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WITandWISDOM(tm) - July 25, 2002 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: "Send everyone you meet today a thank you note!" - Tom Hopkins Source: Quotes From The Masters, http://MailRoom.DailyInbox.Com/ ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: At school in rural Arkansas the students consisted mainly of poor, underachieving African-American children. Thanks to a Rockefeller Foundation grant, "Chapter I" first-graders would participate in a different kind of reading program. The brainchild of Dr. Marie Carbo, it is based on the notion that the important thing about learning to read has far less to do with how smart students are than with how they are smart. After children had successfully completed a book, they were rewarded by being allowed to take books, tapes and a Walkman home over the weekend. The thinking was that this would provide additional reinforcement of learning. When Friday rolled around, Nicole left the school, clutching a book, tapes and Walkman. The understanding was that children would return on Monday with the items they took home. On Monday, Nicole failed to bring the books and tapes back to school. Every day, she either said she forgot or didn't offer any excuse at all. The teacher knew this wasn't at all like Nicole. Something was wrong. Three weeks passed. Still no books or tapes were returned! Then one day, Nicole's astonishingly young mother -- dressed in a fast-food worker's uniform -- came to the school. She told the school secretary she wanted to talk outside with the remedial reading teacher! With understandable apprehension, the teacher walked out of the school to meet with Nicole's mother. The mother, clutching the books, tapes and Walkman, told the teacher that she wanted to explain why Nicole hadn't brought the books and tapes back as promised. Nicole was not to be blamed; she was. It soon became clear to the teacher that Nicole's mother wasn't having an easy time telling her exactly why it had taken so long to bring the reading materials back. In what seemed a long and uncomfortable silence, the teacher waited. The mother's first words came haltingly. Then suddenly, the mother, seeming to have found her comfort zone, started to tell a remarkable story. "When Nicole came home and told me she was learning to read, I didn't believe her. Nobody in my family can read. My daddy and momma can't read. My other brothers and sisters can't read. And I couldn't read! "I was in sixth grade when I had Nicole. I had to quit school. I just gave up any hope of ever learning how to read. "When Nicole brought this book home and read to me, I asked her, "How did you learn to do that?" Nicole said, "It's easy, Momma. I just listened to the tape and followed along in the book with whatever the teacher reads. If I need to, I just keep listening to and reading along with the teacher until I can read all by myself. You can do it, too, Momma!" "I didn't believe Nicole. But I just knew I had to try...The reason Nicole didn't bring her reading stuff back to school was because I just couldn't let go of it! I had to find out if I could learn to read like my little girl. There was a short pause, then, "Can I read to you?" There on the steps of her child's school, this very young mother, a child who herself had a child, began to read the book to the teacher. All the while, tears streamed down the mother's cheeks. In this intense moment, the teacher also began to cry. Anyone seeing the two would surely have thought something tragic had happened. How could anyone know that their tears were actually being shed over the birth of unrealized, God-given potentiality? Nicole's mother went on to explain that with the help of this book — which she now clutched lovingly to her chest -- she had learned to read! Shattering her reflections, the mother, who seemed to be sitting a bit taller, announced that she -- who had come to accept, beyond all doubt, that she was just too dumb to learn to read -- had actually done the impossible: She had read to her mother! From the Bible! On Christmas morning! By James Elwood Conner, Ed.D. From: Chicken Soup for the Teacher's Soul: Stories to Open the Hearts and Rekindle the Spirits of Educators, By Canfield, Jack (editor); Hansen, Mark Victor (editor), Published by Health Communications (Apr 1, 2002), ISBN: 1558749780, http://isbn.nu/1558749780 Source: A Joke a Day http://www.topica.com/lists/ajokeaday7 ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: NEW POLICY Due to increased competition and a keen desire to remain in business, we find it necessary to institute a new policy: EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY We are asking that somewhere between starting and quitting time and without infringing too much on the time usually devoted to lunch period, coffee breaks, rest periods, story telling, ticket selling, vacation planning, and the rehashing of yesterdays TV programs, that each employee endeavor to find some time that can be set aside and known as the WORK BREAK. To some, this may seem a radical innovation, but we honestly believe the idea has great possibilities. It can conceivably be an aid to steady employment and it might also be a means of assuring regular pay checks. While the adoption of the Work Break Plan is not compulsory, it is hoped that each employee will find enough time to give the plan a fair trial. The Management Source: The Funnies, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/andychaps_the-funnies ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: When the Navy was developing helicopters in the 1950s to track submarines, our Florida-based test squadron had to be innovative. Because the copters lacked sufficient lifting power with test equipment on board, weight was reduced by removing the metal skin from the aircraft. The result was an aerial apparition of two rotors connected with a frame of pipes, an engine and a pilot sitting in the open air. Once, a test pilot had to make an emergency landing in a field, and a farmer drove out in his pickup to investigate. He walked slowly around the helicopter and then said to the pilot, "Build it yourself, sonny?" Source: The Funnies, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/andychaps_the-funnies ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: How much coinage does the U.S. mint? According to U.S. Treasury, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, there were more than 10 billion pennies minted in the United States in 1998. The actual number of coins produced, by denomination, was as follows: pennies, 10,257,400,000; nickels, 1,323,672,000; dimes, 2,335,300,000; quarters, 1,867,400,000; and half-dollars, 30,710,000. Source: ArcaMax Trivia, http://www.arcamax.com |