Moving and Change

We moved to a new home last week. It was an adventure, and still is, I guess, since all our stuff is in the new house but we are still figuring out where it is, and where it should be. When one of the kids unloads the dishwasher, it takes three times longer than it used to, because for almost every item they have to bring it to Mom with a, "And where does this go?" And it's not just the kids, it's me too: "Honey, have you seen the box with extension cords in it?" and "Where did we put the blender now? I thought it was in this cupboard..."

New house: Brick! Walking distance from campus! 

Moving means recalibrating. We get to find new "normal" places for our stuff. We get to figure out traffic patterns for how we function together in this space. We get to (try to) figure out which switches control which lights. We get to settle in to new routines.

Wisdom? Or Common Sense?

A friend of mine recently posted a photo of me on Facebook. It's actually a photo of a page in the most recent issue of our University magazine for alumni, and supporters, and friends of the institution. It was in a piece entitled, "On Civil Discourse," and I was grateful to be interviewed for this important article. (Not that my contributions were so amazing, or anything.) I encourage you to read it; you can find it online here: On Civil Discourse.

My friend shared the photo with a post, "Check out my smart friend Dave speaking wisdom." I'm grateful that she thought this was wise! Here's the photo, grabbed from her Facebook post:

Thank You!: An End of the Year Boost

I'm a techie, for sure. I love all things digital. But you know what? You just can't beat a hand-written note. There is something about it that says, "I care so much, I'm going to take the time to get out a piece of paper and a pen and devote a few minutes to creating a tangible record of my thoughts about you."

I've been teaching for over 20 years now, and I have a whole file of cards and notes that I've received from parents, students, administrators, and colleagues over the years. These are precious! The work of teaching is demanding in ways that I'm not sure non-teachers fully comprehend. Tangible expressions of gratitude, even in small ways like a card or note, are treasures that give a boost.

In the past month or so, I've received several notes of thanks from students or schools that I've worked with this year.

Getting cards like these never gets old!

Theses are going into the file. These are treasures--tangible ways of recognizing that in some way, the work I did this year with these folks made a difference for them.

School is wrapping up for this academic year. If there is an educator that made a difference in your life, in your kid's life, in your community's life...I encourage you to take a few minutes and let them know. It might seem trivial to you, but this gesture will be appreciated!

Learning Styles (Again?)

I often get requests through the professional organizations of which I am a member to participate in research studies being conducted by colleagues and graduate students. I'm happy to do this, if the topic of the study is germane to my experience, education, or context. It's interesting to see what other people in my field (EdTech) are working on, the kinds of questions they are asking, and the connections they are making. It's also a good way to keep up with developments in the field.

Today I participated in a study about preparation for online teaching. I've been part of several studies in this area in the past; with the continuing growth of online education, there is a lot of ongoing research here. What caught my eye was this item on the survey:

A screen-grab from the survey I was taking...

I was not sure how to respond to this one. Here's why:

Flourishing and Encouragement

At the risk of sounding like I'm patting myself on the back, I'll share this story:

A student emailed me this meme, with a word of gratitude and encouragement for the way I've led class this semester...

I'm so grateful for this. I have a reputation for being passionate and energetic in the classroom, and I try to capitalize on these attributes. And usually, I think I do; I'm able to leverage these to create an atmosphere where learning can happen.

But it's not perfect, you know?

Teaching Controversy

It's that time of the semester in science methods...the time when we are wading back into talking about how to approach teaching (potentially) controversial topics for Christians who teach science. Talking about how to teach topics like the age of the Earth, Darwinian evolution, human sexuality, climate change...it's an adventure, for sure.

I have included some version of this series of lessons as long as I've taught Elementary Science Methods, which goes back to 2006 now...this is my 20th time teaching the course! As I shared with my students in class today, it never gets "easier" for me to teach this content...but it does get "better." What I mean by that is, I recognize that there are a wide variety of viewpoints held by Christians on these topics, and it's always challenging to balance grace and truth. That part just doesn't get easier, and that was true when I was teaching middle school science, and it's definitely still true now that I'm teaching future teachers.

In our last class meeting, I advertised the topic of the day as teaching the age of the Earth, and we did talk about that. But, as I pointed out to my students, we actually spent more time talking about the Bible, than about scientific evidence. I wanted to name this specifically for my students, because I think that so often when (some) Christians ask the question, "So...just how old is the Earth?" the real question they are asking is, "Do you believe that the Bible is literally true, or not?" And I think that's an entirely reasonable question to ask, but it's not the same thing as thinking about the scientific evidence for the age of the Earth.

Apollo 17 [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons.

Making Connections: Thinking and Learning

This morning, when I was about to get into the shower, I was taking off my watch and I noticed that I'm starting to get get my typical biking-glove-tan-lines. That gave me a bit of joy, actually, because it means the weather has warmed up enough for me to be biking regularly again, and it's sunny enough that my arms are starting to brown (slightly) compared to my hands, which stay covered up by my palm-padded biking gloves.

Noticing this, reminded me of an Encyclopedia Brown story I read (probably around age 10? I was obsessed!) that revolved around the culprit being left-handed, and one of the clues was that a suspect had different colored hands--because he was a golfer, and only wore a glove on one hand.

The concept of only wearing one glove made me think of Michael Jackson, who used to famously wear only one glove, and I briefly wondered if his hands were different colors in the 1980s too.

And that idea of only wearing one glove in the 80s reminded me of a memory from when I was in the third grade, and a friend had gone to a Dodgers game on "batting glove night," and she gave me the glove she got--not because either of us were big baseball fans, but because we were friends, and she thought I would like it. She was right, I did. Because it was the 80s, and people could wear just one glove and be cool. (If we were pretending to be Michael Jackson, I guess.)

And that reminded me of an episode of 99% Invisible I just listened to on a bike ride this week that was all about the history of how the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, and how the city displaced a Mexican-American community from the area that would become Dodger Stadium. Listening to this podcast has helped me to make all sorts of interesting and strange connections between so many aspects of contemporary life and good design (that's where the title comes from: if it's good design, it is "99% invisible"--you only notice it if the design is bad.)

I suddenly realized this weird cognitive loop, and it made me smile

And all of this happened in about 30 seconds, as I got into the shower, closed the curtain, and turned the water on.