41

I am a little bit late in the game, but I wanted to acknowledge the passing of George H.W. Bush, President of the United States from 1989-1993.

Bush was the President who passed Medicare Part B, approved strides in the battle against AIDS, he threw a first pitch (an actual strike, a layover from his time in playing for Yale), he fully supported the inauguration of Bill Clinton (who beat him in 1992).

He did much more than that, far too many things for me to mention here. But one thing I remember from my high school days is that George Bush was a president who held the office with dignity. He spoke with reserve and held himself high with his support during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Mr. President, I know you are happy now that you are reunited with Barbara and your daughter, Robin. I know you can rest in peace knowing you did everything you could for us all in the United States, and I know you are appreciated all over the world.

Spinning Like Crazy

Happy Hannukah!

I hope everyone has gotten some outside work done over this weekend while the working weather  is good. I know that finals are bearing down on everyone with the remaining three weeks (and what, one more week if you're in college?).

Alright, well, I need to get up and do some more work while I still have some Sunday left. I hope everyone has a great week ahead of you.

I Never Thought It Was Such a Bad Little Tree

All it needs is a little love.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend and getting your trees put up!

The Citizens of Bikini Bottom Mourn, and So Do We

Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of Spongebob Squarepants, had died at the age of 57. Reports say that he was diagnosed with ALS in March of 2017. Spongebob was the epitome of innocence and pure-hearted joy that made it impossible not to like him.

Rest in Peace, Stephen Hillenburg. You will live on in the hearts of everyone for as long as Spongebob is around, and long after.

The Feats of Strength

Not everyone celebrates Christmas. Be glad you don't celebrate Festivus.

By the way, the trailer for Artemis Fowl came out today. Here it is:



Here are some pictures I drew of Artemis Fowl and Butler back in 2002 after reading the first couple of books...

I forgot to mention Holly Short. I only wish I could have convinced more students to read those books. The first one has a slow start, which kind of puts everyone off of them. But it really is a great series.

Roy Clark

I am late in wishing for Roy Clark to rest in peace, so here is today's advent calendar.

Roy Clark was the co-star of an awesome show I used to love when I was a kid--or, okay, I used to watch it, but I'm not sure if I really ever got it the way I was supposed to. I didn't appreciate it for what I do now. It's called Hee-Haw, and it was pretty much a show about the rural life, including bone-headed comedy and country music. Now, due to my years, I have an appreciation for both.

How Wonderful Life Is

It's another year, and we have come around to the 2018 edition of my Dojo Advent Calendar. Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't display this year's John Lewis commercial (or "advert", as the British would say).

I hope everyone is ready to go back to work and school tomorrow. Hey, if you're one of the several Carmel High School football players I tutor, at least you don't have practice after school tomorrow for the first time since, what, June?

It Is What You Make It

This is a very obscure movie, but it's by far my favorite "Thanksgiving" movie. I put that in quotes only because there really aren't that many to choose from, but still, Pieces of April is a fantastic film. It's about a girl who is the black sheep in her family, and she wants to host Thanksgiving. The entire movie takes place while her family is driving to her apartment, flashing back and forth between her family and her, and the people who live in her apartment building who end up being invited as well. This is the ending of the movie, but it's really the journey that makes it worth it.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful day with their families and friends and anybody else you have picked up along the way. I certainly did!

The People We Love

I hope everyone is getting a chance to hang out with their families this Thanksgiving break. Please keep in mind those who can't be with their families as much as they wish tomorrow:

• the doctors, nurses, police officers, and firefighters, as well as all of the clinical staff who work to keep them up and running
• service men and women, who are even farther away
• those who have recently lost loved ones as a result of violence in the United States

No Excuses

I can't believe we are already here in the calendar year. I always say that once Halloween hits, the rest of the year comes immediately after. Let's all enjoy this time of year as much as humanly possible.

And So Were the Indians

I hope this week finds you thankful for everything around you--even school projects.

Food Fightsgiving

Happy Thanksgiving week, everybody! I hope your whole week is spent thinking about what you are thankful for in your life right now.

Preach, Brother

Stan Lee wrote this back in 1968. It's every bit as true today.

Voice of the Dragon

This is going to be fast, but it's important.

