The “I Can” Exercise.

UPDATED - The first response is in - from Mom In Israel. Go check it out below - I'll be posting next to each person I tagged when they've completed their list.

Many years ago in a galaxy far, far away, when I was a single young woman, unencumbered by marriage and children, I lived in a dingy basement apartment with three other single young women. A hairdresser, a woman studying to convert, and a former actress-turned ESL teacher. We had a lot of fun, dealt with a toilet and shower that regurgitated sewage when it rained (a common problem in old Brooklyn brownstones), and generally lived our lives.

One day, I wandered into the ESL teacher’s room. Let’s call her Faigie. Faigie had a random assortment of stuff on her walls. She had grown up in the village with a mother and step-father both radicals and academics. They were thrilled when she became an actress and dismayed when she became frum. They once again became thrilled when she started teaching ESL. To say the stuff on her walls was eclectic was an understatement. There was one item that caught my eye – written on a sheet of lined notebook paper was a list entitled “I Can…” Faigie’s list was fascinating. There were many, many interesting things on it, but I remember distinctly she had written “get anywhere in New York City by train or bus.”

I asked Faigie, what is this list? Faigie told me, “It’s an exercise I do with my students every year when I am trying to teach about the verb ‘can’ and to also give them a self-confidence boost. I give everyone 15 minutes to write down as many things about themselves as they can, that start with the phrase ‘I can…’ It also helps to work on sentence structure.”

“When they’re done we all read our lists aloud to one another. The class learns a lot about each other and so do I,” she continued. “This is my list from the last time I did it with my class.”

I think this is a simple and amazing exercise. I am challenging all my readers and the following bloggers to do this exercise and to either a) list it in the comments or b) post it to their own blogs and comment below that you’ve done it. I will update this post with links to everyone’s “I can…” list.

The Rules are simple:

• You have 15 minutes and 15 minutes only. Time yourself.
• No making changes once the list is completed beyond correcting spelling mistakes.
• Be Honest. It's okay if it's silly or strange or weird or disconcerting.
• Resist the urge to explain yourself. Wait and see what other people will ask you to explain after they read your list.

I’ve challenged/asked the following bloggers to also do this exercise (In no particular order):
A Mother in Israel Please add to her list "I can be punctual and be the first to turn assignments in on a timely basis."
Abacaxi Mamao COMPLETED - the scholarly version
Mama O’ Matrices COMPLETED - the allergy/hemophilia version
Chayyei Sarah
Maven
Carolyn @ Juggling Frogs
Z
Shira Salamone
OMom
RaggedyMom
RenReb (if she reads this in the next month or so)
Dawn Friedman
Foster Abba COMPLETED - the homeschooling independent foster mom version
YondallaCOMPLETED - the philosophical sewing GLAAD version
Dov Bear
Elie
R’ Pinson @ Finally Free
MOChassid
PT
Ezzie
Trepp
West Bank Mama
Mr. Crunchy
Erin (go and wish her mazel tov she just got engaged)

And anyone else who wants to do it.
UPDATED - Readers who have done it!
Becoming…my Jewish blog
Baila
Other Mother
Mrs. Belogski

Here’s my list –

I can…

• Floss my teeth while going to the bathroom
• Pick things up with my toes
• Pinch with my toes
• Decorate cakes nicely (Wilton classes)
• Lose track of time in central park
• Make killer home made dairy ice cream and cheesecake
• Make a really delicious spinach lokshen kugel without MSG
• Convince at thirteen year old boy to take a shower
• Make a boo boo better with a kiss
• Braid my own hair perfectly
• Make my children believe pig tails are actually called pony tails
• Balance a check book
• Find $35,000 mistakes
• Do just about anything in MS Word and Excel
• Still use my algebra skills from high school
• Watch just about any Audrey Hepburn movie over and over again
• Sing the words to almost every song from the Rogers and Hammerstein repertoire of musicals
• Go from an alto to a high soprano
• Get four children woken, dressed, homeworked, fed, and out the door in under an hour
• Cook dinner, make lunches, switch the laundry and make carpool telephone calls all at the same time
• Multitask
• Raise large sums of money for charity quickly when the need arises
• Pick up and travel three hours on the spur of the moment
• Read bed time stories like nobody else can
• Sing the lyrics to too many songs from the late 70s, 80s, and early 90s
• Play most of the board games we have at home
• Make a healthy dinner on five dollars
• Drive stick and automatic
• Drive cars, large vans, tractors, and on one occasion a bus
• Find just about anything and anyone on the internet
• Sell just about anything if I put my mind to it
• Name all 50 states and name the 46 I’ve been to
• Speak some Hebrew and Yiddish
• Speak a minimum of French and Spanish
• Stay focused on task
• Easily get distracted
• Go for long periods of time on minimal sleep
• Cook for large numbers of people
• Twist my tongue into a roll and a flower shape
• Touch my toes to my nose
• Be frugal or extravagant
• Be kind when I choose to be
• Hold a grudge
• Win at Scrabble almost every time
• Easily sleep at least 10 hours straight
• Just say no to dessert
• Choose what kind of relationships I want to have
• Write newspaper articles, magazine features, and op-ed pieces
• Ride a roller coaster without getting sick
• Be a good Jew and all around person
• Learn Mikros Gedolos inside
• Find the shoresh of just about any Hebrew word
• Find the root of just about any English word