I think most shocking to many of us were the mistruths we’re fed from the commercial tea industry about what is caffinated and what isn’t.  I highly recommend you visit their blog and online store, and their brick and mortar store in Northampton MA if you’re in the area.

A great evening of interesting people having fascinating conversations!

Well, I do have to admit defeat – at least in terms of being able to blog for 100 days in a row.  I made it to 66 days spread over about 90 days (including weekends).  I learned a lot.  I learned I do have something to write about – even if other folks aren’t convinced they want to read it.  I learned that I like to write – given the time to do the thinking about what I want to write about.  I learned that although I wish I weren’t; I’ve been too trained in the last 15 years to be an academic writer, and so it’s very hard to write something once and publish it without further work and reflection upon the product.  I learned that it’s hard to write without an audience.  I learned what I already knew already that I’m pretty tenacious; the difference being that as I age I know when to give up!   It was fun.  I intend to go back over my entries, pick up some of the threads and create some more viable products than a paragraph here and there.  And, so actually I wasn’t defeated — I correct myself — I chose to stop something that was no longer interesting and not finish just for the sake of finishing.  For me – that’s big!

100 Day Project – Day 66 – 8:52 p.m.

If anyone cares to try to open this document and figure out if it works; you’re welcome to it!  I have an Echo Smartpen as part of a grant at my community college.  With just a half-hour under my belt, I can think of a lot of possible ways to use it in the classroom.  Except I’m really old-fashioned in that I really dislike – I might use the word hate – that today’s technology comes with th idea that you’ll just mess around with it, go for YouTube videos, and hunt and peck forever until you’ve got it down.  I can do all of those things and I’m not shy about just pushing buttons and stuff to figure it out, BUT, I love a good instruction book.  Why on earth should I have to figure out how to figure it out when a few pages would show me how?  Have we taken the concept of constructing your own knowledge just a wee bit far?   That’s what I’m thinking about today!

Well, I must admit life has been very full — usually is – and I’m considering not continuing this Project — could I call it the 65 day project?  I’ve skipped quite a few days; and see by my trusty old paper calendar that I should be on day 84 today – and here I am at Day 65.  What to do?  Quit or persist?

I’ll give it some thought today: like life, we don’t always have a choice whether to quit.  We must persist in some fashion, perhaps in a different way than we thought, but persist we must.  Since I doubt many people are even paying attention to this project, and it’s been for myself, I need to decide whether to go on in some way, or quit.  I”ll think about it for the day.  The Day 65 versus Day 84 is a bit symbolic of my life.  I’m a middle of the boat kind of person.  I learned it very young.  It was important not to be noticed as a child, and it was a really good idea to try to anchor the part of the boat that was rocking.  So I stayed unnoticed in the middle of that boat.  As an adult, I’ve certainly ventured out, even rocked the boat, but I do end up back there in the middle.  What this creates is a life of getting things done – many of those things good things – but getting them done in a plodding kind of way, and getting them done in a way unnoticed by others.    So, today,  I’m thinking about persistence.

Develop a passion for learning.

If you do, you will never cease to grow.

Anthony J. D’Angelo,

The College Blue Book

Last class meeting, the students participated in a Literacy Month event at our college.  The local Head Start bused 30 preschool children to our college’s library where we had the joy of reading one-on-one with the children, joining them in snack, and sending them home with a book to call their own.

Today the class was talking about the joy we all had, and how several of the other adults involved in the organizing and in the area commented on how “well behaved” and “cute” the children were.  It provided us with great conversation about what were these adults, and other adults in our culture, thinking about how children behaved and just what was cute anyways.  I challenged students to consider exactly what cute meant to them, and was it okay to continually use that word to label children’s beings and behaviors.  Great discussion.  In the midst of  it, a student said that I needed to give them a little lee way as I was a very deep person.  So today I’m thinking about what that might mean.

One of the workshops I went to at the NEFDC Conference recently was a workshop on creating syllabi of interest.  While there are several sections I must put in, I have a good deal of leeway about the rest.  Although I learned that at some institutions, the entire syllabi content is legislated by the administration.  But, I have leeway and what the presenter had to say was quite fascinating.  We deem it an important document, yet what we give them often has very little to do with the interesting and what we deem exciting material going to be covered during the semester.

I was really excited about it and I’m not about to give it all away here – but my students should stay tuned for an interesting change in my syllabus!  Here’s where I’d love to say something about my own administration, but I won’t.  Gramma said if you can’t say it in a nice way, don’t say it at all.  So I won’t!

Today I’m thinking about the what is going to be a fun task of creating new and interesting syllabi for next year.

Exhaustion.  This week was non-stop – all five days I was up before 6 am, and although I made it to bed most nights by 10, the days were so full, I practically ran through them.  Yesterday I finished the week by going to the NEFDC Conference in Worcester.  I did debate going, but I’m so glad I did.  I learned some great ideas for the classroom, and I think I’m going to try to write some of them up this next week.  This coming week, being Thanksgiving week, I expect to go a little slower; or at least be a little less full.  So today, I’m just thinking about having another weekend day of moving slower and trying to rest.  Exhaustion.

The first day of class they were shy.  The first day of class they said, almost in unison, oh no, not me: I’m not going to sing, dance, and play an elephant in front of my peers!  What do you want us to do?  No way!  Is there any way to pass this class and not do the participation part?

Today, I had the moment to say to them : Guess what?  You just weren’t shy.  You just danced in front of each other.  You just sang a song about being a mole in a hole and sang it loud!  You even asked to play the game again because you wanted a turn to be the elephant!

Today was the transformation – so visible and palpable by me and the students.  These are community college students – some brand new to the experience – taking a class in bringing creative experiences to the young child.  It means singing, dancing, playing and mucking about.

What a great day!  Personally it was exactly what I needed today to balance off a tough week.  Today I’m thinking about transformation and feeling proud that indeed I know how to teach teachers of young children.

Just returned from the Greenfield Community College’s Annual Foundation Meeting where I heard Dr. Bumphus of the American Association of Community Colleges make a brief presentation.   My takeaway :  2 % of the philanthropic giving to colleges is given to community colleges where 46% of all college students enroll.   Something really wrong with that picture.  Today I’m thinking about the mission of our college and others:  access to excellence.