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Posts tagged ‘#sol15’

Mar 7

8 Comments

Slice of Life 7: On Reading Radiance of Tomorrow

By Janice Ewing

I’m reading Radiance of Tomorrow by Ismael Beah. I never read A Long Way Gone, his memoir of a childhood interrupted by fighting in war-torn Sierra Leone. I had heard nothing but rave reviews of the authenticity, the writing style, and the importance of the book in understanding the ravages of modern-day civil wars. I just couldn’t bring myself to read it, in the same way that I’ve avoided other highly acclaimed books, both fiction and nonfiction, that present compelling and graphic depictions of atrocities. Read more

Mar 6

6 Comments

Slice of Life 6: My Kitties’ Agenda

By Janice Ewing

6:00  Wake up large creatures who care for us with persistent, plaintive meowing for food

630 Post-breakfast nap

6:45 Do a slow and thorough inspection of the house, checking to see if anything has changed Read more

Mar 5

6 Comments

Slice of Life 5: What’s in your word cloud?

By Janice Ewing

Here in the Philly area, these are some of the words that would jump out at you in a word cloud today – cancelled, treacherous, heavy, deteriorating, freezing, alert, update… you get the idea. Read more

Mar 4

5 Comments

Slice of Life 4: Watch your language!

By Janice Ewing

When I was growing up, this admonition mainly referred to cursing, or any other words or phrases deemed inappropriate for polite use. (I think the subtext was “Watch how you speak to adults!”) Now, I find myself thinking about the value of watching our language in a much broader context, in our speaking as well as in our writing. Read more

Mar 3

3 Comments

Slice of Life 3: Weather or Not

By Janice Ewing

So, like thousands (millions?) of others, I’m watching the weather this week and thinking about what plans might be have to be adjusted. Among them, a new grad class due to start on Thursday evening. The back-up plan for a weather-related cancellation is to have an online class, and this has worked well in the past. However, I have never had the situation of having the first session online, before we’ve had a chance for at least one face-to-face meeting. The prospect is raising questions for me about the differences between meeting people online versus face-to-face. Read more

Mar 1

3 Comments

Slice of Life 1: Every Eight Weeks

By Janice Ewing

This is a transition weekend for me, between grad classes that is. One semester just ended and the next is about to begin.  There something about transitions that makes me reflective. Maybe that’s why it seemed like a good year to jump into the March Slice of Life challenge, which I’ve followed, but haven’t participated in before. So here it is, a very wintry March 1st, and I’ve just finished “Spring 1” and am about to start “Spring 2,”  with a group of teachers who are new to me, but not to each other. I teach in a cohort program, so if the course, like the one coming up, is far along in the program, the teachers often know each other better than colleagues in their own schools, and I’m the new kid on the block. That raises its own interesting issues – where people sit, food habits, break time, and the like have often been well-established before I arrive. No matter, I’m flexible enough to adapt to those aspects of the ecosystem as I find them. Read more

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