Saturday, October 23, 2010

Thinking On Education

Here is a link to an animated talk by Sir Ken Robinson. I have been aware of the economic, industrial template, of education for a while now.  This is the first time I've seen it connected with the Enlightenment model. As a product of parochial and public schools in the seventies and eighties, this was an ingrained mentality. Those who could do well in the school system and raise their social standard and those who couldn't.  I had always seen the two intertwined, most children of factory workers were educated to replace their factory worker parents, children from a higher economic standard were educated for college.
Reflecting on this, I think about how I define what it means to be educated and how that has changed over the years. There are reams of papers and vats of books that almost parallel my thought evolution from the Core Curriculum to Howard Gardner's Intelligences, to even Sir Ken Robinson's writings. There still remains a constant struggle over development, growth and talents of children against necessary skills and knowledge.
As a product of a blue collar education, there was a sense that there were pieces of information that students from better schools were getting and that if I could locate and master this information I could cross the divide. What was missing from this scavenger hunt was the platform for the learning process. It wasn't necessarily the content, although there were large missing chunks.  I never read any of the classics until college and read maybe four Shakespeare plays in all of high school. It was in fact, the vehicle of the content. The way the content is used to help children learn to analyze information, understand events and new information relevant to what they know.  Understanding how to find faults of logic, however small, and unpack them, even if it meant the whole structure fell. This template was the large treasure, that was missing in the educational system.
If I'm not alone in this sort of misunderstanding of what it means to be educated throughout a lifetime, and I don't think I am, I take a large leap here and think it is possible that many parents also feel this way.  Even if the education they received did give them more than the higher content.
I can't let this post go without addressing the ADHD. I do think many children are over medicated but I don't think denying a possible growing problem of ADHD is the answer. This is the first time I've seen this ADHD map of the United States. It is too deep a problem, and too serious for many children to disregard such a statistic so whimsically, funny as it was. IF this is true, then maybe we should start finding reasons, instead of the assumption that we medicate students to keep them quiet. Perhaps there is a fine line of what is the optimal dose, or perhaps there is an environmental factor that isn't being considered here, such as pesticides in foods.(Links for ADHD & Pesticides, a place to start.) There is too little information to dismiss this, and it is too large of an innuendo in the animation to be ignored.
So, as always, I am interested to hear what your reflections are on your education and your children's.  How do you evaluate a good system? What do you think your own educational experience did for you, and what are you looking for in your child's?

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Looking for Success

The past six months have had a lot to do with looking for success, or actually creating success. I have participated in a book group, reworked and in some cases created curriculum, intensely reviewed curriculum and spent a lot of time speaking with minds that I really respect. It's an interesting concept, success.  As a teacher at an independent school we use the term often to describe learning environments, professional development, and even our physical environment.  How do we create a space, time, group that will ensure success?
But of course we need to define success. What does it mean to be successful? And can we ever really claim it as a permanent status, or is it a fleeting feeling that we can only aspire? Do we have to have full success? Do all areas of our life have to align like some majestic star pattern that screams to the world that we are the chosen, the ones that actually figured it all out. For some, success is the easiest and most pain free road.  Others would scoff that this is simply laziness.  Some seem to need to struggle through a painful almost unachievable  process before they feel championed. Others would find this pointless.
We all have to define it for ourselves. Sometimes I feel really successful.  I have found a person to share my life with, and most of the time feel deeply in love and happy with where I am. Two beautiful children light up my life and continue to grow into amazing people despite my constant struggle with parenting. (A blog post in an of itself). I feel successful this year in my professional life, I feel I am finally getting the rhythm of the school and able to pull together my growing knowledge and skill base to be a successful teacher, integrator and leader.
In truth, I felt pretty comfortable and even cocky about my understanding of success and even my place in the greater scheme of things. And then there is death, unexpected, in the worst possible way and all that goes to shit. My definition of a successful life is shattered and I wonder how I can confidently attempt to contribute to conversations about this nebulous and fleeting concept. Now that I have tilted my view of the world and wonder if I am off kilter or actually seeing clearly for the first time.
So where does this conversation go?  How do we return to an even basic understanding of what it means to be successful? Pat Bassett, President of the National Association of Independent Schools, recently described the qualities students needed to be successful in the world:
Character
Collaboration
Creativity
Critical Thinking
Communication
It seems like a pretty encompassing list.  But what does this mean? Successful where? For who? By what standards? Do we continue to define success in terms of dollars and family in tact? It is definitely the easiest tool to measure, but as an educator I know that doesn't mean it is the most informative.
If you are looking for an easy answer, or a pithy heartwarming wrap up to this commentary - ramble?, you have come to the wrong place. I don't have the answers, and I shun the hallmark storybook ending, because maybe in fact success means ending. How can we know if we are really a success until we get to the end? And then who really gets to determine it?

