Saturday, June 20, 2020

   The days have been slow and empty. If I weren't writing, I would think I had done nothing, ever. I woke up late for me, around 7 am. I slept long and deep, and that's after having a long nap and going to bed at a reasonable hour. It's getting hard. Dorothy is complaining about the same thing, an empty, bored feeling. If I got back to work on writing about the teaching methods I developed, I would feel better, but then I didn't do it. I didn't even reread what I wrote to see what I think about it. 

    Elsa went for a walk with me this morning. I walked up the hill to the first fire hydrant, which I hadn't done for a while. When I got to the hydrant, I checked the pedometer. It was blank. The battery had run out. I walked back down the hill, heading to the house. I wanted to walk longer, but the sun was high already. It gets too hot to walk. 

    Today was the Saturday shows on NPR. I like them all except for the cooking show. I washed the kitchen and hallway floors with my Bissell while that show was on. Then I napped. When I got up, I  folded a huge black quilted blanket I planned to give to the Friendly Place for the homeless. It will serve as a bed and a blanket for someone. Since it's black, it won't show dirt. I sat around playing FreeCell. I edited and emailed two updates. I wrote one for today. I sent out one for the 21st for the blog. I washed Elsa. 

    During the day, I went out to check the laundry on the line. The clothes weren't quite dry, so I gave them a chance to dry further—a big mistake. Shortly, the sky opened and did its thing. It has been raining every day, which is unusual since it's not the rainy season. However, it is good news for the plants and our water supply. 

    While out there, I noticed my surprise pineapple was drooping over. It was ripe and ready for picking before it hit the ground and sent out invitations to everything that crawled the earth. I grabbed it. This was the fruit of the pineapple top I planted several years ago. Nothing happened after two years. I was told I hadn't prepared the top correctly and would never get a pineapple from that plant. Not only do you have to cut the top smoothly off the fruit, but you also have to crop the 'leaves' at the top of the plant. Lo and behold, patience, or better neglect, paid off. Not only did I get one pineapple out of this deal, but there may be two more growing behind it. Triplets.

    Elsa and I didn't do our before-dinner walk. Just as we were about to, the sky opened up, and there was another downpour. While I was watching Bosch, I did some infrared light treatment on Elsa. I had her slung over my shoulder to get her into the library. When I sat down, she was so happy to be there; she snuggled up behind my head and stayed there. She may not be the best dog I ever had, but she's mine and good enough.

_____-____-____    

Musings:

I heard another TED talk about improving yourself. I tried to find it again, but I couldn't. I wanted to take notes.

    He spoke about the difference between being in 'performance mode' versus 'learning mode." In performance mode, you work to make no mistakes. In learning mode, you work to change what you do. Doing something unfamiliar requires taking risks. Taking risks requires making mistakes. A person who is open to learning sees the benefits of errors. They are the real teachers. Instead of groaning when we make mistakes, we should welcome them and then explore how they differ from the "right' way and why we would do it one way versus another. 

    For me, this ties in with learning with creativity. Creativity requires exploration, risk-taking, and valuing the mistakes you make.

    Traditional education emphasizes performance over learning. The aim is to get the correct answer. Errors are not valued. I had an experience with a supervisor when I was teaching Title I classes in a Catholic school. Children who needed extra help came out to a trailer in the playground to work with me. I had taught one lesson; my supervisor was thrilled with the class.

