ways to keep your nonprofit relevant...#opportunemoments...#trending...#goingviral...#keepingup
so, quick! figure out how your cause relates to the beloved matthew crawley #downtonPBS or you'll be all left in the dust again...
(this one's my fave)
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
What's love got to do with it?
Well, this week some of the world celebrated Valentine's day. I always thought it was such an awkward holiday myself (ugly babies flying around with bows and arrows and people getting ugly heart shaped boxes of fake chocolate?)--especially for those in budding relationships. What is worse than the stress of wondering whether you've been in some sort of "relationship" long enough to exchange love/romance-based gifts? Like, uh, should you get your beau of three weeks those silk boxers with lips on them? Doesn't matter because if you get them and he doesn't get you anything-it's gonna be a bad time. And, if he gets you something and you don't get him anything-then you feel like a schmuck don't you? Yes. You. Do. So, basically, it's awkward either way.
Having been married 15 and then some years and not celebrating Valentine's day for any of them--I wouldn't even know what the standard procedure is anymore for handling those types of situations. My husband and I tend to be sort of anti-most holidays--especially one which probably originated with some sort of agreement between Milton Hershey, Hallmark, and the American Greetings Card Company!
Though I must admit I appreciate this witty post on fb on the 14th was:
Though I must admit I appreciate this witty post on fb on the 14th was:
"Happy vaLINtine's day." ;)
You may be wondering where I am going with this post; I am too! I knew a few hours ago when I was walking the dog and watching five kids (not all mine) at the park! I think something triggered my thoughts about gold digging girls wanting to find a sugar daddy and that made me think of fundraising and "looking for love" in the form of donors...
Oh! Yes, it's coming back to me! It made me think of the anti-gold diggers too...those who believe they'll just "live on love." And just as love will not pay the bills, honey, I'm sorry to tell you...when it comes to fundraising and nonprofs...good hearts and great causes certainly don't pay the bills either.
What I mean is that it simply isn't enough to have a great cause. Fundraising really is a must! And did you know (looking at the title of this post) that Tina Turner will soon be trading in her U.S. citizenship?
And since I'm on the topic of love and asian vaLINtines...I'll let you in on a little asian romance I happen to currently be involved in...I just happen to be making LOVE--RIGHT NOW...it's not what you think--get your mind out of the gutter! L-O-V-E in the form of boba! Any boba lovers out there?? 71 minutes to go--not that I'm counting or anything! In my opinion boba is almost as good as bacon and my favorite food: BUTTER. Almost.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
What is writing really?
Anyone out there need some humor after this gloomy day?
Here's a pic from my go-to source of never-disappointing funnies: Bill Waterson's, Calvin & Hobbes of course.
BTW, one reason I love C&H SOOOO much?? It's the FIRST thing my dyslexic son ENJOYED reading. When you're a mama and you have a kid who struggled with reading and you get to the point where you hear your baby laugh out loud at something he READ...the word priceless doesn't even begin to explain...
Anyway, I hadn't even thought of all that before deciding to post this...just in a little homework slump and thought I'd see if anyone else needed a giggle.
If you don't think Calvin & Hobbes are funny--you don't have a pulse!!! ;)
And on a side note, (since I already went all soapboxy on you), Calvin really could be the poster boy for a dyslexic male child with ADHD (which is also highly correlated with dyslexia) and if so, then Dick and Jane are the evil enemy to children everywhere who wish to become good readers and spellers.
Those evil little readers are the epitome of whole-word learning (or sight word learning/whole language), which is a dumb philosophy our educational system has bought into (hook/line/sinker) and arrogantly refuses to let go of.
What Dick and Jane replaced was something called, "phonics," which is not to be confused with, "hooked on phonics" (which is still another version of whole language poo).
Phonics-rhymes with tonics, ebonics, onyx, Sonics (plural, as in "wow, this town has a lot of Sonics, I bet the obesity rate is high!"). If you're not sure what that word means (because if you're less than 100 years old, chances are you probably don't REALLY know what it means) look it up in the dictionary. And, while you're at it...why don't you grab a book called, "Why Johnny Can't Read."
See, I started out trying to cheer everyone up, and now I'm getting angry all over again...Breathe...In...Out...Whew...Sun salutation...Okay folks, teaching any kid--dyslexic or not really isn't rocket science. It involves teaching them to recognize that every letter is a symbol which corresponds to a sound (or several). It involves teaching that words are made up of those sounds,which correspond to those symbols. It involves teaching rules such as when a "g" says a soft sound or a hard sound, or why some words have silent final e's or why words like "all" and "puff" and "fizz" end with double consonants, etc. If one has learned these rules then they can spell correctly pretty much all of the time. Why? Because they have mastered the code to our language. The rules are the code. If you have the code, you can sound out pretty much any and every word and spell it too! (If you don't believe me research how people win spelling bees--it involves mastering the code.)
However, rather than equip people for success (God forbid!), we take the lazy way out and "teach" whole language. We teach children not to master our language; we teach them to memorize it. Therefore, language to them has no rhyme and no reason. It is unpredictable and unreliable. They have no code to fall back on. They are equipped to be poor guessers because they don't know what to do when they encounter the plethora of exceptions out there. Gee, if you read our nation's reading report cards you might start to notice some trends.