Friday, May 7, 2010

Healthier Living

Okay, so we have been going to Creekside Co-op Vender's Market for a couple of weeks now. We are buying the meat from M&B Farview Farms out in Hamburg.  The goals are to be be free of any chemicals and to not support the inhumane treatment of animals at factory farms. We did not throw out everything in our freezers.  I didn't see the need for some big, pointless gesture.  After all, the money was already spent so we are moving forward from where we are now.
Shopping at the Vendor's Market is not easy.  First of all, I had this idea that I would be able to do most of my grocery shopping there.  I don't know why, because in retrospect it seems stupid even to me.  Maybe I am not attending to what I am reading.  Maybe it was because it was billed as a farmer's market, but then really local farms aren't exactly producing right now are they?  So really it is a meat truck, a vegetable stand, which by the time I get there basically has lettuce, the honey guy and some bakeries.  Well, there is a coffee guy and my son found some great kettle-corn, but other than that you are pretty much not getting your grocery list there. Still, it is pleasant and the whole family seems to really enjoy going each week.  And they are adding more every week. We stand in front of the meat truck and sort of ponder how we are going to be able to afford to live this lifestyle. Then, we get the meat home.  I avoided it for the first few days.  I simply didn't know how to approach it.  I know that sounds silly, but really I'm not the least bit earthy so anything that looks too close to the living thing is turning my stomach. For instance, I took out the half chicken, which was slim by any one's standards (no worry about steroids here) and the neck was very much still there.  Yuck. That went right into the trash as soon as I hacked it off. That in and of itself was a process. Then I cooked it and fed it to the kids. Last night we sort of ruined the ribs.  We both worked late and they were still frozen by the time we got home so my husband thought we should boil them.  I am no fan of boiled meat in any form, but since we were going to put them on the grill it seemed okay to get them started.  Besides, it was getting close to seven and the Flyers were coming on.  The smell coming from the pot of water was nauseating.  The taste, in my opinion, could not be hidden by the barbecue sauce.  However, the rest of my family thought they were fine.  My son even declared himself a happy carnivore.  My husband said they tasted very piggish.  I flashed back to the part of the Farm website where the owners talk about the pigs and their bunny like ears on the farm with their little pig ears just bouncing away. I don't know if this was the pig I was eating but I just could not eat it. Just broccoli for me tonight, thanks.
But we are soldiering on, especially since I - the one who sort of got this whole thing rolling - seem to be the only person unnerved by the meat experience.  We have also moved on to free range organic eggs and organic milk.  At six dollars a gallon I am making sure that my children finish it.  If they don't (or can't as they claim) I put the extra in Tupperware containers and give it to them in their cereal the next day or put it in our tea or coffee. We are loving the granola cereal and they do love Vann's waffles which I can get at Giant. Trader Joe's has the best price that I've seen for the milk.  And the eggs are coming from the same place we are getting our meats.  The meats I can't bring myself to eat.

