05.28.08
Posted in Random 'Munchings" at 12:11 am by Angie
It’s been a while since my last post. I’ve been spending most of my extra time in a car carpooling back and forth with my husband to work. It’s the time of the year in the field of education that one thinks about their plans for the fall. Should I continue teaching or not? For some, the decisions is pretty easy, for me it’s always a big decision. I elected to make education my field of choice and have all the credentials to be considered ‘highly qualified’. But with finding out I have been dealing with several mild but annoying health issues for the past 20+ years hasn’t helped make the decision any easier.
The other day I conferred with the new Principal at my school about the conundrum. I remember mentioning that I needed to ‘manage the stress’. My husband pulled up just as our meeting was over and we started our hour long journey back home.
I’m up at 2 am in the morning with a neck and back ache writing this entry waiting for the medicine to kick in. The reason: the five car collision that Dave and I was in right after the meeting with the Principal. It was on the feeder road just before entering the Interstate. We were completely stopped, the car directly behind us was completely stopped. I don’t know the status of the third car, but the fourth car hit the third, third to second, second to us. By the time the momentum got to us, we just got a good bump with no damage. The car behind us got a back dent in the fender area. The other three cars were totaled and had to be towed.
I just sat in the front seat of our car after the accident and marveled at the thought that anyone could manage stress.
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02.23.08
Posted in Gifted Education, Random 'Munchings" at 7:52 pm by Angie
I just checked the stats on my website through Google Analytics which I do periodically. One of the keyword search phrases that someone used to find information regarding gifted was, “how to make my child gifted”. Wow! That is one for the books! Just to clear the air on this one - you don’t make your child gifted after they’re born! You can expose them to lots of learning very early which many people do, but research wavers on whether this makes one smarter than their age peers or just stresses out the child.
There’s not much you can do except contribute your X’s and Y’s early on and do your best to nurture your child as they grow and develop. Without going into much detail (and knowingly without exact references), I’ve read/heard somewhere that researchers believe that the gifted brain is just wired differently. It functions more efficiently and it absorbs information at a faster rate. And it will develop if given the opportunity to.
Have you ever spent any time reading about the lives of gifted individuals who lived in the past? You will find that some came from highly affluent homes, some came from very poor settings. Some endured hardships such as child abuse, others were mentored and cared for every step of the way. The book Cradles of Eminence gives excellent examples of individuals from all walks of life. http://www.gt-cybersource.org/Record.aspx?NavID=2_0&rid=12825
I’m far from the expert on this topic but I’m pretty sure you can’t ‘make your child gifted’. Before you wish you could make them gifted, be sure to do your research on the down-sides of being gifted such as perfectionism, out of balance development(asynchronous), being under-challenged, boredom, feeling alone, just to name a few.
…..and that’s all I gotta say ’bout that…..
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02.20.08
Posted in Random 'Munchings" at 4:43 am by Angie
My husband and I are just about to close a chapter to a portion of our life. We’re moving out of our downtown Houston apartment and putting everything in our house in Magnolia. This might sound insignificant to you but to us it means the last of our ties to Hurricane Katrina.
We had ’set up shop’ in the apartment just two weeks after Katrina hit so my husband could work in Houston while I stayed in Mandeville for eight months to finish my teaching contract and my Masters Degree. We traveled back and forth between Mandeville and New Orleans repairing our house and looking for a new one. Stressful times, now that I look back on it.
There are still many out there who were directly affected by Hurricane Katrina waiting to close their chapter. There is still much to do to undo what one large storm did to one large area in Mississippi and Louisiana.
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12.31.07
Posted in Random 'Munchings", Uncategorized, Writing Entries at 6:21 pm by Angie
It’s holiday time and I’ve caught another cold (fourth since Thanksgiving). This really puts a damper on all my plans to be so productive during my holiday break from teaching. Reading and sleeping have been about the only productive thing that I’ve done the past two days. I’m halfway through a huge novel called “The Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follett. Being plopped right smack dab into the early middle ages following the building of a stone cathedral is much better than dealing with a cold!
Just today, I felt good enough to sit down to the computer. I’ve been just cruising around, visiting some favorite blogs, trying out some new blogs. I even visited my own (leaving your own blog alone so long in cyberspace is not good) and I noticed a comment left by Michelle at http://www.michellehix.blogspot.com/. She has a really cool site with a few neat widgets on it. The best one is Shelfari and, of course, with me being a teacher of English, I could not pass on it!
