Eastern Connecticut State University Foster Clock Tower

Education Department News, 
Eastern Connecticut State University
Webb Hall Building Room 124, 83 Windham Street, Willimantic, CT 06226

please address questions or comments to David Stoloff, Ed. Department Chair 
TEL:    (860) 465-5501      email:   mailto:stoloffd@easternct.edu

also found at http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/newsindex.html on the WWW

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Words of Inspiration - 2004 - 2005 collection

The 2002 collection appears as http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/news/words02.html .
The 2003 collection appears as http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/news/words03.html
The 2004 collection appears as http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/news/words04.html

Introducing an occasional addition to this newsletter of selected words of inspiration which you might find helpful for reflection.  Please consider sending in your own favorite selections as a contribution to an online resource of words which help one get through difficult times.

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BELOIT COLLEGE MINDSET LIST® FOR THE CLASS OF 2008

http://www.beloit.edu/%7Epubaff/releases/mindset_2008.htm

1.  Most students entering college this fall were born in 1986.
2.  Desi Arnaz, Orson Welles, Roy Orbison, Ted Bundy, Ayatollah Khomeini, and Cary Grant  have always been dead.
3.  “Heeeere’s Johnny!” is a scary greeting from Jack Nicholson, not a warm welcome from Ed McMahon.
4.  The Energizer bunny has always been going, and going, and going.
5.  Large fine-print ads for prescription drugs have always appeared in magazines.
6.  Photographs have always been processed in an hour or less.
7.  They never got a chance to drink 7-Up Gold, Crystal Pepsi, or Apple Slice.
8.  Baby Jessica could be a classmate.
9.  Parents may have been reading The Bourne Supremacy or It as they rocked them in their cradles.
10.  Alan Greenspan has always been setting the nation’s financial direction.
11.  The U.S.  has always been a Prozac nation.
12.  They have always enjoyed the comfort of pleather.
13.  Harry has always known Sally.
14.  They never saw Roseanne Roseannadanna live on Saturday Night Live.
15.  There has always been a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
16.  They never ate a McSub at McD’s.
17.  There has always been a Comedy Channel.
18.  Bill and Ted have always been on an excellent adventure.
19.  They were never tempted by smokeless cigarettes.
20. Robert Downey, Jr. has always been in trouble.
21.  Martha Stewart has always been cooking up something with someone.
22.  They have always been comfortable with gay characters on television.
23.  Mike Tyson has always been a contender.
24.  The government has always been proposing we go to Mars, and it has always been deemed too expensive.
25.  There have never been any Playboy Clubs.
26.  There have always been night games at Wrigley Field.
27.  Rogaine has always been available for the follicularly challenged.
28.  They never saw USA Today or the Christian Science Monitor as a TV news program.
29.  Computers have always suffered from viruses.
30.  We have always been mapping the human genome.
31. Politicians have always used rock music for theme songs.
32.  Network television has always struggled to keep up with cable.
33.  O’Hare has always been the most delay-plagued airport in the U.S.
34.  Ivan Boesky has never sold stock.
35.  Toll-free 800 phone numbers have always spelled out catchy phrases.
36.  Bethlehem has never been a place of peace at Christmas.
37.  Episcopal women bishops have always threatened the foundation of the Anglican Church.
38.  Svelte Oprah has always dominated afternoon television; who was Phil Donahue anyway?
39.  They never flew on People Express.
40.  AZT has always been used to treat AIDS.
41.  The international community has always been installing or removing the leader of Haiti.
42.  Oliver North has always been a talk show host and news commentator.
43.  They have suffered through airport security systems since they were in strollers.
44.  They have done most of their search for the right college online.
45.  Aspirin has always been used to reduce the risk of a heart attack.
46.  They were spared the TV ads for Zamfir and his panpipes.
47.  Castro has always been an aging politician in a suit.
48.  There have always been non-stop flights around the world without refueling.
49.  Cher hasn’t aged a day.
50.  M.A.S.H. was a game: Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House.

"Labor Day is much more than the end of summer. It is a holiday unlike most others, honoring not public figures or war victories but the everyday worker. To commemorate Labor Day, Education World has found some of the best World Wide Web sites about the history of the holiday -- and labor -- in the United States.

