On Friday night, NPR plays Salsa music. I walked up and down the hall bouncing to the music, and did just fine. Darby told me that often my walk is irregular, syncopated. But as I followed the music, I did just fine; my steps were even. I think the difference is more in the right leg than the left.
I woke up early this morning, at 4. By 4:30, it was clear that sleep was no longer an option. I got up and meditated for an hour before I went on my walk. For the first time, I did a healing on my leg. I let go of my hatred for its limitations, etc. Then I let go of my love for the limitations, etc. Wow! It actually made a difference. I have noticed that I haven't done healing on myself and wondered why. I didn't because it didn't feel right.
I spoke to Dorothy as I did my morning walk. She was up for doing some co-editing. I got on Zoom successfully after a few mishaps. We finished the article. She said she finally understood the objective of my method. Huh? Isn't it obvious? For me, it's clear as day.
How can it have been difficult for Dorothy to understand? She is bright as a whip. Besides knowing something like six languages, she is as interested in linguists as I am. She finally understands this method teaches a method of observation so the student can discover the patterns embedded in the spelling on his own. It is my belief that this is what all good students do; the method just makes the process accessible who weren't in school the day' the magic 'was passed out."
Dorothy was reading before she went to school. She has that kind of mind. Not me. I think the lightbulb went on for me in second grade. I was raised in an era when we were taught to read by sight, the whole word method. There was zero phonics taught. Can you imagine thinking you have to memorize each word individually? Mrs. Rooney saved me, she said. "Look for the little word in the big word." I now know she was looking for the letter clusters that we know as word families: -an- ip- ub, ube, etc.
After Dorothy and I finished our conversation, I did some work in the garden, cutting down the heliconia in the back garden off my bedroom. When I came in, I checked Melissa's corrections on my article against what Dorothy I had done. Most of Melissa's modifications were on the section Dorothy, and I only got to this morning. She had the same criticisms. Besides that, there were a few minor points per page. Once I finished modifying the document using those corrections, I emailed the revised one to Dorothy. I want her to read it over. Now that she understands that discovery is the crucial concept of this method, I would like her to see if there is some way I can make it clearer from the start.
I did work in the library. I finished alphabetizing one bay and started looking for requested books to mail out in a second one. I only have two bays left out of twenty. The bay I worked on today was disappointing. I usually can find several books from each alphabetic group. Not today. The section deals with European history. I found a total of three books—a lot of hard work for very little.
Damon called. He proposed having a game night on Zoom for my birthday. He and his friends have explored different activities. We talked about who to invite. He was concerned it would be too many people. I pointed out that some might like to be present and not play. I might fall into that category. I'm not good at games. I can see his mom, Jean, sitting it out with me. She has trouble hearing. In groups, when many speak at once, it's impossible. I wanted it clear that no one should feel they had to participate in the Zoom or the game.
I did more work on the bay of a few books. How wearing! '
It's time for me to start working on my book again. I do think I have a clearer understanding of what I want to write about teaching phonics with this method. Explicit phonics instruction is a supplement, not the primary decoding method. I found several documents related to phonics. I printed them all out. I have to see where the overlap is and consolidate all the documents into a single one. I have a much clearer understanding of the role of phonics instruction in conjunction with my method now.
I had Judy and Paulette's thanksgiving food offering for the third time and have enough for at least one more meal. I'm planning to clean and return the aluminum tray the food was delivered in. I want to encourage them to keep me in mind on other occasions. That food was absolutely the best—something new for my palate to consider.
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Musings:
I'm reading Ten Theories of Human Natura by Stevenson and Haberman. They discuss religious, philosophical, and scientific perspectives. I've just finished reading about Confucianism (I had to check the spelling.) This boy was rule-oriented, which makes sense for the time. The elders knew the way, mostly when they followed the sages. Everyone will be just fine if they stick with the program. The authors point out this is a very authoritarian system, which again makes sense for the time. The ideal was preserving the traditions. It was everyone's place to just accept their lot in life without struggling against it. Thinking for yourself, no less pursuing a path other than the one you were born into, was a no-no.
To boot, Confucius thought women were worthless creatures. There were also 'little men' who were like women who were not well considered either.
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