Back in the sandbox

I snapped this picture while on holiday this summer. This little bear was so cute and FAST! He ran across the road to get to his very large mother (I saw a piece of her backside) hiding in the brush. It was a glorious moment for me - the first bear I've ever seen up close in the wild.

As the munchkins prepare for heading back to school, I've been thinking about how teachers are treated. There's always the mad scramble amongst the mums to figure out if 'their' teachers for the year are "any good". As a parent, it is always my hope the my munchkins will have teachers that are kind and understanding. This does not mean 'easy' or being 'pushovers'. What this does mean is that I hope their teachers understand how difficult it can be to be a student/kid. A teacher who rewards with praise rather than punishing with negativity is infinitely better for the students and produces higher achieving kids.

I ran across this discussion in the New York Times:
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/22/what-teachers-have-learned/

In my not so humble opinion, I think in many cases the parents know and the students themselves know if a teacher is effective or not. If a student begins a new academic year and is totally unprepared, was the previous year's teacher effective? If a student dreads going to school each day because of the classroom management style of the teacher, is that teacher doing a good job? But, rarely have I seen school administration ask for students and parents to help evaluate teachers.

Here's hoping everyone has a great school year!

Later in the day......

I was just reading an online newspaper, and simply HAD to post links to two stories.
http://www.gulfnews.com/news/gulf/oman/10342266.html Pink goat meat seems totally bizarre to me. Never have I seen anything like it.

Next, http://www.gulfnews.com/news/gulf/kuwait/10342529.html was totally fascinating to me. The title of the article, "Divorcees likely to exact revenge on ex-husbands" screams volumes, wouldn't you say? Email me if you'd like to discuss either of these articles. Some things just scream to be discussed.

Peace.