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• Elona Hartjes, MEd (Candidate), Ontario Certified Teacher

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There is some really interesting software available to help students who have problems with reading and writing. I was showing my students a program that they can use to help them with their reading and writing difficulties. Premier Assistive Technology enables students to hear what they have typed or scanned. The student can type in a paragraph or an essay, or even scan some text and the program reads it back to them. My students had fun with it typing in all kinds of silly things and hearing Microsoft Mary read it back to them. It will be interesting to see whether the kids choose to use it to do their work. One student, bless him, suggested that the program would be useful for parents who are too busy to read bedtime stories to their kids. Microsoft Mary could read the book instead.

I love orchids. I have about 20 of them, and they thrive in my greenhouse kitchen. Cymbidiums and Dendrobiums grow and bloom happily in my east windows, Cattleyas grow and bloom happily in my west windows. Two of my cattleyas have just begun blooming. Between them, they have eleven spectacular purple blossoms. (The picture in the link does not do them justice.) My miniture cattleya’s are still forming buds and should be blooming in about a month. Their blossoms are a breath taking orange, yellowish colour. The other orchids are either dormant or just growing. You have to be patient to grow orchids because most of the time , I’ll be brutally honest here , there’s not much to commend them. In many ways they don’t behave like other house plants. They don’t grow in soil; they grow in bark or moss. Their roots don’t grow down into the pot, but usually grow up out of the pot every which way toward the ceiling. I’ll be the first to admit that most of the time they’re ugly not even much to look at. I guess you could say that you have to work at liking them. You have to remind yourself that really, their potential is their beauty.
Come to think of it, the at risk kids I teach are like that, too. Their potential is their beauty. Like my orchids, they don’t behave in the accepted manner. Their “roots” don’t grow down orderly toward the earth into the pot; their “roots” grow wildly every which way just like orchid roots. Similar to orchids, these students can be very frustrating, trying one’s patience for long periods of time when there are no blossoms to enjoy, and when they do bloom, it’s usually for too brief a time. I find, to enjoy orchids and at risk kids, one has to appreciate their uniqueness. They need special nurturing because they are different. But if one is patient and careful to meet their needs, they’ll bloom. And, it’s spectacular.

The Happiness Project. I find the notion of happiness as a project rather intriguing. I’m a project person myself and have many projects on the go. My projects are goals. I like having goals. They give my life purpose and direction. I’m the happiest when I am working towards a goal. I could say Projects R Me- just check out my textile studio, my garden shed, my bookcases or my “to be developed” file at work and you’d know what I mean. When I came across Gretchen’s blog The Happiness Project the other day , I had an epiphany. I realized that all my projects are really a subset (sub-project?) of my major project, my happiness project . I hadn’t realized that and that realization makes me smile. I really like Gretchen’s blog it has much food for thought. Check it out when you have a moment. You won’t be disappointed. I intend on sitting down with a nice cup of hot tea and spending some time exploring it oops- I’ve set another goal and started another project.

Neon made a comment about what a relief it was to realize “that I shape my feelings and life by choosing what I want to think about.” It is quite a relief, in fact it’s empowering. Whenever ( well almost whenever) I start to have negative thoughts about a situation or a person, myself included, I encourage myself to let those negative thoughts fall away and choose to see things in a more positive light. I can feel angry, crummy, disappointed etc about something or I can let it go and not bring it into the present moment. Whatever happened, has happened. It’s over. Done. I can’t change the past. I can only affect the present moment. I can choose to be negative in the present moment, or I can choose to be positive in the present moment. It is a choice. Yes, it’s a choice. But it’s not always an easy choice. Sometimes it takes me more “present moments” than I would like it to. Why is it the case I have to work hard at being positive while I never seem to have to work hard at being negative? If anyone has any ideas about this, I sure would appreciate hearing them.

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  These are my personal views and not those of my employer.