Laura A. Diaz (a.k.a. L. Diaz)'s Blog: L.A. Diaz Books & Beyond

A Teacher’s View: Remote Learning and COVID-19

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We were given short notice that the schools in our district would be closed for an indefinite amount of time due to COVID-19. The scramble to get things set-up for our students to continue learning and meet their needs during this time, had less panic and more positive energy than you would think possible.

We gave our educators almost no notice. We asked them to completely redesign what school looks like and in about 24 hours our local administrators and teachers “Apollo 13-d” the problem and fixed it.  Kids learning, children being fed, needs being met, in the midst of a global crisis.

No state agency did this, no so-called experts on the curriculum. The educators fixed it in hours. HOURS.

In fact, existing state and federal policies actually created multiple roadblocks. Local schools figured out how to succeed around those too. No complaining and no handwringing– just solutions and amazingly clever plans.

Remember that the next time someone tries to convince you that schools are better run by mandates from non-educators, remember that the next time someone tells you that teachers have it easy, or try to persuade you that educators are not amongst the smartest, most ingenious people in society. Please, never say to me again, “Those who can’t do anything else just go into teaching.”

Just get out of the way of a teacher and watch with amazement the magic that can happen.

There are so many positive stories that came out of our district. One that comes to mind is of a teacher whose son happened to have a birthday the week the school buildings were shut down and the governor declared mandatory “social distancing.” So disappointing. No party. No fun get together with friends and classmates.  So, this creative teacher/mother put out a call on Facebook for anyone that could, to drive by and honk to wish her son a Happy Birthday. Guess what? All that day teachers and classmates drove by and did just that, creating a special birthday he will always remember.

[image error]Waiting for teaches, friends, and classmates to drive or walk by



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That’s just one story. I look forward to hearing many more by the time this is over. I love my district. I love how they have a passion for providing professional development for their educators that will meet just about any need they have to give our students an equitable, loving and inspired education.  I love the problem-solving, talented teachers that teach not only from their amazing skills and knowledge base, but from the heart.

So, keep your eyes and ears open for those inspiring and uplifting stories during what can be called a “global crisis.” Share them! Until next time, keep on keeping and keep on learning and sharing that joy. 

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Resolution For the New Year?

Recently, a friend asked me about my plan for a New Year’s resolution. Well, here’s my confession.  I don’t have one.  Yep, that’s right.  

See, I have never been one to wait till New Year’s Eve to make a “Resolution.”  I have always figured that if I want to do something to improve my physical, mental or spiritual well-being I should…. well, I should just do it.  Not resolve to do it.  Or wait till Monday to do it. If I really mean to do something I should… you guessed it, just do it!

 So, tell me, why is it that I still feel guilty not being all gung-ho for this whole New Year’s Resolution hoo-haw?

For me, that is the million-dollar question.  However, my reluctance to buy into it may also be because I am reluctant to ever “buy into” anything unless I have a good reason.

 You see, everything I do seems to need to be able to answer the question which some deem to be the pervasive “writer’s question.”  The question that hums through my being…. why?  That one word has toasted my tots and caused many a detention in my early school years.

Why would such an innocuous word as why unnerve the most stoic of individuals?  I believe this is because many of us do things and participate in activities and rituals (on a daily basis sometimes) that really have no conscious reasoning behind them.  

When someone asks why you do something they are asking you to answer a question that you have not even asked yourself. This can fluster some people.  In fact, if you are a teacher at a first-grade parochial school it may cause you to send the child into the hallway (with her desk) so as to avoid answering the question.  Ahh, apologies Sister Moran, there I go inserting personal experience into my writing once again.

And so, now my pondering has led me to research the history of not only New Year’s Resolutions but traditions involving the New Year, in general. Around the world, New Year’s celebrations have been commonplace for hundreds if not thousands of years.  

Traditions associated with New Years’ Eve celebrations can vary from culture to culture. Many of these traditions include parties to ring in the New Year, eating special foods either on New Year’s Eve or News Year’s Day, watching fireworks, and of course the making of New Year resolutions. InSouthAmerica, Spain and a few other Spanish-speaking countries, people will eat 12 grapes right before midnight on New Year’s Eve. This is to symbolize “good luck” for each of the coming months.

In fact, there are many cultures where different kinds of beans and lentils traditionally consumed on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. The legumes are supposed to resemble coins and thus herald “good luck” to the one who eats them.  Hmmmm.  None of my beans ever look like coins.

