Daily Inspiration

Water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow.

- Plutarch

inspire daily calendar Sat 21 Mar / Sun 1 Apr 2012 

Many students and teachers across the nation are actively involved in Earth-friendly ventures. For many schools, the recycling program is first on the agenda. In some places, however, recycling is still very difficult to do, or even unheard of. In an Edutopia online poll, 31 percent of voters say their school has a comprehensive, schoolwide recycling program in place, but 18 percent say their school offers no recycling program at all. Forty-nine percent say recycling is present, but programs could definitely be improved. The remaining 2 percent were undecided.

- www.edutopia.org

Teachers daily calendar Wed 22 Apr 2009

Daily Inspiration

To succeed...you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you. 

- Tony Dorsett

inspire daily calendar Fri 30 Mar 2012 

Whenever hearts are generous and open minds abound, whenever there's a will to learn . . . a teacher can be found.

- Becky Kelly

Teachers daily calendar Tue 21 Apr 2009

Daily Inspiration

In order to discover new lands, one must be willing to lose sight of the shore for a very long time. 

- Anonymous

inspire daily calendar Thu 29 Mar 2012 

A Student's Prayer

Now I lay me down to rest

I pray I pass tomorrow's test

If I should die before I wake

That's one less test I'll have to take.

Teachers daily calendar Mon 20 Apr 2009

Daily Inspiration

A leader, once convinced that a particular course of action is the right one, must....be undaunted when the going gets tough.

- Ronald Reagan

inspire daily calendar Wed 28 Mar 2012 

I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious. 

- Albert Einstein

Teachers daily calendar Sat/Sun 18/19 Apr 2009

Daily Inspiration

By asking for the impossible, obtain the best possible.

- Italian Proverb

inspire daily calendar Tue 27 Mar 2012

Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can play weird - that's easy. What's hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple complicated is commonplace - making the complicated simple, awesomely simple - that's creativity.

- Charles Mingus

Teachers daily calendar Fri 17 Apr 2009

Daily Inspiration

We can agree to disagree, but we don't need to be disagreeable.

- John Wooden

inspire daily calendar Mon 26 Mar 2012

The thing you fear most has no power. Your fear of it is what has the power. Facing the truth really will set you free.

- Oprah Winfrey

inspire daily calendar Sat/Sun 24/25 Mar 2012

Daily Inspiration

Determination gives you the resolve to keep going in spite of the roadblocks that lay before you.

- Denis Waitley

inspire daily calendar Fri 22 Mar 2012

A person's a person, no matter how small.

- Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel), Horton Hears a Who

Teachers daily calendar Thu 16 Apr 2009

Daily Inspiration

 To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult.

- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

inspire daily calendar Thu 22 Mar 2012 

I still cannot get use to how much my heart soars with every student's success, and how a piece of my heart is plucked away when any student slips away. 

- Delissa L. Mai as quoted in What to Expect Your First Year of Teaching

Teachers daily calendar Wed 15 Apr 2009

Daily Inspiration

Find our who you are and do it on purpose.

- Dolly Parton

inspire daily calendar Wed 21 Mar 2012

Quick Reference: Numeric Prefixes

Mega = million

Kilo = thousand

Hecto = hundred

Dec = ten

Deci = tenth

Centi = hundredth

Mili = thousandth

Micro = millionth

Teachers daily calendar Tue 14 Apr 2009

Daily Inspiration

To waken interest and kindle enthusiasm is the sure way to teach easily and successfully.

- Tryon Edwards

inspire daily calendar Tue 20 Mar 2012

My daughter is taking an advanced English class. She's reading a book that hasn't been written yet.

- Dave Cooperberg

Teachers daily calendar Mon 13 Apr 2009

Daily Inspiration

Never confuse motion with action.

- Benjamin Franklin

inspire daily calendar Mon 19 Mar 2012

In order to strengthen and improve the teaching profession, I have to start with my own classroom, then work within the district and local community.

