Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Seize the Day! Carpe Diem!
Seize the Day...Carpe Diem! is going along the border in my classroom! I purchased some word wall art for inspirational/educational quotes to put up in my 2009-2010 classroom.
I got the idea from Dead Poets Society, and was further inspired by Gus Lloyd, who has the "Seize the Day" program on XM and Sirius Satellite Radio, on the Catholic Channel at 159 Sirius and 117 XM. I enjoy listening to Gus, every day, and he has given me ideas for quick writes for the students' journals: For example, one day he had callers call in about their "first brush with celebrity." I like it, and many stories will unfold, as the students put their own together.
Thanks Gus!
In Blessed Black font, the walls of inspiration flowing around the room, will read:
"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind." - Rudyard Kipling
"One learns through the heart, not the eyes or intellect." - Mark Twain
"To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you, and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generation - is a pleasure beyond compare." - Kendo Yoshid
"The more that you read the more things you'll know. The more that you learn the more places you'll go."
"Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth." - Samuel Johnson
"Carpe Diem! Seize the Day!
" Thus we play the fools with time; and the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us - Henry IV, Act ii, Scene 2 - William Shakespeare
WOW!
I got the idea from Dead Poets Society, and was further inspired by Gus Lloyd, who has the "Seize the Day" program on XM and Sirius Satellite Radio, on the Catholic Channel at 159 Sirius and 117 XM. I enjoy listening to Gus, every day, and he has given me ideas for quick writes for the students' journals: For example, one day he had callers call in about their "first brush with celebrity." I like it, and many stories will unfold, as the students put their own together.
Thanks Gus!
In Blessed Black font, the walls of inspiration flowing around the room, will read:
"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind." - Rudyard Kipling
"One learns through the heart, not the eyes or intellect." - Mark Twain
"To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you, and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generation - is a pleasure beyond compare." - Kendo Yoshid
"The more that you read the more things you'll know. The more that you learn the more places you'll go."
"Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth." - Samuel Johnson
"Carpe Diem! Seize the Day!
" Thus we play the fools with time; and the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us - Henry IV, Act ii, Scene 2 - William Shakespeare
WOW!
Literature: The Perfect Game
The Perfect Game, by William Winokur is worth your read! LionsGate, a movie company put this into a movie over a year ago, and we are still waiting for its release! Originally set to come out in 2008, here we are in July 2009, and LionsGate is mum on a release date. For more about that...click here.
Based on a true story, the 342 page book is an inspiration, and I am working this summer to have The Perfect Game district-board approved for our public high schools.
I pray that there is no opposition to approval, although the next hurdle will be funding the classroom copies. Funding for new copies of books has always been an issue, all the years of my teaching. Never enough $ for the English classroom, but $ for athletics, science tables, technology computers and smart boards...but books?
Maybe someday my students will have a Kindle in their hands!
Saint Maria Goretti
Maria Goretti is an amazing example for our youth. She is also one of the few incorruptibles. This is a miraculous sign where the dead body does not deteriorate, and it is a sign for humans to witness that the Truth of our earthly goal of heaven, and the glory that is ours with the reuniting of the body and soul in heaven.
If only my students knew of her faith, her strength, her trust in the Lord, her story and her reward of incorruptibility.
I recommend the movie available at Amazon, Maria Goretti:
Friday, June 12, 2009
School's Out for Summer
I made it, with my sanity. ALLELUIA! I traveled to Seattle to be present for my nephew's graduation from HS, and this was the best choice I could make. I wasn't anywhere near the public school, where I teach; instead, was joyfully in the arms of my family, at the other side of the continent. I could not have asked for a better place to visit.
I am glad this miserable year is over. The last day of school was particularly trying, as students continued to heckle me over their grades being a "C" instead of a "B" or a "B" instead of an "A." May I tactfully and politely point out, that no student received a grade higher that he or she deserved, and failing students received grades, adjusted to pass at the lowest possible level, in order to rid myself of the possibility that the failing students, rude and horrible as they were, would be back to taint, ruin and destroy the classroom atmosphere of the new school year.