I had several students over the years for whom Dragon Dictation software was recommended. They had many kinds of educational challenges, from dyslexia to handwriting issues to just a kind of "fear" or dread of writing by hand. Never once did I have a kiddo who used it, mostly because they didn't want to look weird or different.

But guess what? I have recently found out that Dragon Dictation is a commonly-used tool by providers within the Community Health Network.

Providers. That's hospital-speak for doctors.

So just in case you're still reading this blog, don't ever feel weird for using it, people.

It's technology, and it's there for a reason. You'll be in good company.

Must This Be Universal?

Anyone who has been a part of 5-1 knows how much I can't stand this. I did not expect this phenomenon to follow me on to my next job.

It is amazing how many time I have seen this in a workplace full of adults.

Seriously? How wimpy do you have to be to not be able to put a marker cap all the way on? To lengthen the lifespan of a marker?

I wish I knew how big my eyes got the first time I saw this at the new place.

Excelsior!

Man, what a bummer.

Stan Lee, age 95, passed away today. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that Stan Lee was the Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics. He is the co-creator of characters like Spider-Man, Hulk, Thor, the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Iron Man, Ant-Man, the Wasp...I could go on and on.

He was always comics' biggest huckster, greatest spokesman, and coolest fan. I have no idea how many Marvel comic book movies in which he has played a cameo role, but I know that we will miss them from here on out.

In the back of Marvel Comic books, he used to always write a feature called "Stan's Soapbox." In this letter column and editorial, he always played the part of the cool uncle who talked to you like you were an adult, even when you were a nine year old kid. Although I didn't intentionally emulate Stan Lee as a teacher, I'm sure part of what I was came from his example.

Excelsior, Stan.

The Young Americans

So many memories pop up for me on Veterans Day. This was always one of my most stressful days, but it was all so worth it. Seeing the veterans stand and be recognized always pulled me out of my nerves. I also loved just going back to the classroom and basking in the afterglow of a job well done with the class. That would also get even better when a veteran or two would come back to our classroom and tell the kids stories and answer questions.

Happy Veterans Day to all who served. We can't possibly thank you enough.

Half-Mast

Yes, I'm alive. I'll explain my absence sometime soon, if I really feel like boring you.

I posted this on Facebook, but I need to share it here too.

Over the past few days, I've seen the flags at half-mast. The horrible part is that I'm not even sure whether it's for the Pittsburgh shooting, the California shooting, or Veteran's Day.

I just hope we don't become so numb that we stop flying the flag at half-mast whenever stuff like this happens.

I can very easily see that happening. 

Shrink Back In Terror

This classic never gets old.

Pumpkinhead

He Taught the Boy Right

The world still struggles with this concept, but Herman Munster had it all those years ago.

Alert readers will know that I normally do a blog Advent Calendar after Thanksgiving and before Christmas, so this year I'm going to give you three days of Halloween.

I Used to Know a Guy

All these years later, I still think about a man who became a friend of mine from graduate school, and then pretty much vanished from my life.

Ali came from the United Arab Emirate. He was paid to come over, study at IU, and return home to teach them about the American education system. He was in a class of mine--I can't even remember what the class was--and his English was a little bit fractured. We were put into a group for a project.

On the night we had to give our group presentation, Ali insisted on taking us all out for dinner to celebrate. One by one, the the members of our group came up with excuses not to go with Ali. Admittedly, I didn't really want to go either. But when I saw Ali's face with each excuse, I couldn't say no.

While we were sitting there at dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Bloomington, Ali said to me, "You are the only one who wanted to come." I told him that everyone was just having a busy week. He smiled politely, but didn't seem convinced. I think he had wanted to treat everyone because he was kind of lonely. He told me that night that he had a wife and baby back home in the UAE.

I remember I tried to pay at the end of the meal, and we waved it off. He pulled out a wallet packed with hundred dollar bills. Evidently, not only did their government compensate him well, but they also should have warned him not to carry all of that around with him. I did, just to make sure he would stay safe.

He told me he liked it when I would talk in class, because I spoke loudly and slowly enough that he could understand me. I took that as a compliment.

I saw Ali one time after that class was over. It was just before I was done in Bloomington, and we ran into each other in one of the libraries. Other than that one night, we never actually hung out. And honestly, I can't even remember his last name. But somehow, I still wonder what ever became of him all these years later.

