Genius Hour Week 1 Topic Selection

"Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you will."- Vernon Howard

As I was contemplating different skills I would like to per sue, I realized that now is a great time to try some out with spending so much extra time at home due to Covid 19.  I have always wanted to learn how to french braid hair, run a 5k in under 30 minutes and figure out how to loom knit and actually stick with it until it is done.  I took in to consideration a lot of obstacles that may get in my way within the next 6 weeks when deciding on one project to take on. 

I have always wanted to learn how to french braid hair; my daughters and my own.  I tried a handful of times but gave up easily and still can't do it.  I asked my daughter if she would let me practice on her a few times a week and she did not look too happy.  She is always on the go and when she would be willing to take some time out of her day for me to practice, I would have my 3 year old son possibly getting in the way of practice time.  With Covid 19 going on, she is the only hair I have to practice on at the moment, so I chose to save this one for when I have more options of people to practice on as well as have a friend be there to help me step by step.

I enjoy running, however I am not very fast.  With the gym being closed, I have been having somewhat of a difficult time making sure I exercise enough.  Being on a strict schedule before, I was disciplined to wake up very early and make it to my 5am Orange Theory classes four days a week.  For some reason, having more time on my hands make it a bit harder to exercise and easier to make excuses.  I thought that maybe if I set a goal to run a virtual 5k under 30 minutes I would be held more accountable for keeping vigorous workouts.  However, with scheduling I chose not to work on this yet with a set ending time.

Learning to loom knit has always been something I found to be interesting.  I have a few friends that loom knit and I always comment how it looks like fun, but I am not sure I have the time or patience for it.  It would be awesome to learn and be able to make gifts for my family and friends.  Normally I do not stay up much past the time I get my kids to sleep because of a very early alarm clock.  However, with the pandemic, I have been staying up later watching TV and I feel this skill would be great to work on at this time.  I ordered what I needed off of Amazon to get started.  With everyone else in my house asleep, I feel that this is a good goal for me to set for myself so I can focus without being disturbed.  I will learn how to loom knit a scarf and be able to gift it to a friend when it is complete. 

Introduction

Hi, My name is Stephanie Haberer. I earned my Bachelor's Degree from Northern Illinois University. I have been teaching Physical Education and Health Education at Unity Jr. High in Cicero for 12 years. I enjoy getting to see my students in the gym as well as in a classroom setting. I have been married for 9 years and have two kids: Mia (7) and Carter (3). I enjoy baking, crafting, watching TV, shopping, exercising and hanging out with friends. I am looking forward to gaining confidence when using technology with my colleagues and students.