Missives from Missouri: October 2012

Monday, October 29, 2012

My Me Manifesto

I created this Wordle to explain my "Me Manifesto" about education. It describes my beliefs about learning. This is the first challenge in the list of 30 Goals for 2012, from Teacher Reboot Camp at this website: A lot has changed since I first began my teaching career. I've written several papers in an attempt to develop, identify and revise my personal educational philosophy during the 35+ years. This was the simplest format I have ever completed. Next I may try to create a short video in "Storybird" or "Animoto". There are so many new challenges in the world today, I wonder how anyone can tire of learning. I've always thought learning was a lifelong journey. To be successful in the attempt I think the learner must be an active participant. Find a passion and let it direct the journey. Don't be reluctant to strive to find answers to your questions. Learn from and with others, learning really explodes when it becomes a social, collaborative activity.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Fall Color

Fall, glorious fall.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Sedge

Sedges have edges!

You will find sedges in most wetland habitats. I was walking in my field with my Golden Retriever when I saw this particular one. I was reminded of a question by Aldo Leopold, "Who is more thoroughly acquainted with the world in which he lives, the wild things that live there or the person who owns the land?" I know in my instance the wildlife knows much more about the land than I.

I wanted to know the Carex family this plant belonged so I thought a picture would be good enough for me to identify the kind of sedge it is. Now that I'm inside and looking in my plant field guide, I find I need more information to identify it. I should have taken a close up picture of the stem. There are so many questions to answer before I could know the identify. I would have to be satisfied with knowing it is a sedge because I didn't want to collect it. I wanted to leave it for future growth. Maybe next spring I will encounter more of these plants on my walks with my dog.