Thanksgiving is just four days away. The picture, taken from this Microsoft site, reminds me of all the turkeys on my table over the many years I have lived. This year I am going to be with family. It will be a long drive. We will spend two nights in a small trailer and drive home on Friday. There will be every kind of food, traditionally served, with the main focus on the turkey. All day those delicious smells will remind me of the millions of people who will not be sitting down to such a feast.
I made a call to my friend in Chimbote, Peru’s barrio on Saturday morning. Those Peruvians will not celebrate thanksgiving and no turkey with trimmings will arrive at their door. The poverty there is unbearable. In the news letter I receive this time of year, every year. In them Padre Juan Davis writes, “…Two of our gang rehabilitation centers are now prevention centers for children, to help keep them out of the lifestyle of older family members. Since we believe that education is the key to getting out of poverty, it is the focus of our programs.” I am hoping to go there when I am well enough to travel to a country like Peru. I am hoping I will be able to teach in one capacity or another. Those are details to be worked out eventually.
Fr. Jack Davis and Sr. Peggy were the driving force behind my learning to teach. I taught religion and ethics to children in catholic parishes for many years. Fr. Jack let me fill in for his high school class when he had to be away, in Fargo, North Dakota. We got to know each other very well. He helped hide my children and gave me a place to stay that was protected (in a parish house in Minot, N.D.) until my divorce became final and the law would protect me against my batterer. There were few shelters at the time and they were not located in North Dakota. During the time I stayed in Minot, Fr. Davis was preparing for his mission to Peru. I spent many hours helping file and store much of his paper work. His legacy to me was moving and nudging me toward obtaining a university education, which I achieved a few years after he left the United States. He was the closest thing to a brother and mentor I ever had. He was and is an honorable man, unlike what we have been hearing about Catholic priests in the press for the past several years. Through Fr. Jack, I have met many men that are ethical and moral, while wearing that collar.
Yesterday, I began to load Bb Vista with my modules. Every suggestion I have made as far as what might help in the learning process online has been discarded. The content design is that of the person who might or might not use the site once it is completed. While I am creating the design that is being placed in the system, that too might be changed as well. The project is moving along though. I have my next meeting with Robin on Monday.
Since little of what I have learned in the certification program has been used…actually nothing, I am content to learn every aspect of the Bb Vista system. I know it is going away and a new system will be adopted by next Fall at BC. However, they are all a lot alike. The open source Learning Management Systems are simpler, but somethings are lost, while others are gained. I think Haiku will lend itself to what I want to do with it. I do not think I will finish my course, before the internship ends. Nevertheless, I do know how to go about building it. That was what I wanted to know.
I am beginning to see that any idea I might have had about obtaining an advising position is dead in the water. Chances are, obtaining a teaching position is equally questionable. Maybe the one reason older adults are even considered for a position is-when they are seen as “…a solution to the employers problem, states the author of a blog called, Retirementrevised. I think that is something worth working on. I once thought I could not learn how to use Bb Vista in just three hours of training. Once I started using it, I realized it was not that difficult. In fact, it was not much different from creating my website on Google; where I have placed my ePortfolio.
The one thing I did not learn or do during my doctoral studies was…take a TA or teaching assistantship. I had most of my education paid for until my doctoral studies started. Then, I borrow the $15,000.00 which I have been paying on for the past fifteen years and will never pay off. It is over $55,000.00 now. I realize, I may never get another opportunity to finish my doctorate. Money was and is the biggest challenge; but, I could learn the skills I need to teach. I am currently doing that. My professor once told me, “…it is not the getting there that counts…it is the journey.” I think I see the wisdom in those words. Learning is a process and a journey and maybe we never really arrive at the destination.
With renewed faith that some spirit or force just beyond my ability to comprehend is moving me toward a destination, I keep plugging away at the internship…no matter what is happening in the process. I know that there will be a good end in sight. Once I have those skills of building a course and can eventually teach, there may be a purpose to it all.
JOYSTECHTOOL 