Sea of Green Life

  Look at a lesson that you are planning or have already planned. How many boxes in Pritchard's checklist can you tick with confidence? Would you change the lesson plan? If so, why and how? Most of the lessons that I am currently teaching are coming out of curriculum books so I am not necessarily planning all or the parts, but also, I am having to modify and differentiate based on the needs of the child or children that I am working with. This week my phonics group is working on the /k/ sound specifically when we would use ck instead of c or k. To compare the parts of the lesson that I will teach in 4 20 minute sections. The blue sections are from Pritchard's guidelines, underneath is how I would approach them to meet my lesson objectives.  The remaining points from Pritchard’s website primarily focus on the   writing process in a more detailed way than I would need to get into for this lesson as well as with the goals of this student group. I would not change my lesson a

  What are the dangers of encouraging children to develop as spontaneous, creative individuals by allowing them to view situations from different standpoints, take risks, make mistakes and follow their natural impulses? Let’s get the obvious out the way first. The dangers of allowing kids freedom to be themselves? Mostly, they won’t be who we wanted. They will be themselves. Spontaneous and creative kids, they are also, messy, accident prone, and will fail a lot before they succeed. It will be hard to watch, and if you have a strong need to control things, trust me……sometimes don’t watch. As a teacher and a mother of teenagers I can give you advice on both sides of the issue. Let them do and follow where ever they want to go. Let them climb and fall, make messes, and change their minds. They may want to quit dance after 5 years, it OK. What I would suggest to parents is that as they are giving their kid freedom, remember that they are looking to you for the structure, t

  What do you think about Tuckman's assertion that the team needs to experience and resolve conflict before they will perform well as a team? In general, people only find out how strong they are when they are going through some type of adversity. Not to say that you need hardship in your life, or a team can not perform until they are short staffed, under deadline, or dealing with some other catastrophe. As a team to really come together, they need to have a common goal that binds them and more often than not, those things come to play when there is a problem that needs solving and a deadline to meet. Another reason that conflict or difficulties bind people as a team unit is because in a work setting we may be unsure of feedback and hold back some of our ideas or skills. When a problem is at hand, all hands and skills are on deck and people are eager to hear solutions. A person’s idea that they may have been too hesitant to bring up when things were going well, may toss it out t

  Do you believe that a strong sense of their cultural identity is essential for an individuals overall well-being in a community? Being a part of a community is essential to one’s well being. How they define that community is very fluid and can be based on many things. I personally struggle with the word culture. To me I think of places with history and continuum as having culture. Foods that are known to an area or are shared for generations are culture. Traditions, festivals, and community is culture. In school I was so confused, what is American culture? Cheeseburgers and french fries, Rock and Roll music, materialistic focused holidays that no one knows why they are celebrating or make up their own reasons. Don’t throw me under the fire, I’m legitimately curious as to what others would say. When I think of the community that is essential for my well being I think of the cultural norms of mother, teacher, participant, helper. I think of the places that are a part of

     This picture shows us going on a winter walk during our first 6 months. Uffda. That was a long time ago. We are just about to head into our 4th winter. That first one, it was a doozy, with a steep learning curve. Small kid and I miss that first year though because we had to get outside and do stuff. One, it was all new and we wanted to explore, two with barely functioning heating system, it was easier to get dressed and go outside than to make your body happy at 60 with no coat.       We also had to snowmobile in and out of the house to our cars, which was super cool. We picked the best spot to use our downhill skis on the driveway and towed kids back up with the snowmobile. Hubby got me a pair of skis that work like snowshoes (pictured above), and we were pretty excited to have easy access to places to use our snowshoes. Although we learned quickly that it was much more enjoyable to go on a walk on trails that the hubby had packed down with the snowmobile.      A bit

A different kind of fire. The analogy is that we want what we are teaching to not only be a flicker, but become a continuous flame.   What do you think that Hebb meant when he claimed that, 'cells that fire together, wire together'? How will this influence the way that you teach? I just love how the above quote rhymes. Makes it easier for me to remember and to process. I’m also a big fan of analogies and this quote helps me imagine the learning process, ZIP, ZAP, POW. All that electrostatic neuron action. Overall, I agree with what this statement is (I think) intended for. Actions that are done repeatedly together will eventually become one. I think of all the things this is true for. For example as I type, I don’t need to look at my keys to know where the letters are. I’ve wired the hand coordination into my brain and hands with repeated trials (and mistakes, but now I am even proficient with the delete key without looking). Also, reading without sounding out wor