In New York City, on the first Monday in September 1884, the Knights of Labor -- an early labor organization -- held a large parade to celebrate working people. Later that decade, labor organizations around the country began to lobby various state legislatures for recognition of Labor Day as an official holiday. In 1887, the first states to declare it a state holiday were Oregon, Colorado, New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. In 1894, Congress established Labor Day as a national holiday."

From Education World - http://www.education-world.com/a_sites/sites045.shtml
*****
“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., http://www.wisdomquotes.com/000382.html ,
contributed by Dr. Dan Thompson

posted on September 3, 2004
*****
"The cultivation of the capacity to reflect in action (while doing something) and on action (after you have done it) has become an important feature of professional training programmes in many disciplines, and its encouragement is seen as a particularly important aspect of the role of the mentor of the beginning professional. Indeed, it can be argued that “real” reflective practice needs another person as mentor or professional supervisor, who can ask appropriate questions to ensure that the reflection goes somewhere, and does not get bogged down in self-justification, self-indulgence or self-pity!"

ATHERTON J S (2003) Learning and Teaching: Reflective
Practice [On-line] UK: Available:
http://www.dmu.ac.uk/~jamesa/learning/reflecti.htm
Accessed: 24 September 2004

*****
Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.
Robert Louis Stevenson

posted on http://www.bridge.net/~labush/teachqts.htm

*****

Eastern Celebrates NCATE Accreditation

 

      Eastern Connecticut State University has received full accreditation of its teacher preparation programs by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).

      “We hold Eastern in very high esteem,” said Frances Rabinowitz, associate commissioner for the Connecticut State Department of Education, speaking at a reception held in honor of Eastern’s education unit on Sept. 21. “Dean Patricia Kleine and her faculty are doing a wonderful job of educating future teachers.”

      Noting that more than 50 percent of current teachers will be reaching retirement age in the next 5-10 years, while 18 percent of current teaching positions in the state are being filled by non-certified teachers, Rabinowitz urged Eastern to expand its pre-service programs to graduate even more teachers.

      The reception took place a year after a three-day, on-site visit September 21-23, 2003, by a team of seven NCATE Board of Examiners, who visited Eastern’s Willimantic campus to review and assess the University’s education unit and its teacher preparation programs.

       “We are gratified by this important achievement,” said Eastern President David Carter. “Since its beginnings as a normal school in 1889, this institution has been committed to preparing Connecticut teachers.  Receiving NCATE accreditation tells our faculty they are doing a fine job; it assures prospective students that they are in good hands if they choose Eastern; and it should reassure the people of Connecticut that we take teacher preparation seriously.”

      The NCATE accreditation system is a voluntary peer review process, with an on-site review team using a set of research-based, performance standards in the areas of curriculum design, assessment of candidate performance, faculty qualifications, supervision of clinical experiences and faculty resources.

      The NCATE process started in February 2001 and eventually included more than 4,000 pages of support documentation.  Eastern completed the state review process on May 5-8, 2002, and then prepared for the NCATE on-site visit and the specialization reviews.

      “Our successful accreditation review is a tribute to Professors David Stoloff and Robert Horrocks, chairs of the departments of education and health and physical education, respectively, and the faculty who work with them to prepare the teachers of tomorrow,” said Patricia A. Kleine, dean of Eastern’s School of Education and Professional Studies.  Kleine also thanked Associate Professor Hari Koirala for helping frame the conceptual model for the NCATE review process; Assistant Professor Jeanelle Bland Day, for assisting in preparing the document room; and the chair of the Connecticut State Department of Education Review Team, Anne Marie Mistretta, now interim superintendent of Manchester Public Schools. 

      NCATE is a coalition of 33 professional associations representing more than 3 million faculty in the field of education and teacher preparation, and is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.   Two-thirds of the nation’s new teacher graduates come from NCATE-accredited schools.  Due to public demand for accountability, the number of universities and colleges seeking NCATE accreditation has almost tripled in the past five years, with 575 institutions accredited and more than 100 others at the candidate stage.

