What a Great and Big World We Live In

Last Saturday, on the 22nd, I went out ice-fishing with my family. It was me, my dad, my brother in-law and my little brother. We went to Echo lake right by the Qu’appelle Valley and the view was absolutely amazing. This is a post for my personal aesthetic practice Childhood Wonder. I have been exploring and trying to recapture the things, images and moments that really amazed me as a child. Being in this huge valley and having this amazing view of the skyline was such a moment, I’m sure the childhood me would have found this amazing because even now, in my adult life, it takes my breath away.

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At first glance, the two images above might seem kind of dull. Or at least thats what I thought when I first saw them on the camera after we left the valley and I was reviewing the photos I had taken. But after taking some time to re-examine these scenes, I fell into them and remembered why I took them. One reason was because of how deep the view was and how I thought these scenes gave an awesome sense of perspective. If you look closely at the second image (directly above) you can see tiny dark objects on the ice right before the tree line. These are other fishermen’s trucks and shacks way in the distance. The other reason I was attracted to these scenes, and wanted to capture them, was the faint hints of pink in the clouds. I thought, when you were able to see the dull pink, it made the pictures so much more beautiful.

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I especially love this last picture of the sunset. Its such a simple picture, and we see a beautiful sunset almost every here in Saskatchewan. The moments when these pictures were taken, I was truly content and happy to just look out in awe at the vast valley and see the sunset. Besides the bitter wind, I was really thankful for the opportunity I had to go ice fishing and experience the beauty of nature. Sometimes it makes me wonder how I ever got so lucky to be alive right now, and to be able to experience moments like these.

Are Your Relationships ‘Successful’?

I came upon this cool video today about relationships. The video basically says that in a successful relationship there needs to be 3 things. 1) The members have to have a mutually beneficial goal to work towards, 2) there has to be authenticity and honesty, and 3) effective communication. Give it a watch.

I think it is important to step back and look at our relationships and ask ourselves if they have these 3 things, I think as educators it is especially important to take time to assess our relationships with our co-workers and students as well. Will our relationships work towards a mutual beneficial goal, or will they be one sided with one party members needs and wants placed above the others? Will there be genuine authenticity, or will it be a shallow, superficial and meaningless time spent with another? Will there be truthful and effective communication or will there be lack of communication, hence confusion and misunderstanding between members of the relationship? I think we should all take time to examine our relationships. I feel if we did so, we could achieve more than just ‘sucsessful’ relationships, but ultimately healthier, more fulfilling and happier lives.

Bringing Technology Into the Classroom in Meaningful Ways!

I was supposed to find a resource to share with my Aesthetic Education class and I had no idea what to share so I went to Twitter for help. I tweeted asking for educators to share any resources they had or knew of that I could access and use in the classroom and got one great response. Bill Ferriter responded to my tweet and shared this great wiki link with me. This wiki, called Digitally Speaking, shares many ways on how to bring technology into the classroom in meaning full ways to our students that will prepare them for a future full of new technology and new problems. It includes suggestions on blogging, podcasting, research and reading, and even internet safey in the classroom. It seams like a great resource and I look forward to exploring more!

Looking Up in Awe

In my Aesthetic Education class one of our assignments is called “Personal Aesthetic Practice.” In this assignment we are supposed to engage in a weekly practice of noticing something that relates to a concept that we select and documenting the image in some way with a photograph or two. The topic I chose was “Childhood Wonder.” I wanted to try and revisit the things in life that made us go “wow” as little kids. This is the first image I found and chose to put into my personal aesthetic practice.

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I chose this image because as children we are always looking up at our world and the people around us. I though this was fitting because it gives us some perspective to how small we really are and how big and great the world is around us. I titled this image Looking Up in Awe at the Great Big World Around Us.