Do what you can't not do!

Writers will write because they can't NOT write." Written by blogger Mark Downes, quoting another blogger Mark Pilgrim. Apparently, true blogging happens because is can't NOT happen.

Just like musicians can't not write music, writers can't not write. If you take away their blog, they'll write somewhere else (hopefully not on the bathroom wall!)

I suppose whatever it is that you can't not do, is what you ought to be doing.

Monster Energy

Not very often that I link to YouTube, but I came across this video which drives home the power of multimedia, if nothing else. May be a bit disturbing...

Click here

How Does My Mind Work?

Foundations of Stewardship

Wise relief and development work must balance urgent needs, cultural traditions and values, environmental sustainability, and human justice. No small feat, whether you are seeking efficient ways to deliver aid, or looking for new ways to bring hope where traditional or environmentally unsound practices may have prevailed. Grass-roots experience in the field, combined with sound research methods and leadership skills are essential in the process.

Foundations of Stewardship is a new consulting firm that assists agencies and organizations in their quest to provide international relief and development in acceptable, sustainable ways.

The Foundations of Stewardship partners are: H. Carolyn Peach Brown, Ph.D. - An expert in community-based natural resource management with extensive grassroots experience in international development and academia; and Douglas R. Brown, Ph.D. - A development micro-economist with extensive grassroots experience in agriculture and community development and academia. In their own words:

"We specialize in assisting organizations to think creatively and strategically about integrated and holistic programming, and in facilitating learning for more effective and sustainable program outcomes."

Check out their website for more info.

Ecotopia = Utopia + Ecology

One of the latest trends in being green is creating your own backyard ecotopia.

It means many things to many people, for example, for landscapers its a handy way to justify making all kinds of expensive environmental changes/upgrades to your property plan; for wildlife preservationists it means making a wildlife friendly yard; for seed preservationists it means using heritage seeds; for water conservationists it means having a rain barrel to catch run-off; for others it means not planting high-maintenance, fertilizer-hungry grasses; for others it means planting native trees; and yet for others it means creating a pond, or should I say, "aquascape"; for bird watchers it means...the list goes on.

Backyard Ecotopia- created through an alliance of many private companies, government agencies and non profit organizations to promote sustainable and environmentally friendly landscape and gardening practices that every homeowner can use in their back yard.

Our Holiday Christmas Card

Here's the link if you care to look... turn you sound on for Mozart while it plays.
http://mrbrown.ca/christmas-08.htm

It's the Most..Wonderful..Time......of the Year!

Here we are in the days before Christmas, where time seems to stand still. My wife and I got stuck in traffic around Eastgate Mall yesterday for 1 hour. Argh...if we had only known and turned left out of Zeller's to go home, instead of planning to get our groceries over by the Mall...

Happily, there is no one I would rather be stuck in traffic with than my wife. She's the best company!

I think because Centre Mall is closed for rebuilding, Eastgate is twice as busy.

Most of the shopping trips are done. Whew.

I've finally updated my PIN on AdSense. Somehow I earned $9.07 on a Google Ad I put somewhere. If only I could figure out which one.

BP Charts Sep-Dec

What is Your Medieval Personality Type?

Your distinct personality, The White Knight, might be found in most of the thriving kingdoms of the time. Don Quixote was a White Knight as was Joan of Arc, the Lone Ranger and Crusader Rabbit. As a White Knight you expect nothing in return for your good deeds. You are one of the true "Givers" of the world. You are the anonymous philanthropist who shares your wealth, your time and your life with others. To give, is its own reward and as a White Knight you seek no other. On the positive side you are merciful, sympathetic, helpful, giving and heroic. On the negative side you may be impulsively decisive, sentimental and misdirected. Interestingly, your preference is just as applicable in today's corporate kingdoms.

From http://www.cmi-lmi.com/kingdom.html

Memorial School, 1997-98

Memorial School Band, 1997-1998

Great memories, great kids!

Technical vs. Adaptive Problems

I'm just starting "Leadership on the Line - Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading" by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky.