      “We agree with NCATE that children are our most precious resource,” said Kleine.  “Children deserve the best teachers we can graduate, and Eastern is committed to continual improvement of its teacher preparation programs.” 

      National data indicate that teacher candidates who graduate from NCATE-accredited schools do better on national licensing and certification exams by a factor of 10 percent.  In addition, graduates of NCATE-accredited schools generally find it easier to apply for their teaching licenses when moving to other states. 

      NCATE is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and, as part of that celebration, has published its original list of 283 accredited teacher education programs on the NCATE website.  Willimantic State Teachers College — one of Eastern’s former identities — was on that original list.  For information on Eastern’s teacher preparation programs, visit www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/edu.html.  

 

press release developed by

Dwight Bachman, Public Relations Officer, Eastern Connecticut State University
 
*****

Many in the Education Department are going to the Connecticut Conference on Multicultural Education conference on Monday, October 18.   This conference is sponsored by the Connecticut chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME).  Here are NAME's goals and objectives -

"There are six points of consensus regarding multicultural education that are central to NAME¹s philosophy, and serve as NAME's goals:

Red NAME Objectives Red

The following specific objectives highlight several of NAME's future directions:

posted on http://www.nameorg.org/about/goals.html

******

Poets are like baseball pitchers. Both have their moments. The intervals are the tough things.
-- Robert Frost

from a Month of Baseball Quotes - http://www.creativebaseball.com/a-month-of-baseball-quotes.html


******

Impress upon children the truth that the exercise of the elective franchise is a social duty of as solemn a nature as man can be called to perform; that a man may not innocently trifle with his vote; that every elector is a trustee as well for others as himself and that every measure he supports has an important bearing on the interests of others as well as on his own.

Daniel Webster, The Works of Daniel Webster (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1853), Vol. II, p. 108, from remarks made at a public reception by the ladies of Richmond, Virginia, on October 5, 1840.

http://www.wallbuilders.com/resources/search/detail.php?ResourceID=22

******

"Why do schools need parent and community support?

Thirty years of research clearly shows that parent and community involvement in schools improves student achievement. To reach their potential, students need parents and the community to take an active role in their education.

Schools are working hard to provide a high quality education for every child. But they can't do it alone. Parent and community involvement is critical to creating great schools."

from A Parent's Guide to School Involvement, http://www.nea.org/parents/schoolinvolve.html

******

American Education Week:  A History

"The National Education Association (NEA)  was one of the creators and original sponsors of American Education Week (AEW). 

NEA and the American Legion were distressed that 25 percent of the country's World War I draftees were illiterate and 29 percent were physically unfit. Both groups met in 1919 to generate public support for education.

The conventions of both organizations subsequently adopted resolutions of support for a national effort to raise public awareness of the importance of education. In 1921, the NEA Representative Assembly in Des Moines, Iowa, called for designation of one week each year to spotlight education.

In its resolution, NEA called for: "An educational week . . . observed in all communities annually for the purpose of informing the public of the accomplishments and needs of the public schools and to secure the cooperation and support of the public in meeting those needs."

American Education Week was first observed December 4-10, 1921. NEA and the American Legion were co-sponsors. A year later, the U.S. Office of Education joined as an additional cosponsor. The National PTA followed in 1938.

Earliest observances featured a different theme for each day of AEW. This changed in 1929 as the cosponsors decided to select a single theme that reflected the current national concern.

American Education Week is always celebrated the first full week before Thanksgiving."

"This year's theme: Celebrating the American Dream."

from http://www.nea.org/aew/history.html

posted on Friday, November 12, 2004

Thanksgiving Information

"... The problem is that part of what you and I learned in our own childhood about the "Pilgrims" and "Squanto" and the "First Thanksgiving" is a mixture of both history and myth. But the THEME of Thanksgiving has truth and integrity far above and beyond what we and our forebearers have made of it. Thanksgiving is a bigger concept than just the story of the founding of the Plymouth Plantation."
 

from an introduction by Chuck Larsen, Tacoma School District,

for the rest of the discussion, please visit http://www.2020tech.com/thanks/temp.html#request

posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004

*****

International Day of Disabled Persons
3 December

"Nothing about Us Without Us"

The annual observance of the International Day of Disabled Persons, 3 December, aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities. It also seeks to increase awareness of gains to be derived from the integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life. The theme of the Day is based on the goal of full and equal enjoyment of human rights and participation in society by persons with disabilities, established by the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons, adopted by the General Assembly in 1982.

for the rest of the discussion, please visit http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/disiddp.htm

*****

"It's time for people to just stop seeing themselves so much as victims, so much in poverty, and realize what education does and fight for it like you're fighting for your life - and you are because that's what our children are."

