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Where Did the Grey Hair Come From??!!

11/21/2010

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Somebody played a cruel joke on me today.  While I was at the hairdresser's, getting my hair cut, someone sprinkled a few grey strands amidst the dirty blond peices falling on my lap while the hairdresser and his scissors did their job. 

I wonder, was this the same person who -- when I put on an upbeat first movement of a Mozart concerto at home last night while one of my babies was colouring -- took over his mouth and mind and asked for "something sadder, please, Mommy, it helps me colour better"?  (I know my little tiny baby could not possibly yet have developed the depth and personality to have acquired such distinct taste in music already.  Could he have?)

I have reason to believe that this person also tampered with my calendar, for when I looked at it the other day, the date alleged that my dear husband and I, who just met yesterday while teaching grade 6 together, had been married for ten years, and that my mother, who just last week was sending me off to the corner store to buy cigarettes for my grandmother had in fact been dead for 16 years!!!

It would appear that, despite ample warning from all those around me, I seem to have not appreciated just how quickly time marches on. 
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Picking Peas with the Jolly Green Giant

11/14/2010

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My boys and I got into a bit of an interesting conversation the other day... they wanted to know about "Auntie" Jeanette, a close family friend who has played a bit of a surrogate grandmother role to Alex and Simon, since my own mother died long before they were born...

They were intrigued to discover

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A "Good" Teacher

11/11/2010

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My lunch date yesterday asked me "what makes a good teacher?", and I am ashamed and embarrassed to report that I did not have a succinct and brilliant response!  All my years of teaching, and more recently, drilling the value of just such a response into my student teachers, and there I was, floundering for the right words to describe the incredibly complex and important work we do each day!!!

Hindsight is always 20/20, so after reflecting all evening and into the night, here is what I've come up with:

Effective teachers are combined servants, scientists and artists. A "good" teacher posesses a servant heart; he strives to understand, and is not "above" serving the specific needs of his students, their parents and his colleagues, indeed, he lives for it!  In addition, he has grasp of a decent instructional repertoire and a reasonable understanding of how the  brain works, so that he knows when to paint with which colour in his pallette.

For some, the results of such characteristics may appear to come naturally, however it is critical that we can articulate the traits of a good teacher, so that we can constantly strive towards excellence.

Teaching is an important and often lonely profession.  We need to know why we do what we do, and how to do it well.
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Happy Birthday Mom

11/8/2010

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My mother, in her later years, refrained from any public acknowledgement of her birthday. 

She was uncomfortable, I think, because her birthday fell on the 8th of a month,

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What is Our Role and How Do We Discern It?

11/6/2010

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"What is my destiny?"

Is is a question many ask, and a lucky few consciously and confidently find the answer to!

This afternoon I had the privilege of hearing Justice Tulch address the graduating class of 2010 at Tyndale's fall convocation.  In urging the new teachers

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The Difference Between Men and Women

11/5/2010

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Last night was the final night of Ground School.  We celebrated by taking a group photo and heading out for a drink afterwards.

The photographer promised to send me photos afterwards.

I eagerly checked my inbox, looking forward to the photos of the people in our little group -- we future pilots.  The photographer did not lie -- he sent me photos.  12 of them.  The first several, giant files that took huge amounts of time to download, were of mags, carb heat and other mechanical parts of the plane.  It wasn't until the next day that he finally got around to sending the IMPORTANT pictures -- the group shots we had taken in the hanger after class!!!
Ground School November 3 Island Air Flight School
Had a woman been sending the photos, the group pics would have come first, and the engine shots much, much, much later!!!
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Starry Night

11/3/2010

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Those who are up at 5:45 on a cool November morning in the Northern Hemisphere have the disctinct privilege of enjoying quite a heavenly display, provided the sky is clear and the moon is not full.

This morning, while out with the dog, I located several constellations, including the big dipper, and was reminded of its "different" position in contrast to when I last saw it in the much starrier sky at our place out east.  Here in Toronto, this morning's sliver of a moon made up somewhat for the extensive light pollution our urban sky is now subject to.

A telesope helps... the other night, a colleague brought one to the university, and we enjoyed the moons of jupiter, whose light takes 40 minutes to travel to earth!
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    About Vera...

    Vera & her Sons, April 2021
    After writing for several teacher and multiple birth publications, including ETFO's Voice Magazine, Multiple Moments, and the Bulletwin, Vera turned her written attention to prolific blogging for some years, including BiB,  "Learn to Fly with Vera!"  and SMARTbansho .  Homeschooling 4 was her travel blog in Argentina.  She now spends more time on her Instagram (@schalgzeug_usw)  than her blog (pictures are worth a thousand words?!) 
    DISCLAIMER
    The views expressed on this blog are the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the perspectives of her family members or the position of her employer on the the issues she blogs about.  These posts are intended to share resources, document family life, and encourage critical thought on a variety of subjects.  They are not intended to cause harm to any individual or member of any group. By reading this blog and viewing this site, you agree to not hold Vera liable for any harm done by views expressed in this blog.
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Vera C. Teschow, OCT, M.Ed., MOT
Toronto, ON & St Peter's Harbour, PE
www.verateschow.ca 2021
Photos used under Creative Commons from Sean MacEntee, Studio Paars, Bengt Nyman, zeevveez, GoodNCrazy, CJS*64, Accretion Disc, CharlesLam, Courtney Dirks, CJS*64 "Man with a camera", Accretion Disc, Bobolink, Ian Muttoo, BioDivLibrary, Alaskan Dude, IsabelleAcatauassu, runran, Transformer18, jglsongs, Create For Animal Rights, david_shankbone, Paul J Coles, foilman, Newport Geographic, Photo Everywhere, kevin dooley, Claudio , Alex Guibord, Tscherno, f_mafra, Terry Madeley, musee de l'horlogerie, BobMacInnes, wwarby, jonathangarcia, amboo who?, chimothy27, Elin B, cliff1066™, Grzegorz Łobiński, Rennett Stowe, Farhill, Phil Manker, Guitarfool5931, airguy1988, dierk schaefer, Rob Stemple, katerha, StockMonkeys.com, Ramotionblog, andrewk3715, charlywkarl, AJC1, rachel_titiriga