Nov

15

Don’t Tell Me

Filed Under The Way I See It | Leave a Comment

Don’t tell me
It’s easy
When it isn’t

Don’t tell me
It’s easy
When you’ve never
Done it

Tell me
It’s hard and
I’ll help you

Nov

14

Microsoft Mary to The Rescue.

Filed Under "At-risk" students, Special Education | Leave a Comment

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.

Nov

12

The Spectacular Beauty of Orchids

Filed Under "At-risk" students, The Way I See It | Leave a Comment

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.

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