Carl Sagan Day

 

                  Today we celebrate Carl Sagan Day, a day dedicated to one of the greatest man of our century and someone I learned to admire since I was a child  and a day to celebrate the beauty of science and inquiry. Carl Edward Sagan Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, and author. According to the Wikipedia website, he is best known for his contributions to the scientific research of extraterrestrial life, including experimental demonstration of the production of amino acids from basic chemicals by radiation. For me, he is “best known” for writing the book Cosmos, that my cousin and journalist Luciana Cantão (with the permission of her mother), lend me to read it when I was teen. What a brand-new world! The reading was a great delight for me! After that, I found out that the book was part of the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which he narrated and co-wrote. Absolutely fantastic! 

                In 2001, when I started working as a teacher in a regular school, Aiael, the Geography teacher, gave me a very meaningful text, that shows how important is the teacher’s role in awakening the student's curiosity to learn anything. The text was an excerpt from the book "The Demon-Haunted World", published in 1995 (no Brasil, O Mundo Assombrado pelos Demônios - A Ciência vista como uma vela no escuro, lançado em 1997). This text was so important to me, it touched me so deeply,  that I still have the original hand written text copied by her. Once in a while; I still read it as a reminder of what I really need to do. How lovely to see (and feel) how science is fascinating and for sure, Carl Sagan has helped me to understand (and feel) that. Congratulations Mr. Sagan, wherever you are.

Post Question: Have you ever read one of the books written by Carl Sagan? Have your ever seen one of his documentaries or series? How did you like them? How do you like to read or to get information about the Universe?

Tip: To know more about Carl Sagan and his work, visite his official website.

Happy Teacher's Day!

What a day!

There are people that God should give "something" of eternity, so they could keep on sharing their knowledge and influence humankind throughout its history ... people like this lovely lady, "Dona Albertina".

She was my teacher in elementary school at EEPG de Vila Gerty (today, Alfredo Burkart ), in São caetano do Sul, and taught me so many good things ... from how to solve math problems with all the complexity of two operations (add and subtract) to how I should behave myself when talking to elder .

Last Sunday I went to Ben-Hur bakery to have breakfast and life generously gave me this wonderful gift - to meet a person who was very important in my life - my teacher!

Today , when I teach , I often get myself  remembering and even acting like these masters who were part of my life - D. Albertina , D. Áurea , D. Isabel , Mr. Pacifico, D. Margareth and Mr. Alberto.

May God bless all of them for their patience and their love, wherever they are! (But if by chance, as I do, God does not know for sure where they are, no problem - He can bless them right here, because all of them are here,  in my heart!)

PS . : I apologize my crying face, I tried to hold it but I couldn't help ...having the chance of expressing my gratitude to someone so special - is priceless!

Happy Teacher's Day!

"I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of teh arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit." - John Steinbeck, Author.

Post Question for the students: Who was the teacher that had a great influence in your life? Why? Have you had the chance of meeting him/her again? How was it? If not, would you like to?

Tip: Here in Brazil we celebrate Teacher's day on October 15th, but do you know when is the World Teacher's Day? To learn more about it, just click here and read about what UNESCO is doing to celebrate it!

Getting connected...

Photo by Kátia Veloso

July in San Diego...being with some students in an exchange program.

To refresh this early afternoon, there is nothing like a juice well chilled. And to enjoy this moment even more, a little chat with my family (my husband and Kika). Just a little detail...they are on the other side, I mean, they are all the way down in America. I'm in the north part of America (California - USA) and they are in the south part (São Paulo - Brazil), but we can talk as if they were right in front of me. And what is really amazing, we can communicate in more than one way. I could use my cell phone (which was invented 40 years ago and for sure it is a great option and for many years it was the only option we had) or I could use my tablet (which became very popular after the introduction of the iPad device made by Apple, in 2010). Of course we have had many ways to communicate through these years, but what can really caught my attention is how fast it has improved and how easy it has become during all these years. I know I could use e-mails, but I really wanted to hear his voice...it is much nicer than just read e-mails.

When I was a child, my grandmother used to live in Paraná, another state here in Brazil. Her house was about 500 km (about 310 miles) far from mine and we used to visit her just once a year, in December or January (because it was our school summer vacation) and we used to go there by car. During all the other months, there were only two ways to get some news from my grandparents: somebody that had been there with them and could bring us some news or by mail. So, I used to write letters to my grandmother (she was the one who usually replied them) every month. It's funny that, remembering all that now I have this feeling of "how could I get patience enough to wait days, weeks and sometimes even months (when my grandmother couldn't write me back so promptly) and now, some years later, I can't spend one day without talking to my husband - and sometimes twice or three times a day, depending on where I am or what I'm doing - which gives me a kind of a feeling like if he was here with me, traveling and visiting these gorgeous places in California.

