Just made it home. The last leg was a little tough. Approximately 24 hours sitting on the train from Jasper to Winnipeg. Some folks can sleep anywhere. Not me! However, the view leaving the Rockies was great.
Those who follow my blog for the emphasis on educational technology may wonder about this series of “off-topic” posts. For example, I have not written anything that on the surface may appear to have educational relevance for several weeks.
If you care, here is a justification.
I have a habit of reading over people’s shoulders. I admit this to be completely inappropriate, but I cannot help myself. While on this trip, Cindy has been reading Rafe Esquith’s ‘Teach Like Your Hair is On Fire”? Catchy title! Anyway, the last paragraph in the Prologue reads as follows:
There are so many charlatans in the world of education. They teach for a couple of years, come up with a few clever slogans, build their Web sites, and hit the lecture circuit. … I hope that people who read this book realize that true excellence takes sacrifice, mistakes, and enormous amounts of effort. After all, there are no shortcuts.
The point? If you believe in something, you practice it first, continue to engage in the activity as part of your normal routine, and talk about it as a by-product of this commitment.
I have been just been practicing in what for me is a little different setting.
As the title for this blog indicates, blogging is a way to learn through the processing of personal experiences. There are all kinds of learning experiences. There were some “traditional educational experiences” during this past week. I exhausted my supply of podcasts stored on my iPod. I also listened to “Looking for Alaska”, “The Search”, and “Earth: The Sequel”. There must be 20+ hours of content in the collection so getting through 3 books in less than two weeks would exceed my normal reading load. I also had the opportunity to take several hundred pictures and about an hour of video. Some have been uploaded to Flickr and more will end up there. For an old biologist, the setting was nearly ideal. I have a collection of material for a podcast I want to do on making Fireweed jelly, but it is back to the office tomorrow and working up the material on making jelly will require a little more research,.