    Then, a second group of sixth graders came in. They announced that the teacher wanted me to go over two-dimensional shapes. I drew several on the board. I had trouble drawing an octagon. I asked if any of the kids could do it for me. Students happily volunteered. I did a fantastic job. It is a teacher's job to model the learning process. A teacher's job is to model how to respond to errors and their own mistakes, not just model perfection. This same supervisor tore me a new one because I wasn't prepared for the class. I don't know how she expected me to be ready when I didn't know the objective of the class before the kids entered the room. I could have insisted that I teach what I had prepared instead of being flexible and responding to the teacher's request. I was shocked by her response. It was 1995, after all. The need for teachers to present as perfect was behind us. Do we want our children to learn, or do we think teachers are models of perfection to imitate? I know my preference. Saturday, June 20, 2020

    The days have been slow and empty. If I weren't writing, I would think I had done nothing, ever. I woke up late for me, around 7 am. I slept long and deep, and that's after having a long nap and going to bed at a reasonable hour. It's getting hard. Dorothy is complaining about the same thing, an empty, bored feeling. If I got back to work on writing about the teaching methods I developed, I would feel better, but then I didn't do it. I didn't even reread what I wrote to see what I think about it. 

    Elsa went for a walk with me this morning. I walked up the hill to the first fire hydrant, which I hadn't done for a while. When I got to the hydrant, I checked the pedometer. It was blank. The battery had run out. I walked back down the hill, heading to the house. I wanted to walk longer, but the sun was high already. It gets too hot to walk. 

    Today was the Saturday shows on NPR. I like them all except for the cooking show. I washed the kitchen and hallway floors with my Bissell while that show was on. Then I napped. When I got up, I  folded a huge black quilted blanket I planned to give to the Friendly Place for the homeless. It will serve as a bed and a blanket for someone. Since it's black, it won't show dirt. I sat around playing FreeCell. I edited and emailed two updates. I wrote one for today. I sent out one for the 21st for the blog. I washed Elsa. 

    During the day, I went out to check the laundry on the line. The clothes weren't quite dry, so I gave them a chance to dry further—a big mistake. Shortly, the sky opened and did its thing. It has been raining every day, which is unusual since it's not the rainy season. However, it is good news for the plants and our water supply. 

    While out there, I noticed my surprise pineapple was drooping over. It was ripe and ready for picking before it hit the ground and sent out invitations to everything that crawled the earth. I grabbed it. This was the fruit of the pineapple top I planted several years ago. Nothing happened after two years. I was told I hadn't prepared the top correctly and would never get a pineapple from that plant. Not only do you have to cut the top smoothly off the fruit, but you also have to crop the 'leaves' at the top of the plant. Lo and behold, patience, or better neglect, paid off. Not only did I get one pineapple out of this deal, but there may be two more growing behind it. Triplets.

    Elsa and I didn't do our before-dinner walk. Just as we were about to, the sky opened up, and there was another downpour. While I was watching Bosch, I did some infrared light treatment on Elsa. I had her slung over my shoulder to get her into the library. When I sat down, she was so happy to be there; she snuggled up behind my head and stayed there. She may not be the best dog I ever had, but she's mine and good enough.

_____-____-____    

Musings:

I heard another TED talk about improving yourself. I tried to find it again, but I couldn't. I wanted to take notes.

    He spoke about the difference between being in 'performance mode' versus 'learning mode." In performance mode, you work to make no mistakes. In learning mode, you work to change what you do. Doing something unfamiliar requires taking risks. Taking risks requires making mistakes. A person who is open to learning sees the benefits of errors. They are the real teachers. Instead of groaning when we make mistakes, we should welcome them and then explore how they differ from the "right' way and why we would do it one way versus another. 

    For me, this ties in with learning with creativity. Creativity requires exploration, risk-taking, and valuing the mistakes you make.

    Traditional education emphasizes performance over learning. The aim is to get the correct answer. Errors are not valued. I had an experience with a supervisor when I was teaching Title I classes in a Catholic school. Children who needed extra help came out to a trailer in the playground to work with me. I had taught one lesson; my supervisor was thrilled with the class.

