Ruminations of a Dinosaur

Day 3 (3/25/19)

I started my first teaching job in 1981. Since that time I have taught at many levels and under many circumstances. Over the next year I would like to reflect on some of the things that have changed in education and some of the things that have remained the same. This is not a doctoral thesis, by any means, but the ponderings of a dinosaur.

 I did not go to Kindergarten. It was available but for whatever reason our mother decided not to send us so I was six when I started first grade. I sometimes wonder if we are doing the right thing by starting children in school so early. My grandson will be six this summer and already has two years under his belt, although one of those was only half days. I realize the economic reality of sending to children to school so early but wonder if it is best for their development. My brother and I spent our days building forts in the woods and pretending we were the latest TV characters or even the neighbor boys Richard and David, who were in High School and had horses. They were pretty much the coolest people we knew. When we were older we were Brains Benton and converted our woodshed into a crime lab. Now days it seems like even playtime is structured. I follow a Facebook page called “Play based Art” which is great but what about play based play. Play has become athletics and yet another structured activity. We seem to be in such a hurry to rush our children into the future. Currently there is a big push in schools to offer more and more college classes. In some cases students have many of their first year of college general studies done before graduating from High School. Again what is our big hurry? Many of the skills I learned for life came from my elective classes. Now, with all the required classes and Advanced Placement classes there is little room for electives. In many cases the elective classes that are available are so focused on specific technologies that they do little to teach the basics. Although we have children who are prepared for college, few are prepared for life. It doesn’t take a PhD to see that many of our students lack valuable everyday coping skills. As I said in the beginning I don’t have all the answers. If I did I wouldn’t be in the classroom, I would be inventing acronyms, writing books, collecting data and making all sorts of money. These are just the ruminations of dinosaur.

Spring Break on the Bike Trail

Three Builds

Day 2 (3/23/19)

After a couple of years without much activity on the bike trail Eileen and I decided to get an early start in 2019. We had no idea how much snow would be left on the trail but decided to go find out. There were areas where snow had drifted that we had to walk the bikes across but most of it was good. This time of the year is a great time to get out and build because the grass hasn’t covered all the building materials yet. We were not disappointed.  I started by building a cairn at the beginning of the trail. The only problem we encountered was the water. Many of the building sites were still quite saturated so we headed for higher ground. I wanted to check on the area we refer to as the sculpture garden. We were pleasantly surprised to find “Tripod” still standing although somewhat worse for wear. Most of the other builds were down. I set to work. It was wet and muddy but at least I didn’t have to worry about biting ants or mosquitoes. Soon after starting on Tripod I realized that with the soft ground I was going to have to do some stabilization. Finally, I managed to get everything set up without fear of it toppling at least right away. I spent some time restoring a couple of other builds before deciding to call it a day. I hope this bodes well for the rest of the year.  

Some Snow

Eileen walking her Bike

First build in 2019

Woolly Bear

Tripod still standing

We found a rock

Signs of Spring

In hiding

Building starts

A new one

Tripod rebuild

Pussy Willows

In Search of Christopher Robin

The Search

Day 1 (3/16/19)

After a very long winter the weather this morning was beautiful. Our son called to see if we wanted to head down to Harrington beach to do some hiking with his family. It didn’t take much prodding to get us to agree. They recently picked up a new little Boston terrier puppy, Moose, so it was a good opportunity to give him a chance to blow off some steam. It was our grandson Wade that had the most fun however. After being cooped up all winter he had to explore everything. It didn’t take long before his imagination started to run wild. Soon he and grandma had found a tree that looked like it could possibly have been Pooh’s house. Without going much further they found another one that just had to be Piglets. It was a perfect morning for exploring except perhaps for the slippery spots. Moose spent a lot of his time sleeping but did manage to do a bit of chasing around. As usual the beach offered another spot to explore. There was still some ice along the edges but there was enough area for walking. The park had made a lot of improvements last summer like a new shelter and stairs down to the beach. I hope we get more opportunities to explore this summer.

The Start

Deer

Exploring

A Tree in a Tree

First Cairn of the year

A beautiful day

First Ice Cairn

Second Ice Cairn

Looking North

Pooh's house

Piglet's

Puppy Kisses