- Former Colorado Teacher of the Year Joan Kniss

Teachers daily calendar Sat/Sun 11/12 Apr 2009

Daily Inspiration

Childhood development was the focus of my master of nursing. In the course of our studies, we were exposed to various tools that could be used to assess how a child was growing, developing, and coping. I was in an ideal situation as I had a five-year-old daughter at home, and sometimes in the evening I'd ask if she'd like to play with certain toys or draw me a picture that related to my studies. One evening after I had proposed a new activity, Laura wondered if it was part of my schoolwork, too. When I said it was, she sternly asked, "Does your teacher know I do your homework for you!"

 - C. Pryce in Reader's Digest

Teachers daily calendar Thu 9 Apr 2009

Q: What's the danger of sloppy writing?

A: If you have poor penmanship, you'll never make straight A's!

Teachers daily calendar Fri 10 Apr 2009

Daily Inspiration

Sometimes opportunities float right past your nose. Work hard, apply yourself, and be ready. When an opportunity comes you can grab it.

- Julie Andrews

inspire daily calendar Sat/Sun 17/18 Mar 2012 

Fun Facts: Food

Fried chicken is the most popular meal ordered in sit-down restaurants in the United States. The next in popularity are roast beef, spaghetti, turkey, baked ham, and fried shrimp.

A recipe for haggis, the national dish of Scotland: Take the heart, liver, lungs, and small intestine of a calf or sheep. Boil them in the stomach of the animal. Season with salt, pepper, and onions. Add suet and oatmeal. Enjoy!

China's Beijing Duck Restaurant can seat nine thousand people at one time.

- www.corsinet.com

Teachers daily calendar Wed 8 Apr 2009

Galacticas

Recently on Edmonton AM on CBC Radio they started a segment called something like "talking point of the day" where they get listeners to call / email / text / tweet in with responses to the question.

On Thursday 1 March, the question was about who your 'heart-throb' was, since it was Justin Beiber's 18th birthday (a heart-throb of today's young), and Davy Jones (a heart-throb in the late 60's) had just passed away.

One of the radio personalities mentioned that Richard Hatch (from Battlestar Galactica) was her heart-throb).

Between hearing that, and on Tuesday 28 February playing a Battlestar Galactica board game, I decided to re-watch them again starting with the old 1978 series.... I am now on the last episode of Galactica 1980.

Soon after starting to watch the series, a friend mentioned to me how much he disliked Boxy always running off and getting into trouble.

As I was watching the series this time I didn't notice Boxy in all that many episodes, especially not with the story centering around him (at least not until Galactica 1980).

My complaint about Boxy is how quickly he forgot his real father and assumed Apollo as his father, and how quickly he seemed to accept the loss of his mother.... but perhaps the time between episodes was greater than I thought, yet not all that well defined.

My personal 'gripe' about the original Battlestar is more that they found the path to Earth very easily, almost too easily, and that there were still plenty of humans around - some that knew of the 12 colonies, and some that didn't.

I have been watching the series through Netflix (Canada), and it came as surprise to me that the last 3 episodes under Battlestar Galactica were actually suppose to be under Galactica 1980. I am not too sure what the reasons were Battlestar Galactica ended, but it did end on a cliff hanger - which ties into the start of Galactica 1980.

I can definitely see why Galactica 1980 didn't last long. Finding Earth on the first episode (albeit 30 years after the end of Battlestar Galactica), seemed kind of weak. Add to that their ability to time travel, and Dr. Zee being child prodigy that the fleet listens to all the time. Sure, part of the reason for Dr. Zee is explored in the final episode of Galactica 1980, the short lived (10 episode - or 7 according to my Netflix, first 3 were not repeated) series ended ends with mystery.
What also annoyed me was the idiocy of the time travel in the first 3 episodes. It almost appeared to be a show where Dillon and Troy/Boxy keep going back in time to stop Xaviar from changing Earth's past.