No Destination In Mind

"Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't." --Bill Nye

There is one thing about this summer that was brand new for me. I had to figure out how to network. When I went up to Purdue for their career day, that's one thing they really drilled into me. I sat down that afternoon and wrote out a plan, kind of a brainstorming page, of the people I knew who could help me get plugged in.

An early meet-up with my old friend and former 5-1 parent, John, sent me in the right direction. He told me I needed to start calling people and setting up meetings. He said not to set these meetings up as a "job search meeting", but just to sit people down and have them tell me about what they do. This was one of the smartest things I was told all summer.

This led me to meeting up with people like Lacy, Eric, Jim, Kristin, Doug, Libby, Amy, three different people from Purdue's Career Center, Kyle from Butler, Carrie, Julie, Steve, Cynthia, Brian, Susan, Karen, Bret, Karen Carter, Davey, Laura, Jenny, Nick, and Amy. I didn't realize I had met with so many people until the end of the summer. These people were from all kinds of worlds--finance, training, medical research, educational financial planning, publishing, IT, academia, educational software, online education for business, elementary education, and nonprofit work.

As someone who had been pretty limited to the worlds of public education, karate, and camping, this four month investigation broadened my life and worldview considerably. I learned how important it is to learn from everyone. And the best part of it was that everyone I talked to gave me anywhere from three to ten people to contact next. I didn't even count the people I only spoke to on the phone or exchanged emails.

People are extremely helpful, and even more so if they don't see you as begging them for a job.

Break Free

How cool it was to see Mr. Colton Brown on the news the other night! Last week, he was responsible for Fox 59's "Play of the Week". He shook loose from a player who was trying to bring him down and ran 65 yards for a touchdown against Sheridan.

Colton is a former 5-1 student, and in fact, he was a rare "repeat-offender", having been in my class for two years, counting one year of math. He used to push-ups while doing a hand stand.

Congratulations, Colton! You deserve it.

This Is What a Boilermaker Looks Like

Unless you live in a cave on the moon with your eyes closed, I'm sure you know that Purdue beat Ohio State last night. That was beyond awesome in the first place.

But this morning, the thing that keeps popping back into my mind was the College Gameday feature on ESPN about Tyler Trent. If you are in Carmel, then you are familiar with this young man, and no introduction is needed. If you don't know, click the video above.

Yesterday was a big win. From the "Cancer Sucks" shout to seeing so much support even from Ohio State fans for a Purdue win last night for Tyler.

I also like the way the overall movement from "you can beat cancer!" to the acknowledgement that, no, cancer just sucks. This takes it away from being an implied failure for those who aren't as fortunate in the battle.

But I digress. Boiler Up.

Signs You Can Recognize

This video comes from this post (click here) from the Behavioral Health Team at Community Health Network. For obvious reasons, the world of behavioral health is exploding right now, and the best part of that is that it is bringing mental health issues to the forefront. 

Find Your Way

About four weeks ago, I sat in a huge orientation for work. It was my first day.

After a small group discussion, we were all going around and sharing whatever small group discussion we were supposed to share about. I seriously don't remember what we were supposed to talk about in my small group.

There was one group, however, in which the spokesperson shared something that saw things in a whole new way. She had announced that she had worked two jobs for the longest time. She told us that we would need to live up to the high expectations of this new job because we were really lucky to have it. In fact, she told us that we were the best of the best, because there were many people who had applied, and we were chosen. This group was full of doctors and nurses, and us I.T. people were in the minority by a long shot.

Then, she revealed that this wasn't replacing her two jobs...this was her third job.

I found this to be incredibly humbling. It illustrates that you will either find an excuse or you will find a way.

I hope you all are finding your way right now.

Walk of Respect

I love this.

Happy fall break, everyone.

The Black Casebook

I'm going to post about a few things I learned during the stretch between 
when I resigned from teachingand I started work at the new job. This is 
pure self-indulgence on my part, but maybe it will either help someone else 
or someone will find something to relate to. If not, then just ignore.

The first thing I learned was patience.

