I'm managing to reduce the paper trail, spanning nearly 50 years. Moving is hard work but reducing my living footprint is much harder, without my husband and my 12 year old pup. Last year was not an easy one for us. But much worse for others, I know.
I had been sleeping on a Canadian made sofa for a long time. Snoring got me here, (my husband's, not me, initially, but my dogs kept me downstairs for many reasons, one dog at a time. .(Sleep was critically important, especially, where driving was concerned. I had to leave, not him.) Then there was my sweet girl's dilemma's. ..... Silly, maybe, but my retriever had had several surgeries, emergency and otherwise. The sofa was now off limits to her. I had to protect her. My life evolved.
New 'chapters' in this life have opened up a new way of living. One of these steps was ridding the house of books..I was an addict here. We both were. In my case, the yeast dough program, begun on teacher hunch that morning, in 1994, was up front and center. It had to be. (I was on the cusp of the next step when life happened last August and its consequences, Christmas eve of last year.I I had to rid my collection of books that were no longer a fit for that unique approach to elementary special education.
My standards have changed. New decisions had to be made. Many books were being given away while others disposed of. Nowadays no one wants free books - even libraries. And so I purged my investment. Some, however, still held an obvious emotional hold on me. The Education of the Central Nervous System was one, a book printed in 1898 delaing with enriched environments and the brain. It was compelling reading.
Language is about learning and higher order thinking skills. What betterway to teach those skills than by using a five sense tool called yeast dough to dig through the massive learning wall. My books were my personal on lione course.
I came upon one book in particular, about baking bread so I thought. But I was in for a shock, saddened by photos of animals, in various poses, with recipes on one side and the animal on the other. (Though I have eaten meat on occasion, (my favourite meal has always been being cottage cheese and home made noodles) many other people are firm in their food beliefs. where is the respect here? Those pictures were in poor taste. It was a book with unclear intentions, I guess. I had bought this baking book without the customary cursory look through, I guess.
Another picture, nearby, assailed me when a photo of duck feet appeared opposite a beautiful drawing,of a majestic duck as though a painting had been done. I asked myself, Why? The shock value was lost on me. Times have changed, I hoped. The book had been printed many years ago. The final insult was a thank you near the end of the book with a photo of a precious cow looking out at the reader supposedly saying those words.. Really?
As I am slowly amassing a glorious but condensed collection of books for my 'return to teaching', I was thrilled by one book that stood out as the master of all: Baking by James Peterson. It was mine and everything a baking book would be. I was one lucky girl. I shall continue on this somewhat heartbreaking journey of book disposal. Many have gone but a few stars remain helping me deliver a new age in elementary special education.
Teaching special children to think as they communicate and learn a much sought after skills in bread making can never begin too soon for them. (Reading and printing not required!) Just fun and silliness. The world needs more people who are masters of their own fate while making pizza and pretzels, too. These special children will lead the way for all.