Bill Cosby quoted at http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/12/10/125912.shtml

*****

from EVERYTHING ABOUT KWANZAA...

LIBATION STATEMENT

For The Motherland cradle of civilization.
For the ancestors and their indomitable spirit
For the elders from whom we can learn much.
For our youth who represent the promise for  tomorrow.
For our people the original people.
For our struggle and in remembrance of those who have struggled on our behalf.
For Umoja the principle of unity which should guide  us in all that we do.
For the creator who provides all things great and small.

from http://www.tike.com/celeb-kw.htm

Happy New Year 2005 - January 3, 2005

A message shared by Dr. Robert Horrocks from Eastern CSU alumni in Sri Lanka -

Dear friends,

By now you would have learnt of the disaster that struck Sri Lanka. Up to now an estimated number of 10,000 human lives are said to be lost due to the tsunami and more than a million people displaced from their homes.

Together with some friends and the Rotary Club that I am a part of – the Rotary Club of Colombo Regency, we are making plans to collect and distribute relief items to victims in the affected areas. We are co-ordinating our plans with other relief service offer groups as well, so that the items go to the most required areas.

As it is, we need drinking water, dry rations, medicines and clothing. We would be getting details of medicines and costs within the next few days, and will keep you updated.

Please visit [www.reliefforsrilanka.blogspot.com ] for up to date information on the relief requirements. You can also visit [www.lankafood.com] to make your contribution online using your credit cards to sponsor food items, which we will purchase and distribute locally. Alternatively, you may send items addressed to the ‘Rotary Club of Colombo Regency’, c/o Tharanga K Gunaratne, 4 Walter Gunasekera Mawatha, Nawala, Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka.

Please let me know how you would like to assist us.

Thank you.

Nalin & Tharanga

****

Many of us have been worried about the safety of Dr. Sudha Swaminathan and her family who are visiting in Southeast India this week.  Dr. Sudha Swaminathan has written - see below - with very good news.
 
We look forward to seeing Sudha and her family safely back here soon.  Our thoughts are with all who are suffering in that part of the world. 
 
From: SWAMINATHAN, Sudha (Education)
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 9:21 AM
To: STOLOFF, David L. (Education)
Subject: RE: hope that you are well

 
Hi David:
 
Thank you.  Yes, fortunately we are safe.  We were inland on the day of the Tsunami.
The disaster and its repercussions are tragic.
 
Our best wishes to everyone for a happy and healthy new year.
Sudha

posted on January 2, 2005

****

from Toni Morrison's Nobel Lecture, 1993 -

http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1993/morrison-lecture.html

"The conventional wisdom of the Tower of Babel story is that the collapse was a misfortune. That it was the distraction, or the weight of many languages that precipitated the tower's failed architecture. That one monolithic language would have expedited the building and heaven would have been reached. Whose heaven, she wonders? And what kind? Perhaps the achievement of Paradise was premature, a little hasty if no one could take the time to understand other languages, other views, other narratives period. Had they, the heaven they imagined might have been found at their feet. Complicated, demanding, yes, but a view of heaven as life; not heaven as post-life."

posted on January 9, 2005

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Week 2005 - January 17, 2005

I said to my children, 'I'm going to work and do everything that I can do to see that you get a good education. I don't ever want you to forget that there are millions of God's children who will not and cannot get a good education, and I don't want you feeling that you are better than they are. For you will never be what you ought to be until they are what they ought to be.'
-- Martin Luther King, Jr. , 7th January, 1968

from http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/popular_requests/selected_quotesFrame.htm

