Ideas and Thoughts
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2 years ago, on one of my many drives between Florida and Manitoba to move my Father’s vehicle to and from his winter and summer homes, my wife and I stopped in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. As is our habit, we like to find hidden, lesser-known places and spaces to explore. My wife came across the Hattiesburg Pocket Museum. https://hattiesburgpocketmuseum.com/ Without knowing exactly what it was, we arrived on a Sunday and struggled to find the exact location. That’s because it’s in a back alley. This museum is a series of tiny toys and figures placed carefully on the various objects and infrastructure of this back alley. You’ll find these strategically placed in cracks and crevices, on metal boxes and benches. Each time you find one you shout “Oh look” or “Come see this one”. It’s a true surprise and delight scenario. This past week we returned to see some new displays and once again were delighted and enjoyed this little detour. Thinking about this made me think about how simple this idea is. It’s something that could be done almost anywhere. We love finding little treasures and elements of beauty that happen simply because someone thought it might be nice. I hope … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2024/03/28/delight-32-the-pocket-museum/
My Dad turns 92 in a month. He’s active, plays 100 rounds of golf a year, and regularly shoots his age or better. His mind is sharp and he’s still loving life. I’ve been blessed in so many ways to have him as long as I have. We’ve been golfing together for about 45 years and he remains my favourite golfing partner. Along with my sisters, he’s one of three people I’ve known my whole life. On the other end of the spectrum of favourite people are my 3 grand-kids. As I’ve mentioned often, they are truly my pride and joy. Biased, I unabashedly brag about them and show them off whether in person or via social media. I love them and am proud of them and take delight in them. I feel very similar about my Dad. When we golf in Florida, we’re often paired up with people. Without exception, they are amazed at how fit and how well he plays the game at 91. Probably for the last decade, I’ve seen this response over and over. People envy his health and all desire to be able to golf as well as he does when they reach that age. … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2024/01/23/delight-31-my-dad-the-celebrity/
With the decline of X/Twitter, the #deanie awards became a little more difficult or at least less robust. I’ll need to rethink things for 2024 but I still wanted to archive my celebrations so here they are: … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2024/01/15/the-2023-deanie-awards/
Over the past couple of years it’s been fun to see others find a word they want to embody and use as reminder or focus. Last year I officially joined the ranks using the word “savour https://ideasandthoughts.org/2023/01/16/savour/“. In past years I’ve unofficially used words like delight https://ideasandthoughts.org/2020/03/05/the-delight-project/. I was generally pleased with how savour became a focus. Not perfectly but with a greater intent and it will remain something I remind myself to do on a regular basis. For 2024 I want to be more patient. I don’t think of myself as particularly impatient but I also think it’s a very contextual term. There are instances when I am patient. I know I’m much more patient as a grandfather than I ever was as a father. When it comes to travel, I’m very patient with travel delays and mishaps and I even pride myself at how much more calm and patient I am than most. As I work to savour more of my life, I can see how patience is often required. But I do know that I could be more patient in a number of areas. I tend to take great joy in efficiency, particularly efficiency of time. … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2024/01/03/2024-oneword-patience/
Demarcus Ware is one of those athletes I knew of but didn’t really appreciate his legacy. I knew he was a great defensive tackle but didn’t know his story and how respected he is among his peers. As a sports fan, I’m always intrigued by the way star or veteran athletes pass down their knowledge to rookies. I’m a sucker for those who talk about “the game being bigger than they are” and also those who reference how great players helped them and how they feel obligated to pass things down for the next generation for the good and well-being of the game. This type of passing down of knowledge and wisdom is part of the tradition of so many sports. Those who do this intentionally are beloved by teammates and fans alike. Once again, we are seeing the best in the world getting even better because of sharing. I had a conversation today with a first-year teacher. She’s not doing particularly well. She has a challenging class and some difficult parents and administrators who are as supportive as they could be. It broke my heart to hear about someone who has invested 4-5 years of her life toward a … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2023/11/20/passing-the-torch/
