Inner Dialogue http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/ conversations i have with myself... en Copyright 2008 Wed, 14 May 2008 21:22:17 -0800 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss is it? Is it a terrible thing if I just don't want to engage in the battle anymore? I suppose I'm burned out. Maybe a summer off from thinking about things will help. I had a couple of new ideas proposed today that might be fun, but I really, honestly, don't want to put any effort into it. I was told once that it would be time to back away when it all got mundane, when all I was doing was hanging in there for a paycheck. It's not quite that dramatic yet... but it's not really that far away either. There are a few things that spark my passion... but many more that just damp it back down. What will people think if I just walk away?

]]> http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/14/is_it.php http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/14/is_it.php Teaching and Learning Wed, 14 May 2008 21:22:17 -0800 mothers and daughters I've started this blog entry about a half dozen times since Mother's Day. I find it difficult to pull my thoughts together around the topic I want to write about. It's one that requires some time to process through... and my time is often interrupted by the reality of my life. However, I am persistent...

When I was 18, I couldn't wait to fly away to the freedom that I envisioned college offering me. I was dating a boy that I liked a lot but I was ready to be away from the restrictions I felt at home. College was a goal I had always known I would achieve, and here I was right at the very edge of attaining that goal, running low on patience with the mundane world around me. I was ready to leave the childish arena of high school behind and enter into the adult realm of higher education, ready to follow my dreams. I had the path all planned and laid out... it was clearly going to be a straight shot from here to the exciting career, white picket fence, handsome husband, wonderful children, and golden retriever in the yard. Of course, that was all before I learned about detours, unexpected change, and Plan B the hard way. But at that moment, anyhow, it all seemed clear. I was here, and I knew where I was going. Nothing was getting in the way.

My relationship with my mother had always been rocky, at least for as long as I could remember it. She didn't understand me. She didn't trust me. She didn't know who I was or where I was going. At least that's what I thought. She had a hands-off parenting style and didn't really get too involved in the activities I participated in throughout high school, although looking back, she was more involved than I gave her credit for. I had this whole other life, this whole other world that I was a part of that she knew nothing about. I was intelligent. I was a leader. I was headstrong (yeah, surprising, I know). I always felt like I had a good sense of right and wrong and that I should be allowed to do what I wanted to, without being told what to do. What eighteen year old *doesn't* feel that way?

]]> http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/13/post_34.php http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/13/post_34.php Family Matters Tue, 13 May 2008 20:39:20 -0800 rollercoaster ride "Life can be like a roller coaster...
And just when you think you've had enough,
and your ready to get off the ride and take the calm, easy merry-go round...
You change your mind, throw you hands in the air
and ride the roller coaster all over again.
That's exhilaration...that's living a bit on the edge...that's being ALIVE."

~ Stacey Charter

]]> http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/12/rollercoaster_ride.php http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/12/rollercoaster_ride.php Quotable Quotes Mon, 12 May 2008 13:27:56 -0800 a formidable combination "A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."

~ Nelson Mandela

]]> http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/12/a_formidable_combination.php http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/12/a_formidable_combination.php Quotable Quotes Mon, 12 May 2008 07:33:05 -0800 from steve This was posted to MySpace in the wee hours of the night... made me tear up when I saw it this morning. I got up and worked in the garden for a while before the kids got up and then they joined me in helping out. Steve mobilized the Herd into weeding, making breakfast, and general do-gooding while I took a shower. A very large and wonderful breakfast was served (eggs, hash browns, french toast, bacon). Steve went around the table and asked each child to say why they thought I was a special mom. They all came up with wonderful things. Steve's brother, Chad, said something very touching... simply that I was special because I made his brother happy. After the cleanup, Steve took me away for two hours. We rode Chad's bike up Nine-Mile Canyon toward Kennedy Meadows and stopped for a little while to enjoy the beautiful outdoors. I love that ride. He done good :)

so today's the day to remember that it's a long way from here



to here




in the day-to-day grind we often forget just how much work that is. sometimes it means more laundry than sleep or less time for fun than for bills. we know you don't hear it nearly enough, but we can't do this without you. you keep the nutrition coming



and the schedule going




along with a zillion other things. so we won't belabor the point: happy mother's day from your whole thundering herd...

the terror


the daredevil


the "innocent" one


the ham


the new and improved electric one


the one who's growing too fast


the one who's too far away


the goofball


the mad scientist

]]> http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/11/from_steve.php http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/11/from_steve.php Matters of the Heart Sun, 11 May 2008 15:07:03 -0800 enough space "If you're talking, you're not putting the food in fast enough."

~ Steve, to children who keep getting up from the table before their food is done.

]]> http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/11/enough_space.php http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/11/enough_space.php Kids Speak Sun, 11 May 2008 11:28:21 -0800 Learning to Change "It's a very exciting time for learning. It's the death of education. But it's the dawn of learning."

