July 4 on Waikiki

August 17, 2012
We were on Waikiki Beach on the 4th of July; the streets were flowing with masses of tourists
from widely separated corners of the globe. We talked to many people from New Zealand and
Australia. The beach, the blue sea, the surfers, were incredible to watch. Across the street from our
Aston Waikiki Beach hotel was the Honolulu Zoo. Chris and I spent the entire afternoon at the zoo.

Here we saw our first Banyan trees. I chose to include this image of a Banyan tree. It poorly portrays
the immensity of the tree. A human standing next to one of those roots would would be barely a 5th
of the way up the image. The trees grow up and up to create a canopy probably 60 or more feet
overhead. The various branches drop roots straight back to the ground creating walls and rooms
and a castle-like structure. Kids played hide and seek between the roots; some young boys climbed to a 'knee' and swung on 'root' vines, teasing each other all the while. A photographer was doing a fashion
photo shoot in now of the alcoves. I like trees and these were fascinating.

The sun went down every night at 7:15 and it was dark by 7:30. Just after dark on July 4, we watched fireworks exploding out over the water.

Articulation score: h-m-m ?

Hibiscus on Oahu

                                                            Welcome to Hawaii!

 August 16, 2012  I will be posting pictures from my experiences this summer and working hard to refine my ability to  ARTICULATE my own thoughts by writing my responses to the images portrayed. I hope you can learn from my growth. Enjoy!

 Hibiscus flowers grow everywhere in Hawaii. I took these pictures and others that were reds and
oranges. They were growing in gardens and hedgerows and over back fences and covering utility boxes and... they were a treat for the eyes and the heart. My husband and I spent the first two weeks of July in Hawaii; the flowers, shrubs and trees (especially the palm trees) were....here I struggle to find the words...soul nourishing..?  Work needed....

Articulation is hard work, but empowering. I will share more of Hawaii in the days ahead as I work on this personal growth project.
Yours in learning,
Mrs. J

August 15, 2012
Articulation - gaining power over words 
A description of the work of articulation taken from the scholarship of Ralph Waldo Emerson: 
-quoted from page 23 in Lessons from Great Lives: learn to be rich in all areas of your life 
by Sterling W. Sill and Dan McCormick 

"As one of his most profitable stimulants (one of the ways he got his mind working), Emerson decided to keep a journal, and once began, he kept it up faithfully. In his journal he wrote down every thought,  every helpful suggestion, and he recorded every success. Each day he collected in his journal his disjointed dreams, his mental reveries. and the fragments of all of the ideas that his mind was able to conceive. The act of writing an idea down improves both the idea and the mind. Bacon said, "Reading makes a full man, but writing makes an exact man." You have to think an idea through before you can write it down. Writing the idea down gives it form, exactness, and makes it visible. When one's ideas can be 
brought under the scrutiny of the eyes, the ideas can be more readily improved. 

(And in this paragraph describes ARTICULATION  personified:)

"Mr. Emerson's journal also became the hive in which he stored the honey of his mind as the bees of his brain produced it. Once his ideas were written down, Emerson could then go back and review them again and again, with the idea of making needed improvements. As he visited with great ideas, every day he grew accustomed to their faces. He discovered among them a great many family resemblances, and some intrriguing future possibilities were suggested. Then he measured their abilities and learned to arrange them a little more attractively. After he improve their dress, brightened their faces, and increased their muscle power, he was able to join them together in a more effective order. Almost always, his ideas came in fragments, but he knew that the missing links would soon show up to make his thoughts complete. 

Once snared by Mr. Emerson, no good idea was ever allowed to get away. He not only wrote it down immediately, but he put it in his mental incubator so the idea itself could grow. He knew that ideas have a natural tendency to propagate. Each idea has the possibility of an extensive posterity and ideas come from parents just as people do. With all of these laws working in  is favor, Emerson became a great, man, a great thinker, a great communicator, and a great writer. His journal was very valuable, and he knew that even his unused thoughts would fit somewhere into an effective pattern of expression." ……

What does this mean to you? Write your thoughts in your own journal.

May 29, 2012 

Musings: The Learning Journey: Short Form

Great ideas and questions mix in the mind of the learner;

the learner looks for answers in his/her prior knowledge. 

He/she then seek out resources to fill in the gaps in their knowledge, 

Resources including: school, teachers, curriculum; libraries, books, internet, mentors, etc. 