******

Welcome to Spring Semester 2005

"Uncle John's Band"
Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia

Well, the first days are the hardest days,
don't you worry anymore
When life looks like Easy Street
there is danger at your door
Think this through with me
Let me know your mind
Wo-oah, what I want to know
is are you kind?

from Uncle John's Band, http://arts.ucsc.edu:16080/gdead/agdl/uncle.html

*****

    I Wish You Peace - Patti Davis, Bernie Leadon

    I wish you peace when the cold winds blow
    Warmed by the fire's glow
    I wish you comfort in the, the lonely time
    And arms to hold you when you ache inside

    I wish you hope when things are going bad
    Kind words when times are sad
    I wish you shelter from the, the raging wind
    Cooling waters at the fever's end

    I wish you peace when times are hard
    The light to guide you through the dark
    And when storms are high and your, your dreams are low

    I wish you the strength to let love grow on,
    I wish you the strength to let love flow,

    I wish you peace when times are hard
    A light to guide you through the dark
    And when storms are high and your, you dreams are low
    I wish you the strength to let let grown on,
    I wish you the strength to let love flow,
    I wish you the strength to let love glow on
    I wish you the strength to let love go on. 

posted at http://www.marcogiunco.com/Testi/000448_09.html on 1/28/05

****

Invest in the human soul. Who knows,
it may be a diamond in the rough.

Mary McLeod Bethune -  http://www.nahc.org/NAHC/Val/Columns/SC10-6.html

and used as the motto of the Teacher Cadet Program at Hartford Public High School

****

Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to

“jump at de sun.” We might not land on the sun, but at

least we would get off the ground.

- Zora Neale Hurston

http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/hurs-zor.htm

****

"The evolution (or devolution, depending upon one's point of view) of the university into an internet of higher education, with texts and their explications data-based, with interrogations routinized, with experts taking the place of professors, is not to be confined to fantasy. Ideas for just such expansion are already in practice, and its worth to third world, rural, and under-served communities is hard to gainsay. But a massive conversion to a www.com university may not be our complete or immediate future only because the human desire to congregate is paramount. But another reason for the survival of more traditional campuses (with living, fleshed, as opposed to virtual persons interacting with students, contributing to something called "student life" and the benefits thereof) is that survival may depend on the move from the profession of humanistic intellectual to the vocation of humanistic intellectual, regardless of the dangers of demagoguery. If the critical platform remains open, the charlatans will be exposed."

from a lecture by Toni Morrison, "How can values be taught in the university?" delivered at the Center for Human Values, Princeton University, April 27, 2000.

http://www.umich.edu/~mqr/morrison.htm

****

Keep a grateful journal. Every night, list five things that happened this day that you are grateful for. What it will begin to do is change your perspective of your day and your life. If you can learn to focus on what you have, you will always see that the universe is abundant; you will have more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never have enough.

A quote by Orpah Winfrey posted on http://www.worldofquotes.com/author/Oprah-Winfrey/1

****

"The world of education is like an island where people, cut off from the world, are prepared for life by exclusion from it"

"The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, 'The children are now working as if I did not exist'."

Maria Montessori quoted at http://womenshistory.about.com/library/qu/blqumont.htm

Eighth Week of Spring 2005 - March 14, 2005

“There is a rich and emotional subtext underneath the obliged politesse and decorum of parent-teacher meetings that needs acknowledgement.”

Professor Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot
quoted at http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/features/sll01012004.html

Week After Spring Break 2005 - March 28, 2005

"If you want to feel secure, do what you already know how to do. If you
want to be a true professional and continue to grow. . . go to the
cutting-edge of your competence, which means a temporary loss of
security. So whenever you don't quite know what you're doing, know you
are growing."  

Dr. Madeline Hunter, 1987
posted at  http://www.learner.org/channel/workshops/missinglink/teacher_talk/0005.html

Tenth Week of Spring Semester 2005 - April 4, 2005

"Almost any dream can be realized if you have the desire to learn, and the wisdom to ask for help. You need both. Share knowledge, and delegate with trust. When you find that a career path and your heart have come together, don’t let anything stand in the way of your success."

