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Showing posts from March, 2011

In Each Thought...

In each thought... Fractions can be puzzling for students.  The definition of "matter" can be difficult for them to grasp. Learning can be tiresome. There are 25 students in my room every day.  Each one learns in a way that may be quite different from the one sitting next to them.  Yet they are expected to understand, at some level, the same ideas.  Not only understand them, but apply them. Listening to my students this week I realized that each thought they expressed somehow led to learning.  Whether it was a thought about a topic we were discussing or a random thought. Yes, even the random thoughts expressed helped us learn. For from these thoughts lie the essence of learning, which is exploration. I often find myself relentless in my efforts to "keep my students focused".  I did, however, let their random thoughts enter our learning arena.  In fact, I let some of my own take the stage.  I realized that these thoughts, although seemingly r...
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I Walked Away...

I Walked Away... "The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without his teacher"                                                                                ~~Elbert Hubbard   The philosophy a teacher employs helps define the learning atmosphere the students will experience.  In turn, the experiences the student brings to the learning helps define the philosophy a teacher employs.  A mutual relationship that can breed growth and success for both parties. My students were given an assignment this week.  They were to read about 10 famous women from the past c...
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Mama Bracelets: "Maddie Angel" Bracelet Video

Mama Bracelets: "Maddie Angel" Bracelet Video : This tender and emotion-filled video produced by Mama Bracelets carries with it the bracelets created for a young family who lost their 4-month old daughter quite unexpectedly. Mama Bracelets was honored and touched to design bracelets for this family in memory of their daughter. This tender and emotion-filled video produced by Mama Bracelets carries with it the bracelets created for a young family who lost their 4-month old daughter quite unexpectedly. Mama Bracelets was honored and touched to design bracelets for this family in memory of their daughter.  The original "Maddie" Angel bracelet is available for purchase through the month of March at: http://www.mamabracelets.com/Maddie-Angel-Bracelet_p_85.html Once there, you can choose your size, style, birthstone and personalization.   25% of proceeds go directly to the Staats Family.
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Her Heart Melted...

Her Heart Melted... The purity and innocence of children is what draws us close to them.  They look to us. They learn from us. They teach us. While sitting at the dinner table, my wife and our middle child, Henry (2 years old) were having a fun conversation about members of the family.  Henry is silly and likes to think the couch, the TV and other inanimate objects are considered family (in his mind this may very well be true!).  Every so often, my wife would throw out the "possibility" that people are part of the family as well...he obliged.  As a matter of course, my wife had not gotten to herself as one of those people when our oldest (3-year old Ava) chimed in and said, "Mommy, you are part of the family, too. Do you know why?" We all stopped and waited for the mind of a three-year old to reveal itself. "Because we love you" flowed from the child.  I turned to my wife and I saw, from the expression on her face, that her heart was melting wi...
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Different from us...

The world changes so quickly, they say.  The minute you get one device, a new one has been invented to replace it.  In class this week we talked extensively about "necessity being the mother of inventions" and my students created (on papar) their own inventions based on a real-life problem either in the school, community, state, country, world or universe. Their ideas were wondrous.  Their enthusiasm contagious.  Their hope and expectations for a better world~~admirable. So it goes.  The inventions of the world have brought us to where we are today.  They touch us in so many ways. They protect us, they engage us, and they offer a chance for us to unite in ways unheard of when my life started.  The far-reaching implications of the many inventions of the world often baffle our minds and for some produce anxiety. Kids today are used to the ever-changing world.  They thrive on the change that lies before them. They thrill at the ...
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