Strolling Down Memory Lane!

We had a hard time getting going around here today.  There are so many things on the list that need to get addressed and it was hard to pick just where to start, what progression to follow, and what things to leave for another day.  Two important things in the day were connecting with friends from high school and celebrating my sisters birthday.

We had determined that we wanted to create a care package for my sister on how to age well.  It was very clever, or so we thought, and included many comedic elements.  We created a handbook on aging that had sections such as an AARP application, information on the hover-round, life insurance for the elderly and geriatric medical issues.  Then there were several items needed to enter into the next decade of birthdays.  Necessities, those "cant live withouts", were carefully wrapped and stowed away in the bag.  Tissue engulfed things such as Ben Gay and Hemorrhoid Cream, Anti-Aging facial scrub, pads for your corns, denture cream, and Poise pads.

The question really is, however, what does it truly take to age gracefully.  I suppose there is a place for products that make us look and feel young and those that relieve some of the discomforts of not actually being young enough to abuse our bodies without suffering more than a day or two.  Beyond those, there are two key ingredients, laughter and attitude.  The care package was meant to bring laughter.  It did.  Smiles and swats at a little sister too young to know the meaning of a number, followed as well.  Perhaps, too, it was a representative of the attitude needed to age gracefully.  Age is a number that may or may not reflect a whole lot of meaning on your daily life.  If you can laugh right in the face of it, while living with it, the days will probably come and go a little easier.

For me, age is a number I can't truly identify with or comprehend.  When I look around it appears to me that I am supposed to feel a certain way about myself based on my age.  I really don't though.  Perhaps this means I am not, or will not, age gracefully.  Most days I feel pretty young and until someone asks me my age I walk around thinking I am about 30 or so.  I am aging a little because up until about two years ago I really thought I was around 28.  Does it matter how old I am?  The old saying used to be "old enough to know better, young enough to do it" and I think I am beyond that stage.  Personally, I think my motto is more like "old enough to have some wisdom, young enough not to lord it over the young-uns".

Seeing friends from high school was intertwined into this birthday thing.  What an amazing time I had, and hope others did too, at an open house.  Two girls bound it all together, wonderfully different, displaying the same commitment to enduring friendship that they did way back when they were jump roping on the play ground and playing blind man's bluff on the merry-go-round.

As we drove the hour and a half home I explained the history of these friendships from elementary onward.  Seventh grade took me down a journey that started out with finding my identity and ended with tragic events that began defining me without my consent.  Going through the doors of the high school meant that I was separated from friend groups I had become comfortable with and had to become acquainted with a whole lot of new people.  At that point in life many people find themselves swept along by a river that seems to have a life of its own.

I too felt swept along by a current that quickly became dangerous rapids with boulders hidden beneath the surface.  In the summer between seventh and eighth grade my whole understanding of life and my own humanity was torn.  My mom died and I was instantly isolated from my peers.  I didn't know how to act around them and they didn't know how to act around me.  I was no longer interested in performing in school or the things that are typical for a young teen.  At that point, I had to try and wrestle with the palpable reality of greif, loss and deep depression.  These were soon followed by poverty, extreme family turmoil and feelings of abandonment.

For the rest of my high school career I felt pretty lost.  I really did not feel capable of relating to my peers.  I dabbled in rebellion, but that didn't really fit me well.  So my time was spent trying to navigate my life, ill equipped as I was, and this often meant disengaging in the life I was expected to lead and isolating myself in order to survive.  I didn't do so well and I didn't leave high school with a pocket full of great experiences or emotional bonds.  Some how I stumbled into adulthood with way too much to learn and a hard, hard road to the education necessary to live life.

The ray of hope shines eternal though.  I found my way, falling down, hitting my stubbord head, wounding myself here and there, and picking up a few successes along the way.  Two wonderful children have brought grace and beauty into my life, a phenomenal husband has taught me how to allow myself to be loved in spite of, or because of, flaws and imperfections, I developed those emotional bonds and I have friends that I love dearly.

Tonight, was a celebration of friends that wait for everything to come full circle.  As a small child in early elementary I felt I was friends with most everyone in my grade.  Two girls, Diane and Linda, created some vivid memories during those formative years.  However, as I was knocking around, figuring out my befuddling life, we drifted down different forks in the river.  A couple of years ago though, a reunion brought me back into the fold of the wonderful people I had the privilege to grow up with and my life has a new richness because of it.  Sixty-seven people have spread out over the United States and across the globe.  When there is occasion to come back together it is a blessing and a reminder of grace and mercy.