My post asking Who Would Want to Be a Leader has received a great many responses both on my blog but also in conversations with leaders. It’s not hyperbole to say we are in a leadership crisis. The conversations on my podcast http://alplearn.com almost always explore succession challenges and the continued struggle to find good school leaders, particularly at the principal level. I know many districts have and continue to have programs and initiatives designed to develop leaders internally. I also know many who are struggling to make these effective and produce the desired results of more great leaders. What I do know is that unless school districts are actively working to develop great leaders we are going to be facing a further acceleration of burnout and teacher shortages beyond what we’re currently witnessing. While there are multiple reasons and factors creating dissatisfaction, one that is referenced either directly or indirectly is the degree to which they feel supported and valued. More specifically, this is about leadership. Leaders who actively support, encourage, and work to reduce workload and stress are going to have a huge impact on teacher burnout and teacher retention. My oldest daughter has a teaching degree and spent … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2023/11/09/we-dont-need-good-leaders-we-need-great-ones/
I’ve been blogging since 2005. That’s over 100 in blog years. I’ve written over 1,200 posts. I actually go back and read stuff I’ve written in the past and consider how much my ideas and thoughts (see what I did there) have either evolved or remained the same. One of the other things I noticed in a recent review is the number of blog posts that are in draft form. I have 42 unpublished posts. One of those posts was part of my delight series https://ideasandthoughts.org/category/delight/ entitled “David Ayres”. I had a moment when I wasn’t even sure who that was and why in the world I would be writing about him. But then I quickly remembered. David Ayres was the emergency backup goalie sitting in the Air Canada Centre in the early winter of 2020 when the unthinkable happened. Both of the visiting team’s goalies for the Carolina Hurricanes were injured and David was called into duty. This is one of those rarities that has only happened once or twice before in the history of the NHL. I recall being at home and not watching the game when social media exploded. I quickly turned on the game to witness the … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2023/10/04/delight-30-david-ayres-and-drafts/
I grew up in a small town, a farming community but I’m not a farmer. Even growing up, my parents never had a garden. I really am more of a city boy at heart. That said, I grew up with a lot of farmers and can at times fake my way through a discussion about agriculture. 13 years ago we moved into our current home and I planted an apple tree. I love apples. We all know store-bought apples are a gamble and of course, we’re all trying to understand who are the people buying Red Delicious apples. They are putrid. But like any freshly picked fruit or vegetables, they are in a different category altogether. Add to the fact they are my apples from a tree I planted and these apples are amazing. I’m sure if you tried them you’d think they were fine but for 3 weeks, I looked forward to each day I’d walk into my backyard and eat these beauties. From early spring when the tiny apples began to appear I would regularly go out with my grandkids and talk about the day when we would pick and eat them. The anticipation most likely added to … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2023/09/14/delight-29-apples/
I wanted to get some of my initial thoughts on Generative AI out there mostly for myself and to preserve my own thinking. This space has served me well over the past 18 years as a repository of my own thinking. Ideas evolve, shifts occur and concepts get refined and at times dismissed. I could likely comb through the 1200 posts and find numerous examples of things I no longer believe or got wrong. Unlike a book that is permanent, this space is built around the opportunity to record streams of consciousness and other moments in time. Like my own learning, it’s never finished. All that to say, these thoughts are current as of August 30, 2023. If you’re reading this any time after that I could be wrong and might think very differently. If that happens, I hope to record another post that addresses those changes. For now, here’s where I’m at. Technology, when it’s at its best is like magic. Arthur Clarke famously said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” I prefer the science fiction writer Nick Harkaway’s version: New technologies are often on the precipes of our senses and those who are less immersed in … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2023/08/30/unveiling-the-magic-exploring-the-enchanting-world-of-generative-ai/