Here in the U.S., many Southern states have the tradition of eating black-eyed peas.  Depending on the state, it is very important to have a hunk of ham in those black-eyed peas.  Why?  Well, it may be related to the fact that in some cultures found in Austria, Portugal, Hungary, and Cuba, pigs are symbols of prosperity.  The U.S., being as multicultural as it is, has unknowingly blended the traditions of various cultures and made them their own.  Traditions involving food such as cakes, pastries, and ring-shaped cookies are also prevalent in New Year traditions.

One “old-wives tale” type tradition involves the admonition to be very careful of your activities on New Year’s Day.  The “reasoning” behind this belief is that what you do on this day will be repeated throughout the coming year.  So, if you do something that results in negative consequences your entire year will be doomed with negativity.  For example, if you eat doughnuts on New Year’s Day morning, even you make a New Year’s Resolution to get in shape, you will not be able to help yourself because you will have an all-consuming desire to eat doughnuts every day of the coming year. Ahora, is there any science behind all this craziness….. NO! Que dice?  You heard me.

Of course, if you research the origin of anything these days you’ll always come up with articles saying that (whatever it is you are researching) dates back to pre-Christian Babylonian times…. yada-yada-yada, blah-blah-blah. Que-ever! None of which can either be proven nor dis-proven and is usually accepted as fact by individuals who do not make it a habit to ask why? In other words, it doesn’t answer my question so….. shush. 

Reblog: Helping Students Cultivate a Growth Mindset

 

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Challenges are what make life interesting. Overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. ~Joshua J. Marine

 

The terms “fixed mindset” and “growth mindset”, although new to me, were easily accepted; and upon reflection, I believe this is due to how they are easily observed within my own experiences. To have a “fixed mindset” refers to people who believe that intelligence is fixed.  Individuals who hold to this mindset are less effective learners than those with a “growth mindset” who believe that intelligence can be developed with experience and practice.

It is important for the reader to self-assess where they fall within the “fixed mindset”/growth mindset” spectrum.

The belief that your intelligence is unchangeable, to me, is absolutely false. In fact, it wasn’t until the moment I read that statement that I realized just how passionate is my belief concerning that statement.

In the same vein, I agreed completely with the statement that you can always change your intelligence.  No matter how “good” you are at something there is always room for growth. No matter how “miserable” you are at something there is always the possibility of growth.

For me, it has always bottom-lined at “want to.”  I do not “want to” get better at skiing.  Therefore, it is not going to happen.  Trust me, it’s not. 

From the Archives : Long-term Novel Unit Planning

Long-term Novel Units are some of my favourite lesson plans to create.  Of course, it may be the writer in me that gets such a kick out of pulling together details, state standards, and project activities into something amazing for my students.  It’s rewarding to pair up what reads like “boring” state standards with lessons that are engaging and exciting!
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Now, a novel unit may sound daunting and–look, who am I kidding, it is daunting!  But, guess what?  It’s totally do-able and  immensely rewarding when you actually  see it through to its conclusion; and that being, students who got into a novel unit with fire and energy, and ended it by showing you what they know in a way that not only matches their learning intelligence but also shows without a doubt, that they actually mastered the objectives you were going for!

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To get you started, check out one that I pulled together for aHunger Games Novel Unit.

Here, you will see an example of a template that you too can use by tweaking it and making your own. In one space you can see the state standards met with this unit and the learning objectives clearly written out. You will also find examples of reading strategies that will assist the students in their mastery of this novel unit.

This unit plan also gives you an example of a creative way to develop a long-term calendar for your unit. By using Google Docs, you can include links to various documents and websites in your calendar that correlate with each class day.  Doing it this way puts all of your resources at your fingertips and helps with your planning. Have a peek and tell me what you think! 

Fear and Loathing in American Politics: the Future of the Sane Center

 

 

 

*Reblog via eatprayvote.org

By Lauren Wynn

On a return trip from visiting my dad for Father’s Day, I was scrolling through Twitter — partly because I needed a distraction from my husband’s driving, which terrifies me — but mostly because it is a regular part of my morning routine. Somewhere around Dumfrees, Virginia, I came across a Tweet storm by conservative commentator and author Steve Deace that piqued my interest and, frankly, formed the basis for this article. In it, Steve was bemoaning the fact that conservative activism often fails and explained why he believes that to be so.

It occurred to me that many of his assertions could be equally applied to both sides of the aisle — right and left, Republican and Democrat were interchangeable. Crazy concept, huh? If everyone is being this reactionary – which conversations with and observations of both sides indicate might be true – then is a middle ground even possible?

During the 2016 Presidential election, deep fissures appeared in both the Democrat and Republican parties. The Democrats were divided between a far-left candidate in Bernie Sanders and a more traditional Democrat in Hillary Clinton. Likewise, Republicans were divided among far-right candidates, traditional Republicans and a complete outlier — Donald Trump.

