seeing the big picture

Yesterday me and Shaun got an early Christmas present. A new large flatscreen TV. It isn't quite as big as some of our friends...but it does dwarf our old one. Owen, in true male fashion, is in love with this piece of electronics that is as long as he is high. Everything, especially Diego, is better on the big screen.

This morning I checked my email and read one of those messages ( or comments) that just irks you. The kind you worry about and spend an hour working on your response. The kind that you make into a much bigger deal than it really is. The kind I spent a good portion of the day trying not to think about.......but still managed to take up alot of my thought time and energy on what is probably a non-issue.

So I am trying to take a cue from my new big TV. I am going to trying and think of the bigger picture. In the bigger picture this minor issue that is stressing me out really doesn't matter (much). It does make me aware of how quickly and easily we can get derailed. How much time we waste re-playing conversations or worrying about things we have little to no control over. Issues that don't mean much when I take real stock of what is important to me. Besides, if I am going to waste that kind of time.......I'd rather be watching McDreamy on the big screen.

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multiple choice

As I write I am procturing a test ( yes on a Saturday, and no I am not getting paid for it.) The room is silent. The only noises I hear are pencils scratching on papers and pages turning. If I listen closely enough I swear I can hear their brains turning. I have always been a good test-taker. I would still regularly brag about my SAT scores if it wre socially appropriate to do so(or an actual indicator of anything meaningful). There is something comforting about multiple choice. (well as long as you don't have the crappy all of the above or none of the above choices...just the classic A, B, C, D variety). There are parameters. Multiple choice means you have options. The right answer is right in front of you, and all you have to do is find it. Even if you don't actually know which one the right answer is there are usually clues, it can be narrowed down or worked backwards. Even a blind guess is likely to be right 25% of the time. These aren't bad odds. All you have t...

Turning the question

My school has been sending me to some inquiry training. The “i” word has been thrown around since my education classes in college. It is one of those things that is really good as a concept but kind of hard to pull off in the classroom well. For lots of reasons. But the big one number is because teachers are reluctant to let go of the control. To let the kids loose with a concept and see where they end up. Let them discover, own it and share out all on their own. Without intervening. Then push them a little bit further and clear up any misconceptions that they are holding onto before they slip out your door. This is supposed to be the most meaningful way for a kid to learn. For them to discover rather than memorize. One of the other problems with inquiry and science is that kids have stopped learning how to ask questions. My son bombards me with whys all day long. Why are owls nocturnal? (which comes out a lot more like “not-turtles”) Why do I have to take a shower? Why ...

what we mostly forget

Think back. Long and hard. Ten Years. Longer. At least twenty. Twenty five. Thirty. If you are old like me. And what do you remember? If you are like me a lot is fuzzy. Things that stand out aren’t exactly the kinds of things you find in photo albums. My earliest memory is being hit in the head with a pick axe by my cousin. I swear I heard my skull crack. But it couldn’t have been that bad in real life because I don’t even think we went to the hospital. Fast forward a bit. I remember my first grade teacher making me cry because I got my greater than and less than signs backwards. I remember being punched on the playground in second grade. If I sit here long enough and try more memories will trickle in. And some of them are good and happy and wonderful. But most of them aren't. I’m sure I played lots of games of chase and at popsicles and go plenty of smiley faces on my papers. I’m sure I made new friends and wowed them with my wit and strawberry shortcake dolls, but mostly I rememb...

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