talking with friends

First let me say... I have some of the best friends in the world and I hold them dear to my heart. Today I had the privilege to engage in a very lengthy discussion with one of my long distance friends who always challenges my thinking in a most delicious way. So, what did we talk about that was so engaging... education and learning of course :-). One of the questions he asked my opinion about was what I thought about the idea of mistakes as a learning tool. How do we engage our pre-service teachers in thinking about the value of the mistakes that are made and will be made by themselves and their students. I firmly agree that some of the most important learning and self-knowledge happens through the process of looking at our mistakes. Personally, when I was a classroom teacher, teaching in a middle school, it was a happy moment when my students and I were given the opportunity to think about our mistakes. What an awesome teachable moment. These moments are like the whipped cream I sometimes allow myself to indulge in when ordering a mocha latte. But how do we in teacher education programs provide experiences for our novice teachers to proactively think about such teachable moments. How do we as instructors model this? Should we make it part of the content learning or is it left up to individual instructors who believe in the instructional relevance of such a strategy?
From here, my dearest friend, indulged me by allowing me to get on my soap box about how I believe standardized testing is the thing that doesn't allow for critical thinking to be fully engaged in in the classroom, which is where the above teachable moments would be allowed to flourish. When we standardize instructional practices and curriculum there is very little room left for teachable moments to move beyond quick-fix answers. They die... the whipped cream melts at an astonishing rate leaving the appetite for learning a bit ravished and deprived. It is sad really... what do you think?

The question is about Peace and Love...

As I sit here listening to Pandora and music from artists like Nick Drake, John Lennon, Neil Young, Cat Stevens etc. I am in touch with the part of my soul that has faith in the idea of peace ~ the reality of love. We have it in our culture and in our power, but we neglect it. We sing about, write poems about, preach about it, pray for it and all the while we still kill and destroy. It baffles me and it angers me that I am part of the system... the system of power and privilege and at times I feel totally useless... and I cry... inside my heart I just sob. Humanity can do SO much more... we choose not to. We make excuses and justify ourselves in the name of God, capitalism, democracy, patriotism, whatever... We lead with fear and lack faith in each other... why?

Zoa's Journey

I decided to join the blogging world. I have always had a difficult time, not starting a journal, but maintaining it. I am curious to find out if blogging and this virtual journaling will make me more consistent. Journaling your journey I think is important. We all have a story and it isn't that I need the world to know my story, but I do believe we need to be connected to the world. So, this is my first post. Here it is for the world to see or any one person who might find my story... my journey~ interesting enough to come along.