…i fall in love so easily” is the name of this blog that I’m liking a lot today (via 74 Lime Lane). Who knows why they created it, or who they are, but I’m very happy to have stumbled across it.
My favourite picture for the day is this one:
< happy_serendipity’s flikr page here >
I hope you’re all enjoying this rainy Sunday afternoon!
Posted in just for fun, thoughts
Just a quick post to say that I’ve finally joined the ranks of most people I know, and picked up an iPhone. Hurrah! I’ve spent the last couple of hours playing with it, yet even now, knowing that I have to get up in six and a bit hours hasn’t stopped me from constantly reaching for it and adding new apps and notes.
I’m my own worst nightmare…
I hope you all have a lovely day!
If you were a part of my life four years ago, you would remember my time as a TA in England. The GAP year when I lived and breathed children. My days revolved around them. I got them up, fed them, sent them to school, taught them in class, coached them in sport (rounders…really?), helped them with their homework and put them to bed. There were excursions, tears, homesickness, graduations, accidents, new pets, excitement.
Children. Everywhere. All of the time.
So obviously, I chose a teaching degree when I came back to Australia (well, after awhile, but we all knew I wanted to). Because I am good at it. I am. And I care about kids. They’re hilarious and they always force me to take myself less seriously.
The difference now?
Now, I would rather be the student than the teacher. As I’m preparing my lessons, all I can think of is the questions that I want to know the answer to. Questions that the 11 year olds I’m teaching wouldn’t even know how to ask. It’s not that I find it boring to teach them how to square a number. It’s just that I’d rather they learned it as quickly as possible so that we can move on to something exciting. Something that is more complex and builds on that simple skill that they haven’t even learned yet.
Case in point – a math assignment I did for uni when I was supposed to be discussing 3 dimensional shapes. What did I find myself doing? Writing a mini essay on the fourth dimension and researching string theory.
To teach primary school kids.
So, again my indecision, always the indecision. What do I really want with my life? Do I finish a degree that frustrates me on number of levels, just to get a degree? To begin a career that I’m already drawing away from before I’ve even started? I love to teach, truly. It’s not like I will never teach. I intend to – here, around the world, in volunteer positions, even my own kids in the future.
I just don’t think I’m ready to yet.
Because I can go for a walk on the beach whenever I so choose, and take photos like these:
They may not be the greatest photos in the world, but it makes me happy to look at them and they remind me of how lucky I am to live a life that I choose.
I hope you all had as lovely a weekend as me!
In a fun / scary note for the day, I found this ‘factoid’ from a New York Times article, thanks to Dan Pink:
According to the International Telecommunication Union, the number of mobile subscriptions in the world is expected to reach five billion this year.
You said what???
According to figures from the United Nations, this means that more people in the world have access to a cellphone than have access to a clean toilet.
The actual NYT article itself is a really interesting piece on how mobiles have become a truly intrinsic part of life in countries such as India and Kenya, when comparatively, Americans use their cells far less and are more focused on web-based technologies. I would be interested to see where Australia fits into all of that. But either way, the fact that more people have access to mobiles than to clean toilets is truly confronting information for me personally. Let me know what you think.
Posted in thoughts
Tagged articles, cell phones, Daniel Pink, facts, mobile phones, New York Times, United Nations
Have a read of this great post, The Pirate Kid, over at the Make and Meaning blog. The author, Dudecraft, talks about the need to step out of your comfort zone, and declare your intentions/beliefs out loud in order to succeed. This post made me realise that as we grow older, we lose that childlike ability to take risks, and to declare who and what we are to the world. Success comes in many different forms, and this is one way of thinking about your life that is guaranteed to get you to where you want to be. And I am totally ok with being a pirate…
[image via Dudecraft]
This video is a filmed segment from the 2006 TED talks, featuring Sir Ken Robinson. I was shown it in one of my lectures early 2009, and I’ve remembered it ever since.
This particular video is from Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY), but you can see this and many, many more at the TED website (http://www.ted.com/).
For those who have never heard of the TED Conferences, they are where many great minds are invited along to give a speech on an “Idea Worth Spreading”. The lectures are to last 18 minutes. Originally, TED speakers came from the fields of Technology, Entertainment and Design, but now the conference has evolved to include fascinating speakers from a variety of different backgrounds.
I love this speech given by Robinson, because it is about a topic that is very dear to me: creativity in schools. As a future teacher who has a great passion for dance and music, I regularly struggle with the idea that mathematics and literacy are valued over creativity. It is a topic often debated in our program - how are you to include creative pursuits in a curriculum designed around test scores and national rankings?
Teachers are accountable for a school’s poor performance in benchmarking tests, so I know why it happens. I will do it, I’m sure. Yet it’s heartbreaking to know that you may be squashing somebody’s natural talent in order for them to learn the formula for the area of a rhombus just in time for a test. I hope that future educators, like myself, can take on board some of Robinson’s thoughts, and always work at building a balanced curriculum.
The following quote is from Walt Disney – a man who’s success in life can be attributed to his complete determination to never quit, even when it appeared that failure was inevitable.
We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths
This is a quote that really spoke to me – the world keeps moving forward only because we are curious to learn more, see more and do more. Disney is one of the many people appearing in the Amazing Entrepreneurs book, out in 2010. See the MyAmazingPeople site here.
Posted in amazing people club, quotes, thoughts
Tagged amazing people club, curiosity, determination, entrepreneurs, inspiration, quotes, Walt Disney
I found this post on PhotoPhilanthropy today. The author, Eliza Gregory, talks about the difference in style of photography between two artists, who’s focus in this post is on animals. My favourite pieces are by a lady called Annie Marie Musselman. Her photos seem to reach out and grab you, and ask you to feel something. I love animal photography, but her pieces really spoke to me. She created a photo story for the Sarvey Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, which to me seem to showcase the confusion, pain and shock that injured wildlife must surely feel when they enter such an institution.
The above photo is my favourite from the ones posted on PhotoPhilanthropy. The raven seems so young and wary, but still allows the volunteer to touch her. It’s amazing that much of the blame for the destruction and injury of these beautiful animals can be laid at the door of the human race, yet we still continue to treat nature and the animals in it as though they are less than us. I hope that these photos help to remind people of the consequences of our actions in the natural world, yet also as a reminder of the good that some people are doing in response to it.
Christmas is over for another year! All the crazy lead up for one day which now seems to focus more on the food than the gifts. I like Christmas lunch as much as the next person, but I don’t feel the need to eat three servings of the main meal, plus countless plates of desserts. Christmas for me is not about what we’re eating – it’s about who we share the day with. I didn’t fly all the way to Canberra to eat – I came to share the day with my family and friends, and I think that some people overlook that. But to me it’s important. A lot has changed in the world in the last year – natural disasters, the global financial crisis – so I think that it’s important that we be grateful for what we do have. I am thankful that my loved ones and I are healthy and happy. That’s the most important thing. There’s no point eating bucket loads of food if you’re miserable doing it!
All the best for the following days, whether you celebrate Christmas or not. The lead up to a new year (and a new decade!) is a magical time full of new opportunities. Take a hold of life and embrace it!
Posted in thoughts