I tried to work at all times to be finding a job. What I discovered, however, 
is that when you do that, you often just find yourself checking the same 
things over and over. If you’re working hard, you just have to let things 
happen. And it’s normally not on your time. Your time is not everybody 
else’s time. Everyone has their own problems to deal with, and 
you are not anyone’s top priority.

That said, unless you’re expecting them to think of you all the time, 
people will actually think of you more often than you’d expect. It was 
always a happy surprise when I would get an email or a text from 
someone who had a new possibility for me, or someone who had 
thought of me when they heard about an opportunity. This is the payoff 
of networking, which I’ll talk about on another day.

While I was interviewing, I had all kinds of them. One very early 
interview I had was with a marketing company, and everyone in 
there was in their 20’s. They were really eager to hire me, but it became 
apparent that I was being hired to be a dad figure. I would have had 
fun doing that job, but I didn’t really want to be constantly reeling 
everyone back in. I had spent enough time doing that for the past 18 
years.

Another interview was with an online learning university. The wanted 
to do a virtual interview, so we set up the time, I got all prepared, 
studied up on them, and everything. I sat down at my laptop at my 
dining room table, and...nothing. I gave it ten minutes, then I tried 
calling them, and I was told that they had tried to get through to me 
but that I ignored them. In my opinion, I felt like they were being kind of
rude. Of course it was a little disappointing, but it also told me that 
I did not want to work for this university in the capacity.

It took a number of interviews before the just right one came along. 
The one that I think of as baby bear’s porridge. The people seemed 
happy, the atmosphere was a positive one, and everyone seemed 
to get along. They asked me questions, and while they did it, they 
smiled. I felt very comfortable asking them questions. I had found 
a company that wasn’t looking for someone with all the skills already 
in place; they were looking for a personality that was willing to learn 
and that could get along with the other people in the office.

As a fifth grade teacher, every year when it came time for the kids’ 
BizTown interviews, I always gave the kids some tips on interviewing. 
I told them that if anyone asked them if they thought they would be 
the right person for a job, always say yes. Even if they don’t think they 
will be the best person for the job, they should always say yes. I tell 
them that best case scenario, they succeed, finding that they had the 
ability all along.

Worst case scenario, they fail. But at least then they would know more 
about the position than they did going in. Experience is experience.

Lastly, do your best to enjoy the process. That is an ambitious thing for 
me to say, because there were days I definitely did not enjoy myself. I 
did learn, however, to enjoy the little things--the entirety of baseball 
games, the strings of TV shows I had never watched as I sat at my 
laptop, and doing some cooking. I had days where I would have 
absolutely nothing planned for the whole day, which was a first. 

The fact is, if you keep at it and keep working hard, you never know 
when everything is going to work out just right.

Obsolete

The other day, during a training, the lesson was about filling out the vitals on a patient. There is a spot to put in the patient's status as a smoker. This comes from questioning the patient, and there is a place in the file where you can enter in if they use smokeless tobacco.

At first, a nurse asked what smokeless tobacco was, and the response was either chewing tobacco or snuff (these were actually the pre-recorded options). Most of the nurses were younger than thirty, I'd say, and many of them had no idea what snuff was.

One of them asked, "Is that a new thing? Like vaping?"

It's so weird to think about younger generations' points of view. I'm actually glad they had never heard of snuff. But then, I wish they hadn't heard of vaping, either.

Our World and Welcome to It

I'm tired again tonight. But I still wanted to post this.

I think this is an alarming view of our world population. But even if you aren't taken aback by this, you have to at least admit that it's really interesting.

Moonshot

I had a lot to write about tonight, but I'm exhausted. Watch this--it's a cool one from the makers of the solar system video I posted the other day.

When September Ends

Traditionally, I would try to hold myself back as much as possible from getting political on this blog, what with it being tied directly to my job at the school system. And I still won't get overly political on here, because, frankly, no one cares about anyone else's politics unless they want to correct the other person, and I'm not interested in that.

But I have recently found out that Noblesville Schools are in an uphill battle--much more than I realized when I posted about this the first time--to get this referendum through.

If you are interested, look on the website Noblesville 2018 Referendum Facts.

