Friday, December 27, 2024

 Friday, December 27, 2024

    I asked GV’s mother and Moma K if I could record a session with their children. Both said yes. I wanted the videos, so I had something to show Steven when he came over to discuss the possibility of using my method for the teachers in the school he was advising.  

   Steven spent most of his career in education as an administrator in UN schools in Latin America and Asia. He is currently advising a new school in India. It’s a free boarding school for girls from poverty to spare them a life of prostitution. Steve observed that the teachers used methods prevalent in the 17th century.  The teaching style compares unfavorably to a college lecture series.  I say unfavorably because they’re not well informed on the topic and make no effort to address the confusion of their children.  The method worked well in the 17th century because those who were ‘intelligent’ got it, and the rest were classified as slow and not taught at all.  Not a flawed system in the 17th century.  Universal literacy wasn’t a goal. 

   I am terrified about presenting my ideas to Steve. He is an intelligent man, but I don’t think most people trained in education will be responsive to my methods.  I would love to have the technique incorporated into schools, especially schools with minority students who have a poor track record for producing good readers.  

      My method looks chaotic to them.  Classroom teachers need order.  This method responds to whatever comes up. Judging from my husband’s reaction to my way of thinking, I can’t imagine any teacher being responsive.  Mike often said he would fire me if I worked for him; he meant it. He was a gifted administrator who was appointed to the head position in several mental institutions in NJ.  Several because he was sent in to fix bad situations.  As I said, he was gifted. 

   I’m not critical of folks like that. They are needed to provide stability for cultural institutions. If I’m going to introduce something different, I have to find a way to slide it into their worldview without disrupting it. Both of us have a job to do.  

    I finally figured out one cause for GV’s learning problem. His guesses are really wild. This excellent method allows me to focus on small details and catch things faster than I might otherwise.  He’ll say, “I don’t know. I’ll just guess,” and the results show no evidence of any consideration of the facts.  I realized when he says that, he’s giving up.  I asked him, ”When you say I’ll guess, are you saying see this is the best I can do, now leave me alone or see this is the best I can do, just give me the answer?”  he said the latter. Ah!  I’m providing him with strategies for getting close enough when he reads, or someone else has to read what he has written to figure out what he is saying. I insist he had to try one of the strategies I’ve taught him. I don’t expect him to get the correct answer; it must be logical.  I’m big on logic.    

    On our evening walk tonight, Darby said something amazing.  Her plants are doing much better with my green waste than they did with hers.  She composts everything she cuts back or down.  She has done this over the last 20 years since they bought that property.  Now, her plants are thriving on my green waste as they never did on hers.  Why?  She speculated that the microbes from my yard were different from hers. We both think it’s not that my microbes are better than hers, but that difference makes the difference.

    That cooked chicken from Costco I bought for Christmas dinner was sitting in my fridge.  I was never going to eat all of it.  I offered some to Joseph, my tenant with whom I was going to share Christmas dinner, and made a crack about walking the neighborhood to offer it to others. He asked when he could take it to work. Brilliant. Now!  I found a container where the grease couldn’t penetrate, and off it went. 

     The bore drill bits I bought didn’t work as well as I hoped.  When they got up to a certain point, the drill jammed.  It didn’t have the power to dig that bit into the greenwood.  English Mike had recommended the Milwaukee brand over the others. While The internet site claims our local Home Depot carried Milwaukee bore drill bits, they don’t.  I tried the Diablo four-set drill bits. I chose the smallest of the four. It jammed. I don’t know if the Milwaukee brand is the only one good enough for drilling holes in the greenwood, the drill isn’t powerful enough to do the job, or I need a yet smaller-sized drill bit.   Lutz made drilling a hole with a half-inch drill bit easy.  I can’t get it to work for love nor money.