Cherie's Random Thoughts

 As I reflect on the past two years, I am reminded about how we treat each other truly reflects who we are. In the past year, so much pain, disruptions, and loss have occurred but one thing should remain strong: How we treat each other in a manner that uplifts. Lately, I am wondering how this got lost for some and stronger for others. As someone once told me, how you treat someone is something they will never forget. Although we may forgive, most never forget. Because the byproduct of a bad interaction can last longer than we think. Its ripple effect can come to revisit, over and over again.  So as we move into the late quarter of the year, I do hope we up our game in the following things: Empathy,  Compassion, Communication Be Kind, and Be Presence.   

   Since March I have been constantly wondering did we all experience the collective trauma and stress of racism. I think for some it was a short taste with a few statements posted on social media and not much else and for others, it is a continual sense of pain that continues to run as an undertone to each day they breathe. I know I am tired. I am tired of many things including some of the following: Solidary Statement with no concrete action Hashtags that only come when someone dies  The incivility in our federal, state, and local leadership  Random videos sent to me that are offensive and so much more  But where you do go from here? Hopefully, we really take a hard look at our individual behavior that allows racial injustice to continue in the country. We must move from statements to conversations, to deeper conversations, and ultimately to real action that will allow the change we need to improve the lives of all on this planet and in this country. 

There are times I feel my survival is at stake.  Not life, but spirit. Surviving requires you hold firm to what you know is right. Surviving is never letter another kill your spirit for your life’s work. Surviving requires you to never forget when life was seriously against you. Surviving means you must always fill the dismissals, snicks, and other things with joy. Surviving is remembering that are deep lessons in frustrations and inequities. Surviving is remembering that the gifts you bestow on another matter. Surviving is always remembering there will be those who will use your words against you, but in the next 5 years that moment will have little impact on your legacy on Earth.

It's been a while since I have written on this blog, but today reminded me of how we can be disappointed but not discouraged at the same time. As I reflect on Dr. King's Legacy, I am empowered by the messages left after he was assassinated. I am reminded of his struggles to fight against injustice and how often was probably conflicted by the silence or lack of participation of some in the fight against injustice. Flash forward to the last decade of my life, I am reminded of the countless humans who had utterly disappointed me when I thought their participation in my life or events would have been different. As a deep thinker, whose brain is always thinking about others, it is frustrating when this happens. At times I feel discouraged, but I stop myself and remember somewhat silence or lack participation from another means. If it happens once, I often think they didn't realize. If it happens twice, I think it is either subconsciously or consciously done on purpose....

Recently I had the pleasure of reading John C. Maxwell's Book, " No Limits: Blow the Cap Off Your Capacity ." If I were rich, I would buy a copy for every student I teach and/or mentor for the rest of my life. His latest book is that powerful. His book is broken into three main sections: Awareness, Ability, and Choices. All three are essential to our ability to reach our capacity and move beyond it. Often the daily stress of life leads us to believe that many things we desire to achieve are not achievable. Most are, and the difficult ones often can be made when we see beyond what we think or have been told is our capacity. John C. Maxwell's book looks at our current obtained capabilities into seven distinct capabilities: energy, emotional, thinking, people, creative, production, and leadership. Here are few things that stood out for me in this section of the book: The concept of the Triple R's: Requirement, Return, and Reward  "Dysfunctional people w...

Probably for at least the past two years I have a notice a trend: many who I thought would have spoken against injustice, hate, and inequality have fell silent. It appears that they are engaging in a self induced hibernation where they will lie until the storm has passed. The avoidance of discussion and advocation of what is right is deafening. Even worse, you make me feel dismissed and like my voice and the voices of thousands like me do not matter.  On the flip side, I know many "Storm Chasers". These storm chasers truly care about injustice, hate, and inequality and its reflective in their willful participation in trying to find out how to improve this in their four corners of the world. Never do I feel dismissed with you and I feel that my true self is always welcome. Although we many not always agree, we understand that this is the natural process of things.  As I reflect on how I have been feeling over the years, I hope that I never fall into hibernation and s...