What I've heard over the past few days around here (and on Nextdoor) is that they are just trying to hire more teachers because they are too lazy to handle more than 20 students at a time. They don't mention the things listed on the website. The mental health staff alone would be $1.57 million. This has nothing to do with the security, which would cost $1.75 million. Nowhere on that site does it say they are looking to reduce class sizes, with the exception of the middle school and high school, where many classes have 35+ students. I can assure you that no teacher can be effective with that many students per class to worry about.

It's amazing what four months will do to people's memories.

Celestial Resonance

This is awesome. Watch this! It is such a fantastic look at something that is really really hard to do in a classroom.

The Shape of the Cape

Scroll down to last week, when I had missed Batman Day.

See that picture of Batman I posted? The artwork is that of Mr. Norm Breyfogle. I know that means nothing to you, but way back when I first started reading comics, in the year 1989 (prehistoric, eh?), his vision of Batman was the first one I read, and not only that, but that I could recognize by the artist.

Norm Breyfogle died today. He'd had a stroke last year, and was known to be pretty weak.

What I liked about his art was what he did with Batman's cape. It took on an almost abstract shape, and it made a book drawn by Norm stand out in the crowd.

I had something else planned for today's post, but that's going to wait until tomorrow.

Rest in peace, Norm! The fourteen year old kid in me comes back to life whenever I see your artwork again.

You Belong Among the Warriors

The letters float off the page when you read, right? That’s because your mind is hardwired for Ancient Greek. And the ADHD—you’re impulsive, can’t sit still in the classroom. That’s your battlefield reflexes. In a real fight, they’d keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that’s because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal’s.

                              --Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief

This has been one of my favorite quotes since I read it for the first time. Most of you know I am dyslexic, and it felt very empowering.

I only mean this as a quick shot in the arm for anyone who has gotten into trouble at school for being a little more active than normal, has received a bad grade, or who can't remember to turn their homework in when they walk into the classroom.

You're going to be okay. You're just cursed with being better than normal. 

Time Capsule

This popped up on my email tonight, thanks to a message left by former student Scott "Sco" Croner.

I had completely forgotten that I had to save this on YouTube in order to share it with Charlie's parents. It's a little time capsule of that day in November of 2016.

The little details of this video are what make me a little wistful. Watching how everybody got up when the pledge started, sat back down when it ended, and how I see some stop folders out, because we had undoubtedly just finished doing our Word of the Day. The Spell Bowl advertisement, the fact that the kids are dressed up (which tells me this was probably the day of our BizTown interviews), plus the book trivia all convey a very specific slice of time from each school year. I see Grant, Char, Louie, Abdul, Drew, and Rohan, and of course Charlie, which conveys a special slice of my teaching career.

This video makes me really happy for the 18 years I spent teaching. It reminds me of a special connection that I was able to make with my students--of the power of ritual and culture and custom.

I start my new job on Monday. I only hope that this new job will bring me a tiny bit of the happiness that I found with teaching all those years. I'm looking forward to having time to do my work, to training and teaching people in other ways, and to a different purpose. But I am extremely thankful for all the memories I have of teaching fifth graders. Most people will never get even a little of that.

There Never Was a Plan

Noblesville Schools are finding themselves in a similar position to Carmel a couple years back this November. They are seeking a referendum on the ballot, it's not for the exact same reasons that Carmel did. Back when Carmel did it, it was just to maintain their status quo as far as class sizes and everything else that came with it. It was a tax hike to prevent Carmel from losing what they already had.

For Noblesville this year, though, it's a bit of a different bag, but for good reason. The biggest factor is the mental health initiative. This makes sense because, as I don't need to remind you, there was a shooting by a student at Noblesville West Middle School on May 25 of this year.

It's no secret that mental health is just being recognized as a critical need for our schools. As a person who spent 18 years in the schools, I can assure you that this is not news to the teachers. I hate that it had to come to something like the shooting for this to be seen, but I am still thankful that it is now.

When the Noblesville shooting occurred at the end of the school year, I have to say that I was not at all surprised. I was numb. It was not a matter of if, it was a matter of when. I had been saying this for a long time.

The system is broken.

Good for Noblesville for wanting to do something about it. And don't get me wrong. I have no doubt that the rest of Hamilton County will soon follow suit. I have to think that Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland, and San Bernardino have all done the same. I pray that the rest of Indiana would do the same.