I’ve quoted this often and still believe it to be true. Stories are how we understand and appreciate the world around us. In the world of education, stories have always been present but the advent of Web 2.0 allowed for new opportunities to communicate with local and global audiences. I recall hearing David Warlick talk about “Telling the New Story http://2cents.onlearning.us/?p=339” which was the idea that technology was changing education and needed to be shared with the public. As someone who embraced technology, this resonated with me, and through my blog, video, and social media, I have spent the better part of my career telling that story. I’m certainly not alone in this. My good friends Joe Sanfelippo http://www.jsanfelippo.com/and George Couros https://georgecouros.ca/blog/ have been imploring leaders to do the same. Joe emphasizes that if you aren’t telling your story, someone else will. The tools we have today, allow us to take control of the narrative. George has said, “We need to make the positives so loud that the negatives are almost impossible to hear”. I don’t disagree with these statements and have in my own way tried to encourage leaders to tell their stories more openly and publicly. But things … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2023/08/15/maybe-we-dont-want-to-tell-our-story/
I have 2 older sisters so much of my childhood was experienced without siblings nearby. I envied my friends who had brothers because it just seemed so cool to be able to play sports together and learn from each other. I get it, many of you who have brothers might not see it the way my mind did as a child but I’m still envious of you. The brother relationship is like all relationships in that they are complex but it seems to me the potential is great. Today I’m watching Herschel and Woody play. As 2 and 3-year-olds, play and social play is still in its early stages. Watching them negotiate and create their own rules is a challenge but over the last few months, they’ve begun to show a lot of progress. Herschel can be the sweetest older brother at times and wants to see Woody happy. Woody watches his older brother carefully and will mimic his actions. The kindness and caring are usually short-lived and often things go awry. But each day it seems that time of cooperation and collaboration is extended. Clearly, I identify as a grandparent. It’s a role I’ve embraced and thrive in. I … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2023/07/24/delight-28-brothers/
For the record, I started this series on delight https://ideasandthoughts.org/category/delight/ back in 2019 and had no expectations about how many I would write. While there’s no consistency in how of these essays I write, I take solace in knowing I can and will write about these moments whenever they occur. That said, I need reminders to see and feel delight. Part of me thinks I could write an endless series just about golf but I realize that only a small percentage of you can relate which adds to the challenge of writing about it in such a way that it resonates with my readers. Golf remains not only a hobby or passion of mine but it is an oddly spiritual experience. While I love the social elements of golf, I love going out later in the evening and golfing alone. It’s a wonderfully quiet, serene time to reflect or simply shut off from the world. I realize many folks choose to run, walk or hike to experience this but for me spending time on a golf course, trying to hit shots, and analyzing my mistakes is truly cathartic. The book The Lost Art of Playing Golf https://www.thelostartofgolf.com/the-lost-art-of-playing-golf/speaks to the joy of … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2023/07/18/delight-27-evening-golf-in-the-wind/
Perhaps my favourite question in education is “And what do you mean by _____________?” Riffing off the Seymour Sarason book https://www.heinemann.com/products/e00639.aspx, I’ve posted other articles asking questions about educational jargon that needs further probing. And What Do You Mean By Knowledge? https://ideasandthoughts.org/2019/01/05/what-do-you-mean-by-knowledge/ And What Do You Mean By… https://ideasandthoughts.org/2014/08/15/what-do-you-mean-by/ And What Do You Mean By Failure? https://ideasandthoughts.org/2016/09/08/i-dont-know-what-you-mean-by-failure/ Once a word becomes jargon, it runs the risk of losing its original and true meaning as well as inviting everyone to make up their definitions and use it for their purpose and it ends up either being something folks resent or something that allows people to act differently and create confusion. Today it’s difficult to read an educational book or listen to an inspirational keynote or talk without a reference to some variation on the idea that “relationships are the key to everything”. It’s an idea that I think comes from a past where or perceived past where school was about content and grades and in some cases we lost a focus on the human connection. Fair enough. I’m highly aware of and have advocated for a shift https://ideasandthoughts.org/2015/04/21/2984/ in priorities for teachers from a content or instructional focus to one that emphasizes caring for students … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2023/07/06/and-what-do-you-mean-by-relationships/