When a problem is solvable by what is presently known and available, and simply requires discussion, organization and careful implementation, it is "technical."

When a problem requires people to face their fears, change their behaviour, forge new relationships or give up something that they hold dearly, it is "adaptive."

When leaders have to solve adaptive problems, they are entering dangerous territory, since many people are not ready to make adaptive changes in their lives. Various tactics to discredit, remove, bypass or harm the leader may result.

Excellent leadership doesn't pretend that adaptive change is merely technical, nor does it enter into adaptive problem solving lightly. The key to success is learning to ask the right questions....

Music Rehearsal Poll

The poll is at the right side of the page. You can select more than one answer.
Thanks!

Summary of a musical "flow" experience

1. Clear goals
2. Immediate feedback
3. Confluence of action and awareness
4. Deep concentration
5. Sense of control
6. Disappearance of self-control

In educational or professional musical settings, "flow" is the term given to the conditions described above. It is a framework for the ideal musical experience, where motivation and skill development is at its highest. It might also be useful as a diagnostic list, ie. when musicians complain about things not going well during rehearsal, it's likely because one of the listed items is not happening. Over the next few entries in this blog I plan to analyse the list further.

The term "flow" appears in the Summer 2008 issue of Canadian Music Educator. The author, Vivian Kim Cassie, mentioned that "flow" was originally used by a researcher named Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, who wrote about it in 1975. Recently the idea has been studied by Custodero and St. John. The Canadian Music Educator article by Cassie sums up some of her current research with her strings class. In particular she is looking at how seating arrangements in her classroom affect the "flow" of her music lessons.

Ghostbusters

I dug this up on Jason's blog.

Our Year End Trip

It was a great day today. The weather was perfect. How often do you get a nice warm day at the end of June? Usually we’re dealing with a heat wave and it’s unbearable. The highlight of my day was watching my grade twos run around excitedly during the scavenger hunt. They so innocently work together. Their excitement for the game outweighed any other fears, and they all had a blast. The camp staff were very easygoing and flexible, allowing the teachers to take part as they wished. We played a parachute game called Shark Attack where everyone puts their feet under the edge of the parachute. One kid is the lifeguard and another is the shark, who goes under the parachute. When the shark grabs someone’s foot and tries to haul them under the parachute, the person has to yell for the lifeguard to save them. If the lifeguard doesn’t get there in time, the person gets dragged under the parachute and becomes another shark. What fun!

We went up the escarpment on a hike with all the grade ones and twos, and not one kid fell down and hurt themselves, despite the rocky and damp trail. We played a great game of hide and seek where all 40 grade twos ran off to hide behind the trees, stumps and rocks, hoping the counselor wouldn’t spy them from his lookout spot. And, on the bus ride home a bunch of them fell asleep, making the ride home much quieter than the morning journey.

Year End Trip

Today is a big day for the kids in my class. We're going to Cave Springs Camp in Beamsville, and so far the weather's cooperating. Our bus is jammed to the windows, 3 to a seat, including backpacks. You could never do that with middle schoolers!

Next week should be fun. I'm thinking will have a class party on Tuesday and pretty well wrap things up then. Wednesday will be extremely low-key. Thankfully the weather has been cool this June so we're not sweltering in the classroom. Some years, June has been unbearable.

Closing Up for Another Year

Just a handful of days left before saying goodbye for the summer. Report cards are pretty well finished, except for some touch-ups. This week I'll be having my students make a special craft that can be assembled into a big display for my room, something like a quilt. It should be a pretty low-key time as we clean up loose ends around the room.

At the end of my first year of teaching primary, I'm feeling like I can do this again. This summer I'll be taking some math training to improve my approach for next year's group. I'm looking forward to getting the room "emptied out" and having a fresh go at setting it up again.

What are the things that are the same from year to year? Let me try a list:

1. The feeling of being done; of having finished a race; the sense of closure with a certain group of children.
2. The cleaning up and storing away of materials.
3. The huge pile of throw-away papers- literally, bags full.
4. Empty walls and bulletin boards, full of possibility for another year.
5. The constant thought of: what will I do differently next year?
   

