This is NFL Playoff Weekend. There are two big games coming up on Sunday. The winners of each of the games will go to the Super Bowl in two weeks. I am a casual football fan, but I am excited about the playoff games this weekend. They promise to be exciting…
(If you click on the highlighted words before each section, you’ll have even more fun with this blog post.)
January 21 will be here soon. It’s a big day for some people. Many famous people were born on January 21.
These include:
Charles V, King of France, born on January 21, in 1338
Ethan Allen, a famous American general, in 1738
John C. Fremont, “The Pathfinder,” in 1813
Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, the Confederate General, in 1824
Christian Dior, fashion designer, in 1905 Continue reading “Birthdays”
PRINCIPAL SAM AND THE CALENDAR CONFUSION and
PRINCIPAL SAM GETS FIT
PRINCIPAL SAM AND THE THREE BEARS
ARE NOW AVAILABLE
ON AMAZON and at other Book Sellers!
Please see the book trailers here:
Principal Sam and the Calendar Confusion
Principal Sam is the main character in a new series of picture books for children in the early elementary grades.
Principal Sam works at Sunnyside School. An excellent school leader, Principal Sam works hard to make his school one that is a positive and enjoyable place of learning for children. As such, he is loved and respected by all. There’s only one problem, Principal Sam is forgetful and he often confuses simple things. When this happens, the children and the teachers in the school often come to Principal’s Sam’s assistance.
Children will delight in reading about Principal Sam’s exploits and in figuring out his mistakes before he does. The Principal Sam books are happy, positive, and very engaging.
The first Principal Sam book, Principal Sam and the Calendar Confusion, was published on February 14, 2017. This story is earning many positive reviews including the highly coveted Five-Star rating by Readers’ Favorites.
I’m not a philosopher. (It would be tough to call anyone who often quotes Rocky Balboa as someone who philosophizes…). Still, I do try to share some deep thoughts on these pages. As I have aged, and collected a lifetime’s worth of knowledge, I have been drawn to some great thinkers. For example, I have grown very fond of Ralph Waldo Emerson. I recently purchased a text (“Self-Reliance and Other Essays”) penned by Emerson that I greatly look forward to reading.
Confucius is one of the great minds of history. His philosophies, written 2600 years ago still resonate today. I figured that I’d take some time to examine just a few of the many statements left to us from Confucius to see how they relate to our lives as educators and teachers of children. We’ll begin each section with a quote from Confucius and follow that up with my own thoughts and reflections.
“Life is really simple but we insist on making it complicated.”
I had a great idea for this blog post, but I just couldn’t put it together in a coherent way. As such, I was forced to scratch the original and find another idea to write about.
I tried a second time, and the words, again, just didn’t come.
If you can’t get it right the first time, try again.
And again.
Last Saturday I went out for a long run. It’s one of the pleasures of spring time…getting outside in the warm air and enjoying the struggle of covering mile after mile after mile.
As I ran, I started to notice something very interesting that we most often take little notice of – traffic signs.
As a society we seem to have a fascination with traffic signs. It is as if we love them or at least feel the need to put them all over the place. Once I noticed how many there are, I couldn’t help but be amazed. They are literally everywhere.
It has been said, although I would hardly claim this as an absolute fact, that a person only will need to read a year’s worth of my blog posts to learn, as much, or more than any traditional four year program at Harvard University or Trinity College in Cambridge.
It has been said, although, I have never had the theory tested, that readers of this blog will see their IQs grow by no fewer than 25 points over the course of a calendar year.
Mind you, these are just claims with no definitive proofs. Because we’d need proof. Or so they told Srinivasa Ramanujan. But, alas! I am getting ahead of myself.
The following is a true story about how when one strives to be the best, he brings himself, and others, to heights previously unimagined.
Our story begins with the most successful band in the history of rock and roll, the Beatles. The year was 1965. The Beatles were sitting on top of the musical world. In the previous three years they had charted no fewer than 40 songs. 24 songs of those sings reached the Top-40 with 11 becoming number-one hits. In that short time the Beatles released no fewer than six albums that also reached number-one on the charts.
The Beatles “yeah, yeah, yeah” style and sound was a defining aspect of popular music, yet, all of that was about to change…
My son came home from college, and in a discussion with me brought up a Japanese word, Kintsugi, that immediately opened up my mind to many thoughts.
It’s wonderful to find new words, new ideas, and new ways of thinking.
And, just for the record, kintsugi is now my new favorite word.
Last fall, as my son and I were having some fun watching football, I was struck by the following commercial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfvpF4RRGAE
It is an extremely powerful commercial – one that strikes and resonates within the heart.
And it is so true. 100%.
And not just for cars.
Or crash dummies.
But for everyone. Always. Especially in a job where we deal with children.
Dr. Sem's Blog 