I recall vividly the first few years of teaching and attending retirement events for my colleagues. As a small district of 15 or so schools, they held these events altogether. I remember hearing tributes and watching skits of people I either only knew from that year or other teachers I never worked with or heard of. I recall laughing along with inside jokes I didn’t really get. I teared up as a younger teacher shared how much they appreciated the mentorship of their colleague. A could clearly feel a sense of community among these veteran teachers. I was looking forward to continuing my journey to belong. Seeing them be celebrated and honoured for their work made me proud and excited to be a teacher. To think that one day I might be honoured and would be carrying with me so many memories of times with staff and students seemed to be a nice way to spend a life. As our district amalgamated and times changed, these large celebrations and gatherings dissipated. Many teachers opted out of being celebrated in this way. It seemed like a lot of work and effort to put on these events. Today I see many of … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2023/06/20/lets-rethink-teacher-retirement/
I can’t imagine anyone reading this who is even vaguely aware of who I am wouldn’t know how much I love golf. As my primary hobby/interest/passion, I spend a lot of time not only invested in playing the game but thinking about it, not simply from a technical and physical pursuit but also the many ways in which it is both a metaphor for life but all the amazing lessons I’ve learned because of playing this game. Part of being a golfer means going on golf trips with your buddies. I recall the first trips I took as a teenager, tagging along with my Dad and his buddies. This is where I learned a bunch of added games like “Bingo, Bango, Bongo”, “Wolf”, “Nassau”, “Sixes”, and more. For the past number of years, I organized most of the trips and they’ve usually involved 4 of us and quite often just myself and another buddy. As the organizer, I typically choose the courses, tee times and even the evening activities which were usually limited simply because we almost always played 36 holes a day, playing from sunrise till sunset. * * * * This year, I was invited to join a trip that involved 8 … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2023/05/22/a-ted-talk-come-to-life/
Besides my ability to nap, my grandkids and my airport moves I don’t brag about much. But in addition to those things I often brag about my network. Part curiosity, part luck, I’ve amassed a network of people in my life that is truly stellar. People in the world of education who are bright thinkers and caring individuals who selfishly make me better as an educator and human. I once stated I’m a giant derivative https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELelPZWx7Zs. Part of the luck of building this network has been my privilege to travel and spend time with these people. Like everyone else over the past few years, I’ve been more confined to my screen to maintain this network. But after a week of travelling from Vancouver to Toronto and back home, my drive home from the airport allowed me time to reflect and I had an overwhelming sense of gratitude and felt compelled to write about, brag and name-drop the wonderful folks I was able to interact with over 3 days. Here we go. Chris Kennedy http://cultureofyes.ca. Chris has been a long-time friend. Truly one of my first Canadian connections. He and I were among the first and still-standing bloggers in Canadian education. … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2023/04/02/name-dropping/
Occasionally I hear teacher’s say that they question learning from presenters or facilitators who have been out of the classroom for a while. That’s a reasonable concern but it’s also very contextual. Being a grandparent is much like being a consultant. While it’s been a while since I was “in the trenches” of parenting and also times have changed, my experience and wisdom still has value to today’s parents. Involved and good grandparents are still aware of the societal challenges of the day. They avoid references to the good old days as some kind of panacea but also try and apply what’s good and has always been good to their grandchildren. They are keenly aware of their own failures as parents and work to carefully support their children in being better parents than they were. As a consultant I work to stay relevant. I also acknowledge their are new challenges today that I agree are complex and require support, collaboration and wisdom to solve. The number of years you’ve been out of the classroom does not have to be a negative. What makes someone a good leader or good teacher has not changed to the degree many think it has. … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2023/03/23/how-long-since-you-were-in-a-classroom/
For the regular readers I have, you may have noticed an increase of late in my blogging. This is not a result of any resolution or real intention but likely a by-product of less time and engagement on social channels and a desire to better flesh out my thinking and ideas and seek out those interested in providing more thoughtful feedback and interaction. It’s obvious to anyone that education right now is a tough place to be. I suppose that’s true for many industries and organizations but any data, report or story you hear says education is not a profession that is very appealing. We all can list a number of factors, many outside of our control, some are long-standing systemic challenges and others might be new due to societal unrest. I can tell you my colleagues and I at ALP http://alplearn.com are working to support communities with long-term solutions around workplace wellness and leadership specifically to work towards a better future. But no matter the challenges and circumstances, there are always those who thrive. This is essentially the definition of a positive deviant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_deviance. Positive deviants are folks who have the same resources as others and yet succeed and thrive … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2023/01/27/who-is-thriving/