Now having said all that, and basing the next on what I remember about Battlestar Galactica 2004, I noticed that Battlestar Galactica 2004 had a few hints and extrapolations to the original series.
These include not just having some of the old props showing up in the new series (old Vipers, and Cylons). The most interesting thread that was picked up was the humanoid Cylons - shown only in "The Night the Cylons Landed"

Well now that the final episode of Galactica 1980 is over, time to start Battlestar Galactica 2004

Daily Inspiration

Will power is to the mind like a strong blind man who carries on his shoulders a lame man who can see. 

- Arthur Schopenhauer

inspire daily calendar Fri 16 Mar 2012 

Books may well be the only true magic.

- Alice Hoffman

Teachers daily calendar Tue 7 Apr 2009

Daily Inspiration

Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so.

- Charles De Gaulle

inspire daily calendar Thu 15 Mar 2012 

School Satire

A study released by the Lyman Center for Policy Evaluation and Strategy may have uncovered a link between school-based education and human smartness.

"Based on these forms we had people fill out, and these charts we came up with, we're pretty sure exposure to education in early life consistent with higher levels of smartness-having overall," said Brent Shale, one of the study's coauthors. "Also, we figured out that the more educated-er people are, the better they are at doing complicated stuff like filling out forms and understanding charts."

If the study results are corroborated, the researchers say, it could mean "a whole new understanding of, you know, what smartness even is."

- www.theonion.com

Teachers daily calendar Mon 6 Apr 2009

Daily Inspiration

Leaders aren't born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.

- Vince Lombardi

inspire daily calendar Wed 14 Mar 2012 

One day I had my middle school students at the board working math problems. One of the young ladies was an exceptional student who happened to be a right-handed blonde. As a joke I told her that she was using a piece of left-handed chalk. Without turning around or saying anything she put the chalk in the tray, picked up another piece of chalk, and continued with the problem. 

-David Gurley

Teachers daily calendar Sat/Sun 4/5 Apr 2009

Daily Inspiration

The secret of success is constancy of purpose.

- Benjamin Disraeli

inspire daily calendar Tue 13 Mar 2012 

White Board Cleaning Tips

Put a small bit of toothpaste on a cloth and polish your white board as if you were polishing silver. The stains will be buffed right off. For a shiny finish, apply liquid turtle wax. Let the wax dry over the weekend before using the board again. 

Baby wipes will take off the marker that erasers leave behind and they;re less expensive than white board cleaner.

Clean athletic socks make excellent whiteboard erasers.

- Works4Me on www.nea.org

Teachers daily calendar Fri 3 Apr 2009

Daily Inspiration

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.

- Bill Cosby

inspire daily calendar Mon 12 Mar 2012 

Most Memorable Teachers

She took a vested interest in me as a person and not an athlete. She inspired me to be the best that I could be in the classroom and that would translate to me being a better player on the football field. Ultimately, her instruction allowed me to take tougher honors classes in high school, which in turn prepared me to be a good student at Vanderbilt University, one of the most prestigious universities in the country.

- Pro football player Shelton Quarles regarding teacher Joan Woods, Whites Creek High School, Whites Creek, Tennessee, on www.nea.org

Teachers daily calendar Thu 2 Apr 2009

Daily Inspiration

Children who are not spoken to by responsive adults will not learn to speak properly. Children who are not answered will stop asking questions. They will become incurious. And children who are not told stories and who are not read to will have few reasons for wanting to learn to read.

- Gail Haley

Teachers daily calendar Tue 31 Mar 2009 

[My family] believed in the public school because they believed in a community. They believed the important thing was what was in your head. My grandmother was a schoolteacher. She taught in a one-room country school north of Anoka, Minnesota, and my grandmother had a certain contempt for people who made a great show and were not that bright. My grandmother said, "Don't be a ten-dollar haircut on a twenty-five-cent head." You avoided that by going to school and paying attention. You became a worthwhile person and a member of the community.