Diane and Linda you are wonderful ladies!  You are brilliant, have created wonderful families, bring joy and value to the world and envelop those around you with love, in part because you see beyond the flaws.  I am so blessed to have your friendship and that of so many more who share your outstanding qualities.  Thank you for your friendship that began in the walls of our tiny school and continues to blossom today.

Chambers and Appendages

"Things have changed...", "When I was your age....", "Back in my day...."

Does using a phrase like one of these put you into a different life phase?  To put it in no uncertain terms, does it indicate aging?  I can't even ask if it means you are getting "*@#".  Why?  Being *@# is a state of mind I am not willing to hedge up on.

Let's just say that there are some changes I have noticed.  If you have had any sort of a conversation belaboring the causes for the state of our world, you have certainly heard me ramble about community.  Where I reside, it seems that we don't live in our communities.  In fact, some of us are intentional about living outside of our community so we can have autonomy at the grocery store and not be beholden to things such as having to use a particular mechanic because they are family friends or shopping at one hardware store or another because of affiliations.

The why's and what for's are many.  But what are we missing?  Good, bad and otherwise, my community exists around the globe.  There are probably two main chambers to this group, with appendages that are far reaching.  One chamber has actually come together and lives within one hundred or so yards.  Yes, the kids are all grown and have moved out.  However, they are just down the street and I LOVE it!  We see each other often, stay up way too late playing card games, embark on artistic adventures that lead us around surprising corners, eat together now and again, and of course they still come home to do their laundry.

While there are many fun things about being so close in proximity, there is something far more important about being close in spirit and community.  When I am out of town there is someone close by to check on the chillas and water the deathly thirsty tomatoes.  And if someone needs toilet paper there is a dependable resource very near by.  (Interestingly enough we often run out of toilet paper all at the same time and it just means we take a trip to the store together.)  The point is, that we provide community for each other.  We have fun together, share our difficulties with one another, meet needs for one another, contemplate the complexities of life together, ponder unimportant concepts at length as a group and are continuing to grow a deep sense of community.

The second chamber is far less accessible, yet of great importance as well.  Summer usually leads to several trips to the Dakotas and a visit or two from out west.  Five hours in the car can give a person cause to travel through many memories and emotional lands.  It can also be lonely and tiring and bad for your diet.  However, once the distance has passed, there is a complete sense of home, equally valuable to the one in the rear view mirror.  We know one another well, love each other, accept the occasional step out of bounds and welcome each other like we have enjoyed every day of our lives together.  Pops, the patriarch of the family, lives by the anthem "work hard to play hard" and we all live this out, whether we know it or not.  We work very hard together and yet we enjoy the weekends where we take the whole clan to a Twins game or the Renaissance Festival and buy goofy hats or watch medieval weddings just for the fun of it.

Appendages, perhaps not the most flattering sounding descriptor, stretch in every direction and bare many roots.  We have left big chunks of our hearts in Virginia and traveled over the plains and through the woods both directions to share in a distant, but ever present, community with deep, deep roots.  Our friend in the army is any given place in the continental US and may trot the globe at any moment.  Then there is my Augsburgian sister who is often spotted on European adventures with her home base in Italy.  The RCTC bunch is always moving around in the general region, but now one of our ranks is going to snuggle up against the Rocky Mountains and save lives or something.  I could go on with the locations that have hosted those we love and have found to fit perfectly in our hearts, Lebanon, Tennessee, West Virginia, where is Brittany at these days Connecticut maybe, Boston, Arizona, many in the cities, you name the direction and we could name a meaningful connection that has brought us a sense of community.

Gone are the days of living in a small town with the family and trusted friends minutes away.  I liked when the party line became extinct, but I don't think I like the distance that spreads out my loved ones.  Nothing can be done about it I suppose, but yet always lingering is this feeling of being torn and wishing that everyone could be together more easily.  No matter where we are, we are missing someone (more like many someones) and there is always a sadness that goes along with that awareness.  Would I give up having developed a sense of community with someone for not having to miss them later?  No.  But my heart always notices who is missing and there is a longing for home to be in one place and everyone to be gathered there together.

While that seems a little sad, there are many positives.  We are surrounded by love and caring and we have a large group of people to share our love and devotion with.  Great experiences dot the maps of our memories and we can travel over those lands on long, time intensive car rides.  And we can go a lot of places and have a piece of our community already there!  We know the bleaker side exists, but choose to focus on the bright side most of the time.  The encouragement today is to grow your community is whatever newfangled way you can, or touch base with someone you miss in your current community.