I don’t really do the #oneword thing. I mean I think about it and naturally, a word seems to emerge but not with the same intention as many. In the past, I’ve used and focused on things like joy and delight and those words last much longer than a year. They stick and become part of my personal and professional persona. This year I do have a word that has been emerging over the past few months so perhaps there’s value in documenting and recording it. So my sorta #oneword for 2023 is savour or savor for those who have an aversion to the letter u. Savour, as in “to relish for an extended time” is for me about slowing down and being mindful. I want to savour the food I eat. As I eat better, part of that work is to savour and be mindful of what I eat. Being a little more French and making eating an event even when it really isn’t an event is something that might improve my relationship with food and avoid those occasions where we squeeze food into our busy schedules. I want to savour the time I spend with my grandkids. If … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2023/01/16/savour/
We’ve seen a major focus on Social Emotional Learning in the past few years. Certainly, the pandemic made it a universal priority for schools. Overall, this has been a good thing and one I’ve advocated for a long time. Our mission is not simply to develop knowledge and skills but also citizens who have a sense of well-being and dare I say, happiness. That said, I’ve noticed a trend that is separating SEL and learning and making it appear at times that the two are mutually exclusive. While no one would ever voice that idea, I think that the ways in which the pandemic has affected people differently are revealing themselves in the lack of readiness for many to really engage in deep and meaningful learning. It’s difficult to say which comes first: “deep learning” or “wellness”. If I’m forced to make this a binary decision, I’ll likely opt for wellness first https://shareski.ca/y/46v, and deep learning second. But that’s just it. I don’t think it is a binary thing. In fact, I think in many cases deep and engaging learning leads to wellness and vice versa. They are complementary. I will say that early on in the pandemic it was … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2023/01/12/are-we-ready-to-learn-again/
Absolutes rarely work for me. I’m the kind of person who looks for the holes in any argument or statement, even my own. Ambivalence and uncertainty is both character flaw but also at times a strength. Yet I know many people, dare I say most people, spend a great deal of time and energy to clearly define their beliefs and place in their worlds. It’s not that I don’t seek this as well, but I’ve always had a hard time staying in my lane. No matter the place I work, the team I played on, or the organization I belonged to, I always am curious about how and why decisions are made. Depending on how far I was from the top level of that institution, I would find ways to insert myself into the decisions that would impact the whole. And yet I never felt the need to be in charge. Even in sports, I was more comfortable making an assist than I was scoring a goal. A revisiting of strengths finder revealed my top strength was Maximizer. I wrestle with the apparent dichotomy that often suggests people “stay in their lanes” versus a belief that “we’re all in this … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2023/01/03/stay-in-your-lane/
I’m not really in a position to understand all that’s happening over at Twitter. I mean I realize Elon Musk bought it and seems to have the desire to change the platform and many feel it will either implode or turn into something they don’t want to support. But I don’t yet have an opinion. It’s partly because I’m not sure I care. That might sound weird for someone that was around for as long as anyone I know. I joined the platform in January 2007. It was barely 6 months old. There was no such thing as social media or at least we didn’t call it that. Twitter was a major accelerator for network building for me. But as this all was happening, most of us had no understanding or intentionality of how we would use it. We were a bunch of educators playing around. I say educators because, at the time, that’s about all we’d see. The first 3-5 years of Twitter were the glory years for me. I created a network and made friends. This https://ideasandthoughts.org/2007/05/01/twitterstill-stupid-but-effective/ is one of the first things I wrote about Twitter. It was mysterious. It was innocent. It was fun. This post https://ideasandthoughts.org/2015/07/01/what-educators-should-tweet-about/ sums … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2022/11/25/what-happens-when-twitter-dies/
