I returned to school feeling completely motivated and recharged.

 The following is a sampling of tips from a session titled “Zapping Apathy:  Creating a Sense of Community in English Class”      Please see Gary Anderson’s informative blog, What’s Not Wrong, for more detailed information:

1.  Build Community Through Movement:  Chalk Talk:  A silent, non-threatening way to generate ideas, spawn discussion, understand connections.  Here’s my students’ first 1984 Chalk Talk.  (see my sample in picture)

2.  Build Community Through Online Means: 6-Word Memoirs with Wordle: A team-building, creative writing activity.  First, show the following two YouTube videos – First video and Second Video.  Second, students write their own six-word memoirs.  Third, have students go to www.wordle.net and create and a visual of their memoirs.  They’ll be able to play with font, color scheme, etc to fit their subject and make it come to life.

3.  Build Community through Cell Phone Activity (shared by Lee Anne Spillane):  Did you know that if students text Google, 466453, and punch in Define: (followed by the word), Google will text back a definition of that word?!

4.  Build Community through Discussion  – A means to get the quieter students involved. Provide envelopes filled with slips of paper numbered 1 – 10.  Give these envelopes to about 4 students and have those students stand in front of class.  Read a statement and ask students to hold up a slip that represents how strongly they agree with the statement.(1 = strongly disagree; 10 = strongly agree)

Like these samples? . . . see Gary Anderson’s What’s Not Wrong site for more along with the original handouts and Prezi’s from the session.

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There are so many more worthwhile sessions I attended.  For instance, stay tuned for a synopsis of Carol Jago’s Literature Project!!!!

 

Symbols, Signs and Slides

 

Whether or not you are an educator, viewing the two videos below will be worth your while.  Sit back and enjoy the symbolism within our daily lives. . . .

Here is an assignment I recently shared with my two accelerated freshman English classes.  We have a rigorous curriculum to follow in the classroom yet I wanted to give the students opportunity to express their more creative sides.  I came up with this to supplement our study and analysis of symbolism.  Aside from the period during which we watched and discussed “Words”, this is a project they had to complete solely at home on their own.  The student sample below is just one example of how well they ran with this!  

ASSIGNMENT:

In conjunction with our study of “The Scarlet Ibis” and symbolism, watch this video from NPR’s Radiolab to help illustrate how images are contextual. You will complete an assignment afterwards, but first I just want you to watch and enjoy it:  

 

Now search for the word semiotics and define it.  Watch the video again with that definition in mind.  As you watch, write down all of the words presented through the images and sound in the video.  We will discuss how the varied definitions of these words match the context within which they are shown.

For the end result, you are going to create your own video.  You will need to decide on eight words of your choosing.  Four of the eight words must be from our most recent vocabulary list.  You must find at least two different meanings for each word and at least one image to represent each meaning.

Use PhotoPeach, MovieMaker or another program of your choice.  In addition to production of your slideshow, provide a “key” that highlights which words you used along with an explanation of the word definitions.  Happy producing!!!