New York State Health Commissioner Antonia C. Novello, M.D., M.P.H., D.P.H., ALBANY, October 5, 2002 – http://www.health.state.ny.us/press/releases/2002/latina-news-release.htm

Eleventh Week of Spring Semester 2005 - April 11, 2005

"The most difficult part of life's journey is to find a dream. What is your dream? Don't go another day without thinking about it. If you don't know, then practice thinking about. Spend a few minutes each day just thinking about what you want. Thinking and wishing and dreaming each day will bring you closer to recognizing and achieving it."

Ms. Betty Martinez, Public Information Representative, Santa Clara Valley Water District, quoted at http://www.amhsv.org/biographies/betty_martinez.htm

Three Weeks before Classes End, Spring Semester 2005 - April 25, 2005

"Most Latina/o youngsters pursue what they can perceive and recognize as achievable. The availability of successful Latina/o role models provides a sense of opportunity to Latina/o students and increases their investment in achievement (Zirkel, 2002). These role models have a positive impact on Latina/o students' educational aspirations and achievements by showing them that education is within their reach. The models communicate that "Sí, podemos educarnos," "Yes, we can achieve an education" (Zalaquett & Feliciano, 2003, 2004).”

posted on http://www.coedu.usf.edu/zalaquett/s/p.html

Eight Days before Classes End, Spring 2005 - May 2, 2005

****

"I am conscious in my poems of exploring the experiences of being a woman in this society. I am consciously a feminist working with, by, and for other women. I feel an identity too with other people in struggle. I am conscious of being engaged on the Left and wanting to move the society constantly toward equality and to contribute to liberation struggles everywhere. I always remember our own struggle first and foremost, never forgetting us, never putting us second. I respect the choices of women who may feel more oppressed as a black or a Native American, but I make no compromise with somebody who tries to dictate my priorities."

from Looking at Myself
A Study in Focused Myopia by Marge Piercy, 2005 Commencement Speaker

posted on http://www.margepiercy.com/essays/myopia.htm

Last Week of Classes, Spring 2005 - May 9, 2005

****

Do MORE! (Carpe Diem!!)

Do more than exist, Live

Do more than touch, Feel

Do more than look, Observe

Do more than read, Absorb

Do more than hear, Listen

Do more than listen, Understand

Do more than think, Ponder

Do more than talk, Say Something!

-John H. Rhodes-

quoted by Daria Plummer at CEASP-Apple Banquet, April 22, 2005

posted on http://www.beer-bytch.com/101ways.htm

Commencement, Spring 2005 - May 22, 2005

... the shortest commencement address in history was reportedly delivered by the film maker Woody Allen. He stepped to the podium, recognized administrators, faculty, alumni and alumnae, then turned to the students and uttered two sentences. "We have given you a perfect world. Please do not screw it up."

An equally succinct graduation speech was evidently delivered by the comedian Bob Hope a number of years ago. He, too, began by recognizing the distinguished members of the audience.

Then he said to the students: "As you prepare to leave these hallowed halls of learning, these bastions of knowledge, these citadels of scholarship, I have just two words of advice: Don't go."

quote from a commencement speech by Senator Dodd at UCONN in May 2000 - http://www.senate.gov/member/ct/dodd/general/press/Releases/00/0520.htm

Woody Allen is also often quoted at saying at a commencement speech -

 "More than any time in history mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly."

http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/commence01/hunt.html

Second Week of Summer 2005- May 30, 2005

****

Decoration Day

Sleep, comrades, sleep and rest
On this Field of the Grounded Arms,
Where foes no more molest,
Nor sentry's shot alarms!

Ye have slept on the ground before,
And started to your feet
At the cannon's sudden roar,
Or the drum's redoubling beat.

But in this camp of Death
No sound your slumber breaks;
Here is no fevered breath,
No wound that bleeds and aches.

All is repose and peace,
Untrampled lies the sod;
The shouts of battle cease,
It is the Truce of God!

Rest, comrades, rest and sleep!
The thoughts of men shall be
As sentinels to keep
Your rest from danger free.

