My sense of personal history got gobsmacked this last week. We are, in one sense, where we’ve been. Our experiences with places and things are part of an equation, and right now I feel a little bit older, because my schools have been marked for closure.
posted in education | Comments Off on Another brick removed from my wall of memories | 290 words
There’s nothing like a good book, I say. I’m a consumer of popular (and populist) literature; no sense in dusting off the classics when there is a bountiful harvest of efforts from young, new authors out there. The blurbs on the back cover used to be enough, but some publishers have opted out of that aid. Somehow, a shot of the scribe isn’t enough.
posted in education | Comments Off on For want of a better place to live | 301 words
Tonight I feel rather tiny, and rather embarrassed. My species is greedy, and the whole ecological system of Gaia is changing due to us. However, I’ve learned a new catch phrase in the last ninety minutes. I have to share: It’s too late to be a pessimist.
posted in education, environment | Comments Off on It is too late to be a pessimist | 312 words
I come from a long line of farmers, I think. People who dug up produce (potatoes and turnips). People that kept that pig until time for butchering. Sorry, no hunters. Besides, the Island doesn’t have much variety in edible animals, so they made the right choice. My apologies to those who firmly believe that their genetic heritage involves powerful rifles with scopes and the right to kill anything that moves on four legs through the underbrush.
posted in education | Comments Off on Is that for food or fun? | 275 words
We’re back home from the end of year concert. A celebration of the local school, a place where my sons have all passed years in the loop. A place where the walk home when you missed the school bus was possible, if uncomfortable. I live in the city, where schools have constant population and enough parents watching for governmental error. A school will last for a lifetime around here.
posted in education | Comments Off on Your school was too small to matter (much) | 354 words
Despite the occasional sore thumb, I tend to be what the software industry calls “an early adopter”. Ready to plunge in to unknown waters, I install products that are not ready for prime time. A beta player. Over the last few months, Microsoft has promised to provide a Service Pack for Vista (SP2), with the goal of improving my general life and making cheap food taste better (not exactly what they promised, but software is an incubator of dreams).
posted in computing, education | Comments Off on Service pack and assembly necessary | 281 words
Back in high school, the curriculum included lot of subject matter that didn’t seem relevant. Apart from the years spent in sentence analysis, or equation analysis or verbal analysis or (we had extremely analytical courses), there was the one physical subject. Physical education, phys. ed., gym, PT. The one course guaranteed to make you sweat. And the defining moment of the year was the session of timed wind sprints. I’ve finally discovered what place that particular task has in the formation of future employees.
posted in education | Comments Off on Faster than his own shadow | 319 words
Workers in the field of education must be adept at disambiguation. One of my favourite words; some days it applies to the majority of what goes on around me. The skilled teacher, leading the student to an understanding of a concept. Who am I trying to kid? Too often, just parting the mist is sufficient. This evening, I watched the wonder of calendar creation.
posted in education | Comments Off on Counting the days | 347 words
Oddly enough, the call to join a Facebook group celebrating Darwin’s 200th birthday brought back memories of my evolution as a learner of science. Not the same as a scientific learner, unfortunately. I enjoyed my time in high school science classes, with a reasonable mix of laboratory and lecture, using textbooks that still had the odour of fresh ink. My own experience as a teacher of science tested my powers of recall, as I taught with obsolete equipment from a text that belonged in a museum.
posted in education, media | Comments Off on Reflecting on the ascent of man | 318 words
There’s something intrinsically pleasant about applying textbook knowledge to real life. Despite the motivation of curriculum designers, the learner doesn’t always “get” the content of a lesson. No blame laid here; teachers and students are the warp and the weft of the cloth, each essential and neither able to sustain alone. But let’s cut to the chase on this one. Today I watched a video on YouTube that was simply cool.
posted in education, Idol | Comments Off on No corner unvisited, no object left untouched | 259 words
