Truth Hurts

I Read Books Because I Can't Stop

Is it a bad thing being a bookaholic?

* I spend more money on books than on other "respectful" things.
* There are times when I don't go to sleep because I have to see how a book ends.
* I have a book with me most of the time I am out of the house.
* It is hard to leave a bookstore without buying (a) book(s) even if I have a huge pile of "to-be-read".
* I am not sure of the books I have.
* I sometimes find myself quoting from the books I have read.
* I don't lend my books because I might not get them back (or have them stained).
* I can easily get excited about any new book that my favorite writers release.



* There are plenty of books I have read before other people.
* I can leaf through a book and forget about the food on the cooker.
* I enjoy reading reviews before and after I have read the book.
* I have a wishlist on a dedicated site.
* I have my favorite books in English, French and Romanian (if they have been translated).
* I have struggled to get autographs from my favorite authors (and succeeded).
* It took hours to be taken out of the "Shakespeare and Co."
* I am planning a future trip abroad in accordance with a literary festival.

Teaching to the Student

Seth Godin continues to teach me smart things :)

All teachers know about differentiated learning, but what this phrase actually says is that different students want to do different things and what they end up doing is what makes them acquire new information. Thus, if you want your students to learn the most, you should start by thinking that they are different.



The Dreyfus model of skill acquisition states that there are 5 stages that a student could pass through:
1. Novice
--wants to be given a manual, told what to do, with no decisions possible

2. Advanced beginner
--needs a bit of freedom, but is unable to quickly describe a hierarchy of which parts are more important than others

3. Competent
--wants the ability to make plans, create routines and choose among activities

4. Proficient
--the more freedom you offer, the more you expect, the more you'll get

5. Expert
--writes the manual, doesn't follow it.

Although it is hard not to teach to the book or to the curriculum, what should one do is teach to the student in order to get positive feedback.

Demonstrating Strength

Via Seth Godin's blog.

Apologize

Defer to others

Avoid shortcuts

Tell the truth

Offer kindness

Seek alliances

Volunteer to take the short straw

Choose the long-term, sacrificing the short

Demonstrate respect to all, not just the obviously strong

Share credit and be public in your gratitude

Poetry Is Where the Heart Is...

TIPTIL



aud glasul tau si privesc in
lumina ochilor tai.
fara suflare
incerc sa-ti patrund in inima
cu sfiala,
sa nu-ti tulbur ritmul
exact si perfect,
care ma-nfioara.

(Nicu Alifantis)

You Are the Drug That I Can't Quit...

Optimism

The Art of Travel

It’s in our nature to be on the move, in the search of new places, exhilarating experiences and longed-for soul mates. We travel in our heads or over the clouds, but we always look for the next heart throbbing spot that will place us in the center of the yet untamed mother Earth.



Indeed, there’s nothing more addictive than roaming around, discovering, with every step, things, places and people that change us forever. We go sightseeing, travel guide(s) in our backpack, just as the painter goes on to trace lines on the canvas, hoping for wishes coming true, as we hope to go beyond the unknown and tedious, because there is pure ART in the way we TRAVEL, and there’s no art without pleasure. Yet sometimes, our sole purpose is to only return from our travels in order to flee again, in a much greater style, for what is our world but an oyster awaiting to be conquered?
And if our restless heart and desire to hit the road prove to be more abundant for a single life, we can still hope for the other eight...

If You Want, I'll hunt You like an Animal...

I am totally overwhelmed by the number of Madonna leaks this past week. Not only are they of good quality, but most of them sound fabulous.
Here's Animal, from the Hard Candy sessions, and I am still wondering why it wasn't included on the album. It's definitely funkier than some of the songs from HC.I guess Madonna has her ways, after all...

Madonna - Animal (Hard Candy sessions)

Asculta mai multe audio diverse

Four Lions or Screw Political Correctness

Ok, let’s cut to the chase. I loved this movie. It was simply brilliant while being bloody funny. I haven’t laughed that much since Blackadder.
Four Lions is a black comedy, which, fortunately, makes you laugh at contemporary issues, because, let’s be honest, that’s probably the only thing worth doing. It tries to show that extremists are humans after all, and multiculturalism can also be a sloppy matter. Indeed, there may be some uncomfortable truths amongst the laughter and irony, but one can go past them in order to savour a comedy in which four blokes are trying really hard to put together a terrorist cell that could blow up …. wait for it….. a mosque. What the buffoons end up doing is … well, I won’t spoil it for you so watch the movie without feeling guilty that you might laugh when a bomb goes off. It happened to me, too.



Here are some hilarious lines and the trailer.
“We’ve got women talking back. We’ve got people playing stringed instruments. It’s the end of days”.
“You can’t win an argument just by being right”.
“Are you in Paradise, bro?”

