Saturday, January 19, 2019
Friday, January 18, 2019
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Monday, January 14, 2019
Sunday, January 13, 2019
Saturday, January 12, 2019
Friday, January 11, 2019
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
Todd on Tuesday
– George Graham
“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. It is the principal difference between a dog and a man.”
– Mark Twain
“The dog has got more fun out of man than man has got out of the dog, for man is the more laughable of the two animals.” – James Thurber
“You think dogs will not be in heaven?
I tell you, they will be there long before any of us.”
– Robert Louis
Treats!
“A dog will teach you unconditional love.
If you can have that in your life, things won’t be too bad.”
– Robert Wagner
“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend.
Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”
– Groucho Marx
Monday, January 7, 2019
Poetry on Monday
Wednesday, January 8, 2003
“Are you a Christian?”
“Are you a Christian?”
That was the first thing he said to me,
"Are you a Christian?"
Well, I was raised a Methodist.
Isn’t that a Christian?
I had just moved off Campus and he lived in the rooming house
He came into my room and asked
"Are you a Christian?"
It was the first time I had ever had a stranger ask me that.
And he was a stranger ... and strange.
Evidently not enough of a Christian for him.
"Are you a Christian?"
I told him yes, but I did not fit HIS definition of
a REAL Christian.
You see I did not go to
his Church. My beliefs did not fit his
mold for being a Christian.
Never mind that I accepted
the teaching of the Christ..
Never mind that the Golden Rule was my guide stone
or that I believed in giving to the poor.
I had to be “saved” and “going to heaven”
Wherever that is?
"Are you a Christian?"
I’ve been thinking about that question for
a long time - 50 years off and on now.
"Are you a Christian?"
What did I look like? A Hindu, a Moslem, a Sikh
Wiccan, Episcopalian;
Quaker, Mormon, Jew?
What does a Christian look like?
There are so many different kinds -- (33,000+)
sort of like all the different apples that grow on trees,
or the various peas in a pod; alike but so different.
Over the years I have attended, Methodist, Catholic, Episcopal,
Congregational, Episcopal, Lutheran (who don’t like to pray with me because my idea of God might be different from theirs) Christian Science, Unity, Unitarian and I am sure there are some others.
I used to pray out loud but decided that the
“divine auditory nerve” didn’t need to hear from me
since He/She probably already knew what I wanted.
And besides the Master told me to “pray in secret” so I do.
Silently in the silence of my heart.
I used to go to church
but didn’t find many people there following in His footsteps.
Besides the smell of flowers is much better that that of incense
and the song of birds in the forest is grander than any choir.
and so all the world is my church.
There are many paths to the top of the mountain but
“the view is always the same.”
All the various religions will get me there
or for that matter if I don’t want to believe in one
I will still get there because God made us all and
keeps us all, in His Mind.
Each person is like a snowflake, unique, individual one-of-a-kind.
(If a snowflake can be unlike any other snowflake so can a person)
One in all of time.
"Are you a Christian?"…
Well, more of a Christian than you, I think.
The guy who used to come home from the bars
Singing “Nearer my God to Thee,” at 2:30 in the morning
Was probably more of a Christian than any of us..
Because he celebrated the JOY of being and that is
What Christianity is all about.
January 7, 2013
Sunday, January 6, 2019
Apiarian
"Were I to be the founder of a new sect,
I would call them Apiarians, and, after the example of the bee,
advise them to extract the honey of every sect."
- Thomas Jefferson
" 'Where did you go to, if I may ask?' said Thorin to Gandalf
as they rode along.
'To look ahead,' said he.
'And what brought you back in the nick of time?'
'Looking behind,' said he."
~J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973)
"A poor person celebrates the New Year once a year.
A rich person celebrates each day.
But the richest person celebrates every moment."
~Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (b. 1956)
"Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors,
and let every new year find you a better person. "
-Benjamin Franklin
"Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is.
In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement
and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy
and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis
all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace."
~Frederick Buechner (b. 1926)
"One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys
of life comes from being happy
over the good fortune of others."
~Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988
One does not ask of one who suffers:
What is your country and what is your religion?
One merely says: You suffer, that is enough for me.
-Louis Pasteur, chemist and bacteriologist (27 Dec 1822-1895)
"Life is short and we have never too much time
for gladdening the hearts of those who are travelling
the dark journey with us.
Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind."
~Henri Frederic Amiel (1821-1881)
"We listened for a voice crying in the wilderness.
And we heard the jubilation of wolves!"
~ Durwood L. Allen
"I hope you make the best of it.
And I hope you see things that startle you.
I hope you feel things you never felt before.
I hope you meet people with a different point of view.
I hope you live a life you're proud of.
If you find that you're not,
I hope you have the strength to start all over again."
~F. Scott Fitzgerald
Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. .
...get up in the morning and look at the world in a way
that takes nothing for granted.
Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible;
never treat life casually.
To be spiritual is to be amazed."
~Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972)
Saturday, January 5, 2019
Friday, January 4, 2019
Found For Friday
An anthropologist is studying a primitive society in the middle of the jungle when he develops constipation. Finding he has run out of medicine for that particular type of dysfunction, he tells the medicine doctor of the tribe he is studying. The medicine man tells him not to worry; his people sometimes suffer from the same malady but they simply chew the leaves of a particular fern. The anthropologist, figuring that he has nothing to lose (the fern wasn't poisonous), decided to try this herbal medicine.
The next morning he bumps into the medicine man, who asks if everything came out all right. The anthropologist replied that ferns had, indeed, worked very well, adding, "With fronds like these, who needs enemas?"
Don't join dangerous cults. Practice safe sects!
When cannibals ate the missionary they got a taste of religion.
The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray
is now a seasoned veteran.
A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital.
His grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said,
'No change yet.'
Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway.
One hat said to the other, 'You stay here, I'll go on a head.'
Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France
would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island
but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.
Thursday, January 3, 2019
Throwback Thursday
My Reading
Program
Jay Simser -
When I first
started teaching (eons ago) I discovered
that the Basal Readers were pretty boring for students. As I was an avid reader and enjoyed reading a
lot these books really turned me off.
With the participation of the Reading consultant I worked to have the
students read in books of their choice.
We did a pre and post test with the students and discovered that they
grew about two years in reading by allowing them free choice and time to
read.
I realized
that these students (for the most part) have basic reading skills. Some of them, however, did not choose to
read.
I developed
a series of questions to use with the students.
These are generic questions and are used either in a conversation about
the books the students are choosing or in conjunction with a Reading Journal
which I have developed. They follow:
Why did you choose this book to
read?
Would you choose another book by the
same author? Why or why not?
Was this a good title for the book?
Why do you think so?
Give another title that would fit
the book.
Which character in the book would
you most like to be? Why?
What would you have done differently
from the author if you had been writing the book? Why would you do it that way?
What is your opinion of this
book? Why do you feel this way about the
book?
What do you know about the author of
the book? Do you know of any other books
by the same author?
Which character in the book is most
like yourself? Why do you say that?
What obstacles or problems did the
main character have to overcome or solve?
How did they go about doing this?
Please describe some of the action
or suspense in the book. If you do not feel that it had action or suspense what
kept you wanting to continue reading the book?
Tell the story of the book in one or
two sentences.
Did you gain or learn anything from
reading this book? Please describe what
you gained or learned.
The expectation
in my classroom is for students to read one chapter book a week. I reward students who read 100 books as a
“Century Reader” with a certificate and take them out to lunch at a “fine
restaurant.” Several years I had a
double century reader (200 books).
Most of the
students responded very positively to this program. One year I had a student who had never read
an entire book before coming to me. He
became such a powerful reader that my the end of the year I had to pull him out
of a book to get to work on his other schoolwork.
I have found
this to be a successful and rewarding program.
One other
thing I did was assign a certain genre or type of book for a month and have the
students write a book review on it.
i.e. February - A book by a black
author or with a black as the main character;
March - A book by a woman author or with a strong woman as the central
character; April- fantasy
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