* * I’ve been privileged to work in and with leadership in education for much of my career. I’ve been around so many great leaders and admire their various qualities and approaches to leadership. While it’s easy to think there are essential characteristics that make up a good leader, the truth according to the research shared within the book “The Nine Lies About Work https://www.amazon.com/Nine-Lies-about-Work-Freethinking-ebook/dp/B07C3ZT28C” is that leadership is not a thing. The only real measure of leadership is followers. I don’t think this is a new concept. Good leaders, lead and their followers help with implementing and supporting their leaders. What seems to be different today is how leaders are perceived and treated and it concerns me. Successful leaders don’t necessarily seek to do good work but rather gain followers. That’s a neutral statement in that, that can be good or bad. Today you see many successful leaders with a lot of loyal followers who aren’t necessarily aligned with your values. It seems that many of today’s leaders, particularly those in politics have to define an enemy and target them relentlessly. Much like sports, leadership in many circles is about competing against other leaders and working simply to defeat them … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2022/10/25/who-would-want-to-be-a-leader/
What’s bad about the Internet is that you can find a study to prove almost any idea or belief. What’s great about the Internet is that you can find a study to prove almost any idea or belief. That said when you come across something that puts into words or helps explain a behaviour or an idea you’ve had that might seem counterintuitive it’s kind of delightful. I have shared this tweet often: * * > Timeline of My Presentations: > 6-8 months out: Asked to present > 1 month: Decide to get to work > 3 weeks: Decide my presentation sucks > 1 week: Still sucks but a bit less > 3 days: Thinks it might actually be good. > 1 day : Excited to present > 1 hour after: Thinks it might have sucked. > — Dean Shareski (@shareski) February 5, 2018 https://twitter.com/shareski/status/960532280652410880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw I’ve developed a routine or method of creating presentations and keynotes that usually has me beginning early. While that tweet says I start a month out, that’s not exactly true. A month out is when I begin to build an actual slide deck. What happens before that is I begin a note in Evernote where I write random thoughts and ideas. It’s a total mess of images, … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2022/06/15/delight-26-validation/
If you’re new here or new to this series, this is the origin story https://ideasandthoughts.org/2020/03/05/the-delight-project/ of my ongoing series on Delight. In essence, I’m working to be more mindful of those moments of delight that happen all the time but often get forgotten as quickly as they are experienced. This is my effort to document and savour these moments. Madeline Black https://twitter.com/builders_global is a colleague and friend who shared with me her passion for golf. This week we had the opportunity to play together after our ALP retreat http://alplearn.com. She was clear that she is still relatively new to the game and had not played this year. I assured her we would have fun together. As someone who plays a lot of golf, it’s always a goal for me no matter who I play with we have fun. Golf can be a very intimating game and I’m conscious to address as many of the barriers as I can and make people feel comfortable. I suppose I take the same attitude into my work life. Madeline is a natural athlete. She was hitting the ball quite solidly but like most golfers, especially new ones, struggled with consistency. When I play with new golfers … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2022/06/06/delight-25-madelines-par/
I’ve read more books on the workplace and creating a healthy sustainable work-life than almost anything else. I believe it’s a key to a successful and happy life and I also think there are direct ties to schools and classrooms. In recent years there has been a clear shift in attitudes towards the workplace environment. Coming out of the industrial age, work was seen as a necessary element of survival and not necessarily a choice people would willingly make if it weren’t for the money. Barry Schwartz talks about the historical context in Why We Work https://www.ted.com/read/ted-books/ted-books-library/why-we-work. In essence, the industrial and factory age shifted people from individuals pursuing a craft to mass production which was less satisfying and thus figuring out how much to pay people to do menial tasks became the driving focus of the economy. As we move into the information age, we begin to see work as something that shouldn’t just be a means to survival but that work itself should bring us joy and purpose. As a society, we’re not all the way there but it’s certainly a more prevalent attitude today than it was even 30 years ago. * * Part of that shift comes from … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2022/05/17/should-your-workplace-be-your-family/
