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To be nobody but yourself -
In a world which is doing its best, night and day,
To make you like everybody else -
Means to fight the hardest battle
Which any human being can fight,
And never stop fighting.- E.E. Cummings -
American Poet, 1894-1963
All children are gifted; some just open their packages earlier than others.
Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.H. Jackson Brown
Everybody can be great ... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.Martin Luther King Jr
In the spirit of Happy New Year ...
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how grey the day may appear.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.
We live in the dark. We do what we can. We give what we have. Our doubt is our passion. Our passion is our task. The rest of the madness is art.Henry James
Education is a social process; education is growth; education is not a preparation for life but is life itself.John Dewey
Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.
The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited.
Plutarch
"Teachers are the most potent factor in civilisation and their work is the highest to which humanity can aspire."
The Bahá'í Writings
For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?'
Mr Bennett
Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen
Volume III, Chapter XV
Did I Miss Anything by Tom Wayman (1945- )Question frequently asked by
students after missing a classNothing. When we realized you weren't here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hoursEverything. I gave an exam worth
40 per cent of the grade for this term
and assigned some reading due today
on which I'm about to hand out a quiz
worth 50 per centNothing. None of the content of this course
has value or meaning
Take as many days off as you like:
any activities we undertake as a class
I assure you will not matter either to you or me
and are without purposeEverything. A few minutes after we began last time
a shaft of light descended and an angel
or other heavenly being appeared
and revealed to us what each woman or man must do
to attain divine wisdom in this life and
the hereafter
This is the last time the class will meet
before we disperse to bring this good news to all people on earthNothing. When you are not present
how could something significant occur?Everything. Contained in this classroom
is a microcosm of human existence
assembled for you to query and examine and ponder
This is not the only place such an opportunity has been gatheredbut it was one place
And you weren't here
Learning to read is a joy, not a race.
Mem Fox
Throughout her talk this evening, she read some of her books aloud. It was magical! She read Possum Magic first, then Where is the Green Sheep?, then Tough Boris, and The Magic Hat, and finally Oprah's favourite, Time for Bed. So funny ... she had a hall full of adults dead quiet and hanging on every word.
What she had to say about reading aloud was fascinating too. She's a writer, not a scientist ... so her descriptions were fabulously entertaining and far less scientific. Basically though, she said that when babies are born, their brains are 25% developed. The remaining 75% is almost entirely developed by the time they're three years old. So the brain a child has at age three, is the brain they will use for the rest of their life.
It's more complicated of course, and there other factors to consider. But her point basically related to the fact that a child who is read to regularly as a baby will have a lot more to work with throughout life than a child who was largely ignored. In her words (roughly), their brains become more dense, and are capable of a lot more.
She made some interesting points about illiteracy in adults too. Like the relationship between prison inmates and poor literacy rates, and also whether they were read to as young children. She said a lot of these people are lacking the imagination needed to realise the consequences of what they do. Reading builds that imagination, and an awareness of cause and effect ... but these people are lacking that ... they can't imagine what might happen if they break into a car, or burn down a house. Interesting point.
She also pointed out the fact that poor literacy is costing this country around $8 billion. Imagine that!? She explained how that figure had been reached, and it's all quite logical stuff. Imagine how much could be saved if more money was invested on developing literacy from a young age!? How long until the politicians realise this, and make the most of it?
It also makes me wonder about the literacy subjects we do as pre-service teachers. I know we get the kids a little later on in life, but if literacy is so important, surely more importance should be placed on teaching future teachers how to teach it. I've just finished my final literacy subject for my degree ... and I don't feel at all capable or prepared for teaching literacy. I honestly don't feel I know all that much more than I did going into the degree.
After three literacy units, I know plenty about multiliteracies pedagogy, and catering for diversity, and the importance of visual literacy in today's society ... but we've hardly even touched on basic, everyday literacy. If I couldn't spell coming into this degree, I wouldn't be any better off now. If I couldn't construct a logical sentence, chances are I wouldn't be able to at the end of the degree. And don't even bother asking me about grammar ... all that I know is what I learnt in primary school over 15 years ago! And even then it wasn't taught so well.
We're constantly hearing about the poor spelling and grammar of teachers, and the poor literacy rates of students. Considering how much of a concern these issues seem to be, I'm seriously confused by why basic literacy isn't a higher priority in the education degrees. How are we supposed to teach this stuff if we're never properly taught it ourselves?
That said, I did rather love what Mem Fox said tonight about learning:
Learning begins on the first day of life, not the first day of school.
Mem Fox
Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.
Dr Stephen R Covey
We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today.
Stacia Tauscher
Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?
Henry Ward Beecher
I write in order to change myself and in order not to think the same thing as before.
Foucault
I hope my achievements in life shall be these:
That I will have fought for what was right and fair,
That I will have risked for that which mattered,
That I will have given help to those who were in need ...
That I will have left the earth a better place for what
I've done and who I've been.
C. Hoppe
Life is short,
Break the rules,
Forgive quickly,
Kiss slowly,
Love truly,
Laugh uncontrollably,
And never regret anything that made you smile.Life may not be the party we hoped for,
but while we're here we should dance.
This is my wish for you:
comfort on difficult days,
smiles when sadness intrudes,
rainbows to follow the clouds,
laughter to kiss your lips,
sunsets to warm your heart,
hugs when spirits sag,
beauty for your eyes to see,
friendships to brighten your being,
faith so that you can believe,
confidence for when you doubt,
courage to know yourself,
patience to accept the truth,
love to complete your life.
Anonymous
"To love a person is to learn the song that is in their heart, and to sing it to them when they have forgotten."
Garborg
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift.Albert Einstein
If you think you are beaten, you are
If you think you dare not, you don't
If you'd like to win, but think you can't
It's almost certain you won't.If you think you'll lose, you've lost
For out of the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will -
It's all in the state of mind.If you think you're outclassed, you are
You've got to think high to rise
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the one who Thinks he can.
Anonymous
Always be a first-rate version of yourself;
instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.Judy Garland
I wasn't going to share another quotation quite so quickly, but this one jumped out at me while I was doing a reading for my classroom management class. I've heard it before ... rather famous I believe. And yes, a little frightening!
I have come to a frightening conclusion. I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humour, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanised or de-humanised.Haim Ginott, 1972
I've decided to start sharing random quotations. I come across so many, and they all tend to fall by the way side. I read them, appreciate them, then promptly forget them. But not any more ... now they'll be shared. Recorded forever in the archives of my blog.
There shall be no particular regularity ... I'll just post whenever I feel like it. No more than once a day, but the frequency is otherwise undetermined. I'll add a category for these posts too, and at some stage include a category listing in the sidebar.
I might start doing the same with photos too. I'm still working on getting all my travel photos uploaded to Flickr, and then they need to be labelled. Posting occasional photos here might be a nice way to start sharing the memories though. It won't be photos taken on the day, as with the photoblog adventure I embarked on for a while ... but in some irregular fashion photos will be shared.
So to get the idea started, a few words of inspiration ...
"There are two kinds of people in the world - those who are always getting ready to do something, and those who go ahead and do it."
Elbert Hubbard