are actions stronger than thoughts?

Not in the inner world of imagination where images live and play. However, these images can be projected out onto the world, or manefested in the physical realm.  Don Quijote was a perfect example of a man who created and lived in his own imagined world. Of course, most would say he lived in a delusional world but that may be a limited way of looking and seeing. 

I believe the imagination played a major role in ancient times, not that I've been there, but I've gathered this from books and movies I've seen. As a child I spoke to spoons, rain drops, and trees. I imagined and believed they all had feelings and thoughts as I have. They were a part of me and I was a part of them. Whom or what do I speak to today? Ummmm, I guess I speak less as I get older. I seem to have less to say or have less of a need to say it, or both.  On second thought, I still speak to trees and feel them as part of me.

wanna be teachers, just like me

I ask myself as lots of wanna be teachers and new teachers do--what it takes to be good. We've read about teaching and writing in this class, and they stimulated thoughts but never answered this question. I then thought, good teachers are dynamic and imaginative, listen to their students, know the material well, and exude passion for what they do, just like me.

9 men on the 1 train

I got on the # 1 train this morning at around 5 AM and surprisingly found (9) men on the train, some older and some in their 20s. Most of them looked South or Central American but one looked Dominican for sure. They seemed to be either going to, or coming back from work. (At some point, I wondered if they worked together in a restaurant or a building of some kind.) I looked at their miserably tired faces: (1) man was painfully trying to remain awake while (2) were sound asleep (and looked the happiest), and the other (5) men were just bleakly staring down at the floor or out into space, also having weary expressions on their faces. The last man was reading a small soft-covered book while slightly nodding off.  I questioned and tried to imagine their inner worlds, and I embarrassingly admit that I found myself thinking: " These men have no imaginations.... They are too tired to even care." But of course, we all know this isn't true--all humans imagine. These men would not be sitting, or reading, on the train if they didn't imagine.  Nonetheless, I sensed that they had hard lives and thought only the faculty of  imagination could help them get through their hard times, just as it would for any person, including myself. Then I imagined these faces in an ESL classroom, and me teaching English. Of course, these observations are mainly projections of myself and the world I'd like to live in.

TIP

I can't believe the TIP assingment has taken me so long. I should be done by next year. (No just kidding.) I hope to be done (well done) by Monday evening. I read more articles than I had anticipated to read. They were interesting though. My topic is on imagaination and it's not an imaginary topic. I have begun my synthesis and it should by finished by late tonight, or even tomorrow. The introduction will be the final page. Imagine that.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Frank McCourt Video

Just saw the video on Frank McCourt, I especially liked when he talked about imagination--my TIP topic, somewhat. He said, that he and others knew they would get out of the "juicy slums " in Ireland, because they dreamt they were getting out. They had imaginations and wished to go to America. This brought to my mind how no one has time to imagine today--I think it's partly due to the internet. But I think as time marches foward, the less we seem to use our imaginations for whatever reason--maybe the need is not there since we have a larger middle class society. Everyone seems to be caught up in the commercial world and in conventional middle class values (which is ok, I guess), but I'm a romantic and feel sad about using our imaginations less. However, I could be wrong, maybe we aren't using our imaginations less or if we are maybe it'll be revived. Imagination, like a frustrated teenager, is very misunderstood.  http://www.viddler.com/explore/nyusteinhardt/videos/29 Regarding the video, the West Village scenes evoked nostolgic feelings--made me want to go there for a walk. But then I recalled the crowds and thought of all the homework I had still and that was like having a bucket of ice water thrown in my  face. Anyway, great video. Thanks to Nancy.

ironyuse to (each meaning of irony)

After reading  a metro news story: "Palin meets a gun owner she doesn't like," I thought what a wonderful  lesson this would make to teach students about irony, especially to help them understand irony as a literary device.

second language composition

All three schools of thought are important in order to stop the pendulum swinging from one extreme to the other. Also, students level and motivation are important here. ESL students who are capable of going into a class that teaches academic writing across the curriculum, should be in that class. Not every ESL student is on the same level. There was a time when I needed to emulate/imitate either the great romantic imaginative writers and/ or the disciplined academic writers. Its all  a process whether its controlled, traditional, or the process approach. So I don't get it when they refer to one as a process approach and the other as simply controlled or traditional. It's all a process that has to be internalized in order to write as a disciplined student. I think the controlled and traditional versions are important for college adult writers who are not native English speakers. They are older and the writing process has to be consciously controlled for an internalization process to take place in the race pace of college life. That's how I see it. This argument, however interesting, is ridiculous. All three approaches are important and relative, just like everything in life. This said, I agree- a writing approach that just focuses on a student expressing his/ her personal and emotional feelings and thoughts is not preparing a student for college. That's all good in the beginning stages. A student must eventually learn the discipline of academic writing for certain core courses or majors. Even when I wrote a critical essay in poetry, I wrote it for an academic audience. I had to learn this, I didn't know how to write like this, and couldn't write like this till I was in college for around three years. It's a gradual process. I find it interesting that none of these studies talk about the individual's pace.  That's the real issue-how someone arrives at some information at a slower pace but no less intelligent, actually sometimes even more intelligent, but pace is the issue here. Schools, teachers, and the system as a whole do not give many students the time they need to understand the information. It's all about progress at a fast pace; that's why standardized testing is popular. It's also popular because of the big bucks it brings in.

On a personal note, I enjoyed writing for the humanities and about fiction much more than I did for the sciences. I have an active imagination and felt my tongue on a leash whenever I had to write for the sciences back in the day when I was a B.A. student. I didn't enjoy it.  However, whether I'm writing for the arts or sciences, it's a process.