A major theme of my work over the past few years has been a push back to the efforts to accelerate children to become adults. This is an extremely challenging and nuanced conversation. On the one hand, we know children are typically anxious to get older and become adults. We foster some of that with conversations about “changing the world https://ideasandthoughts.org/2017/11/04/what-about-contentment/” and becoming “future-ready”. The expectations we’ve placed on children, I believe are contributing factors to the increase in anxiety and stress among young people. On the other hand, we have a responsibility to prepare students to become healthy, contributing adults. But I think we might be leaning too far in one direction at the cost of them losing out on what it means to be a kid. Not every child gets the full experience and not everyone agrees on what the childhood experience should be. However, I think it’s pretty universal that these formative years need to be full of wonder, innocence, exploration and a gradual increase in responsibility. So many factors determine how much each of these tenets is preserved, many of which schools and even parents have little control. Today’s world is a constant barrage of … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2022/05/12/protecting-the-sacredness-of-childhood/
Out for an evening walk, I could see the lights of the diamond and the faint noise of kids playing baseball. Moose Jaw has a couple of lighted ball diamonds and this one is specifically for girls softball. Parents sitting in the stands with blankets, girls doing their very unique chants and the crack of the bat and smack of a ball meeting a glove. These are the sights and sounds of a lovely spring evening. I’ve had an on-and-off relationship with baseball. As a kid, it may have been the first sport I played and truly loved. At age 7 I had taken a deep dive into Major League baseball. I remember I had a young college kid as a coach and I equally impressed him and annoyed him by sharing obscure statistics and other facts about the Cincinnati Reds who was my team before the Blue Jays came on the scene. Long story short, golf replaced baseball as my summer sport around age 14 and baseball faded into 3 or 4th place of my top sports. I played slo-pitch for a few years as an adult and even coached my daughter for a couple of years but for … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2022/05/04/delight-24-baseball/
Okay, there’s a title to raise some eyebrows, but hear me out. As a kid, I never really thought about my parent’s involvement in my education. Like most parents, no news was good news. Neither of my parents had a high school diploma and like many parents of that era, teachers were more educated and placed in relatively high regard as experts and professionals in the community. As more people become college educated and society, in general, became less compliant towards authority, schools and teachers were now more accountable for their actions. That was certainly an important and useful change. As a teacher, I soon was able to see categorize the levels of involvement of parents. As a first-grade teacher, parents generally were fairly involved and interested in their child’s education. Particularly if this was their first child, they were anxious to know if their child was having success as a reader and learner, if they were developing social skills and if they were enjoying school. Most parents already knew the answer to these questions but appreciated affirmation. Yet while this was generally true depiction, there were some differences among parents. A small percentage of parents never showed up for … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2022/02/08/dear-parents-be-less-involved/
* * My annual giving out of random-meaningless-to-most-but-meaningful-to-me awards which began in 2015 http://ideasandthoughts.org/2015/12/30/the-deanies/, almost didn’t happen. With the year(s) that it has been, it’s difficult to find routine at times. As well, when this began I was a travel warrior and my memories of interaction were largely in person. Yet Twitter was the glue that kept relationships alive and in some cases where they were born. (FYI, if you’re curious about the fake trophy, it’s a picture of shorts, in other words, no pants which have been an ongoing trope of mine for quite some time. Don’t overthink it) My annual giving out of random-meaningless-to-most-but-meaningful-to-me awards which began in 2015 http://ideasandthoughts.org/2015/12/30/the-deanies/, almost didn’t happen. With the year(s) that it has been, it’s difficult to find routine at times. As well, when this began I was a travel warrior and my memories of interaction were largely in person. Yet Twitter was the glue that kept relationships alive and in some cases where they were born. My process for choosing who to honour is terribly random and arbitrary. As I’ve mentioned previously https://ideasandthoughts.org/2016/12/29/the-deanie-awards/ the danger of leaving someone out is great. It’s not about who I value most or who my closest friends are … Read the rest http://ideasandthoughts.org/2022/01/01/the-deanie-awards-for-2021/