Be gone, and may I never have to see these rude, disrespectful, deceitful, dishonest, horrible students again. I pray that they mature, and are able to see the error of their ways. I also pray their parents come to their senses as well, since this behavior begins with the raising of these kids, and the manner in which they are continually raised in the household.
Parents? It is your job, and you have very little of which to be proud. I pray for a better future, and a turnaround in each of your households. Good luck.
I am glad this miserable year is over. The last day of school was particularly trying, as students continued to heckle me over their grades being a "C" instead of a "B" or a "B" instead of an "A." May I tactfully and politely point out, that no student received a grade higher that he or she deserved, and failing students received grades, adjusted to pass at the lowest possible level, in order to rid myself of the possibility that the failing students, rude and horrible as they were, would be back to taint, ruin and destroy the classroom atmosphere of the new school year.
Be gone, and may I never have to see these rude, disrespectful, deceitful, dishonest, horrible students again. I pray that they mature, and are able to see the error of their ways. I also pray their parents come to their senses as well, since this behavior begins with the raising of these kids, and the manner in which they are continually raised in the household.
Parents? It is your job, and you have very little of which to be proud. I pray for a better future, and a turnaround in each of your households. Good luck.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
A Poem for a Sign of the Times
Preface to the Poem
The following was written during the free time during the work day of a wonderful substitute teacher who has worked with the students I dealt with this school year. She has seen the challenge, which I have termed evil. She was thankful that she did not have to face this test of these students on a daily basis.
I have been thrown to the wolves.
The Reversal of the Tide
By
Francis Renaudin
Downhill Slide,
No more pride,
in accomplishing any task.
Get it done; I just want fun,
No questions will I ask.
Rude and loud, a noisy crowd,
With no determination to succeed,
No desire to process deeper thoughts,
this rapid new-born breed.
Rebellious, arrogant, think they're in control,
will submit to no law but its own,
They're empty and devoid of purpose,
The seeds of failure have been early sown.
What's happened here to display
such a rueful demise,
The nation's hope in its children
Has vanished before our eyes.
Can it be integrity,
Has host its place in virtue,
Has been replaced by pleasing the self,
Assuming it doesn't hurt in any way?
The respect once accourded to the pursuit of truth,
is a concept so far removed
from the thoughts of this generation
they want everything quickly and proved.
And the language - the tool to inspire thorough the ages
Has lost any semblance of grace,
It champions the aspects of darkness,
Moving goodness right out of its place.
Without these qualities, this nation will die,
There will be no spark to ignite,
The bell is tolling for this age of youth,
And the day is turning to night.
The following was written during the free time during the work day of a wonderful substitute teacher who has worked with the students I dealt with this school year. She has seen the challenge, which I have termed evil. She was thankful that she did not have to face this test of these students on a daily basis.
I have been thrown to the wolves.
The Reversal of the Tide
By
Francis Renaudin
Downhill Slide,
No more pride,
in accomplishing any task.
Get it done; I just want fun,
No questions will I ask.
Rude and loud, a noisy crowd,
With no determination to succeed,
No desire to process deeper thoughts,
this rapid new-born breed.
Rebellious, arrogant, think they're in control,
will submit to no law but its own,
They're empty and devoid of purpose,
The seeds of failure have been early sown.
What's happened here to display
such a rueful demise,
The nation's hope in its children
Has vanished before our eyes.
Can it be integrity,
Has host its place in virtue,
Has been replaced by pleasing the self,
Assuming it doesn't hurt in any way?
The respect once accourded to the pursuit of truth,
is a concept so far removed
from the thoughts of this generation
they want everything quickly and proved.
And the language - the tool to inspire thorough the ages
Has lost any semblance of grace,
It champions the aspects of darkness,
Moving goodness right out of its place.
Without these qualities, this nation will die,
There will be no spark to ignite,
The bell is tolling for this age of youth,
And the day is turning to night.
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