LAUGHTER’S THE BEST MEDICINE

For those of you who haven't seen it before...

The Wish

A man was riding his Harley along a California beach when suddenly the sky clouded above his head and, in a booming voice, the Lord said, "Because you have tried to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish."

The biker pulled over and said, "Thank you, Lord. Please build a bridge to Hawaii so I can ride over anytime I want." The Lord said,

Your request is materialistic. Think of the enormous undertaking; the supports required to reach the bottom of the Pacific, and the concrete and steel it would take! It will nearly exhaust several natural resources. I can do it, but it is hard for me to justify your desire for worldly things. Take a little more time and think of something that could possibly help mankind.

The biker thought about it for a long time. Finally, he said, "Lord, I wish that I, and all men, could understand our wives; I want to know how she feels inside, what she's thinking when she gives me the silent treatment, why she cries, what she really means when she says nothing's wrong, and how I can make a woman truly happy."

The Lord replied, "You want two lanes, or four lanes on that bridge?"

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"A quote a day keeps the doctor away"! - Or is it an apple!!??

As the poet said, "Only God can make a tree" - probably because it's so hard to figure out how to get the bark on. Woody Allen

THE SIGN OF THE CROSS

I assure you all that the story below was told to me on the the very first day of my very first English lesson in the ides of... forget it!. Just read it! "Relax and enjoy"! H.C.

Pierre Gustave Toutant de Beauregard, (photo) was a Louisiana-born general for the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. General Beauregard was known as one of the most devout catholics during the hostilities. It was practically a rule for him to use passages of the Holy Bible as passwords for his men. A prayer, a gesture, a sentence, the names of Saints or a drawing of a fish on the sand would serve as password. No one was to be allowed to the army facilities if he didn't know the password.

One night a faithful soldier, who has been absent in a three week leave was returning to the camp and obviously could not know what would be the password for that night. As he approaches the entrance gates the sentinel stops him raises his gun and asks for the password.

- Stop! Identify yourself! Tell me the password!
- James E. Hunter - Corporal - 1st Regiment - Georgia Volunteers
- All right, now say the password.

The poor man did not say anything.
The guard insisted and raised his gun again.

- The password... or I'll shoot you down...

The soldier (also a catholic) realizing that he would be killed, immediately made the Sign of The Cross. Then the sentinel put down his gun and run at him saying...

- You're saved because The Sign Of The Cross is the password tonight.

Teaching Tips & Ideas

O'CLOCK

Function: adverb

Meanings:

1 - O'clock is used when the time is a particular hour and zero minutes.

e.g. It's three o'clock in the afternoon. (it's three p.m.)
e.g. She was ten minutes late for her eight o'clock appointment.
e.g. I asked you to be here at nine o'clock, not at nine fifteen.

2 - O'clock is also used to give the location of something as if the speaker were facing a clock.

e.g. There's an airplane coming towards us at eleven o'clock.
e.g. Look over there at three o'clock. (look straight to your right) Do you see him?

O CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN

CLAUDIO MATTOS

In my list of the “Twenty Movies You Can’t Die Without Watching,” “Dead Poets Society” is the first one. This movie tells the story of some boys who study in a school called Welton, which has traditional and strict rules. However, a group of friends started to attend classes with a new teacher called Mr. John Keating (Robin Willams), who teaches with a method a bit more unorthodox than the tradition of the school, and this man gave them the opportunity to be free thinkers, and learn how to “seize the day”.

In all of his classes he taught something precious, he told the boys that they had to believe in their work, thoughts, even when everybody thinks they are wrong. He told them that they had to look constantly at things in a different way, especially when they are sure about something. He inspired those kids to think for themselves and learn the meaning of “Carpe Diem,” Seize the day,” and “Suck the marrow of life.” He was a great teacher, for them he was their “Captain”.

Being a huge fan of Robin Willams’ work, I rented this movie for the first time some years ago; because I knew he would be performing again one of those characters that I love. In fact, I did. I thought it was one of the best movies I have ever seen. But even though I thought it was great, and indeed it meant a lot to me, the kid’s death seemed to be a total loss. After some while, I kept trying to find if there was any other solution to his problems.

By the second time, a few years later, I got the message differently, and it meant even more to me. Also by this time I realized and accepted that “Neil,” because of the pressure he suffered from his family, had no choice...Unfortunately...