- Garrison Keillor

Teachers daily calendar Wed 1 Apr 2009

Daily Inspiration

Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars.

- Frederick Longbridge

inspire daily calendar Sat/Sun 10/11 Mar 2012

James Michener, author of Hawaii and The Source, declined a dinner invitation at the White House during the Eisenhower administration, but his explanatory letter to the president made full amends. "Dear Mr. President," wrote Michener, "I received your invitation three days after I had agreed to speak a few words at a dinner honoring the wonderful high school teacher who taught me how to write. I know you will not miss me at your dinner, but she might at hers."

Commented the understanding Ike, "In his lifetime a man lives under fifteen or sixteen presidents, but a really fine teacher comes into his life but rarely."

- Richard Lederer

Teachers daily calendar Mon 30 Mar 2009

Daily Inspiration

There is more in us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps, for the rest of our lives, we will be unwilling to settle for less.

- Kurt Hahn

inspire daily calendar Fri 9 Mar 2012

I recently taught my kindergarten students about graphs. I asked them if they had ever seen a graph before. One little boy raised his hand and said, "Yes, at the zoo!"

- Robert Katz on www.teachernet.com

Teachers daily calendar Sat/Sun 28/29 Mar 2009

Daily Inspiration

A good beginning makes a good end.

- Anonymous

inspire daily calendar Thu 8 Mar 2012

Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.

- Muhammad Ali

Teachers daily calendar Fri 27 Mar 2009

Daily Inspiration

You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do.

- Henry Ford

inspire daily calendar Wed 7 Mar 2012

I think, therefore I am.

- René Descartes

I think I am, therefore I am, I think.

- George Carlin

Teachers daily calendar Thu 26 Mar 2009

Spreading the word...

I follow George Takei on facebook (https://www.facebook.com/georgehtakei), and he posted a really good video today about the idiotic laws Tennessee is looking to pass.
I saw the video here: http://www.allegiancemusical.com/video/tennesse-lawmakers-we-need-chat


Tennessee Lawmakers: We Need To Chat from Allegiance - A New Musical on Vimeo.

Daily Inspiration

Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.

- Marian Anderson

inspire daily calendar Tue 6 Mar 2012 

On the first day of school , a first-grader handed his teacher a note from his mother. The note read, "The opinions expressed by this child are not necessarily those of his parents."

- www.superkids.com

Teachers daily calendar Wed 25 Mar 2009

Daily Inspiration

Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right!

- Henry Ford

inspire daily calendar Mon 5 Mar 2012 

It's time to publicly and systematically promote an educational philosophy that honors diversity in the classroom. It's time to give students the opportunity to reach their full potential and aspire to higher education. It's time to remind them that they can deeply impact their communities and the world. The Freedom Writers Foundation believes the time has come. And by empowering students and teachers alike through outreach, curriculum, and scholarships, the time is now.

- www.freedomwritersdfoundation.org

Teachers daily calendar Tue 24 Mar 2009

Daily Inspiration

Let's make a dent in the universe.

- Steve Jobs

Teachers daily calendar Sat/Sun 21/22 Mar 2009

Word of the Day

ruly • \ROO-lee\ • adjective

: obedient; orderly.

Example sentence: Concert organizers worried that rambunctious fans might get out of hand, but the crowd was surprisingly ruly.

Did you know?

You're probably familiar with "unruly," meaning "not readily controlled or disciplined." Have you ever wondered, "Ts there a 'ruly' too?" If so, did it seem to you that such a word should exist? A little over 150 years ago, someone apparently followed that same thought process, creating "ruly" by dropping the prefix from "unruly." Whoever did so probably thought the coinage was a new one, but that's not quite the case. There had once been another "ruly" with much the same meaning as the modern term, but it had been out of use for over two hundred years. Ultimately, "ruly" and "unruly" come from "reuly," a Middle English word meaning "disciplined." "Reuly" in turn comes from Middle English "reule," a predecessor of "rule."