My relationship with Death has always been complicated. Since a very young age, I learned that death could come at any age. First with Robert, a childhood friend, and then Milton, another childhood friend. Both lost at a young age and dramatically affected my perception of death. Over the years since then many deaths came, a few more premature deaths with mom and my friend Colin. But when a person who has lived a very long life, well past the expected life experience dies such as my Grandpa, I reminded about a few things. Our time on earth provides precious gifts to all those that cross our path. As a preacher, my grandpa probably saw people at the worst and their best. He counseled thousands of soul with their relationship of God and was a role model for what it means to be a man, father, and love one for the family. Now matter when our final sunset arrives, we must remember every sunrise and sunset is a gift. A gift to extend love to others and help them become the best hum...

This morning during my daily review of various blogs I follow I discovered the Seattle Times' project entitled, Under Our Skin . This was truly one of best projects I have seen in regarding the topic race.  The project highlights 18 interviewees thoughts on the following concepts:  institutional racism, a person of color, racist, ally, microaggression, all lives matter, politically correct, colorblindness, safe spaces, safe spaces, diversity, white privilege and white frailty.    It was refreshing to see such diverse perspectives on these topics in a way that helps us understand how different we think about concepts around race. This is critical to our current perceptions about race and ultimately reminds us of the importance of having authentic was we could discuss the concept of race.  Also, I found the addition of a video narrative of each of the participants very important in that it helped me to understand who they were as human beings.  T...

After reading Dr. Nico Rose's article entitled, "The Anatomy of Meaningful Work", I am reminded of two of the points he stressed in the article: one that meaningful work is not contigent on the type of work and comes from within.  Looking back on the various types of work I have had since my first job at age 11, I am reminded of the running theme they have had for me: they were all meaningful and had a great purpose in my life and the life of others. Whether it is when I worked at WaWa and would spend hours in the fridge & freezer with my boss, Tony, putting away the days delivery or when I had worked with preschoolers with special needs. As person who has always enjoyed the concept of work, I understand deeply the importance of it being meaningful. My rule of thumb as always been to give 110% and to always work on honing your craft.  Rose's article is one that all should read and play close attention to the seven components of meaningful work he list at the end o...

Today I gave my first commencement speech at Wyncote Academy. It was truly a pleasure to fill in at the last minute for their original speaker. Here is a little taste of what I said today:  As early childhood educator I am always reminded of the power of words and their impact on our lives. It has been a little under a week since the death of Muhammad Ali, and he has left us with a few great words of wisdom that I would like to call “Words of Wisdom to get you through the next 25 years. Why do you ask I place such great focus on the next 25 years of your life? It is because they will be the years of tremendous growth for you as a human being. During this time, many of you will attend college and graduate, marry, beginning your dream job and much more. So I would like to share with you a few of Ali’s most powerful quotes and how you can apply them to the next 25 years of your life. The 1 st  quote of wisdom is Ali’s “ Don't count the days. Make the days count...

Here are the direct links to specific tabs Manor college LibGuide for the Education Program. I have added the names of them to the URL to make them easier to search:  How to Find Books Creating an Annotated Bibliography Lesson Plans and Rubrics Standards Statistics Children's Literature Head Start  TEDTalks  Podcasts and Videos Cherie's Recommended Library Great Educational Articles Great Activities for Children Websites  Professionalism in the Field and in a College Classroom Professional Associations Pennsylvania Certification Clearances Classes Tab:  Manor's Early Childhood Faculty Manor Lesson Plan Format  Manor APA Formatting, Reference, and Citation Policy for Education Classes Manor College's Guide to Using EBSCO Effectively How to do a Child Case Study-Best Practice

In this article from Hechinger Report, the author discusses the scary fact that many students who are graduating from High School with A averages and have to take remedial coursework when they arrive at college.  Why are many students with ‘A’ averages being barred from college-level classes? - The Hechinger Report I have several questions about this issue: Why is this happening? Is a placement test best way to assess a students ability to do college level work? How effective is remedial education in the long run for students who have significant delays in skills? There is one fact that does need to happen. Remediation at the College level needs to change. At any given time a student could have to take one remedial course up to five depending on the college or university. The more remedial courses students have, the less likely they will complete college. Even worse, little is being done to address the hit to the human psyche, when you believe you are ready only to be told yo...

