Tag Archives: learning

Oct14

it’s complicated.

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oh, we all have those days

you start out by not having your water bottle

so you get a special halloween cup of water

 it gets tipped over when you are cutting

you go to get a paper towel to dry it up

but you come back with what you can find

toilet paper

 that gets wet and mushy

 the extra part rolls out on the floor

 your coat falls off of the back of your chair

 the paper you were cutting gets soaked and chopped into little pieces

because you are really good at cutting

 you can’t find the cap to your marker

because it rolled off your table

 now it might dry up

all you have left are the dark color crayons

 you don’t get time to finish your cheez-its

because you are trying to clean up

the ones that are left get wet and are mushy

you go out to recess and run and run and go on a pirate adventure

your teachers love you anyway and tell you it happens to them too

and it’s all okay.

—

“there’s no limit to how complicated things can get,

on account of one thing always leading to another.”

-E. B. White

Oct10

hawk.

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today at school

we looked up

way up

on top

of the carved art pole

covered in languages

all saying one thing

‘peace’

   a hopeful sign

 the kinder

could not stop watching

this beautiful bird

as it flew up to the tree

and off into the sky. 

—

we may be losing the ability

to understand animals who are not pets or horses.

we have less contact with them.

we don’t (most of us) tend to know even cows or pigs,

let alone bears or wolverines or red tailed hawks. 

*-marge piercy

*Marge Piercy (1936) is an American poet, novelist, and social activist. Her work includes Woman on the Edge of Time; He, She and It, which won the 1993 Arthur C. Clarke Award; and Gone to Soldiers, a New York Times Best Seller, a sweeping historical novel set during World War II. Piercy’s work is rooted in her Jewish heritage, social and political activism, and her feminist ideals. She influenced the Women’s Movement through both her writing and her unconventional life.

Sep18

the kinder came.

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the kinder came

they masked

they played

they conquered. 

 

—

“this is the short and long of it.”

– william shakespeare

 

 

—

first day of school – september 2020

Sep17

most unusual day.

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today is the first day back at school

i imagine the kinder calmly gliding into nature with me

all possibilities are on the table

 could be more like the picture below

most likely will fall somewhere in between. 

“today is a most unusual day, because we have never lived it before; we will never live it again; it is the only day we have.”

-william arthur ward

 

—

photo credits: vintage pinterest, gamma-keystone london

 

Sep1

piaget.

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*Jean Piaget (1896-1980) in his office.

Shout out to all those who didn’t tidy their office before the start of the school year.

—

“simple solutions seldom are. it takes a very unusual mind to undertake analysis of the obvious.”

-alfred north whitehead

 

—

*Piaget’s (1936) theory of cognitive development explains how a child constructs a mental model of the world. He disagreed with the idea that intelligence was a fixed trait, and regarded cognitive development as a process which occurs due to biological maturation and interaction with the environment.

—

credit: modern language association

Aug28

merit.

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so proud to be a member from way back

of the ‘look it up club’

i was very shy and quiet

but once i learned to read

the world opened up to me

i ‘mastered’ the encyclopedia

and never stopped looking things up.

 

—

“true merit, like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes.”

-edward wood, 1st Earl of Halifax

Aug24

goodnight, good sir.

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RIP to *Sir Ken Robinson, an eloquent and indefatigable defender of the role of the arts and creativity in education. His TED talks made him world-famous—his presentation called “Do schools kill creativity?” remains the most popular TED talk of all time, and he wrote widely, including major books on creativity in 2001 and 2015. Robinson was knighted in 2003 for his distinguished career in service to the arts.  He was a staunch critic of standardized tests and compliance-based classrooms, and an unapologetic champion of every kind of creative endeavor—from theater, to music, film, painting, dance, and everything in between. He died peacefully yesterday at the age of 70, after a brief battle with cancer, surrounded by his family. His voice will be greatly missed. – Edutopia

“the answer is not to standardize education,

but to personalize and customize it to the needs of each child and community.

there is no alternative. there never was.”

-Sir Ken Robinson, (one of my heroes in the field of education)

 

 

*Sir Ken Robinson was an author, speaker and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, education and arts bodies.

 

—

credits: edutopia, pbs.org

May28

keep the heart touchable.

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doing virtual early childhood parent-teacher conferences online

did not feel natural

but i give parents so much credit

some went to elaborate lengths

to find a space and time

where their child wouldn’t find them

so we could openly talk

and share stories

about how their child

touched our hearts this year

we talked to parents

in a closet, in a basement, up in an attic room,

and those who sent their child off on an errand

some waited until their child was asleep at night

but one thing was the same

this was a wonderful group of supportive, think-on-their-feet parents

who kept our connection with their children going

even from a distance

as we all navigated our way through this uncharted territory

and we were so lucky to have them as our teaching and learning partners this year.

 

—

“in a world where the great technologies enable us to record, replay, cut and paste, zoom in, and delete –

listening is the crucial commitment to keep the heart touchable.”

-mark nepo

 

 

 

—

photo credit: bored panda

Apr4

aha.

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(not me, but a puppy who has my dream hair color and is comfortably wearing earbuds)

—

that aha moment

when after 62 years and some months

your ear buds once again fall out when walking 

 you have your glasses on

you look down before trying to put them back in

 you notice that earbuds are marked ‘r’ and ‘l’ for right and left

that they are meant to go in the corresponding ears

you realize that you actually do have ear canals

and there is a way to ensure they will not continue to fall out every 3.5 minutes.

—

“the “aha” moment is a validating experience for your efforts

and at the same time changes your paradigm of the world in favor of a more accurate one.

Campbell simply says “it wipes out the ego.”

― Roumen Bezergianov, Character Education with Chess

 

 

—

image credit: pinterest

Mar14

distance teaching/learning.

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“learning must travel the distance from head to heart.”

-gloria steinem

LANSING, Mich. – Michigan is escalating its response to the new coronavirus (COVID-19).

On Thursday night Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the closure of all Michigan K-12 schools, including public, private and boarding, in response to the confirmed cases.

The closures start Monday and will end on April 5, according to officials. Schools are scheduled to reopen on Monday, April 6.

 

here’s to the educators, support staff, administrators, and families. all working so hard to continue our connection and to share in our partnership of caring for, and teaching their children. in a very short time, i have seen amazing work being done on all sides to support this initiative.