I have to get my son to figure out why the widget won’t load up in my sidebar. It’s probably something very simple but it’s New Year’s Eve and I don’t want to bug him. He’s out with friends getting ready to celebrate the new year. My daughter is out in Jackson Square in New Orleans, my husband went to our friends in SW Houston, my sister is in Times Square and I’m sitting in front my laptop with my box of kleenex. I’ll have to wait until tomorrow.
Another interesting toy that I’ve had time to play with is Google Reader. Now, I can keep up with the news and actually have something interesting to add to casual conversations without becoming a news-junkie like a few people I know.
Somehow, I feel like the little kid who got all these toys for Christmas but ended up playing in the cardboard box that the new washer came in. These two ‘toys’ were free (actually not quite free. I ((my husband)) paid for the internet connection, the electricity, the kitchen table, the lemonade in the Pizza Hut Fred Flintstone glass we bought when we were going out together 25 years ago….I think you get the picture.)
Anyway, here’s wishing everyone a Happy New Year and lots of new ‘toys’
Angie
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09.18.07
Posted in Gifted Education, Random 'Munchings" at 6:33 pm by Angie
It’s been a busy 3 weeks. I’ve set up a classroom, read through pages and pages of curriculum and designed a program for students who range between 8-13 years in age. Their abilities range wildly, too. All the differentiation research that I’ve done over the past year will come in handy.
It will be some time before my next weblog entry. I need to rethink the purpose of it. Meanwhile, continue to check out the Gifted Education news and the educational sites that I will continue to add.
Most importantly, keep me posted on activities/programs designed for the gifted child in the Houston and surrounding area. These students are very deserving!
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07.31.07
Posted in Random 'Munchings", Writing Entries at 8:04 am by Angie
I’ve been to several blogs lately that have an entry regarding the latest release of the Harry Potter books. The blog entries all read just about the same: “you won’t be hearing from me for a while, I’m reading Harry Potter” or “don’t spoil it for me”. I hate to admit that I joined the ranks. But I am happy to report that not only did I read and finish the book this past week, I did several other things at the same time.
Amber’s home from France now and we’ve been preparing her for her final year at Tulane. We went through the house looking for things she can use in her first apartment and we decided to refinish some old furniture that we had been saving in hopes that one of our kids would need it. She’s the lucky winner! We’ve sanded and painted several pieces and now I have the job of making new cushion covers while she is gone once again (France for 3 weeks). We also went to New Orleans to see her new place and visit with old friends in Mandeville. I did not read in the car, but I did read every minute of free time that I had.
I’ll forever connect Harry Potter and the St. Louis Hotel on the corner of Bienville and Royal now. I finished the book on Sunday morning. Just like everyone else, I feel just a little sad that the story is finished. I find myself thinking about the story and the characters as I go about my everyday activities. And I do have a few questions which may be enough of a motivation to start reading the series again from the first book. If I do, I’ll let you know because you won’t be hearing from me for several days!
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07.04.07
Posted in Random 'Munchings", Writing Entries at 2:30 pm by Angie
While Dave and I were in France visiting Amber in April, I purchased three black and white prints of children in the streets of Paris. One is of a small boy happily carrying a fresh baked baguette, one is of a line of children crossing a busy Paris street holding onto the coat tails, dresses or shirts of the child in front of them, and the last is a girl peering over a wire fence at a fork in a canal system. All the pictures were taken in 1956, 1952 and 1972. One of the artists caught the eye of Roxane’s mother, Josslyn.
In broken English or through translation provided by Amber, Josslyn told me that the one photographer, Doisneau was a popular favorite of hers. Turns out, he was also quite prolific. Amber arrived back in the States just before our sailing trip bearing gifts for all of us from the Lalandes (Roxane’s parents). My gift was a very thick, small book filled with black and white photographs taken by Doisneau. During my down times, I picked up the book and thumbed through it. Every time I do, I see something different. There are so many layers to Robert Doisneau’s work. For a taste of it, try this website or come visit me in Magnolia to look through my book! http://www.staleywise.com/collection/doisneau/doisneau.html
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06.28.07
Posted in Random 'Munchings", Writing Entries at 8:20 am by Angie
Yesterday was an interesting day, now that I look back on it. It was pretty much a normal day until I made the daily trip to the post office box where I found an invitation to a wedding. You know how sometimes companies create a junk mailing that tries to imitate a fancy event. That’s what I thought this was because I didn’t know of anyone getting married.
