Devereux Saloon (I mean...Lagoon)

It's getting late. That's when weird titles are born...

Here are a few shots from early this evening after I got out of class. I decided to check out the bird scene at the ol' Lagoon. (Click on photos to enlarge)

Serenity

Egret thinks he's a Flamingo... 

Duck!

I've never seen a Cormorant in a tree before. Well, now I have.

I wonder how well those webbed feet of his grip that twig...

Western Grebe

Santa Barbara Snow on Sunday

Click on photo to enlarge

Goleta the Goodland

This is one of the many reasons why I love this town so much...

Click photo to enlarge

An Evening at the "Lake of the Rams"

Angela and I took a nice walk around Lake Los Carneros today.
We're so blessed to have such a beautiful and peaceful place in the middle of Goleta.

Here are some photos of the two resident mute swans.

The turtles under the footbridge were also quite active when we paid a visit...

This little guy tried his best to sneak a ride, but he was found out.

"Moon Catchin' Net"

Moon over East Beach

I’ve made me a moon-catchin’ net,

And I’m goin’ huntin’ tonight,

I’ll run along swingin’ it over my head,

And grab for that big ball of light.

So tommorow just look at the sky,

And if there’s no moon you can bet

I’ve found what I sought and i finally caught

The moon in my moon-catchin’ net.

But if the moon’s still shinin’ there,

Look close underneath and you’ll get

A clear look at me in the sky swingin’ free

With a star in my moon-catchin’ net.

~Shel Silverstein

An Escape From PACT

I have been up to my nose in planning and reflection for the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT). It has been one of the most intense and stressful projects that I have ever done. In order to preserve my sanity, I have decided to post up some interesting photos from a little exploration that I embarked on near the "Road of the Heavens" (Camino Cielo) a couple weeks back.

This was a little lookout someone had built a few years back. There was even an old beach chair abandoned underneath it. A pretty amazing nook for premiere sunset viewing...

 I stumbled upon this fine "rest stop" in the chaparral. It even had a paned window.

 I guess the seat wasn't soft enough...

 One corner of the foundation had this little mosaic.

   

 The last place I would expect to find evidence of a Benihana to be sure.

More ceramic tile work. I'm stumped as to what this used to be. The pipe in the middle leads me to think it could have been the remnants of some sort of outdoor shower or maybe a small fountain.

 

Rosmarinus officinalis

Contrail over the Fremont pine grove at dusk...

RAFT: In Retrospect

While reflecting on the RAFT activity in class, the reality of the decisions that I will be faced with really hit me. I had thought about some of the situations described in class, but I definitely overlooked some of the most obvious situations that could arise.

Scenario 3 was pretty shocking for me. I forgot that there were people who still might hold strong to the belief that a woman's place is at home, and that furthering a girl's education would be a waste of time and effort. I was at first discouraged by the fact that I might have to deal with this kind of situation, but realized after talking in class, that we as teachers do have some power over the education of our students. A teacher, if using the right avenues (speaking with the other teacher, and parents), can influence the future learning of her/his students.

Some situations were very new and challenging for me, such as the one about the gay male student who goes by the name Cynthia. Before this activity, I thought I knew how to deal with "gray area" decisions. This one definitely caught me off guard, and left me wondering what the best choice would be. While I thought our discussion was helpful, this situation left me thinking that I won't always have the answers to every situation. While looking back at this realization, it seems as though my assumption was self-centered. This really gave me a new perspective into my own assumptions about how well I understood the teaching profession. I realized that there is so much that a teacher must improvise in reaction to. I feel like this was a valuable insight into my personality that will be good to be aware of in the future.      

Seeing Both Sides of the Coin

Being a well-informed teacher is necessary in order to be adaptable in your interactions with faculty, parents, and even students. As we discussed in class, there are some very emotionally charged issues pertaining to the topic of education. While we may initially have strong opinions about these issues, our full understanding of them is imperative as teachers of students, ambassadors for schools, and citizens. If we turn a blind eye to one side or the other, we automatically reject the ideas of a group of people who most likely care just as much about the same education system that we do. Just because their opinions are different also does not mean that they are wrong.

The great cultural diversity of students in a classroom should be evidence enough that the needs of those students are just as diverse. This translates to the broader context of school in general. Different types of people want different things out of their education system. In order to understand the desires of these groups, we as teachers need to understand why these people might want these things. This can be the hardest thing for people to grapple with, because the only way to truly understand where a person is coming from is to be them. The only advice I can think to give is to use the classic idiom “Put yourself in someone else’s shoes.”

It was such a valuable experience to debate some of these issues in class on Thursday, because many of us were forced to take on opinions that we might not normally agree with. After doing this, though, I realized that there were some very valid concerns on both sides of every issue. This realization helped me come to the conclusion that we as teachers should have this attitude when looking at any issue that we are faced with. This attitude will help us in encouraging dialogue with fellow teachers, parents, faculty, and community members who might have some very important and valid concerns that should be taken into account before any conclusions can be made.