Blessings to the chambers, appendages, and those yet to come!  May our communities ever be strong and grow deep, stabilizing, nourishing roots together!

Changes that Throw Us...

It is interesting how the human psyche can ignore obvious truths to increase our comfort level.  When tooling along in life, it is easy to think that everything is ok and will remain that way into oblivion.  Not so. Yet somehow we feel like we got punched in the gut when reality slaps our happy denial in the face.

Friends move.  Sometimes clear across the country, or even clear across the ocean.  We want to be happy for those people, but still understand that we are sad for ourselves.  Family gets separated for a variety of different reasons.  Sometimes we want to be happy for them too, but are deeply saddened in our hearts.  Marriages end.  People die.  And we become aware of our own potential for break down.

Suddenly our ignoring human psyche can't find the portal back into denial.  Then we begin to ask ourselves all sorts of questions.  What if my sister or child or best friend wants to move a world away?  What if my best friend dies unexpectedly?  Could my marriage be in trouble without me knowing it?  What if I lose my job?  Is my health in jeopardy?  What would I do if a loved one got the big C diagnosis?  And there we are tossed about on a tempest sea with no direction home and at a loss for comforting thoughts to guide us through the darkness.

A truly difficult question is how we support the ones we love while taking care of our wounds.  When we mature we know we can't say, "I know you have a really great opportunity for a job, but I really don't want you to move 13 hours away from me."  And yet that may be the lingering thought we battle with when the details of a plan are laid out in front of us.  Another great difficulty is when someone close to someone we love passes onto the next leg of the journey.  We all know from a very young age that people die.  Everyone will.  And yet, comforting loved ones who are mourning a loss is very difficult.  We hurt, perhaps very deeply for them and the loss they are grieving, and they hurt, and we are at a loss to bring genuine comfort.

There is probably a grand answer for this question of how to comfort, when we need comfort ourselves, or how to celebrate when the celebration brings us greif.  Today, the answer eludes me and the juxtaposition of emotion simply exists in the dissonance of the moment in which we live.  The only thing that I know for certain is that it is best to fully experience whatever you may be feeling, because then at some point it will dissipate.  If stuffed, avoided, neglected or denied, you can count on it growing and causing more problems, difficult problems as you sail back to that portal of ignorant bliss where we hide from ourselves the difficult truths that we must face in our lives.  Joyful surprises come often, miracles happen, love abounds AND grief and loss are inevitable as well.

Ramblings of Technology in Education

Lessons 2.0

This summer I have a wonderful class on using 21st Century Tools.  Yes, I thought the title was a little cheesy and that I probably knew most of what the class taught because many look to me as their tech guru.  Granted I have always said that you just have to know a little more than the general populous to be considered an "expert".  Over the years though I have let my image of techie-ness go to seed a bit.

Now I know that there is much that is unknown and many more lessons to be learned!  Some of the concepts have been brewing in the back of my mind, however, the vocabulary and deeper understanding have been missing.  This week's topic is 2.0, which is a term that is used often around technology, but I can't say I exactly know what it means.  I can say it though!

Previously we have studied online collaboration, technology readiness, digital learning structures, social bookmarking, and online formats such as multimedia presentations, treasure hunts, hotlists, and subject samplers.  Digging further I have found there are more online flow activities.  One of the places I looked for this information was Six Web-and-Flow Activity Formats .  When creating a Subject Sampler I came across the idea that you are not going in depth on a topic, but that you ask essential questions to help the learner form an opinion of the subject based on their personal reactions to the sites they visit.  However, an example of the essential questions was not given.  So again, I had to go digging and I landed Plugging into the Web, Webquests and More, and at this helpful wiki Internetstrategies.  

To better understand a process, creating or utilizing the material, strengthens the learning.  That is why I did the previous digging and then decided to create my own subject sampler on a topic that my son told me is the next trendy movement in food.  The catchy topic line will certainly get students reacting, "Insects for Food?".  The question for the first site is, "Are insects food?" Insects Are Food Next learners are asked to think about how appetizing insects are when they visit Gourmet Insects and see images of insect speciality dishes.  In preparing my subject sampler I found that many who are promoting the trend are reciting benefits of consuming insects in the diet.  This video shows some ways that insects can be prepared and covers some of the benefits nutritionally and environmentally.