For reasons that I plan to go into another time, I will always be a staunch supporter of public education. And I know that I speak for so many public school teachers when I say that it can use all the help it can get. Public education faces an uphill battle every day.

If anyone reading this has any way of supporting the Noblesville referendum, I urge you to do so.

Doodlebug

In case anyone didn't catch the Google doodle today, you ought to check it out.

Shadow of the Bat

Doggone it! I missed Batman Day!

It was yesterday. I hope everyone had a great day with the Dark Knight watching over you.

Today has been a roller coaster. I will report as much as I can tomorrow. (I still have the job, though, so don't worry!)

Where I Come From

Here's a cool website. I was just made aware of it recently through the podcast A Way With Words. The Yale Grammatical Diversity Project has studied the syntax (arrangement of words and phrasing) of the different regions for several phrases and colloquialisms.

What I like best about it is that it doesn't say that one way is correct or incorrect. It's a reflection of the backgrounds of those various areas.

I especially like the interactive map where you can click on the different phrasings and see where they are more common.

As a word nerd (who has admittedly been called the Grammar Police before), I love stuff like this.

Brand New Day

Just in case anyone is still checking in, I am still alive!

Also, I got a new job. More on that soon, but for now, I am wading through paperwork, which is kind of a relief. I'm ready to be back on a regular schedule again.

I have learned a lot over the past few months. I need to write those things down so I can get some content going again.

For now, I'm going to have to get back to actual decent exercising and housecleaning habits, and all those other things that have been evading me while I was on the job search.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

I'm Proud of You

Today is Mr. Rogers's 90th birthday. Or at least it would have been. This makes me feel great to this day, and I hope it does you too.

This is my message to all my former students as well.

I Love You Guys!

Thank you so much, Delaby family! I will never be able to make this up to you. You made me feel about three times taller tonight, and that's saying something.

The Kids Are Alright

It's probably because I've had a little more free time on my hands this year, but this year was the most I have followed the Little League World Series.

This was one of the most positive, enjoyable viewing experiences I've had. I love to watch baseball, and even so, this made me smile out loud so many times. It's so cool to watch players who take themselves seriously, but not so much that they overdo it. They have fun. They smile. They make faces, they fidget, and they don't hold back their emotions.

There were times it was heartbreaking, but that's part of sports. Only one half of the teams win any given game. But man, it was a treat getting to watch it a little more closely this year.

True American

John McCain was always fair.

I honestly think that's why he had trouble fitting in Washington's scene over the past couple decades. He stood up to his own supporters when they claimed things that weren't true, even when he was running for president. He was one of the last of a dying breed.

Even the fact that he was a war hero has gone out of the greater public appreciation in the last couple of years. That used to be one of the things we could count on being looked on with favor, but sadly, McCain had to watch that crumble too before he passed.

The world is already a lesser place for his absence.

A Short Course

Love this.

Gonna Walk Down To

How awesome and humbling this is!

This sign will be posted outside Woodbrook in the carpool lane. I want to publicly thank the Delabys for doing this. I love that I will be remembered this way, I have to admit.

Thanks so much, Louie, Gigi, Bird, and Rob! You guys are the best!

Bega

Happy Birthday to Bega!

Rafael is the last kid for me to wish a happy birthday. And here it is, happening on the last day of your summer break! I'm not whether it's a good thing that you didn't have to go to school today, or that it kind of stinks that you have to go to school the next day for the first time in ten weeks.

But I'm going to focus on the positive. Rafael "Bega" invented the Bega Dance, and he won his way right into the hearts of everyone in 5-1. He was definitely a positive force in the classroom, because he made everyone laugh. He's just that kind of guy.

I have to say that I'm a little jealous of Rafael's teachers this year.

Rafael, I hope you have a fantastic school year! You deserve it. And happy birthday while I'm at it.

The Dawn of the New

Hello, everyone! I hope you all have a great school year ahead. Start strong and then hold on. Your teachers are all lucky to have you.

Stay tuned, guys!

Up to Us

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

Come On, You Got This

Perfect Lines

“When we pass over into how a knight thinks, how a heroine behaves, and how an evildoer can regret or deny wrongdoing, we never come back quite the same; sometimes we're inspired, sometimes saddened, but we are always enriched. Through this exposure we learn both the commonality and the uniqueness of our own thoughts -- that we are individuals, but not alone.”

