Children See
December 18th, 2008 · 1 Comment
→ 1 CommentTags: Learning · Children · Teaching · Parenting · Around the house
I love this quote
November 7th, 2008 · 3 Comments
I know I’ve been completely phoning it in lately. For anybody still out there visiting this blog, I can only apologize and offer up the lame excuse that the work I’m doing in getting my M.Ed (masters in education) is sucking up all my spare time and energy.
Trust me, however, I’ll be back. Sooner or later.
Until then, I’ll just keep phoning it in with stuff like the following cool quote from a candid moment with Barack Obama. It’s from a series Newsweek is doing called “Secrets of the 2008 Campaign.” The series idea is, in itself, an interesting way for media to try to keep people interested in (and reading about) the election for just awhile longer. I myself am glad the election is over so I won’t be so distracted by all the intrigue.
Related Articles:The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for them during the Democratic primaries, Obama was recorded saying, “I don’t consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, ‘You know, this is a stupid question, but let me … answer it.’ So when Brian Williams is asking me about what’s a personal thing that you’ve done [that’s green], and I say, you know, ‘Well, I planted a bunch of trees.’ And he says, ‘I’m talking about personal.’ What I’m thinking in my head is, ‘Well, the truth is, Brian, we can’t solve global warming because I f—ing changed light bulbs in my house. It’s because of something collective’.”
→ 3 CommentsTags: Energy · Fun Stuff
On Second Thought . . . Don’t Vote
October 3rd, 2008 · 3 Comments
→ 3 CommentsTags: Humor · Fun Stuff · Growth
Creativity (and talent) Strikes Again
October 2nd, 2008 · 1 Comment
Heres the link to George Vlosich’s web site. Incredible.
Related Articles:→ 1 CommentTags: Fun Stuff · Creativity
Yeah but . . . what about aliens?
September 30th, 2008 · 2 Comments
Every day I have students work on their editing skills by finding and correcting mistakes in a paragraph. Today one of the sentences was:
In September 1846, a german astronomer Johann Galle became the first to observe the planet Neptune.
One of my students wanted to make this change:
In September 1846, a german astronomer Johann Galle became the first person to observe the planet Neptune.
I told him that wasn’t necessary. He disagreed by arguing that it is important to make sure that the reader understood that while Galle may have been the first “person” to observe Neptune, aliens probably noticed Neptune before he did.
Related Articles:→ 2 CommentsTags: Humor · Teaching · Fun Stuff
Another Reason I’m a Twins Fan
September 29th, 2008 · 1 Comment
There are 114 posts here at Chris Wondra . com discussing a myriad of different topics–non of which have anything to do with baseball. That’s about to change.
For a number of reasons beyond wins and losses, beyond geographical allegiances, beyond media coverage, or experiences at the ballpark–I am a die hard Twins fan. And despite the fact that I’ve only caught a few games on TV, this has been a very fun year to be a Twins fan.
If you know baseball, you know what I’m talking about. If not I could go on for pages and pages about all the different interesting stories related to this season that have very little to do with this team’s remarkable (and relative) success.
One of those stories is that for all practical purposes, the regular season is over–all 162 games–and we still don’t know if the Twins or the White Sox are division champs. It’s neck and neck, so the White Sox are forced to play a make up game tonight. If they loose, the Twins are champs. If they win, they force a one game playoff on Tuesday night.
Now (finally) to my point–and just another reason I’m a Twins fan.
As you might think, the players and coaches are a little on edge. You might think they’d have a very close eye on what the White Sox are doing. The following is from an article today at Sports Illustrated and quotes Ron Gardenhire, the Twins manager:
Related Articles:On Sunday, of course, players and coaches had the AL Central race in their faces all day, courtesy of the auxiliary scoreboards that refreshed constantly with White Sox updates. But Saturday provided the real toughie, in terms of Gardenhire following along at home vs. staying cool and detached from the later Chicago-Cleveland game at U.S. Cellular.