Learners can also visit Food Insect Newsletter when answering the question of how eating insects is beneficial. Finally, learners can read the following article on changing the distasteful image that eating insects has long held Insects Are Not Yucky. In the example created for my learning, students were then asked to reflect on their learning in the following directions:

Reaction Please! Share your reaction to the idea that insects are useful as food by writing a short reflection, creating a multimedia presentation or making a poster or brochure. Make sure you include the information you discovered exploring the sampler list and how you feel about each aspect presented on the sites.

Perhaps you have explored the topic as you have read through this post. If so, it would be awesome to have your feedback! Any brave souls want to do the reflection and post it?

Reflection

Now getting down to the business of the day, social networking!  Is social networking useful in an educational environment?  One of the things that it seems we miss in education is the benefits of collaboration.  Kagan talks about the need for collaboration in developing skills that are valuable for both learning and being ready for a modern work environment.  From Lessons to Structures  This is one fo the key ways that I think social networking could be used in education.  One advantage to collaborating online is being able to link sites, articles, photos, diagrams and videos to team mates.  Another advantage would be the ability to work at ones own pace and at whatever time works best for the individual learner.  It is plausible that social networking could be used to gain information from others outside the group or being able to take polls on the topic being studied.  If learners are working at the same time there is a chat feature as well for discussion and collaboration.  Whole classes could share information or final products through social networking as well.

While there are many uses, and surely many more than I mention here, there are also some pitfalls to consider.  One has to make sure that all students have access to the technology to use online tools.  In addition, depending on the site and the age of the students, parents may have some adversity to students accessing social networking sites.  Speaking from experience, the online environment can be very distracting.  As I was preparing to answer this question I went on a site to search for groups that are related to technology and education.  While there I noticed a message from a friend and read that message before delving into the reason I was visiting the site.  This type of distraction is certain to happen to many, if not all, learners using social networking for educational purposes. 

Dependent on the age of the students, the structure around using social networking may need to be different.  Younger or more distractible students may need to use the structure in a staffed computer lab where adults can observe, guide the learning, and redirect when distraction occurs.   Educators would also need to give clear directions on how to use the networking site and the expectations of the assignment.  Technology difficulties happen from time to time under the best circumstance, however, when using technology in a assigned task the educator needs to be well versed in the format  How to Use Social Media and prepared to overcome any difficulties that may arise.  In the beginning, this may be a daunting task for the educator.  However, this would reduce over time.  

There are definitely positives and negatives to social networking in education.  Some are illuminated here, but certainly many more exist on each side of the argument.  In the end, whether or not it is used is dependent on the educator's comfort level and knowledge, what technology is available and how the district either supports or discourages technology use, specifically social networking, for the learning process.

A Lesson I Don't Even Want to Learn! What is one to do when there is a lesson that keeps smacking you in the face and you just don't want to learn it? Generally I am a person who looks to the feedback from the environment as to what areas could use some growth. Good plan? Well it has been. I have learned how to be a better partner by learning from my experiences and what I see from others experiences. Teaching is a very reflective profession where we are encouraged to learn from the successes and failures we see in our experiences. Now here is the rub. I keep bumping into the same thing, be manipulative, scheming, dishonest, back-biting, and self-centered or be smacked with a 2X4 at random intervals intended to murder your spirit. There are many cliches that cover this topic, dog eat dog world, kill or be killed, survival of the fittest, bully or be bullied, etc. Well none of these come from a positive perspective and none fit with my personal constitution. So the decision that recycles through my life is live true to yourself or prevent the 2X4 from striking. Perhaps I should lower my expectations. Perhaps I should just accept that people will always be intentionally trying to destroy you with no care for your humanity. Intellectually I totally get it. Spiritually, emotionally, from a humanist perspective I have no ability to understand the destruction humans see fit to wage upon one another. Where has community gone? Where has love thy neighbor withered away to? What ever happened to accepting one another and a desire to grow together? How about a little golden rule being practiced? Am I a bit jaded here. Yes. My life is filled with truly wonderful people! A long, long list of wonderful people in my life and the terrific ways that they impact my life could easily be created. We humans don't struggle with the things that are good to us, it is the pain and difficulty that we wrestle with on this earth. Therefore the people who love us and treat us with respect and kindness do not get as much air time as they should. So the question began with continuing to be a person who puts tons of effort into being a person that I can respect and honor or be a person that the bullies can't pick on. Now I think perhaps it is morphing into why spend time and energy on the ones who cause so much pain rather than investing in the ones who make my life wonderful.