Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
If you're an educator of any sort, or a mom, or someone who's simply interested, this is an engaging talk where Ken Robinson makes a very important point.

The potpourri of life

Today, our internet has been more down than up. I think it showed some life only when I went out to teach. I think it's hiding from me.

My one blog friend, Susan, is a music teacher in China. I love when she posts snippets from her classrooms. This was my early morning smile today:

Later in the hour, I allowed them to come to the piano and "create" a song. On the spot. This was interesting ~ and showed so many different aspects to the personalities in this class. For some, it was a way to transcend their struggle with learning a new language. For others, it was a way to show off what they already knew, what they've already been studying in private piano lessons. And for others ~ it was simply impossible to do. They were too shy, too new to a very foreign place from native lands such as Sudan, Yemen, and Finland. They need to watch and wait awhile.

One little boy from Germany confidently approached the piano with a knowing, expectant smile and played a lovely, sensitive piece he was obviously making up. I knew he doesn't take piano lessons ~ and what the piece lacked in musical structure was compensated for in emotion and peace.

As he walked away from the piano, I said, "Justus, how did you think of such beautiful notes to play?"

His bright blue eyes sparkled with light and life, "I looked at myself in the wood of the piano. I saw my heart. I saw my brain. And then the music came."

I've been a little quiet here. I had, on top of my other students, a new student who wants daily, sometimes twice daily classes on Skype, Monday through to Saturday. She suggested Sunday too, but... ! Each class is an hour and half long. It has been a juggle trying to fit her in and boy, is she hard work! Her English is fairly basic, but she needs advanced business English for some deals she's trying to pull off with an American company owned by Chinese business men who communicate in English. If you've ever heard the Chinese speak English, you may realise the challenge. Of course, not all Chinese speak challenging English, but my experience of them is that their English is hard to understand, especially for those not familiar with it. I have more options for students through Skype. I'm going to encourage it.

I spoke to my mom. It sounds like such a simple thing to do. The last time I spoke to her was briefly in 1994 when my gran died and I called to inform her and before that only in 1988 at the time of Ceinwen's funeral. She sounds old. Apparently she's not being cared for, not that it surprises me. She's stubborn too and refuses to go into a place where she can be cared for. I had so many questions to ask her. Perhaps I'll try when I call her again. Her speech, at times, was hard to understand. She's wheelchair bound now with Parkinsons. I don't know much about Parkinsons. My brother says she'll still probably outlive us. I'm half inclined to believe that is true. She's one tough old lady. My sister... it is so weird thinking of her as a woman. My mental image of her is as a innocent child of 7 or 8. She sounds confident in herself. I am now on a self-appointed mission to find her two kids. As my brother pointed out... "so there are more van der Merwes wandering around out there."

Tat has a student, a child, 7 years old. Her mother takes her Barbie dolls away because she messes the dolls' hair up. Some people are just odd.

My one friend wrote a very beautiful poem some years back. She put it on the net. It is now all over. Sadly, people have been passing it on without her name attached. Many are distributed as 'Author unknown'. Now someone has published a book with her poem in it as 'Author unknown'. The book has a massive copyright blurb in the front, but they took someone's poem without getting permission. Sad and so unfair.

 

Technorati Tags: ma,teaching,children,family

Stand for the children

Taken from Michelle's blog. Thank you for posting this, Michelle!

The Pledge for the Standing Women (see video below) reads...

Last May hundreds of thousands of women and girls, along with the men and boys they love, in 75 countries and on all continents of the world stood together in parks, on beaches, in churches, at graduation ceremonies, in their backyards and at school yards or anyplace they could find to stand in a global wave of humanity in support of a better world for our children.

We invite women and their families everywhere to take this "stand" with us again, on May 11 at 1pm local time for just 5 minutes, to rekindle the world with our common vision.

We stand for the world's children and grandchildren, and for the seven generations beyond them.
We dream of a world where all of our children have safe drinking water, clean air to breathe, and enough food to eat.
A world where they have access to a basic education to develop their minds and healthcare to nurture their growing bodies.
A world where they have a warm, safe and loving place to call home. A world where they don't live in fear of violence-in their home, in their neighborhood, in their school or in their world.
This is the world of which we dream.
This is the cause for which we stand.

To learn more and register your standing, go to the Standing Women website at http://www.standingwomen.org/

 

Let us all stand and send out positive energy together. Standing, thinking about the children, may seem like such a simplistic action to take, but I believe that the thoughts, prayers, wishes, energies of millions of women (and this isn't restricted to women) will make a difference... surely!

Technorati Tags: cause,stand,women,children

Song title - a Picture Perfect theme

I went through mountains of photos and piles of cd's. I had a few options for this theme. I wanted to do something unique... give you music that you perhaps weren't familiar with... and a photo that you weren't familiar with. Every time I went over, though, I came back to this one. Yes, it is my favourite model and the song is "I'm counting on you" by Chris de Burgh. I have often sat, watching her sleep, with the words of this song in my head...


Our children are the future. Too many of our generation are spending time in the past, in history. Too much time is, in my opinion, being spent on 'righting the wrongs of the past', as though it was all bad, and often creating bigger issues for the future. Why can't we just live for now? Why can't we live for the future? The past is important... to learn from... not to live in or obsess over.

I'm counting on you
by Chris de Burgh

The night is so wild, and downstairs the child
Is sleeping, her spirit is free,
For more than an hour, I have walked in the rain,
I've been wondering what she will be,
But where are the heroes, where are the dreams
That I had, when I was young,
Am I hoping in vain, just to think
She could change anything?
Well I'm counting on you;
I'm counting on you to bring that sweet gentleness
To your world and all that you do,
My generation is losing its way
We don't know, what we're leaving for you,
So may there be millions who feel like you do
Oh my love...
There is so much to know,
There is so far to go,
But you are not alone,
When this is your world,
And I'm counting on you;
Come to me, turn to me,
give me your eyes
When you see the mysteries of time,
Here there are those who just live in the past
They will never let history lie,
And this sad little island is breaking my heart
With its dark shades of green,
And as hard as I try,
I just cannot see why
This should be...
I'm counting on you,
There is so much to know,
There is so far to go,
But you are not alone,
When this is your world,
And I'm counting on you,
I'm counting on you...