Friday, April 9, 2010

The Way We Eat

Eating is one of my favorite things to do.  I love to go to restaurants, try to cook, read through cookbooks, taste new recipes, etc.  Since I love eating so much, I am constatntly trying to eat healthier as well as cook healthier food for my family.  It is the constant struggle of a foodie who really wants to be, if not thin (okay, I really want to be thin!) then at least healthy. But of course this takes on a whole new dimension when we begin to look at eating from another view, the view that we really can't accomplish this goal in any form if we continue to eat from the supermarket.  This isn't healthy for our bodies, our minds or our souls.  I was always sort of aware of this, but refused to face it because of the convenience grocery stores offer.  However, after a recent family gathering, my sister tossed aside my blinders with a few short comments. Explaining why she went vegetarian first, and then eventually vegan. she gave just a few examples of the unnecsessary torture animals recieve at factory farms.  She was truly not evangalizing, just explaining her point of view as to how and why she came to this vegan lifestyle.
This was the catalyst my lazy soul needed to investigate.  After some time spent looking through the many sites that are posted on line I came across this article at thee Huffington Post, Avoiding Factory Farms.  What I like most about this article is the practical advide given by Ms. Niman.  It helps to know that this is a process and not something that should be taken as a huge step.
Taking her advice I have begun to research and ask for suggestions for finding CSA's, Community Supported Agriculure.
Wow! What a lot of great people are already moving in this direction or are already there.  I am so excited to begin investigating this for so many reasons:
1. My children will no longer get all of the junk that is put in meats and vegetables.  (Hooray, maybe my daughter won't get her period at nine! Long live childhood.)
2. I will be challenged to find recipes that are based on season vegetables, but the vegetables will be fresh, and once again free of all of the chemicals that I have been given my children.
3. I will be supporting local farmers and hopefully stopping yet another development from taking over the farmland. (This, by the way, is what got my husband on board.)
4. I will no longer be supporting a system that not only likes to load our food up with chemicals, but just in case we missed ingesting them, tosses it out to the air as well.
5. I will no longer be supporting the absolutely disgusting treatment of animals.
Now, I have to qualify the last one, because anyone who knows me knows that I am not exactly an animal lover.  The truth is I prefer them in pictures.  I know, it makes me somewhat less of a person but I just have enough trouble keeping my house clean without worrying that it smells like dog, or worse yet wet dog.  And I don't find it cute when they go out and roll in something disgusting and then bring that stench and whatever is creating that stench into my house. My children lay on that floor.  Just not that earthy.  However, after listening to my sister, and reading online the absolute horrors of what happens in this farm it made me want to go home and hug my dog.  It also made me realize the full responsibility we have in keeping this world a healthy place for those who have no power.  I include in this category children, plants, animals and anyone who doesn't have the means, financial or intellectual to truly control their environment. Sometimes this includes me. Sometimes it doesn't.  When it comes to having control over what food system I choose to support, it doesn't.
So here is the list of resources I am checking out to begin my new adventure ino healthier eating:
Myerov Family Market
I like the work option one on this one and am planning to go to Perkasie to visit the actual farm.  I also like the idea that I can pick up my groceries once a week.  However, my husband has no intentions of going vegetarian so I would need to supplement this with some other CSA that included meat as well as eggs and dairy.
Lancaster Farm Fresh
This was recommended by two different people so it is worth checking out.  I am having trouble figuring out the portions.  I do admit, even after what I stated as a challenge, I am worried about trying to cook all of this fresh food.  Do I really want to eat radishes and mushrooms in June?  I don't even like mushrooms.
Creekside Coop
This is a brand new coop so I could get in on the ground floor so to speak.  Additionally they are holding a Farmer's Market on Sunday that is open to everyone.  I am planning on attending this week to investigate what will actually be available, why I should join if they are going to continue to have the coop and what the prices will be like.
I'll post pics and my thoughts in a future post.
Happy Eating.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