    Then, a second group of sixth graders came in. They announced that the teacher wanted me to go over two-dimensional shapes. I drew several on the board. I had trouble drawing an octagon. I asked if any of the kids could do it for me. Students happily volunteered. I did a fantastic job. It is a teacher's job to model the learning process. A teacher's job is to model how to respond to errors and their own mistakes, not just model perfection. This same supervisor tore me a new one because I wasn't prepared for the class. I don't know how she expected me to be ready when I didn't know the objective of the class before the kids entered the room. I could have insisted that I teach what I had prepared instead of being flexible and responding to the teacher's request. I was shocked by her response. It was 1995, after all. The need for teachers to present as perfect was behind us. Do we want our children to learn, or do we think teachers are models of perfection to imitate? I know my preference.  

Friday, June 19, 2020

 I put the harness on Elsa this morning, thinking I would try to walk her. I got her out on the street, and she stood there with her left paw raised like a pointer. One of my neighbors was walking by.  I asked her to watch Elsa walk to see if she was limping. She said yes. I turned around, brought Elsa back into the house, and continued my walk alone.

 However, when I entered the house, I discovered Elsa had no trouble chasing balls thrown around the house or jumping off the bed.  I suspect that she faked the limp because she wanted an early breakfast. I got a text from Yvette telling me that Elsa barked nonstop while I was gone.  Was she upset that I left without her or that I hadn't fed her yet?  She is a piece of work. Smart! 

 On that note, she has worked out a way to inform me when she has to go out.  She looks at me over her shoulder, signaling that she expects me to follow her. She then goes to the shower door leading to the yard.

 I spoke to Dorothy while I walked. I am enjoying our relationship. We talk more about ourselves than we have ever done before, reconciling differences. She had started reading the article I had written. She said it was an improvement over what I had done before. 

      She told me how she had an enjoyable driveway get-together with a couple who live in her development. The man had been a copy editor for a Philadelphia newspaper. Dorothy told me that she didn't like correcting the details; she liked editing work for clarity. Boy, is she ever a gift for me. I wanted someone to do that. Most people only read it for missing commas, which are valuable but not quite what I was looking for.  

    I had to get off the phone to shower and get ready for my dental appointment. When I got in the car, I checked the EV gauge. It is on the dashboard and looks like the gas gauge; it's an arch going from L to H with bars that appear and disappear accordingly.

I had charged the car on Wednesday afternoon. As I remember it, the connecting wire monitor said, "Charged." I assumed that the EV would be completely charged. However, when I looked at the gauge, there were only a few turquoise bars and the number 5 next to them.  I wasn't quite sure what this meant.  As I drove down the hill, well, more rolled down Kaiminani, another bar popped up, and the number went up to 7.  The number went down as I drove on Kaiminani, where I had to apply gas. Hmm!. Why was the battery considered fully charged at 5, meaning 5 miles of driving on the EV alone?

 I stopped off at Target to buy more clothing storage bags.  I started going through my own drawers, sorting through my clothes, and getting rid of anything I didn't think I would use. I have multiple turtleneck shirts. I have not used one since I moved here. I will hold on to two, in case, so I have one to wear when I travel.  The shirts that have been sitting in drawers for the last six years smell musty.  I planned to wash them and store them in clothing storage bags.  Unfortunately, all Target had were those that needed to be vacuumed to reduce the air in them instead of rolled. I haven't had a lot of luck with those bags. I like the kind you can roll up to push the air out of and then seal—those work. I bought two packages for a total of 6 medium-sized bags. When I got home, I checked on the Internet to see if I could find the simpler ones.  No. It looks like they don't even exist anymore.  I can't think why that would be.

 After Target, I returned to Kia to ask about the EV.  The guy who came out to the showroom didn't even know where to look for the EV gauge.  I had to go up to the service area. I tried to explain what I had done and what I experienced with the indicator.  There was only one guy who worked on these cars.  He didn't know what was going on. Oh, dear. I only hoped he was willing to tell me he didn't know, which means to me he will make every effort to find out. It doesn't make sense that the charger should read as fully charged after the battery is less than a quarter charged.  

