Pioneers of education- When you strive for a vision

by winktothanatos

Changes can be achieved. We just need will, ideas and determination.

create-rip-mix-burn : a whole new culture

And you may wonder what this picture is all about and how does it relate to the 'pirate' processes most of us follow at home. If you want to know more, follow me after the link. Two TEDsters will enlighten you; the first one sharing his opinion about the laws protecting copyrights in society of information we live in and the second one talks about a pioneering 'legal piracy' that helps teachers teach in a whole new fascinating way.

The universal patient : Schooling

Blowing Bubbles by AquaSixio on deviantart

A professor is someone who talks in someone else's sleep. ~W.H. Auden

I believe you have NEVER EVER seen a student fall asleep in the classroom, because teachers are educated and trained individuals who really love their job and know how to make the lesson interesting... Aside from joking, what I saw in my visit at schools in the (greek) classrooms during my training last week (A' phase training where we watch teaching and write down our impressions and try to learn how to make a lesson plan) was frustrating for many reasons. Not because I didn't know that schooling hasn't changed basically much since last century, although there are so many new teaching methods out there, but because I realised that teachers as human beings with feelings and thoughts haven't changed and because it dawned on me how much we idealize our own teachers from our childhood...

So, on this post I'm going to talk about

• my one-week experience in schools, my feelings and thoughts on it,
• the difference between schooling and education
• what education should be. what education is and how it can be changed (content, goals, methods)
• and of course about teachers, students and parents, since they are the ones mainly involved, even though there are 'outside restrictions' -don't forget that education in schools is an institution designed by a state and confined by laws and politics.

Naturally, some people know better than me, so I'll let them speak in my place through quotes and videos.

'I can' bug- children as the future (hope)

If someone isn't given love, then (s)he can't give it. If we don't empower our children, trust them, support them into taking risks and chances, how will they change the world?

After the link follow two inspiring TED  talks, that focus on what can children do, if we believe in them.

AKROSS CON- a russian AMV contest

Feel Alive by Yuumei on deviantart

AMVs have become popular and that's not without reason. Some may insist that this kind of 'product' is not anything very creative, since it uses material already produced by other people. But if we accept written works that are based on other books (e.g. critics by a professor B on a scientific issue addressed by a professor A), why can't we accept videos that are based on other videos and give a different point of view? Seferis, a Nobel awarded Greek (for literature), had written "Our words are many people's children"...

We Can Do It (Again)! Anorexic models and Advertising

What is common between a lady that wishes to see men drool like pathetic dogs, a proud anorexic woman, a little girl with a mafia attitude and a proper lady whose skirt is raised up by the blowing wind, letting all of her "special parts" open for public view? They are all woman in ads, some of them even made exclusively by real women.

RAINBOW : CRIME 1-After the rain

Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei (The Tatami World) OP , ED and Nakamura-sensei's art

The crazy trip has begun. Subtitles will soon be out; I mean I saw that there'll be a release from you tube by a not so well-known group...won't more serious groups follow? It's Yuusa in the cockseat after all...

Beautiful foxes and cute, playful cats

by foxfire on deviantart

Me and my cat in our "animal forms" :P I just love these pictures and these animals. If you like them , too, come with me after the link *wink*

Oh tempora, oh mora ! (or not?) - When the generation gap shows its ugliness

Oh boy, how difficult it can be for your parents to understand you? I'll answer: VERY VERY MUCH (especially if your age difference is over 30 years...) If clothes represent personalities and mentalities, then just seeing the picture below, speaks volumes...