Tonight I want to share a little bit about professional portfolios for teachers, since several of my teacher candidates have recently asked me about this important and sometimes confusing tool.

A portfolio can take on many forms.  It is a collection, certainly, of

The adult learner is an interesting creature.  "Value their prior knowlege and expertise" is a common theme in articles on the adult learning model.  And yet, how do you assess a room's expertise in 30 seconds or less, and balance the participants' desire for validation with their (perhaps unconscious) need for the material at hand?

One thing I am learning is that one can never make assumptions.  Never.  Don't assume they know (about taxonomies of thinking, or questioning).  On the other hand, don't assume they don't know (about the brain and its four lobes!)  Be prepared, be over-prepared.  And then be prepared to throw your plans out the window and go with the flow.

Perhaps the secret to success is authenticity, enthusiasm, openness about desire for relationship-building, even if only for the next hour or three.

One of the things I enjoy most about teaching and facilitating in new environments is the learning that inevitably arises.  This evening I planned and delivered a 1.5 hour workshop for pilots and CFIs on instructional strategies.  It was a tough crowd, as I knew it would be, but overall, the experience was a rewarding one.

Three significant learnings:

1. Classroom Management is a consideration for children of all ages.  :)
Even after so many years of doing this, I always forget that not everyone is as excited and

I am mourning the loss of a most excellent item of footwear.

About a year ago, I seem to have lost one of my beloved black boots -- Trevor calls them my "ninja boots".  Part sock, part boot, these leather-fabric contraptions were most comfortable and also quite warm.  And now one is missing, almost a year already, and I am sad.

I seem to recall Jasper biting a rather large hole in the fabric part of one boot at one point, and that is the one that is missing.  But surely I wouldn't have thrown out one boot, for goodness sakes!  Our apartment is not big, and we have searched high and low for said missing boot, to no avail.  I am tempted to discard the remaining boot, however I am convinced that no sooner shall I do so, then the other boot will turn up, leaving me one-booted once again.

Where is that boot??!!  It's maddening, really.

Every now and again you have a particularly splendid day.  Today was one of those for me.

Well, let's just say things don't always go as planned...

This evening was supposed to consist of coming home from the chaos of dinner with the twins/triplets family, putting our two to bed, and sitting down to a nice, quiet

Tuesday afternoon I found out that in order to accommodate a timetable revision at my school, starting Wednesday, I would be teaching an hour of Kindergarten once a  week.  Those poor kids!

Kindergarten not being much my forte, I decided to deflect to Mr. Crow, a puppet I signed out of the Tyndale library.

Turns out Mr. Crow kind of likes teaching Kindergarten, and the little ones really took to him.  Mr. Crow did attendence, read a story, and explained a craft.  The children made puppets, and spoke to Mr. Crow in character.

The biggest dilemma now is... will Mr. Crow return next week to teach Kindergarten, or will he turn the task over to his friend, the Turtle?

Stay tuned!

Having recently started exploring the work of one of the most famous women in aviation, I came across this quote:

"No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves."

Although many of her quote are directly aviation-related, Earhart also has some wider worldly insights to share.  I am quite enjoying getting to know her a little bit, even if it is distracting me from my studying, hehe.

How often have I seen ads on the TV for charitable organizations, fighting to bring clean water to the poorest countries in the world?  Often enough, but somehow, I manage to allot my empathy for those pictured to a few moments, and then put it aside to take up other concerns.  Tonight, however, I got a first hand taste of what life must be like for some of these poverty-striken nations...

This morning's sermon invited us to consider our relationship to the triune God.  Not only the father figure was addressed, but also Jesus, who we are in Him, by the Holy Spirit.  Many references to family were made.

It's always been a bit tricky for me to recognize the Trinity in the context of family.  The illustration is lost on me, perhaps because my own family, at least my historical family, consisted largely of women.  Further, they're all dead! 

Although I'm married now, with two sons to boot, the vast majority of my life was spent between a strong-willed mother and an obdurate grandmother.  I'm an only child.  My uncle, a fascinating man and a schizophrenic, completed suicide when I was eight; my time with him was far too short.  And my grandfather, an entertaining but