"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
7 December 2005Rush to trashDr Jan follows up on the infamous Lotto Tree:
Everyone was in a complete uproar about this; so I went from place to place and calmed and rebuked everyone from freaking out. It was just about this time that I made morning announcements and during our state mandated moment of silence (and yes I really do love that time each morning because I do take the opportunity to pray ... and you can imagine what I was praying about this morning), things seemed to kind of turn around. We quit thinking about the mess and just got right on with business; and our business is about teaching the kids how to read, write, and problem solve.
The fifth grade teachers began to use all these events to teach their students about the political process. They read and talked about the lottery legislation. They were able to give tangible evidence how perspective is everything in a story and how we all had a different perspective. The teachers were able to take this disappointing event and make a lasting contribution to the children's understanding of point of view. We harbored no ill will. We did not "sell" the lottery or even support it; we simply taught about the legislation and the proposed effect on public education in Oklahoma. We let the negativity go. If nothing else, there's a new entry on the kids' vocabulary list: Grandstanding. As products of the Oklahoma Legislature go, it's second in volume, ranking just above Bad Bills but below Desperate Pleas for Attention. (Remember this for Social Studies, if they still teach Social Studies anywhere on earth.) (Previous coverage here.) Posted at 1:52 PM to SoonerlandMy favorite part of the blog is the warning at the top "***Beware*** ***Not all postings are carefully checked for spelling and stuff.***" Don't you feel warm all over knowing that teachers don't check for spelling & stuff? Posted by: Dwayne "the canoe guy" at 3:59 PM on 7 December 2005I started with following dustbury.com. I haven't even read all there is on dustbury.com (and there's a lot), but I come here in the middle of the night and enjoy the latest cool writings and leads to other Oklahoma blogger sites. I plan to be at the Oklahoma Blogger Roundup next fall. I may take a canoe paddle to you, Dwayne, at that time for expecting educators to be perfect. Many of the rest of educators are, but I am not; I feel I have let them down with dangling modifiers. By the way Dwayne, I love your pictures; they are coffee table incredible. Posted by: Dr. Jan at 2:42 AM on 8 December 2005No one on earth has read everything on dustbury.com, including me, and I wrote it, fercryingoutloud. We're talking seven thousand pages or so. Posted by: CGHill at 7:28 AM on 8 December 2005I came across the lovely story of dustbury (because I wanted to know where it was as well). It's so beautiful... and the story of She Who Will Not Be Named... ah. Do you write books in addition to all these blogs? Posted by: Dr. Jan at 5:07 PM on 8 December 2005I've probably written two or three books here and don't realize it yet. (Word count is way over half a million by now.) |