Sand Desk at the Jamtli Folk Museum, Ostersund Sweden
Carrot or stick?
Which is
the teacher’s best friend?
A word in season,
A well timed smile,
A friendly nudge,
will melt ice
soften frowns
and make hearts,
minds and hands
willing and wanting
to learn.
Yesterday I suggested seeking alternative sources for news. Below is a very small cross section of the places one can go. You may wish to suggest others. There are both Christian and secular websites referenced. The point is simple: in this Internet age there are websites as well bloggers on the ground who can inform us across a wider spectrum and remove us from the need to source our news exclusively from the commercial news giants. After all my aim in life is not to make Rupert Murdock, for one, richer and even more influential.
http://www.compassion.com.au/content/newsroom/gjso08
Grade 2 Ocean Grove Primary School 1958
Do you remember everyone in your school photos? I don’t. There was a time, of course, when I knew everyone but now after 50 plus years the names and memories have faded. Not all. Some people I remember because they were friends or, maybe, enemies. There are others that I can recall because they are associated with a particular event. I remember Detlev because his mum always dressed him lederhosen as it was “long wearing” but poor Detlev had to put up with a lot of teasing which nowadays would be called bullying. And I remember Robert Robertson because his name wasn’t very imaginative and he was also the first to break loose from school, to become a postman. There was “Chooky” who had an unusually shaped head but was a great footballer and we had the same birth date.
Similarly, I can’t remember all my teachers’ names apart from those that I liked a lot or loathed. Mrs. Fisher was ahead of her time. Her classes were interesting and varied and she always had something in her “dilly bag” to show us. Mr. Austin in contrast was stern and humourless and his music lessons consisted of humming in tune with a tuning fork. I remember getting “six of the best” on numerous occasions. I am not saying I didn’t deserve them but it didn’t help me like him either.
My school photos also come from a time when life was in black, white and shades of grey. Colour hadn’t arrived yet. I wonder if that affects our memories? Do colour school photos make the time seem more pleasant? We were regimented into lines in the photos just as we were lined up and marched into school to the sound of a scratchy old record over the PA system playing “Colonel Bogey”.
But one can’t help wondering as one looks at the 43 students in the Grade Two photo what lives the other 42 have lived and how many have passed on. What has happened to Ron, Peter, Sue, Vera and Olga and have Detlev’s lederhosen finally worn out? Have some of the others been better at keeping in contact than I?
Ocean Grove Primary School circa 1957
Some minds twitch with eager attention –
ready to absorb, engage and respond.
Others meander between sleep and apathy.
A few sparkle with their own thoughts and musings –
but not with my instructions.
The sound of a football or distant song, piques their interest,
however the poem or play, theme or plot hardly registers.
How to excite the neurons,
that is the question.
To electrify ideas, thought and wonder
beyond the mundane and internet fed drivel,
is the challenge …
as the wandering mind sits behind the desk,
waiting for recess.
Yesterday we had our first Parent Teacher interviews for the year. One of the outstanding characteristics of these interviews is that these parents are passionately concerned about their children’s success. They want to partner with the teachers to enable their son or daughter to achieve their best.
That school/family partnership is a crucial element for a child’s success. This liaison enables the discovery of learning styles and intelligence areas. Weaknesses can be worked on and strengths developed. For the student he or she is aware that there is a solid support team upholding their education.
The examples parents set for their children is also important. Do children see their parents as life long learners? Do they see mum and dad expanding their horizons through the books read, films watched and courses taken? Does this “learning” inform the family and meal time conversations? The family atmosphere can have a huge impact on whether a child has a positive or negative view of learning.
When I was teaching in the UK I came across the phrase, “Second generation disaffection with school.” It refers to parents who had a poor experience of school which in turn impacts their lack of encouragement or negativity with regard to their own children’s education. For the teacher the consequences are obvious – unmotivated students who disrupt classes and the education of their peers. It can become a disastrous downward spiral.
The most prominent influence I have observed over the years is a dad’s influence on his son(s). As a general rule, if the dad doesn’t read, his son will not read. Or to put it positively, a dad who reads, gives his son(s) a powerful example that will radically influence his child’s education. All the encouragement from mum can be outweighed by dad’s attitude – positive or negative.
Our children are no longer competing for jobs with their peers in a school (I must stress that education is not just about jobs!), but in the global economy, with students in schools all across the world. The support, encouragement and example of parents is, consequently, also important. Many of the jobs that our children will enter into have not even been invented yet. So the best example a parent can give is an attitude of life long, on going learning. Personal growth becomes an attribute of how we live life.
This attitude also mitigates against boredom and complacency. It make life exciting and positive. Learning and discovery becomes part of who we are as complete people. It will also stop us from being passive consumers of entertainment, but that is a topic for another day.
The discordant output of
youthful recorder players
wafts in through the open windows;
Students busily tapping keyboards
and scratching pens on paper;
Older students regretting the wasted evenings;
Others rushing to teachers’ offices
in a last minute flurry;
Teachers with stress lines etched like road maps
on their tired faces;
Tolerance rubbed thin
by demands and expectations
exams and essays;
The sun’s warmth beckons
for Summer to come quickly,
but the “to do” list is too long to notice
its invitation …
It must be “Report Writing Time”!
Do you remember these?
If you remember these two books you are probably a Victorian who is getting on a bit.
Friends and colleagues connected with Covenant College in Geelong are currently working on a project called “The 5th Gospel”.
A group of 4 went to Israel earlier this year to film and do research. Initially the intent was that this material could be used in the History and Bible courses at the College. However it is becoming obvious that this effort could have far wider uses in other schools, churches and homes. To this end the project is being introduced to the community on the 4th of August. If you are in the vicinity you are very welcome to come along and hear about this exciting venture.
It Is Time To Bless Our Children
It is my contention that we have cursed our children enough. We have cursed them with fatherless and motherless homes, abandonment and brokenness. They have been prey to our marketing machines for years. We have burdened them with imponderable choices. Our lifestyles have brought forward puberty, and the innocence of childhood is now gone in the blink of an eye.
Communally we are under the indictment of Matthew 18:6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. ” Jesus broadens the idea when he says in the next verse, “Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! ” Our failure goes beyond children from Christian homes, to our society in general. We have failed our kids. We have failed them spiritually, physically, developmentally, psychologically … and the list goes on. This is evidenced by the symptoms: suicide, obesity, unwanted pregnancies, aggression, (some) learning difficulties … and that list continues as well.
For the last few generations we have failed to stop our children stumbling. In fact, we have placed obstacles before them which has prevented too many attaining well-rounded healthy lives.
It is time we blessed our children!
Wealth and unlimited choice hasn’t been the answer. Valueless education (i.e. education without values) hasn’t prevented the problem either. Where does the means for our blessing start? I would like to suggest some ideas, but I urge readers to add their views too.
How do you bless your children? How do you develop a foundation for a healthy life that can withstand the storms and tribulations that will come? I would love to hear your contributions.
The following was passed onto me after reading yesterday’s post on age and wisdom. This report is exactly what I was talking about. Take time to read it and delight in it! I was humbled by this beautiful story and I rejoiced when I read the last line.
Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher
Travels from Ur 