There were only two unifying themes throughout the election – fear and loathing; fear of what the other side would do if we didn’t elect someone with the proper letter beside his or her name and loathing of the other side’s candidate.

In 2016, Pew reported that 45 percent of Republicans and 41 percent of Democrats felt that the other party’s policies posed a threat to the nation. The New York Times reports:

The fear of what harm the other party could cause appears to be a major motivator behind party affiliation. “It’s at least as much what I don’t like about the other side as what I like about my own party,” said Jocelyn Kiley, associate director of research at the Pew Research Center.

The article goes on to say that even independents seemed to be guided by fear,:

Independents, who outnumber members of either party and yet often lean toward one or the other, are just as guided by fear. More than half who lean toward either party say a major reason for their preference is the damage the other party could cause. Only about a third reported being attracted by the good that could come from the policies of the party toward which they lean.

Fear as a motivator is almost never a good thing. Fear clouds judgment, leads to impulsive decisions, causes unhealthy suspicion and worry, and can lead to the misperception of risks – giving them greater weight than they actually carry.

These fears, however, seem to be driving the left and right further apart and magnifying the loathing that each seems to hold for the other. The election did little to unify either party. Sanders began his own political action organization called Our Revolution to help further the progressive agenda and conservative groups like The New Conservative Movement, sought to reclaim conservatism from the party that hijacked it in order to elect Trump.

Interestingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, the only unity or agreement that spans the chasm between left and right seems to be a shared loathing for Donald Trump. This cross-section includes Democrats, Never Trumpers, disenchanted moderates, conservatives and even libertarians. It is this odd consortium of strange bedfellows that has given rise to, perhaps, the best thing to come from the election of Donald Trump: a call for the renaissance of the Sane Center.

Moderatism seemed to have all but disappeared over the past several decades with progressivism’s constant march to the left and conservatism’s to the right, but following the election, people from both sides began discussing a path forward that would help heal the gaping wound of division in our country. Morton Keller,  a professor emeritus of history at Brandeis University, said this in an article in The Atlantic:

“Beyond the deprived Deplorables of the Midwest and the ideologues of the House Republican Freedom Caucus, or the take-no-prisoners left liberals of New York, California, and the college towns, there is a larger, conflicted, concerned plurality hungry for a politics and government that is less polarized and more effective.  The party that is first to figure out how to appeal to the muddled middle without alienating its convinced core is the party that is most likely to flourish in the future.”

The question is, can either party see its way clear to pull this off? Magic 8 Ball says, “highly unlikely.” Perhaps it’s time for a new direction. Will it be a new party that peels off the center left and right? Will grassroots projects like Stand Up Republic or The Centrist Project gain traction and swell the independent ranks? While it’s too soon to tell, one thing is certain: movements need leadership and they need a rallying cry. We’ve seen the overwhelming power of a charismatic figure with a simple mantra.

What will that look like for the Sane Center? Who will be the face of this new movement? What will be their cry? All of these things remain to be seen, but they will not happen without the committed involvement of everyday people who are sick and tired of polarized politics. It’s time for the Sane Center to come off the bench and stake a claim for our country. America’s future depends on it.

Photo via Good Free Photos.

Published by L Wynn

Former grassroots state lead for the Evan McMullin campaign, Wynn, now a resident of Washington, DC, is an avid student of politics and a freelance writer and blogger on a variety of topics. Contributor to @eatprayvote View all posts by L Wynn

June 22, 2017

Politics, republicans

Conservatives, Democrats, Donald Trump, Moderates, Politics, RepublicanSource: Fear and Loathing in American Politics: the Future of the Sane Center

Filed under: Christian Life

Tamales: Guatemala y California Chica Style~ Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo!

Note: If you’re here just for the recipe, scroll all the way down to the bottom and there you’ll find it.

Death by Tribalism

The Collision Blog

“The source of every crime, is some defect of the understanding; or some error in reasoning; or some sudden force of the passions.” ― Thomas Hobbes

I’m going to ask my readers to bear with me on this one, because this post will feel as though I’m traveling down various rabbit holes and dragging you along with me. It’s going to be longer than normal – even my normal – but I hope you understand where I’m coming from in the end. You’ll get a glimpse of the mess that is my brain, but I’m doing so to provide a broad picture of how our tribe mentality has evolved. The good, the bad, and the ugly, all wrapped up in one post.

My post about why I’m supporting Evan McMullin (read here) made mention of the term “Tribalism,” and I received a good deal of feedback in regards to that…

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Filed under: Christian Life

Ten Reasons Why You Should Support Evan McMullin

Excellent post from a very talented writer. I absolutely had to share her amazingly well-written

#StandUpWithEvan #NeverTrumpOrHillary #EvanMcMullin2016.