Finally the last time I had the opportunity to rewatch it, I got to another conclusion of it. People that were in this movie, helping, directing, or acting, should be proud of themselves, because it helps other people to think it over about living their lives. “You must strive to find your own voice, because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it all. Live and “suck the marrow” of the greatest gift.


carpediemclaudio.blogspot.com
supertextosclaudio.blogspot.com

WHERE'S MADELEINE?

I have just received this message and as it seems to be an humanitary act I am passing it on. Please read the message below and forward it to everybody in your address book. H.C.


... As you are aware my niece, Madeleine, is still missing and I am asking everyone I know to send this as a chain letter i.e. you send it to everyone you know and ask them to do the same, as the story is only being covered in Britain, Eire and Portugal. We don't believe that she is in Portugal anymore and need to get her picture and the story across Europe as quickly as possible.
Suggestions are welcome...

Phil McCann

THE COURAGE TO TEACH

PARKER J. PALMER

Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life, Jossey-Bass Inc, San Francisco, 1998.

"I am a teacher at heart, and there are moments in the classroom when I can hardly hold the joy. When my students and I discover uncharted territory to explore, when the pathway out of a thicket opens up before us, when our experience is illuminated by the lightning-life of the mind then teaching is the finest work I know.

But at other moments, the classroom is so lifeless or painful or confused and I am so powerless to do anything about it that my claim to be a teacher seems a transparent sham. Then the enemy is everywhere: in those students from some alien planet, in that subject I thought I knew, and in the personal pathology that keeps me earning my living this way. What a fool I was to imagine that I had mastered this occult art harder to divine than tea leaves and impossible for mortals to do even passably well!

If you are a teacher who never has bad days, or who has them but does not care, this book is not for you. This book is for teachers who have good days and bad, and whose bad days bring the suffering that comes only from something one loves. It is for teachers who refuse to harden their hearts because they love learners, learning, and the teaching life.

When you love your work that much and many teachers do the only way to get out of trouble is to go deeper in. We must enter, not evade, the tangles of teaching so we can understand them better and negotiate them with more grace, not only to guard our own spirits, but also to serve our students well.

Those tangles have three important sources. The first two are commonplace, but the third and most fundamental is rarely given its due. First, the subjects we teach are as large and complex as life, so our knowledge of them is always flawed and partial. Second, the students we teach are larger than life and even more complex. To see them clearly and see them whole, and respond to them wisely in the moment, requires a fusion of Freud and Solomon that few of us achieve.

If students and subjects accounted for all the complexities of teaching, our standard ways of coping would keep up with our fields as best we can and learn enough techniques to stay ahead of the student psyche. But there is another reason for these complexities: we teach who we are.

Teaching like any truly human activity, emerges from one's inwardness, for better or worse. As I teach, I project the condition of my soul onto my students, my subject, and our way of being together. The entanglements I experience in the classroom are often no more or less that the convolutions of my inner life. Viewed from this angle, teaching holds a mirror to the soul. If I am willing to look in that mirror and not run from what I see, I have a chance to gain self-knowledge…and good teaching requires self-knowledge: it is a secret hidden in plain sight.

This book explores the teacher’s inner life, but it also raises a question that goes beyond the solitude of the teacher’s soul: How can the teacher’s selfhood become a legitimate topic in education and in our public dialogues on educational reform?"

... Parker J. Palmer (photo above) was born 1939 in Chicago, Illinois is an author, educator, and activist who focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality and social change. Palmer served for fifteen years as Senior Associate of the American Association of Higher Education, and now serves as Senior Advisor to the Fetzer Institute.

LAUGHTER’S THE BEST MEDICINE

LAST REQUEST

Let's see if I understand how the world works lately...

If a man cuts his finger off while slicing salami at work, he blames the restaurant...

If you smoke three packs a day for 40 years and die of lung cancer, your family blames the tobacco company...

If your neighbor crashes into a tree while driving home drunk, he blames the bartender...

If your grandchildren are brats without manners, you blame television...

If your friend is shot by a deranged madman, you blame the gun manufacturer...

And if a crazed person breaks into the cockpit and tries to kill the pilot at 35,000 feet, and the passengers kill him instead, the mother of the crazed deceased blames the airline...

I must have lived too long to understand the world anymore...

So, if I die while my old, wrinkled butt is parked in front of this computer, I want all of you to blame Bill Gates...okay? Oh yeah, and don't forget to sue him...!