Random Giggles: Lisa M. Giles’ Blog

Education is something of a rallying cry for me. It is my crusade. If I were in charge of the world, or even just this country, there would be some big changes in education.

One of the things I would change is how the general public views teachers. I am sick and tired of people thinking it is an easy job, that anyone can do it, that it’s an easy out for those who don’t have the mental capacity to do anything else. A substitute once told my high school class that we should study hard in school so we didn’t have to be teachers. Um, sure. I want stupid people to teach my kids. I studied hard so I could be a teacher.

It’s emotionally draining watching these kids and wanting to take away the almost insurmountable problems some of them face and not being able to. It’s mentally draining dealing with administration and parents and everything else that makes so many demands. It’s physically draining. I came home completely exhausted from teaching a lot of days. Not to mention that wonderful bruise I had last November.

Teaching is not easy. And those who think it will be, they don’t last.

I’ve seen a few news stories lately about education I’ve been wanting to comment on.

► Experts to Champion Better Maths - Britain is proposing new programs to help students with math. The things that stood out to me about their program was the necessity of parents to get involved, and the statement that children should do more mental math in the classroom. Those two things of themselves were one long story while I was teaching elementary school, fighting parents and even some teachers on those issues the whole time.

► One constant struggle with education is funding it. California seems to be approaching the funding problem by cutting it. I’m not sure how that makes sense and how that will help the schools. I’m so grateful I never took that job there. At the time it looked like the best offer I was going to get. I hate to think where I would be if I had ended up teaching there. (story 1, story 2, story 3, story 4)

► So why do politicians (currently the biggest one is McCain) think that vouchers would ever work? In the end they take money from schools too. The logic they say is that those parents whose children are attending struggling public schools can get money to send their kids to private schools. How about instead of funding vouchers, we fund schools and help those struggling schools get better? Vouchers have been a topic here before, and more than once. I doubt I will ever think they are a good idea.

► Incentive-based and merit based salaries. There have been several stories recently about different districts setting up merit based salaries (Utah considers, Utah OK’s, Colorado, DC). The trouble with this idea is that education is not a free market system. At your business, if you have an item that doesn’t sell, you get rid of it. If you have an employee that doesn’t perform, you fire them. Public education cannot fire kids who do not perform (public schools can, and do, and that’s why they always appear to do better on average than their public counterparts). Tell me how it is fair to base a teacher’s pay on the performance of students who have mental, family, emotional, physical problems.

► But I do think that those teachers who are good should be reviewed, and those that are no longer effective should be encouraged to leave, no matter how long they’ve been teaching. Accessing teachers is difficult though. One district has set up a peer review system. I’d be interested to learn more about it.

► This is the kind of stuff I wanted to do eventually with my classes. Elementary Students Show of Tech Projects. Maybe some day I can still do it during the summer with my kids and their friends.

► A teacher after my own heart. She celebrates fun weird days, and she loves Crayolas. Beloved “rare-crayon” teacher packing up her Crayolas. I already bought some brand new boxes of Crayola crayons for myself for the coming year.

I love education. I really do. I just wish those who don’t know anything about it would step away from it and let those who do take care of it.

Why do I do the things I do?

I have written a bit recently about why I run, and more specifically why I will be running a marathon on Thursday.

I have written more times than I can remember about why I became an elementary teacher.

I’m sure I’ve written several times about why I got a Masters degree and, continuing with that thought, why I am now getting a Doctorate. (Pssst. It’s not for the money.)

There have to be a few times on here where I’ve written about why I love to read and why books are so important to me as well.

Just a few days ago I wrote a bit about why stars and space have always fascinated me.

But what is it about sewing that I love? And specifically quilting? I don’t know that I’ve ever exactly spelled that out, even though I’ve written about quilting several times previously. What got me started?

The other day my friend Heidi sent me a link to a web page helping quilters keep their stashes from getting out of control. It’s some good advice. But what caught my attention was the picture at the top of the page. It’s a picture of her stash, all organized by color and folded into pieces in open cupboards. Each cupboard space is filled with fabric that all fits that color. The colors are lined up like a mixed up rainbow. It’s absolutely wonderful. And I’m so jealous.

It reminded me of something from when I was young.

There used to be a Mormon Handicraft store in Salt Lake City where the Conference Center is now. I remember going there and on one of the walls they had bolts of cotton fabric for quilts lined up like a beautiful soft rainbow. The whole wall! I wasn’t a quilter then. I didn’t know I was going to be a quilter. But I remember looking at that wall and being drawn to it. The colors were so pretty. And there were so many of them!

I still love seeing walls of fabric like that. My mind goes into overdrive as it starts imagining all the quilts I could make with those fabrics and the patterns I could use that would highlight different fabrics. It’s hypnotic.

I sew other things, clothes, accessories, home accents, toys, costumes. But the fabric for those rarely catches me the way a wall of quilting cotton does. Something about it just reaches out and grabs me.

And then you take all of those pretty fabrics, and you throw in a good helping of math (quilting is just pretty math), something else I love, and how could I not be a quilter? It was meant to be.

I hereby proclaim myself a wonderful person and put forward this start to my personal bill of rights.

I have the right to eat chocolate and to believe that it makes me feel better even if there is no scientific evidence to that fact.

I have the right to enjoy amazing lightning storms and the smell of rain, without worrying that my kitchen ceiling is going to leak again.

I have the right to laugh, live, and love.

I have the right to think butterflies are absolutely beautiful and moths are scary demons from the underworld.

I have the right to be both smart and beautiful, as well as talented.

I have the right to all of my quirks. And I think they’re a lot of fun. The entertain me.

I have the right to see quilts in a lot of things, even in a SuDoku puzzle.

I have the right to have fun strange weird socks.

