"Il faut cultiver votre jardin." Voltaire (Candide)
___________________________________________________________________________ "Floreat Labore" "Recti cultus pectora roborant" Stuart J. McKelvie, Ph.D., Phone: 819 822 9600 x 2402 Department of Psychology, Fax: 819 822 9661 Bishop's University, 2600 rue College, Sherbrooke, Québec J1M 1Z7, Canada. E-mail: [email protected] (or [email protected]) Bishop's University Psychology Department Web Page: http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy Floreat Labore" ___________________________________________________________________________ -----Original Message----- From: Louis Eugene Schmier [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: April-26-16 11:05 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] Random Thoughts: Gardening and Teaching, V After all these weeks, I still can't get Shawn out of my head? Well, for one thing, like him, I, too, was once considered a weed, labelled by my high school teachers as the "graduate most likely not to succeed," persecuted as a student by many professors in academia and even executed by some, but saved by one. From that, I eventually learned that being "dedicated to my discipline" is a piece of cake compared to being "dedicated to a student." For another thing, I've been working inmy garden is starting to be an explosion of color. But, some of those touted flowers in the garden centers and welcomed in the gardens were once persecuted and executed as weeds. Chief among them are daisies. And, for still another thing, it is the Shawns on our campuses who remind us that the true center of education is not only "white collar" vocational training and credentialling. It is also, and maybe more important, character building. Those fours years, especially the crucial first year, are still the time these kids, these "protoadults," these "adults-in-training" make their adult-shaping mistakes. Yet, it's tough on them because they can't really make honest mistakes when they're in an environment that doesn't allow them to make mistakes. Shape shifting education occurs widely open our arms with so much hospitality, when we embrace with overwhelming welcoming, when use a language that is so benevolent, when our actions are so giving and serving, when we feel nothing is restrictive, when we defy and even defeat confining perspectives and expectations imposed by stereotypes, generalities, and labels, when we use the spirit of faith, hope, and love to overcome the darkness and conquer disdain, when we and student call forth the potential in each other to mirror the good and beautiful in each other. Then, it happens when we help students to have a better chance of saying to themselves, "I'm not going to believe in the same old story." It happens when students who have been treated as unworthy are helped to come to believe in themselves; it is when they are helped to begin to speak in their own voice; it is when they are helped to act as though their lives truly matter; it is when they are helped to demonstrate a faith, hope, and love in themselves; and, then, they will have a better chance of developing the strengths they wish to develop and believe are both within them and within reach. Make it a good day -Louis- Louis Schmier http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org 203 E. Brookwood Pl http://www.therandomthoughts.com Valdosta, Ga 31602 (C) 229-630-0821 /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /^\\/ \/ \ /\/\__ / \ / \ / \/ \_ \/ / \/ /\/ / \ /\ \ //\/\/ /\ \__/__/_/\_\/ \_/__\ \ /\"If you want to climb mountains,\ /\ _ / \ don't practice on mole hills" - / \_ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13510.2cc18398df2e6692fffc29a610cb72e3&n=T&l=tips&o=48616 or send a blank email to leave-48616-13510.2cc18398df2e6692fffc29a610cb7...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=48617 or send a blank email to leave-48617-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
