Catalyst Community: Try Something New

The word “community” is defined as a group of people living in the same place or having a particular interest in common. Catalyst Midland has launched a series titled “Catalyst Community” focusing on different communities — sometimes geographic, sometimes a common interest. 

In this week’s Catalyst, we focus on trying something new.

Our teacher is Erica Sprague, a science teacher at the junior/senior high school in Beaverton. She will soon start her 20th year in education. Erica is a teacher both inside and outside the classroom. She also has a presence on social media (Facebook) to share home economics ideas. Her goal is to encourage us to practice some of the skills that may be diminishing in our fast moving society.

Article:

I am an online content creator and self proclaimed tech guru! In conjunction with experimenting in the kitchen, I am also scouring the web for ideas for my blog and social media sites. While teaching science, I am on the lookout for the newest tech strategy or creative ways to impart knowledge on students.  Although these are all things that I enjoy, the amount of information and ideas out there can be somewhat overwhelming!

How many of you have a Pinterest board full of things you've never tried, created or started? We all have idea boards, whether they are virtual, on an actual board or simply floating around in our mind. This day and age, the internet provides a flood of "stuff" to fill our idea boards. Sometimes, I feel like the more ideas I am exposed to, the less I actually do. I liken this to a day you have a million things on your to do list, but somehow can't start a single one!

Print out a recipe and go shopping for the ingredients.
The downfall of the information overload is that our brains simply can't sort and store all of the data in a meaningful way. We often go down the rabbit hole, so to say. I find myself scrolling and finding one recipe after another until I realize that I haven't made a single thing! Unless I print it out or write it down, it's never going to make it out of my kitchen! 

I recently attended a training for teachers who want to implement more technology in the classroom. I love adding in new technology! I was amazed at what we can generate and create with tools like Chat GPT and Canva. The opportunities for creativity are truly endless. I can see myself sitting at my computer generating tons of creative content, from flashy slides, to color-popping newsletters and even cute content for my personal blog and page. However, it would be easy to lose sight of my goals and spend hours of precious time on the computer instead of actually DOING the things I love-teaching, cooking, crafting and creating things in real life. 

Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of value in information on the web. As I said, I am an online content creator myself and you are probably reading this from your phone or computer right now! My message to you is this: sometimes you have to step away from the virtual side of things and get out and DO something!

When I have too many things to do and don't know where to start, I usually write a list. So, write down a list of 2-3 things you want to do. Find your Pinterest board and try out a new craft. Print out a recipe and go shopping for the ingredients. Try your hand at redecorating and organizing a room in your home. Stop reading about everyone else creating and doing and learning and get out there!