My Beginnings

I can see that blogging might overtake my thinking for a while. I have been writing entries in my mind ever since I set this blog up this afternoon.

But I thought I should introduce myself a bit and give the reader a bit of my background - my own beginnings.

I was a lousy student - but a pretty good learner. My decline as a student probably started in Grade 7. It never dawned on me that I might have to work to master the material. Nor did it dawn on me that I needed to be organized, pay attention and try my best when it came to stuff that didn't interest me. I look back now and remember that I was a voracious reader but that school topics weren't that interesting to me. I will write an entry about why that was some other time, I think.

This attitude and approach to school lasted through until 1970 when I decided to try University again (if they would have me - another story) and to become a teacher.

That happened. and I became an elementary teacher. I love the potential of students. I love the feeling of progressing with learners - watching them and participating with them in their own personal change. It always changes me.

But somewhere in my deep dark past I had accounting and business skills and I wanted to use them - and my interest in business. So I finished my degree in Business Education - what a combination - elementary and business. I transferred to the high school and spent time teaching business subjects there. Again an amazing feat for someone who doesn't know how to touch type. Thank God for Fiddler on the Roof!

But I knew there was something more I could do. I wanted to work with all those teachers I saw around me - the ones that were fabulous and motivated the kids and the ones that weren't so hot.

So The University of Iowa gave me a Ph.D. and the University of Regina gave me a job - and working with prospective teachers and inservice teachers has been my career.

Learning has always been important to me - sometimes I wonder just what it is that I know - but acquiring knowledge, skills, etc. is fascinating.

But then there is teaching - the topic for another entry - or perhaps a few more entries.

A Beginning

I have been encouraged to start a blog. I have thought about creating a blog. I have procrastinated creating this blog. But I have begun......

So this, in a way, is the story of my life. Go ahead Cyril you can do it. Daydreams and night dreams, plans, self-talk, conversations with friends, more plans. Sometimes the plans turn into reality. More often the plans fade and disappear.

But I have begun this blog.

And as with all new beginnings I am excited.

This blog will be like many others I have read. It will be a forum for me to spout off about some of the things I hold near and dear, about some things that I just want to comment on and about some things that are foolish but attract my interest.

And as you can tell from the title I want to highlight the part of my life that is very important to me. The part of my life that is my Teaching Life. Obviously my personal life will be part of this blog as it is intertwined with my approach to teaching. So there will be entries that will reveal me as a teacher, a person, a professor, a father, a husband, a son, a brother, a friend, and all the other roles any of us play in life.

I have been warned to not tell all in any one blog entry. So it is time to stop. Tomorow there will be more.

Advice, comments, criticism, opposing views are always eagerly accepted.