Prison Pete
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Capture the Moment.
It is now 5:20 PM Wednesday, no letters in mail call. None yesterday either. Monday was Columbus Day, so I have not gotten a letter since Friday and that was a letter from one of the blog readers, Thank You.
But wait - I did get two magazines and two catalogs. Yes sir, I can get people to send me mail if I send them money.
I have said that I would attack my laziness and learn to use the resources at hand to lift my spirits. I did that. I went through one of my many clipping envelopes and I came across a great article and got all fired up. But by the time I got out the pad to write out this draft, the energy level is already beginning to fade. I need to expend energy to write out my thoughts. It would be easier to just talk about the feelings and ideas the article brings up but in order to write out those same thoughts ... it seems to take forever.
As I write, I need to freeze the state of mind to enable me to write out the thoughts. Again one might begin to curse the A.D.D.
The article is from the New York Times (Sept. 7, 2005). It is the ON EDUCATION column by Michael Winerip. The headline is "A Standout Teacher Who Also Stands Out"
I know in my soul that it is the individual spirit that exists inside each one of us that allows us to really make a difference in this world. It is that same spirit that enables us to feed the spirit of others, and this is especially true of teachers.
In education you can have the testing you want but it is the power to excite and create the desire to learn that can really make an individual teacher worth more than any high test scores could ever reveal.
Yet it seems it sometimes our reliance on the 'system’ and encouraging teachers to follow a standard lesson plan that works against the chance to of freeing those teachers that truly have the gift to unleash the desire inside all students to learn for the sake of the learning, not to be able to fill in the proper little boxes on some computerized answer sheet.
I am rapidly losing steam. I want to just lay back and read. I am going to do just that and then start again. This has been a test. Had this been an actual post, you would have been able to read why I was lifted up by this article. Since I have obviously failed in this objective, I will try again to complete this post. Stand by more to follow.
But wait - I did get two magazines and two catalogs. Yes sir, I can get people to send me mail if I send them money.
I have said that I would attack my laziness and learn to use the resources at hand to lift my spirits. I did that. I went through one of my many clipping envelopes and I came across a great article and got all fired up. But by the time I got out the pad to write out this draft, the energy level is already beginning to fade. I need to expend energy to write out my thoughts. It would be easier to just talk about the feelings and ideas the article brings up but in order to write out those same thoughts ... it seems to take forever.
As I write, I need to freeze the state of mind to enable me to write out the thoughts. Again one might begin to curse the A.D.D.
The article is from the New York Times (Sept. 7, 2005). It is the ON EDUCATION column by Michael Winerip. The headline is "A Standout Teacher Who Also Stands Out"
I know in my soul that it is the individual spirit that exists inside each one of us that allows us to really make a difference in this world. It is that same spirit that enables us to feed the spirit of others, and this is especially true of teachers.
In education you can have the testing you want but it is the power to excite and create the desire to learn that can really make an individual teacher worth more than any high test scores could ever reveal.
Yet it seems it sometimes our reliance on the 'system’ and encouraging teachers to follow a standard lesson plan that works against the chance to of freeing those teachers that truly have the gift to unleash the desire inside all students to learn for the sake of the learning, not to be able to fill in the proper little boxes on some computerized answer sheet.
I am rapidly losing steam. I want to just lay back and read. I am going to do just that and then start again. This has been a test. Had this been an actual post, you would have been able to read why I was lifted up by this article. Since I have obviously failed in this objective, I will try again to complete this post. Stand by more to follow.
Comments:
Hi Pete!
I changed my blog template and my faves didn't change over to my new blog face,so I just re-added you.Thanks for keeping us informed....or in my case thanks for the reminder of what life was like on the inside.UuGH! I know it's a bummer...but what don't kill ya can only make you stronger,or so they say. :-}
Do we still have the same editor,btw? I haven't been keeping up-to-date lately since I've been working so many hours.But hello Mr.Editor!! Thanks for keeping us in prison Pete mail!
Take Care,
Peace,Love,Happiness & Freedom,
T.
I changed my blog template and my faves didn't change over to my new blog face,so I just re-added you.Thanks for keeping us informed....or in my case thanks for the reminder of what life was like on the inside.UuGH! I know it's a bummer...but what don't kill ya can only make you stronger,or so they say. :-}
Do we still have the same editor,btw? I haven't been keeping up-to-date lately since I've been working so many hours.But hello Mr.Editor!! Thanks for keeping us in prison Pete mail!
Take Care,
Peace,Love,Happiness & Freedom,
T.
Oops...forgot to ask..what's the deal w/ the link to the Dvorak Keyboard? I mean,where in the world would you use that type of keyboard,and why?(just curious)
((hugs))
T.
((hugs))
T.
This is Pete's Editor.
About the Dvorak keyboard. I use it and I got Pete to try it. On the Dvorak layout, all the most commonly used letters are on the home row, including all the vowels which are under the fingers of your left hand.
I was having wrist and elbow pain a couple of years ago and I type all day for my job so it was a real problem for me. I figured Dvorak with its greatly reduced finger reaches was worth a try to see if it helped.
It took a long time for me to get used to it (I could touch type about 40 wpm but was never a good typist), but now between the new keyboard and some exercises I am now pain free and can type as fast as or slightly faster than I could before. I can't say for sure if it was the keyboard or the exercises or some combination of both (probably) that helped my pain, but typing on the Dvorak keyboard is just so much more pleasant for me.
It's too bad that we all don't switch to the Dvorak layout and start teaching it to children in schools, because it really is much easier to type on it. But like the USA supposedly changing to the Metric system, they were talking about that when I was a kid and it hasn't happened yet so it probably never will.
Too bad for everyone who has to stetch their fingers to type commonly used letters E, T, N, and O, while letters you rarely type like J K F D are under your strongest fingers.
When I have to use someone else's keyboard (rarely) I can still get by as well as (or I should say as poorly as) I ever could on bad old QWERTY (ha ha that "word" is hard to type on the Dvorak keyboard I am currently using). But it feels so primitive and I can type much faster and easier with my Dvorak keyboard. My 2¢.
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About the Dvorak keyboard. I use it and I got Pete to try it. On the Dvorak layout, all the most commonly used letters are on the home row, including all the vowels which are under the fingers of your left hand.
I was having wrist and elbow pain a couple of years ago and I type all day for my job so it was a real problem for me. I figured Dvorak with its greatly reduced finger reaches was worth a try to see if it helped.
It took a long time for me to get used to it (I could touch type about 40 wpm but was never a good typist), but now between the new keyboard and some exercises I am now pain free and can type as fast as or slightly faster than I could before. I can't say for sure if it was the keyboard or the exercises or some combination of both (probably) that helped my pain, but typing on the Dvorak keyboard is just so much more pleasant for me.
It's too bad that we all don't switch to the Dvorak layout and start teaching it to children in schools, because it really is much easier to type on it. But like the USA supposedly changing to the Metric system, they were talking about that when I was a kid and it hasn't happened yet so it probably never will.
Too bad for everyone who has to stetch their fingers to type commonly used letters E, T, N, and O, while letters you rarely type like J K F D are under your strongest fingers.
When I have to use someone else's keyboard (rarely) I can still get by as well as (or I should say as poorly as) I ever could on bad old QWERTY (ha ha that "word" is hard to type on the Dvorak keyboard I am currently using). But it feels so primitive and I can type much faster and easier with my Dvorak keyboard. My 2¢.
