Influential Thinkers

"Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten."

B.F. Skinner

"Let men be happy, informed, skilful, well behaved, and productive."

BF Skinner

“Children love and want to be loved and they very much prefer the joy of accomplishment to the triumph of hateful failure. Do not mistake a child for his symptom.”
Erik Erikson

”Doubt is the brother of shame.”
Erik Erikson

Influential People and Things in My Life

1. Students of all ages have influenced me tremendously with their will to overcome many obstacles in their lives and have the perseverance to strive to learn.


2. I have had the privilege of working with a teacher named Karen Dismore in the alternative program in the school district I work in. Karen has had a very rough life growing up and in adulthood with health issues. All of these tragic thing that have happened to Karen throughout her life never slowed her down. She is a great influence and an inspiration not only to me, but to the kids we work with. Karen has written three novels and I feel she is a very accaccomplished writer. I have a goal in my life to write one book that I have not yet obtained and Karen has written three, this is amazing to me.
I have read all three books and I can't wait until she writes another! GO KAREN!!!

1. Scilia
2. Salina
3. Trajan’s War

http://www.tower.com/tower_search/search_3_2_b.cfm?keywords=Karen%20Mayberry%20%28Author%29&div_id=1&contributor=Karen%20Mayberry%20%28Author%29

3. My Grampa is another person who has left an indelible impression. He was the most kindest person I had ever known. My Dad died when I was five years old and my Grandpa was the only consistent man in my life, he filled the shoes of my father and he also filled his grandfather shoes as well. Right after we lost him I got pregnant. One year and one day after his death I had my twins, one boy and one girl. The saying goes, "for every life lost their is a new to take their place". It took two to replace my grampa.

4. All the teachers in my life have influenced me in one way or another. There are a few that stand out more than the rest, however they have all left some kind of impression on me. The one that made the most influence on me was my high school drama teacher, Mrs Williams. She encouraged us to be what ever we want to be. I was always artistic and she saw that in me and she knew how to draw out that creativity by the things she had me create. I was not an actor, I was part of the stage crew and my job was to create the scenes. Mrs William was very hard on us, but we all loved and respected her.

5. Last but not least, all the armed forces in the great USA are my real hero's. They all are willing to give their lives for our freedom and many have. I signed my son over to the US Army when he was seventeen. He was also an at risk youth and it was his decision to join, I had to allow this, it was the best thing for him. He spent five years in the Army, one year in Iraq and thank God, I was one of the lucky parents, I can still hug my son and say "I Love You". There are many families who cannot do this, and I consider them hero's also, they gave up special people in their lives for us, they will never hug their loved ones again. So here's to all the soldiers and their families, "THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE"!!!!

 

A good Book and a Better lesson

The Rainbow Fish, by Marcus Pfister is about a fish that lives with its parents and stresses the importance of being an individual. The rainbow fish with its bright shiny scales learned how to give up its most prized possession, its scales. The fish not only gives up its scales, it gives up its pride to gain friends.

Food for Thought

The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
German Protestant theologian & anti-Nazi activist (1906 - 1945)

http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/children/, retrieved on January 1, 2012.

I would also like to add The Golden Rule:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If we all made this the number one rule in our lives, it would be a better environment for everyone.

My Sunflower

My daughter Nickole drew this picture of a sunflower in Kindergarten. I chose this picture because it came from her heart, she drew this picture because my kitchen is full of sunflowers. At the time I was decorating and painting sunflowers on the walls and she wanted to add it to all the rest of the pictures. It was her contribution to the collection. Nickole drew this fourteen years ago and it is still hanging on my refrigerator.