Les Memoires D'Hadrien

Octavian is generous once more and here I am writing in order to get a book. But not just any book, Les Memoires d'Hadrien written by Marguerite Yourcenar, the first female writer to enter the French Academy (and this time, my knowledge about her and the book stop here).

Why this book? Well, shamefully, I haven't read anything by her, not even during my French courses, so it would be a great first. Secondly, I long to read in French and to brush it up a bit, since I can sense I am getting rusty at that :).
Thirdly, (and here comes the "generosity shock" on my part), If I enjoy it, I will pass it forward to my friend and French teacher... How does that sound for "giving, you shall receive"? :)

Whisling in the Wind

I was leafing through the "Encyclopedia of Taboos" and found an interesting article about whistling.
Now, it seems that you can whistle in the dark or become a whistle-blower, not to mention the wolf-whistle that some men use to show the animal within, but still, it is useful to know that in the Islam world, whistling is forbidden because of its association with sorcery and the casting of spells in pre-Islamic times. Whistling is also a means of “communication with the Jinn”. The Jinn (from which the English word “genie” derives) inhabit the immaterial world. In the Koran it is stated that the jinn were created from “smokeless fire” while man was made of clay and angels were formed from light.



Moreover, the French anthropologist, Claude Lévi-Strauss, has uncovered a link between whistling and sorcery in ancient tribes, fact described in his book "From Honey to Ashes: Introduction to a Science of Mythology".
If you also happen to travel at sea, mind that you could easily be thrown overboard if you attempt to communicate with the jinn, simply because whistling at sea is deemed unlucky.

It's All about the Clothes

~ all mouth and trousers
blustering and boastful, showing off without
having the qualities to justify it.

~ pull up one's socks
try harder

~ keep one's shirt on
try to stay calm



~ buckle down
to give one's complete attention or effort to do something

~ feather in one`s cap
something to be proud of, an honor

~ talk through one`s hat
to say something without knowing or understanding the facts

Fabulous Madonna

Madonna turns 52 today and I can't stop marvelling about her power and determination to change the world while also having fun :)
Happy Bday, Queen of Hearts! :)

Sacred Hearts

I really enjoyed reading Sarah Dunant's previous books, whether they were thrillers - "Transgressions" - or historical fiction - "In the Company of the Courtesan" or "The Birth of Venus", so I was glad to emerge into a new reading of hers.

SACRED HEARTS is a novel that belongs to the genre of religious fiction and thus, it represented a premiere amongst my readings, which at first made me reconsider it, thinking it would be tedious, but once you get past the first 200 pages (lol) (out of its 460), it totally grips you.

"She is only a young woman who did not want to become a nun. The world is full of them."



As the world of the Santa Caterina nunnery during Renaissance is set, you experience an eagerness to get to the last page and see if Serafina, a sixteen year old novice, will run away from the nunnery and reunite with her lover/music teacher or she will benevolently succumb to the life of the nunnery where Sora Zuana plays an indispensable part.

If Serafina manages to escape her destiny or remain its prisoner is for you to find out in this weave of devotion, rebellion and the worlds between them.

Literacy

Vocabulary and adolescent literacy for resa

View more presentations from Donna Murray.

Teachers

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” William A. Ward

Why Would I Go to Paris?

Once you've been to Paris, it becomes quite difficult to describe it because there's nothing that compares to it, even a few previous visits...
So, "La Femme de Trente Ans" will go to Paris because it's the one and only city where love can actually be felt in the air, where one can indulge in the sheer beauty of the Sacre Coeur, stroll in "Jardin de Luxembourg" with no care in the world, be overwhelmed by what true art really means in Le Louvre, touch the dreamy sky while up in La Tour Eiffel, allow oneself to be swept away by the gentle breeze while enjoying a ride in a "bateau mouche", chuckle about some "dubious" artifact while in Le Musee de l'Erotisme et refaire le parcours d'Amelie, comme une petite folle de ce film :)
How much Paris can one squeeze into two weeks? I will let you know when I return, now I almost feel like I am living a life of pure debauchery :))

One of My Gods

A Single Man

"A Single Man" has easily crept among my all time favorite movies, for a simple reason: it is STUNNING! The actors, Julienne Moore and Colin Firth need no introduction, and Tom Ford, the director, writer and producer, is at his first but worthy attempt in the vast field of Hollywood movies.
This perfect film combines 3 unfinished love stories and the sadness and desperation that they bring along. It is love that turns the main character into a suicidal one, and it is also love that rescues him. But not for long, as fatality strikes...



The haunting music reminded me of "In the mood for love" and I wasn't wrong. The music composer, Shigeru Umebayashi, wrote the music for "In the mood ..." but also for its sequel, "2046".