Anew and refreshing way to learning

I thought that Gever Tulley’s approach to learning was quite interesting. The fact that he takes a hand on approach rather than learning it from a book or an instruction manual is a smart idea and a breath of fresh air. In life oftentimes we learn things by trial and error and in doing so along the way often our path can be filled with failure, but if we are able to learn valuable lessons from our failures we are better individuals for it. The use of the old adage of, “pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again,” fits well here.

Education as a whole in the United States could learn something from Gever Tulley’s approach and start thinking outside the box. I’m not saying that some teachers don’t already do but many do not. Many people, especially children, learn better by doing, rather than reading it from a book or manual. Although planning is planning is necessary to bring your ideas into fruition, sometimes we tend to over plan and lose sight of the fun of just doing it. I know from a personal stand-point that I am able to learn more by doing than by necessarily reading it out of a book, although I can learn things that way as well. Working from a vision that I have in my mind of how the finished product should look like offers me the greatest satisfaction in a job well done. Along the way there were often revisions and setbacks, but each was a learning experience and together they helped build character.

What I found of interest in the video was how the kids were able to work as a team and learn to overcome adversity and overcome it. In doing so they were able to build some cool, innovative and impressive projects with marvelous ingenuity. Their projects were also decorated with wonderful and creative design. With Gever’s help they were able to build aerodynamic design projects and ideas and use the landscape surrounding them to their advantage, which I found encouraging. In the future I would greatly appreciate attending one of his seminars around the country and would encourage others to do so too. Here is the link to the video http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/gever_tulley_s_tinkering_school_in_action.html

What I did over the Labor Day weekend

Hmm, what did I do over my recent Labor Day weekend? Well most of you would consider what I did pretty much boring and uneventful. Each day of my three day Labor Day weekend started out in a typical fashion take the puppy outside to go potty, eat breakfast, shower, watch a little morning tv, but then here is where it got a little bit different, normally I might go and spend some time with a friend of mine in Onalaska,Wi. but not this weekend, although we did spend some time together during the weekend. What I did do this weekend was spend some time helping others by volunteering at the Salvation Army's meal program during the lunch and dinner hours. The people that you meet there all have an interesting story to tell as to why they need the help they receive.

The Director of Food Services at the Salvation Army, Doug Fortner is a good friend of mine that I have known for about 9 years. I usually got there at about an hour and a half before they would serve lunch at 12:30 P.M. and didn't leave until the kitchen was finished cleaned up at 6 P.M. During that time I do a multitude of jobs from prepping the donated sandwiches (heating them up), to serving the soup and sandwiches, prepping the meal for that night's dinner, washing dishes, handling crowd control if necessary, etc. I like to give back to an organization, and feel good when I do so, that has given back to me in numerous ways. Now you know how I spent my Labor Day weekend.

Remove those glasses to see clearer

Often times in life we tend to look at life through rose colored glasses and therefore we often tend to miss details and many of life's experiences along the way.  I would have to say that our best solution is to take off those rose colored glasses and really see what is truly happening around us on a daily basis, myself included.

My very first blog

Whew! I guess that creating this blog was'nt as hard as I thought it would be. I forget who made this quote but I have often heard, "that beauty is in the eye of the beholder." So, I am interested to hear what your opinion is of what you consider to be art. I'm sure that it vary much differently than mine.