Country Contemplative

2012

Don — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:07:03 +0000

What does the future hold? No one knows as life unfolds a minute, an hour, a day at a time. Suffice to say it’ll be exciting. An election year might be the worst of it. Business frequently slows in election years as people see especially undecided. The worst of it might be having to put up with the political discourse. It’s been particularly strident in the last few years. One could hope that will change. On the bright side technology continues to draw our world closer together and it empowers people in ways that are probably unintended. Just last week Verizon dropped a plan to charge customers more for paying their bills online. In like manner a major web hosting company backtracked on support of a controversial new legislation when customers began leaving in droves thanks in part to Twitter.

Social networks fueled reporting on the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street. The average citizen has lost touch with their governments on one hand but the web continues to foster transparency in spite of it all.

The last U.S. troops out

Don — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 06:37:16 +0000

I’m glad to see that the last United States troops are leaving Iraq. Many hawks are quick to blame our president for the uncertain end of the mission. That’s unfair and unfortunate because the war never had areal mission to begin with. It was all based on lies and subterfuge. We invaded a sovereign nation that had nothing to do with 9/11 and we caused tremendous carnage. Between Iraq and Afghanistan we have spent nearly 4 trillion dollars. Imagine what good we could have done here and elsewhere with that capital. This is the season that many of us celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace so it is all the more fitting that our engagement in Iraq is at an end. Thank you to the American forces who served so admirably and at such great cost to themselves. May God bless our troops and their families and grant them a lengthy furlough at home with their loved ones. In the spirit of another great president from Illinois, let us “care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.”

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. – Isaiah 9:6

A full and thankful heart

Don — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:44:39 +0000

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States and for many of us it has many meanings. My earliest recollections were trips to my grandmother’s home and dinner with all the cousins. Later in life it was dinner at Mom’s. Still later it was turkey, cranberry sauce, and stuffing in US Navy chow halls. Those years made made me long for the earlier ones. Eventually I got married and thanksgiving meant dinner at our home. My wife was the hostess for our extended families and our children. Grandpa Joe says grace and then we all dive in for turkey, corn, all the trimmings and pies too.

I woke up early this morning and began reading Gratefulness.org which is one of my favorite websites on the entire Internet. I started tweeting and sharing some of their links and stories about the positive effects of Gratefulness. I dozed off again for a few hours and then re-awakened around 8:30AM. to my surprise a couple of those tweets were retweeted and the circle of Gratefulness was extended to at least 2300 others and God only knows who else will retweet again. This demonstrates the power of gratitude and social networks.

Today I’m grateful to God as I understand him and to my lovely wife and children which now include our lovely daughter-in-law. They are tangible evidence of his love and abundance. I’m grateful for my co-workers who continue to inspire me each day. I’m grateful for their patient encouragement which inspired me to return to college a couple of years ago and to graduate in May 2011 from St. Bonaventure University at the top of my class. I’m grateful to my boss, Michelle, a beautiful lady who supported me through four internships and continues to lovingly mentor me. I’m grateful to all the lovely ladies, Jessica, Greta & Katie who took me on as an intern along the way. I’m grateful to my professors and fellow students who encouraged a reluctant student to find my way. I’m grateful for the many Franciscan mentors who help to animate my life each day.

I’m grateful for my Mom who never gave up on me and continues to buoy my spirit when I get blue. I’m most grateful to my wife who has truly been God’s agent in my life. She continues to provide inspiration, love and an occasional kick in the butt to keep me on course. My blessings are so many this day that I cannot count them all. I’m closing this post with one of my favorite prayers that hangs on the wall at Mt. Irenaeus

It is not you that shapes God
it is God that shapes you.
If you are the work of God
await the hand of the artist
who does all things in due season.
Offer Him your heart,
soft and tractable,
and keep the form
in which the artist has fashioned you.
Let your clay be moist,
lest you grow hard
and lose the imprint of his fingers.

- St. Irenaeus

Peace to all and Happy Thanksgiving!

What next?

Don — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:48:10 +0000

Conferences are great and this years NYSCATE was no exception. Opportunities to meet other professionals eager to educate children. Educators are an overwhelmingly idealistic community. That’s what makes me glad to be one. These are challenging days in education as educators everywhere seek to implement the Common Core. There is a great deal of stress generated as teachers and administrators are being evaluated more stringently than ever. Politicians, the public and corporations are demanding more accountability. Children face more of this pressure too to succeed on these benchmarks.

Everywhere in the vendor area I saw sales people exploiting this new trend. Company after company selling software designed to assess learning. The emphasis today is using the web and iPads or other similar I-devices. Regardless of the platform the emphasis is clearly on assessment. In stark contrast to all of this I attended Dr. Gary Stager’s presentation which emphasized authentic learning and authentic assessment of the learning. Gary Stager offers a clear choice between the view that everything can and/or ought to be measured and what might defy measurement.