]]> http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/10/learning_to_change.php http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/10/learning_to_change.php Teaching and Learning Sat, 10 May 2008 08:08:29 -0800 Favorite Tweets On twitter, you can save posts you especially like to a favorites list. Here are some that have caught my attention recently.

faves_2008_05_10

]]> http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/10/favorite_tweets.php http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/10/favorite_tweets.php Cultivating Communities Sat, 10 May 2008 06:21:11 -0800 engaging day I've been laying here for a while, unable to shut off and go to sleep. This day has been non-stop physical and mental activity from about 6:20am until just a little while ago. From repotting trees into 15 gallon containers; to cleaning the house; to taking care of my garden; to folding laundry; to filling up planter boxes; to engaging in an annoying, if not invigorating, intellectual battle with someone who is frustratingly ill-equipped to participate; to the selection and editing of a few dozen pictures for a mother's day project; to attending an award presentation for one child, a basketball game for another child, and an open house/spaghetti dinner for three more children while towing along the entire herd to most all of that; to visiting with my future brother-in-law; to getting to know, indirectly, his new girlfriend; to arranging the pictures in a pleasing way in the frames I selected earlier in the day; to squeezing in a few minutes with my sweetheart... the whole day was spent having to be totally on my game, totally engaged, totally immersed in the multiple activities going on around me. It was a good day, one in which I decided which battles to take on at work, where I got to spend time with people I care about, and where I felt like I was able to beautiful our surroundings, if just a little bit. But now, finally, it is quiet for the first time in 19 hours, and it's taking a little while for my spirit to settle down and find peace.

]]> http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/10/post_33.php http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/10/post_33.php Life in General Sat, 10 May 2008 01:34:01 -0800 nothing worth knowing "Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing worth knowing can be taught."

~ Oscar Wilde 1890

]]> http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/09/nothing_worth_knowing.php http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/09/nothing_worth_knowing.php Quotable Quotes Fri, 09 May 2008 12:37:53 -0800 tweet for help I got an email tonight asking for approval of a computer literacy course outline revision. I'm slated to teach a section of this class in the fall. In past discussions, I've expressed a strong opinion that this class should focus on basic concepts and not specific software, something that has been just as strongly opposed. The revision included a reference to said specific software, so I felt it necessary to respond. I didn't want to just toss out an unfounded opinion however. I sent out a tweet for help...

2008_05_08_openSource01

Almost instantly, I got what I was looking for, from Seattle, Ridgecrest, and Southern California. Read from the bottom up:

]]> http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/08/post_32.php http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/08/post_32.php Cultivating Communities Thu, 08 May 2008 20:41:48 -0800 the function of prayer “The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”

~ Soren Kierkegaard

]]> http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/08/the_function_of_prayer.php http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/08/the_function_of_prayer.php Quotable Quotes Thu, 08 May 2008 15:37:26 -0800 experience life “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”

~ Soren Kierkegaard (Danish Philosopher and Theologian, generally recognized as the first existentialist philosopher. 1813-1855)

]]> http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/08/experience_life.php http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/08/experience_life.php Quotable Quotes Thu, 08 May 2008 15:36:00 -0800 shared decisions It's sort of a different way of looking at things. I'm so used to just doing what I want to or need to without really consulting anyone about it. This summer will mark five years since I've been on my own and for many years before that I had to make most of the decisions. I used to always ask for opinions or suggestions and didn't really get any so I quit asking. Tonight we were talking and I mentioned getting something for a friend that just had a baby. Steve asked if we could talk about that and decide together when he came back. Hmmm. Sure. It really is a major adjustment on my part to share the decisions. Not a bad one. Actually a welcomed one. Just one that takes a a lot of getting used to.

]]> http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/07/shared_decisions.php http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/07/shared_decisions.php Matters of the Heart Wed, 07 May 2008 23:17:32 -0800 chaos factor So I had this plan today. Get up early. Drop off kids at school. Go to gym and swim laps for 20 or 30 minutes. Stop by juice-it-up for something before work. Stop at the park to read some scripture for a little while. Head to the college to grade and prep for presentations. Listen to students and participate in the discussion. Head home and spend the evening with my kids.

Well, that *almost* worked.

Up to the slight detour after the gym... the one where the Charter school called and said Emilee had been injured and it turned out that her arm was broken and we spent the morning and part of the afternoon at the doctor and hospital, just barely squeaking into the college about 20 minutes before my class.

After that, it was back on track.

Today was a microcosm of the chaos factor that rules my life!

]]> http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/07/chaos_factor.php http://www.collegeteacher.org/blog/2008/05/07/chaos_factor.php Life in General Wed, 07 May 2008 22:17:26 -0800