Last night I was reminded of how powerful the process truly is! As trained early childhood educator I have a deep interest in ensuring that students birth through adulthood understand that the process is what matters most. In the field, we often debate whether process or product is better. Some would say that the process is "meaningless play". Others, like myself, would say it is the "birth of genius".  Within everyone human being there lies a deep need for unstructured process-oriented activities or active play. Active play at every level of education is necessary for real learning to occur and helps learners maintain the "love of learning" that they lose from the demands of testing, school policies, and life stress.  On February 17, 2016, several Manor students, faculty, staff, and their friends and family engage in a very process oriented approach to art with the renowned, Jesse White. I could visibly see learning and "genius" happenin...

Imagine it is Monday at 5:30 am. Your alarm goes off and you hit snooze. In your mind, you say you cannot do this and then you proceed to repeat this pattern four more times as your move through your work week. This is a story that happens in many household throughout the world and often is the result of a person’s lack of workplace satisfaction. Now imagine, it is Monday, at 5:30 am. Your alarm goes off and you get up. You feel refreshed and ready to go. You eat breakfast, read from your favorite blog post, and are excited about what the day begins. You leave for work ready to go! Recently, I had the pleasure of reading Shawn Murphy’s book entitled “The Optimistic Workplace-Creating an Environment that Energizes Everyone.” Murphy’s book reminds us all of the importance of creating environments where everyone thrives. Work environments that are ready to ensure every human being in the building reaches their potential. Often when people here the word optimism they often are wary o...

Question:  What smell do you love smelling the most?  Probably the scent of a man. His natural scent that is not masked by other things. Our scents often are our personal signature of who we are. I love my sweetie's scent and it often provides me with a very calming effect.  Other favorite scents: chocolate, red wine, cinnamon, and the ocean. 

Question:  How do you recover from an illness? As quick as possible. Over my lifetime I have rarely gotten an illness that has made me incapacitated but on the few occasions that I have been I tried to make it short lived. My mother trained me well in not letting yourself succumb to the shackles that illness can give you. Plus, it takes too much energy to stay sick. 

Question:  What inspires you to keep going when it's hard? This is a great question. There are several things that inspire me to rise to the occasion and tackle the difficult. One is my mother's legacy. My mother died in 2007 at the age of 57 and throughout her life she kept going despite having to deal with physical and mental illnesses. Her strength taught me you can and will get through it and that the only thing that will stop you is death in the end.  Other sources of inspirations are the human beings who have the ability to show a tremendous amount of gratitude and always seem to handle the hardness of life head on. They do so rarely accepting victimhood and take charge of their life. Lastly, I am inspired to keep going because my students are WATCHING! If I don't how can I expect them to do the same and be able to teach the children they work with to learn to keep going through the frustrations of life.

Question:  What is your favorite physical trait?  I would have to say a person's eyes, they never lie. Our eyes have the ability to tell the story of our soul. The let others know when we are happy and when something wrong. They forever speak an authentic language even if we are trying to hide how we truly feel. If you want to know someone, look them in their eyes often. 

Question:  What sounds can you hear right now?  Music of COURSE! The love of music has been a running theme throughout my life. I have fond memories from childhood of being exposed to the music of Elvis Presley via my sitter, Ms. Florence in San Jose, California. As a child I was exposed to just about every type of music and to this day I listen to all types of music. I truly do not discriminate.  For me, a day without music is a day that has not been lived. At Manor College, I play music all day long, even as my students enter the classroom. Music not only is a stress reliever but it inspires creativity and greatness. Here is my current favorite tune: 

Questions:  How do you like to spend your spare time? On most days I like to spend my spare time alone and doing my favorite activities: listening to music, reading books, listening to podcasts, and watching my favorite films. As educator, I spend most days of the week connected to another human being. Whether it is when I am teaching, advising, talking with students, or simply giving them advice. When I am not doing that I am preparing for class and/or working on administrative tasks. This often leads to a fatigue that actually does not always lead to good rest. My favorite activities allow me to relieve the stress fatigue for teaching.  In addition, because I have become accustomed to living alone, I actually love my alone time. It is my "Zen Time". Each morning and evening I often end my day with Zen time.