Dyslexics are horrible at memorizing random facts which have no value or meaning...which is why memorizing sight words is like...not gonna work for them. I assert that because of those scum bags, Dick and Jane, it isn't just the dyslexics who miss out. It's also all of the other kids who struggle with reading. With 20% of the population being dyslexic, the rest of the percentage of our kids who are failing readers are just Dick and Jane casualties.
...wouldn't it be nice if that ole monster bureaucracy we dump exponentially increasing amounts of money into every year, the dept of edumacation (or something like it) were willing to change?
Wouldn't it be nice if Spaceman Spiff could declare some sort of Zog war against them until they actually do something in the best interest of children across America? Too bad Obama won't appoint Spiff to head up edumacation and take Arne Duncan's place...
Here's a pic from my go-to source of never-disappointing funnies: Bill Waterson's, Calvin & Hobbes of course.
BTW, one reason I love C&H SOOOO much?? It's the FIRST thing my dyslexic son ENJOYED reading. When you're a mama and you have a kid who struggled with reading and you get to the point where you hear your baby laugh out loud at something he READ...the word priceless doesn't even begin to explain...
Anyway, I hadn't even thought of all that before deciding to post this...just in a little homework slump and thought I'd see if anyone else needed a giggle.
If you don't think Calvin & Hobbes are funny--you don't have a pulse!!! ;)
Those evil little readers are the epitome of whole-word learning (or sight word learning/whole language), which is a dumb philosophy our educational system has bought into (hook/line/sinker) and arrogantly refuses to let go of.
What Dick and Jane replaced was something called, "phonics," which is not to be confused with, "hooked on phonics" (which is still another version of whole language poo).
Phonics-rhymes with tonics, ebonics, onyx, Sonics (plural, as in "wow, this town has a lot of Sonics, I bet the obesity rate is high!"). If you're not sure what that word means (because if you're less than 100 years old, chances are you probably don't REALLY know what it means) look it up in the dictionary. And, while you're at it...why don't you grab a book called, "Why Johnny Can't Read."
See, I started out trying to cheer everyone up, and now I'm getting angry all over again...Breathe...In...Out...Whew...Sun salutation...Okay folks, teaching any kid--dyslexic or not really isn't rocket science. It involves teaching them to recognize that every letter is a symbol which corresponds to a sound (or several). It involves teaching that words are made up of those sounds,which correspond to those symbols. It involves teaching rules such as when a "g" says a soft sound or a hard sound, or why some words have silent final e's or why words like "all" and "puff" and "fizz" end with double consonants, etc. If one has learned these rules then they can spell correctly pretty much all of the time. Why? Because they have mastered the code to our language. The rules are the code. If you have the code, you can sound out pretty much any and every word and spell it too! (If you don't believe me research how people win spelling bees--it involves mastering the code.)
However, rather than equip people for success (God forbid!), we take the lazy way out and "teach" whole language. We teach children not to master our language; we teach them to memorize it. Therefore, language to them has no rhyme and no reason. It is unpredictable and unreliable. They have no code to fall back on. They are equipped to be poor guessers because they don't know what to do when they encounter the plethora of exceptions out there. Gee, if you read our nation's reading report cards you might start to notice some trends.
Dyslexics are horrible at memorizing random facts which have no value or meaning...which is why memorizing sight words is like...not gonna work for them. I assert that because of those scum bags, Dick and Jane, it isn't just the dyslexics who miss out. It's also all of the other kids who struggle with reading. With 20% of the population being dyslexic, the rest of the percentage of our kids who are failing readers are just Dick and Jane casualties.
...wouldn't it be nice if that ole monster bureaucracy we dump exponentially increasing amounts of money into every year, the dept of edumacation (or something like it) were willing to change?
Wouldn't it be nice if Spaceman Spiff could declare some sort of Zog war against them until they actually do something in the best interest of children across America? Too bad Obama won't appoint Spiff to head up edumacation and take Arne Duncan's place...
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Oh dear! I just posted a picture which contained an instrument which resembles a gun (please don't get the zero tolerance police after me!) I mean this is Arkansas, so let's just pretend he is just holding his pistol in church! ;)Moral:
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Saturday, February 2, 2013
"I think
the idea of
getting
Government to get
teachers in schools
trained
to become
dyslexia specialists
is
OBVIOUSLY
ESSENTIAL."
-Sir Richard Branson
Just check out Branson's blog, click on companies, and discover that this guy obviously knows what he's talking about when it comes to jobs, the future, success, and on and on. Respected throughout the world, he is not shy about being a dyslexic.
Just think what Arkansas would/could be like if we gave our dyslexic children hope and taught them to read---the way THEIR brain learns to read...we might just get a whole crop of business-minded entrepreneurs, investors, creative thinkers who will invest in Arkansas because Arkansas invested in THEM. Senate Bill 33 is an opportunity (a beginning) for Arkansas to move forward.
(my 2nd favorite Branson quote which encapsulates
the spirit of the many SUCCESSFUL dyslexics out there)
(my third favorite Branson quote--which is why dyslexics are such an asset to innovation)
Just think what Arkansas would/could be like if we gave our dyslexic children hope and taught them to read---the way THEIR brain learns to read...we might just get a whole crop of business-minded entrepreneurs, investors, creative thinkers who will invest in Arkansas because Arkansas invested in THEM. Senate Bill 33 is an opportunity (a beginning) for Arkansas to move forward.
Another Branson quote from: extraordinarypeople.com
“
Being dyslexic can actually help in the outside world. I see some things clearer than other people do because I have to simplify things to help me and that has helped others.”
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