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Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark.
Carl Sagan
The new school year rapidly approaches. We all have big plans. So do our students. Ultimately, our big plans just aren’t that big on the grand scale of the universe.
Remember, all we have is each other. We are on this journey together, all of us. And all we have to carry us through the day is the love of family and friends.
Enjoy this new school year, and keep in mind what really matters.
The Eclectic Educator is a free resource for everyone passionate about education and creativity. If you enjoy the content and want to support the newsletter, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your support helps keep the insights and inspiration coming!
I was a computer science major back in the early part of this new millennia in another life. Somehow, I managed to leverage that into getting a job writing computer science standards for the state of Kentucky.
I still don’t know how that happened. Weird.
Anyway, the first coding language I learned was Java. It’s a beast with a very steep learning curve that intimidates most people. And it’s a horrible language to tackle when you’re first starting out.
Service-learning isn’t just for after school clubs
I love service projects organized by students. Clothing drives, food drives, clean-up days, and many others are great ways to engage students in their communities.
But we shouldn’t just leave service projects to after-school clubs.
What if we made them part of the learning process in core content classes?
Tom Holman, board chair of the Search Institute, told me that their research shows one of the three most positive indicators (predictors) of future success among young people is their belief that “what they do makes a difference” (searchinstitute.org). He also recommends the Multiplying Good organization, which can be found at minnesota.multiplyinggood.org.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Mike Paul, and include a link to pikemall.tech.
Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution.
Cory Doctorow’s work at Pluralistic inspired the layout, focus, and work displayed here. Hat tip to Cory for all his fine work.