 The serviceman told me to leave it, and they would figure it out.  The shop gave me a loaner.  I called Yvette to tell her that I would be driving an unfamiliar car. I went to Home Depot to find soft clothes to wipe down my new car.  It is a very dark color. It looks black in most light, but it is called Gravity Blue. In the late afternoon sun, you can see the blue.  

 I went to Costco to do some shopping. Judy called as I pulled into a parking spot.  As I talked to her, I had difficulty with the car. It kept buzzing, and I couldn't lock it. I got back in. The screen message read, "Put the car in park." Oh, dear. I have had this problem with the other car, too.  The gear shift device is very different in the Kia than it is in the Prius. In the Prius, I had a button to put the car in park.  The Kia has a traditional gearbox.  I  had a few occasions where I had forgotten to shift. One time, I rolled a bit.  I see an accident waiting to happen. It would be just my style; the car would be moving well below the magical 5 mph that marks the range for car accidents for me. 

 I told Judy the story of my car.  I was reasonably calm. I've had the car since June 8, and it's been in the shop twice already. The first was trivial. The starter battery was dead because the car had spent a lot of time sitting in the car lot. But this is a different story. The whole purpose of buying this car is to be able to not use gas.  I should only need gas if  I drive across to the other side of the island, which I do not anticipate doing frequently.  When Damon is here, he will want to drive the new car. He wants the best. I love that guy. It's impressive how the quirks of those we love are just adorable.

 When I got home from Costco, I hit the sofa for a nap after unloading the car. Man, I love to sleep and do it so well.

-    - - - - - - - -  -

MUSINGS:

 Creativity in the schools. 

 I heard a TED talk by Ken Robinson asking if schools kill creativity. He says yes. His sole explanation is there is not enough art, music, dance, and theater. While these are important subjects and help people connect to their right brain functions, they are not the only source of creativity. And yes, I do believe school does kill it. Creativity has become ever more critical in our changing world. We will have to teach creativity to our students if we are going to prepare them for the world they live in.

 Creativity doesn't just manifest in the arts but in every area of life. Robinson describes creativity as an original idea that has some use, but he doesn't discuss what an 'unuseful' idea might be.  

    I heard another talk today on pursuing curiosity in science, exploring something just because you're curious. Thompson discovered the electron, a subatomic particle. It had absolutely when it had no useful purpose. According to Robinson, no creativity was involved in the discovery. All our modern-day electronics are dependent on that discovery. Did the discovery of the electron only become creative after someone found a use for it? 

 I have another issue with some of the definitions of creativity. Many argue it has to be an original idea. Are we really saying that we want to teach our students, all our students, creativity so they can produce ideas unique to all of us? Boy, that would be nuts. Let's define creativity as an idea that is new to that person, one they haven't learned whole from another person. If that's our working definition, we teach our students problem-solving and adaptability. Given our rapidly changing world, those are the traits we need our students to develop. They must be flexible enough to develop a novel response to a situation.

 All subjects can be taught to encourage curiosity. No, we do not want our students in a position where they have to reinvent the wheel. We want knowledge passed down and students to absorb what their elders know, even if it won't apply to their lives. However, we should teach them creativity and problem-solving. In that case, they can figure out how to utilize their parents' knowledge to adapt to their current lives.  If we teach them just to learn what we know, we teach rigid thinking.

 All subjects can be used to teach creativity if students are allowed to explore and make mistakes. This can even be done with spelling. Memorizing is excellent, but taking your best shot is also good. The current procedure is to mark the word wrong if a single letter is out of place. What if we gave credit for each correct letter in words? Getting it 'right' is still a goal, but encouraging students to explore and pay attention to what they know to get 'closer' is also an idea. Also, they examine their mistakes so they can learn from them.

 Some students learn to read on their own. Unless they have some special connection with God, they do it by discovery. We can encourage this type of discovery learning in our students. They can explore the relationship between the sounds in the words and the spelling. They don't have it handed down by us as if it were the Ten Commandments written by God himself on two stone tablets, there to be memorized and repeated verbatim.