Part of the Goals 2010 Challenge Series, Goal 8 and part of the Cool Sites Series
Congratulations!
You just completed a week of goals. Can you believe how much you’ve accomplished in the New Year so far?! For the next goal, I want us to keep ourselves motivated for the week ahead. In the past, the best way I kept motivated was by feeling confident in myself. Personally, I think January is one of the toughest months. During this time we reflect on everything we did not accomplish the previous year, then we make goals and by the end of the month we might beat ourselves up for not making any progress towards these goals. I like to plan for this inevitable time that I know I will feel depressed. Many of us may be our own worse critics. When I was in my 20s, I learned a trick from watching one of my favorite television series, Ally McBeal. In the show, Ally convinces her bestfriend John, who often stutters and lacks confidence, to get a personal theme song to sing to his reflection in the mirror. At first, John thinks it’s a terrible idea. Then he chooses the Barry White song, You’re The First, The Last, My Everything. In this video clip he’s singing the song and his co-workers join him.
Accomplishing This Goal
Over the years, I have had several theme songs for different occasions. I had one song to motivate me to exercise, another to start the day, and those to deal with disappointment. Usually, I would sing these on the way to work in my car, hum them, or sing them to myself in my head. I had my theme song saved as my ring tone. Over the years, I stopped doing this. However, this year my long-term goal is to maintain this practice.
To accomplish today’s task, think about what songs make you feel confident in various areas of your life. You can create lists in your mp3 player, Ipod, or Iphone. A friend, @Annapires, introduced me to Blip.fm, a music site where you can create music lists and post these selections on Twitter, Facebook, or Live Journal. This is a great site to post your personal theme songs and share them with your friends.
Your Students
This task can also be implemented as an activity with your students. Ask your students what personal theme song they would choose and why. They can create their own music videos using Animoto, Windows Movie Maker, Glogster, or other tools. Read this post and this post for more ideas of web 2.0 tools your students can use for this activity. Your students can also take this quiz which will tell them their personal theme song after they answer the questions. They can research the song lyrics and decide if they agree/disagree and why. The students can also make their own quizzes with more modern choices for their peers to take.
More Resources
- Student music videos at the Zarco English Blog
- Project Peace, the student collaborative video project
- A student’s multimedia essay, My Personal Theme Song
- Personal Theme Song and Why
If you are new to the 30 day Goal challenge then you may want to read this post with more details!
Challenge:
Think about your personal theme song or have your students determine their personal theme songs as a project!
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This is goal 8 of this series! If you’d like to join the challenge, please read this post!
Don’t forget to leave a comment that you accomplished this goal using the hashtag #30Goals!
What is your personal theme song for 2010? Care to share a link to the song? Share your student project links as well!
Self motivating is always most powerful side of human beings..I always believe this.But I do not have many theme songs for myself but I will try your suggestions..
Thanks for giving powerful inspirations with your strong posts..Goodbye
@Özcan,
I always enjoy when you stop by! I have many motivational songs but this year I want to have specific ones that help motivate me in certain areas. Maybe, I’ll try a list for each area. You have given me something to think about.
[…] I read Shelly Terrell post, I immediately wanted to write about my personal theme song. It was actually something that I […]
LOVED that show! That was a great episode too. Already have some theme songs in mind, but plan on taking the quiz just to see what it says.
Singing is great when you’re down. In January I’d say it’s best when done outdoors, walking through the snow with friends … or with your dog!
Remember this one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_n-gRS_wdI
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,
bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,
brown paper packages tied up with strings,
these are a few of my favorite things.
Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels,
door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles.
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings.
these are a few of my favorite things.
Girls in a white dresses with a blue satin sashes,
snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,
silver white winters that melt into springs,
these are a few of my favorite things.
When the dog bites, when the bee stings,
when I’m feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
and then I don’t feel so bad.
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,
bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,
brown paper packages tied up with strings,
these are a few of my favorite things.
Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels,
door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles.
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings.
these are a few of my favorite things.
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes,
snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,
silver white winters that melt into springs,
these are a few of my favorite things.
When the dog bites, when the bee stings,
when I’m feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
and then I don’t feel so bad.
Anne,
Thanks for sharing! I definitely remember, especially since I recently visited Austria and took the Sound of Music tour. I sing in the forest while walking the dog, too 😉 I love singing really loud in the car, though!
Sorry, just have to add this great interpretation by the wonderful Pomplamoose: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvYZMqQffQE
Hi Shelly
I also took the Sound of Music Tour when I visited Austria a while back!! It was absolutely fantastic. I loved seeing all the different places where the film was shot. Our guide was so enthusiastic and of course he knew the film inside out and gave us so much extra information which made the tour special.
@ Anne Raindrops and Roses is a fab song!! I personally love “The Hills are Alive”.
One day I would love to go to a “Sing-a-long” Sound of Music theatre performance. I’ve heard they are great fun!!
My brother is an aspiring musician and actually wrote me a theme song one year as a birthday present for my blog 🙂 It always makes me smile. The best part is that he recorded about 16 versions of the song all with different themes and styles. Every time I listen to it I think of my brother and laugh. http://ilearntechnology.com/?page_id=480
I love the idea of inviting students to come up with a theme song and creating an Animoto presentation. This would be a great way to get to know our students better and for others in the class to find common interests.
[…] those looking to motivate your kiddos for goal setting should check out Shelly Terrell’s theme song activity for goal setting over at Teacher Reboot Camp. It’s a must […]
[…] What’s Your Personal Theme Song? […]
[…] has magically brought change to my life. It all started with Shelly’s tweet about glogster, a fantastic tool for creating posters. I immediately signed up and opened […]
Diamond in the Rough – Social Distortion.
It’s about being damaged, which I am, through faults not of my own and needing a little love to sparkle. It’s also about someone believing in your potential and growing. Mostly about a young man with a certain young woman seeing him for what he truly is; as a man, not a boy.
P.S. I’m an unrequited love poet by ‘trade’ but this sums me up through no faults of my own.