Space Nerd

I thought I was way more nerdy about space stuff than this...

Nerd pride is real.

Martial Arts Achievements

Being picked to demonstrate is an honour.

Congratulations from the instructor.

And a certificate to display!

Spring Again

This is my favourite time of year. I keep telling everyone this again and again. I measure this time of year by the flowers in our garden. Two days ago the irises popped out in bloom. They are deep purple and have an amazing aroma. Our clematis is going full blast and is now as tall as me. It grows, I swear, 4 inches a day! Soon the evening primrose will be blooming, signaling the middle of June. My daughter's birthday arrives...

Our pond is getting very interesting. We finally, after 3 years of trying, figured out how to over-winter goldfish. And to top it off, we have got a filter installed so the fish can actually SEE WHERE THEY ARE GOING. We have bullfrog tadpoles that were put in there last summer and I'll bet they are about 3 inches long.

The only mystery is what happened to the turtle. We had him given to us last fall when someone brought him into school. He dove into the pond when we released him and we haven't seen him since. Maybe a raccoon got him or something.

Drawing to a Close - Again

This is the end of my first year teaching primary. It has gone by really quickly. All in all it has been a very enriching and rewarding experience, and it has done much to rejuvenate my heart for teaching. The open minds of my grade twos have been very refreshing, while at the same time I have learned tons about how limited their experience and knowledge of the world is.

As the last few weeks of this school year melt away, I'll be busy with various special activities. For instance, we are making a banner for our Country Music Day. There will be a year end classroom art project that the students contribute to, like a quilt or something. And, all the while, I'm looking at our present grade ones and trying to imagine what joys and surprises I'll have teaching them next year!

My Nerd Score

I feel as the sign says...

Brenda Sings

At the Juravinski Cancer Centre, Hamilton.

Jason plays Bass

This goes back a few years. I dug it out of my files just for fun. Here's to you Jason! Great gig last Friday at the FRWY in Hamilton. Thanks.

At Camp, taken by one of The Kids

One of my favourite happy places.

End of the Conjurer

I must explain my use of the word "conjurer." I'm not talking about black magic or witchery. However, the word has an idea of hocus-pocus and spiritual manipulation that gets to the heart of why I'm using it.

I admit it... I won't be forcing God's hand.

God is God and he can and will do what is good and right, for the world and for all, including me. I believe in him. I believe in his son. I am being looked after. End of story.

I am who I am, and I will do my daily best to be honest and open in my work and in my relationships. The rest is not mine to worry about. No more conjuring in the heavenlies.

I will live this year with my eyes and my ears open, and my heart open to the people around me. I will try to eliminate up on any smoke-and-mirrors stuff. Nobody's fooled. God being my helper.

My Angioplasty

Well, the holidays have come and gone, and so has my time in the Heart Investigation Unit where I had my angioplasty.

From the time I saw my cardiologist to now it has only been three weeks. That's a pretty short wait time. It has been surprising for me to suddenly be bumped up to this level of intervention, after all, I'm usually not known for aches and pains and have generally been in excellent health.

So now, after my procedure I'm walking around with a stent inside one of my coronary arteries. This, I'm told, will help to keep the artery wide open where once it was more than 50% blocked by "plaque." I feel fine as far as my heart and chest area goes. The ongoing issue is the large bruise at the top of my thigh. This is the result of the entry wound for the catheter. They told me it would be about 10 days for this to clear up. I think it will be twice that, actually.

So, I'm especially thankful going into 2008. As I head back to work next week I'm going to be looking at things with a different perspective. Some things matter a lot. Other things try to jump out as important, but they're not. My family has been very supportive and I can't give enough thanks for such a beautiful bunch of people. I'm sorry I might have given some of you a scare. Heck, when I think about it I get the willies! But, at this point, it's time to give thanks for all the good things that have happened. Ten years ago this procedure wasn't possible, and my prognosis would have been much more serious. I would have been a candidate for open heart surgery.

Thank-you to all of you who have dropped in to see me over the past couple of weeks. It means a lot.