Prior knowledge + resources x Play = understanding

Sufficient time is required for the learner to 'PLAY' with new information; for the body achieve understanding and return that understanding to the mind.

The mind of the learner is now ready to ARTICULATE  its own answers; to make new understanding visible in

media of choice. This process activates imagination and generates creativity. 

The learner produces new products/services that are published to the 'world'.

Personal Teaching Quest refined

April 20, 2012

Articulation by Linda A.J. Johnson

As a teacher/mentor my personal mandate is to introduce my students to the best of the great ideas, to lead them to the discovery of their own questions and to provide resources where they might begin to answer those questions.

Personal teaching goals:

1. Change compliant ‘tell me what to think, say, do’, behavior, back to: ‘Here are great ideas; what do you know about them; what questions would you like answered? Stop imposing learning, start extracting ideas together. Acknowledge and respect the needs of each learner and provide them with access to accurate information.’ Curriculum is resource NOT end in itself.

2. Re-introduce time and opportunity to develop thinking skills: replace the ‘here’s all the information you need, and here’s your homework assignment’ with the time to ponder ‘great ideas’ on purpose; notice personal feelings, thoughts (questions) and ideas (possibilities) and write/draw them down.

3. Provide time to re-experience multiple ways of examining ideas: Be re-allowed the time to “Play” with ‘catching’ ideas by writing, drawing, labeling, talking, touching, tasting, constructing, composing, demonstrating, etc. etc. Realize that curriculum is not the end in itself but provides resources to choose among and play with. Be encouraged to use imagination in creating connections between ideas; be in charge of self-development - of ‘voice’; articulate understanding by sharing in media of choice.

4. Build on confident voice; continually searching out the great ideas in all disciplines; continually strengthening personal thinking skills; continually refining creative connections into product: writing, art, constructions, models, recipes, compositions etc. that can be published to audience and make the world a better place. 

Teaching Quest

As a teacher/mentor my personal mandate is to introduce my students to the best of the great ideas; to lead them to the discovery of their own questions and to provide resources where they might begin to answer those questions.

 Personal goals: 

1. Change compliant ‘tell me what to think, say, do’ behavior back to ‘I have questions to answer; I need to meet the great ideas; I expect you to acknowledge and respect my needs and provide me with access to accurate information.’

2. Re-introduce opportunity to develop thinking skills: replace the ‘here’s all the information you need, and here’s your homework assignment’ with the time to ponder ‘great ideas’ on purpose; notice personal feelings, thoughts (questions) and ideas (possibilities).

3. Re-experience multiple ways of examining ideas: Be re-allowed the time to “Play” with ‘catching’ ideas by writing, drawing, labeling, talking, touching, tasting, constructing, composing, demonstrating, etc. etc. Be encouraged to use imagination in creating connections between ideas; Be in charge of self-development - of ‘voice’; articulate understanding by sharing in media of choice.

4. Build on confident voice; continually searching out the great ideas in all disciplines; continually strengthening personal thinking skills; continually refining creative connections into product: writing, art, constructions, models, recipes, compositions etc. that can be published to audience and make the world a better place. 

The Learning Journey in Quotes

Mr.s J’s    One Page   Inservice   March 5, 2012

The Learning Journey in quotes:

1. “The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we don’t understand”. –Frank Herbert

(But have interest in and questions about!)

2. “Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the only one who asked ‘why’.” -Bernard Barach (Ask your questions!)

3. “Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare.” –Anthony Burgess (Seek for answers; ponder what you learn)

4. “When you make the finding yourself – even if you are the last person to see the light – you’ll never forget it.”

-Carl Sagan

5. “Supposing is good but finding out it better.” –Mark Twain

6. “Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind.”-Marston Bates (Learning takes action; the body informs the mind and new ideas are born.)

7.  “Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple, learn how to handle them and pretty soon you have a dozen.”-John Steinbeck

8. “Intelligence recognizes what happened; genius recognizes what will happen.” –John Ciarda

9. “Establishing goals is alright if you don’t let them deprive you of interesting detours”.-Doug Larson (Allow your own creativity.)

10. “A problem well-stated is a problem half-solved.”-Charles Kettering

11. “In Science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not the man to whom the idea first occurs.” –Francis Darwin

(Organize and ARTICULATE your own answers.)

12. “Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”-Ralph Waldo Emerson (Honor voice.)