Category Archives: Education

Tourniquets and Cures

8
Posted by on in children, Education, Poetry, Striving

November 16, 2016, Prescott- 

Young boy who was so unsettled,

when among hostile peers,

is a role model for new classmates,

in his more suitable learning environment.

Two Early Childhood specialists, in a row, have

found themselves as ducks out of water,

in a room full of older special needs children.

The word is that a teacher qualified to work

with said group is coming on board.

A soon-to-be-retired public official wants

to go on ignoring “working class” people.

The wheels of the Change Train are grinding,

more slowly and fitfully than expected.

Some genuinely talented public servants

are emerging, in the wake of all this.

Stay tuned.

 

 

Getting Around

2
Posted by on in Education, Hiking and Nature, Personal goals

October 27, 2016, Prescott-

A brief update:  My landlord is in town, for a few days of repairs to our quadplex and grounds-keeping. He is considering allowing me more responsibility in the quad.  I plan to keep our backyard looking better, with his blessing.  A terraced garden has been my dream, for many years, and I hope to finally get it done.

Our team at school is upgrading the day-to-day curriculum, finally.  I am building a word wall and will post multiplication and division tables, over the next several school days.  Halloween is a half day for the students, and a few hours of planning work for us.  So, I will hopefully get a lot done, in the above regards, on Monday afternoon.

I will head down to Phoenix on Saturday, attend a morning meeting, get in some hiking and attend a Halloween party at the home of some friends, in midtown.  Sunday will be another day for hiking in the Table Mesa area, this time starting earlier in the morning.

Next week, I will begin to collate my poems and short essays, for the book which I want to put forth, in January.

That’s it for tonight.

 

Softening the Rock

8
Posted by on in children, Education, Inner Struggles, Poetry

October 26, 2016, Prescott-

Swaggering is a cover for deep-seated fear.

So is fabulism.

Neither gets one the satisfaction

that is offered by trustworthiness.

I read travel tales

of men trying to sweep

attractive women off their feet.

I see people, with faux charm,

trying to fool all the masses,

and the individuals,

all the time.

I hear frightened miscreants

protest their innocence,

when caught in the act.

I witness two forlorn boys,

masking their sorrow

and sense of being abandoned,

by attacking one another.

My task is to flow,

again and again,

wearing down the hardness

of the rock.

Sacrificed Pants

6
Posted by on in children, distraction issues, Education

October 17, 2016, Prescott- The small boy wasn’t supposed to show today at school.  He is being disciplined, for an infraction, committed before Fall Break.  As that wasn’t clear to him, he came anyway, ready to make amends for what he’d done.

When the truth was made clear, he asked to work off his frustration and anger with a walk up among the rocks on our campus.  Being his designated minder, in this anomalous situation, off the two of us went.  I have wanted to go up among these granite boulders for some time, so the pretext was perfect.

I kept pace with his small frame, clambering among the rocks, and going around one bend or another.  Then, in the last little slide down a long granite slab, I followed my inclinations since boyhood, and tore the bottom of my back pocket, on the rough surface.  No harm came to me, or to my young charge, but I will have to get one pair of work pants to a tailor shop, in a few days’ time.

The little man will, hopefully, serve his days away, and we’ll see how things go, when he returns in earnest, next week.  Meanwhile, the rocks stand guard, and serve this overgrown kid a warning.

Unless and Until-Education

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Posted by on in children, Education, impediments, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, Spiritual

October 4, 2016, Prescott- 

As our little classroom was not the right fit for a troubled child, I have to voice a few thoughts.

Unless and until:

Adult educators consistently place the well-being of children first;

People on a team eschew oneupmanship;

Children are empowered, according to their developmental levels;

Communication across hierarchical levels, and between colleagues, becomes and remains clear and consistent;

Downtime is minimized to almost nothing;

Spiritual (not sectarian) principles are infused into education, so as to strengthen character;

Cooperative learning becomes the norm;

Children are seen as a valid constituency, by elected officials;

Society places education at the highest priority;

We will continue to face repeated and familiar issues, in our collective mirror.

 

No Control

4
Posted by on in Education, Striving

September 30, 2016, Prescott-

My immediate supervisor relishes the moments

when she can squash me like an insect.

There is no kind way to say that.

This, but for the children,

the unsettled, often problematic,

confounding, wonderful little souls,

is something of a headache.

It’s for them, alone,

that I will stand my ground.

Those who see only a struggle

to be in control,

have none of their own.

That’s the conundrum.

The children and I,

looking towards the light,

grabbing life with both hands,

have a sense of honour.

I will not let them down.

Charlie Brown’s Teacher

7
Posted by on in Education, Personal Values

September 27, 2016, Prescott- I was handed an ad hoc lesson, on Newton’s First 3 Laws of Physics, and told to teach it, just after lunch today.  We watched two videos on the topic, one a simple cartoon and the other, a more detailed, but still well-illustrated, presentation.

Afterward, the discussion portion revealed that the students had grasped the basic points, but had not internalized the sequence of the Laws.  We arrived at the order in which the Laws are considered, by considering Cause and Effect.

Another aspect which was noted was the way that people are resistant to change, the same way that living things tend to seek familiarity and conservation of energy.  In other words,  Sir Isaac Newton viewed us as essentially lazy.

I am waiting for the first kid to cite Newton’s First Law of Physics as a reason for his/her laziness.  My answer, of course, would be that the resulting grades would be subject to the Law of Gravity.

I was struck by the way, though, that the students paid closer attention to my presentation than they often do to the lead teacher, who has herself raised the whole “WAA, WAA. WAA”, heard by the kids in the “Peanuts” series of feature-length cartoons.

It occurs to me that people rise to expectations- something Newton never addressed, but Charles Schulz did.

Someday, When You Understand Me Better

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Posted by on in children, Education, Inner Struggles, Spiritual

September 23, 2016, Prescott- 

My Christian friends,

who are convinced that my belief that all Faiths emanate from One God,

makes me an idolator, a Luciferian:

Someday, when you understand me better,

you will know the love I have for you,

for Jesus the Christ,

and for all who bring God’s Holy Word.

My fellow educators,

content in your small circles:

Someday, when you understand me better,

you will know the regard with which I look upon your work.

School administrators:

Someday, when you understand me better,

you will know that I AM dedicated to the well-being of children,

and recognize that I am not the enemy.

Word Press readers:

Someday, when you understand me better,

you will no longer disdain my spiritual writings,

and will realize that I am not out to “convert” anyone,

to my point of view.

The precious children,

who understand me better than do most adults,

already know these things.

They just know.

 

Jealousy

4
Posted by on in children, Education

September 16, 2016, Prescott- 

One child, jealous of another getting the attention

that he, himself, had been getting,

just two minutes before,

took off his shoe and tossed it,

in an arc, towards an empty space,

in the back of the room.

He then flung his food bag,

towards yet another child.

The student who was the focus of teacher’s attention

deflected the bag, away from student # 3,

and no harm was done.

Child doing the throwing

now faces a weekend

of confinement to his room.

There is no daylight,

home and school are tight.