 

So a lot has happened in the weeks between my last post and today, and now that the busy summer schedule is finally winding down I’ll be back to writing more frequently – and I’m …

Source: Ten Reasons Why You Should Support Evan McMullin

Filed under: Christian Life

Discipleship & My Lighthouse

“I thought God just wanted me to be a Christian.”  

That is what one little girl told me on Friday of last week. Let me back up.  Last week I had the blessing of being the chapel speaker at Glad Tidings Bible Camp: Discipleship Week.   I created a Camper Guide for the week to assist us in going through the curriculum I wrote. You can check it out by clicking the link in the last sentence.  :)  It worked just as I had planned. We started with the gospel as the prerequisite to being a disciple and worked out way through Mission & Motive, Knowledge & Love for the Word of God, and Character & Conduct.  The last day we were supposed to cover Service. But, as I was prayerfully doing my morning devotions Friday, it became quite clear to me that this lesson was not what this group needed. Instead, during morning chapel I did a review of what we had been learning all week and gave them an assignment to bring back to me evening chapel.  Kind of like an “exit ticket” but on a grander scale.   What they brought back to me brought me to tears. Of course, it couldn’t have been accomplished without the talented and dedicated work  of our media specialist, Reba Shimer.

Here are the highlights from the lessons:

http://www.dare2share.org/products-resources/free-teen-stuff  

At this time, they were also introduced to the difference between being a Disciple of Christ and someone that calls themselves a Christian. This idea was something totally new to these kids!

The video above was quite helpful in grabbing their attention. From the video’s description title:

This video is meant to enlighten people to look at what they label themselves.

People claim their religion as “Christian”, but there is more to following Jesus than just accepting Him as your Savior. Jesus states to go and make Disciples of all nations. Jesus didn’t come to fit in with society. He came to save the world by giving Himself as a perfect sacrifice so that all could have the opportunity of eternal life.

Music provided by:

Composer – Jake LaVallee

The part that really seemed to stick with them was that the term “christian” is only used three times in the Bible and even then, it is a derogatory word.  Jesus Himself never even used the word. Instead, He chose to call His followers students, learners, or disciples.  In fact, the first followers of Jesus never called themselves Christians either! Instead, they referred to each other as disciples, brethren, servants (of Christ), believers, to name just a few.

The definition of Christian: A follower of the religion of Christ.

But get this, Jesus didn’t start a religion!   There is an informative article written by Richard Anthony,” Should We Call Ourselves Christians?”  This article explains a little of the history behind the term.

If you go to Zodhiates Word Studies, he tells you that when they were called Christians at Antioch, using the word ‘crematezo,’ it was a “divine warning.” In other words, be forewarned, avoid this word and the use of it. And that’s what the apostles did. You will never read any of these New Testament writers using the term ‘christian’ to describe themselves.

The next day we covered a disciple’s Mission & Motive.

The video above from Hallie Winesett is a short and sweet  explanation of the why behind the need to clarify.

 

In the following days I challenged them to know their Why? 

Because the scariest verses in the bible, for someone who calls themselves a Christian are:

 

But on Friday morning, as I previously mentioned, I knew that what I had planned for this day was not what God wanted them to hear.  So, what I did was review what we had been learning and gave them an assignment– Cardboard Testimony.   After serious thoughts on their WHY and what it really means to be a disciple ( and not just someone who calls themselves a Christian); thanks be to God, the results were amazing!

Please take the time to check it out for yourself below. You’ll also see the connection with the title of this article.

What Did Peter Doubt?

We all know the story. There is a storm. Jesus sent the guys out on the boat saying he’d meet them on the other side. After they’d been struggling awhile they see Jesus and think he’s  ghost. But Jesus is like, “Whoah! Hold on fellas. Take heart, it’s me!” Peter, well, he’s like, “If it’s really you tell me to come out to you then!”  Then Jesus responds with,”Well, come on then!”  Peter gets out, walks on the water a bit, the wind scares him, and he starts sinking. This is when Jesus rebukes him and tells him he has too little faith, right?  Wrong.

First of all, there are many, many instances in the gospels where Jesus “rebukes” Peter. Many times where the word “rebuke” is actually used. But, this wasn’t one of those instances. In this case, the original language lends its interpretation to be phrased more as a gentle endearment, if you will.

To get the full and complete picture let’s go back to the actual scripture where this story is found and try to disregard every paraphrased version you think you know. Because the reality is, those paraphrased versions can get you in a whole heap of trouble and have you trivializing both the meaning behind the recorded event and the way you “read” the event because you think you already know the story.

