The Learning Journey - details

Monday February 27, 2012

GREETINGS all you learners!

I am adding new content to my postings! Writing is so very important! It is time to review the Learning Journey that has evolved through my teaching of the last several years because the Learning Journey provides the foundation principles for the reasons we need to write.

We are all on a learning journey, everyday of our lives. As learners we are constantly bombarded with new information; not all of it can be processed; we pay attention to what is most intriguing to us personally; to the ‘great ideas’, to the things we want to know more about, to the things that fill us with questions. As learners we go after the answers to our questions and assume we are gathering accurate information as we WRITE (in our idea-catcher notebooks) and take opportunity to ponder the information we gather. We must think about what we WRITE on purpose; we must practice paying attention to our feelings and thoughts and ideas, watch for answers to appear that may satisfy our questions.

We must test our answers by “playing” with them; we must use our whole body to talk, draw, write, craft, design…..test, try, prove our ideas work. Our body informs our mind.  Imagination kicks in and connects new understanding to our ideas and helps us create a product or service that makes our idea visible; (and we WRITE/draw how we will make it visible) we show it off to others, demonstrate it, articulate it, prove it works and see how the “world” responds. We may make adjustments (re-writes) but we don’t abandon our “great ideas”. Act on them, build on what your answers demand, publish(->in writing) them to the world, make a difference.

Teacher/parent note: When we mentor learning for others we are on a special kind of journey. We are obliged to seek out and offer the “great ideas” (truths) to our learners. We strive for the best methods for introducing these truths and expend every effort encouraging learners to ask their own questions. We are charged with providing the very best resources possible for our students to explore as they gather accurate information. We give honest feedback, and show the wide variety of ways product can be made visible. We create service and growth opportunities for our learner.

RE-VISIT THE WRITING IDEAS ON THIS BLOG AND “PLAY’ WITH WORDS EVERYDAY!

Yours In Learning,

Further posts pending….!!

Mrs. J

What is a Mentor?

I spent an interesting hour this morning with half dozen 1st to 3rd grade learners discussing the need for mentors on our Hero Journey. We read and discussed the beautiful picture book story Me and Mr. Mah 
written by Angela Spalding and illustrated by Janet Wilson. Mr. Mah is a wonderful fictional portrayal of the qualities of a great mentor. Here is the list of mentor behaviors in Mr. Mah that the children helped me discover: 1. He completely accepted Ian as he was - no judgements. 2. He gifted Ian with sunflower seeds and 3. invited Ian into his garden and 4. he let Ian touch and nibble and smell his way through the unfamiliar vegetables. 5. Mr. Mah taught him specific skills about how to take care of his sunflowers. 6. Mr. Mah gifted Ian with his time and 7. a listening ear and heart. 8. As they shared feelings and memories  9. Trust grew between them. 10. They showed concern for each other and, most important, 11. through serving each other unconditionally they grew to love each other.
Notice all the ACTION words; mentors DO things. Who are the mentors in your life? Who can you mentor in return? Can a great book be a mentor? Can a beloved pet be a mentor? Pay attention, learn to recognize when you are being mentored and enjoy the journey!

Always learning,
Mrs. J

It is a sunny Wednesday morning, January 25, 2012. A Gilded Flicker, numerous Collared Doves, Sparrows and Red Poll are jostling for food outside my window. The sunshine feels grand on my face. I love sunshine and I love beautiful language. These January days I am having opportunity to visit one on one with all of my students. Yesterday afternoon I had a wonderful visit with a ninth grade young woman who has discovered the delight of figurative language; the power of personification,  alliteration, simile, metaphor and more. I invite all of you to be on the look-out for beautiful words, words that enlarge understanding and are delicious to the ear. Share your findings ...

Enjoy these samples of similes: 1. Little Women: "…she tried to get rid of the kitten which had scrambled up her back and stuck like a burr just out of reach."
2. The Red Badge of Courage: "In the eastern sky there was a yellow patch like a rug laid for the feet of the coming sun…".
3. Magnificent Obsession - "…utterly absorbed by the curious experience that still clung to him like a garment."
4. East of Eden - "Kate inched over her own thoughts like a measuring worm."

