So often, I come across songs that I love at first. Sometimes, I'll listen to them repeatedly for days on end, sometimes weeks on end. Rarely, though, do they last. Most music has a shelf life for me. Eventually, I've pondered all the lyrics and appreciated all the nuances of the melody. This song, though, refuses to go away. It's been going strong for years now.
What songs have "staying power" for you?
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
this is IT
It is. I'm in it now. The culmination of four years of undergraduate study, though I likely would have stamped "CRAZY" on your forehead had you told me it would all eventually lead to entering the teaching program. It hasn't really hit home yet. Three days isn't nearly enough time to realize you're part of something that will alter the rest of your working life. All in all, it's been a great ride so far. There are two fellow Can Reffers in my module. It's a relief to know I won't be standing alone when we face educational issues that are at odds with our faith, as I'm quite sure we will. The group as a whole, too, is amazing. I can already tell I'm going to come out the other side having made some new friends. Once again I've started the year off organized. Dividers: check. Day planner, check. The fervant promise to myself to not have my binder turn into the catasrophe it's become in semesters past, and to actually use the day planner: check.
As part of what the education world has coined "reflective practice" (trust me, take an education course and you're guarenteed, or your money back, to hear that phrase), our instructor has told us to keep a journal to process and yes, reflect on the events of the day, the discussions our module had, and what we may or may not have learned. I've decided that some of these musings are going to make it into my blog. Not all of them. Perhaps I'll grow tired of the practice after awhile, or perhaps I'll stop for fear of boring you to death with educational theory. I'm going to give it a shot though.
The first article we've read is, to me, fluff with a side of fluff, washed down with a cool fluffy beverage. Its central premise essentially is "to teach effectively, you must first know yourself". Blech. Quote: "We must enter, not evade, the tangles of teaching so we can understand them and better negotiate them with more grace, not only to guard our own spirits but also to serve our students well". These tangles have three important sources, according to the author. The first two, the subjects and the students teachers teach, are commonplace, but the third is "rarely given its due". This third, piteously unheralded source of entanglement, of course, is our own self. Its status as source of entanglement is backed up by several lofty, unsubstantiated claims, such as:
-"When I do not know myself, I cannot know who my students are."
-"When I do not know myself, I cannot know my subject."
Yup. Rich stuff. Equally rich is the subtle plug the author manages to weasel into his piece:
"In our rush to reform education, we have forgotten a simple truth: reform will never be acheived by renewing appropriations, restructuring schools,rewriting curricula, and revising texts if we continue to deman and dishearten the human resource called the teacher on whom so much depends. Teachers must be better compensated, freed from bureaucratic harassment, given a role in academic governance, and provided with the best possible methods and materials."
I wonder how many members of the BCTF read this article? It seems many have read similar drivel, if the looming teachers' strike is any indication. Anyways, I'm growing more cynic by the minute. Perhaps it's too early in the program to be this way. I suppose it's a good thing these journals aren't being reviewed by our instructor.
As part of what the education world has coined "reflective practice" (trust me, take an education course and you're guarenteed, or your money back, to hear that phrase), our instructor has told us to keep a journal to process and yes, reflect on the events of the day, the discussions our module had, and what we may or may not have learned. I've decided that some of these musings are going to make it into my blog. Not all of them. Perhaps I'll grow tired of the practice after awhile, or perhaps I'll stop for fear of boring you to death with educational theory. I'm going to give it a shot though.
The first article we've read is, to me, fluff with a side of fluff, washed down with a cool fluffy beverage. Its central premise essentially is "to teach effectively, you must first know yourself". Blech. Quote: "We must enter, not evade, the tangles of teaching so we can understand them and better negotiate them with more grace, not only to guard our own spirits but also to serve our students well". These tangles have three important sources, according to the author. The first two, the subjects and the students teachers teach, are commonplace, but the third is "rarely given its due". This third, piteously unheralded source of entanglement, of course, is our own self. Its status as source of entanglement is backed up by several lofty, unsubstantiated claims, such as:
-"When I do not know myself, I cannot know who my students are."
-"When I do not know myself, I cannot know my subject."
Yup. Rich stuff. Equally rich is the subtle plug the author manages to weasel into his piece:
"In our rush to reform education, we have forgotten a simple truth: reform will never be acheived by renewing appropriations, restructuring schools,rewriting curricula, and revising texts if we continue to deman and dishearten the human resource called the teacher on whom so much depends. Teachers must be better compensated, freed from bureaucratic harassment, given a role in academic governance, and provided with the best possible methods and materials."
I wonder how many members of the BCTF read this article? It seems many have read similar drivel, if the looming teachers' strike is any indication. Anyways, I'm growing more cynic by the minute. Perhaps it's too early in the program to be this way. I suppose it's a good thing these journals aren't being reviewed by our instructor.
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