The silence between the notes

When I took on National Board Certification in 2007, I convinced myself that I was DONE with higher education. But true to the surprises of my recent years, I now find myself enrolled in the Masters in Secondary Education program at Whitworth University. And my first assignment: an autobiography. It seemed simple enough but after 4 hours of trying just one more "new angle," I finally decided that sleep was more important than proving my writing abilities through my own autobiography. Still, I figure that if I was willing to share my bio with people who barely knew me, I should at least be willing to post it on my own blog. So here's what you might (or might not) want to know about me! ***************************************************************************************************************************************************** “Whatever happened to predictability? The milk man, the paper boy, evening TV?” I loved the opening credits of Full House as a k...

Ok, maybe that's a hyperbole. Maybe, just maybe, a few people on this planet won't actually see my latest blog entry. But the excitement-- and the vulnerability--is just as real no matter the size of my audience. The fact is that the whole world COULD see and apparently that's enough to dictate my posts! I was surprised tonight when editing my list of entries...Apparently I have four pieces which I developed and saved but never published. Not to mention all the pieces that I began and deleted because they weren't actually worth working on! This made me realize: blogging gives the writer such ownership! It's all my choice as to what makes it through to "publication" and this seems a more powerful motivating force than the "due dates" we have to impose on student papers. Obviously, to maintain order and proper sequencing of skills, classrooms need a calendar with formal due dates, but I wish more students could experience the ownership tha...

Facebook has obviously modified what we consider "friends" in our world today. Maybe it's a good thing--reconnecting friends separated by time and distance, or allowing acquaintances to see beyond the typical passing hello's. Maybe it's a bad thing--causing some to seek out people to call their friends so they can increase their numbers, or possibly lowering the threshold of what's considered appropriate to share outside a circle of close friends. But as the graduating seniors of 2011 are now eligible to become my "friends" on Facebook, I find myself wondering about the increasingly ambiguous nature of friendship in our society. Before Facebook and before becoming a teacher, these might have been my simple, uncomplicated definitions of a friend.  Friends look out for each other.  Friends laugh together.  Friends cry together, or stay strong when the other cries.  Friends work past the difficult times together, even when they caused the problem.  Fri...

While playing around in the settings for this account I stumbled upon a page that shows me who has been viewing my page! Now I realize that some of you professional bloggers might not be impressed by these stats but I sure am! I sort of thought my blog was just a way for me to keep up with friends and share my thoughts with them. But this says it's been viewed by lots of people! By people from Brazil, Russia, and the Netherlands!?! Just to note a few. And now I'm curious to know who these people are--if they ever view my page again. So please leave a message after the beep...Well, you know what I mean! Please, leave a message. You have me intrigued!

"The whole earth trembled and the veil was torn: Love so amazing, Love so amazing!" ~Jesus Messiah by Chris Tomlin These lyrics would not leave my mind today. As long as they were sticking around, I thought perhaps I should try to understand them a bit better! My analysis: 1) While the earth was trembling the people nearby were surely unaware of the resurrection causing it, and they were probably afraid. After several recent geological events ranging from earth-shattering to simple rumblings, I have seen that fear is the first response no matter how big or small the tremors. And I imagine that people did not respond to the Easter trembling by curiously proclaiming, "This is a fun feeling! Something happy must be happening here!" 2)When the veil was torn, again I imagine that the people were afraid, and although it symbolically represented a new covenant or relationship, it literally destroyed a religious veil that was previously valuable both monetarily and cul...