Are we educators who enlighten or merely trainers who impart knowledge. You can easily assess training. You cannot easily assess enlightenment and transformation. Enlightenment which is marked by flashes of insight defies measurement. Ironically enlightenment and transformation are at the highest levels of Bloom. The Common Core despite its lofty goals might actually be frustrating education with its emphasis on measurable goals.

Can we we combine the two? I’m interested in what you think.

Grateful

Don — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 03:40:02 +0000

Tonight I’m spending an overnight with our son & lovely daughter-in-law. They’re taking good care of the older generation. It’s my first stay with them since their recent marriage. I’m in the area for the 2011 NYSCATE conference. I had a great day at the conference a great meal at Dinosaur BBQ with friends and fellow Ed techers

Tonight I’m sleeping in a lovely home owned in part by a son I once held in my arms. Life is like that isn’t it. God has been good to me. Thanks to Devin & Mandi for welcoming me into their home.

NYSCATE 2011

Don — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:23:19 +0000

It’s been 20 years since my first NYSCATE Conference. The changes in that time have been remarkable. I’ve attended a number of sessions and most have been very interesting. Although I’ve seen no presentations on open source per se but I have seen a number of presentations where the applications are on the web and they are PHP served applications and most likely those applications are run on Apache servers. While Google is not open source, it is hosted on open source data centers. Great buzz here about Google Apps for Education. Twitter is huge in Educational Technology circles and it’s yet another open source based application.

The growth of iPads has been phenomenal. Very few attendees carry notebooks or even netboks anymore. Almost everyone has an iPad. Almost everyone has a smart phone and while many conference goers sport iPhones, many more are carrying Android based phones. Interactive white board vendors are more numerous and there must be at least a dozen separate vendors.

Stopping by the woods

Don — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 21:57:39 +0000

It’s not winter by any stretch. It’s a lovely fall evening as I walk along the bike trail around Red House Lake in Allegany State Park. But, on my walk I thought of Robert Frost’s poem, “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening.”

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Deo Gratias

Don — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 03:14:58 +0000

That’s Latin for “Thanks be to God.” I learned that years ago as an altar boy in the pre-Vatican II Catholic Church. Two years ago I began a course of study at St. Bonaventure University in Educational Leadership. Two years ago about this time I was still quite uncertain of that direction and what I have come to regard as the “Good Journey” at St. Bonaventure. I graduated in May 2011 with a 4.0 and an MSED in Educational Leadership at the top of my class and then began the certification process to obtain official credentials as a School Building Leader and School District Leader. Today, shortly after 5 pm I received email that indicated that I had passed all tests for certification. I am very relieved that this part of the journey is over with. I found the certification tests difficult and a real test of what I had learned. The tests concentrated on skills found at the upper end of Bloom’s Taxonomy and they were designed by psychometricians who knew how to design difficult tests. That’s past and now I’ve passed one more hurdle on the road to school leadership at a crisis moment in American education. I have no idea what the future will bring. I’m listening with the ear of my heart. Thank you to everyone who prayed for my good test results. I’m grateful and hopeful. I’m grateful to my advisor, Dr. Greg Gibbs, my other professors at St. Bonaventure and to those in my cohort who encouraged me throughout our time together.

Transformation

Don — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 18:18:29 +0000

As I walked the woods today I am aware if my own transformation. I came to Mt. Irenaeus almost a dozen years ago. In that time I have slowly been transformed to a more loving person. I’m not even aware of it most of the time. That is not to say that I’m never irked or peeved, but I’m capable of more love than I was and that’s because I love myself more. I’ve forgiven and accepted myself which is so vital to transformation and it’s come about not due to my own striving or efforts. I have become still and let God do the work.

The Pond

Don — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 17:52:47 +0000

Still water is attractive to me. There is quiet there. This small pond at Mt. Irenaeus is so inviting that I spent nearly an hour there last Sunday. Today I’m hiking further up the Mountain Road. The stillness of Mt. Irenaeus restores my soul each week. I love people and I love solitude. I am reminded again of Thomas Merton.

“Out here in the woods I can think of nothing except God. It is not so much that I think of Him as I am as aware of Him as I am of the sun and the clouds and the blue sky and the thin cedar trees…Engulfed in the simple and lucid actuality of the afternoon — I mean God’s afternoon — this sacramental moment of time when the shadows will get longer and longer, and one small bird sings quietly in the cedars, one car goes by in the remote distance, and the oak leaves move in the wind.

High up in the summer sky I watch the silent flight of a vulture, and the day goes by in prayer. This solitude confirms my call to solitude. The more I am in it, the more I love it. One day it will possess me entirely and no man will ever see me again.
~Thomas Merton, A Search for Solitude