― Maryanne Wolf, Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain

When I first read this book, which I would highly recommend, I was transfixed. Now I want to read it again. If you are at all interested in the science of reading, or if you just want to feel smarter, you need to read this!

 

We Were Pretty Great, Weren't We?

I apologize profusely for anyone who sees this. I had all of these pictures from Track and Field Day, and I guess I got so wrapped up in the end of the school year that I never posted them. What a nice reminder of the past school year's end, though.

As you get ready to start your new beginning next week, I hope you look back on where you came from and the lessons learned, everybody. I'd advise you to "never change", but I've been through middle school before, and I've known many students who have gone through it before too. I know it's not realistic. But one day, you'll be able to be your old self again, and it will be great.

You all have amazing adventures ahead.

Best of luck, and make good choices, people.

Stop It Before It Has a Chance

Please heed these words, kids. You cannot understand right now, but you have to do this.

Ivy League Hoosier

This story from my hometown newspaper, The Journal Review from Crawfordsville, caught my interest today.

Josh Weir, a graduate of Southmont High School, went to Ivy Tech right after high school. He graduated with an associate's degree. From there, he had planned to move on to IU's business school.

But at the request of his academic advisor, he needed to apply to a few schools other than IU.

Long story short, he's going to Harvard.

This is such a cool thing, because Crawfordsville is a mostly rural town. Among the three high schools of Montgomery County, Southmont is considered to be the rural-est of the rural. By the way, just to put things into perspective, the population of all three schools (Crawfordsville, North Montgomery, and Southmont) combined is still much less than half of that of Carmel High School alone.

Josh, I know there is no way you're going to see this, but I hope you have a great experience out in Cambridge MA. I hope you bring some good ol' country common sense to Boston, and that you will also bring a little culture back to the Hoosier State when you're back home. There is nothing like an awesome education.

Words and How We Use Them

Here's a fantastic article I saw the other day on LitHub. (click here)

I have always been kind of a grammar and usage snob. Being a teacher does that to you. That said, I have come to accept a more elastic approach to the English language. It makes me cringe to hear certain terms and abbreviations, but that's language.

Also, I have come to break free of certain hardwired rules such as not being allowed to end a sentence in a preposition.

Probably my biggest beef is with the current curriculum. They expect young people to know the difference between a transitive and an intransitive verb, a nominative case, subjunctive moods, and perfect participles. I think it's far more important to understand the basic proper uses of grammar and good writing than it is to know such terminology. Luckily, my colleagues agreed that this wasn't the best use of an 11-year-old's brain, and we taught the importance of understanding how to use words correctly than the jargon behind it.

Don't hassle yourself if you don't understand the difference between past perfect tense and regular old past tense. And don't ever correct someone in a social situation. That's for a teacher to do in the classroom only. Maybe in your own home too. (See that? I used in incomplete sentence!)

If someone tells you, "You sing really good," learn to take the compliment.

Who's Training Who Anyway?

Say what you will about guns, and I'm not about to say anything about them here on the Dojo, but the recent talk of ghost guns is pretty scary.

I have to say, though, that this is not a recent thing in my mind. This idea of 3D printed, unregistered guns first came into my mind four years ago when I had the honor of serving on a Global Scholars panel for my then-graduating student, Chris Hsu. Chris went to Park Tudor for high school, and his final project was to study the possible dangers of 3D printing, which is still in its infancy.

Part of Chris's presentation was a video which showed a guy in the audience of a politician. He had printed the parts to create a gun, assembled it, loaded it, and showed just how easily it could go wrong. 

Despite the fright brought on by such a reality, I am so proud to say, "I knew about that! I knew about it four years ago!"

By the way, pictured is Chris, four years ago, with his still-girlfriend, Sophia. Both of them were in my fifth grade class. He just graduated from Princeton, and she just graduated from Yale. I wish I could say that had anything to do with me, but they were pretty darn bright before they came into Area 51!

I hope you are staying on this thing, Chris! If not, I know that the world is still a better place as a result of what you're doing now.

(Click here to read the post I wrote on the day of his presentation. By the way, he was also a karate student. He got his black belt too.)