My Mission Statement

Wordle: My Mission


My Mission Statement: A Beginning
To live feely, wholly and fully.  To experience life on as many levels as possible and be present in the gift each moment is.  Remember the quality of mercy for myself to myself as well as others.  Connect with kindred spirits thought words, music, food and art.  Create.  Create beauty, create space, create freedom, create joy, create laughter, create understanding, create a sanctuary, create what is yet to be understood.  Take risks and fail well or succeed.  Enjoy my success and learn from and enjoy my failures. Find patience, patience within myself for myself and for others.  Find the opportunities in all moments.  Believe.  Believe in myself, believe in others.  Believe in what I don’t see and fully understand but know deeply in my soul.  Love. Love fully, love deeply, love without fear, love without expectation.  Love myself and others this way always. Love all and love fully.  Laugh.  Laugh everyday, laugh at myself, laugh at the world laugh for the joy of it.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

From the Fear Line

I have come to realize that I am making decisions from a place of fear, very possibly the worst way. I don't mean to, I think I am being cautious, but really I am hiding. Even in these posts, I don't market or show them. They are public but I would be worried sick if I thought someone was actually reading them. I don't know why I do it anymore. I feel out of step right now professionally, and I think that has a way of insinuating itself into other aspects of your life. Maybe I'm just not good enough. So what does it mean to be good enough? Will I ever be good enough? And who gets to decide this? Is it me? My bosses? My students? My family? The list goes on and on. How can we ever know? In school, if you have a good teacher, you are given constant feedback. In work we are given little to no feedback and so if you are not seriously confident you can, I can, begin to doubt, question and interpret every look, word and gesture. What does that mean? Why did he say that? Or, the absolute worst, Why did I say that? At least if you have been drinking and you have that moment you can sort of shrug it off but if you weren't then there is nowhere to hide. Yep, naked me. I really did say that. Can you believe it? What does that mean? I hate those moments. And yet, I don't (okay sometimes I do) define others by one or two comments. But then maybe it isn't so bad to be defined as long as it isn't a permanent definition. People grow and change. Maybe I don't allow for that. Yeah, I probably don't. I think I pretty much sum people up and then move on. Maybe that is normal.
I once heard that what you dislike in other people are often the things you dislike in yourself.
One thing I do know about myself. I can't be afraid for too long. It is too exhausting to always worry about what people think.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Pictures in the Sand

This is an amazingly beautiful video that just captures you.  Watching it makes me wonder how anyone can be so talented with their fingers and sand.  What made her start doing this?  How does she create such beauty that will only remain in memory?  Well now it is there on video, but still there is something just so transient.  Here is yet another way to tell a story, and in my mind fuel to my own fire.  It highlights the importance of stories in our lives and is helping me reconnect to something inside of me.

Stories

One thing that I keep coming back to is how much I love stories.  Whether they are told in the form of a conversaion, a movie, a song, a book, a play or even a single photo.  There is something about a story that reaches out to us and moves us in some way.  Sometimes, it is just the thrill and solace of knowing that someone else out there is thinking the same way you are, feeling what you feel or experiencing a similar experience.  Sometimes it is the idea that there are new experiences that we haven't tried, but gain confidence and understanding from watching someone else, even a pretend someone, manuever their way through it. As I ramble around inside what feels like an almost empty room that is me, this is the only thing that I seem to find.  I like stories, I love to share them, find them, create them, hear them.  For me it is all in the human connection.  Words can be so much like water just flowing over you when they are used well.  When someone can just put something you have been feeling into a sentence or photo there is the moment of joy and relief and exploration all at once.  Yes!! That's it, that is what has been ratteling around in me, now I can name it.
Stories won't save most lives, or cure diseases, but they can connect people to others and more deeply to themselves.
I know that I really want to dig more deeply into this process, flesh out what I already know and learn more about different mediums for stories.  I think I would like to focus on learning photography, playing more with video editing and writing.  I am considering starting yet another blog of this ficitional story that has been just taking up way too much room in my head.  I think I may also post poems and other creative written thoughts as they occur to me.
If this then is my reflective space, I think I may make that my creative space.  It will be interesting to see, with time in such a short supply, where this leads me.
I also sometimes wonder what I would do if anyone actually found these posts and even replied.