It makes me wonder... if keep in touch has getting better and better so fast...how will we possibly be communicating to each other in the future? I don't know but I like to think that somehow we will be able to use a kind of teleportation - so, even if it could not be for the whole day, at least we could have people we love        for some hours, sharing our good moments and keeping us company!  But, on the other hand, could it reduce even more my patience? Although I think so; I want to believe that there is a way to prevent it...hopefully!

Post Question for the students: How do you usually communicate to people you care about? How often do you get together with your grandparents? Do you enjoy being with them? If you could be teleported anywhere in the world (or in the galaxy), where would you like to go? Why?
 

Tip: To learn more about one of the great inventions, the cell phone, listen to its inventor's interview (Marty Cooper) with the BBC. To watch it, just Click here. 

Wild Things...where are they?

Do you know where the wild things are?

This book was published, for the first time, in 1963 and after all these years, it has been one of the reading icon in the American childhood literature. I like it a lot and I do enjoy using it in my classes. And what really get me surprised is that no matter the age, my students always have a great time reading it. I believe it happens for two main reasons:     

- it is a very simple story, easy to read and easy to get involved. It's amazing how it seems that simple things have a direct connection to the heart!

- the book describe the world of children's imagination. It's the story of a little boy who is messing around and get punished. He is forced to go to his room and while he is there, he starts to imagine stories, fantasizing about being in a forest and traveling to a place where the monsters live, facing various adventures.

Students identify themselves with the book because all of us were children before and there is still a "little child" inside each one, so they know exactly what is happening with the boy because they did and have done the same thing ... dreamed, imagined and created many stories. It is a sweet memory that comes back and reminds us how fun life can be, even though we are "grounded". Actually it depends only on ourselves. If he were alive, Maurice Sendak would complete 85 years today and to honor the date of her birthday, Google has created an excited Doodle with the main designs of the author.

So...Where are the wild things? Thanks to Sendak, we know that they are wherever our imagination would like them to be and the best part...just waiting for our visit!

Post Question for the students: Have you read the book "Where wild things are"? Although you are in High School, do you still read children's book? Which one is your favorite? Why?

Tip: To read more about Sendak's work and  see the Doodle created by Google about his work, just click here. 

International Workers' Day - Are you going to celebrate it?

          Today is Wednesday and I’m sure a lot of you, school students, are very happy because it’s a holiday in the middle of the week. And you should be... it’s a very good pause, a moment to relax and enjoy this day, specially because it’s a very sunny and bright day! But a holiday is also a good moment to reflect about its meaning and why it is so important...at least the celebration is important enough to give us a holiday.

But before sharing some thoughts with you, let’s get something straight:

- LABOR Day is commemorated in USA. It’s an American federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September, that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.

- LABOUR Day, for many countries, is synonymous with, or linked with, International Workers' Day, which occurs on May 1st and it is a national holiday in more than 80 countries and celebrated unofficially in many other countries. It is an annual holiday to celebrate the achievements of workers. In Brazil, like in India and most of the other countries, most offices, banks, schools, etc. remain closed since it  is a public holiday. Labour Day has its origins in the labour union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, and eight hours for recreation.



          But is it a real achievement? I mean, it must be official and well written in some document, but how many people do you know that enjoy 8 hours for recreation? Or sleep 8 hours a day? As I know a lot of teachers, I know that many of them work 8 hours (sometimes even more) per day, but when they go home, the other 8 hours are also used to keep on working (researching some topics, correcting tests, checking the student’s work, preparing classes, etc.) It sounds crazy! But I also know that it’s not a teacher’s privilege. There are many other workers who have an 8-hour work journey and after that keep on working at home, thinking about what they have done, what they are going to do next day or even working at their computer (or as people like to say it, working at their home office).

         Workers didn’t have this right before and it was a hard work to achieve it...and now that we have the right of have a balanced life, where work, leisure and rest has the same importance, we act as if we didn’t have it . If it was so important before, the question is...what has really changed in our modern life that it’s not taking it into consideration anymore? What has really changed in our modern life that it’s not taking it into consideration what we have achieved in the past?

Post Question for the students: Are you an organized person? Do you have your routine elaborated in a balanced way? Do you plan your day? Can you study (in school) 8 hours, sleep 8 hours and spend 8 hours doing what you like? If you can, how do you organize your day? If you can not, what could you do, what changes would be the necessary to improve your routine and afford you great satisfaction and a more balanced day?

Tip: To learn more about the celebration of Labor Day, read the article from the British newspaper The Guardian and watch the second video in this article (Click here). While today may have been a day of rest for you, in many countries of the world, such as Russia, Cuba, Greece, the Philippines and South Korea, it was a day to protest against the economic crisis afflicting many workers and causing a high level of unemployment .