Changes!

It is the morning of Tuesday January 17, 2012. We have all just come through

a very balmy holiday season, enjoying record breaking warm temperatures. Suddenly, literally overnight, we have been plunged into deeply cold air; an abrupt change for all of us, including this flock of Eurasian Collared doves that come to feed outside my office window each  morning. Yesterday my internet connection was down all day; I felt cut off from a communication source that I never  imagined even 20 short years ago. Today I am communicating again but missing the hot water unable to reach my shower due to frozen pipes.  

A ponder challenge: How did your own feelings change when we moved so quickly from warm to cold temperatures? What freedoms did you lose? What blessings in your life do you most take for granted? What would you miss most if it is gone? 

Ask your own questions; think your own thoughts, catch them on paper and share them.

Yours in learning, 

Mrs. J

Esther's hero journy

I've been thinking about the hero journey today; the journey we have been talking about in our novel studies all year. Here is a photo of the class that just finished studying The Endless Steppe. From Esther (the author and heroine of the story) we learned that we can be hero's by choice and it is rarely easy.
Other people choose to follow villain journey's (like the Nazi soldiers) and try to force heros to be victims. Even though Esther was so young she set a good example for us by sticking to her hero choices at all cost. This story also reminded me of the blessings of crossing paths with other people on hero journeys who make hero choices and become our mentors. And it is important to remember that we soon become mentors for others.

What did you learn about hero choices from Esther? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Mrs. J

Self check: Where are you writing from? Are you pursuing the answers to your own questions? Are you after the great ideas? Are you connecting what  you learn to your own experiences? Are you expanding your own understanding? Are you pondering what you learn? Are you recognizing your feelings becoming thoughts; your thoughts becoming ideas?

Here are some quotes to practice thinking on: 1. "Draw from the past, but do not let your past draw from you." -Teal'c (Stargate)
2. "If you weren't selling this, would you be buying it?" -heard on a CBC radio program
3."For Every Goliath there is a stone." -sign at a Garden Center on Vancouver Island

Share your ponderings!

Yellow Treasure Hunt

Here is my yellow ‘idea-gathering’ treasure hunt, before editing.

YELLOW

Highlighter felt pen

Sunflowers: a print on a cushion, photos in frames, in prints on my shelf, plastic sunflowers in large and small vases

Bright yellow round table, summer BBQ furniture

Banaba gram games pouch for tiles

Apiece of the tummy on my patchwork bunny

The toy tote tray, a pack of post–it notes,

A phone book,

Journey through OZ book spine

Micro-fiber cloth in the kitchen

Bottle of sunlight dish soap

Plastic pitcher I water the plnats

Pineapple fridge magnet from Hawaii

A bunch of bananas on the counter

Stripes on cooler bag

Edge of National Geographic in bathroom

Today is TOO white! I am looking for yellow!

Here is my poem after one round of editing;

My YELLOW Treasure Hunt

By Mrs. J November 30, 2011

Yellow, sunflowers, everywhere: a print on a cushion, photos in frames, in print pictures on my shelf, plastic replicas in large and small vases,

on shelves, on walls, in corners; cheerful.

Bright yellow, small round table, summer BBQ season left over,

Bright yellow, a toy tote tray, a pack of Post–it notes, a phone book;

A Highlighter felt pen for illuminating great words;

A piece of the tummy on my patchwork bunny

A pouch for Banana gram tiles.

Journey through OZ book spine

A Micro-fiber cloth by the sink

And a bottle of Sunlight dish soap,

A plastic pitcher for watering houseplants,

Pineapple fridge magnet from Hawaii,

A bunch of bananas on the counter,

Stripes on cooler bag and the

Edge of National Geographic magazines in the bathroom.

Yellow cheers up white.

Now you give it a try! Enjoy! Mrs. J