- www.merriam-webster.com

Teachers daily calendar Mon 23 Mar 2009

Daily Inspiration

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.

- Helen Adams Keller

inspire daily calendar Sat/Sun 3/4 Mar 2012

Teacher: Why are you taking your math book to the gym?

Student: I have to reduce some fractions.

Teachers daily calendar Fri 20 Mar 2009

A little bit of irony

Today as I was about to leave to volunteering at the Science Centre (Telus World of Science), my mobile phone beeped to tell me it had a low battery.

I don't use my mobile all that much, so I generally only charge it when it needs to be charged, and not every day / night.

At the Science Centre today there were a few activities going on. Most of my volunteering is with school groups. The Science Centre has some classrooms where they teach some hands on activities related to parts of the school curriculum; I usually help out in the classroom as an additional adult supervisor as well as helping with prep, clean-up, and anything else the instructor needs me to do during the lesson.

Once to twice a month the science centre has the classes booked only for home school students, which always is more chaotic then a group coming from a school. Today was one such day, so I was volunteering all day; one session in the late morning, one after a 1.5 hour long lunch break.

I was fine with the long lunch, because APEGGA (Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta) were launching their National Engineering and Geoscience Month with a tower building competition  - using playing cards. The competition was during my lunch break. I went in just after it started, missing the announcement of the actual time for them to build, and watched some of the groups start. One group caught my eye as there were three good looking guys and a girl.

Since they were only starting I went to eat. By the time I had finished eating and got back to the competition, most of the towers had already been tested. I did take a moment to ask the good looking group how theirs fared.

After the competition room cleared out I went to volunteer for the second part of my shift. Which went smoothly. I left around 3:15pm to do some errands on my way home.


I got home and checked my now fully charged mobile at 4:45pm for messages. To my surprise there was one. It was from the Science Centre.... hence the little bit of irony, since I was there when the call was made (at 2pm).

The call was in regards to an application I had submitted last week for a part-time instructor position at the Science Centre. Unfortunately I knew the office closed at 4:30pm, but I still tried to return the call; I left a message when I got voice mail.

Another interesting twist in this story is that the posting I applied for had a deadline of February 17. I applied on February 23, the day I happened to notice the job posting on their website. I included in my cover email, with my application, that I understood the deadline was past but was applying in case there was an extension because it was still posted on the website. I guess there was an extension, or since I have been volunteering with the Science Centre since October I am already known to some of the people in H.R.

Next week is beginning to look interesting.

Daily Inspiration

Some people dream of success ... while others wake up and work hard for it.

- Anonymous

inspire daily calendar Fri 2 Mar 2012

The mark of a good teacher is that no matter how weird or boring you might think their subject is, their love for it is what pushes you to learn something. It could be rat feces or some nasty topic, and the fact that their eyes are glowing when they talk about it makes you want to know something about it.

- Vance, a student quoted by Kathleen Cushman in Fires in the Bathroom

Teachers daily calendar Thu 19 Mar 2009

Thoughts of the Day

For a little while I have occasionally been thinking of an interesting code to write in. It might be easy to crack I don't know, perhaps anyone who reads this could tell me. I have a series of words below in the code, can anyone crack it and comment on what the list of words actually are?

Agemo, Ispi, Hcihp, Noils, Puuatam, Giso, Hri, Pnorc, Imoi, Xunum, Abdmal, Ap, Pa, Ka, Toiateh, Ta, Tea, Tezno, Lis, Peatled, Amm, Aga, Teb, Ahpla.

Daily Inspiration

I truly believe that we can overcome any hurdle that lies before us and create the life we want to live. I have seen it happen time and time again.

- Gillian Anderson

inspire daily calendar Thu 1 Mar 2012

As your body grows bigger

Your mind must flower

It's great to learn 

'Cause knowledge it power!

- Schoolhouse Rocky

Teachers daily calendar Wed 18 Mar 2009