‘I got home and found my daughter’s cat on the kitchen table with a piece of chicken he shouldn’t have had,” the skipper said. “The cat just had surgery, too, and nobody else is home. [Hitting coach] Joe Vavra calls to tell me what’s going on in Chicago and I said to him, ‘Joe, I really don’t care. Here’s a cat that’s just had surgery, he’s got a cone on his head, he’s up on the table and he’s got a piece of chicken.’ ” Disaster was averted, though. The cat is fine and, for at least a couple more days, the Twins are OK.
→ 1 CommentTags: Fun Stuff
Exciting News About Poop
May 2nd, 2008 · 6 Comments
I got this email from my wife this afternoon. You want to know what’s new and exciting in my life? This is about as good as it gets:
Related Articles:Hi Hon,
I stumbled across the best fertilizer for the garden today! Lama poop! AND…we can get a bunch FREEEEEEEE!!!!! How’s that for great? You just have to haul some home in the trailer. Maybe Sunday afternoon? It’s just up at Loretta’s. And you don’t have to compost it before planting! And it keeps the deer and the rabbits away! It’s so perfect for us. I am excited!
Love,
Lisa
ps. You are a great poop hauler!
→ 6 CommentsTags: Home Improvement
Meaningful meetings?
May 1st, 2008 · No Comments
A little levity, a little truth.
→ No CommentsTags: Uncategorized · Humor
Proudly Introducing: Think Thank Thunk!
April 2nd, 2008 · 4 Comments
Today, I’d like to proudly introduce you to the project that I feel like I’ve been giving birth to for the last couple of weeks:
Think Thank Thunk (found at www.3thinks.com)is my humble attempt at a blog specifically written and designed for parents and teachers. It’s still a bit under construction, but I thought I’d offer you up a sneak peek before I put on the finishing touches and begin promoting it through other channels.
Loyal readers will immediately recognize many of the articles that I used to initially populate the site. But obviously there’s much more new stuff to come.
I’ve been blogging now for just about a year and a half, and it’s been quite a trip–from the wordpress community, to an independent blog on a shared server, to running ads and actually making a few bucks. It’s been fun. But I’ve struggled from the start with my focus. Indeed, despite understanding that focusing on a tight niche is a smarter way to build an audience, I resisted that approach–mostly because I couldn’t narrow it down. And I didn’t want to. There are all kinds of topics in this blog: from parenting to finance to consumer reports to teaching to just silly stories or blurbs about whatever.
And I’m glad I did it that way.
And I am amazed to look at my stats and see that I’ve had now close to 1.5 million hits. I’m amazed and thrilled when I look at my adsence account and see that this blog has generated close to $4,000 in the 12 months I’ve been running ads from Google. Really, when a regular chump like me can do stuff like that–what an exciting time to be alive!
This blog–and others like it–undoubtedly have a place and serve a purpose both for the blogger and his or her readers: Collaboration, community, sharing valuable information, and solving problems together. Being a part of all that thrills me to no end.
This blog will live on. There is just way too much in this world to write about. But as a writer and a professional, I thought it was time for me to take the next step. That’s all. I have no idea where it will lead.
The basic seeds for Think Thank Thunk or 3thinks.com came a long time ago when I was “thinking” about writing a consistent column type of thing for my local paper. But because I struggled narrowing my focus, that idea never really got off the ground. Now, however, since I’ve started my Masters last fall, I’ve begun to realize just how much fascinating information exists (and is indeed being discovered) that parents and teachers can use to make their (as well as their children and students’) lives better.
And it really turns me on!
So click on over, take a look around, leave a comment here or there on the site, and let me know what you think! Then stop by often. My hope is to update something at least twice (hopefully 3 times) per week.
Hah! And you thought I’d just been sitting around picking my nose the last few weeks.
Related Articles:→ 4 CommentsTags: Writing · Growth · Creativity
Somebody please just like, shoot me.
March 26th, 2008 · 8 Comments
I’m correcting quizzes for Treasure Island, the novel we are currently reading. Each question requires an essay/short answer response.
The first question is: Describe Treasure Island, including the hills and vegetation.
This is one of the responses:
“Treasure Island has like trees and like different types and there is like a stream in it and a spring with like clean water also there are like scattered big rocks and grasses and kinda bushes.”
Ugh . . .
The embarrassing thing is I’ve been teaching this group of kids now for almost 27 weeks.
Sheesh.
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→ 8 CommentsTags: Teaching