Your silent tents of green
We deck with fragrant flowers;
Yours has the suffering been,
The memory shall be ours.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, posted on http://www.readbookonline.net/read/3050/12457

****

Third Week, First Summer Session 2005- June 6, 2005

"For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out."

James Arthur Baldwin quoted by Senior class president Jonathan D. Adams at the 2005 Commencement at Eastern CSU

http://en.thinkexist.com/quotation/for_nothing_is_fixed-forever_and_forever_and/335984.html

****

Mid-Term Week, First Summer Session 2005- June 14, 2005

quotes on "If not you, who?"

Hillel was a famous Jewish religious leader who lived in Jerusalem during the time of King Herod; he is one of the most important figures in Judaic history, associated with the Mishnah and the Talmud. He was the founder of Beit Hillel (House of Hillel) school, and the ancestor of the patriarchs who stood at the head of Palestinian Judaism till about the fifth century of the common era.

His two best-known statements are probably:

"If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?" (Pirkei Avot 1:14)
"That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary. Go and study it." (Babylonian Talmud, tractate Shabbat 31a. See the Ethic of Reciprocity or "The Golden rule")

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_the_Elder

IF NOT YOU
by Maryellen McCabe

Where there is no vision a people perish.
Where there are no dreams to cherish a nation dies.
Where are the leaders like Jefferson?
Where are the heroes and heroines?
Where are the people who see the work to be done and have inspiration?

CHORUS
If not you, who will be the answer.
If not you, who will heal the cancer.
If not you . . . who?

Who will tell the children that they can fly?
Who will play the catcher in the rye?
Where are the teachers who ask the reasons why?
In the schools the minds all die.

CHORUS
Who will hear the cries of the third world poor?
Who will stop the holocaust of a nuclear war?
Where are the ladies to hold Athena's sword
Like Joan of Arc with Justice?
If not you, who will be the answer.
If not you, who will heal the cancer. If not you . . . who?

http://www.lightparty.com/Visionary/IfNotYou.html

Fifth Week, First Summer Session 2005- June 20, 2005

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JAMES TAYLOR lyrics - "Secret O' Life"

The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.
Any fool can do it, there ain't nothing to it.
Nobody knows how we got to the top of the hill.
But since we're on our way down, we might as well enjoy the ride.

The secret of love is in opening up your heart.
It's okay to feel afraid, but don't let that stand in your way.
Cause anyone knows that love is the only road.
And since we're only here for a while, might as well show some style. Give us a smile.

Isn't it a lovely ride? Sliding down, gliding down,
try not to try too hard, it's just a lovely ride.

Now the thing about time is that time isn't really real.
It's just your point of view, how does it feel for you?
Einstein said he could never understand it all.
Planets spinning through space, the smile upon your face, welcome to the human race.

Some kind of lovely ride. I'll be sliding down, I'll be gliding down.
Try not to try too hard, it's just a lovely ride.
Isn't it a lovely ride? Sliding down, gliding down,
try not to try too hard, it's just a lovely ride.
The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.
 

from http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/james_taylor/secret_o_life.html

James Taylor and his band were this summer's artists at the Fun*ding at the Meadows in Hartford on Friday, June 17, 2005.  This was the opening song.

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End of First Summer Session 2005- June 30, 2005

The Price They Paid

Have you ever wondered what happened to those men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or the hardships of the Revolutionary War.

What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners, men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

They signed and the pledged their lives, there fortunes and their sacred honor.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers or both, looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Rutledge, and Middleton.

At the Battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr. noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. The owner quietly urged General George Washington to open fire, which was done. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his grist mill were laid waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home after the war to find his wife dead, his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight and unwavering, they pledged:

"For the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of the Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
They gave us an independent America. Can we keep it?

from http://members.aol.com/t915/Minute/Price_Paid.htm

First Week of 2nd Summer Session 2005- July 5, 2005

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"To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded."