I had no idea what is was for…it took reading all the way down to the young man’s name when I realized it was an actual wedding announcement for a young man whom we’ve known since living in Mandeville. We were neighbors from about the time he was 5-6 until he was a senior in college. The interesting thing about him is that he is highly gifted. As a boy, he was intense. My son played with him from time to time and always came away stressed but happy. What is so rewarding about receiving this invitation is the young man that he’s turned into. He had a little sister born when he was in high school. The affect on his emotional and social growth was phenomenal. He’s going to make an excellent husband and father.
When you are a parent of a gifted child, all you can think about is getting through each day doing the best that you can to meet their academic, social and emotional needs. I never thought about having young adults, meeting that special someone getting married, securing a job. Gifted children do grow into gifted adults.
Later, when I got online for my email we received another wedding announcement. I know I have never received two announcements in one day. We had just seen this couple, sailing for ten days with them and 13 of our other friends. Our history with Sabrina started when we agreed to host a German student for an entire school year. She was 16 at the time. Sweet, curious, independent, flexible and very willing to share her culture with us and to partake in our culture. She eventually became the big sister for both my own two children and nearly an adopted daughter for us. We are super excited for her and Michael!
To round out the day, we had supper and drinks with several more friends. One young man, around 22 years of age, came with a friend. After our introduction, I learned that he had been in the Marines and had been married and divorced once already. During the discussion, I remembered that in a few days, Dave and I will be celebrating 25 years of being married to each other. I even mentioned how my grandparents had been together for over 70 years now during our conversations. All the day’s events caused me to reflect on the broader aspect of how and why some humans of the past select one individual to live with for a great length of time and how that way of thinking may be changing with the present culture in our world. Information, technology, scientific discoveries, increased population will affect our relationships with one another. It will be a challenge for our children to live with the same expectations that we had in our generation. But hopefully, the notion of caring deeply for another will remain foundational. I wish the best to every young couple out there thinking of making a lifetime commitment. It will take work, patience, cooperation and knowing that the ‘grass is greener’ right where you are!
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05.23.07
Posted in Random 'Munchings", Writing Entries at 9:10 pm by Angie
I had an interesting thing happen on my way to Baton Rouge to help my son pick out a new apartment for the fall semester at LSU. I left Houston around 11 am and had to make two stops during the four+ hour drive. The first stop went off without a hitch. I’m still left wondering when will gas stations create a pump handle that does not require one to use two hands to keep that costly gas pouring into a gas tank. It had been lightly raining for most of the trip but the last 20 minutes was a solid downpour and I needed another stretch break.
The second stop at a Shell convenience store found me following a skink (or lizard, for all ya’ll not from the south) down the potato chip aisle in the convenience store. Mind you, he was dressed for the occasion, dressed to match the motled brown and gray tile beautifully. I happened to look up at the cashier and said, “Did you know you have a skink running down your potato chip aisle?” She thought I said ‘a snake’ and ran completely around the checkout counter, all the while saying, “if there is a snake in this store, I’m leaving.” Now, I’m a very soft spoken person so I could understand her confusion, so I was nice enough to say in my most effective teacher-voice, “no a lizard.” She calmed right down and laughed at the confusion. I poured my self a cup of hot coffee, looking for the well-dressed patron but he had scurried away somewhere. As I approached to pay for my beverage, I noticed a local policeman chatting with the cashier. It’s a good thing I didn’t take advantage of my accidental diversion….
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05.09.07
Posted in Random 'Munchings", Writing Entries at 8:43 pm by Angie
I want to announce to the whole world that I’m proud of my grandparents! They are celebrating their 70th year together as husband and wife on May 10th. My grandpa was 22 when he married my grandma of 18 in dusty Kansas in 1937. They have been directly responsible for the lives of three children, eight grandchildren and oodles of great grand children. My grandpa has a great sense of humor and my grandma can discuss baseball and politics with the best of them. If you think times are rough for relationships now, try living through the Dust Bowl or working in the lead mines in Colorado while supporting a young family (with orange crates for furniture). They’ve come a long way and planned well for their later years. Picture Caption: That’s me in my daddy’s arms.
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