Yesterday, I wrote about this arrival in this moment. This appeared in my reader and spoke eloquently in two short sentences.
There is only one time when it is essential to awaken. That time is now.
~ Buddha
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We are not alone, but the ones on the margins are the most visible. The ones in the middle are hidden from our view.
Although I think there are limits to what is acceptable literature, I believe we need to include the great books that pass the test of time and enhance learning, curiosity, and human growth at appropriate ages. This post struck me as important to our conversation about these big topics.
I don’t know why I had to read Scarlet Letter, but I know that the themes of hypocrisy, sin, redemption and religion imposing on individual will should have resonated with me. My guess is that I hated it, because it was assigned. It’s why I loved Brave New World, The Great Gatsby, Catcher in the Rye and The Color Purple. None of them were assigned. None of them required a book report.
So, a former student bitches about Beowulf. Pardon the language, but that phrase just sounded fun, so I kept it. Anyway, he’s all upset about how irrelevant it is to his life. He mentions slaying dragons and dying a hero’s death and says that none of it makes sense to his world.
My first response is this:
Thoughts on Beowulf: Because if you haven’t do so yet, you will someday have the chance to slay dragons and in…
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Brought some wonderful memories back of walking in Jasper and Waterton this past summer with the mountain lakes reflecting the sky, mountains, and trees. We need mirrors in our lives.
Heaven and earth joined seamlessly
in the quest to calm your mind
gently sustain your soul
provide you with peace
and still you to quietly reflect
on the grandeur of creation.
This is a wonderful poem and image to begin the day.
Each day we set out, interact with our environment and its inhabitants, and write a story in some medium. We create and author our life’s story in this fashion.
David is someone I follow and he wrote about an issue close to my heart- uncommon common sense.
Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. W C Fields
The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness. Vladimir Nabokov
Ivonprefontaine has a nice phrase from his wife Kathy in a comment on my last post about telling the time when the clocks change. He refers to “uncommon common sense”, a phrase from Kathy’s farming culture. “Common sense” was a phrase I woke up with this morning. Such telepathy across the world. This stream of consciousness comes from my having to justify the value of the common sense of a group of highly intelligent people (and the knowledge and understanding that their common sensing has developed over a period of time) against inflexible bureaucratic procedures.
I grew up in a house of common sense. My questions…
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Have you ever just woke and let the day unfold and reveal its mystery?
Do Pigs Have Udders?
I had some serious fun today with students. I was alone which is not the norm, but, on short notice, the parent helper could not make it. It is extra demanding on those days where I learn alone with the kids, but it is, many times, the most interesting times. While I was away a most interesting question came up: “Do pigs have udders?” Apparently, this was a hotly debated topic and it was brought up again today. I laughed. It was funny and pointed to an irrevocable truth: human curiosity and eloquent questions lead the way as we learn.
A simple question
Eloquently posed
Curiosity fueled;
The energy behind learning.
What does that mean?
Is it true?
Many more queries;
We seek and fill gaps–
Not with certitude;
Uncertainty prevails.
Years later
I am sure I will smile and chuckle;
I recall–
Appreciate the quality
A simple, provocative question–
Do pigs have udders?
As best as we can learn, they do and it was fun trying to figure it out. Adolescent children ask the darnedest things. Laughter is a great cure for even the most challenging moments.
I attended a retreat based on Parker Palmer’s thinking and writing this past weekend. This quote summarizes the importance of relationships and lifting the other from the ordinary to the extraordinary.
If we want to grow as teachers — we must do something alien to academic culture: we must talk to each other about our inner lives — risky stuff in a profession that fears the personal and seeks safety in the technical, the distant, the abstract.
― Parker J. Palmer, The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life
Consider that we are all teachers…and learners.
What are my personal experiences, fears and dreams? What is my inner life? Am I sharing it with others?
I talk, and listen, to myself, practicing in the safety of my journal.
Laura, it’s time.
Here’s a bit of sharing…My after school kids playing darts in the Number Games class.
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 