Matthew 14:27-33 (ESV)

Jesus Walks on the Water

22Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.

When evening came, he was there alone, 24but the boat by this time was a long wayb from the land,c beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.

25And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. 27But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

28And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.

30But when he saw the wind,d he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

32And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

As you read the account did you notice how many times you see the word immediately?  That really stood out to me.

Jesus immediately  made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side

He made them set out into  what he knew would be a storm!
 They trusted him enough to obey him.


Jesus immediately spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

He didn’t rebuke their fear
He comforted them in the midst of their fear.  
He could have calmed the storm right then.  Instead, he calmed his disciples’ hearts.


Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of Peter 

Peter began sinking
Peter called out for Jesus to save him.

Alright then, what else do you see in the scene? Tell me about the storm.  When did it start and when did it stop?  The answer is once it started, it didn’t stop until Jesus got into the boat with Peter.  The day was clear when Jesus sent them out. But then this crazy storm whips up, which on the Lake of Gennesaret ( Sea of Galilee)  quite commonly occurs.

 

Via Google Maps:Tiberias/Kinneret/Lake of Gennesaret

As fishermen, these guys knew that a squall coming up unexpectantly could actually happen.  They knew this!  Not only this, but they had been beaten by the waves with the wind blowing against them until early in the morning. In other words, they had been struggling against this storm all night!

The storm wasn’t what made them afraid.  It was this unexpected apparition (Jesus), they thought was a ghost, seemingly appearing out of nowhere while they were in the midst of this hard labor and trying to get to the other side of the lake  like Jesus had told them.  They were working so hard to follow his command that they didn’t see him in the storm!

Another thing that has always niggled ( I don’t think that’s a word[image error] ) at the back of mind was the question: What exactly was it that Peter doubted?  Now, there are a lot of “name it and claim it” preachers out there that will tell you the point of this story is that Peter just didn’t have enough faith.

Oh really? What about that mustard seed that Jesus was talking about then? Peter had to have at least a mustard seed of faith to even get out of that boat in the middle of that squall!

There are others that will tell you that the entire point of the story is that we need to keep our eyes on Jesus during the storms of our life and not focus on the storm but on Jesus instead. This interpretation lends itself to be a more cautionary tale. And, this is most certainly a take away from this passage.

But let’s go deeper than the surface meaning here. Because, hmmm….. Jesus didn’t say, “Oh, you of little faith, why did you stop looking at me/ get distracted by the storm…etc?”  NO.  He said, “…why did you doubt?”  So, what did Peter doubt?

Did Peter doubt the Lord’s power to calm a storm?  No. He’d seen that done already! He had no doubt whatsoever of the mighty power of Jesus over the impossible.

Peter gets a lot of flack here in this story, but you know, he actually did a lot of things right!

He had obeyed Jesus’ first order.
He knew enough not to trust every apparition and to test it to make sure it was really the Lord.
He knew enough not to step out and do something unless the Lord called him to it first.
He trusted the Lord enough to get out of that boat in the first place. Because that storm did..not..stop.  The storm was unrelenting even as Jesus called Peter to step out into it.  Peter was not distracted by the storm! Peter knew what he was stepping into from the get-go.

So, I ask again, “What did Peter doubt?”

One translation says, “.. why did you doubt me?”  Okay, again, Peter didn’t doubt Jesus power!  Perhaps, he thought that after all those many hours of hard labor they had to do before Jesus physically appeared to them, that it meant that Jesus wanted Peter to walk on water by his own power and struggle; instead of walking in Jesus’ power and strength. If that is so, then we know that this is not what Jesus wants us to do is it?

Because, with all good intentions, and all surety of calling, when the wind blows against us if we are walking in our own power we will fall.  Perhaps, just perhaps, he doubted that Jesus would sustain him.

Notice, however, that although Peter doubted, Jesus still saved!  Why?  Because, Him saving us relies totally on His power on not on our work of faith (or doubt).

You see, He allows storms to grow our faith just as He allowed storms in Peter’s life. It was to grow the faith and trust that Peter already had in Him. He is continually changing and growing us.  You will never come to a point in your life where you have arrived. If you think you have…. you’re wrong. But, you can be confident of this, He who started the work in you will complete it.

Filed under: Christian Life, Latina blogs Tagged: Bible Study, biblical wisdom, Devotion, disciples, discipleship, doubt, Faith, fear, Forgivenes, growth, inner struggles, Jesus, Jesus walks on water, Peter walks on water, relationships, spirituality, storms of life, survival guide, teacher