I have the right to be me.

I also have the right to add more things to this as I see fit. And I imagine I will vote unanimously to do so on random occasions.

Everyone has an opinion. And everyone thinks their opinion is worth something. But not all opinions are created equal. There are educated opinions and uneducated ones. The educated ones are always worth more. Unfortunately, those with uneducated ones are often unaware of how uneducated they are.

You can notice this when talking to people about politics, and discovering that the only thing they know about the issues or the candidates are what they hear in 10 second sound bites on the news.

Another common place is with regards to books. It’s interesting to note that most people who are trying to ban books have never read the book they are trying to ban. How many people who think the Harry Potter books are of the occult have actually read them? The percentage would be so small it would shock most people.

It is perfectly fine to have an opinion, and for that opinion to differ from that of other people. But please, for the benefit of all involved, try to make that opinion an educated one.

It is also perfectly acceptable to say what you think about something, and at the same time admit that there is still a lot more you could learn at that your opinion is not set in stone. Opinions are not cold hard facts. They are not truth. They can change. It is a wise person who can realize this. Such a person is also not threatened by the opinions of others.

Of course it would just be easier if everyone just accepted my opinion. I’m still  working on that.

I am a huge fan of chivalry (kindness and courteousness especially towards women). I love when my date opens doors for me. I love when he makes sure he’s on the street side of the walk. It’s things like helping me with my coat. All of those little things do add up. None of them are hard. And I don’t see any of them as being demeaning or insinuating that I could not do any of that on my own. It is a matter of respect and courtesy, and it makes a huge difference in if the guy gets more dates or not.

What I find absolutely disgusting though is the little respect women are given in certain types of music (among other places, there are a few establishments that I would prefer to never frequent simply because of how they portray men and women on their commercials). On a talk show recently the host had Chris Brown as the musical guest. She said he was his favorite right now and she was real excited to have him on. And then he sang his song “Wall to Wall” and I was so disgusted I had to turn the television off. It was degrading. It was debasing. It was disrespectful. Any woman with half a brain should be incredibly offended by music like that. No self-respecting woman behaves like the women described in that song. No self-respecting man would act like the man described in that song. Respect for your date starts with respect for yourself, and there is no respect in that song.

And furthermore, I’m not just standing around against the wall waiting for some guy to pick me out of a pack. I’m off living my life, and enjoying it. And any guy who can keep up is welcome to come along.

The last weekend in June I went on a camping trip with my ward. I blogged a bit about it on the first of July. The weather was great. The water was warm. I had fun out riding on the boat. It was a real good trip on the whole.

But I think my favorite part of all was getting there at night, setting up my tent, and then getting in and laying down. The whole top of my tent was open because I’d left the rain guard off to get more ventilation. I had the whole Milky Way open to me as I laid there in awe at God’s creations.

The stars are used many times in the scriptures as symbols of light, truth, guidance, stability, and posterity. As I stared up at them, I couldn’t help but be amazed at what a perfect symbol they are.

President Hinckley often used the stars, and specifically the Polar Star as a symbol of faith, the atonement, and testimony.

Faith? There can be no doubt about it. When doubts arose, when tragedies struck, the quiet voice of faith was heard in the stillness of the night as certain and reassuring as was the place of the polar star in the heavens above (”The Miracle of Faith,” Ensign, May 2001).

Regardless of what may come, may faith, immovable and constant, shine above us as the polar star (”Till We Meet Again,” Ensign, Nov. 2001).

We know not what lies ahead of us. We know not what the coming days will bring. We live in a world of uncertainty… But one thing we do know. Like the polar star in the heavens, regardless of what the future holds, there stands the Redeemer of the world, the Son of God, certain and sure as the anchor of our immortal lives. He is the rock of our salvation, our strength, our comfort, the very focus of our faith (”We Look to Christ,” Ensign, May 2002).

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ must be a beacon light before you, a polar star in your sky (”Stay on the High Road,” Ensign, May 2004).

The stars, with their light that stretches in all directions and times, is a wonderful testament to the power of the God of all Nature. All things testify of Him. Lying on my back looking at the stars that night, I was so grateful to know my place in the vast universe, and who I am among all of it.

Not only the stars testify of God, but all of creation does. I love how Elder Robert R. Steuer stated it in this last General Conference:

Our testimonies are strengthened as we reverently observe the great universe God has created for us. The Lord declared to Enoch, “All things are created and made to bear record of me” (Moses 6:63). Alma bore a similar testimony to Korihor, the anti-Christ: “All things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator” (Alma 30:44) (”The Power of Light and Truth,” Ensign, May 2008).

What a wonderful world we live in. While I was in Brasil and saw all the of the beautiful creation that was there, I often felt that maybe God took the seventh day for rest so that he could spend time simply enjoying this world.

All things testify of God. The stars in their places in the sky giving guidance to us here on earth, filling our hearts and minds with wonder and awe. The beauty of a sunset. The life that is found in all animals and plants. The love that people share. It was a loving God who gave us all of this. There is a God. He lives.

I love to learn. I love finding out new ideas. I will never be an expert in many of the things I study. But that does not stop me from learning. I really enjoy learning more about science. Oddly, quantum physics and string theory have really captured my attention of late. I blame Nova on PBS. It is just such an amazing show. Well really, I could probably blame all of PBS if I wanted to. They have some real good programs.

What is fun is when I can take the little I do know and use it in a conversation. These theories are just so fascinating, and I like sharing them with people. I’ve had conversations over dinner about quantum physics, string theory, and recently Shröedinger’s cat as well.42D

I know that science is still looking for one grand unifying theory that will combine all of the theories of nature they have so far into one. But it must be possible if I can talk about what they have already in just about any conversation.

It’s all just very fascinating. I want to learn more.