Posts tagged foyble in the classroom
Friday foyble of the week: Just do it
Dec 3rd
Note: the Friday foyble of the week (FFOTW) is a once per week post where we single out one of our favorite foybles from the many over at www.foyble.com. We don’t have any criteria for the foybles we pick and you don’t get anything but our gratitude and an internet high five. Check back every Friday for another installment. Email us at contact@foyble.com to nominate someone for the honor!
We have chosen Tommy Boyd’s “food bank” foyble as our Friday of the foyble of the week. We choose it because of Tommy’s spirit. We’re pretty sure that Tommy first showed up at this food bank because he had to- but he kept an open mind and he actually enjoys it now. We think this is inspirational and it is a challenge to you: what are you avoiding because you don’t think you will like it? Are you missing out on new experiences because you have some preconceived notion of how you think it will be? Who is missing out because of you moving in the same cycles you have always moved in? We also like Tommy’s post because he really did not go for the hard sell. Tommy’s message: “go do something you don’t think you want to do- you might like it after all”.
Tommy’s post reminds me of when my wife and I were dating- she wanted to spend an evening dishing food out at a food shelter in downtown Cincinnati in the Over the Rhine district. On a weekend. She would always talk about it in an abstract manner and I (of course) always said I WOULD go. Then she actually got a schedule and some contact information and scheduled us to go. I smiled and said I was excited but I wasn’t. The only reason I went to that food shelter is because I loved her and wanted her to keep dating me. I did NOT have an open mind about what that night would be.
That evening turned out to be really fun for us. We met some new people, had some of the most interesting conversations we can remember (the organizers of the event encouraged the volunteers to sit and eat with the patrons and not congregate amongst themselves). That night remains one of our favorite memories from when we were dating.
So what? The point is that sometimes when your natural instinct is to shy from something you might want to reconsider. Sometimes the best memories happen when you are doing something that is outside of your comfort zone. We suspect for a lot of people this happens when you are starting the GIVE.
We applaud Tommy for going to that food bank and being transparent about his experience. And we think that the next time someone offers to take you to somewhere to start the GIVE you should at least say maybe. You might “rather like it”.
Here’s your internet high five Tommy: boom.
Bon Weekend, foyblers!
Posted by Brian
Friday foyble of the week: Mentoring
Nov 19th
Note: the Friday foyble of the week (FFOTW) is a once per week post where we single out one of our favorite foybles from the many over at www.foyble.com. We don’t have any criteria for the foybles we pick and you don’t get anything but our gratitude and an internet high five. Check back every Friday for another installment. Email us at contact@foyble.com to nominate someone for the honor!
Today, foyble co-founder John Frazier is in Virginia on (gasp) un foyble-related business. While he is down there he is taking some time out to visit with Dr. Jack King, founder of the Northfolk Center for Servant Leadership (check them out here). They will be discussing how foyble and Dr. King’s social network, Leadership UpsideDown, might be able to work together.
So this week’s theme is mentoring. And Chad Sansing’s “Mentoring” foyble fits that theme perfectly. Chad has been mentoring a student and spent some time with his mentee for his foyble. It’s clear, even in Chad’s brief foyble, that he understands the importance of mentoring young people and that he is prepared to take on the challenges that being a mentor can present.
We applaud Chad for the important work he does. And we are looking forward to working with Leadership UpsideDown, and organizations like it, to provide tools to people to inspire and lead. Consider this Chad Sansing’s internet high five. Boom. While we are at it, let’s give one to Dr. Jack King too. Double boom.
Have a great weekend!
Posted by Brian
For Educators: why foyble should be part of your curriculum
Oct 22nd
One of the most interesting and promising applications for the tools we are developing are in the classroom. From the very beginning, foyble co-founder John Frazier has been helping develop tools that make sense for students and schools to use. Some of the recent publicity we received in Columbus also garnered some unsolicited interest in the site from teachers. So we know that foyble has potential to be a very valuable tool for educators to use. Here are some of our thoughts on the issue.
Foyble 101: The Basics
The tools that are out there now are very well suited for teachers and administrators to encourage students to perform acts of goodwill and track them on the site. Teachers can create groups by class and challenge students to do something nice for their peers or family members. Teachers with older students can simply encourage community service. Perhaps issue challenges to other schools or classes to see who can inspire the most acts? Use the act maps to see where students have performed their acts. Use the act of recording foybles on the site as a critical writing exercise; asking students to think about what they might do, going out and doing it, then reflecting on their experiences and writing about them is a perfect language arts assignment! All of this is possible to do, NOW, on foyble.com.