--- inaccurately attributed to
 Ralph Waldo Emerson

"It seems that the quote may be traceable to a 1905 publication by a Bessie Stanley." 

from http://www.transcendentalists.com/success.htm

Third Week of 2nd Summer Session 2005-July 19, 2005

There were days
and there were days
and there were days I know
when all we ever wanted
was to learn and love and grow
Once we grew into our shoes
we told them where to go
walked halfway around the world
on promise of the glow
stood upon a mountain top
walked barefoot in the snow
gave the best we had to give
how much we'll never know we'll never know
 

a verse from Robert Hunter/Jerry Garcia's "Days Between" featured in Phil Lesh's autobiography, Searching for the sound : my life with the Grateful Dead, and annotated at http://arts.ucsc.edu/GDead/AGDL/days.html

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MidTerm Week of 2nd Summer Session 2005-July 27, 2005

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From some summer reading -

"History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves."

Diamond, Jared M (1997). Guns, germs, and steel : the fates of human societies.  New York : W.W. Norton & Co. HM206.D48 1997

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Fifth Week of 2nd Summer Session 2005-August 1, 2005

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100 Years

I'm 15 for a moment
Caught in between 10 and 20
And I'm just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are

I'm 22 for a moment
She feels better than ever
And we're on fire
Making our way back from Mars

15… there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to lose
15…there's never a wish better than this
When you only got 100 years to live…

I'm 33 for a moment
Still the man but you see I'm a they
A kid on the way
A family on my mind

I'm 45 for a moment
The sea is high
And I'm heading into a crisis
Chasing the years of my life

15… there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to lose yourself
Within a morning star

15… I'm all right with you
15… there's never a wish better than this
When you only got 100 years to live…

Half time goes by
Suddenly you’re wise
Another blink of an eye
67 is gone
The sun is getting high
We're moving on...

I'm 99 for a moment
Dying for just another moment
And I'm just dreaming
     Counting the ways to where you are

15… there's still time for you
22… I feel her too
33… you’re on your way
Every Day's a new Day

15… there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to choose
Hey 15… there's never a wish better than this
When you only got 100 years to live

composed by John Ondrasik, for Five for Fighting -

http://www.fiveforfighting.com/lyrics.html

used by Joel Farrior, SIFT faculty member, at the close of the Summer Institute for Future Teachers on July 22, 2005 on a DVD he developed to chronicle SIFT 2005.

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Last Week of 2nd Summer Session 2005-August 8, 2005

Vacation is time off to remind employees that the business can get along without them.

Wilson, Earl (1907 - 1987)

quote found at http://www.crystalclouds.co.uk/search.php?option=ThisSource&searchbioid=2006

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Last Week of Summer 2005-August 16, 2005

from the vision statement of the Partners in Health organization

"The founders of PIH did not set out to establish an organization spanning three continents. We began in 1983 with a personal commitment to a few villages in rural Haiti, a country just 90 minutes from Miami by air. The principle that motivated us was simple: everyone, whether poor or affluent, deserves to benefit from the same high standard of medical care. Our first step was equally direct. We asked our Haitian colleagues what ailed them. The work that followed grew complex—not because our vision was complicated, but because the sources of their illness ran so deep.

Our initial questions, it turned out, were answered not just by a litany of diseases, but had deeper roots in a legacy of social and economic inequality. To cure the infections, it was necessary to address the conditions that had given rise to them. We fought pneumonia simultaneously with antibiotics and by helping people to replace their thatch roofs with tin. We cured tuberculosis not just with isoniazid and rifampin, but by training residents as doctors, technicians, and health outreach workers, so that they could help diagnose and treat their neighbors. And even as we arranged for local heart patients to undergo surgery in top U.S. hospitals, we enabled our Haitian colleagues to build and equip operating rooms, laboratories, schools, and inpatient facilities."

quote found at http://www.pih.org/whoweare/vision.html , part of the vision statement of the Partners in Health organization, featured with the work of Dr. Paul Farmer in Tracy Kidder's, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World, http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375506161

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First Week of the Fall Semester 2005-August 22, 2005

"A wonderful harmony arises from joining together the seemingly unconnected." - Heraclitus c.500 BC

quoted by President Carter at the Presidential Advance on Succeeding in an Uncertain World: The Collaboration Imperative.  Also includes on the list of quotations on learning and thinking found at the illumine training site at http://www.illumine.co.uk/hints-quotations.htm

posted on August 19, 2005