Reflection and Perspectives

How often do you pause and reflect on your efforts, accomplishments, and adjust your avenues of approach? How do you encourage others to self reflect and view different perspectives in the learning environment?

Whether I am in a formal or informal learning environment I am often reminded of the story of "The Blind Men and the Elephant". Today you can see the various credits in the Wikipedia article or through the 1000+ titles in Google Books.

So how often do you put yourself in the position of the blind men and the elephant to see another person's perspective?

I am not sure how old I was when I first read this story but I know it factors into my life, regardless of my role of the hour. Wikipedia describes a few versions of the story but this quote from the Buddhist version caught my attention: "Just so are these preachers and scholars holding various views blind and unseeing...In their ignorance they are by nature quarrelsome, wrangling, and disputatious, each maintaining reality is thus and thus."

So for those who are sharing knowledge in any learning environment, ensure you are not right fighting for a truth which may only be a half truth, take a moment and listen, and see if you can "Seek first to understand then be understood" (Steven Covey).

The learning process is not an "us vs. them" battlefield. The lifelong learning process is one part of the "unity" within the community. What role do you fill?

Some quotes that have caught my attention during my homework and research assignments this week:

Quotes from Robert M. Hutchins:

"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives."

“It must be remembered that the purpose of education is not to fill the minds of students with facts…it is to teach them to think.”

“Education is a kind of continuing dialogue, and a dialogue assumes different points of view.”

“My idea of education is to unsettle the minds of the young and inflame their intellects.”

From Peter F. Drucker:

We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.

So how often do you pause and reflect on your efforts, accomplishments, and adjust your avenues of approach? How do you encourage others to self reflect and view different perspectives in the learning environment?

Comments are always welcome.

Ever spent time with a School Nurse?

Thank You Nurse Jones!

Nurse Belinda Jones presenting health & welfare information and statistics about student health.

Ever spent some time with your school nurse? I know the experiences vary from one school to another (if a school even has a school nurse) but this blog post is just a simple appreciation for School Nurse Belinda Jones. School Nurses and Georgia came together to petition Governor Sonny Perdue's eradication of school nurses. While people look for test scores and AYP stats, it is rare to find the death statistics for a school district. With privacy issues and medical records, critical thinking is imperative for students today.

Even if you have the healthiest of children, does your child know how to provide or seek assistance if something happens in the classroom? Just as adults prepare for emergencies in a working environment, students have a need to know how to seek help when something happens. While great strides are improving technology, most schools still ban cell phones. Just like knowing where the emergency gas shut off is at a gas station, students need to know how to seek help and what to do in the mean time.

Believe me...Nurse Jones is not a school nurse for the $$$. Butler HS' Nurse Jones gets to spend time between an elementary and a high school and on emergency calls for other schools. Between trying to get students to return the medical cards and emergency contact information, she treats students w/allergies, asthma, accidents, pregnancies, diabetes, bruises, bloody noses, broken bones, MRSA, H1N1, and whatever other ailments she is notified of in the realm of a day and manages prescriptions and consent forms from parents.

We encouraged Nurse Jones to fill out a "Teacher Wish List" because she also takes care of our students. You have never seen such a smile when delivering some basic personal hygiene items, a few boxes of band aids, and plastic bags for ice packs. You would have thought we brought her the best gift in the world. With budgets being cut left and right, have you checked on your school nurse lately?

Mark your calendars May 12, 2010, National School Nurse Day.

From Past to Present

I came across the first blog I started in support of Butler High School. It is titled, Part of the Solution and allowed me to share information with others about things anyone could do to help out this school, the students, and to help eradicate the "Disgusta" mentality that so many of our students associate with Augusta, GA.

My last post on that blog is associated with a written response to 15 questions we presented to the school board after 90 days of submitting the written request to them and after they attended a "Meet and Greet" event at the school. To this day, responses to some of those questions have not been answered. It doesn't mean I gave up, I just redirected my efforts to support the students who will one day replace those making the decisions.

I was looking at the blog post in reference to encourage people to register their Target cards in support of their school of choice.

GEORGE P BUTLER HIGH SCHOOL AUGUSTA, GA 30906
Target’s most recent donation(September 2006): $136.97
Total of all of Target’s donations through September 2006: $2422.34
Amount accumulated so far toward Target’s next donation* 0.0
Number of Target® Visa® and Target® Card holders who have designated this school: 213

Here is the latest information:

Butler High School Augusta, GA 30906-3547

The most recent Target donation to this school (March 2009): $84.45

Total of all Target donations to this school through March 2009: $3223.83

Amount accumulated toward the next Target donation: *$57.45

Number of REDcard holders who have designated this school: 33

So if you have a Target card, support a school you never know how far a few extra cents will go if you designate a school you used to attend, a school your children or grandchildren attend, or a school in your community.

More information on Target's Take Charge of Education

When people discover the blog they question why I have not deactivated the blog or deleted any information...I remind them that many of the posts support my own educational pursuit in the field of Educational Technology Management and they provide an audit trail which can be used for personal and professional references.