my mum

mother's day today - flowers, chocolates, music.....and my daughters' amazing cooking - how wonderful ! and just thinking about my lovely mum makes me smile...............

springtime ?

maybe i'll just be a springtime blogger - suddenly when the sun shines and things begin to spring up out of the ground i feel better about communicating - have been away from this blog more than i have been here - lots of publishing deadlines, so it's not like i haven't been at my computer - but now that the ground is waking up and the hills near my home all have their spring green dresses on, i am beginning to feel like reaching up and reaching out too - i have spent the winter mulling over a lot of ideas - maybe now the spring is springing i will see some of those thinking seeds begin to grow ?

october

not sure where august and september went - just crazy mad busy - october is here - everything smells different outside - don't think i am ready for another dark winter.......we went to the woods to find beautiful things to cheer us up

real life learning

i am writing up a research report about the importance of engagement with real life experiences outside of the formal classroom context - trying to shake some sense into educators that think they can continue to control children's learning with an island mentality through a transmission of information model that operates in isolation from the rest of the world - somehow we have to influence formal educators towards a pedagogy that embraces life as meaning making activity :

‘Learning power depends on developing certain dispositions, qualities and capabilities; but, as with all other knowledge and know-how, these are embedded within a shifting intuitive sense
of when, where and for what purposes they are best employed ……Knowledge and know-how that are learnt intellectually have to be re-embedded through reflective practice in the functional networks of the brainscape before they can turn into fluent expertise.’ (Guy Claxton 1999;338-9)

we only really know something when we use that knowledge in real life - so the process of learning should be less about accumulating and rehearsing knowledge and much much more about developing our understanding in response to the problems and challenges of real life - the phrase 'use it or lose it' comes to mind !

guests

great to be guests in london for the weekend - uncle russ was happy to be at the wireless festival in hyde park - bit of a busy time - we stayed at the grosvenor house on park lane - nice to have a bit of 5 star luxury alongside some pretty five star guests (does not occur that often in the wilson household) - on saturday we were guests at aelta for the ladies final - quite a wee battle between the sisters going on there - saw some great doubles too

nice to see the robinsons is still popular ! - after brunch on sunday we walked through the parks to westminster (no traffic as there had been a big charity road race early on) - finished with a classic anna's afternoon tea - gosh i love champagne !! had a great time and came home exhausted - being guests is very hard work you know, even just for a weekend !

a summer's day

a lovely summer's day in ripon yesterday to celebrate ian's ordination - the cathedral was packed, overloading my senses and bringing to my mind all the different experiences i have had in the church with celebrations and sadness - right now is a sadder time for me, but it was so good to stand with ian and witness his vows and cheer him on - he will be a fabulous nsm in a yorkshire dale - half way through his wife linda leant over and whispered in my ear 'can you believe we're anglicans after all our many journeys ?!?' - they are ready to do this - though i am not sure if the c of e is ready for them !! congratulations ian, a fine occasion for a summer's day - a very merry celebration

- i have been away from this blog for a wee while - things have been very busy - overwhelming actually - but i was thinking in all that busy business about what has really been happening this past month or so - there is a lot of mustard seed stuff that goes unnoticed but is very clearly there - i am reminded that all the surface dashing, to-ing and fro-ing make my body very weary these days - but the underneath, where God is always mysteriously and marvellously at work, in more ways than i can possibly imagine, is incredibly energetic and lively - an abundance of creative energy - from little mustard seeds, bigstuff grows !